When an interview extends over 10 days -- as it did for Melissa Maerz when she went on tour with Minnesota band Friends Like These -- it was important to set up the rules from the start. Whatever wasn't immediately declared off the record was on the record. The resulting account, published in City Pages, was unsparing in its portrayal of the band's disappointments as well as its hopes, offering a dose of on-the-road realism. This is the fourth in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
The Nashville Scene and the San Francisco Bay Guardian snag nearly a dozen awards in the National Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contest. NNA will recognize the winners in all 125 categories at its 116th annual convention in September.
