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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.
