January 3, 2005 5:10 AM

I know; responsible social behavior is WAY overrated

Magazine Toasts Unabashed Alcoholism

The most accomplished people have been drinkers. Hemingway was a great literary drunk, and I think a lot of teetotalers would trade their lives for his in a second. Alcohol is the great socializer. Can you imagine a world without it? Well, I guess you can √≥ it’s called the Middle East.

  • Frank Kelly Rich

From the people who brought you Crack Whore, Coke Head, and Freebase Monthly, comes Modern Drunkard, the definitive journal of dissolution and antisocial behavior.

I suppose if cigar aficionados and poker players can have magazines of their own, why not problem drinkers and alcoholics?

DENVER ó Every hour is happy hour at Modern Drunkard magazine.

It’s barely 3 p.m., and Frank Kelly Rich, who edits the bimonthly homage to getting soused, is draining his gin and tonic and eyeing a whiskey bottle on the top shelf. Moments later, he’s drinking that as well.

A huge bar dominates the office, the fridge is stocked with beer and the handful of employees is invited to drink. Smoking is OK too.

As the booze flows, Rich, 41, extols the virtues of alcohol, calling it a boon to mankind while claiming that drunks are an “oppressed minority.”

Nothing can knock him off message.

What about cirrhosis of the liver? “There’s a tidal wave of new evidence that drinking is actually good for you,” he insists.

What of alcohol’s effect on families? “I think drinking is conducive to a happy family life,” he counters.

Rich lights a cigarette and smiles as the ice melts in his cocktail. His downtown Denver office is decorated with posters of Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason and other famous tipplers of yesteryear.

Hey, who knows? If Modern Drunkard is successful, perhaps we’ll see the genre expand. Could we be seeing the likes of Wife Beater, Modern Adulterer, or Gay-Bashing Illustrated soon? Stay tuned….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 3, 2005 5:10 AM.

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