SN&R vs. Midtown Monthly on Yelp!
[hey control yr contributors, Midtown Monthly! i can keep leroy from peeing on bags ... :)]
SN&R and MM according to "Tony K.," MM contributor. i went to www.midtownmonthly.net to find TK's contributor bio but, hey, i only found my own bio. wait, don't i slave for the boring, corporate, chain rag that tries too hard to be edgy?
i guess TK's bio is, well, TK.
buck up fellow snrtians: TK gave Sac Mag one star only.
i feel like kevin seconds.
Midtown Monthly
Category: Print Media
Yeah, I'm biased too, since Midtown Monthly allows slobs such as myself to write for them. Tim and Liv are two of the coolest people to write for and they pay a whole helluva lot better than most publications around town.
The thing I like most about MM is that it is a community effort. Every person writing, photographing, editing and laying-out this magazine does so because they love it. And despite some reviewers here, MM is not made-up of "hipster' exclusivity bullshit. It's made-up of people busting their asses to make deadlines, tearing their hair out because space needs to be filled and making sure the whole thing makes it to the finish line in one piece. And these people love every minute of it.
(A SIDE NOTE: Seriously, why is almost every review here on Sacramento's Yelp have to be peppered with hipster-hating? Yeah, yeah, I get it: you feel left out. You're going to lob a preemptive word bomb at someone on a fixie before they can do the same to you. Ironically, you are doing the exact same thing you accuse so-called "hipsters" of doing. You want to be accepted? Accept other people. Insecurity is the World's worst mouthwash. Simple as that.)
Now, there's a fella on here with a pretty inflated opinion of his opinion-giving skillz. It's down there, sounding all high-minded, chip o' New York Times Literary Weekender. He raises some good points (sometimes even in the "royal we" form!): typos, spelling mistakes, syntax, etc. ...etc. And yeah, they're in the magazine from time to time, granted. But if you're going to take the time out to take a free monthly to task all gatekeeper-like, shouldn't your review NOT include several of the same things you accuse our publication of doing? Go on down to this fella's review and see if you can spot some of the same flags I did. Tis fun.
All-in-all, I'm glad this town has an actual alternative free monthly, high-lighting the month to month going-ons in our little corner of the world. This place would be pretty dismal without Midtown Monthly.
The thing I like most about MM is that it is a community effort. Every person writing, photographing, editing and laying-out this magazine does so because they love it. And despite some reviewers here, MM is not made-up of "hipster' exclusivity bullshit. It's made-up of people busting their asses to make deadlines, tearing their hair out because space needs to be filled and making sure the whole thing makes it to the finish line in one piece. And these people love every minute of it.
(A SIDE NOTE: Seriously, why is almost every review here on Sacramento's Yelp have to be peppered with hipster-hating? Yeah, yeah, I get it: you feel left out. You're going to lob a preemptive word bomb at someone on a fixie before they can do the same to you. Ironically, you are doing the exact same thing you accuse so-called "hipsters" of doing. You want to be accepted? Accept other people. Insecurity is the World's worst mouthwash. Simple as that.)
Now, there's a fella on here with a pretty inflated opinion of his opinion-giving skillz. It's down there, sounding all high-minded, chip o' New York Times Literary Weekender. He raises some good points (sometimes even in the "royal we" form!): typos, spelling mistakes, syntax, etc. ...etc. And yeah, they're in the magazine from time to time, granted. But if you're going to take the time out to take a free monthly to task all gatekeeper-like, shouldn't your review NOT include several of the same things you accuse our publication of doing? Go on down to this fella's review and see if you can spot some of the same flags I did. Tis fun.
All-in-all, I'm glad this town has an actual alternative free monthly, high-lighting the month to month going-ons in our little corner of the world. This place would be pretty dismal without Midtown Monthly.
Sacramento News & Review
Category: Print Media
Humph! What happened to this rag? I seem to recall it not being so eager to entertain. It reads and feels more like a newspaper entertainment supplemental than an alternative news weekly.
The problem with the Sacramento News and Review (besides it being a chain newspaper from somewhere else) is that it tries way too hard to be witty, snarky and edgy. Of course in doing so, the SN&R actually comes across as clueless, hollow and self-congratulatory.
Instead of hard hitting exposes, readers have been treated to issues covering everything from NASCAR, Pot, Burritos, and other such trivial topics. What next, the "Kitten Playing With A Ball Of String Issue"?
The worst part is that there are hard-news pieces in there, albeit in small, bite-sized quarter pagers, front-loaded as to seemingly not distract from the giant pictures and sensational cover stories. And if we're lucky, golden boy Josh Fernandez may ramble-on about some hip-hop or punk jock CD some more, mugging it up for the corresponding picture.
Even more vexing is the SN&R's love of blank space. Open an issue up to the cover story and see how much space gets wasted on the giant picture that accompanies the piece. Flip over to the movie review section, and you'll find a smattering of reviews in columns you can drive a Mac truck through (and why no theater tail listings on the actual reviews?)
