News & Views
See kids? Isn’t this fun?
We are still a year away from next year’s presidential election but it’s already painfully obvious why so many people are so turned off by politics. The spectacle of the nominating process consists of each party’s candidates gouging eyes and pulling hair in a struggle to separate themselves from the pack. Despite such critical issues as an unnecessary war, a growing number of Americans without health insurance, a nonexistent energy policy, and a crumpling infrastructure, the circus we call an election appears to have all the dignity of a Beavis and Butthead Meet the Three Stooges feature film. This year, for once, the Republicans are acting even more childish than the Democrats. Rudy and Mitt, the laughably-named GOP frontrunner, are so busy pointing out each other’s spending outrages and liberal social policies that even Newt Gingrich has referred to the Republican candidates as a bunch of pygmies. You can almost hear the GOP base agonizing over the absurd notion that its standard bearer will come from such a bastion of conservatism as New York or Massachusetts. The leading Democrats struggled early to avoid speaking ill of one another, but that didn’t last long. Recently, Hillary Clinton’s opponents have started lobbing rhetorical grenades at her in a concerted effort to penetrate her veneer of inevitability. They cite her acceptance of campaign contributions from lobbyists, her refusal to apologize for her vote authorizing the use of force to oust Saddam Hussein and her failed attempt to reform health care early in her husband’s first administration as evidence that she is an unlikely agent of change. I guess it’s no surprise that by voting time, so many of us have tuned the whole distasteful enterprise out or simply hold our noses as we choose the least objectionable option. Yet I do not blog before you today to criticize politics. Truth is, I am hopelessly addicted to this stuff. After all, political campaigns offer many of the same attractions that draw people to such popular televised competitions as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Surely if we are held on the edge of our couches wondering who Donald Trump is going to fire, we ought to care at least a little about which candidate has a better plan for reforming health care or ending the quagmire in Iraq. Would it help if they added a witty panel of celebrity observers to critique responses at the debates, or required the candidates to eat a bug before answering a question? At the very least, couldn’t they do something imaginative with a giant tic-tac-toe board or carousel that spins them around? Apathy here in Wisconsin may partly be due to the widespread belief that the candidates will be chosen by the time our primary rolls around on February 19. Nearly every other state has elbowed its way in front of us in the fight to be relevant. With big states like New York, Florida and California set to cast their ballots ahead of us, conventional wisdom […]
Nov 7th, 2007 by Ted Bobrow
We’ve got to help Alan Keyes
Typically I don’t read every political email I receive anymore than I pore over my spam, but sometimes a subject line catches my attention. Recently, Alan Keyes was excluded from a Fox News-sponsored Florida GOP debate on the premise that he didn’t have the required 1% straw poll vote, even though the Iowa Poll allegedly had him at 2% just a week after he entered the race. Turns out, none of the polls used by the Florida GOP included Keyes’ name. Granted, they may have been taken before he declared his candidacy, but he’s in the race now and everybody knows it, even if his only true role ends up being to keep arch-conservative Christian issues in the debate. Keyes’ people sounded off, launching an email campaign to barrage Florida GOP chair Jim Greer with complaints. This morning I received another email from the Keyes campaign. He was recently excluded from the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, reportedly because he entered the race too late to be included. His staff, however, cites that attendee Fred Thompson entered the race barely a week before Keyes. Most top tier candidates were there – unlike the Values Voter Debate held in September, where Keyes came in just behind Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee in a field absent Giuliani, Thompson and McCain. Keyes’ camp acknowledges that political event organizers have the right to invite (or not) anyone they choose, but that groups like the FRC are lying when they claim to invite ALL candidates. In the run-up, Keyes, clearly a candidate, didn’t get his invitation in the mail and when his camp called to see if it was lost, they were told that he simply wasn’t asked to participate. It seems a little sad to picture them all sitting around the office waiting for the mail and then calling the FRC, only to learn that they weren’t invited. I imagine their initial incredulity, followed by quickly rising ire and a subsequent email blast bitch-slapping the FRC, perhaps fired off in anger in the middle of the night. At the end of the day, I don’t really care about Alan Keyes’ candidacy. And it amuses me that I know so much about his campaign through official emails that dish dirt in that whiny, sanctimonious tone to which my ears have been deaf since I was a teenager tuning out my mom over dirty clothes on the floor. My first response is to tease Keyes for his picked-on demeanor and holier-than-all posturing, but in fact his situation reveals chilling political truths. Prior to the advent of email as the political machine’s communication tool of choice, citizens had to rely on the media to report stories of exclusion, favoritism and other abuses of power in a reportedly inclusive system. In Keyes’ case, there’s little chance his story would have gotten much play – he’s the quintessential fringe candidate. But by his ability to communicate with me directly, I am informed firsthand of ways in which his […]
