The Creative Loafing team prides itself on producing more Daily Loaf content each week than any individual could ever possibly comprehend. As such, you’re bound to have missed at least one worthwhile story from the pages of this blog over the last few days. Here’s a “greatest hits” list from the week that was, broken down by section:
NEWS
MUSIC
Movies, food, sex and Punky Brewster after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
It may have been the day after Halloween, but thousands of people had plenty good reason to play dress-up this past Sunday afternoon at the St. Pete Times Forum. One didn’t have to look far to find a Yoda or Princess Leia milling about the concourses. Many congregated toward a makeshift exhibit of original Star Wars props and artifacts, including a Darth Vader costume, blasters and helmets. Nearby, children and adults alike sidled up next to Stormtroopers for photo ops. It was all a prelude to the main event inside the arena, “Star Wars: In Concert.”
Under Mira Nair’s direction, Amelia is pretty enough to look at, but its lack of dramatic momentum and episodic nature are deficits the film’s handsome production values can’t overcome. As a biopic, Amelia falls short in two critical areas: It fails to sufficiently illuminate its protagonist, and it is unable to convey the weight of her accomplishments. For this, the script by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan must also shoulder a considerable part of the blame. Perhaps because the writers seem to take for granted that their story has an automatically compelling subject at its center, they eschew illumination for melodrama. As a result, its title character remains a rather opaque figure dutifully hitting her marks in the story of her life — or, more accurately, its final 10 years.
I’m sorry to report that Creative Loafing Tampa has had to make layoffs in its editorial, advertising, circulation and operations departments. I can speak only for edit decisions, as these were the ones in which I was involved. Staff Writer Alex Pickett, Music Critic Wade Tatangelo and Copy Editor Anthony Salveggi were the editorial employees laid off today, their departures effective at the end of this month.
Creative Loafing Tampa has in recent months seen a steady decline in print advertising revenues — a trend that has affected media organizations across the country. Accordingly, we have been looking at ways to adjust: finding ways to lower print publishing costs while planning for a future that acknowledges the primacy of the Web. Our parent company, as has widely been reported, is also in the throes of restructuring its debt under Chapter 11 — debt that has mounted as a result both of the current financial climate and the company’s purchase last year of Washington City Paper and Chicago Reader.
The options we face are grim: If we don’t streamline and refocus our newsroom operations, we won’t survive.
And unfortunately, that means we have to make equally grim choices.
My task, as envisioned by CEO Ben Eason and Tampa Publisher Sharry Smith, was to build a newsroom that would reflect the company’s digital media strategy — one that could broaden our online outreach to the community, and entail a smaller full-time staff and greater use of freelancers and user-generated content.
While I see the need and the potential for such a change, figuring out where to make cuts from a full-time staff of eight was extremely painful — especially a staff that works together as closely as ours.
In the end, I have faith that our restructured newsroom can maintain and even increase the excellence and creativity that our readers have come to expect in print and online; and I am hoping that Alex, Wade and Sal can maintain a relationship with the paper as contributors once their full-time status ends. Whatever happens, they deserve thanks from everyone at Creative Loafing. They are our friends as well our colleagues, and the newspaper has benefited enormously from their talent and their hard work.
[Addendum: I was remiss in not naming the staffers from other departments who were affected by these changes; they are Melanie Rice, Elke Lockert, Ken Rogers and Gabe Loewenberg, friends and colleagues all, and all deserving of our gratitude.]
(click button for feed)
(follow us on Facebook)
(follow us on Twitter)