In 1977, while working at City Lights bookstore, V. Vale founded Search and Destroy, a self-published zine documenting the then-current punk subculture, with donations from Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, his boss at City Lights. “In San Francisco we were late. Punk didn’t start here until ’76. And since I was such a huge Warhol fan, I wanted to imitate him. I thought, ‘I’ve gotta do a clone of Andy Warhol’s Interview.’ I told my idea to Allen Ginsberg, and he whipped out his checkbook and wrote me a check for a hundred bucks. I took the check to Ferlinghetti and showed it to him, and he matched that money with another hundred dollar check.” Says Dead Kennedys frontman, Jello Biafra, “Search and Destroy is the best punk rock publication, ever. It combined art and photography with in-depth interviews and articles.”
In 1980, Vale started publishing RE/Search, a tabloid format zine focusing on various counterculture and underground topics, with financial help from Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and actress/film director Betty Thomas, simultaneously starting his own typesetting business, which endeavor served as a “day job” guaranteeing high quality typography and design for his magazines and books he continued to publish as a labor of love. “If I had it to do all over again, I think I’d take two years out of my life and get an MLS [Master of Library Science] degree. Because it’s what you call a civil service job, they never fire you [laughs]. It’s almost impossible to get fired unless you really screw up, like, you know, set fire to the building or something.”
In 1991, Vale sold his typography business to focus on publishing full time. He is host of television talk format "Counterculture Hour" on Access San Francisco Cable Channel 29. Ever practical and sensitive at once, he writes in the latest RE/Search newsletter, “Well, the Depression is definitely here and will NOT be gone ‘in a couple years’ contrary to corporate propagandists otherwise known as ‘journalists.’ We at RE/Search haven't gotten a mail order in 10 days -- the longest time without a mail order, ever. Very interesting! Well, in times of need, friends will become more important than ever. Make sure you know who your ‘true’ friends are -- that's the best ‘survival’ advice we can give right now... (And, learn an essential skill, like ‘welding’).”
Copies of RE/Search publications including reprints of Search and Destroy are available at their website.
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