The Reader's cover story this week tells the most interesting Chicago political story (not involving a scandal) in recent history: an openly gay leather master running for state rep against the incumbent lesbian daughter of a clout-heavy alderman.
It's been a tough week for LGBT media, just ask the now closed Washington Blade (or don't). But like all print media, it's time to evolve. Chicago's oldest LGBT weekly, Windy City Times just released a new iPhone app, providing local, national and world LGBT news and entertainment pieces to join its Facebook and Twitter social networks.
NewCity's Best of Chicago is live. My favorite: Best accomplishment not yet carved on Burris' tombstone: Knew When to Quit
Time Out's feature story this week is all about Chicago places and things they love except for one little thing. Tell us what you you love but would change about the city in Fuel.
Sufjan Stevens' Illinois may have reached the top spot on Paste Magazine's list of the decade's best albums, but it also marked the end of his planned 50-state project, which he now says he may have taken "too seriously." Incidentally, Chicago's own Wilco snagged second place on the official list and #1 among readers with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Voting for NewCity's Best of Chicago survey closes at midnight -- and Gapers Block is up for "best local general-interest blog." Help us vote it up.
If you pick up a copy of the Trib next week and notice something different, there's a good chance it's because the paper will be testing whether or not it needs the Associated Press.
Geoff Dougherty, founder of the recently departed Chi-Town Daily News, announced his new venture this morning on "Eight Forty-Eight": Chicago Current, a new for-profit public affairs website and monthly print magazine. It debuts Nov. 9.
While we're digging into the archives, Granta's story on the semi-forgotten tunnels that led to the "Great Loop Flood of 1992" gives us the opportunity to link again to this site about the Chicago Tunnel Railroad Company.
Ready with your votes? You have until Nov. 3 to participate.
The Sun-Times News Group employee unions and a judge gave approval for the paper chain to be sold to James Tyree. Here's a little more background on the Tyree.
A bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of the Sun-Times Media Group to the $25 million bid led by James Tyree. Of the 16 unions needed to realize the deal, 14 have approved it so far, and the bidders are optimistic about the final negotiations.
The Sun-Times is up for sale but nobody seems that interested.
In other Tribune news, the NY Times examines the raiding of the Tribune Company.
A new and locally run online magazine has popped up this month geared towards providing gay men features on politics, health, fashion, art and culture. Mint Male's first issue can be read online, while a launch party is being thrown tonight at SkyBar to celebrate volume one, issue one.
According to Time Out's new World's Greatest Cities guidebook, Chicago is tied for fifth greatest city in the world. You can have your say (and vote us up) in their readers' survey.
Did you know that Chicago's first college football team was at the University of Chicago? Led by Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons won all but two games from 1905 to 1909, and were Big Ten champions seven times. Discovered in the Library of Congress' stash of photos from the Chicago Daily News.
I had the good fortune to get an early look at the upcoming "Chicago" issue of Granta magazine and it is as fitting a tribute to our city as it is to the authors who have lived here and written about it. To get an idea of what the magazine contains, read my full review on the Book Club page.
A group of investors including the CEO of Mesirow Financial has made a bid to purchase the Sun Times Media Group. UPDATE: And the next day, the Sun-Times management cut wages above $25,000 by 8 percent.
It seems Venus Zine has closed their doors for the time being. Although their site is still being updated, an automated e-mail states that the magazine "will be reorganizing its efforts over the next couple of months to emerge successful in the new publishing market in 2010."
Ready for the Jazz Festival this weekend? The Reader has your guide to the fest.
Investigative journalist John Conroy writes a thoughtful and gut-wrenching article for Chicago Magazine on his perhaps random mugging last year while riding his bike on Lake Street on the West Side.
For only the second time in 120 years, London-based Granta Magazine is devoting an entire issue to a single city: Chicago. And we're reaping the benefits, including a literary-star-studded kick-off September 14 hosted by Chicago Public Radio's Steve Edwards and featuring local authors Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife) and Aleksandar Hemon (The Lazarus Project). The issue features 26 other locals; check Slowdown for more details.
The "Tribune Watchdog" story yesterday about a $40 million given to Chicago State that the university didn't ask for was good -- and awfully familiar to readers of the Chi-Town Daily News, where it's been written about twice already. [via] UPDATE: Ironically, the Reader's Michael Miner reported today on the Tribune as a victim of the same copycat game.
The Reader's annual Fall Arts Guide is on stands now.
A bankruptcy judge ruled this morning that Atalaya Capital Management made the winning bid for Creative Loafing, the corporate parent of the Reader. Here's a little background on their new overlords, and comments from now-former owner Ben Eason.
Today's best headline: "A meter culpa from the mayor" reads the Sun-Times' scoop that Daley will admit the City "totally screwed up" the parking meter privatization deal due to its desperation for money.
It's probably time to rename this annual feature "Best of Chicagoland," considering a large portion of the list is out in the suburbs. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Nine years after the death of Jeff MacNelly, the Chicago Tribune's editorial cartoonist, the paper has hired Scott Stantis to pen original work for the paper. For a glimpse of what to expect from Stantis (and the Trib's editorial vision), check out this gallery of selected work.
Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak has died. Here's the editorial board's obit.
Mechanics occasional contributor Mike Fourcher breaks down the numbers in the Creative Loafing (owners of the Chicago Reader) bankruptcy sale. [via] More from Michael Miner regarding Creative Loafings' owners' bid.
Illustrator and musician Joe Fournier has created some fantastic paper constructions of Obama, Daley and Blagojevich for the Tribune.
Chicago Magazine's Sex and Love issue includes some interesting statistics about us Chicagoans.
Don't freak out if your favorite downtown newsstand evaporated overnight. It'll be replaced within a month by a fancy, new design by JCDecaux S.A.
It's been a looong time coming, but the Reader's website is finally (mostly) redesigned.
Although it's not hard to catch him smoking in front of the Tribune Tower or having a burger at Billy Goat, 100 lucky Tribune print subscribers will schmooze and make beer-can chicken with legendary columnist John Kass Aug. 1 at the Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton.
The Printed Blog has ceased publication. Brandon Copple of Crain's talks to founder Josh Karp about the project and his advice to entrepreneurs.
So New York City-based news-gossipy website Gawker recently launched a contest of sorts to find America's best news city. NYC nailed the top spot in their informal poll (what a - yawn - surprise), but Chicago tied for second thanks to a characteristic "vote early and often" push by local weblog the Windy Citizen.
Rick Kogan on the end of weekly publication of the Chicago Tribune Magazine. It'll return for special occasions, and the popular bits will move into the Sunday paper.
The Reader reports that the University of Chicago is killing off the Chronicle, the 28-year-old paper whose circulation fell far short of its intended audience of 27,000 (fewer than 4,000 copies were picked up in three separate periods this spring).
The Baffler, the seminal counterculture magazine published by Thomas Frank until 2007, is returning to publication sometime soon, under a new publisher and with a twice-a-year schedule -- though no word yet on when the first new issue will be out. [via]
Chicago Magazine's annual most eligible singles feature is up, with more photos and video than in the past.
Speaking of journalism and how to pay for it, if you're interested in that sort of thing you should come to the Chicago Media Future Conference this Saturday afternoon, featuring panelists from Chicago Tribune, EbonyJet, EveryBlock, Gapers Block and more.
With print publications doing everything they can to stay afloat, Crain's Chicago Business is adding to its 10% pay cut by dropping five issues this year. Their online posts will be unaffected.
The Community Media Workshop released a special report (PDF) today on Chicagoland's top independent and niche news organizations as well as the future of journalism, etc., and ranked the top 20 most influential news websites. Top three were Chi-Town Daily News, Windy City Media Group and yours truly, Gapers Block. Read more on Chicagosphere.
Sam Zell may be pushed out as head of Tribune Co. as part of restructuring during bankruptcy.
The Hope Chest, scans of microfilmed tabloid newspapers of the 1930s. Lots of Chicagland murder and mayhem (and witchcraft?) in there. [via]
With news of important Defender-related archives in the news lately, it seems particularly relevant to mention Mapping the Stacks, a "guide to Black Chicago's hidden archives."
With newspaper publishers holding a not-so-secret secret meeting in the Chicago area today, Rupert Murdoch took to the airwaves with a rather dire prediction about the future of the Sun-Times.
Time Out Chicago for kids, that is.
While the Chicago Defender is in the news for moving back to Bronzeville, archival materials from the paper are making news of their own by being donated to the Chicago Public Library.
The Point, a new biannual journal "devoted to rigorous intellectual essays on contemporary life," celebrates the release of its first issue tomorrow night. Articles cover such topics as David Foster Wallace's legacy, Obama idealism and the counter-Enlightenment.
Recent research demonstrates that the median age of print media readers aged 1.7 years since 2004, but not every publication fared so well. For example, the Trib's median reader age rose 3.7 years during the same period.
Even if you're not that interested in the topic, these "sketchnotes" by Mike Rohde at the Society of News Designers meeting this weekend are pretty darn cool.
It's not just our restaurants getting the high-class recognition. Chicago represents in the newly released Food and Wine Cocktails 2009 guide. Of the 100 top bars named in the U.S., Chicago has five, including C-House, The Drawing Room, Green Mill, Nacional 27, and the Violet Hour.
The Chicago Media Future Conference picks up the thread dropped by this winter's Chicago Journalism Town Hall, discussing where the media is headed and how it'll be paid for. Mark your calendar for June 13.
The Chicago Tribune recently stopped a program that "solicited subscribers' opinions on stories before they were published" after concerns were raised by reporters and editors. If you want the story from the Trib, here you go.
The latest issue of Café just hit newsstands. It's the fifth for this new "Latino Lifestyle Magazine."
You may not know this, but Tribune "expires" the majority of its web content after a couple months. Fortunately, they're fixing this.
Time Out's Jake Malooley has some tips for when you plan your next Ferris Bueller-style day off.
Ironically, one of the casualties of the last round of Tribune layoffs was the writer of the paper's "Recession Diaries" blog (google cache). He wasn't allowed to post one last item to that blog, so he ran it on TrueSlant.
The Tribune layoffs we knew were coming hit today, taking 53 reporters. Crain's and Michael Miner have some names, including some prominent editors and writers.
While researching a post about Playboy's possible de-listing from the NYSE, the Reader's Whet Moser unearthed a database of Playboy centerfolds (NSFW, obviously) maintained by a University of Chicago library employee.
It looks as though donations will keep StreetWise from closing its doors for now.
Chicago's newspapers may not have won a Pulitzer Prize this year, but a play commissioned by the Goodman Theatre did. It's Ruined, by Lynn Nottage.
The story behind the cover illustration for the "Green Chicago" issue of United Airlines' Hemispheres Magazine. [via]
The Chicago State University student newspaper, Tempo, is publishing again, despite an ongoing lawsuit in which it is alleged that the newspaper's advisor was fired and the newspaper has been threatened with censorship and budget cuts following articles critical of the administration.
Following news of StreetWise's financial problems, more than $40,000 has been pledged or donated to help the paper fill its $75,000 budget gap.
On the heels of a major newsroom layoff at the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Company CEO Sam Zell acknowledged purchasing the company was a mistake. If you want to hear it from the horse's mouth, check out Bloomberg TV News.
StreetWise, the publication sold by homeless people as a means of self-support, could fold soon due to lack of funding.
Speaking of the Trib, the paper is adding to the scores it has laid off in the last few months by cutting 20% of its newsroom staff.
The Schaumburg Township District Library now has a rule prohibiting intense smells, adding additional fuel to the controversial relationship between the homeless and libraries. The rule supposedly applies equally to those with too much perfume and those who need access to showers, but we'll see how that plays out...
The Reader's Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke take a look at how Daley and friends managed to push the parking meter privatization deal through City Council with such ease.
The Chicago Headline Club announced finalists for its Lisagor Awards; ceremony's April 24, if you're interested.
