They say the buzz cycle on Next Big Things gets shorter and shorter each year, with music blogs and MySpace breaking down the geographic constraints that may have prevented a label-less and record-less band from Jacksonville, Fla., from becoming one of the most-talked-about bands in the indieverse in a matter of weeks. The case of Black Kids seems to affirm this notion. Last month, the band, which counts as its members Folio Weekly staff writer Owen Holmes and graphic designer Kevin Snow, popped up on a blog from British tastemaker NME, and it wasn't long before Black Kids were everywhere, from The Guardian to Vice to Pitchfork. The band is set to make a big splash at the CMJ Music Marathon this weekend, with three shows scheduled in New York. But before they head up I-95, both Holmes and Snow are leaving the paper to pursue the band full time. Holmes took a few minutes to talk to AAN News via email about the band's rapid rise, the difficult decision to leave Folio, and Barack Obama.
John Citrone had been appearing each Wednesday on WJXT-TV to preview weekly entertainment options in Jacksonville, Fla., but his segment on the show was canceled yesterday after he made comments on-air that were "very inappropriate and insensitive," according to the station. "Do we really care if Georgia burns?" Citrone asked jokingly about recent brush fires that have afflicted that state. Reached by AAN News, Citrone explains that the question was asked "in a Groucho Marx-y" way, and was in keeping with his on-air shtick as "the crazy alt-weekly guy." Folio Weekly's managing editor admits he was unaware of the severity of the fires, and says his only intention was to have a little fun with an interstate rivalry. He offered to apologize on-air later in the broadcast but WJXT declined, although they included his written apology in a story about the incident posted on their website. Citrone tells AAN News that when he has had an opportunity to apologize to individuals who were upset by his comment, most have been understanding and supportive.
Lt. Cmdr. John Sharpe was temporarily relieved of duty last week after a Port Folio Weekly reporter asked about Sharpe and "alleg[ed] his involvement in possible supremacist activities," the Navy Times reports.
Anne Schindler returned to work last week after spending nearly two months out of the office battling cervical cancer. Schindler, who joined the Jacksonville, Fla., alt-weekly in 1995 and was named editor in 2002, received a clean bill of health from her doctors, who told her that surgery had completely removed the cancer. "It's almost like I was never gone. My staff covered for me beautifully," Schindler tells AAN News. "Nobody missed me in the least. And I've got this really cool scar now."
Port Folio Weekly announced a "Big Idea" essay contest in their Independence Day issue, an idea inspired by Gen. Wesley Clark's speech at the 2006 AAN Convention. "Clark noted that today ... there are few if any big ideas around which the country can rally," Tom Robotham says in his Sept. 26 Editor's Note. "What we need in these dire times, it seems to me, are motivating ideas that appeal to our inherent expansiveness -- our collective and foundational belief in intellectual enlightenment, social justice and tolerance of diversity." This week's issue contains the top three submissions as well as an interview with the winner, Missy Cotter Smasal, who proposed "a Foreign Language Corps, to be sponsored by the federal government in a manner similar to university ROTC programs throughout the country. "
Eight of the prospective members are previous applicants, and two are owned by alt-weekly veterans who had been members during a previous association with different papers. AAN members will also be asked this year to evaluate Boston's Weekly Dig and Des Moines' Cityview, the first two post-sale newspapers whose membership will be reviewed under a process established in 2004 when the association's bylaws were amended. The fate of all of these papers will be determined at the organization's next Annual Meeting, which will be held in Little Rock on Saturday, June 17, the last day of the 29th annual AAN convention.
A closer look at one of the icons of Christmas, "Jingle Bell Rock," unveils a tale of dastardly deeds and a lengthy dispute between the family of the song's claimed coauthor and the Nashville music industry. A lot of patient listening and research allowed Folio Weekly staff writer Susan Cooper Eastman to unfold the drama in her award-winning arts feature, "Jingle Bell Crock." This is the 20th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Nobody seems to have questioned Clay County, Florida, Sheriff Scott Lancaster about his spending until Susan Clark Armstrong started nosing around his records. What were all those extra cars being used for? The airline tickets? The underwear? After Armstrong's story "Booty Call" appeared in Folio Weekly, an investigation ensued, and the sheriff lost in the Republican primary. This is the fifth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
The most-viewed story on AAN's collaborative news site, AltWeeklies.com, is "Porn, Hypocrisy, Plagiarism: The Dark Side of Jacksonville's Daily," which appeared in the Oct. 12, 2004, edition of Folio Weekly. Written by freelancer Billee Bussard, it accused Florida Times-Union's then-editorial page editor Lloyd Brown of -- among other things -- staring at porn in the workplace and plagiarism. Brown came under fire and stepped down from the daily, only to be hired as a speechwriter by Gov. Jeb Bush (the day after Bush fired a top official over sexual harassment allegations). Now the St. Petersburg Times reports that Brown has stepped down from that post as well.
Lloyd Brown, editorial page editor at the Florida Times-Union since 1993, has resigned after a task force established by the paper found three instances of plagiarism and many other instances of lack of complete attribution. The task force was formed in the wake of Folio Weekly's Oct. 12 cover story, written by a former Times-Union staffer, which accused Brown of publishing editorials with portions lifted directly from documents produced by right-wing groups. In a letter that appears in the Times-Union's Nov. 2 edition, publisher Carl Cannon writes, "I have a high level of respect for [Brown's] philosophy."
