Monday, November 26, 2007

November 27, 2007 News



FLASH – UPDATE RE LA MAGAZINE GUIDE EDITOR

Newly ensconced in the Guide Editor position at Los Angeles Magazine is Sarah Durham Wilson, who needs February submissions by Wednesday at noon. She's replacing Gia Gittleson, of course, and also Michael Mullen, who did this job temporarily in addition to his other work at the magazine.

The new Sarah Wilson is not to be confused with the OTHER Sara (no H) Wilson, who is LA Mag's associate editor.

Sarah's email AS OF WEDNESDAY is sdwilson@lamag.com but it is sxwilson@lamag.com for today (Tuesday) only. (No confusion, here, people.)


Anyway, welcome Sarah!


NEW MANAGING EDITOR AT CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE JOURNAL

Thanks to Brenda Rees for passing along this email from Jennifer Caterino…

Please excuse the mass email. I wanted to let you know that after more than two rewarding years as editor in chief of FORM / LA Architect magazines, I have moved to the California Real Estate Journal. Please update your contact information accordingly. The Balcony Press/Form Mag email addresses will no longer work starting Monday, November 19.

Jennifer Caterino, Managing Editor
California Real Estate Journal
915 East First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-229-5359 p
213-229-5382 f
jennifer_caterino@dailyjournal.com
www.carealestatejournal.com


FROM WEHONEWS.COM

Ryan Gierach, editor of WeHoNews.com, was nice enough to write with this information:

We've been blessed to have been in business and publishing for over two years now, and have, in that time, supplanted any other news resource for the city [West Hollywood]. I hope you'll check out our extensive (largest I can find locally) Things To Do page in the Arts & Entertainment Section of the paper. I'm hoping you'll share word of it with those who subscribe to/read your blog.


More than happy to. Here's where to reach him: editor@wehonews.com


Monday, November 12, 2007

November 13, 2007 News



FIRST THINGS FIRST…


What do these songs have in common – "If I Had A Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone"?

If you're like me, you know them by heart, back and forth, up and down. But I didn't realize they'd all been written by Pete Seeger, whose inspiring life is told in a fantastic documentary I saw this last weekend, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. (No, they're not my client.)

The fact that he wrote those songs doesn't even begin to impart the significance of Seeger's inspiring life or the movie's power and timeliness, but here's a good description from a web site I found

"One of the legends of American music, Pete Seeger was the architect of the folk revival… An outspoken advocate of peace, unionism, civil rights and ecology, he was targeted by the Communist witch hunt of the 1950s and was picketed, protested, blacklisted, and, despite his enormous popularity, banned from television for more than 17 years. With a combination of never-before-seen archival footage, Seeger's own personal films, and interviews with musicians like Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Maines, and Peter, Paul and Mary, this new documentary paints an intimate portrait of an icon who has profoundly influenced the fabric of American music."

They forgot to mention (interviews with) Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Paxton, and non musicians like Tommy Smothers and many more.

Check it out here, and RUN to see this film. Really. Immediately. Take your kids, too. Go on, now!






DOWNTOWN NEWS FILLS A&E EDITOR SLOT…

… with the wonderful Julie Riggott (julie@downtownnews.com), late of Pasadena Weekly. She says, "I'll still be doing some freelance writing about Pasadena-area arts too."


UPDATE FROM MARCI WEINER

As a P.S. to my 11/8 post about the Westside Chronicle's demise and Marci Weiner's new position, she writes with additional info:

"I have been Society Editor for Celeb Staff for almost a year - and in addition am now editor in chief of Celeb Life magazine. Both national publications are on the newstands and also online. Also write a weekly column for Movieweb. I, too, am sorry about the demise of Westside Chronicle. It was good local newspaper and is a sign of the times. However, as you can see am very busy indeed!"


LA TIMES WRITER AND EDITOR UPDATES

John Lippman replaces the previously departed Jim Bates as Business section deputy editor, entertainment.

Megan Garvey takes over the morning assignment editor job from Mary MacVean, who continues to cover state, regional and local news for the Times web site.


IN PRAISE OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

The L.A. Times' ongoing coverage of Iraq-and-other-war veterans has been magnificent in keeping the personal, human toll of the war front and center. For a wrenching but terrific read, check out Luis Sinco's story of his professional and personal involvement with one of the casulaties. There's video and photos too.


Wednesday, November 7, 2007

November 8, 2007 News



TURNING A PAGE

This from MusicalAmerica.com:

Anne Midgette, free-lance classical music critic, feature writer and reporter for The New York Times, is to step in for Tim Page as chief classical music critic at The Washington Post, starting in January. Page is taking a leave of absence to be a visiting professor at the University of Southern California. The Post has been interviewing potential successors for the last several months.

