The LimeWire Store has just released Ear to the Ground: Memphis, a free 14-track sampler of local bands curated by the Memphis Flyer. "We're always looking for ways to promote Memphis and its music scene," Flyer music editor Chris Herrington says in a release. "And the Ear to the Ground series, with its great track record in other cities, seemed like a terrific opportunity to do just that."
Chris Keating, who was most recently publisher at the San Antonio Current, has been named the new publisher at Times Shamrock sister paper the Cleveland Scene. Replacing Keating in San Antonio will be Michael Wagner, a former publisher of the Riverfront Times. He will take the title of general manager.
Nashville-based SouthComm purchased the Scene from Village Voice Media last month, and has swiftly been making changes. Former managing editor and longtime staffer Jim Ridley has taken over as editor, and the paper rolled out a glossy look this week. In addition, SouthComm has brought all editorial staffers of its Nashville properties (it owns The City Paper, NashvillePost.com and a handful of smaller print publications) under one roof, and done the same -- in a different building -- for business-side staff. Scene writer Bruce Barry says Nashville is "the alpha test" of SouthComm's publishing theory, which involves owning a unique blend of niche publications in a single market. Barry also points out that many SouthComm higher-ups are "very conservative" and wonders how that might affect the alt-weekly going forward.
Richard Mellon Scaife, the publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, has been in the courts for the past few years battling a contentious divorce dispute with his wife. The case has been kept tightly under wraps, and Pittsburgh City Paper is asking a judge to open some of the records. "We're asking the court to release the decree sealing the case, so that we, and the public, can understand why even courtroom testimony in this case is under wraps," editor Chris Potter writes. The alt-weekly, which is being represented by the ACLU, is also asking a judge to open up the case's docket, "in order to keep abreast of future developments." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that attorneys for Scaife and his wife don't want City Paper to obtain either, saying the request poses a risk to their client's privacy and safety. "As soon as they get it, it's going to end up in a newspaper," Scaife's lead attorney H. Yale Gutnick said in court.
Last week, Gazette editor Rob Collins alerted AAN News to the striking similarities between Newsweek's Dec. 15 cover and one published by the alt-weekly on Feb. 5, 2004. The Gazette's image, which was designed by art director Chris Street and shot by photographer Shannon Cornman, was one of three Gazette entries that won a 2005 AltWeekly Award. "Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words," Collins says.
Chris Ferrell, whose SouthComm Communications bought the Louisville alt-weekly in May, tells the 'Ville Voice that they are busy working on a redesign of LEO's website, and that there will be a lot of emphasis on the web when the new site debuts in late September. He also says that he's added one staff writer and has been working on the design of the print product. "The paper looks better now that (sic) it did three months ago," Ferrell says. "We've created a larger news hole, and we wanted to make sure we have the kind of content people expect, even when the ad/edit mix doesn't justify it."
Chris Keating, who was publisher of SF Weekly from 2004-2006, will relocate to San Antonio and take over as the Current's publisher effective Aug. 1, AAN News has learned. He replaces Chris Sexson, who took the publisher spot at the Current's Times-Shamrock sister publication Metro Times in mid-June.
San Antonio Current publisher Chris Sexson has accepted the position of publisher at Detroit's Metro Times. Both papers are owned by Times-Shamrock Communications. Sexson, who has been with the Current for five years, will take over at Metro Times in mid-June.
AAN News has been informed that staff writer Chris Landers won the 2008 A.D. Emmart Award for his story on a man who was wrongly accused as a sex offender. In addition, City Paper contributor Laura Laing won one of two honorable mentions for "Raising a Glass."
Village Voice Media chief financial officer Jed Brunst and former SF Weekly publisher Chris Keating took the stand yesterday in the predatory-pricing trial. In its wrap-up, the SF Weekly focuses on the part of Brunst's testimony that offered "evidence that Weekly rates have been going up over time," not down. The Bay Guardian, on the other hand, focuses on the "huge amounts of cash" the Weekly and the East Bay Express had lost under New Times/VVM control. The trial takes a day off today for Lincoln's Birthday, and will resume on Wednesday.