Here - AltWeeklies.com

2006
ConventionDaily
Saturday|6.17.06
Little Rock, Ark.
All in the (AAN) Family
T
By Monica Leas
he answer? New Orleans.
The questions came from former Gambit Weekly editor
Michael Tisserand, who emceed an unusually sober AltWeekly Awards lunch Friday afternoon.
“When I got the call to host this year’s awards, my first
thought was, ‘Is AAN in so much financial trouble that they can
no longer afford Dan Savage’s speaker fees?’” said Tisserand,
fully clothed in the tux Gambit publisher Margo DuBos bought
him when he started with the paper about eight years ago.
“This is like a make-a-wish moment for me,” he said of the
opportunity to crack jokes in front of a crowd while sporting his
purple and pink polka-dotted bowtie.
Tisserand’s more sincere comments came a little later when
he thanked the association’s members for their support after
Hurricane Katrina scattered some Gambit staffers across the
globe and left others to piece life back together in New Orleans.
“I always believed AAN was a family, but only in that harborslongstanding-grudges-that-would-make-no-sense-to-an-outsider
kind of way,” said Tisserand, who had sold his New Orleans
home two days earlier
and stopped in Little
Rock en route to his
new home in Evanston,
Ill. “When you helped remove financial worries
for Gambit employees
during the profoundly
unsettling weeks right
after the flood, you
truly lived up to Robert Frost’s definition of
home — that when you
have to go there, they
Willamette Week’s
Byron Beck didn’t
get the memo: No
male strippers at
this year’s lunch.
Tisserand enjoys his
‘make-a-wish moment’
have to take you in. Thank you.”
To show his gratitude, Tisserand offered Mardi Gras beads,
fried peach pies from Hubig’s, a six-pack of Abita Restoration
Ale and “Make Levees not War” stickers to those who jumped in
quickest with answers to his brain-crunching trivia questions.
And although the luncheon ensued sans stripteases or sneaker shots this year, there were at least a couple tawdry moments
— like the flash of a busty pink puppet who appeared topless on
an award-winning cover for Las Vegas Weekly.
“I know I’m going to have a bad dream about that one tonight,” Tisserand said.
In the, ahem, flesh, Byron Beck of Willamette Week and Cary
Stemle of Louisville Eccentric Observer also bared their chests,
sporting only suit coats and borrowed bowties. Their walk-on
roles, an opportunity declined by several other editors, came
with only a little arm-twisting from Tisserand.
“Now he owes me big time,” Stemle said after recovering
from his bare-chested exploit. “This is why I went into print — so
I wouldn’t have to do this.”
For the List of Winners, See P. 3
Bill Clinton’s Arkansas
A
By Max Brantley
s a young general assignment reporter, one of my first
“scoops” came in 1974. A young University of Arkansas
law professor was going to announce a bid for Congress
against Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt.
The law prof lost that race for Congress. But he won quite
a few more.
His success wasn’t surprising. I knew Bill Clinton was a
competitor. I’d seen him play fierce softball and a mean game
of charades when my future wife was his colleague on the law
school faculty. I knew he had charisma. My mother, the lifelong
Republican, became a Clintonite on her first meeting in 1980.
I could also tell you that you always had to listen very
carefully to Bill Clinton. The word “parse” wasn’t in heavy use
in the early 1980s, when Bill Clinton was governor and I was
city editor of the Arkansas Gazette. But after more than a
few disagreements on whether our reporters had sufficiently
captured the nuance of one of his pronouncements, we
decided to tape everything he said.
Like most Southern liberals, I was conflicted about Bill
Clinton. In general elections, particularly, he was clearly
preferable to the alternative. But his “third way” politics often
disappointed idealists like me.
By the time he was the Democratic nominee for president,
I was editor of a new alternative weekly, the Arkansas Times.
Being generally supportive of Bill Clinton amounted to an
alternative media viewpoint in Little Rock. The dominant daily
newspaper had little good to say about him -- then and still.
There’s no doubt his campaign and our coverage -- one of our
reporters wrote one of the early Clinton biographies -- helped
build the reader base we enjoy today.
The Clinton presidency reaped a whirlwind for Arkansas. A
special counsel investigation introduced Arkies to the heat of
the TV camera, the imperfection of big-name journalists and
the vicious partisanship of modern politics, not to mention
some punishing legal bills and jail terms. It seemed so
personal to us. We knew the president and first lady as Bill and
Hillary. Others making headlines included Webb and Bruce and
Vince and Kaki. It was good reading, that’s for sure.
What do we have to show for it today, besides memories?
