Before he was in a position to charge a fortune for protection from gossip, Jared Paul Stern was a writer for New York Press. In this week's issue, Ernie Koy describes his first encounter with Stern, "a pretentious man who was suffering from early male-pattern baldness" and who "sucked up to whoever needed to be sucked up to." Based on these attributes, Koy decided that "he would do well in the New York media."

Continue ReadingAlleged Page Six Extortionist’s Days at NY Press

The 2006 list of "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" was published this week, and the former New York Press editorial staffers who walked out in protest are at #50, right below Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo. "You didn’t think we were going to let this issue go without some kind of dig about our predecessors, did you?" the writers ask. Editor Harry Siegel and three other staffers resigned in February when the paper's publishers refused to print the controversial Muhammad cartoons. The current Press writers say, "This mountain-into-a-molehill gave them a semi-Warholian 13 minutes of fame, while we were left picking up the pieces. ... Thanks, guys!" The New York Press publishes its "Loathsome" list annually.

Continue ReadingNY Press Puts Former Staffers on ‘Most Loathsome’ List

Foodies at Creative Loafing (Atlanta), Riverfront Times, Westword, L.A. Weekly, East Bay Express, City Pages (Twin Cities), Phoenix New Times, and Houston Press picked up ten of the 21 nominations for which they qualified in the 2006 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards announced today. The complete list is available as a PDF here. Alt-weeklies were particularly dominant in the "Newspaper Writing on Spirits, Wine or Beer" category, in which all three nominees are AAN members. The awards recognize and honor excellence and achievement in the culinary arts.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Lap Up Nominations in Food-Writing Awards

In an interview with New York blog Gothamist, Judy McGuire dishes on her six years writing a dating advice column for Seattle Weekly -- and, until last October, writing a separate "Dategirl" column for the New York Press. On her separation from the Press, McGuire says, "Getting fired is never pleasant. I miss it, but frankly, I don't think that many people were reading the Press by that point anyway." She also contrasts her dysfunctional life -- which is "in the grand tradition of advice columnists," she claims -- with the family-friendly ways of the author of Savage Love: "Dan Savage is the only well-adjusted one I can think of (though I’ve heard rumors)."

Continue ReadingSeattle Weekly’s ‘Dategirl’ on Being Fired From the NY Press

Matt Zoller Seitz tells The Villager that the budget of his first film, Home, was about the same as "what the catering costs were for one day of Brokeback Mountain." Once he began showing the movie on the film-festival circuit, he discovered that his reputation as a film and television critic for New York Press translated into media coverage for his movie. "Anybody who reads my writing knows I can be unbelievably mean sometimes, so I feel there's a bit of karmic payback here in reading reviews of my own stuff," says Seitz, who is seeking DVD distribution.

Continue ReadingNY Press Critic Gets ‘Karmic Payback’ With Film Release

Jim Mullin (pictured) drew criticism for a Feb. 2 cover story containing a recipe for methamphetamine, but New Times General Manager Bob Rucker told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that the meth story didn't precipitate his resignation. "There was a problem knowing the audience," Rucker said. Until his resignation Friday, Mullin was working for the California weekly from his home in Miami Beach. He was previously the editor of Miami New Times, but resigned in 2005 shortly after the suicide of former city official Arthur Teele, whose alleged involvement with a transvestite prostitute was exposed in a Miami New Times cover story. (Unlike the Miami paper, SLO New Times is not part of the New Times/Village Voice Media chain.)

Continue ReadingSan Luis Obispo New Times Editor Resigns