The Holding Court Issue
Scrap or Die
One sweltering afternoon in July, I found myself breaking and entering into a derelict warehouse on the east side of Cleveland. I was in the middle of a crash course in metal theft from a man named Jay Jackson.
Can Anyone See a Future Without GTA?
GTA V isn't the greatest game of this hardware generation, but it certainly is a rewarding swan song.
Everybody Loves Raymond
Raymond, you need to talk to your son Geoffrey. He won't stop shitting in his pants.
Selling Safe Sex to the Developing World
DKT International, an NGO that provides birth control throughout the developing world, is among the organizations trying to contain the country’s population bomb, and it’s doing so with condom commercials that are too hot for Pakistani TV.
“DAAAAAAMMMNNNNNNN”
Listen to “Daaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnn,” the long-lost classic by the completely unknown white 80s hip-hop artist, Rat Tail, whose current whereabouts are unknown. We discovered the song last November on a cassette tape that was wrapped in a ball...
Instructions for Funeral
David Means is considered by many to be the short-story writer of the moment. Here is a new story about his fictitious (or at least we think so) funeral arrangements. We liked it a lot and so will you.
Employees of the Month
Peter Larson is a 25-year-old Ohioan who normally shoots portraits of musicians. For this issue we had him follow our editor Wilbert L. Cooper through the junkyards and vacant houses of Cleveland. Thanks for helping Will out and taking such great...
One-Night Stands
Not one day passes that I don't crave the open air of a strange and new place, wanting to find myself in inexplicable predicaments on foreign soil and barely escaping with my life.
Untitled
Singer-songwriter Cass McCombs wrote this powerful poem for The Holding Court Issue, with an illustration by Albert Herter.
On Tour with Nirvana!
In mid-October of 1989, Kurt Cobain was in Europe holding a plastic basin full of vomit. The puke belonged to Tad Doyle, the 300-pound former butcher from Idaho who, at the time, had found mild success with his grunge band, Tad.
Hell’s Warm Welcome
Hell is a quaint little village in Norway that's the resting place of 1,600 souls. There are red-roofed houses, a post office, a grocery store, and even a church.