"Dear Bill: Thanks for including the Chicago Sun-Times on your exclusive list of newspapers on your "Hall of Shame." To be in an O'Reilly Hall of Fame would be a cruel blow to any newspaper." [via]
New City published its 100 Essential Restaurants list, and for the first time, Charlie Trotter's isn't one of them.
Say the words "Roland" and "Chicago" and a certain overly eager Illinois senator may come to mind. But the Roland in question here is Roland Martin, former editor for the Chicago Defender, former morning host on WVON-AM and now temporary host on CNN's "No Bias, No Bull." The Washinton Post profiles the political commentator and his running feud with a certain Sun-Times columnist.
Just to be clear, the Sun-Times' bankruptcy is much more dire than the Tribune's. The Tribune still makes enough money to cover its operating costs, the Sun-Times can't even do that. This is according to an article by Ann Saphir in Crain's.
While big newspapers are closing or going bankrupt, at least one small paper is just getting started. Welcome The Urban Coaster, a new bi-weekly covering Rogers Park, West Ridge and Edgewater.
The Chicago Sun-Times has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Here's a letter from the Sun-Times' Chairman and CEO Jeremy Halbreich.
Even fictional ones. The Flash is laying off Brenda Star.
Nothin's gonna keep the Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago 2009 list down.
Chicago is prominently featured in the latest New York Times Style Magazine with a nod to a number of local designers and boutiques.
Tuesday, Crain's Chicago Business laid off three employees and instituted a 10% pay-cut for all staff.
Given the CPD's increasing use of high technology to attack growing crime rates, Chicago Mag wants to know: "Can Cameras Replace Cops?"
The Sun-Times is on the shortlist of newspapers that Time has predicted will either fold or go digital in the near future. Sun-Times tweets that they "don't buy it."
Wednesday Journal Inc. is closing its Chicago Journal West Town and selling off two other papers.
The Sun-Times launched today a downloadable "PM Edition" in PDF format (today's issue is 10 pages long), so you can print it out or read it on your laptop on your way home.
What happens when you get a dozen fabulous female cyclists together in Chicago, introduce some introspection and give one of them a camera? The Thought You Knew Us Pinup Calendar, of course. Twelve Chicago cyclists, ranging from road warriors to bike messengers to everyday saddle lovers got together to explore public perception of women cyclists and to raise money for the Chicago Women's Health Center which keeps many of them on the road. Learn more, including where you can get your own here.
This week's Reader feature investigates the financial troubles threatening the eviction of Loren Billings, the 89-year-old widow who lives in and runs the Museum of Holography.
S-T Editor Michael Cooke is resigning to take a new job at the Toronto Star, whose publisher John Cruickshank is also an S-T alum.
Phil Rosenthal wonders, what if Oprah Winfrey bought the Sun-Times?
The Reader wants to know -- vote now in their annual Best of Chicago ballot.
Why read blogs online when you can read them in print? You can give it a shot starting Tuesday. More info on Chicago Public Radio.
According to its editor, Michael Cooke, The Sun-Times printed 520,000 more issues than usual for yesterday's inauguration. That beat the Chicago Tribune in extra copies by 45,000 papers.
Obamaniacs should pick up a copy of this week's Reader: there's a special section devoted to our president-elect, including their 1995 profile of the young politician.
The Tribune is launching a tabloid "commuter" edition of its regular paper on Friday, simultaneously acknowledging that the Sun-Times's shape is easier to read on the train and giving its own Red Eye some competition.
Ex-Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti makes his debut on AOL Sports Monday. The S-T's Kyle Koster shares some thoughts here.
New City lists off its top five of everything.
The S-T announced plans to close and put one of its printing plants in the Plainfield area up for sale by April.
The "Reasons to Love New York 2008" issue of New York magazine is on-line. Their no. 1 reason to love the Big Apple? "Because Obama Is One of Us, Despite All That Business About Chicago." Dang, New York, step off already.
The NY Times is playing around with a new format on its website wherein one can read articles by the Times, as well as numerous other online and print sources, including some from the Tribune company.
From Sunshine Governor to Mr. Unpopularity. (Note the irony of that first headline -- and this whole day, really -- in light of Blago's comments yesterday.)
As was rumored to be coming, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection today. Editor & Publisher gives some background and analysis as to what's happened.
The Reader is looking for submissions for its annual "1000 Words" photography issue. (Here's last year's.)
Slumbering in the U of C's Regenstein Library were nine volumes of The Chicagoan. The U of C Press wants you to know how grand it was. The covers, illustrations and images are particularly worth revisiting.
So what were you doing when you heard the news? The Chicago Reporter wants to know your reaction when you first heard that Barack Obama had won the election as part of their upcoming "50 Days/50 Voices" project. Video, audio and essays are all welcome.
Image Chicago magazine, a "lifestyle" publication with a heavy emphasis on clubbing and fashion, celebrates its third anniversary. You can flip through the latest issue, a dual "hers and his" type of thing, here.
Meanwhile, NewCity's Best of Chicago issue is out.
The latest issue of In These Times features a column on the election from Bill Ayers, the ex-Weatherman and current UIC professor oft brought up during the campaign. [via]
That headline (or was it just a banner?) on the cover of this week's Reader has stirred up considerable controversy. (Thanks, Andrew!)
If you're still looking for physical copies of today's Tribune and Sun-Times newspapers, there will be more printed today, but their methods of distribution will vary. Sun-Times copies will be available in stores in Hyde Park and at their HQ, and the Trib will be sold around town at single-copy outlets and convenience stores. You can also order it online.
If you'd like to see different ways Obama splashed across frontpages in newspapers today, check out Daily Kos' roundup, or go country-by-country at the Newseum.
Today's RedEye gives John McCain a virtual black eye when you open the cover, thanks to a well-placed pie chart on page two.
One year after Punk Planet ceased publication, Radio Free Chicago reflects on its legacy.
Time Out's latest issue is, yes, the Sex Issue. It was only a matter of time.
The Empowered Fe Fes are a local support and action group of young women with disabilities. They're one of 50 Visionaries featured in the November Utne Reader, along with Patricia Watkins of the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations and State Representative Constance "Connie" Howard.
NewCity's Best of Chicago voting is open.
The latest issue of Chicago Life magazine is out, featuring a cover photo by GB's own David Schalliol.
Creative Loafing, the parent company of the Chicago Reader and several other city newspapers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to restructure its debt. The Reader's Michael Miner reports on the conference call with this news.
The Tribune's redesigned paper debuted today, and it's available for free at these locations. Tell us what you think of it in Fuel.
GB contributor Ted McClelland reflects on the decline of the Reader.
The Reader's Michael Miner predicts that this will be the year the Tribune endorses its first Democratic candidate for President.
Michigan Avenue Magazine launched over the weekend, featuring an interview with "hometown supermodel" Cindy Crawford (she's from Dekalb).
Crain's offers an early look at the Tribune redesign, which debuts next week. UPDATE: The Tribune has posted its own tour of the redesign, and is asking for your feedback.
The much-discussed Chicago Tribune print makeover is set to hit the stands next week. It's not as radical as the early prototype, but it's different nonetheless.
Ex-Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti will not be joining the Tribune staff as rumors had reported -- thus avoiding having to share a room with some of the very people he villainized in the past. Mariotti commented on the situation to the Reader's Michael Miner.
The Chicago Cubs aren't the only employees of Sam Zell's with balls. The Chicago real-estate mogul who purchased the Tribune and the Cubs is being sued by several employees of the Los Angeles Times (which he also owns) who are seeking to remove him from the company's board of directors.
Roger Ebert responds (third item down) to a reader who doesn't understand why the esteemed film critic didn't review the piss-poor Disaster Movie. [via]
The Sun-Times reports more information on the impending redesign of the Chicago Tribune. Possible changes include fewer sections and less news. On the flip side, officially naming it the "Trib" apparently won't be happening.
The Tribune's school newspaper experiment, The Mash, debuts today in Chicago Public Schools. Read it online. (Previously.)
According to now former Editor-in-Chief Ari Bendersky, UR Chicago is being put on "indefinite hiatus" due to "the current state of the economy." The magazine's website will continue on, though.
Follow Hurricane Gustav news from the Tribune here and on Twitter.
Reviled Sun-Times sportswriter Jay Mariotti quit yesterday, apparently in a spat over not getting to write this column about Obama dissing the Cubs. Read Ken Green's thoughts on it (and add your own two cents) in Tailgate.
Love him or hate him (and from the looks of readers' responses most thought it was a mistake to print his columns in the first place), you won't have Jay Mariotti to kick around anymore, at least in print. He walked away from his Sun-Times gig yesterday. Might inter-office skirmishes be the reason?
A prototype of the Chicago Tribune's redesign leaked today. Chi-Town Daily News' Geoff Dougherty asks, "What would happen if the Tribune Co. took all the money wasted on redesigning its media properties and put it towards covering local news?"
The Reader has completely redone its online event listings. Looks a whole lot better, although I'm not sure how they arrive at the order in which stuff gets listed.
Jane Hirt, editor of the Red Eye, has been named managing editor of the Tribune.
It's been out in print for a month, but Chicago Magazine's annual Best Of feature is finally online.
That's one way to handle staff cutbacks: the Sun-Times began republishing Mike Royko's columns today. The fact that some people seem to be commenting as if the column was current is hilarious.
The Sun-Times is in bad shape, but things aren't looking great at the Tribune these days, either. One bright spot, though, is their online community outreach. Meet ColonelTribune's team at a tweet-up tonight.
Chicago Magazine has an excellent article looking back at the 2005 accident/failed suicide attempt that claimed the lives of three local musicians, and its effects today.
Common Sense Journalism learned recently that as part of the Tribune's planned redesign of the paper, even the type for the nameplate may be up for grabs. For clues, you might pick up the Red Eye today; its redesign just debuted.
It's pretty dark days at the Sun-Times, Michael Miner reports. Phil Rosenthal (of the Tribune) wonders if the paper might close its doors this year.
After a difficult couple of weeks, Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak announced he is discontinuing his column. It ran for 46 years.
Ron Slattery, expert scavenger and past GB columnist, is the subject of this week's front page feature in the Reader.
Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, who hit a pedestrian with his car last week, announced today that he has a brain tumor. In a statement, he said, "I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period."
The Tribune and EveryBlock have teamed up to map the paper's blotter stories. The results are... depressing.
Of course, the New Yorker article on Obama may be thorough and fluffy, but the cover image has stirred up all kinds of controversy. The artist defended himself in an email to and interview with the Huffington Post.
Beyond calling the taxi company, if you lose something in a cab, you might want to put a listing in the Chicago Dispatcher, the weekly newspaper for the taxi industry. The paper's Lost & Found service covers all your bases.
The Tribune is launching a new newspaper and website, inexplicably named The Mash, just for Chicago Public School students.
The Wall Street Journal has a rundown; the Silicon Valley Insider puts it a bit more plainly.
Breaking news: Just learned that BusinessWeek Chicago is closing shop. Word has it they may not even put out the next issue, which is pretty much completed.
Business Week's Mike Nussbaum calls Chicago "the most innovative big city in America".
South Siders will appreciate that the Lakefront Outlook has finally gone online, even if it is only in image form.
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, planted his first bomb in his hometown of Chicago in 1978. Thirty years later, Tribune investigative reporter Robert K. Elder has gained rare access to family photos and letters, and unpublished writings which contradict the Unabomber's public image as an eco-crusader. The feature will be published on Monday, but the Tribune shared an exclusive photo with Gapers Block; link after the jump.
The Reader has begun to solicit nominations for their annual Best of Chicago issue. The categories range from the standard, like Best Theatre Actor and Best Pizza, to the more original, like Best Dead Architect and Best Building for Wandering Around in Before Security Asks What You're Doing There.
The Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention starts today in Lombard. The Chicago area has an admirable pedigree in the story of pulp fiction, being the birthplace of writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs and magazines like Weird Tales. Gotta love those tawdry covers.
Thanks in no small part to the recent rash of shootings in the city, the CTA is yanking ads for the Grand Theft Auto IV video game from buses and CTA facilities.
