June 22, 2009, News

I must rectify a grevious omission from my last post when I forgot to credit my esteemed and beloved colleague Libby Huebner, aka the sainted Mrs. Johnson, for the Jazz Times tip.

Lest I err again, let me thank the similarly esteemed Lucy Pollak for passing this on:

Hi everyone

Please welcome Stephan (pronounced Steven) Horbelt as our new associate editor. We're very excited to have him on our editorial staff. His e-mail is Stephan.Horbelt [at] (frontierspublishing.com). Stephan will be writing our calendar and theater listings so please add him to your mailing lists.

Thanks,
Jeremy Kinser
Editor-in-Chief

Nikke Finke reports the departure from the Hollywood Reporter of veteran writer Ray Richmond.


Follow these LA Times CultureMonster blog arts writers on Twitter:

@KnightLAT, @HawthorneLAT, @smuchnic, @lfung, @sherrystern, @dhaithman, @charlesmcnulty, @boehmm, @markswed

June 17, 2009, News

Not sure how recently this changed, but KFRN's current address is 3605 Long Beach Blvd., Suite 445 / Long Beach, CA 90807 (moved from 3550), per Public Service Director Suong Tran.


Thanks to this NY Times blog for info about the new online Tablet Magazine (www.tabletmag.com):

Calling itself “a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture,” Tablet magazine began publishing Tuesday. The Web site is a project of the nonprofit Nextbook Inc. and the sister organization of Nextbook Press, which publishes a line of Jewish-themed books. Tablet lists an impressive bunch of contributors and is edited by Alana Newhouse, the former culture editor of The Forward, along with Jesse Oxfeld, who has worked at New York magazine and Gawker and serves as executive editor.

Tablet Magazine
295 Lafayette Street, Suite 501
New York, New York 10012
Main phone: 646-277-2400
Fax: 212-226-5619

If you have a story idea to pitch, please contact the appropriate section.
Arts & Culture pitches: arts@
Life & Religion pitches: life@
News & Politics pitches: news@

(All email addresses are at tabletmag.com)


The La Crescenta Valley Sun gets folded into the Glendale News Press as of July 4, with more details here. Both are owned by the same company, of course, as is the La Canada Valley Sun, which remains in place as a separate newspaper. So far.


Jazz Times attempts a Lazarus – this from their web site:

06/08/09
An Important Message From JazzTimes Management
By JazzTimes
To our readers and members of the jazz community:

JazzTimes has temporarily suspended publication of the magazine and has furloughed the bulk of its staff while it finalizes a sale of its assets. The brand and operation will undergo reorganization and restructuring in order to remain competitive in the current media climate. Print publishing is expected to resume as soon as a sale is closed. New information and statements will be posted atwww.jazztimes.com as they become available.

Thank you for your patience during this challenging period.
JazzTimes Management

From EaterLA.com:

Hi, I'm Kat Odell, and today, after nearly a month of contributing to Eater LA, I'm officially taking over as the site's new editor. I'm a longtime foodie with a propensity for cheese, sushi, and doughnuts who calls Venice home, and I'm excited to bring dining and drinking news your way in the classic Eater style -- with a few new twists, too. As ever, we can't do it without your help, so if you spot some fresh plywood, signage, or anything else resty-related, hit the tipline.

Kat's eaterla.com email address is la@.


RIP Cousin Keith -- it's been a year today.

June 11, 2009, News

A warm shout-out to a great group of PR pros with whom I spent a lovely evening of food and conversation: Zan Dubin Scott (ZDS Communications), Lucy Pollak (Lucy Pollak Public Relations); Alison Deknatel (Operation USA's Communications Director), Judith Borne (Bourne Identities); Susan Gordon (special events and PR consulant), Allison Rawlings (Geffen Playhouse Director of Communications), Joanna Brody (Brody Public Relations), Mindy Berman (Mindy F. Berman Communications) and Alexia Haidos (DoubleA PR and Marketing).


Thanks to Leticia Rhi Buckley for passing along this news from Maryl Celiz:

As most of you know, I am no longer editor at Hoy, however, I'm going to start collaborating with a new Hispanic property called Cafe Magazine (print mag out of Chicago and website www.cafemagazine.com) and would love to begin receiving all your wonderful media alerts once again.

Please add me to your databases for anything that has to do with art/music/culture/health/film coverage. I'm currently looking for calendar events and artists/sites to feature in the email newsletter. Quirky and interesting photographs taken by latinos will also be featured. Please pass this along to anyone on your team that works with this type of content and feel free to send me information asap.

Her gmail.com address is Maryl Celiz.

KCET's Vicki Curry sent word of her layoff on Wednesday.

I'm sorry to report that after nearly 14 years with KCET, I've been laid off. It was long expected -- SoCal Connected is on hiatus and there's no other production currently happening at the station. There's a chance I'll return when SoCal Connected starts up again. But in the meantime, I'm looking forward to a brief respite and then new opportunities. I plan to continue working in television & video production but am open to all possibilities. So if you hear of anything that makes you think of me, please let me know!

It's been a pleasure working with you over the years and I hope to keep in touch. If you need to reach anyone at KCET, Val Zavala is still there…

Vicki's gmail.com address is Vicki.Curry

Love to my good friend KW.

And thanks to everyone for your support of and enthusiasm for this blog!

June 9, 2009 News

A bunch more people were let go at the Hollywood Reporter, according to this from The Wrap, which also noted the demise of Radio & Records.


