AAN News
As the Buzz Builds, Two Folio Weekly Staffers Leave to Pursue Band
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.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-15-2007 8:24 am |
Industry News
2007 AAJ Class Was 'Ambitious and Industrious'
The ten young journalists who spent eight intensive weeks this summer at the
Academy for Alternative Journalism at Medill School of Journalism were among the best that program director Charles Whitaker has seen, he tells AAN News. Two of them have already been offered jobs by AAN papers. This year also marks the first time the fellows have produced a website, rather than a
print product. Whitaker says he hopes to grow the website as an alumni
resource over the coming years.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-11-2007 10:58 am |
Association News
Tags: Editorial
Second Annual AAN Film-Industry Event is a Hit
Over 150 AAN member delegates and film industry types converged last Thursday at the Avalon Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles for TrAANsformers, an event designed to demonstrate gratitude to film ad-buyers for their support. Twenty-seven door prizes, all donated by AAN members, were handed out, including a Mexican Riviera cruise and an "Apple" fruit basket with an iPhone, an iPod Nano, and Apple TV. During the two hour event, attendees noshed on sliders and other hors d'oeuvres and drank from the hosted bar, but the party didn't end there. "One of the best signs was that both guests and AAN paper folks hung out way after the free booze was gone and the presents had already been doled out," says The Stranger publisher Tim Keck.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-25-2007 10:58 am |
Association News
AAN Elects 11 Board Members
Stephen Leon (pictured), the editor and publisher of Metroland in Albany, N.Y., was elected President on Saturday during the association's annual meeting. Willamette Week editor Mark Zusman was elected Vice President, making him the heir apparent to the presidency. Six of the nine remaining board seats were filled by incumbents running unopposed.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
06-19-2007 6:06 pm |
Association News
Five New Member Papers Admitted to AAN
AAN members considered the applications of 19 papers, but approved only Chattanooga Pulse, Metro Spirit, North Coast Journal, Urban Tulsa Weekly and Vue Weekly at the association's annual meeting on Saturday afternoon in Portland. The meeting included spirited debate over the applications of two Canadian papers, Calgary's Fast Forward Weekly and Edmonton's Vue, which -- like Urban Tulsa -- was forced to a second ballot before it was admitted.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
06-18-2007 4:56 am |
Association News
AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review
In this week's installment: Dubious sub-prime lenders, Philly's mayoral madness, going car-free, domestic partnership's inherent inequality, carbon farming, witnessing an execution, and more.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-23-2007 3:49 pm |
Association News
AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review
In this week's installment: Leaving death row, Mother's Day, gun control, obsessive vegans, summer movies, Bob Barker, and more.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-16-2007 4:38 pm |
Association News
Tags: Editorial, Electronic Publishing
Keith Olbermann Presented With First Annual Molly Ivins Award
At a midday reception in New York last Wednesday, Olbermann accepted the award from AAN president and Memphis Flyer publisher Ken Neill. Olbermann spoke of the crucial role that alt-weeklies played post-9/11 as "the way out of the maze" of suspended disbelief; of the continuing importance to think and question what those in power do and say; and of his foray into the realm of political reporting and commentary.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-14-2007 10:52 am |
Association News
Nineteen Papers Apply for AAN Membership
That's almost twice as many as last year, and the most since 2001, when 22 papers applied. This year's hopefuls are spread across 14 states and one Canadian province, and include many repeat applicants and several other papers with pre-existing connections to AAN. And in a new twist in the admissions process, AAN prepared a report that provides background information on the companies and individuals who hold ownership stakes in each paper.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
05-02-2007 3:27 pm |
Association News
AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review
In this week's installment: reaction to and reporting from Virginia Tech, celebrating Earth Day, examining coke rap, a cop kills a man on tape, Alberto Gonzales circa 2004, and much more.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
04-25-2007 3:14 pm |
Association News
Pulitzer Prize Reinforces Alt-Weeklies' Food Writing Excellence
When the Pulitzer Board's first award for criticism for food writing went to LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold, we have to admit we were less than surprised. Judging by the results of the major food journalism awards over the past few years, it's clear that alt-weeklies have scaled the upper ranks of publications that write and report on the subject of food.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
04-19-2007 2:11 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review
Today, AAN debuts AltWeeklies.com: The Week in Review, a new feature that will highlight the week's best stories from AltWeeklies.com, dig out dusties from the archives, and note story ideas that other papers can easily steal. In this week's installment: Kurt Vonnegut, unsexy men, the SEIU, David Sedaris, war tax resisters, ghost soldiers, Paul Wolfowitz and a commuter challenge.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
04-18-2007 3:31 pm |
Association News
Changes -- Big and Small -- Afoot at AltWeeklies.com
It's been almost three years since AAN launched AltWeeklies.com as a web portal for alt-weekly content and a story-sharing site for AAN member papers. As web journalism and the news industry evolve, AltWeeklies.com is taking steps to move forward as well.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
03-09-2007 9:20 am |
Association News
AAN Experiments With Dual Home Pages
In an effort to increase traffic to AltWeeklies.com, and thus to member papers' Web sites, AAN modified the story-sharing Web site today to display two slightly different versions of the home page for different audiences. AAN members who are logged in will still be greeted by a home page featuring every story posted on the site, while the general public will only see content that has been selected with the general user in mind. In addition, AAN is running AltWeeklies.com ads on blogs and at the South by Southwest Festival.
(FULL STORY)
Jon Whiten |
03-08-2006 4:26 pm |
Association News
Mass E-mail Campaign Urges Papers to Publish Muhammad Cartoons
AAN members are among the media outlets that have become targets of form e-mails generated by RightMarch.com. The messages forcefully state, "in solidarity with the people of free Europe and in support of the concept of freedom of the press, you need to PUBLISH the Danish cartoons." Alt-weekly editors, however, suggest that their only response will be to use the "delete" button.
(FULL STORY)
Jon Whiten |
02-08-2006 2:14 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, New York Press