On May 12, U.S. Postal Rates will go up - again. Sun-Times critic Kevin Nance sounds off on what this means for the publishing community.
There once was a man named Zorn,
Who looked at the Sun-Times with scorn.
"This must be a trick;
That's not a limerick!"
Thus the Limerick Integrity Preservation Society was born.
BUST Magazine, that 15 year old feminist glossy, has just featured The Cool Kids in their "Men We Love" issue. Hi, BUST? We're Chicago. We already know.
Is TimeOut's calendar off by a week? UPDATE: Apparently it was convincing enough to fool Crain's. D'oh!
The Tribune's website is now optimized for iPhone. (How long do you think it'll take for the Sun-Times to follow suit?)
Fans of Craft magazine will want to stop by The Needle Shop this afternoon for Chicago's release party for issue #6 of the publication. Details at the Craft blog.
Thank you for considering my impressionable mind when editing your fine paper, but you've gone too far. My first glimpse of over-editing was when you changed Shia LaBeouf's "asshole" to the goofy "nincompoop." I was then a little offended when you switched (what I assume was) Buddy Guy's "nowhere" with "[any]where." And then you edited Sarah Silverman's "f*cking" to "doing the deed with." As with my asterisk, if you must edit, could you please stick with the intended meaning?
It's a cleaner design, anyway.
It probably comes as no surprise that Shia LaBeouf recently apologized for his Walgreen's escapade. More surprising (and funnier) is the Trib's insertion of "a nincompoop" in place of LaBeouf's more colorful language.
Here's a pretty great editorial cartoon about the future of newspapers under Sam Zell. [Via]
37signals was profiled in the latest issue of Wired, and were described variously as "brash" "arrogant" "demigods." Jason Fried posted a response to some of the "myths" described in the story.
No, not today's issue -- the paper itself.
Staff at the Sun-Times have started to receive layoff notices...over the phone. That could be the very definition of heartless.
Sun-Times Media Group announced plans this week to shutter three of its neighborhood newspapers at the end of the month. Now it looks like Oak Park-based Wednesday Journal is swooping in to save the Skyline, Lakeview Booster, and News-Star from imminent death.
The LA Times makes a good point about Sam Zell's new plain-English employee handbook for Tribune Company: It's funny, but would it hold up in court?
The Tribune's "hyper-local" community publishing service Triblocal, which provides content generated from both staffers as well as regular Joes and Joannes, is expanding its Web site this week to cover news from 13 Southwest and Western Chicago suburbs, bringing the total number of suburbs covered to 21. The growth is expected to lead to new jobs, says the Chicago Methods Reporter News.
The Sun-Times' Tom McNamee is requesting Chicago oriented jokes for his column, The Chicago Way. If you'd like to see your comedic gem run, you can send it to tmcnamee@suntimes.com.
The Trib will become the first major paper in the United States to stop carrying traditional "help wanted" ads in its weekday edition. Of course, its online jobs section will pick up the slack.
If you were hoping transit funding from Springfield would stave off Metra fare hikes, you're going to be disappointed.
Following last week's Sun-Times reformatting, today's Trib is its first with a reduced page width and a redesigned logo.
Chicago attorney Corri Fetman, the woman behind the "Life's Short, Get a Divorce," billboard, is writing an online column featuring her legal take on love. She also worked in a pictorial, available to those who can't find free pictures of naked people on the Internet. Column here (NSFW).
Following recent job cuts, the Sun-Times moved to a slightly smaller format yesterday.
Conservative Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, outer of Valerie Plame, puts forth a theory about Hillary Clinton's political strategy under the possibly offensive headline, "Hillary's premature triangulation."
Congrats to GB staffers Lauri Apple and David Schalliol, whose photos were picked as part of The Reader's 1,000 Words Photo Issue.
It's been anticipated for months, but today it's official: FitzSimons is out (with a massive severance package) and Sam Zell is in as Chairman and CEO of the Tribune Company. "Whether other Tribune executives will follow him out the door [is] uncertain," says the Tribune. Either way: Good luck, Zell.
The Chicago Tribune is raising its newsstand price from 50 cents to 75 cents. This is the first increase in 15 years. The Sunday price will stay the same.
The New York Times ran an article about the popular DIY-crafting movement and mentioned the Chicago folks behind Circa Ceramics as a shining example of DIY-style success. There's still time to Pledge Handmade and buy gifts from them or one of the other Etsy sellers in Chicago.
Job cuts at the Chicago Reader. Four veteran staff writers - John Conroy, Tori Marlan, Harold Henderson and Steve Boriga - are out.
Chicago Magazine will once again recognize local "groundbreakers in the areas of conservation and sustainability." Know anyone who fits the bill? Nominations are open until December 15th. Winners announced in April 2008.
Red Eye, the Tribune's younger, bubble gum-chewing, celebrity obsessed sibling, just had its fifth anniversary. What's more, they've raised their distribution by 50,000 to 200,000 copies. Fab!
City Council voted unanimously recently to make it illegal to distribute free "newspapers, periodicals and directories of any kind on any public way or other public place or on the premise of private property in the city in such a manner that it is reasonably foreseeable that such distribution will cause litter." Litter is not really defined here, which means everything from delivery menus to phone books to the Reader and Red Eye -- anything containing a commercial message (political and religious materials are excluded) -- could be nailed with fines.
Speaking of the Reader, its redesign debuted today, and they've been brave enough to put up a page where you can tell them what you think.
This week's Reader is the last one by the Chicago production office; when next week's new format debuts next week, it'll be put together by Creative Loafing down South. Pick up this week's copy to see one last message from the outgoing production team (hint: upper left corner).
NewCity's Best of Chicago issue is out. Some surprises, some un-surprises, surprisingly few illustrations. Pick it up.
The Tribune and Sun-Times report the Chicago Reader, which was purchased in July by Creative Loafing Inc., wants to trim staff by making the paper's deliverymen independent contractors. And starting next month, the Reader will switch to a tabloid format, one printed in Milwaukee with production work completed in Atlanta. The CEO of Creative Loafing recently told an interviewer he isn't completely "establishment," noting he was "wearing tie-dyed socks right now."
The Chicago Reader is now offering its archives for free, apparently back to 1987. I'm having fun reading old staff writers like Gary Rivlin, who wrote a favorite book on Chicago politics.
No less an authority than Forbes Magazine names Jen Schefft and William Wrigley Jr. II as the most eligible bachelorette and bachelor in the city of Chicago. They also claim that the Chi is only the 5th Best city for Singles in America.
Chicago Magazine's recent profile of Jeff McCourt is not only interesting for its discussion of the Windy City Times founder's life but for its Chicago gay and lesbian history. [Thanks, Matt!]
Following the announcement that the Sun-Times is going liberal, it called for a boycott of BP gasoline. Editorial page editor Cheryl Reed was recently on On the Media to talk about the boycott call and the paper's future political orientation.
Noted without comment: Toronto Star photographer Lucas Oleniuk and columnist Jennifer Wells reflect on the Conrad Black trial. (Thanks, Charlie!)
What do they have in common? They're all in Chicago Magazine's 2007 Best Of issue.
The Sun-Times blog, "The Outfit on trial", written by Steven Warmbir, is a great example of what a newspaper blog can be. It's separate from their normal news coverage of the Family Secrets trial, chock full of large-format mugshots posted to Flickr and breezy, staccato prose with testimony and back stories of stranglings, skims, and juice loans. Seems Warmbir responds to every reader comment with more detail from the trial.
Dictionary editor and local blogger Erin McKean was the guest columnist for William Safire's "On Language" column in the NYTimes last weekend.
The Beachwood Reporter's daily round-up of what to see in the papers includes the Trib's first front-page ad; a plug for the mattress-man...or something like that.
The Chicago Reader has been bought, along with its sister paper, the Washington City Paper, by Creative Loafing, an Tampa-based chain of four southern alt.weeklies. Here are two PDF press releases, from the Reader and one from Creative Loafing. UPDATE: Here's Michael Miner's take on it.
The Tribune is previewing the upcoming redesign of its website, and it's ...well, boring. Nice web2.0 social networking-type features, but man, how 'bout a little pizazz?
Overwhelmingly Democratic Chicago is finally about to get a "liberal, working-class" anti-war newspaper. And it's...the Chicago Sun-Times! No, seriously, the Sun-Times.
Crain's offers a treasure trove of information with its Market Facts feature this week. Check out maps of census data and an interactive skyline tour, and PDFs of all sorts of market information.
The Reader now offers its restaurant, film, music and event listings in a mobile version for your phone. Could come in handy the next time you're planning with friends who "dunno, whadda you wanna do?"
Chicago magazine has an interesting profile of the least-known son of Jesse Jackson, Yusef, who recently moved into publishing by investing in the resurgent Radar Magazine.
Punk Planet is ceasing publication. The 13-year-old independent magazine has fallen victim to the same distributor bankruptcy issues (though a different distributor) as McSweeney's, and find themselves with no option but to close down. PunkPlanet.com and the book publishing unit will continue on, but PP #80 will be the last.
Remember in the time before blogs how everyone had a zine? If you're one of those folks who still photocopies and staples your thoughts into little booklets, the Neo-Futurists would like a piece of you. They're creating a "tiny zine library" so that people waiting for shows to start have cool stuff to peruse. Send five copies of your zine to the theater at 5153 N. Ashland, 60640, and bring free joy (and, of course, your unique perspective on the world) to the huddled masses.
Jim Coates, the Tribune's computer columnist, said farewell today with a column looking back on how he spent the last 14 of his 40 years at the paper. Whet Moser and Scott Smith offer rememberances.
Chicago magazine has redesigned its website, cleaning up the layout, doing away with their awful URLs and adding another blog: Jeff Ruby's Push, detailing his road to fatherhood.
The Knight News Challenge has been kind to Chicago. Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism received a grant to create scholarships for programmer-journalists -- such as Adrian Holovaty, creator of ChicagoCrime.org, who also received a grant and has left the Washington Post to start EveryBlock. Geoff Dougherty of (recently redesigned) ChiTown Daily News also received a grant to continue his citizen journalism project. UPDATE: Also, Daniel Sinker, co-editor and publisher of Punk Planet, received a Knight Fellowship at Stanford (thanks, Mark).
Sun-Times Media Group continues to suffer, and is now considering closing or selling 25 of suburban weeklies it spent the last decade consolidating.
Following the Sun-Times' P.M. Download Edition, the Tribune is considering launching an online evening edition. At least in theory, the edition would be more focused on news analysis than summaries.
Crain's Chicago Business' full Doing Business in India feature is now online. It's a pretty interesting look at how Chicago-based businesses are moving into India, such as how McDonald's is finding success in a country where cows are sacred, and how John Deere is changing the way road construction is done.
Things are looking grim over at the Trib. One hundred jobs are expected to be cut, and an employee buyout will probably take place today.
Interesting reading about TribLocal.com yesterday; in early March I learned about the Sun-Times' plans for something very similar: NeighborhoodCircle.com, which was top secret at the time. Wonder which came first?
The Trib just launched Triblocal.com, a site that allows ordinary folks--just like you, good citizen--to contribute stories and photos about the city and 'burbs. Choicer bits will be selected for a weekly print edition. Just remember to read the user agreement before you sign up since "we need to retain the rights to the materials you send us."
As authorities struggle to identify the person (or people) responsible for 33 dead at Virginia Tech, the media continues to refer to an exclusive report by Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times that quotes a source as saying that at least one shooter was "a Chinese man who arrived in the United States last year on a student visa. The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said." UPDATE: Sneed was close, but not quite right.
Novelist, essayist, playwright, artist, activist, and, yes, City News Bureau of Chicago reporter, In These Times contributor and University of Chicago graduate, Kurt Vonnegut, has died. "So it goes."
Roger Ebert wrote a letter in 2004 in support of union workers at Sun-Times should they decide to go on strike, and got a chastising letter back from former Hollinger chairman Conrad Black. Ebert's reply pulls no punches. (Thanks, AZ!)
