Back To Indie For The EBX

A local alt-weekly is reembracing the "alt" part of the genre, as a group of writers and editors at the East Bay Express buy the paper out from the Village Voice Weekly conglomerate. The team of purchasers includes the current editor, Stephen Buel; co-founder and calendar editor Kelly Vance (the EBX really does have a kick-ass calendar section); and Hal Brody, another person active in the alt-weekly scene.

It all seems very amicable, and no one's saying anything about this formally, but it hasn't been a secret that a lot of people have been unhappy with the Village Voice Media's franchising of alt-weekly culture and spirit -- so it'll be interesting to see how the EBX goes forward with this.

We're sure the Guardian's Bruce Brugmann is alternating between thrilled for indie media, and freaking out about the competition. Watch out, other local weeklies -- the new EBX promises to continue its strong run for the money in the prestigious SFist Weekly of the Week awards! Also something to watch out for: how's this going to shake out at the other Village Voice Media outlets? (ahem -- SFWeekly -- ahem).

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