Nov 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
A matter of perspective
By Blaine Schultz, Jon Anne Willow and Kenya Evans + Photos by Kat Jacobs and Erin Landry In planning this story, we originally set out to pair young musicians with seasoned veterans and see what kind of school would be in session as a result. But what happened instead was vastly more interesting: organic dialogue stemming from a common love. What follows are three interviews with six musicians penned by three writers. The questions for each were different, as were the settings and interview styles. But the messages overlap, intertwine and paint a bigger picture of what it takes to live one’s passion. From creative process to overcoming jadedness to living with your choices, these six musicians laid it all out. Very special thanks to the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music for opening their doors for the photo shoots for this story. You’ll find more incredible images in our gallery at vitalsourcemag.com. —Jon Anne Willow Peder Hedman and Jason Mohr By Blaine Schultz + Photo by Erin Landry It is a too-warm September evening in Jason Mohr’s backyard, but nobody’s complaining. Bug spray and citronella candles help, but this year’s crop of mosquitoes arrived late and hungry. In a far-ranging conversation that spans Mohr’s thoughts on how a songwriter may be unconsciously predicting his own future to Hedman’s take on what it means to keep a band together when domestic realities come to the fore, it was never really obvious that two decades separate this pair of Milwaukee musicians. A common point of reference for both guitar mavens is the Maestro Echoplex, a vintage analog tape echo unit. Hedman brought to the interview a Stylophone, a gizmo he picked up at Value Village. The crude, handheld synthesizer may be best known as the instrument that plays the solo on David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” The Peder Hedman Quartet is in the final stages of self-releasing Don’t Fall Down; Mohr’s group, Juniper Tar, is nearly ready as well with the provisionally-titled Free Bird. Both bands begin with interesting songs and then subtly warp them to their own needs. And make no mistake, the musicians who collaborate with Hedman and Mohr are as talented and beyond ordinary as you will find. “Take a look at this, the first press I ever got,” Hedman says, setting an age-yellowed copy of the Crazy Shepard on the table. The 1982 article profiles the Null Heirs, accompanied by a grainy black and white photo. Since then, bassist Mike Frederickson went on to form The Moseleys and play bass with Robbie Fulks; keyboardist John Duncan played with Gear Daddy Martin Zellar (and Tiny Tim); Kent Mueller ran the late KM Art. Hedman played in Liquid Pink, then Tweaker, which landed him down south for years. It’s a sharp contrast to Mohr’s less than a decade of band experience, highlighted by an EP with his previous group, Telectro. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it … well, I’m making my mark,” Hedman says of his […]
Oct 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Chris Abele
‘Chris Abele’ and ‘Argosy’ may draw blank stares from the average Joe or Jane; ask a local arts supporter, though, and you’ll get a knowing nod. Abele is the 41-year-old head of the Argosy Foundation, established by his father John, co-founder of Boston Scientific, in 1997. The foundation moved from Boston to Milwaukee, where Chris was alerady living, in 2003. Since then, he has generously given his own time and money here and nationwide, supporting the work of groups like Planned Parenthood and the Boys and Girls Club and making appearances at political functions around the world. The Argosy Foundation supports the arts, but its broader mission is to improve the human condition through better access to healthcare, education initiatives for children, environmental protection, improving public safety and more. In the interest of full disclosure, Chris Abele is VITAL’s only financial investor to date, having purchased a (very) minority share of the magazine several years ago. Since then he has made himself scarce, letting us do things however we see fit. He says it’s his way of supporting something he believes in strongly – the enduring relevance of a diverse media. How did the arts become a focus for you? The arts have been part of my life as long as I can remember, largely because I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family who provided plenty of opportunities to experience and learn about music, theater, dance and visual art, [and] shared their passion for it. Our family has supported various arts groups for as long as I can remember. My personal involvement started with the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, but has developed into far more here in Milwaukee. What do you hope to achieve with your contributions