The Chicago Sun-Times relaunched their new redesigned paper today. NewsDesigner.com has the details. Steve Rhodes at the Beachwood Reporter has some thoughts on it.
The anticipated sale of the Tribune is official, and local real estate tycoon Sam Zell has bought it. In an interesting twist, Zell announced that he will sell the Cubs, leading immediately to speculation on who might buy them. Solid perspective from the Beachwood Reporter, of course.
College newspapers may not be known as paragons of journalism, but some local schools have some trailblazing pieces online, such as Columbia Chronicle's Jackass of the Week column. Other recent college paper wackiness comes from an article about Microsoft vernacular, an apology from a paper that got it all wrong and a pseudo op-ed arguing for a "Star Trek Defense" system against illegal aliens.
Someone smart at the Tribune asked its arts and architecture critics what prompted them to reevaluate artists in their disciplines. Some second looks include the Trap Door Theatre, William McDonough and Walker Evans.
In a stark take on the remaining public housing near Halsted and Division, the New York Times says, "the Plan for Transformation, a national model in its scope and original ambition, is off schedule and in need of more money."
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nominee for a National Magazine Award for general excellence, in the smallest circulation category.
Not sure when this feature was added, but every article on the Sun-Times website now has social bookmarking links from a service called Add This. Careful with your clicking-- the "share" links are just above the ad in the right-hand column.
Today's Sun-Times contains a brief, meaty letter from publisher John Cruickshank on the subject of Lord Conrad Black's "fallen empire." The former CEO's fraud trial kicks off today and while "feelings of resentment ... are still quite inflamed," the paper promises to provide scrupulously fair coverage.
Crain's Chicago Business sent a team to India to examine how outsourcing and the rise of South Asia in the business world will affect people here. Great team coverage.
You're probably overwhelmed by articles about Barack Obama by now, but if you're still interested in learning about his local roots, you may want to check out the Hyde Park Herald's special Obama issue. The entire 24-page issue is Obama-centric, including a lengthy article about his wife, Michelle.
Chicago Parent magazine has redesigned its website, which now includes a whole bunch of blogs covering a variety of aspects of parenting, from feminist childrearing to being a working mom to just being a dad.
It's 1961 and the communists have overthrown the government of the United States of America. Prepare yourself for the U.S.S.A.! What is the communists' first step? Move the government to Merchandise Mart! As J. Edgar Hoover says, read this comic now in order to "help us recognize and detect communists as they attempt to infiltrate the various segments of our society."
Congrats to the Lakefront Outlook, an 11,000-copy free weekly covering Bronzeville, on winning a George Polk Award for outstanding journalism. Last month The Reader's Hot Type column covered the paper's investigative report on Dorothy Tillman and the blind intern who helped write it. UPDATE: The award-winning article in PDF format. (Thanks, Whet!)
The Tribune is suing Fox News over the network's use of the name "Red Eye" for its late-night talk show — which is currently called "Gary Gutfield's Show" on Fox News' website, although the URL hasn't changed.
Apparently, every month the editors of the Chicago Manual of Style get to sound off about our collective grammatical shortcomings in the Q&A section of their website. Harper's Magazine reprinted some of their amusingly snarky responses in this month's issue, and the blog of the U of C Press couldn't help but pat itself on the back. "Delicious irony." Jeez.
This month's Chicago Magazine contains a funny little feature providing high school portraits of area notables like Dave Eggers, Liz Phair, Harold Ramis and Donald Rumsfeld.
The latest news about the Tribune's potential sale: Billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell is said to be interested in buying the company.
Editor & Publisher Magazine reports the death of Ed Rooney, a Pulitzer Prize winner and giant of Chicago newspapermen. They note that his "clip book would read like a history of Chicago's most famous and infamous moments." His resume is a roll call of Chicago newspaper glory days -- Chicago Sun, Daily Southtown (Southtown Economist), City News Bureau, Daily News. The Sun-Times has a great obituary full of specific tributes as well as a listing and a guest book. Tribune also has coverage here.
Nice profile of Adrian Holovaty, creator of ChicagoCrime.org and master of the Google mash-up, in the American Journalism Review. What they don't mention is his fine guitar playing.
The Tribune Company received just three bids in its self-auction, and none look all that appealing, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Chandler family, the former owners of the LA Times who own 20 percent of TribCo.'s stock, made the best offer, but it's just a little higher than the current stock price. Read the Chandlers' letter here [PDF]. One of the others was for just the broadcast division.
UPDATE: Citing a "second nuclear age" and "climate change," the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the Doomsday Clock to five minutes to midnight.
The Beachwood Reporter does a send-up of the Mac vs. PC commercials featuring our hometown papers -- the difference being that neither the Trib nor the Sun-Times comes out on top.
The Columbia Journalism Review reports on the unexpected popularity of the Tribune's story on the O'Hare UFO sighting [previously], which has gotten over a million pageviews and has turned editor John Hilkevitch into a sort of celebrity. (Thanks, Matt!)
Following in Chris Ware's footsteps, Ivan Brunetti has done a cover for the New Yorker magazine. The image has been posted on the Fantagraphics blog.
The Tribune and the Sun Times are further trimming their print publications in response to digital media. What will go next?
Biannual publication AREA Chicago is holding a fundraiser at Danny's Tavern, 1951 W. Dickens, tonight from 10pm to 2am. It's free to get in, but 25 percent of the bar proceeds will go to AREA -- so drink up!
Jersey boy Mark Fitzgerald sure is happy to see the New York Post available in Chicago: it serves, he says, "as transportation" to the Big Apple, even as it "packs the same kind of sticker shock as searching for a hotel room in Manhattan."
You almost feel sorry for the Sun-Times when CJR Daily goes after its business section, accusing it of shilling for The Man. After all, this isn't the first time. Then you think, wait a sec -- this is a major newspaper in an international business center, and you get over it.
If you'd like to know more about the Chicago Public Schools than what you can discern from short, mass media pieces, check out Catalyst Chicago, the local outpost of the urban education magazine. Be certain to visit the guide to CPS and research sections, which provide original content and links to research institutions.
Apparently, it's news when there's graffiti in Blue Island.
There are two columnists in Chicago I absolutely can't stand, Richard Roeper and Liz Armstrong. Fortunately, within a few weeks, that list is going to be down to one: Liz Armstrong (of the Reader's "Anti-Social" column) is moving to Vegas. Hopefully, what goes to Vegas, stays in Vegas.
The Reader has added two more blogs to its growing stable: The Food Chain covers restaurants, while On Film covers -- well, you can probably guess.
The cartoonist Chris Ware must not have much spare time: he's drawn four separate covers for this week's New Yorker, each designed around the theme of Thanksgiving. Plus, there's a companion strip on the inside of the mag, and the New Yorker site has some interview audio of Ware talking about the series.
What if both the Tribune and the Sun-Times were up for sale, and nobody local wanted to buy them? Unlike in other areas (L.A., Boston, et al.) where the major dailies may be on the block, that seems to be the case in Chicago. Crain's speculates that "today's civic saviors" may "spring into action only when the threat of out-of-town control ... becomes more grave." For now, though, the city that staged an uproar over the renaming of a department store is keeping awfully quiet. [via]
The Tribune isn't the only local paper that might be for sale: the Wall Street Journal reports that some Sun-Times Media Group investors are calling for that paper to be sold too.
I wonder if the Tribune's falling circulation numbers have anything to do with the paper suddenly appearing unbidden (and unpaid-for) on my doorstep for the past few weeks.
At least five suburban student newspapers are in trouble, and as Northwestern School of Journalism Dean Richard Roth puts it, "I hope they're not going out of business. We have enough problems with newspapers without losing them in high school."
Speaking of pumpkins, The Reader has a convenient list of haunted houses, ghost tours and other Halloween events from tonight through the big day itself.
Check out a preview of Chris Ware's new project "Building Stories" in The Independent.
Dick Tracy turned 75 today. Check the funny papers for several tribute strips, order the TV series on DVD, or drive out to Naperville for the celebration.
Readers aren't the only ones missing Roger Ebert as he recovers from surgery undertaken earlier this year; the Sun-Times News Group's web division is, too. His absence has contributed to a 25% decline in visitors to the paper's flagship site and a 65% drop-off in visitors to RogerEbert.com. The date of Ebert's return remains uncertain.
For a happier take on transit, we turn to today's Going Public column. You may have read the story about Joe Benarroch and Jason Fournier's love connection on the 146 on your own commute this morning. A surprised Fournier read it under different circumstances -- aloud over a breakfast with friends and family. The story's end is a sweet one: as the video captures, Bennaroch proposes, Fournier says yes. [Edit: The RedEye informs us Fournier remarks "this isn't a good picture" prior to reading the article; he does not comment on the paper as this item originally read. Apologies for the error.]
So Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg writes a column Thursday saying that he's against reparations for slavery. In her Sunday column, his colleague Mary Mitchell takes him to task.
Newcity's Best of Chicago 2006 issue is out on the streets and online. Categories range from Best Local TV Weatherman (Tom Skilling) to Best Reason For Chicago To Host The Summer Olympics (international recognition of the South Side). Websites chosen for the list include Art or Idiocy (Best Chicago Art News Blog) and Avoid The Ryan (Best Thing About the Dan Ryan Construction Project).
Is Stop Smiling's "lack of pretension" due to having its base in Chicago? Slate's Jack Shafer isn't sure, but, boy, does he love it. (For a dose of "intellectual legibility" and "graphic soundness," currently on newsstands: Ode to the Midwest, featuring interviews with Dave Eggers and the founders of Steppenwolf; currently online: an interview with local author Joe Meno.)
You've got not one, but two opportunities to help Bitch Magazine celebrate their 10-year anniversary. Come by Women & Children First tonight as Bitch's editors and founders discuss Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. And on Thursday, come to the Hideout for an all out, GB and Northwest Suburban NOW sponsored party. It's a great week to be a Bitch. (As always, Slowdown's got you covered.)
The Sun-Times launched a redesigned website Monday night; it looks swell, but they also changed the way their URLs are built, so any links to articles that worked yesterday are now completely useless. [Matt adds: I'm not sure how swell it looks, but it's not just the links that are obsolete -- the old RSS feeds are, as well, so you'll apparently need to resubscribe. Beyond that, here's the site tooting its own horn.] (Thanks, Mike.)
A few days ago, it was Fran Spielman serving as the voice of the establishment; today, it's Sun-Times business reporter Sandra Guy, with her breathless account of an Osco to CVS makeover. The article is so full of marketing department talking points that CJR Daily hardly has to do any work: it savages the piece by merely pulling quotes.
Talking to Chicago Magazine, Sun-Times firebrand Jay Mariotti says hating the player just makes his game more famous.
The Columbia Journalism Review Daily takes the city's mainstream media to task for its "uncritical coverage" of the losses of Field's and Carson's. CJR thinks the press could use a little more healthy skepticism about the evolution of State Street; instead, they say, "the coverage has been strangely uncritical, bordering even on the boosterish." What's more, in the stories about the department stores' handovers, the opposing quotes have come largely from the superannuated. Given the strong opinions proffered here in Fuel and the many younger faces at Saturday's anti-Macy's demonstration, I wonder if the dailies really weren't trying hard enough.
Apparently we can't get enough of the Red Eye. The Tribune is predicting its free weekdaily tabloid will be profitable this year, and is upping the circulation 50 percent to 150,000 and adding more boxes around the city.
Cool headline of the week award goes to The Chicago Journal for their lead article, Geezerpalooza. (Oh, and they're going from a broadsheet to a tabloid format too, so look for the new layout.)
Time once again to vote in Newcity's Best of Chicago survey. You have two weeks to cast your ballot, and then the Best of Chicago issue shows up on September 28.
Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss, lambasted by the Dramatists Guild for reviewing (poorly) the Stages 2006 musical theater workshop at Theatre Building Chicago, gave her side of the story in a letter posted late yesterday on Romenesko. Weiss says she was expressly invited as a reviewer and given extensive press materials including photos for publication; she also says that both the Sun-Times and Tribune have reviewed Stages in the past, and suggests that trouble arose only because her review this year was negative and the Tribune's critic was on vacation. Meanwhile another Romenesko reader thinks that if the workshops were worth the "prime-ticket ticket pricing" of $85, they were worth being reviewed.