A huge presidential library, for one thing, its parking lot filled
with cars from all over. They bring people of all political
stripes, drawn by a man who remains one of the world’s most
compelling personalities.
463!!!
AAN thanks each and every one of
the 463 people who have shared
this year’s Convention with us. We
hope you’ve all enjoyed it. See you
next year in Portland!
2
This issue of the Arkansas Times -- from May 7, 1992 -- was
also the first after the Times switched to a weekly newspaper
from a monthly magazine.
It’s hard for me to separate the personal from the political.
Bill Clinton appointed my wife to a judgeship in 1986. As
president, he gave my daughter’s college singing group a
White House tour and a late-night Oval Office bull session.
He gave the Arkansas Times his last interview as president,
a quick chat in an airplane hangar on his farewell fly-around.
Thanks to him, I was invited over the years to write pieces for
newspapers around the world. Knowing Bill Clinton, I think he’d
probably forgive me if he ever came across the one I wrote for
a newspaper in The Hague. Presuming he can read Dutch.
Max Brantley is editor of the Arkansas Times.
Keynote and Program Update
The second block of seminars will start 15
minutes early, at 11:30 a.m., and end at 12:45
p.m. Those attending the Keynote Lunch
should proceed directly to the Wally Allen
Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention
Center to be seated by 1 p.m. President
Clinton will speak first.
And The Winners Are ...
Arts Criticism
Cartoons
Small
First: “Playing with the Passion,” “Attachment Disorder” and “Going Down in
History in Flames”
Steven G. Kellman, San Antonio Current
Second: “Desires vs. Duties,” “De-Evolution, Albee Style” and “Down, Home”
Byron Woods, Independent Weekly
Third: “Private Texas,” “Grand Theft
History” and “Feeling Negative”
Elaine Wolff, San Antonio Current
Honorable Mention: “Drastic Romantic,” “Evil’s Puppets” and “Raven’s Son”
Michael Bowen, Pacific Northwest
Inlander
3 or fewer newspapers
First: “The HR Department”
Ed Harrington
Second: “BEK”
Bruce Eric Kaplan
Third: “Image Control by Mr. Fish”
Dwayne Booth
Large
First: “Blown Opportunity,” “Lost in the
Stars” and “Pulling Punch Lines”
Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene
Second: “Africa Screams,” “Diary of a
Mad White Woman” and “Chow Fun”
Kristian Lin, Fort Worth Weekly
Third: “Objects of Scorn,” “Memory
Pictures” and “Poise II Men”
Jeffry Cudlin, Washington City Paper
Honorable Mention: “Gender
Benders?,” “Dante, Dude” and “The
Many, the One, and the Two”
Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Phoenix
Column
Arts Feature
Small
First: “Panic Attack”
David Lee Simmons, Gambit Weekly
Second: “Diamonds and Rusty”
Paula Routly, Seven Days
Third: “Lush Be a Lady”
Gillian Fassel, San Antonio Current
Honorable Mention: “Lunatic Fringe”
Owen Holmes, Folio Weekly
Large
First: “Roboscalper”
David Downs, East Bay Express
Second (tie): “Big Cheese”
Jimmy Magahern, Phoenix New Times
Second (tie): “Unfinished Symphony”
Malcolm Gay, Riverfront Times
Third: “Tough Love for the Arts”
Roger Downey, Seattle Weekly
4 or more newspapers
First: “Mild Abandon”
E.J. Pettinger
Second: “Tom the Dancing Bug”
Ruben Bolling
Third: “This Modern World”
Tom Tomorrow
Small
First: Miriam Axel-Lute, Metroland
Second: Bruce George Wingate,
Fairfield County Weekly
Third: Steve Schneider, Orlando Weekly
Honorable Mention (tie): Dusty
Rhodes, Illinois Times
Honorable Mention (tie): Derek
Jennings, Independent Weekly
Large
First: “Ask a Mexican!”
Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly
Second: “Social Studies”
Vincent Williams, Baltimore City Paper
Third: “The Dubliner”
Katie Haegele, Philadelphia Weekly
Honorable Mention: Patricia Calhoun,
Westword
Column - Political
Small
First: “Poli Psy”
Judith Levine, Seven Days
Second: Donna Ladd, Jackson Free
Press
Third: Andrew Wheat, The Texas Observer
Honorable Mention: “Politics and Other
Mistakes”
Al Diamon, Portland Phoenix
Large
First: “Commie Girl”
Rebecca Schoenkopf, OC Weekly
Second: “Citizen Servatius”
Tara Servatius, Creative Loafing
(Charlotte)
Third (tie): C.J. Janovy, The Pitch
Third (tie): “Potter’s Field”
Chris Potter, Pittsburgh City Paper
Honorable Mention: Robin Meyers,
Oklahoma Gazette
Cover Design
Small
First: Jeffrey Bland, Style Weekly
Second: David Jayne, David Robert and
Sandra Hoover, Reno News & Review
Third: Agnes Carrera, Michael Germana
and Dan Santat, Pasadena Weekly
Honorable Mention: Matt Ansoorian,
Bill Kienzel, Tanner Goldbeck and Branden Aroyan, Santa Barbara Independent
Large
First: Benjamen Purvis, Las Vegas
Weekly
Second: Tom Carlson, Riverfront Times
Third: Derrick Rainey, SF Weekly
Honorable Mention: Nathan Paolinelli
and Jeff Drew, Weekly Alibi
Ed Harrington’s “The HR Department”
took First Place in Cartoons that appear
in 3 or fewer papers.
See AltWeekly Awards, P. 4
3
Drugs Reporting
Small
First: “Searching for Justice”
Brita Belli, Fairfield County Weekly
Second: “Overprescribed Drugs”
Jill Kramer, Pacific Sun
Third: “Chemical Casualties”
Joel Warner, Boulder Weekly
Large
First: “Crackpot Crackdown”
Jordan Smith, Austin Chronicle
Second: “The Perfect Drug”
Sarah Fenske, Phoenix New Times
Third: “Lost & Found”
Luke Turf, Westword
Honorable Mention: “Little Court of
Horrors”
Beth Hawkins, City Pages
Editorial Layout
Small
First: “No Place to Go,” The Coast
Second: “Y,” The Coast
Third: “Right Place, Right Time,”
Style Weekly
Honorable Mention: “Inside Eden,”
Monterey County Weekly
Large
First: “XXXXXXXL,” Baltimore City Paper
Second: “Rising and Shining,”
Seattle Weekly
Third: “Cool and Collected,”
Miami New Times
Honorable Mention (tie): “Extra
Innings,” Miami New Times
Honorable Mention (tie): “Head,
Shoulders, Knees and Woes,”
Washington City Paper
Feature Story
Small
First: “Lord God!”
Leslie Newell Peacock, Arkansas Times
Second: “Hope Floats”
Brandon Walters, Style Weekly
Third: “No Apologies”
Casey Parks, Jackson Free Press
Large
First: “Baby Man”
Joe Watson, Phoenix New Times
Second: “Death of a Salesman”
Jason Cherkis, Washington City Paper
Third: “Green to the Core”
Judith Lewis, L.A. Weekly
Honorable Mention: “A Man Named
Sue”
Will Harper, East Bay Express
Food Writing
Small
First: Ann M. Colford, Pacific Northwest
Inlander
Second: Mackensy Lunsford, Mountain
Xpress
Third: Ella Lawrence, North Bay
Bohemian
Honorable Mention: Ari LeVaux,
Missoula Independent
Large
First: Bill Addison, Creative Loafing
(Atlanta)
Second: Jonathan Gold, L.A. Weekly
Third: Dara Moskowitz, City Pages
Honorable Mention: Charles Ferruzza,
The Pitch
One of Jeffrey Bland’s cover designs for
Style Weekly that earned him First Place
in the Small Papers Category.
4
“Snowman Robot” garnered Philadelphia
Weekly’s Justin DeGarmo First Place in
Illustration, Large Papers.
