About Red Fez!

The Story of Fez

A Red Fez is cylindrical hat that you place on your head - like most hats!* Originating in the city of Fez, Morocco in North Africa in the 17th century it was made popular by Sultan Mahmud II who, in 1826, realizing the fear and terror the tassled headpiece struck into the hearts of men, made it the official headpiece of his modernized military.

In the early 1900s, however, virulent anti-hat-ism spread across southern Europe culminating in the country of Turkey enacting an outright ban on the public sporting of such a ruggedly dashing and decadent bonnet.

The fabulous bean-topper fled to Europe where it sought sanctuary in the lounges of well-to-do aristocrats, disguising itself as the lounge-chapeau of choice for those in divine recline. Steeped in the carefree realm of smoking jackets and armchair philosophy, the Red Fez patiently awaited its most-excellent resurgence. History, however, still skeptical and a little bit jealous of that debonair and suede skullcap, was not so optimistic.

As lounging fell out of practice with the rise of Taylorism and a global epidemic of workaholism, the Fez all but disappeared from the public eye, seeking solitude from the cruel ignorance and folly of man amongst a small group of altruistic outcasts known as 'The Shriners', where it remained in happy obsolescence making special appearances only during events involving clowns, lions and sometimes cancer patients.

Until one day a new cause came knocking on its door and chose to adopt the extravagantly daring dome decor as the symbol of excellent art and literature at www.redfez.net!

*in that you put it on your head, not that most hats are cylindrical, which they are not, though many are circular.

Fun fact! Did you know that the Fez is sometimes known, among Muslim aristocrats, as a 'Rumi Topi' (Rumi Cap) after the great Persian poet Mevlana Jelalludin Rumi? Yeah! Sure you did!

No, but seriously, what is Red Fez?

Red Fez is an artist-run organization determined to publish and promote creative, meaningful and accessible artistic pursuits and collaborations. Our mission is to provide opportunities for writers, artists and musicians to create, promote, publish and profit (in kind, in cash, in notoriety, in backrubs - hey artists will take whatever they can get these days!) from their work; and for readers, art enthusiasts and music fans to discover, connect and support art and artists meaningful and entertaining to them. We believe in accessible art and an accessible artistic community. Red Fez is a melting pot of people interested in creating, sharing and discovering writing, music, art and more.

History:

Red Fez was founded by Leopold McGinnis in 2002, out of frustration with the barriers, gatekeepers and limited opportunities facing new and original writers in the traditional publishing world. Nobody really cared.

...until around 2005 when Michele McDannold joined the 'team.' Then at least two people cared.

The team expanded again in 2008, freeing up Leopold and Michele's time to start doing some really crazy stuff like expanding the publication roster to include comics, photography, music and videos. Not long after that Red Fez became the only online literary magazine to publish monthly issues chock full of artistic and entertainment goodness. Suddenly a lot of people cared. And that's cool.

Then, about a thousand years after that, a giant asteroid obliterated the earth and a small subsection of the population escaped in the great fez shaped Red Fez Mothership to found a new home on the planet Blixnox 7-5. But we're getting ahead of ourselves...

Red Fez is run entirely off the blood sweat and tears of these people. None of them get paid (we're cheap!) so worship them.

Executive Director - Leopold McGinnis:

Leopold started this whole thing, but now occupies a shadowy darth-vader like role on the outer-fringes, plotting and planning the secret future for Red Fez. You can find more of his writing and weirdness over at his not very frequently updated or visited blog leopoldmcginnis.blogspot.com.

Director of Print and Special Projects - Michele McDannold:

Michele McDannold is the Director of Print and Special Projects (and former Editor-in-Chief) at Red Fez, mostly because she just likes to say Red Fez but also because she thinks it is the most groovoid place to sling your literary shazizzle.

Web Editor-in-Chief - Pat Simonelli:

Pat is the Fez online editor-in-chief. He came into contact with Fez Master Leopold in early 2005. Pat has bounced around the USA and is currently living in Illinois with a trillion books and a raccoon. His other projects include LitVision Press (www.litvision.com) and a fan site for his all-time favorite writer, Stephen Crane. Pat looks forward to rejecting your literary efforts!