On August 16 Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss published a piece reviewing the eight new musicals at Theatre Building Chicago's Stages 2006 festival. Trouble is, the musicals at Stages are presented in workshop, in the early stages (get it?) of development, and they're not meant to be reviewed as final products (TBC says Weiss was explicitly reminded of this). What's more, Weiss stated up front that she didn't see any of the new works in full. The review's ignited a firestorm of criticism in the national theater community, culminating in an open letter to the Sun-Times from the president of the Dramatists Guild demanding an apology, with supporting comments from a score of major playwrights.
Just posted on Wired's site, a profile of Pitchfork from the magazine's current issue.
Days after a New York Times researcher was convicted in China for carrying out his work, a Tribune reporter, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize, has been charged as a spy in Sudan. The paper's website carries extensive coverage of Paul Salopek's situation and reprints his award-winning coverage of both the Human Genome Diversity Project and political turmoil in Congo. Salopek was in Africa working on a project for National Geographic, which has issued its own statement.
Taking another step away from scissors, glue, and late night photocopying sessions, our city's very own Punk Planet has redesigned and expanded its website. Of particular note is the addition of user blogs.
Circulation fraud uncovered a few years ago continues to trouble the Sun-Times's business; its parent company lost nearly $14M last quarter. On the upside, says CJR Daily, at least these days they're being honest.
In a local marriage of old and new media, the Sun-Times recently bought Centerstage. And, sure enough, the paper's already showing off its newfangled trophy wife right there on its homepage.
Aurora's Beacon News presents a challenge to local readers: serve as our front-page editor. Seriously. With an aim of "get[ting] some diversity of opinion on the news of the day," Editor-Publisher Rich Nagel invites 120-word applications to follow in the footsteps of today's Rotarians. [via]
Editor & Publisher notes RedEye, the Tribune-produced tabloid, is revamping its loyalty program as iSociety, positioning it as a way to gain what manager Brad Moore calls "'exclusive'" access to clubs, bars and events. In other changes, for those who didn't make it to the last page on the train ride in, the paper is putting more content online, hoping that "'traffic will spike at 10 in the morning.'" (How's that for a detailed business plan?)
KIPlog's Food blog points us to the Tribune's article on the trend of foodies taking pictures of their meals, accompanied by photography tips and a short list of food-porny blogs.
Some time back, I mentioned local author Daniel Raeburn's heartrending account in the New Yorker of his daughter's stillbirth. When it ran originally, the article wasn't online; it is now. The reason? Raeburn and his wife welcomed a healthy baby girl in May. As before, handy tissues are recommended, but this time the tears will be happy ones.
The Reader has launched its first blog, the Daily Harold, by longtime staffwriter Harold Henderson. Henderson claims to be "the World's First Blogger," conveniently leaving out of the Wikipedia definition the part about a blog being on the Web. Good luck with that.
If you didn't make it to Radiohead's two-night-stand at the Auditorium Theatre this week, Jim DeRogatis (he of the fantastic neck wattle) gives you a highly complimentary, detailed review in today's Sun Times.
Is it wrong for the Tribune to include its own Chicago Magazine in its list of the 50 best? I'm not sure, but at least it's only number 41.
The ongoing drama about the future of the Tribune Company took another turn today, as its second-largest shareholder, the Chandler family, called for its breakup and, potentially, its sale. Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimmons recently announced plans for cost cutting, stock buy-backs and sales of a few non-core holdings, but opponents say that's not enough. One contentious spot is the Cubs franchise: Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Telander isn't the only one clamoring for its divestiture. For its part, the Tribune's flagship paper is running Bloomberg News coverage of this latest development, coverage that notably concludes with the line "Not all investors back a split of the company." (Meantime, a scathing critique of the editorship of Ann Marie Lipinski in today's Beachwood Reporter.)
The Community Media Workshop here in Chicago is holding a conference tomorrow and Thursday called "Making Media Connections". As they put it: "Join community leaders, nonprofit communicators and board members, mainstream and independent journalists, publishers, media experts and the general public to discuss getting our communities' important stories told." GB staffer and ChicagoBloggers curator, Brian Sobolak and myself will be joining Steve Rhodes of The Beachwood Reporter on Thursday from 1:45-245pm on Thursday, the only day left for registration at the door. We'll be discussing "Emerging Online News Outlets" but there are plenty of other events and discussions going on to pique your interest.
A while back you might remember an online search for women who are smart, work for change, and speak their minds called the Real Hot 100. It's an effort to battle the stereotypes that magazines like Maxim put out into the media. Well, I'm happy to share that GB's own Cinnamon Cooper has been chosen as one of the 100! Joining her are other Chicago ladies including Anne Elizabeth Moore, Searah Deysach and Jenni Grover Prokopy. Check out the full list of the Real Hot 100, with full profiles coming June 15.
In light of recently alleged attempts by Cubs management to intervene in Tribune coverage, Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter sounds off on the conflicts of interest endemic to a media outlet owning a sports team. (He comes to some harsh conclusions. The words "misguided and mediocre management" get used. For both the team and the paper.)
After 30 years, Sun-Times sports columnist Ron Rapoport wrapped up his career earlier this month. In an interview with Scott Simon, he looks back on some of the greater (and the smaller) moments of the past three decades.
The Times on Vita Excolatur: "Since its inaugural issue in October 2004, Vita has been a constant challenge for a university trying to balance ideals of academic freedom and its role in loco parentis." Which, ya know, is one way of putting it...
The Week Behind digs up a 1982 video of legendary columnist Mike Royko hanging out at the Billy Goat Tavern, talking softball, his father's bar and more. (via)
On the day the judge will decide whether George Ryan has experienced a mistrial, Eric Zorn offers a defense of the Tribune in the matter of its late revelations about the jury. Despite the rather easy conspiracy theories, Zorn claims the discovery was accidental and not the result of a leak; thus, he argues, the timing, while unfortunate, was unavoidable. The paper has published an account of the developments, as well.
Suburbanites are well-served by their newspaper, at least according to Editor and Publisher, which has named Doug Ray of the Daily Herald its Publisher of the Year. E&P cites the "overstaffed" newsroom (it has 60 more employees than the Sun-Times) and "coverage that reflects a Chicago suburbia increasingly populated by recent immigrants from Mexico, Poland, India, China, and other nations."
Chicago magazine keeps racking 'em up, adding to last week's National Magazine Award nomination with four nominations today in the City and Regional Magazine Association's national awards, including General Excellence (competition: Los Angeles magazine and Texas Monthly. We can so take them).
If you pick up the latest issue of ReadyMade magazine, (No. 22) you'll see some familiar, and some possibly new Chicago faces. A profile on indy print shops starts with a stop at the bird machine and chat with our favorite (poster) boy Jay Ryan, following that, is a piece on local Music Box Theatre organist Mark Noller who loves the grand movie theater so much he built a scaled down replica of it in his garage. Also featured: Instructions for some do it yourself (that's DIY, for those in the know) Dan Flavin fluorescent light installations (just like the ones at the MCA last summer).
Chicago magazine received a National Magazine Award nomination today for General Excellence in its circulation bracket (100,000 to 250,000), putting it up against Foreign Policy, Harper's, Town & Country Travel, and the Harvard Business Review. The mag has been a finalist eight times before in various categories; it won for General Excellence in 2004, as we told you then.
Not known for their work in the erotic arts, U of C students have put together a magazine of erotica named VITA EXCOLATUR. It's in its 2nd year and is out now for a measly $2. Since there are few things hotter than Latin-titled erotica, I'm sure this stuff is smokin' hot. Better than O-Chem, anyway.
A day after the Tribune's snide editorial about the "indefinite" future of blogs, columnist Eric Zorn demurs, calling the paper itself "a veritable Blogoslovakia" with a growing presence online. Mind you, Zorn could have gone farther: he fails mention that the Tribune has taken to printing web log content among its editorials, and he's gracious enough not to point out that you just can't get more tired than Al Gore/Internet jokes.
Last May we told you about the Daily Herald's youth-oriented blog site, Beep. Last week Beep relaunched as BeepCentral.com, with a richer mix of blogs, feature stories, and entertainment listings, plus a note that a print tabloid version is on its way. (Thanks, Aimee!)
The Trib's losing its public editor next month, and John Cook wonders when and if he'll be replaced. The ombud position isn't the only one that'll be vacant; Cook reminds us that there's been no editorial cartoonist for 2,049 days, no Tempo columnist for 1,241 days, no book critic for...well, you get the picture.
Nice profile of Stop Smiling in the Sun-Times today, with a headline that makes it sound like the magazine is in dire straits (it's doing just fine, actually).
The Chicago Underground Library (CUL) has announced its first community meeting. CUL's goals include creating an online archive of independently published and small press works in Chicago. Chicago's sexiest librarians, Nell Taylor & Emerson Dameron, hope to see you Saturday, February 11, 3pm, at East Village's newest coffee shop: Mercury Cafe, for an informational and organizational meeting for CUL and the independent publishing community.
Regardless of whether or not it's even genuine, this Craigslist ad is more than a "call to writers" -- it's a full-on manifesto.
Great article in the Wall Street Journal today about Residents' Journal, a bi-monthly newspaper for Chicago Housing Authority residents. The paper is struggling to stay afloat on grants, while its readership is spread across the city and suburbs.
"Ware is taking advantage of the specific possibilities offered by his form, and doing something that would be unimaginable in another one." The New York Press appreciates Chris Ware, and names his Acme Novelty Library "the best book of the season". (link via Fantagraphics blog)
Look for the new format of Wednesday's Chicago Free Press. (Now if they could just do something about that website...)
The Chicago Defender's editor reports today that the daily was profitable in 2005 for the first time since 1984. Among other positive changes, the paper added two full-time reporters and will move from their historic South Side headquarters to the Loop next Tuesday.
If you're a Sun-Times reader and have missed the "token liberal" in your Sunday paper, you'll want to read William O'Rourke's eulogy for his career as a columnist, if only just so he can have the last word.
The Sun-Times has finally caught up to the other major dailies and launched a blog: columnist Debra Pickett maintains the paper's everyman ethos with remarkably average posts. In the meantime, it'll be interesting to see which paper catches up to the Defender and adds a podcast.
Earlier in the month we mentioned the Chicago Daily News, a new Chicago news site with an old name (the original Daily News was a paper that was published through 1978). Now comes word from the Tribune that the Sun-Times sent a cease-and-desist letter to the operators of the Daily News site, claiming that they still own the copyright to the name, even though the paper hasn't been published in years and there does not appear to be a current copyright on file at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Perhaps the Daily News Website admins can change their name to "Red Streak"...
The Red Streak's breakup letter, courtesy of columnist Mark J. Konkol. (tip from Romanesko)
Red Eye and Red Streak readers who have been wondering which paper was going to fold first when the Tribune started giving away the Red Eye for free this year got their answer this week: the Sun-Times is ceasing publication of the Red Streak with Thursday's issue. Although the Sun-Times originally promised to keep publishing the Red Streak as long as the Red Eye was published, the Sun-Times views the Trib's decision to give away Red Eye papers as a vindication of their strategy to prevent the Trib from establishing, in Sun-Times editor in chief John Barron's words, "a successful paid-circulation tabloid."
Did it just happen? Was I blinking and missed the announcement? Can't quite say, but I'm happy to notice the Trib has introduced feeds for its various news sections. (The Sun-Times also offers feeds and has been doing so for a while. We do, too, of course -- I've found the Atom-formatted ones work best.)
Crime is never funny, unless you're The Chicago Journal's police blotters, which read like the snarky redheaded stepchildren of Onion articles. They're good for a laugh and some neighborhood crime-awareness.