The "In The Mix" section slaps of laziness, clusterfucking music, books, websites and whathaveyou into one section. Is it so hard to get a dedicated writer in there to do new album reviews? It's not as if there is a shortage of new records coming out every Tuesday.
And then there are the SAMMIES (Sacramento Area Music Awards), the SN&R's answer to the BAMMIES (Bay Area Music Awards). It's not enough that the heads over at the SN&R couldn't come-up with an original concept in terms of celebrating local music, but they do it so poorly. Seriously, I went to one and they ARE SO FUCKIN' BORING! And the best part is, local musicians (not so secretly) hate The SAMMIES. Yeah, brilliant idea: giving awards to bands in categories. "Sorry other bands, you're not as good as the winner. better luck next year." And guess who picks the so-called "winners"? This year it was the staff of the SN&R. Not musicians, not even music reviewers. No, it was a cabal of SN&R staffers. As one Sacramento music promoter put it to me me: "The SAMMIES don't celebrate local music. It's meant to celebrate the News and Review."
(I'm just putting this out there, but why not a music festival rather than an awards contest? I mean, that's what the SAMMIES are, essentially: a contest.)
This town desperately needs a better alt. weekly. Something along the lines of the Village Voice or the SF Bay Guardian, written by local journalists with a clue, a sense of purpose, and a nose for hard news with the ability to convey ideas without trying to be your best buddy. Maybe even some honest music and theater reviews that don't take scene feelings into consideration (Baltimore's City Paper has a music guy who calls it as he sees it and he'll tell you if so-and-so's demo stinks, regardless of how popular said band my be in Charm City.)
SN&R is part of a chain of alt. weeklies (Chico and Reno being the other papers) and there's something hinkey about that. Starbucks journalism for lefties.
Let me ask you this: if the SN&R wasn't a freebie and cost, let's say, fifty cents an issue, would you buy it?
The problem with the Sacramento News and Review (besides it being a chain newspaper from somewhere else) is that it tries way too hard to be witty, snarky and edgy. Of course in doing so, the SN&R actually comes across as clueless, hollow and self-congratulatory.
Instead of hard hitting exposes, readers have been treated to issues covering everything from NASCAR, Pot, Burritos, and other such trivial topics. What next, the "Kitten Playing With A Ball Of String Issue"?
The worst part is that there are hard-news pieces in there, albeit in small, bite-sized quarter pagers, front-loaded as to seemingly not distract from the giant pictures and sensational cover stories. And if we're lucky, golden boy Josh Fernandez may ramble-on about some hip-hop or punk jock CD some more, mugging it up for the corresponding picture.
Even more vexing is the SN&R's love of blank space. Open an issue up to the cover story and see how much space gets wasted on the giant picture that accompanies the piece. Flip over to the movie review section, and you'll find a smattering of reviews in columns you can drive a Mac truck through (and why no theater tail listings on the actual reviews?)
The "In The Mix" section slaps of laziness, clusterfucking music, books, websites and whathaveyou into one section. Is it so hard to get a dedicated writer in there to do new album reviews? It's not as if there is a shortage of new records coming out every Tuesday.
And then there are the SAMMIES (Sacramento Area Music Awards), the SN&R's answer to the BAMMIES (Bay Area Music Awards). It's not enough that the heads over at the SN&R couldn't come-up with an original concept in terms of celebrating local music, but they do it so poorly. Seriously, I went to one and they ARE SO FUCKIN' BORING! And the best part is, local musicians (not so secretly) hate The SAMMIES. Yeah, brilliant idea: giving awards to bands in categories. "Sorry other bands, you're not as good as the winner. better luck next year." And guess who picks the so-called "winners"? This year it was the staff of the SN&R. Not musicians, not even music reviewers. No, it was a cabal of SN&R staffers. As one Sacramento music promoter put it to me me: "The SAMMIES don't celebrate local music. It's meant to celebrate the News and Review."
(I'm just putting this out there, but why not a music festival rather than an awards contest? I mean, that's what the SAMMIES are, essentially: a contest.)
This town desperately needs a better alt. weekly. Something along the lines of the Village Voice or the SF Bay Guardian, written by local journalists with a clue, a sense of purpose, and a nose for hard news with the ability to convey ideas without trying to be your best buddy. Maybe even some honest music and theater reviews that don't take scene feelings into consideration (Baltimore's City Paper has a music guy who calls it as he sees it and he'll tell you if so-and-so's demo stinks, regardless of how popular said band my be in Charm City.)
SN&R is part of a chain of alt. weeklies (Chico and Reno being the other papers) and there's something hinkey about that. Starbucks journalism for lefties.
Let me ask you this: if the SN&R wasn't a freebie and cost, let's say, fifty cents an issue, would you buy it?
14 comments:
web geek brambles may have found tony k for you:
http://www.midtownmonthly.net/king.html
most interesting detail of k's bio:
"His articles and reviews have appeared in The Sacramento News and Review."
control my contributors!