Format Buster
Small
First: “It’s Our Water”
Jessica Lyons, Monterey County Weekly
Second: “BW’s City Council Starting
Line-Up”
Nicholas Collias, Erin Ruiz and Leila
Ramella, Boise Weekly
Third: “A Modest Proposal”
Orlando Weekly staff
Honorable Mention: “Here It Comes”
John Borgmeyer, Nell Boeschenstein,
Mike Uriss and Bill LeSueur, C-Ville
Weekly
Large
First: “Unreal Presents Soulard Mardi
Gras Bingo”
Riverfront Times staff
Second: “Worst Case Scenario”
Kenny Be, Westword
Third: “Remembering Our Camelot”
Tommy Craggs, SF Weekly
Honorable Mention: “Fight Organized
Crime”
Enzo DiMatteo, NOW Magazine
Illustration
Small
First: “The Holiday Planner”
Kate O’Connor, The Coast
Second: “Biting Back”
Glenda Chiu, Pasadena Weekly
Third (tie): “Losing Choice”
Chris Buzelli and Angela Moore, Santa Fe
Reporter
Third (tie): “Risky Business”
Jo Scott, Seven Days
Large
First: “Snowman Robot”
Justin DeGarmo, Philadelphia Weekly
Second: “Confessions of a Substitute
Teacher”
James Yamasaki, Nashville Scene
Third: “Bill Gates”
Tra Selhtrow, Seattle Weekly
Honorable Mention: “Christmas Bush”
Tim Gough, Philadelphia Weekly
Investigative Reporting
Small
First: “A Death in McAllen”
Dave Mann, The Texas Observer
Second: “The Road to Meadville” series
Donna Ladd, Jackson Free Press
Third: “All Shook Up”
Cara DeGette, Colorado Springs
Independent
Honorable Mention: “Beat by the
System”
Susan Clark Armstrong, Folio Weekly
Large
First: “PGE” series
Nigel Jaquiss, Willamette Week
Second: “Worst Homocide” series
David S. Bernstein, Boston Phoenix
Third: “The Fall Guy”
A.C. Thompson, San Francisco Bay
Guardian
Honorable Mention: “Bomb Bait”
Paul McMorrow, Boston’s Weekly Dig
Media Reporting/Criticism
Small
First: Krestia DeGeorge, City Newspaper
Second: Todd Stauffer, Jackson Free
Press
Third: Fiona Morgan, Independent
Weekly
Honorable Mention: Leigh de Armas,
Orlando Weekly
Large
First: Nikki Finke, L.A. Weekly
Second: Sydney Schanberg, The Village
Voice
Third (tie): Chad Garrison and Malcolm
Gay, Riverfront Times
Third (tie): Bob Norman, New Times
BPB
Honorable Mention: Chris Potter, Pittsburgh City Paper
Music Criticism
Small
First: “J Spot”
Jonanna Widner, Santa Fe Reporter
Second: John Brodeur, Metroland
Third: “Boys, Express Yourselves”
Stephen George, LEO Weekly
Honorable Mention: Frank De Blase,
City Newspaper
Large
First: Sarah Godfrey, Washington City
Paper
Second: Kandia Crazy Horse, Creative
Loafing (Charlotte)
Third: Rob Harvilla, East Bay Express
Honorable Mention: Chris Herrington,
The Memphis Flyer
News Story - Long Form
Small
First: “Torture in Maine’s Prison”
Lance Tapley, Portland Phoenix
Second: “St. Joseph’s Night Gone Blue”
Katy Reckdahl, Gambit Weekly
Third: “Guards Sound Alarm”
Sue Sturgis, Independent Weekly
Honorable Mention: “Getting Plucked”
Dave Mann, The Texas Observer
Large
First: “Attack of the Killer Weed”
Wyatt Olson, New Times BPB
Second: “For Sale”
Laura McPhee, NUVO
Third: “Cross to Bare”
Robert Nelson, Phoenix New Times
Honorable Mention: “Hijacking at the
Hospital”
Pablo Lastra, Fort Worth Weekly
News Story - Short Form
Small
First: Adam Lynch, Jackson Free Press
Second: Rick Marshall, Metroland
Third: Bill Davis, Charleston City Paper
Honorable Mention: Andrew MacLeod,
Monday Magazine
Large
First: Alan Prendergast, Westword
Second: Kristen Hinman, Riverfront
Times
Third: Paul McMorrow, Boston’s Weekly
Dig
Honorable Mention: Kia Gregory,
Philadelphia Weekly
Photography
Small
First: “Under the Bridge”
Walter Coker, Folio Weekly
Second: “A-Z Charleston Artists”
Nancy Santos, Charleston City Paper
Third: “My Cuba”
Jeff Clark, Ventura County Reporter
Honorable Mention: “At the
Crossroads”
Michael Brown, Illinois Times
See AltWeekly Awards, P. 6
“Under the Bridge” earned Folio Weekly’s
Walter Coker First Place in Photography,
Small Papers.
5
Large
First: “Losing Hanna, Part 2”
Jim Stawniak, Creative Loafing (Atlanta)
Second: “We Have Been Blessed”
Jeff Fusco, Philadelphia Weekly
Third: “A Gentle Faith”
Cameron Knight, Cincinnati Citybeat
Honorable Mention: “Naked Ambition”
Bootsy Holler, Seattle Weekly
Special Section
Small
First: “DISH,” Charleston City Paper
Second: “7 Nights,” Seven Days
Third: “Best of Boise,” Boise Weekly
Honorable Mention: “Back to School,”
The Coast
Large
First: “CP Choice,” Philadelphia City
Paper
Second: “Best of L.A.,” L.A. Weekly
The Coast’s Web site won First Place for Small Papers in the inaugural year of the
Web Site category.