Today's Times runs an elegy for the soon-to-be-defunct City News Service. Although the service has been discontinued by the Tribune, it boasts alums like sculptor Claes Oldenburg and author Kurt Vonnegut, who described his tenure as "like getting a Purple Heart." [In the GB archives: Ellen Warren's tribute.]
Tired of Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 List limiting the idea of what young women have to offer the world, a group has started The Real Hot 100 list, where you get to nominate young women who are thwarting stereotypes and making a difference in their communities. Check out some of the Chicago nominees, including GB's own Cinnamon Cooper and Early to Bed founder Searah Deysach. The final 100 will be published in magazine format in time to coincide with Maxim’s next Hot 100 list next year, so go nominate now.
Why, it's so cold that the Sun-Times is reporting that we're on track to break a December cold-weather record set in 1976. Still, you can take some (cold) comfort in the National Weather Service's claim that we "have a 50 percent chance of a warmer-than-normal winter." Thanks for those odds, NWS.
As part of staff cuts, the Tribune is killing off City News Service. Founded in 1890 as the City News Bureau, it was a first job "boot camp" for aspiring journalists including Mike Royko and Kurt Vonnegut. Trib editorialist Ellen Warren has a rememberance.
For the second year in a row (that I'm aware), Esquire's Best and Brightest issue includes a University of Chicago mind. This year it's assistant professor of human genetics Bruce Lahn, lauded for his investigations into human evolution. Sometimes that school of mine does make me proud. (You need a subscription to finish reading the article, but it's on page 241 if you head to your newsstand instead.)
Michael Miner has a good overview of the Taste of Heaven controversy and its aftermath in this week's Reader. He gets comments from the article's author -- which I haven't seen up till now -- as well as most of the major characters. Good stuff.
SearchEngineWatch reports that Google will soon be testing a print ads in an as-yet-named Chicago newspaper. Details to come...
The Tribune Co. without the Tribune? Merrill Lynch says it could happen. (Not surprisingly, the company had no comment.)
Are you a member of a band, looking to get hyped in the local media? Check out Scott Smith's helpful write-up of last night's Chicago Music Commission panel on pitching to the press.
Punk Planet's good news is tempered with some really bad news: its distributor, Big Top Newsstand Services, is the last distributor of independent media like PP, and it's having serious cashflow problems. Which puts the magazine in a tough spot. You can help by subscribing (just $18 a year, $30 for two years) or picking up a book or some other merch.
Sunday marked the opening of Bitch magazine's second fundraising auction. To help support your favorite feminist, pop culture read, head over to their eBay store and put in your price. Auctioned items include cross-stitch kits, original art and, most notably, two Poise bags created and made by GB's own Cinnamon Cooper. Bidding runs through October 30, 3pm PST and all proceeds go directly to the magazine.
ChicagoPoetry.com has announced an open call seeing "under-published" poets and new voices for a limited edition hardbook and online anthology entitled, "American Open Mike: The New American Voice" to be published in January 2006. So get your couplets on.
Note to John Cruickshank: follow through and kill off Red Streak. This Chicagoist post makes its also-ran status all too clear.
Speaking of 826CHI, Dan Kelly, contributor to the Reader and the Chicago Journal, had his volunteer intake interview today, and he's already planning future workshops.
You only have a few more days to get your proposals in -- until the 10th -- but if you've got some ideas brewing that combine all that is good about Chicago art, education and activism, AREA Chicago wants to hear from you. Published twice a year, AREA hopes to introduce projects, individuals and groups in the hopes of strengthening those voices and intentions: "Simultaneously gaining a voice within the city to share and speak to each other, we hope to also extend the activities that originate here and share them with the world." Email areachicago[at]gmail[dot]com for more information or to share your thoughts.
Once the Tribune announced plans to drop the RedEye price pretense, we knew it couldn't be long until the Sun-Times adjusted its Red Streak strategy. Sure enough, word comes from Crain's that change may be afoot: publisher John Cruickshank's considering pulling the plug.
Full disclosure: "Fender Bender," an item that recently ran in the New Yorker, has little to do with Chicago. Truth be told, the story's set in L.A. (and, indeed, some might say "only there..."). All that established, talk about gapers' block gone wild.
XLR8R magazine does an annual "city issue," and this year they've touched down in Broad Shoulders country. Replete with music interviews, fashion features and photo essays (including one by past GB featured artist Matthew Taplinger), you can find snippets of the Chicago-centric content online. For the rest, well, you'll just have to go and loiter amongst the periodicals at Borders, won't you? [via]
Considering it has been available for nothing just about everywhere, I'm not quite sure who exactly was paying the twenty-five cent cover price for RedEye, but those folks can save their change: the Trib officially makes the tabloid a freebie starting tomorrow.
This weekend, the New York Times Magazine introduces "The Funny Pages," and, given his stature, it's no surprise that the Reader's Chris Ware will be contributing. He'll do a strip called "Building Stories," which will run for 26 installments; part one [PDF] is printed today. To introduce the serial, the Times offers an audio interview [mp3] with the congenial Ware, who makes clear he doesn't live in Chicago: he's in Oak Park, goshdarnit.
Chicago Journal, the distinctively peach-colored paper that has covered the "News of the South Loop, Near West and West Loop" for the past five years, launched a West Town sister publication yesterday. Hand delivered to my front porch (newspaper boxes are so bourgeois), the new paper promises to bring the same high level of neighborhood reporting to Bucktown, Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village and West Town every Thursday morning.
You are no doubt familiar with the Chicago Tribune's ad campaign, "What's In It For You?" Well, the Trib is reporting that it's very satisfied with the campgaign; according to a poll taken this summer, an unusually large number of Chicagoans were aware of the ads, and were able to identify them as belonging to the Trib. Whether or not this high recognition will translate into a boost in circulation will be found out at the end of the month, which is when the Trib gets audit figures for its circulation.
There's a new zine in town: The Machine. There's a release party tonight at Quimby's at 8pm, another one on Saturday at MoJoe's and yet another at Smartbar on Sunday, if you're interested; details on their site. In the meantime, check the mag out in PDF format.
Even though I'd looked at it earlier this morning, I've only just realized what should have been obvious: the Trib's website has had a makeover! The most apparent change is the filled-up screen; an editor's note describes a few others. Reader comments are welcome at daywatch (at) tribune.com.
The Columbia College of Chicago's Center for Book and Paper Arts is planning an exhibit on zines that are (or once were) based in Chicago. If you count youself in that number contact William Drendel, the Gallery Coordinator at the Center for Book and Paper Arts at bdrendel{at}colum.edu or call (312) 344-6684.
"Life is short and miserable, and death is coming fast. So be afraid. Be very, very afraid." According to CJR Daily's Edward B. Colby, that's the message sent by the Trib's website and its chronic tendency for doomsday headlines. And here I thought it was just overdue for a redesign.
Users of the latest version of Mac OS X can add a new toy to their Dashboard: the Time Out Chicago widget. The mini-app features a marquee that scrolls the magazine's latest headlines in selected categories, including film reviews and goings on about town. Pretty neato! (Regardless of your chosen platform, one current article worth your attention is Justine Elias's look at family film Duma and the one-week-only-in-Chicago quest to save it.)
It's time to place your vote for NewCity's annual Best of Chicago awards. (No, there's no blog category. We checked.)
Remember a couple weeks ago, when a bunch of male Sun-Times columnists derided the new Dove ad campaign? Yesterday the paper printed an essay on theirs and other people's reactions to the ads, written by GB contributor Wendy McClure.
The Sun-Times recently incorporated a new section called Fluff — The Chicago Sun-Times' Guilty Pleasure, reads the subhead — into the paper. If you're curious about it, Newsdesigner has posted spreads from the section, which we have to admit might have some sass.
Chicago Foodie magazine debuts this month from Best Chefs, which offers cooking classes and local food tours. Haven't seen it on stands yet, but keep your eye out. (It's not clear if the mag has anything to do with ChicagoFoodies.com, a foodie blog with annoying pop-up ads. I'm guessing not.)
Editor & Publisher has announced its 2005 honor roll of "10 That Do It Right," and it included the Sun-Times among the list of newspapers that offer a model to others. While noting that the paper is an "odd choice" in light of last year's controversies, E&P commends the Sun-Times both for its honesty and for its "aggressive" and "fun" journalism.
In media circles, there has been some discussion of the New York Times and its recent addition of a poker column. The Trib wants everyone to know it had the idea first, and, to that end, its managing editor wrote Jim Romenesko and said as much. Steve Rosenbloom has covered the "sport" for the paper for over a year, and James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street and a writing instructor at the School of the Art Institute, apparently used the success of that column as a part of his NYT pitch.
Gawker throws the smack-down on the Trib this morning, slamming "its ongoing but inexplicable campaign to prove that people in flyover states have no idea what they’re talking about." Afraid on this one, I can't disagree. The Tempo staff ranked their 50 favorite magazines. They call them the "best," but you put Blender at the top of any list, and you're just asking for air quotes -- especially since they didn't even mention it last year(?). The Tribune piece ran in response to the National Magazine Awards as chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors, a group the writers call "pooh-bahs." Which is apparently short-hand for "folks who know what's what." [updated: Amy Dickinson was originally credited online; that has since been changed.]
One of my biggest complaints about the Reader's website has always been that they don't put their feature stories up online -- if nothing else, I couldn't link to them here. No more complaining from me: you can now get most of Section One in PDF format, complete with accompanying ads for that authentic feel.
Copy-editing blog A Capital Idea follows up on a recent episode at the Tribune: in a report, political correspondent Mark Silva decided to clean up a presidential malapropism. Turns out he was just following policy. According to a quoted email from public editor Don Wycliff, the paper has a practice of correcting "mispronunciations."
If you work in the Loop, keep your eye out for old fashioned newspaper boxes on your way home tonight -- it might be the last time you see them. The city is making its final push to eliminate those boxes downtown, having replaced most of them already with multi-bin racks. More industrious folks might even rescue a straggler from certain destruction and reappropriate it for a new use -- an art dispenser, perhaps?
Can you believe that people are STILL trying to pass off Trib coumnist Mary Schmich's 1997 "wear sunscreen" column as their speech at graduation ceremonies? The latest person to do so: Springstead High School's principal Susan Duval. The Florida principal said, although she came across the speech on the Internets, she did not see an author to credit for the speech. Note to Principal Duval: it's called "Google search". (tip from Obscure Store)
Third Coast Press, a progressive publication based in Chicago, has put their former print archives together into a nifty website, thirdcoastpress.com. They are moving to an online-only format, but we're glad to see them back!
Editor & Publisher reports that the Sun-Times has dropped its traditional stock listings, making it the largest daily in the country to take such a move. Instead, the paper will run abbreviated details and is, after a fashion, redirecting its readers to a revamped portion of its website. In his blog, the Trib's Eric Zorn notes that, though his outfit does not currently have similar plans, he's skeptical this won't eventually be the industry's trend.
The Chicago Defender is poised to become the first African American-targeted newspaper to offer podcasts. On Thursday, the paper will launch its weekly "Inside Black America" audio program, which will feature interviews about current political and cultural events, as well commemoration of the Defender's centennial anniversary. Not surprisingly, the program will be available from the paper's site: ChicagoDefender.com.
The Chicago Defender, which yesterday celebrated its 100th anniversary, will put its substantial archives of photos and news from the black community online sometime in the next year.
The new issue of Subsystence — the fifth volume and first anniversary edition — is now online. It features a redesign by Anthony Vitagliano; artwork from Nick Butcher, Suzy Poling, and Nazarin Hamid; writing from Martin Cockroft, Israel Vines, and Jennifer Hawe; original music from Cepia, Sienna, and Detalles; and more. Released as part of the 2005 May 1st Reboot and CSS Reboot, the launch party for the new volume takes place Tuesday, May 3rd at Sonotheque. For more information on that, check out Slowdown.
