My second editorial stint was on a Dylan quarterly called, Judas! This was a far cry from the photocopied, and held together by an occasionally effective slide holder, days of Homer, the slut. The publisher, Keith Wootton, worked tirelessly to produce a “proper” magazine to the highest printing standards we could attain.

The title, however, was similar to my first one in provoking controversy.  There were comments online that Dylan would find it offensive, but these were made after Bob had already seen one.  This happened when he was shown issue 2 backstage in Germany. I had somehow, as one does, accidentally fallen into and through an open door with some friends well before show time.  Upon seeing Dylan for the first time, security were alerted to our presence (“oh my God, it’s Bob!” probably didn’t help our case) and ‘kindly asked’ just what the hell we thought we were doing.  Surprised and pleased to still be alive (and inside!) I gave a copy of the magazine to Jim Callaghan as a thank you, having nothing else on me to give him.  Jim was so pleased it was for him, rather than yet another present he was to take and give to Bob, that he said: “Right I am going to show Bob that I get presents, too” and promptly did so.

We were not asked to change the title.

More strikingly, issue five brought an order of 55 copies from Sony themselves. This was a matter of some pride for Keith and me, but the main credit goes to the article that caused a sudden flurry of activity: Lowdown and Disgusted: the Ballad of Jack Fate by Nigel Hinton. Nigel had seen a pre-release copy of the film and his article caught the eye and favour of someone with considerable weight.  A Sony representative was immediately despatched to Helter Skelter bookshop with orders to buy 55 copies and get them to a certain Sony address in the US.   Helter Skelter only had 32 copies left, which he took after getting the shop to call me and make me promise to post the other 23 that day by the fastest method possible and I would be refunded.  So, that was all very exciting, as you can imagine.  The copies were to be distributed amongst those who had worked/were still working on the film and its release.  It was made clear at the time that discretion would be appreciated so this story did not come out until years later in any form and this is the first time I have been able to give Nigel the credit he deserves.

I have loaded up all the copies we, mainly Keith, have found so far; we are still on the hunt for the missing issues and the few pages that are not present in the ones linked to on your left.  Still, although not yet the complete collection, there is a heck of a lot of quality writing here from fans, professionals and well known names as well as some fine photography for you to enjoy.

Judas!

Home

Issue One

Issue Two

Issue Five

Issue Four

Issue Three

Issue Six

Issue Fourteen

Issue Eleven

Issue 10 - not yet available

Issue Seven

Issue Eight

Issue Nine

Issue 12 - not yet available

Issue 13 - not yet available

Issue Nineteen

Issue Eighteen

Issue Seventeen

Issue Sixteen

Issue Fifteen

Issue Twenty