And both John Hobbs and Christopher Cappiello have left Frontiers-INLos Angeles magazine, according to a tip from my beloved friend Kenny Werther. Editor Jeremy Kinser remains.


At Los Angeles Magazine, Matt Segal gets promoted from features editor to executive editor, Rick Meyer moves up to articles editor, and Amy Wallace comes aboard as editor-at-large, according to this memo (with more details) from Editor-in-Chief Mary Melton posted at LA Observed.


These last few weeks have brought the debut of two sites:

Jenny Peters launched www.JetSetJen.com with this message:

I've been working on launching my own web magazine for the last few months, and am happy to announce that it is up and running as of today. You'll find weekly movie reviews there, along with lots of other things to read about, including other entertainment stories, as well as travel, food, wine, fashion, spas, cars, celebrities; all of life's fun stuff, and the things I have been covering for the last twenty years for many other outlets.

So please check it out, tell me what you think, and if you like it, bookmark the site, come back often, and tell your friends and family to take a look too. I'll be updating the content every day, so please come back often and don't forget to click on those Google ads now and then, since that's where I will make the cash to keep it going. And if you have a company or client that might be interested in advertising or sponsorship on the site, please let me know.

And Katherine Spiers...

”after a valiant attempt at resistance, …decided to just go ahead and start a blog already. Here it is: http://katherinespiers.tumblr.com/

Discussing restaurants in LA and food politics in general, as well as providing a one-stop portfolio of my work that's scattered about the internet.

The design is still in the beginning stages, but the content is chugging along.

June 2, 2009, News

I've been on vacation and then catching up from that, but the news stops for no man….


This yesterday from LA Observed:

LA Weekly just announced that longtime editor Laurie Ochoa is leaving. The Weekly story says it is "actively searching for Editor in Chief candidates who will continue LA Weekly's legacy of journalistic excellence while expanding its online presence." Look for speculation about Jill Stewart, the Deputy Editor who some have called a shadow editor since she was installed by Mike Lacey at Village Voice Media, the former New Times group.

Anyone need a job? The Weekly's official announcement of Ochoa's departure is here along with a note about its search for a new editor.


While I was away, I got an email from a guy who was steamed to learn from Media Moves that the LA Times had ceased delivering the monthly magazine to all its subscribers. Shortly thereafter, I checked out the May issue on the Times' web site, and it had a bunch of stuff I was interested in reading… but NOT online. So, I dropped a note to the magazine's Editor Annie Gilbar, sharing with her both of the above points. Here's her response to my question, "Who do we write to let them know that we want the magazine back in our zip code, too?"

Hi Laura

It’s such a long story. People love the magazine – and of course they are frustrated since the distribution has changed.

We are trying to figure it out.

Will let you know when we do.

Meanwhile, thanks as always

Annie

In her reply to me she cc'd Penn Jones, whose name did not ring a bell until a few days later when his departure as publisher of the monthly magazine was announced along with the suspension – after only a few weeks of life – of the LAEtcetera weekly.

LA Observed has more.


Speaking of LA Observed, as I do again and again, I felt like a real grown-up (wink) being invited to its anniversary party last Friday. Putting faces of journalists with names I've known for years was very cool, as was meeting the wonderful Kevin Roderick. Full report from LA Observed here.


I'm sure you've all heard by now that Editor Kit Rachlis and writers Steve Oney, Dave Gardetta and Jessie Katz have departed Los Angeles Magazine. Executive Editor Mary Melton is promoted to Rachlis' spot, and the three writers will apparently continue as free-lancers.

Nice for all these corporations to get rid of staffers and re-hire them for less money (read no taxes to pay, no benefits to pay, no overhead to pay). If you believe that all these layoffs (NOT just in journalism) are REALLY a result of "the economy," I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona you might want to check out.


Lots of interesting info about LA food and restaurant writers (and a photo of Colleen Dunn Bates, Jessica Gelt and Jonathan Gold) in this post by Caroline on Crack, one of my favorite bloggers.


I was very saddened to read about the death of young (34) Daily Breeze writer Vu Nguyen last month.

I had met him in April at Lennox Middle School for a story on Mary Lang, an amazing teacher who's using Shakespeare to help her equally amazing English-development students learn English. I had pitched the story related to my client, A Noise Within, the repertory theatre company, which hosts these kids when they come to the theatre to see the Shakespeare play they've been studying. A lovely guy, he really did a great job capturing how Lang influences her students and generates excitement in the classroom. He told me how he was glad to have the chance to do this type of story, as most of his education coverage was more dry board of education-type reporting. Here's his piece.

What a terrible, terrible tragedy. Life is short.


Check out arts/culture writer Julie Riggott's new web site, Culture Spot LA, which has moved from her blog (ArtsLosAngeles.blogspot.com). She writes:

Our new site is bigger, bolder, and more eye-catching, and it will continue to grow and change. New features include Hot Spots -- listings of our recommendations for the hottest culture spots. We also have a featured article on an amazing exhibit at the Getty. We hope you enjoy what you read and will help us continue to cover the arts in any of the following ways:

--visit often and share your comments
--subscribe to receive emails about new posts
--add a link to CultureSpotLA.com on your website
--tell your friends, colleagues, members, etc. about Culture Spot LA
--become a contributor: share stories and photos
--add Editor +++ at+++ CultureSpotLA dotcom to your press release list
--inquire about advertising
--ask businesses that support arts and culture to inquire about advertising

Check this out, too: KPCC's Kitty Felde is now blogging from DC.