In this week's Reader, Michael Miner looks into a side effect of all those RedEyes and Red Streaks being handed out for free at train stations for the past two years: commuters are purchasing much fewer copies of the Tribune and Sun-Times, which is affecting the circulation numbers and income of station newsstands. Why pay for the news, when you can get it for free? (Tip from Bookslut)
An academic study of the RedEye and Red Streak papers has determined that Chicago college students are aware of or are reading the papers, and rate them as having medium or high value as news and advertising sources. The author of the study plans to continue his testing later this year, and sample a larger number of readers (this report comes from a survey of only 112 Chicago college students). Link found at Bookslut, where Jessa notes: "There goes all of my faith in humanity..."
LizWatch may have moved on to other topics without ridding the world of Liz Armstrong, but now there's another snarky, anonymous blog with a wider focus on the city's predominant free weekly: The Reader Sucks. In their first post this week, they passed on Crain's reporting that the Reader's circulation dropped for the sixth consecutive year.
I always feel a bit like a geeky English major when I carry my Granta around, but through the quarterly I've read some compelling essays and been introduced to authors I would have otherwise missed. That, more than anything, is the mark of a good literary magazine. Over at Time Out Chicago, Jonathan Messinger interviews Granta editor Ian Jack about the magazine's "thoughtful literary journalism and socially relevant short fiction." (Check out Slowdown for Jack's appearance on Wednesday's Story Week panel.)
PISTIL Magazine will celebrate the release of its fifth issue, "Idol," at the Hothouse, 31 E. Balbo, with a gallery exhibit and silent auction benefiting the American Red Cross. Featured artists include Jamie Elizabeth, Matt Granstrom, and Kimberly Hoffman, with music by Mannequin DJs and DJ M.T.M. The doors open at 9:30pm and stay that way until 2am. Contact info[at]pistilmag.com for more information.
The fine folks over at Creative Rescue have just released another issue of their homegrown web publication Blacklist, this time featuring profiles on musician Kahlil El' Zabar, DJ Heather, and printer Thomas Lucas, plus art from French designers Superdeux and NYC's SoCity, as well as interviews with Pugslee Atomz and Statik. You can read it online, or download and print a convenient PDF version. Check it!
In what could be the most fundamental acknowledgement that the Sun-Times is doing something right, Crain's reports that the Tribune is considering a tabloid version of the paper. It hasn't made it past prototype, according to two anonymous Trib staffers, but we know one thing: the ink won't rub off on your hands as badly as with the S-T.
For those still looking for even more information about what's going on in the city, you can now add Time Out Chicago to your weekly to-read list. The premier issue is on stands now; it'll cost ya $2.50. Or you could just keep reading The Reader, New City and us for free. ;)
The Tribune didn't run The Boondocks again today. You can read it here, if you like.
If you want to read the Boondocks strip that was dropped from today's Tribune (and several other papers) for its mention of President Bush and drugs, it is archived here.
The 1st Annual Printers Ball is being held this Thursday at HotHouse. The event was created to celebrate the fabulous selection of Chicago based printed matter. It "offers readers and writers a unique chance to sample publications and meet with editors and designers". The event is being hosted by Poetry magazine with support from the Poetry Center of Chicago, The Bird Machine, Venus, Found, Stop Smiling, Punk Planet...among many others! The festivities will take place from 6-9pm and it's all free! Be sure to keep an eye out for the little postcards around town, they'll score you a free bag of printed goodies!
See? Pop matters. Why else would the Chicago Public Library hold an exhibition on the multitudinous covers of Rolling Stone magazine? From signifying success to launching trends, the magazine has earned its place in American pop history and amongst the shelves of the CPL. It's also helped the occasional student with her undergrad thesis research. The exhibit runs through March 31.
Recently redesigned Newsdesigner (a brilliant site about the design of what else, newspapers) talks about the Chicago Tribune's print edition and its new cleaner headline type. Looking sharp (pun intended). On a side note, you can also see today's front pages (for the Sun-Times and Tribune) everyday at Newsdesigner.
Sun-Times Watch points to the first NY Daily News column by Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg. And what wisdom does Steinberg have to share with New Yorkers? "I don't belong in Chicago; I belong in New York."
Tomorrow's New York Times will include an article on parents who record their child-rearing experiences on their blogs. What's the Chicago connection? Our very own Mimi Smartypants is quoted in the article as saying "Blogging makes parents more relaxed."
And you thought we were the only ones who read the Sun-Times (and Tribune) so you don't have to. Introducing Sun-Times Watch, a daily blog where "Kit Kinzie" and "Will Wabash" dish on the tabloid's foibles. How soon before Trib Watch debuts? Oh, wait.
This Friday, at Chicago's Bucket Rider Gallery, the folks behind Art Prostitute magazine will be in town to celebrate the release of their fifth issue, Still Alive. Featuring work from Gary Baseman, Tiffany Bozic, Kozyndan, and Cody Hudson, this should be a nice way to start off the weekend. The party is free, but a 20-spot in support of the cause gets you a copy of the new issue. If you're lucky, Cody might even sign it for you. What more could you ask for?
MediaReader. Early this afternoon I met Dave Laney. If you didn't already recognize the name, he's the singer/guitarist for Milemarker and his newer project Challenger. But in his other time he also manages a site and, more importantly, a small print magazine called MediaReader. Issues, which Laney has made easily available via the web or PDF formats, feature writings by fellow bandmate and zine legend writer Al Burian (of Burn Collector infamy). There's a lot of interesting subjects to explore on the state of various "scenes" and the country, so go read some new perspectives and takes.
The Sun-Times will be looking for a new editor-in-chief—in a not-unexpected turn of events, Michael Cooke is leaving for the NY Daily News. The Sun-Times is promising to name a new EIC within six months; polish up those resumes, kids!
So I'm reading my December Esquire and I come across the quote, "The hypothesis I put forward was that the reason crime had fallen was because of legalized abortion in the 1970s. Basically, we had aborted the generation of criminals who would have been active in the 1990s." And I think, well that's a very University of Chicago thing to say. I'm guessing U of C economics professor Steven Levitt, who is featured as one of the magazine's "Best and Brightest", would agree. (Unfortunately, you'll need a subscription number to view the link, but it's on page 225 if you've got an issue handy.)
The Tribune is running a new ad campaign to try to rebrand itself as a hip newspaper. The ads feature the tagline, "What's In It for You?" and were designed by J.J. Sedelmaier, who's best known for TV Funhouse skits on "Saturday Night Live."
For those who grew up reading their news on paper, and those who still do: check out the Chicago Newspapers blog. Written by an ex-newsman who worked for the Chicago Daily News 1968-78, the site discusses newspapers "with full understanding of their virtues and faults, with special attention to Chicago's, finding good and bad writing free or not of bias with an eye to literacy and accuracy and clarity."
Ray Noland, Darlene Jackson, and the folks at Blacklist Magazine have just released the December issue of their quality web publication. A primarily interview-based installment, Volume 4 puts HeavyWeight Production House, Wing Ko, MC Longshot, as well as DJs Miles Maeda and Josh Werner under the microscope. Art and photography from Pars, Fette, and Mireya Acierto are also on display. For the designers, Ray includes a free download of his Black Crusader typeface. The whole issue is available online, or in PDF format.
Just because it's humorous doesn't mean it's not art: Light Quarterly, a journal of light verse, got some attention from the Reader's Hot Type column this week.
Another Chicago Magazine is hosting the 2005 Chicago Literary Awards. The prize is $1000, plus publication in the magazine; deadline for submissions is January 15th. Guidelines for 2005 are yet to be posted, but the entry fee is $12 per story or 3 poem set, with $5 for each additional poem and the work must not be previously published. Entries go to Chicago Literary Awards, Another Chicago Magazine, 3709 N. Kenmore, Chicago, 60613.
The New York Times profiled Jason Bitner, one of the creators of Found Magazine and editor of the new Dirty Found (NSFW). "People seem to see it as a sort of mini-Kinsey Report," Bitner said. "Or maybe it's more like the letters in Hustler. I don't know."
Chicago-based web magazine Subsystence is at it again, releasing the fourth installment of their experiment in community publishing over the holiday weekend. Featuring a volume design from Rob Hamilton of LazyFM fame, Citizen showcases a variety of creative, politically- related content from music to photography, travelogues to fiction, poetry to movie reviews. GB contributors Jesica Davis and Anne Holub are among the nearly two dozen people who shared work this time around. If you're interested in getting involved, the mag has also opened submissions to their next issue.
Local web publication Revol has their fifth issue online, and it's well worth checking out. The November installment features work from Chris Luxton, Neil Collyer, Aaron Ruell, Mike Brodie, and Donald Dixon, and showcases the best design, photography, and illustration you've never seen. I think they'd like it if you had a look, and while you're there, why not buy a pin to wear on your new GB T-shirt?
The Chicago Defender, the country's oldest black newspaper, has relaunched its website. Though it's not quite daily yet -- the front page still shows election coverage articles -- it's a step forward for a publication on the verge of closure not too long ago, and a huge leap better than the old site.
The Utne Reader has announced the nominees for its 2004 Independent Press Awards, and several local publications made the lists. Punk Planet is the powerhouse, nominated for General Excellence: Magazines, Cultural/Social Coverage and Political Coverage. Pistil was nominated for Best New Title, while The Reader and Chicago Reporter were nominated for Local/Regional Coverage and Pitchfork Media is in the running for Online Cultural Coverage. Congratulations and good luck!
From the creators of Found Magazine comes Dirty Found, a collection of "pervy Polaroids, sleazy birthday cards, raunchy to-do lists, nasty poetry on napkins, illustrations -- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's sex life." Nerve.com has an interview with editor Jason Bitner about the new mag (available now in these fine stores).
An anonymous tipster emailed us about a curious incident with today's Tribune: "If you checked out the print edition of the Trib today, apparently WomanNews was yanked from most editions b/c at the last minute they deemed a story too vulgar or something, although apparently it still made it into a few editions." Anyone have a copy? Know what the article was about? Email inbox at gapersblock.com. [UPDATE: Crain's tells the story.]
On today's Fresh Air, two editors from the Chicago Tribune were interviewed on the topic of the Trib's endorsement of Bush for President. They also touched on related topics, such as the paper's endorsement of Barack Obama in the IL senate race and the history of the editorial page in general.
THE2NDHAND celebrates the release of its 15th issue, "LE2EMEMAIN," tonight at Skylark, 2149 S. Halsted, tonight (Sunday). Editors Todd Dills and Jeb Gleason-Allured are joined by Joe Meno and Jonathan Messinger in some brief readings and prolonged debauchery. The event is free, begins at 7:30pm, and is only open to those of us lucky enough to be 21 and older. Read, drink and be merry.
Our friends at Punk Planet and In These Times are two of the sponsors behind the November 1 Swing State poster project, which will paper the streets of swing states on Election Eve with poster designs contributed by artists including locals Lynda Barry and Josh MacPhee. Click over to the site to make a donation or download some posters for yourself in PDF; if you wanted to spend the evening hanging posters in, say, southern Wisconsin, that'd be cool too. Email swingstate@punkplanet.com to volunteer.
Pip Lit is a new online publication that bills itself as "Chicago's Online Literary Magazine." Pretty ambitious for an initial issue, especially in a city that supports so many excellent lit mag sites. However, the poems are good, and the contributors page lists the contributors’ connections to Chicago. Definitely worth checking out, seeing what develops over future issues.
The Sun-Times building is being vacated by the paper's staff this weekend, because the building's being knocked down to make way for a Trump condo tower. Yesterday the Sun-Times staff opened up a time capsule that had been put into the wall of the building's entrance in 1958. And what was inside it? A frog with a tophat that sang only when one construction worker looked at it. Ha! Not really. It was actually just some old editions of the Sun-Times and the two papers that were combined to make the Sun-Times, the Chicago Sun and the Chicago Times.
Chicago-based web magazine The Blacklist has just released their third issue, and it's well worth a look. Featuring Art Direction from local designer Ray Noland of Creative Rescue, the October installment contains interviews with DJs Lady D and Chris Quinn, artwork from Jon Nicholson, Chris Silva, and Justin Fines of Demo, and a spotlight on first-time voters. So, go on, get Blacklisted!