of money and time in the arts community? For the groups themselves, I hope to encourage them to strive for ambitious goals; one aspect of Milwaukee that I love is a temperament of relative understatement, which can sometimes mistranslate into diminished expectations of just how much we can achieve and how high we can aim. I would love to see a greater level of pride and celebration of some of the great art that does happen here. For the city writ large, I would love to help people realize just how much we have here and foster a more collective understanding that a life without art is a life deeply diminished. Why is it important to foster the arts at the local level? Our foundation supports arts nationally and internationally, but we are headquartered here in Milwaukee and we believe that part of good corporate citizenship is support for the local community. Personally, I think we have a better arts scene than many people outside Milwaukee imagine, and I’m very excited about how much it continues to grow. What do you consider your greatest achievement as an arts supporter? I’m not sure if it’s for me to declare anything in particular a “great achievement” but I feel good […]
Sep 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Your papers, please
In August, Lucky and I went to Monterey, California, to visit our dad. We had an amazing time driving the coastal highway through Big Sur, picnicking on a friend’s private beach and cooking like the three of us were still the big Italian family we grew up with. But it wasn’t all just for a lark. My dad’s been sick since last fall, though he didn’t tell us until recently, and all of us are starting to think about the impending “future.” Lucky and I saw my dad in a new light this time: no longer entirely the Pacino-channeling, devastatingly charming, problem-fixing free spirit we grew up with, the man who met us at the door this time was a little too thin, with pure white hair and a big smile that caught me off guard with its open expression of joy at our arrival. In many ways, I like this man better. He’s mortal at last, which probably clears the road for both Lucky and I to look at ourselves and the people we choose in a more realistic way. And even if you’re not into psychoanalysis (sadly, I think it might be a blossoming obsession of my own middle age), it was so nice to be able to really talk to him without the layers of external image that have previously defined him for us. We traveled on relatively short notice, so to save almost $200 per ticket we chose to land in San Jose, then rent a car and drive the 90 minutes to Monterey. For those who’ve never experienced the pleasure of SJC firsthand (though I should note that a renovation is underway), the terminal is the size of a postage stamp and equally useful to air travelers. There’s one bathroom past the secured area – and by that I mean ONE unisex, one-toilet bathroom serving hundreds of people at all times. There’s no place past security to buy water or anything else (and as in airports everywhere, you can’t bring it in with you); there’s one tiny “food court” near the main entrance and it’s a fairly long bus ride to the understaffed rental car building. Needless to say, the security lines were looong, winding the equivalent of several city blocks when we entered the queue to catch our ride back to Milwaukee. We had plenty of time to chat up our fellow travelers, but when the novelty of that wore off after about five minutes, I daringly made eye contact with an attractive black woman in a sharp navy blazer and impossibly well-tailored khakis. She was in a kiosk, positioned under a sign that read “Now You Can Fly Through Airport Security.” The woman was stylishly hawking Clear, a pay service that allows member travelers to expedite airport security checks by whisking through Clear’s own “designated security lane with special benefits,” bypassing the teeming masses and leaving plenty of time to make gratuitous cell phone calls at the gate while waiting for everyone else. […]
Sep 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Green is the new black
“In 60 seconds, you can make toast, water a fichus, take a power nap and, now, save the Earth.” That’s heavy stuff, especially coming from renowned global climate expert Cameron Diaz. She’s teamed up with Al Gore on his latest megalomedia campaign, 60 Seconds to Save the Earth, a contest where young people can submit video shorts meant to “inspire change.” “Because the planet needs a good publicist,” is the tagline, delivered with a big smile by JT’s sometimes main squeeze. Plus the winners earn neat, energy-consuming electronics or even a hybrid SUV! I feel better already. It seems like Al’s back on track to change the course of global environmental decay. His worldwide Live Earth concert was a total bust with its insanely high cost (the citizens of Hamburg, in fact, are stuck with a $1.3 million tab from their event), insulting resource consumption (the private jets for artists alone used enough fuel to fly around the world over nine times), unforgivable lack of focus (no money was raised) and even lackluster ratings. I was also a little worried when the news media outed him for his scandalous personal consumption of energy. It really was pretty lame when he justified his 20-room Nashville estate by bleating that he and Tipper both work from home. It doesn’t count anyway, he added, because they buy “carbon