Third: “Minnesota’s Greatest Hits,” City
Pages
Honorable Mention: “State of the
Children,” Oklahoma Gazette
Web Site
Small
First: The Coast
Second: Seven Days
Third: Tucson Weekly
Honorable Mention: Jackson Free
Press
Large
First: Seattle Weekly
Second: The Village Voice
Third: Baltimore City Paper
Honorable Mention: Metro Times
Friday Around the Convention
Newsletter Staff
Photos by Roxanne Jo Mitchell
EDITOR Jon Whiten
WRITER Monica Leas
PHOTOGRAPHER Roxanne
Jo Mitchell
CONTRIBUTORS Amy Gill,
Joy Howard
Roxanne Jo Mitchell Photography
roxannejomitchell.com
Laura Dell leads the “Management Tools
for Editors Who Don’t Like to Manage”
session.
6
Dwayne Booth at the AltWeekly Awards
Lunch, where he picked up a Third Place
award for his cartoon, “Image Control by
Mr. Fish.”
A Party With a Different View
T
Betsy Otwell, hostess
extraordinaire, builds
a Mr. Picasso-Head.
he view for Friday night’s cocktail gathering wasn’t quite as
expansive as a sunset over the Arkansas River. But over
200 convention-goers soaked up impressive indoor imagery at
the Arkansas Arts Center, where a traveling Picasso exhibit is
showing this summer.
Over appetizers, the group swapped stories of the day’s
activities and questioned locals for restaurant advice before
venturing out to Little Rock’s neighborhoods for dinner.
- Monica Leas
Photos by Roxanne Jo Mitchell
Stephen Buel of East Bay Express enjoys
some good conversation.
Cincinnati CityBeat’s
Kristofer Sommer
Clark: Alt-Weeklies ‘Vital to American Democracy’
M
By Monica Leas
Roxanne Jo Mitchell
ore than 150 early-risers greeted retired Gen. Wesley
K. Clark with rousing applause and intermittent “amens”
Friday morning as he discussed faulty motivations for
the war in Iraq and an ongoing quest for America’s next big
idea.
“We don’t have the right big idea,” he said. “What is it?
American Idol? What is the big idea? It’s certainly not the war
… That can’t be the big idea of American society.”
The former Democratic presidential candidate spoke of current struggles across the nation’s business, health care, and
education fields — and expressed dismay at the distracting
focus on the war on terrorism.
“If we keep that focus, we’re going down,” Clark said.
“That’s not the most important thing.”
Clark criticized the Bush administration’s “high degree of
incompetence” in handling the war in Iraq and likened Bush’s
post-September 11th response to the reaction of a college
student who suddenly realizes he forgot to write a term paper
over Christmas vacation.
But the four-star general said that now that troops are
engaged, it is too early to jerk them back.
“What we’ve got to do is try to get a C-, D+ solution,” Clark
said.
“It might work. It’s too early to say it can’t happen, there-
fore we’ve got to maintain our military commitment.”
Clark also reflected on his own military career and his
upbringing in Little Rock, when, he said, “we had an organizing
principle in America — and it didn’t stop rock and roll.”
He empowered alt-weeklies to search for a similar principle
today, by educating readers with critical reporting on big issues.
“As alternative weeklies … you cover news in a way that’s
vital to American democracy … and we need you out here in
America,” Clark said.
7
An Arty Party
The Fascinating Robert Newman of Fortune Design talks
shop in front of Picasso with designer Donny George of
C-Ville Weekly.
The Bus-ted Ride
O
-Monica Leas
Michael Schwarz and Michael King of Austin
Chronicle may be getting sucked into the vortex
- or they might be standing in front of a painting.
8
Ray Alba (aka Dominic) and Joseph Bachana of Database Publishing Consultants are
all smiles.
Photos by Roxanne Jo Mitchell
ne mile-long bus ride from the Peabody to the
Arkansas Arts Center may have taken nearly
a half-hour -- but for the handful of passengers on
board, the adventure was worth every minute.
It’s not clear what caused a temperamental tour
bus to stop and start throughout its mini-tour of duty
Friday evening, but after a few stalls in intersections
and a few coasts through red lights, a few passengers were more than eager to get off.
“We said, ‘We’ll walk. We’re Canadian -- we like
the heat,’” said Kyle Shaw, whose colleagues from
The Coast weren’t permitted to make the last eight
blocks on their own. A hospitable driver said their
destination was too far for that.
An end appeared near as a Subaru station wagon
sped toward the stalled bus at one intersection.
“I yelled, ‘Brace for impact!’” said publishing
consultant Fran Zankowski, one of about a dozen
passengers.
But the brief game of chicken ended favorably,
and the bus glided safely to the museum’s drive. The
hot and bothered passengers took solace in their
cocktails while plotting their ride home.