More here.


CHANGES AT VARIETY.COM

Elsa Bertet has left and according to the news desk, they're no longer doing "Get A Life" calendar listings.

Also, for your mailing lists, V Page and Stylephile Editor Mia McNiece is one and the same as Mia Sulpor (following her marriage).


THIS AND THAT

Katie McCarthy is now Where Magazine's Editorial Assistant, replacing Christina Xenos who now runs the web site as web manager. Put Christina on your shorter-lead lists for the site's "Weekly Hot Tips" section.

According to LAObserved.com, the Copley News Service bureau in Los Angeles closes at the end of the year.

New calendar editor (and assistant editor) at Life After 50 is Claire Yezbak Fadden (cfadden@lifeafter50.com). Carl Kozlowski, who had been handling the Life After 50 calendar chores, is no longer doing so, but he's still staff reporter at Pasadena Weekly.

Now that the Westside Chronicle is defunct, society writer Marci Weiner has a new gig as society editor with Celeb Staff, an, um, shall we say unusual magazine with offices here and in New York. Check out her "Celebs For a Cause" column here. She's also executive editor for its online offshoot, Celeb Life (not sure of its URL, though).


Thursday, November 1, 2007

November 1, 2007 News



NEW INFORMATION FROM P.J. OCHLAN AT KGIL AM, et al

P.J. Ochlan, regarding his "Arts Reports," says:
"Still working out scheduling details on the features. I’ll be running them on an interview by interview basis as opposed to a fixed position. There will be more coverage with each guest, but fewer guests – so I’ll probably be focusing on only the biggest names with less attention on classical music. Definitely more traditional celebs. Classical celebs maybe and rarely, but not for CD releases."
He also said,
"Keep in mind that I’m also hosting the public affairs show on all three stations [Go Country, KGIL AM and KKJZ FM], and need guests for long-form interviews there as well."
Who qualifies?

"As long as it’s essentially non-commercial and the guest has enough to talk about. I need at least 30 mins. with each guest."

HELLO LYLE

The contact for Michael Jackson's new KGIL talk fest is none other than Jackson's long-time produer Lyle Gregory. Welcome back, guy!


GOODBYE MARTIN

LA Times Magazine Senior Editor Martin Smith leaves to join Orange Coast Magazine November 19 as editor. Read the release here. Orange Coast was bought in July by the same company that owns Los Angeles Magazine and Tu Ciudad Los Angeles, among others.


MOVIES ROCK NEW FROM CONDE NAST

Conde Nast publishes Movies Rock, which according to this LA Times story is "a magazine dedicated to the intersection of pop music and moviemaking… [a] custom publishing supplement that will be mailed to about 16 million subscribers of 14 Condé Nast magazines -- such as Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ -- beginning Nov. 1."


WHO KNEW?

I guess there's something for everyone and various combinations thereof. Can't say that I've ever heard of this magazine, Garden and Gun, but it has announced a new editor: Sid Evans.


FROM ONE COUNTRY TO ANOTHER

David Masello leaves Country Living to join Town & Country Nov. 5 as senior editor. He'll cover men's fashion and edit the In the Country and Arts & Culture sections. dmasello@hearst.com


PR TYPES VS. CLIENTS: DON'T YA WISH…

From People.com

Publicist Calls It Quits
Compounding her problems, [Heather] Mills – who's still engaged in a messy divorce from the former Beatle – has been dropped by her publicist, Phil Hall. He confirms that the two parted ways Oct. 30, on the eve of her press tour. As Hall tells PEOPLE, "It doesn't sit [well] with our company when one of our clients is attacking newspapers while we are trying to build relationships."

You go, Phil!


PRESS VS. PR TYPES: NOT LIKE NIXON'S ENEMIES LIST, BUT STILL

Lots of PR folks are on Wired Editor Chris Anderson's "Outlook blocked" list. Read it and weep if it's you.


ME VS. THE GUIDE

Have to say it – now that I've returned to L.A. and have seen the Times' new Thursday Guide section, I really like it in terms of client placement opportunities. It's got so much more variety to its listings section (albeit not as many traditional listings, which I know is driving one of my clients over the edge; I haven't yet pulled a Phil Hall, but I'm close).

Anyway, some of the content escapes traditional LA Times writing style vapidity, including the "Underrated/Overrated" column, particularly this entry from a week ago:

The founder and head chef of downtown's celebrated Patina Restaurant is indeed a great cook, but where does he get off inviting "the public" to a $425 per-person prix fixe dinner (Nov. 5 at Patina)? What's he serving? Stem cells cooked in a cash-burning oven? Somewhere in France, Marie Antoinette's head just exploded.

Hey, it's good to be back home again.