offsets,” paying to have trees planted elsewhere. And the zinc mine on his property continually cited for dumping toxic chemicals into a nearby river and from which he receives about $20,000 a year? Fear not, Green Warriors, the mine was closed in 2003 so he’s all done with that little embarrassment. Just don’t ask him about the shares in Occidental Petroleum he continues to manage for his family. That’s none of your business. And that’s what this is all quickly boiling down to, isn’t it? Celebrities jumping on yet another bandwagon, donning hemp t-shirts and organic cotton jeans to show their solidarity with Mother Earth. The “in” crowd is batting around terms like “carbon offsetting” and “biodiversity” at cocktail parties by chlorinated pools, having arrived in their Escalades. For the rest of us who want to appear socially conscious, there’s the industrious J.C. Piscine Company, also out of Nashville (they make both the Jesus fish and the Darwin fish – clever!). They can’t keep fake hybrid badges that go on the backs of cars on the shelves. The weekly shipping alone could probably supply Africa’s U’wa tribe with electricity for a year. Do I seem bitter? I am, a little. Everything we do as individuals will have negligible overall impact on our climate. Change must come from the big polluters, so it appears we’re pretty much at the mercy of commerce. What can we do while we’re waiting? First, it can’t hurt to familiarize ourselves with some popular terms from the Green Movement. Awareness begins at home, after all, and it’s always nice to be able to understand what the stars are talking about. It’s […]
Aug 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Cheap adversaries
We’re having a tribe rummage sale soon, and it’s long overdue. We’ll all be attempting to foist off what we no longer have room for on people who still have some space or, ideally, an actual need for it. It’s time to purge. Yesterday I took two pickup trucks full of stuff to my sister’s to store until the big day. There were about 20 boxes of boys’ clothes plus all my baby hardware and some old bikes. I’ve decided not to sell any of my own clothes. Going through them, I remember on some level that I was in love with most of the items now gathering must in my attic when I bought them, but time has not been kind to the majority, which were “fabulous deals” or on clearance at Target. Buttons have fallen off, zippers ripped (and not because my pants were tight!) and cloth has faded unevenly. I have a metric crap ton of cute t-shirts that are either too snug under the arms, too loose in the body, too short at the bottom or all of the above. And I’m not even attempting to sell my cheap bookshelves, computer desk and other remnants of modular storage desperately needed on the day they were purchased. Most barely made it through the move into my house and are reinforced with L-brackets, extra screws and wood glue. They’re going straight to the curb. You get what you pay for, I guess. I’m going to have to replace my desk and bookcases right away, but I’m not running off to a discount store for an instant fix. Nope, this time I’m doing it the new-fangled way: I’m buying used. I’ll start with Craigslist and local eBay listings, trolling other people’s rummage sales on the weekends to satisfy my craving for a tactile shopping experience. My goal is to spend $200 on a desk, chair, area rug and several sets of shelves, all of either reasonable quality or unbeatable price. And I know I can do it, too, with a little patience. By August, the proceeds from my own rummage sale will fund my new junk and I’ll never have to set foot in a Kmart to make it happen. Aside from the Benjamins I’ll save, I’ve been wondering what has caused this shift in thinking in me, the poster child for convenient problem-solving and lifelong lover of clearance deals. Because I’m serious, I have no interest in driving to Schaumburg for a cheap FLÄRKE, even if it does have five shelves. I find the whole idea uncharacteristically irritating, and I wonder if I’m the only one. Localized online selling and the catapulting popularity of thrift shopping and swapping have created new options for people weary of a disposable culture, where 30-plus years of discount retailers flooding the market with cheap goods have created the expectation that we not only don’t have to pay much for what we own, but that there’s no need to care for it because […]
Jul 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
A crash course in teen parenting
Dear Readers, As I write my column this month, I’m sitting at my patio table in the early chill of a spring morning. I can only write when I’m alone, and today this is the only quiet corner of my universe. I am so far behind that the rest of the magazine is already at the printer, waiting for this last addition. As I shared a few months back, I am marrying a man with four children, three of them teenage girls. Until March of this year, my only child was a third grade boy and the rest of our tribe’s kids ranged in age from 2 to 11. I was still enrolled in Parenting 101: instilling values and a work ethic, providing emotional safety and stability, helping with homework and prioritizing quality time. Given this, I feel grossly under-prepared for my new parenting life. I am now a step-mom, which comes with the inherent complexities of who I am to the kids and where our boundaries lay, plus the myriad dramas that sometimes seem to dominate our lives. A few weeks ago it was the 15-year-old wanting her upper ear pierced. Last week it was the soon-to-be 13-year-old lobbying for a cell phone (and a car) for her birthday. This weekend, it was a matter of life and death. On Saturday, my fiancé and I were on our first real date in months, the younger children all safely occupied for the evening and the oldest, 17 year-old Alex, two hours north with a friend, interviewing the Amish for her senior final project. Michael had left his phone in the car, and as we got in after dinner it was ringing. It was Alex’s number, but it wasn’t Alex on the line. Her friend, a boy, had made the call, and he was clearly upset. From the passenger seat I could hear shouted fragments of his side of the exchange. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gull, I’m so sorry!” “The car flipped over three times…” “I got Alex out but the paramedic needs to talk to you…” And again, “I’m so sorry.” Michael laid his forehead against the steering wheel for a moment while the boy gave the phone to the paramedic. I could feel the blood chilling in Michael’s veins as his face turned to ash. Finally, we were informed that our daughter had sustained “a crushing injury” to her hand, a laceration of unknown severity to her foot and that further examination was needed at a hospital in Fond du Lac, over an hour from where we were. “Who’s screaming?” asked Michael. “That’s your daughter, sir, she’s pretty shaken up,” replied the paramedic. “Give her the phone, let me talk to her!” Michael’s voice was shaking, and as I write, I am reliving the panic we both felt in that moment. “Oh, Daddy, we tried to stop but we couldn’t and the car flipped over and over and over and I thought I was dead I really thought I was […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Wrong is wrong
Dear Readers, Freedom to say what you want, smoke where you want and carry a gun in your jacket pocket are all under loud discussion at the moment. The question of how much restraint is appropriate in our local schools should also be near the top of the list, though public outcry on this matter is grossly under-reported for reasons that should be obvious to all but the most insulated or ignorant of us. Also not in the headlines is proposed state legislation that would prohibit municipalities from requiring revenue-sharing with cable companies to fund public access television programming. Passage of the bill, co-proposed by our own Jeff Plale, a Progressive in name only, would radically reduce public access programming, the last bastion of equal time broadcasting. With so many axes to grind and fortuitous access to the the Fourth Estate, I’m weighing in this month on several issues in list form. I apologize in advance for the inelegance of the format, but I am limited in word count exactly as anyone else who writes for VITAL. 1. The statewide smoking ban. Guess what? It’s happening. It’s time to stop whining and meet up with modern thinking. To say that a person has the right to fill another person’s space with life-threatening toxins is like saying, to paraphrase smoker Angie Miller, quoted in Ted Bobrow’s cover story this month, that because you choose to hit yourself in the head with a hammer, you should be allowed to hit other people in the head with a hammer. Wrong is wrong. Smoke outside. 2. Handcuffs in Milwaukee Public Schools. Teachers are being assaulted in their classrooms at alarming rates. School safety officers sometimes have to physically restrain students for up to an hour while they wait for police to arrive. I don’t necessarily disagree that these adults need more effective tools to deal with their daily reality. My problem is with the discourse. To pretend this solves any problem is foolhardy, if not downright disingenuous. It’s a band-aid on a massive head wound. We wouldn’t be in this position if the mental and physical well-being of so many of our MPS students wasn’t in such jeopardy. School Board Director Charlene Hardin suggested recently on WNOV AM 860 that what students, teachers and staff need in the schools is parental presence, a whole other can of worms with causes rooted far outside MPS. It needs to be possible. Wrong is wrong. Peel the onion, don’t pretend to patch the missing roof. 3. The right to bear arms. At the time of the framing of the Constitution, the right to bear arms was tantamount to the right to survive. With no organized police force and high consumption of wild game as a food source, a gun in every home was necessary. And I bet they were rarely concealed. But in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy, some pundits have suggested that if concealed weapons had been allowed on campus, Cho Seung-Hui might […]
May 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
Six things you should know about VITAL
