You won't see it on any of your regular news outlets. Channel 5 on your side won't send Andy Wise out to cover it. Channel Three won't pass this on. No if not for a tiny website you've never heard of until now the news of this literary milestone would have simply faded into oblivion.
Over 2000 years ago Julius Caesar was told to beware the ides of March and 20 years ago on this day the world could have been told the same thing. March 15, 1993 is a day that lives in infamy. It was the publication date of issue number one of The Jay Foshee Gazette.
The Jay Foshee Gazette was a small run local publication that featured stories and ideas that were from the mind of Jay Foshee. It was a oddity at that time. This was before the internet, before email, any most people were just starting to get a home computer that ran something called "windows." When it came onto the scene in Memphis no one new what to expect. The first run was only 15 copies but that number soon skyrocketed as people began to read, and actually enjoy The Jay Foshee Gazette.
"I remember some of the first letters I received from fans," Says Jay Foshee, "and this was when you had to actually sit and type or write out a letter. The first year of issues were done on an electric typewriter with whiteout. The second year I managed to get a computer which improved the layout but not the typographical errors."
The Jay Foshee Gazette (or The JFG which is was shortened to in later publications) had fans in Louisiana, East and West TN, and a few in Kansas. Jay states he remembers seeing an article in the newspaper about small run magazines that the story called "zines" and thinking that he was one of the forerunners of this movement. Of course the "zine" movement never caught on and then the internet came into play.
"I feel that what I was doing back then was more of a forerunner to what would be known today as blogs. I fought against email, against the websites, against all of that for so long. I liked analog. I liked something about seeing hundreds and hundreds of the same issue. Going to the printer and watching my creation print out was one of my favorite things. Of course money was an issue too" said Foshee.
The Jay Foshee Gazette was purchased from an overseas conglomerate in the spring of 1996 for what Jay Foshee thought was 14 million dollars but turned out to be 12 bucks and half of a sandwich. Jay Foshee had lost his namesake to a Japanese company which rebranded it and went on to make a lot of money. 7 years after it's launch in Japan though a news agency there broke the story that Jay Foshee had nothing to do with the japanese version of The Jay Foshee Gazette and the stock fell. The company went bankrupt.
Meanwhile back in the states Jay Foshee still wanting to write and share his humor with his friends and fans called a lawyer to look over the deal. The beauty was that the contract stated that the Japanese company only owned the rights to The Jay Foshee Gazette but the contract didn't prohibit Jay Foshee from writing new material. So Jay Foshee took his 12 bucks to Kinko's and launched The JFG after a small hiatus.
This hiatus and this rebranding wouldn't be the only time this would happen in the 20 year history of The Jay Foshee Gazette. Also at the time no one was using www. anything so Jay managed to get the rights to his namesake website. The JFG ran a couple of years then was rebranded The JFG 2K in light of the upcoming millennium. The JFG 2K ran for a couple of years and was the foray into the electronic age of The Jay Foshee Gazette.
"The website was great. I taught myself how to do that. It was great to have something out there that anyone, anywhere could access 24 hours a day. They could could say hey my friend had this website that's kind of funny, you should check it out on your dial up sometime!"
The website had no structure to it. Jay stated that he liked that idea of a deadline. So he went to a weekly email. Something that could be cranked out in a hour and satisfy for a short amount of time and it was not too permanent. Some place that he could comment on the stories of the week, throw one or two fun things in and send it on and be done with it until next week.
"I was getting older, friends were getting harder and harder to keep up with. We couldn't just get together and say hey did you read about this or that. It was a way to keep up with people in a faster paced world. I truly liked all of my iterations when they were on full speed and cranking and working like they should have, but I think that the weekly email was my favorite. It turned into a blog as well and maybe that's the way to go."
Shortly after going to the blog format Jay Foshee met Susan Johnson who became his wife and he started in nursing school. Depending on which rumors you wish to believe either nursing school time constraints or the stress of having your relationship in the public life but the JFG into another hiatus.
When asked about the future of The Jay Foshee Gazette Jay says, "It's definitely time to bring in back. I had so many articles I wanted to write about being a newlywed, being a father for the first time, being a father for the second time, being a nurse(placing a hand to the side of his mouth and whispering) although for legal reasons I can't write these.
When asked about format, web presence, or even mobile applications Jay Foshee says, "I have no idea about any of that for now. I've never worried about it, I'd love to learn how to program an app and finally make some money off my writing-you'd pay .99 cents for a Jay Foshee app right?? I don't know or think an app will happen but I've always let the Gazette happen, I tried things and if I felt that they worked they stayed and if I felt that they didn't work I let them go, I never listened to criticism or those that tried to censor me too much, I just followed my heart and did what I thought was right. Don't get me wrong I understand that I will get the "I love it! I just don't want my kids to read it" from some people. That's fine I made some mistakes and I'm sure I will make some more this time around, all I ask is that you join me on the journey. I will try and make it fun.
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