When you pick up The Reader on your way home, the stack will look quite a bit different: the paper's first redesign in ages debuts today, featuring color(!) and a new cover design. Editor Alison True discussed the redesign on WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight yesterday. (Strangely, there's no mention of it on the Reader website.)
Lu Palmer, the journalist and activist whose 50-plus year career included working at Chicago newspapers such as the Daily News and the Chicago American, died at the age of 82 in his Chicago home on Sunday. A name synonymous with the black power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Palmer also championed Harold Washington for the Chicago mayor race in the early 1980s. For Washington's campaign he coined the slogan, "We Shall See in '83".
New City's Best Of Chicago Poll is now open. Start formulating your choices in such categories as Best Burgers, Best Place to Hold a Mike Ryan Party, Best New Boutique and Best Next Career Step for Alan Keyes. (And hey, if Chicagoist can do it, we can, too: Vote for GB as Best Local Blog!)
The Tribune has this bizarre service where you can receive email notification of obituaries. It's free, so go ahead and list that 7th grade teacher who called you fat. Might come in useful for registering votes too (this is Chicago after all). More useful and less morbid might be allowing subscriptions to the town's police blotter or engagement announcements.
The Sun-Times has looked divine since its redesign last year, and it's no wonder: Two of its designers, Eric White and Robb Montgomery, are on a mission from God.
Today's Tempo (in the Trib) has a lot of neat features about the Loop. Shops we miss, 10 worst calamities (which should include the smell in the tunnel btwn the Blue and Red lines) - decent stuff. The print version has building advertisements for places that are long gone; that alone makes it worth the 50 cents.
GB wasn't the only Chicago news outlet that was working on its computers this morning! The Tribune's regular Monday morning delivery was delayed by four hours by computer problems related to some upgrades yesterday. Today's paper will be smaller than normal by about 20 pages, and not all home subscribers will get their paper. According to WBEZ, the Trib will credit all subscribers who don't receive today's issue.
Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Just published is the collection of new translations titled "The Essential Neruda" which you can pick up in order to celebrate, or you can always rent "Il Postino". If you can wait until Wednesday, there's a bilingual group celebration and workshop of Neruda's poetry at the Chopin Theater sponsored by the Guild Complex.
The new issue of Subsystence is out today (despite the ad's premature presence above Airbags all week), and worth the wait. Containing insightful articles, artwork, poems, photography, and original music downloads, Subsystence's second issue makes the webzine/ club night/ radio show/ ongoing experiment in expression worth checking out, and contributing to.
In today's Tribune: the 50 best magazines. You'll know whether or not you're going to like this list after finding out what's #1: Wired. The usual suspects are in there (Time, People, the New Yorker and, yes, Chicago), but the token "alternative" pick is a good 'un: Heeb magazine makes it in at #45.
The Blacklist is a well done online magazine produced here in good old Chicago. Publisher and crative director Ray Noland writes in the publisher's notes, "Coming from Chicago, I see a lot of talented individuals around this town that struggle to keep their lights on. Most of them decide to move either east or west to broaden their horizons. Such a shame." Keeping the Chicago spirit alive, Blacklist.
New Blood is a print magazine dedicated to exposing talented artists that are 21 and younger. The inaugural issue, edited by a couple Chicago area residents, is due out this summer.
"I need to ... hire a sex columnist and also look for someone to do horoscopes." So says Chad Schlegel, the new editor of Time Out Chicago, a weekly entertainment guide co-published by Time Out New York and local mutual-fund wonk Joe Mansueto, now scheduled to launch in early 2005. Contrary to what its name suggests, Time Out will not be a gay lifestyle magazine. Instead it will lure readers currently unserved by the Reader or Metromix by combining entertainment listings with a $2 price tag and, um, horoscopes. Sounds to this observer like the target audience will be Gold Coast bluehairs who like to party.
Body Electric is a student-edited literary journal presenting work by the students, faculty and staff of UIC's College of Medicine, "based on the experiences of medical education and practice." Although the College of Medicine's website says the journal is still published annually, the online version hasn't been updated in five years, so while you're perusing the fifteen years' worth of material that's there you can experience the height of web design like it's 1999.
The L.A. Times crashes a Chicago Daily News reunion where staffers rhapsodize about the Sun-Times building, which is slated to be demolished this fall to make room for a Donald Trump tower. The sentiments echo thoughts expressed by Chicago Magazine's Steve Rhodes this winter: "Ugly buildings can be important places, too." In September the Sun-Times will move down the river to a building near Merchandise Mart.
Chicago Magazine took the award for General Excellence in its circulation category at the National Magazine Awards yesterday. The judges, apparently Gilbert & Sullivan fans, called it "the very model of a modern major city magazine." Esquire won the profile writing award for its piece on the downfall of former Trib columnist Bob Greene.
Starting today, a copy of the Sun-Times will cost you a full 50 cents. The increase is meant to help offset production costs and brings it in line with the prices of the other area dailies. It's the first increase since 1988, when the paper cost a quarter.
The latest rumor in the Sun-Times fire sale: Crain's reports that Jesse Jackson's son Yusef has made a bid. He's only interested in the Sun-Times, so all the various other Holinger properties are still in the air.
The new phonebookFound Magazine is here! The new phonebookFound Magazine is here! Find yours at Quimby's and Chicago Comics today, or Unabridged and 57th St. Books
on Saturday.
Uli Schmetzer, a retired bureau chief turned freelancer, set off a scandal at the Tribune when he quoted a fictional person in a story about Australian race relations. Weblogger Tim Blair broke the story, and the Trib promptly fired Schmetzer and began an investigation of all of Schmetzer's stories.
The Chicago Sun-Times: 35 cents an issue, a few hundred million for the whole thing. Crain's reports that the second city's second paper is officially up for sale, along with the rest of Hollinger's Chicagoland newspapers.
City Newsstand, 4018 N. Cicero in Chicago, and Chicago-Main Newsstand, 380 N. Chicago in Evanston, are great resources for hard-to-find magazines and newspapers, but little did you know they also have a pretty good website. Check out their Top Tabloid Headlines of 2003 -- FEBRUARY TO BE CANCELED!
Local blogger (and author of a brand new book) Claire Zulkey interviewed Time magazine's Joel Stein recently and got some interesting responses.
There's a copy of Dossier on my coffee table at the moment. It's one of the new fashion and editorial hip magazines that keep getting published these days. It's based here though, and it isn't half-bad. The first issue is free at various places around the city, though if the $3.50 price tag by the barcode is any indication, it won't be soon.
Time Out Chicago, the newest magazine endeavor of the Time Out Group, is set to start publishing next September. They face some pretty tough weekly competition from The Reader, as well as other resources like Metromix. If the Time Out Chicago Guide is any indication, they have a lot of catching up to do.
Hey, if you're checking in on Sunday, don't forget to pick up a copy of the Sunday Tribune; "Opus," the new Sunday-only strip by Berkeley Breathed, legendary creator of the much-missed "Bloom County" comic, starts today. The comic won't be on the Web anywhere, which means you're going to have to shell out the money for the paper to see it. Less heralded but also starting today is Darrin Bell's "Candorville." [Trib. login: gapers/gapers]
The Sun-Times' parent company, Hollinger Inc, seems headed to bad times -- and possible obliteration. Chicago-based Hollinger, Inc. owns the London Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post, among other papers. Its CEO, Conrad Black, has stepped down after a major financial scandal, and other board members were implicated as well. The company will try to sell off assets, including the Sun-Times. The Tribune gleefully ran the story on the front page [login: gapers/gapers]; the Sun-Times buried it on page 51.
If you haven't noticed yet, the Chicago Sun-Times has a new masthead for it's print version. The website has also been redesigned a little to reflect these changes. It looks...okay. Not a bad move, but I'm not particularly excited about the type. But then again, I'm a type snob. Thoughts?
...Otherwise known as GasMasks.net, is a locally produced web magazine all about protective masks. More than you likely wanted to know about gas masks, created by No Future Productions.
The lovely ladies of Bitch Magazine are coming to our town! Enjoy Bitchy readings at Barbara's Bookstore (November 6, 7:30 pm, 1350 N. Wells) and Quimby's (November 8, 8:00 pm, 1854 North Ave.), plus an open house at Women and Children First (November 8, 1-2 pm, 5233 N. Clark). Sponsored by Chicago NOW.
Think you could design an interesting and original apron? If so then you should send an email to Jenny from PISTIL magazine. They're looking for national and Chicago creative types who can take the idea of an apron and turn it into something that deserves to be published in their "Domestic" issue. So take a peek at the website, buy the zine in your local bookstore, and send an email to Jenny if you're interested in participating.
The Chicago Tribune has an article concerning possible talent being picked for "real" jobs from weblogs as was the case with former Gawker editor, Elizabeth Spiers. [Trib login: gapers/gapers].
Following the success of Red Eye (and its nemesis, Red Streak) The Tribune Co. is launching a "commuter tabloid daily" in New York, to be called amNewYork. The Red papers' success has already spawned similar papers in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, as well as smaller cities like Boise and Topeka.
The Saturnine Detractor is "an online magazine featuring journalism of a narrative variety, reviews, opinion, fiction, and artwork," created by UofC alums.
Well, this weekend is the annual Northhalsted Market Days, but you'd never know it from the online editions of the two gay weeklies. The Windy City Times doesn't mention it, and though events calendar. I guess they just figure everyone knows about it. Meanwhile, Metromix gives it prime coverage.
New York's Newsday reports that the Tribune Company is transforming its free Spanish-language weekly, Exito, into a 25-cent daily, to be called Hoy. No doubt it'll be modelled off of the Red Eye, it'll run Monday-Friday with an initial circulation of 60,000 (Exito's circulation was 120,000).
The Tribune chose not to publish two Boondocks comic strips last week, MediaNews reports. Trib columnist Don Wycliff explains why: too offensive. Read them (1, 2) yourself and decide. [Trib login: gapers/gapers]
Yesterday Chicago Tribune readers got an introduction to Anne Landers' replacement. After a 13-month search, Amy Dickinson, a journalist who has worked for the New Yorker, NBC News and NPR, will fill the vacancy left by Landers' death. Rick Kogan has a profile. The new "Ask Amy" column begins in the Trib on July 20, and will be syndicated nationally starting in September. [Trib login: gapers/gapers]
Check your local newsstands for new Pistil Magazine, a Chicago-based quarterly focusing on "today’s groundbreaking talent, we uncover the relevant voices that inspire and change our world." We, uh, just missed their launch last weekend, but the mag has hit the streets. Check it out.
I finally managed to lay my hands on the newest copy of Venus a locally produced print magazine that focuses on music (lotsa rockin' females) and Do-It-Yourself culture. It's quite a slick and interesting publication, and the most recent issue has quite a nice one-page article about the ever-talented Mena Trott. To make it even more relevant, it's written by Chicago's own Shylo Bisnett.
I'd recommend heading to their website, it's got a great redesign, and an essay by me. (If Naz can self-promo, I can, too!)
Design Engine is a chaotic online mag featuring all sorts of design related features. They're currently accepting submissions for their third annual Photoreal Competition -- submit your photorealistic computer rendering of a chair/seating of some sort by August 15.
Didn't realize this till today but Indymedia has a Chicago sister site. Some interesting activist reporting, especially with Chicago's universities and colleges it seems.
While the New York Times deals with the fallout from the Jayson Blair scandal, The Reader's Michael Miner exposes another plagiarism pattern that starts with the top at a sister publication of the Chicago Defender.
The Residents' Journal is a bi-monthly newspaper by and for CHA public housing residents. Publisher Ethan Michaeli is interviewed in the current Press Box column in Chicago Magazine.
Streetwise newspaper, celebrating eleven years of helping "men and women in Chicago who are homeless, or at risk of becoming so, work toward gainful employment," is new and improved. I learned from my local vendor that starting this Wednesday, this weekly paper will now include coupon inserts from area businesses. Maybe not exciting to some, but I wanted to mention it. Read highlights from the lastest issue and find out more about Streetwise.
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