Dear readers, Anyone who’s ever worked in the business of communication knows this to be true: Professional communicators are some of the most ineffective personal communicators. Anyone who’s ever owned a small business knows this to be true as well: By the time you do everything you have to do to get your “product” out there, it’s often the part about explaining what you’ve got that gets neglected. Here at VITAL, we sometimes forget to tell people about the cool things we’ve been working on, so absorbed are we in creating it. So this month I want to take a few minutes to tell you about some things of which you might not be aware, but might enjoy if you knew about them. 1. VITAL is much bigger than it looks. We have a pretty great new website and we publish new content almost every day. There are blogs by myself (Up All Night), Lucky Tomaszek (Oh, Mama!), Russ Bickerstaff (Between Stages), Matt Wild (Please Send Help), Mehrdad (The Prescient Persian) and a biting and often hilarious conservative-leaning perspective from acidic local comic Michael Gull (Messiah Simplex). We publish online-exclusive show, film, music and concert reviews all month, plus articles and interviews – including a recent chat with the Decemberists – and a much more comprehensive events calendar. You can comment on stories, download content via RSS or check out our numerous image galleries. You can print, send to a friend or contact anyone on our staff. Visit us soon at vitalsourcemag.com. 2. VITAL is very popular in the UK. We have a Myspace page, and in the last six months hundreds of people, publications, bands and (for whatever reason) modeling agencies from the UK have not only “friended” us, but have been very active on our page. Tracking our website traffic, we see that a surprising number of our online viewers hail from there as well. They send us letters and leave us comments. They think we’re ahead of our time, for whatever that’s worth. Check out our page at myspace.com/vitalsource. 3. VITAL loves you back. In February we launched VITAL’s eNews You Can Use. It goes out twice a month and keeps you up to date on everything new we’ve published to the website as well as upcoming VITAL events. And, to show our love, we give away stuff to our subscribers in every edition, from concert tickets to sexy VITAL t-shirts and sometimes even bigger gifts. All you have to do is write us back and tell us what you’re interested in – no catches. You can subscribe from our home page at vitalsourcemag.com and unsubscribe any time. Naturally, we’ll never spam you or sell your name. We also offer amazingly cost-effective advertising for local businesses, so you can be better communicators than us. Contact me personally to learn more about our “Love to the Independents” program. 4. VITAL is everywhere. Some people still think that because our offices are in Riverwest and we’re active in our […]
Apr 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
A new hope?
By Jon Anne Willow Dear Readers, First off, thank you to everyone who came down to our 5th birthday party on February 24 at Turner Hall. I will freely admit that at press time the party hasn’t happened yet, so I’ll refrain from any mention of what a huge success it was. I can with confidence, however, thank our wonderful sponsors. Time Warner Cable made the party possible and WMSE really helped us get the word out. The Brewcity Bruisers, Pabst Theater, Coldwell Banker, The Oxygen Network, HBO, Windfall Theater, Atomic Tattoo and Hairys Hair Bar all sponsored booths, worked the room and/or donated fabulous prizes, which we in turn gave to you, our readers. Please support them in the coming year with your patronage. They truly put the rubber to the road when it comes to supporting local, independent media. ********************************************************************************* I’ve been thinking a lot lately about consumer confidence, and here’s why. VITAL is free to the people and supported by advertisers. It’s a common model, though like most startup businesses, the majority of free publications fail within their first two years. Ours didn’t, but it’s grown slowly. Initially, of course, there were normal factors to consider: lack of awareness, a weaker distribution network than our peers, etc. In time we overcame these hurdles and saw good results. Today, we have terrific advertisers, a talented staff, a sounder distribution network and a fantastic printer. But I’ve been in the media business a long time, and the hustle we do at VITAL to keep the numbers up is beyond what I would’ve previously considered the norm. At first I thought the issue might be about the state of print, but it’s wider. Everybody’s in the same boat, from the daily newspaper to the weeklies, the glossy monthlies and even broadcast and online media. If ad spending is up nationally (it’s at an all-time high), why are local outlets flat? This has been bugging me for about a year now, and I’ve spent that time trying to figure out the reason. I’ve caucused with other publishers, drunk untold cups of coffee with local business owners and managers and polled VITAL’s readership both formally and anecdotally. Some of what I heard comes down to quality issues – who wants to be associated with something they think is sub-par? But a big part of the reason, at least according to my highly unofficial research, is confidence. The economy has been in a slump for the entire life of VITAL, with the latest findings by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showing that for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans spent more than they’re worth in 2006, mostly on gas, mortgages and prescription medications. These days, average people stay home more and consume less, and this in turn puts the squeeze on local businesses, from clothing boutiques to restaurants and theaters. You can connect the rest of the dots yourself. But there may be good news on the horizon. The Fed […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Jon Anne Willow
