AAN members voted on several key matters during the association's annual meeting on Saturday, July 17. Eleven seats on the Board of Directors were filled, three publications were admitted into the association, and a bylaws amendment allowing online-only publications to apply for membership was passed by an overwhelming majority.
The Rochester, N.Y., alt-weekly has organized a neighborhood crawl featuring special discounts on everything from guitar strings to eyebrow waxing to booze. "The Recession Procession was originally conceived as our version of a bar crawl, but tweaked to appeal to our too-cool-for-a-bar-crawl readers," City features editor Eric Rezsnyak tells AAN News. "Given the current economy, a 'F**k the Recession!' theme seemed like a perfect fit." Rezsnyak says the local businesses have "totally embraced the spirit of the event" and are contributing creative ideas for deals. The Recession Procession is scheduled for May 7 from 5-8 pm.
LA Observed is reporting that the Weekly has laid off longtime editor and columnist Marc Cooper, managing editor Sharan Street, copy chief David Caplan, staff writer Matthew Fleischer, senior designer Laura Steele and assistant to the editor Pandora Young.
The last issue of The Local Planet, an AAN-member paper in Spokane, Wash., was distributed July 8. A year ago, publisher Matt Spaur's wife, founding editor Connye Miller, died, and Spaur said he no longer had the interest or energy to keep publishing. During the "feisty" paper's four-year run, it "poked at Spokane's conservative establishment and took readers on irreverent romps through the region's political, music and dating scenes," The Spokesman-Review's John Stucke writes. Spokane is home to another AAN member, The Pacific Northwest Inlander.
After three stressful years during which his wife and co-founder passed away and two of his stepchildren were diagnosed with chronic illnesses, Matthew Spaur says he decided to sell because he "no longer (has) the energy to give (the) newspaper the leadership it deserves." Taking over the smaller of Spokane's two alternative weeklies is a partnership led by Paulette Burgess, a former writer for the paper and recent editor of the local city mag.
The Local Planet Weekly's Founding Editor and Co-Publisher, Connye Miller, died June 15 of complications related to the rare disease porphyria. Matt Spaur, her husband and co-publisher, remembers her in 475 words of poetry, pain and love.
The Local Planet of Spokane, Wash., which was approved for AAN membership last month in New Orleans, is changing its name to The Local Planet Weekly. President and Co-Publisher Matthew Spaur credits Folio Weekly Publisher Sam Taylor for the suggestion: “He said it would add $100,000 to our value. I’m still waiting for the check,” Spaur jokes in a news release posted on the AAN Web site.
