When In Doubt Kick Ass!

For any magazine to try to sum up a whole section of the country in a single issue, much less one article, would seem mighty presumptuous, The “South,” after all, consists of several regions wherein the customs vary: the Gulf Coast and Louisiana bayous, the Mississippi Delta, the Appalachians, etc, Nevertheless, we at CREEM are bored with glam, with rock chauvinism, with the narcissistic infatuation with being bored itself: we're excited about the music coming but of the South tight now, and plan to report on its vast and largely untapped resources extensively in ihe coming year. (Actually we were just looking for a new market to exploit after using up the trendies.)

So we sent some of our own down there, and they came back with a CREEM’s eye view of Southern mores and myths on several levels, along with a genuine love and respect for almost everyone they met while Carpetbagging. The following is the result of teir investigations, and while somewhat superficial can be taken as a mood elevator, an entry to parts of these States and a state of mind that's not nearly as alien as many Yankees mistakenly believe. Or, as one of our New York friends said on the phone the other day when we told him we were doing story on the Southern mentality: “I didn't know there was one. ” There is. There is also an abiding and unaffected warmth, and a raunch that can't be belied. Incidently, the title was a bit of quotable advice delivered to your editor in Grant's Lounge in Macon, Ga., one steamy night, and serves as a motto for the South in general. — Ed.