The Legacy of REVIEW Magazine • New Retrospective Exhibit at Saginaw Castle Museum

The writer Samuel Bowles once said that journalism is literature written in a hurry.

Looking back at all that has transpired throughout not only our region but the larger world we are inextricably entwined within since the first issue of this publication rolled off the press back in April, 1979 it’s an apt definition and no surprise how time flies by chronicling nearly five decades of events, visual & performing artists, personalities, politicians and poets to movers, shakers, and slackers within the pages of 982 issues.

It is with an equal sense of profound awe and immense gratitude to announce that a healthy assortment of what we have chronicled, experienced, and accomplished over the expanse of nearly five decades is now open to the public to view in an Archival Display at The Castle Museum of Saginaw County History that will run through October, 2025.

Back in April 1979, the first editions of what was then known as the Bay Area Review were published with a limited budget and a carefully honed vision inspired by such alternative publications as The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and CREEM magazines, spiked with a taste of the irreverent humor of National Lampoon.

I had made my first foray into publishing back in 1971-72 while attending Arthur Hill High School and co-founding a series of ‘underground’ newspapers called The Democratic Voice, giving students an avenue to express themselves about timely issues of the day directly affecting them such as the Vietnam War, the Draft, birth control, and Women’s rights.

After graduating from Albion College in 1976, I returned home to Saginaw with the idea of starting the area’s first tri-city wide publication of news, the arts, and entertainment based upon the fundamental idea that the region was becoming increasingly interconnected.   While each of the tri-cities harbored a distinct identity, along with 3 separate daily papers, as the population migrated along major arteries linking the tri-cities together, it became apparent the need existed for a publication to bring commonly shared issues and interests of each community together.

This translated into generating a comprehensive events calendar called Out & About linking together all cultural events happening throughout the region, along with downstate concerts in Detroit, coupled with an editorial focused upon giving both a platform and greater exposure to fresh & established musicians, writers, actors, and artists making a difference in the region. 

Our investigative reporting focused on stories the daily publications often shied away froml but at its core, success was cultivated by the caliber of writers, cartoonists, photographers, and humorists we were able to offer an innovative platform of expression to.

In 1985 the name was shortened to REVIEW Magazine and by 1987 it tapped into the vitality of our regional musical scene by producing the 1st Annual Review Music Awards Ceremony, which has evolved into a remarkable cultural event, operating similar to a local Grammy Awards. The inaugural ceremony was the first time a young blues artist known as Larry McCray was introduced to the tri-cities, and over the years this annual event has continued to bring greater attention to the artistic talents of the region’s cultural community. 

A lot of history has been made and chronicled in our pages over the decades: major regional events such as the horrific Fordney Hotel Fire and the Freeland Train Derailment, which both made national news; exclusive interviews with governors and cultural figures such as Abbie Hoffman and John Sinclair, authors like Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller, and iconic performing artists such as Janet Jackson, Art Garfunkel, and the young Greta Van Fleet, who made one of their earliest performances at our annual Music Awards Celebration. 

In 2001 The REVIEW launched its online edition, expanding many of the most popular features of the print edition, and is now entering its 47th year of publishing in April, 2025. 

It has not been an easy road, but it has definitely been a rewarding journey to serve as a diary of the people, places, and events defining the character and climate of what makes our cultural climate unique…..and timeless, not only for  posterity, but for future generations to absorb, digest, and better understand this regional heritage they will one day inherit.

And for that I will be eternally grateful.

For two years now The REVIEW has been working on developing a complete online archive of all our back issues that will also be available to the general public in original print formats.  

Currently, we have all issues from 2006 - 2025 digitized in our archive at www.review-mag.com, but still need to get physical copies scanned and digitized from 1979-2005.

We have established a fundraising campaign to help us cover the expense involved with his ambitious task, so if you would like to make a contribution to this endeavor, kindly click this link and go to the 'Support Local Journalism' donation tab at the bottom of the home page.