Lots of bands think they're just on the verge of busting out of their local bar-band circuit, quitting their day jobs and becoming the next big thing. In Oregon, the Eugene Weekly is hoping to help one lucky band do just that with its own music contest.
In a story about the media industry's woes in the Daily Emerald, the University of Oregon's student paper, the Weekly's director of sales and marketing Bill Shreve says the poor national economy seems to have only recently began to catch up to the Eugene economy. He tells the Emerald that "retail is off a little bit" in the last month, and that while the Weekly hasn't been hit as hard as some other media outlets, the staff is "extremely cautious."
The addition of the widely syndicated sex-advice column to the Eugene Weekly is "stirring up controversy," according to KEZI-TV 9 News. The local ABC affiliate, which led with the story on Friday evening, took to the streets to get reactions; two of the three locals interviewed didn't have a problem with the column, with one woman offering, "I lived in New York City for many years. I'm way beyond ever being offended by anything." KEZI also talked to Eugene Weekly editor Ted Taylor (pictured), who wondered: "What's the big deal? They are just words about sex. Why not be outraged by what I consider the real moral issues?" Director of Advertising and Marketing Bill Shreve tells AAN News the paper picked up Savage Love in October, and e-mails and calls to the Weekly have been split about evenly between supporters and opponents of the column. He also notes that the whole thing has "been good for business."