Head Fiction Editor - Lynn Alexander:

Lynn Alexander is the producer and editor of web and print content for Full Of Crow Press And Distribution, which includes Full Of Crow, Blink Ink, Fashion For Collapse, MUST, and other projects in addition to distribution of zines and independent publications. Visit Full of Crow.

Head Poetry Editor - Michael Grover:

Michael has not submitted a bio yet, because he is mysterious like that. Look for it here soon...or not?

Nonfiction Headitor/Fiction Editor, Columnist - Frankie Metro:

Frankie Metro lives in a boarding house for ex-cons and sociopaths in the Sonoran Desert. He let Brian Fugget borrow a mop once, and never saw it again. (Brian said he needed it to clean up the language in some of the poems accepted at Red Fez). FM is currently 28 years or 196 in dog years and has been making a mockery of prose writers for the last 15 years, and currently deals nuggets of cooked literature and moral turpitude @ The Meth Lab with his cohort in crime, Newamba Flamingo. It is rumored this place is the cause for the oncoming rapture...Where'd everyone go?

Poetry and Fiction Editor, Columnist - Paul Corman-Roberts:

Paul Corman-Roberts had coffee and donuts with Eldridge Cleaver in 1995 and once pulled a graveyard shift at a Circle K during the Rodney King riots. He misses working in theater.

Fiction Editor - Andy Meisenheimer:

Has a wife and kids and dogs. Lives at home, works there too; occasionally eats out, occasionally works out. Buys more books than he could possibly read.

Fiction Editor - Lindsey Thomas:

Lindsey Erin Thomas is a semi-reclusive omnivorous desert-dwelling mammal. She is also the artist formerly known as Pantifesto's Porntastic Phunhouse. She was probably on her way to becoming a famous photographer, but unfortunately she left her camera at a bus stop in Tampa, Florida. Her new camera, is a Walmart 'Vivitar'-brand model and a real piece of crap. Now, as a part of the Red Fez team, she plans on making her millions as a poetry editor instead. She is also editor and chief as well as the sole contributor to The Journal of the Food Stamp Jet Set.

Poetry Editor - RW Watkins:

Watkins is a poet, essayist, indie publisher and social critic who resides in Newfoundland, Canada. He doesn't take nicely to far-left and far-right social agendas, and is currently sporting a Zappaesque 'tache and soul patch. In a recent top-ten list of most beautiful Canadian women, he listed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 9-year old daughter Rachel at no. 10 in a bid to make the PM even more paranoid than what he already is. The Comics Decoder website is his latest online venture. Watkins's MySpace site. Watkins interviewed by Michele McDannold for Outsider Writers.

Red Fez Radio Host - Tim Murray:

Red Fez Radio is hosted by Tim Murray of Zimbabwe.

Copy Editor - Michelle L. Quinn:

A reporter for a smaller Chicago Metropolitan newspaper, Quinn successfully resisted the siren call of the small press for years until one night, she and Brian Fugett tried to out-gross each other during the first time they ever IM'd. She might not be too confident of her fiction skills at this point in her career, but she promises to at least soothe the delicate sensibilities of those who insist their homophonic heterographs occur in the right place. She will also mercilessly rip on anyone who still uses rape as a metaphor for ... well, ANYTHING, really.

Columnist - Luis Rivas:

Luis Rivas lives in Los Angeles, California. He was a telemarketer, construction worker, assistant drug dealer, flower delivery driver, fast food cashier, sales clerk, non-profit, canvasser, adult store and strip club manager and package handler/zip code sorter. His work has appeared in the following publications, some of which he contributes to regularly: Zygote in My Coffee, Unlikely Stories, My Favorite Bullet, The Hold, Cherry Bleeds, Corium, Rural Messenger Press, Thieves Jargon, Origami Condom, Outsider Writers, Full of Crow, Counter Punch, Gloom Cupboard, where his is Poetry Editor and Red Fez, where he is author of the Last Days of Los Angeles column. He dropped out of Los Angeles Valley College where he was studying journalism to work full-time at a porn shop. Then he got fired. Now he has gone back to school, continuing his studies in journalism and Chicana/o Studies at California State University of Northridge and Los Angeles City College. He is currently a part-time tutor and social justice activist. Once upon a time, he grew a beard. (There is evidence on the Internet.)