Results tagged “villagevoicemedia”

Been waiting forever for some choice SFBG v. SF Weekly drama? Well, wait no more. A golden-brown batch of it just came out over at SF Weekly, complete with libel accusations, Sabine women, and a Dire Straits quote. See, it seems SFBG Editor Tim Redmond sent VVM Executive Editor Mike Lacey a series of questions in order to update the status of their lawsuit. Which is to say, an article is in the works, and SFBG simply asked a series of questions. And Lacey? He published said series questions, followed by his official response.

Michael Lacey--co-owner of Village Voice Media, the nation's largest alternative newspaper company--upset dozens of Arizona journalists last Friday after using the racial slur during a speech at the Society of Professional Journalists Awards gala. According to the East Valley Tribune, while peaking to the audience, Lacey jokingly referred to his buddy, the late Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Tom Fitzpatrick, as "my (n-word)."

After a local jury found SF Weekly guilty of illegal predatory pricing and awarded the local alt weekly a cool $6.39 million (the verdict subject to "treble damages," which bring the total award to $15.6 million), SFBG Executive Editor Tim Redmond tells the harrowing tale of the five-week trial in his own words:

With regard to the SFBG vs. SF Weekly (VVM) lawsuit -- you know, the one where the Guardian sued the Weekly and its parent company for predatory pricing practices? where the Guardian's Publisher, Bruce Brugmann, claimed that the competition was so unreasonable that it could force the Guardian out of business? -- our sources confirm that:

Oh my. According to the Snitch:

This week's Big Movie: ! It’s a real surprise how divided the critics are about this one! Sure it’s franchising, sure it’s full of top shelf men in designer clothes and high-end accoutrement, but we thought it was all kicks and giggles. Groucho Reviews's Peter Cavanese however, says, “the plot of Thirteen is old, old news.”

--Ha! The guy to your right ran for mayor of Barcelona, and doesn't he look like Matt Gonzalez? By copatbark from the SFist Flickr stream.

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.

, Music Editor, Jennifer Maerz lays into the Mother Hips with the "you asked for it" gambit, "They want me to write about this band - I don't want to write about this band - I won't write about this band - okay, fine, I'll write about the band: they suck." Matt Smith: Gavin is so not the Best Mayor in the World - Gavin's constant problems pushing through his WiFi plan is a sign of incompetence. Cover Story: real SF Indian tribe battles to be recognized by the government - could cause more problems for Gavin and developers than the "radio waves cause brain cancer" guy in Matt Smith's article. Meredith Brody eats risotto in North Beach but doesn't get around to talking about it until near-to-the-last paragraph.

SFist Rita is on vacation, so we're guest-reading the weeklies for her this week. Plus, it's the last weekly week of 2006, so we will be tallying up this year's picks to anoint a Weekly of the Year at the end of this post.

Local bookstore chain, Cody's Books has just announced that it is selling itself to a Japanese chain. Current owner, Andy Ross, will stay on as President of Cody's. Meanwhile, the former flagship Cody's store on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley that closed recently, prompting much hand-wringing, 60s nostalgia, and debate amongst armchair urban planners is now one of those temporary Halloween superstores. We are holding our breath for the ironic next phase of vacant large storefronts - the discount and overstock book emporium featuring Szechuan cookbooks for $5.99 and calendars of corgis and tropical golf resorts.