CLE Magazine. No. 1 (n.d., 1977) through No. 5 (1997) (all published)
- SIGNED
A complete run in 8 issues of the irregularly numbered and irregularly published Cleveland music magazine, put out over a span of 20 years, including one original flexi-disc and three CDs and CD sets. Various sizes, quarto and octavo. Original illustrated self-wrappers and printed wrappers. Issue no. 1 with toning and chipping/edgewear as well as a tear along central fold, some light scattered toning and soiling to other early issues, minor handling wear to 1990s issues, overall very good. Cleveland: CLEWORLD Enterprizes, 1977-1997. CLE was an unconventional, creative punk magazine published in two spurts in Cleveland, Ohio. Issue nos. 1, 2, 3, 3A, and 3B were put out between 1977 and 1981, at which point the magazine took a 15-year hiatus before resuming with no. 3X in 1996 and nos. 4 and 5 in 1997.
The magazine was founded and edited by Jim Ellis, a Cleveland-based musician and publisher. According to the website ClePunk.com, "No city's formative punk years were complete without its own zine. In the truly underground happenings of the mid to late 70s, a local scene needed the kid who was into it enough to take and gather some photos, write some reviews, interview some bands, throw in some humor, and just as importantly have the strength to persevere and see it through to completion...Here in Cleveland it was CLE magazine." The article goes on to describe Ellis's early start in the music scene, reading Rolling Stone and seeing bands like Cream and The Who before he started high school. He got a job at his local record store, Hideo Discodrome, and was encouraged to start the magazine at the suggestion of his coworker, the musician David "Crocus Behemoth" Thomas. "Jim tells it as, 'David looked at me and said you're not doing anything, you should do a zine.'" He'd only planned on doing a single issue, but after a review of CLE got published in the Plain Dealer, people were seeking out the magazine and Ellis continued publishing issues.
The issues contain features on and interviews with bands such as Devo, the Electric Eels, Mirrors, The Outsiders, Destroy All Monsters, The Residents, The Nuns, Pere Ubu, Dead Boys, Johnny and the Dicks, The Pagans, The Wild Giraffes, Tin Huey, Roky Erickson, Gloria Mundi, Throbbing Gristle, Backdoor Men, Chrome, Urban Sax, The Clocks, and others. Issue no. 3B contains an original flexi-disc record with tracks from Pere Ubu, Dave E. and The Cool Marriage Counselors, Lucky Pierre, Modern Art Studio, The Clocks, and Foreign Bodies.
No. 3X, the present copy still sealed in original plastic, contains a CD touted as "65 minutes of CLE noise!" Our research indicates that it includes tracks from acts such as Mad Daddy, Pere Ubu, Mirrors, Ugly Beauty, Gem, and My Dad Is Dead. No. 4 is accompanied by a 2-CD set, with tracks from bands including Rocket From the Tombs, Gem, Cobra Verde, Swank Motel, Home and Garden, Einstein Symphony Orchestra, New Salem Witch Hunters, Brain Rot Radio Theater, Dead Boyx, The Pagans, Numbskull, New Bomb Turks, Ugly Beauty, and others. No. 5 contains a double-CD set titled "Cleveland Squawks" and includes tracks from Rollercoaster, The Downside Special, Ugly Beauty, Satan's Satellites, Einstein's Secret Orchestra, Gem, The Aggravators, Disengage, Red Giant, and others.
As of February 2025, OCLC locates six holdings of CLE in North American institutional libraries, not all of which are complete.
The magazine was founded and edited by Jim Ellis, a Cleveland-based musician and publisher. According to the website ClePunk.com, "No city's formative punk years were complete without its own zine. In the truly underground happenings of the mid to late 70s, a local scene needed the kid who was into it enough to take and gather some photos, write some reviews, interview some bands, throw in some humor, and just as importantly have the strength to persevere and see it through to completion...Here in Cleveland it was CLE magazine." The article goes on to describe Ellis's early start in the music scene, reading Rolling Stone and seeing bands like Cream and The Who before he started high school. He got a job at his local record store, Hideo Discodrome, and was encouraged to start the magazine at the suggestion of his coworker, the musician David "Crocus Behemoth" Thomas. "Jim tells it as, 'David looked at me and said you're not doing anything, you should do a zine.'" He'd only planned on doing a single issue, but after a review of CLE got published in the Plain Dealer, people were seeking out the magazine and Ellis continued publishing issues.
The issues contain features on and interviews with bands such as Devo, the Electric Eels, Mirrors, The Outsiders, Destroy All Monsters, The Residents, The Nuns, Pere Ubu, Dead Boys, Johnny and the Dicks, The Pagans, The Wild Giraffes, Tin Huey, Roky Erickson, Gloria Mundi, Throbbing Gristle, Backdoor Men, Chrome, Urban Sax, The Clocks, and others. Issue no. 3B contains an original flexi-disc record with tracks from Pere Ubu, Dave E. and The Cool Marriage Counselors, Lucky Pierre, Modern Art Studio, The Clocks, and Foreign Bodies.
No. 3X, the present copy still sealed in original plastic, contains a CD touted as "65 minutes of CLE noise!" Our research indicates that it includes tracks from acts such as Mad Daddy, Pere Ubu, Mirrors, Ugly Beauty, Gem, and My Dad Is Dead. No. 4 is accompanied by a 2-CD set, with tracks from bands including Rocket From the Tombs, Gem, Cobra Verde, Swank Motel, Home and Garden, Einstein Symphony Orchestra, New Salem Witch Hunters, Brain Rot Radio Theater, Dead Boyx, The Pagans, Numbskull, New Bomb Turks, Ugly Beauty, and others. No. 5 contains a double-CD set titled "Cleveland Squawks" and includes tracks from Rollercoaster, The Downside Special, Ugly Beauty, Satan's Satellites, Einstein's Secret Orchestra, Gem, The Aggravators, Disengage, Red Giant, and others.
As of February 2025, OCLC locates six holdings of CLE in North American institutional libraries, not all of which are complete.