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Friends and associates described him as a vampire: nocturnal, with a passing resemblance to Nosferatu, and a thirst for the party drug GHB, which he drank like blood. But "English Shaun" also was a keen businessman, a British stockbroker who now stands accused of masterminding the ecstasy-based drug ring that fueled the Phoenix rave scene of the 1990s. Before it fell apart in a haze of addiction, paranoia and competition from mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Shaun's empire reportedly grew to include scores of rave kids, some of them kept in company-funded apartments, where they rested up between sales runs. Phoenix New Times reporters Susy Buchanan and Brendan Joel Kelley chronicle the tale of drugs, sex, and money.

Continue ReadingThe Story of a Legendary Drug Kingpin

"That we keep finding incompetence at The Tennessean is apparently no longer news," says Editor Bruce Dobie, telling the Scene's readers that 13 years of "Desperately Seeking the News" is enough. The column had become "far too formulaic and predictable," Dobie complains. "Bruce is wrong, as editors often are," argues media columnist Henry Walker, who nevertheless is forced to admit, "What the editor giveth, He can taketh away."

Continue ReadingNashville Scene Deep-Sixes Media Column
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The vast majority of the 15,000 porn titles released in the U.S. every year are amateur productions. Gonzo, anal, oral, facial, gangbang, bukkake, black-on-black, interracial, all-Asian, girl-on-girl, compilation tapes, Internet sites -- the sheer size of America's amateur pornopalooza is overwhelming. To get a closer look, The Stranger's Bradley Steinbacher spends a few hours in a hotel room watching amateur porn entreprenuer Jeff Harder shoot his latest feature.

Continue ReadingIn Tacoma Hotel Room, Suburban Porn King Makes Movie Magic

Betty Brink claims the AAN-member paper hired Pulitzer-winning former Dallas Morning News reporter Dan Malone at a salary exceeding her own by over 50%. The Dallas Observer reports that Brink -- at 70 perhaps the oldest working journalist in the alternative newspaper business -- has filed a complaint with the EEOC, alleging age and gender discrimination.

Continue ReadingFort Worth Weekly Reporter Files Discrimination Complaint
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It's a new sociological phenomenon: Increasing numbers of gay teenagers are proclaiming their homosexuality at an early age. Douglas Sadownick of LA Weekly talks to several gays who came out early to learn how a growing child ultimately decides to choose loyalty to his or her unfolding queer feelings over affiliation to family, religion, friends, and their own internalized homophobia.

Continue ReadingGay Youth Coming Out Like Never Before

"It's a newspaper advertising category that for decades has been owned lock, stock, and fur-lined handcuffs by alternative papers," reports Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald. "But now increasing numbers of daily newspapers are coyly succumbing to the many seductions of sex ads." Don't provide a sales rep, jack up the rates, slap restrictions on the ads -- despite these barriers, adult sections in most alternatives still grow like kudzu. Daily papers are beginning to take notice.

Continue ReadingSeeking Adult Ads, Dailies Encroach on Alternative Turf
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Deep in the heart of Texas, near the Mexico border, lies Cameron Park -- the poorest town in the United States. The per capita annual income of the residents of Cameron Park is only $4,103. Disease and illness plague the community and many of its inhabitants do not have health insurance. Yet, the people of Cameron Park sing merry songs and find solace in that things are getting better. Carlton Stowers of the Dallas Observer journeys to the town of Hispanic immigrants to chronicle their story.

Continue ReadingThe Poorest Town in America Stays Optimistic