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Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism is closing its National Arts Journalism Program July 1, says the program's director, Andras Szanto. More than 130 NAJP fellows and 25 NEA Arts Journalism Institute fellows have gone through the program during its 11-year existence, forming the largest interdisciplinary group of arts journalists in existence. AAN members who have been named fellows include Caryn Brooks, who was then arts and culture editor at Willamette Week, and Robert Christgau, a senior editor at The Village Voice. The NAJP Board is exploring finding a new home for the program, says Szanto, who has served the past two years as an AltWeekly Awards judge. Further updates on those efforts will be posted at www.najp.org and at www.artsjournal.com. The NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera will reconvene at Columbia this fall under Szanto's direction.

Well, sort of. Bob Geldof -- called "Saint Bob" by some British papers for his organization of charity concerts to benefit poor African nations -- was long ago a rock journalist for the Vancouver alt-weekly. This AP profile explains how the writer-turned-rocker eventually became the force behind Live 8, a series of shows meant to raise awareness for political justice.