I could only find one review credited to him on the SNR site - a Mix review from 2007. Personally, I wouldn't pay 50 cents for the News and Review, but much like the Bee, I would pick it up and read it after someone was finished.
i think everyone accepts the fact that sn&r wouldn't work if you had to pay for it.
hey nick-
Sorry man, MM contributors are free agents-- we don't try to stop 'em from writing for you and we apparently can't stop 'em from talking trash. cuts both ways i guess.
Personally I think the whole 'competition' bit gets really old. We do different things. I'm glad that SNR is out there, just like I'm glad that the Bee, Inside the City and Alive and Kicking are out there...different voices make an interesting discussion. As long as someone's not peddling wholesale BS (like the Psychic Reader, for example), I'm glad to see them at the table.
People piss on SNR because they expect more from it, or remember it a different way. they piss on it because they care. kinda like Chesterton's argument that blasphemy inherently implies a belief in god-- (for proof just try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor). The argument that SNR is somehow failing readers inherently buttresses the strength of it as an institution.
-omf
1. sn&r is locally owned and began in sac 20 years ago. village voice is a corporate Wal-Mart chain that would fire every local critic (me, garvin, scheide, christian, josh, shoka, etc) and syndicate your music/arts coverage (some dude writing local beats in tennessee or wherever). i bet that would be awesome. 2. the sammies: all i can say is i get nothing but grief for being a part of it and the company loses thousand each year doing it. 3. read Josh F's MOM story. 4. my pot story, about terminally ill pot patients: how the fuck is that trivial content?
so fuck yeah i take TKs ignorant comments personally. wouldn't you guys if my staff fucking trashed yr publication? institution schminstitution--you're only as good as your last article (film, song, album). Just ask Stanley Kubrick, right Barnesyard???
as for the Chesterson/blasphemy argument: here's hegel's take: we have free will to do what we want, but there's an abstract obligation and duty to do right to society. TKs missive is an ignorant rant that misappropriates this obligation, in this case to sacramento, and by writing it he neglects doing the right thing for sac. we all want good papers, good news, good stories, good reads.
hey i'm booking shows now, BTW:
SN&R presents ...
9/3, luigi's fun garden
MATT & KIM!!!!!!!!!
BF
local act TBA
$TBA, doors at 8pm
9/6, luigi's fun garden
DUSTY BROWN
CHELSEA WOLFE
SISTER CRAYON
CITYSTATE
doors at 8pm, $5, MARIOKART TOURNAMENT!!!!!!!!!
please come out and support live music thnx.
What you're saying here is that 'doing right' for society means not criticizing the SNR? interesting logic.
So one of our contributors doesn't like your publication. Exactly what am I supposed to do about that?
What DO I tell our contributors, you ask? I've been approached by several of our writers who felt that they were in an awkward position because you had contacted them to write for you based on their work in MM. in EVERY case I told them that they were free to write for SNR and that it would not impact their standing with us at all. it's not my job, nor my desire to tell people where they can or cannot write.
And, though I don't really agree with TK's review, I also don't think it was an ignorant rant-- he actually made a reasoned argument about why he has a problem with SNR. His opinion is based on his actual experience reading it. You may disagree, but based on some of SNR's other reviews, clearly others do not.
And speaking of Yelp, let's compare: TK gave SNR 2 stars. SNR's average rating is 3 stars. So, he gave you one star less than average.
YOU personally posted on MM's yelp with a vaguely unintelligible review that put us in the same breath as the Sacramento Union AND lowered our overall rating, which had been close to 5 stars. Did I get get pissy with you? No, I did not.
Maybe I got a thick hide in art school where daily criticism was part of the routine- but I realize that thoughtful criticism is VALUABLE. If you really think TK's criticism is ignorant, ignore it. Someone reviewed us and complained that we were clickish. i don't agree with her assessment because I'd never met over half of our contributors until they approached us to work on the magazine. What I did take away from her criticism is that soem people THINK we're a clique. good to know.
To conclude, it's not my fault that ONE PERSON who writes for us (and has written for SNR in the past) gave your pub a bad review. I think it's lame that you're busting our chops for this when it has NOTHING to do with MM. I didn't know he was going to do it; it's now made it awkward for me because I consider you, Cosmo and jackson friends; and i'm sure this is just going to keep snowballing.
great.
-omf
tim i'm glad u answered the phone when i just called.
just for the record everyone out there:
1. MM is awesome!
2. doing right for society is supporting local journalism, which is what i was getting at somewhere up there
3. i don't expect editors to control their writers, freelancers, shutterbugs, designers, elderly pugs
4. sn&r is locally owned and operated by locals who live locally
5. TK really pissed me off
Why is everyone so fucking serious all the time?
Josh
No one can control us!
Mwha mhwa mhwa
I think that regardless of our differences, we can all at least agree that this weed isn't going to smoke itself.
MM/SN&R peace pipe session, B'yards man cabin, date TBA, BYOW
FWIW, I think that the news and review is better than it's been in years, I really like it lately.
also I would like to join y'all in DB's mantopia.
g
In my Manitoba? I'm not even sure whose side I'm on in this war. I guess I'm just a soldier of fortune, loyal to no one, selling my sword to the highest bidder.
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