It’s a damn shame.
My favorite classified from the Voice:
“Veteran of three lunatic asylums wants to explore possibility of book with qualified writer.”
This New Yorker grew up reading the Village Voice. From Wayne Barrett to Jack Newfield exposing Trump’s fraudulent schemes to the coverage of the assorted municipal scandals helped to influence my political views on the need of transparent effective governance. The yearly ten worst landlords kind of forced me to save money and buy a coop.
Of course the arts and music reviews. Like many readers it will be missed.
Patient or staff?
Sunday morning walk, no matter the weather, pick up the local Sunday paper and The Voice at the Hausfrau Haven. Walk home make a pot of tea…
There is no village to have a voice any more.
And that, my friends, is the story of “The Art of the Deal.”
I think the “defenestrated cat” review of the musical Chess was printed there, but I can’t find it, too old I guess. 1988 I think.
We used to live and die by the VV music section. ‘PressClips’ introduced me to truly reading between the lines. So much of our weekend would be filled with events, shows exhibitions I heard of through VV.
It got me through first Reagan Administration, no small feat.
But that was 30 years ago-then they let Gary Giddins go, they fired Robert Christgau, they got rid of the best sports section you could have–I’m sorry they’re closing down, but it was a long decline. I wonder if today’s VV means to a 20 year old what 1983’s VV meant to me.
This sucks.
…merde…
Meh, no great loss, they went over to the dark side during the Clinton Administration, or maybe that is when I noticed how toxic they really were. Nat Hentoff wrote some truly despicable editorials, when I think of the Voice that is all I recall.
He did, and many of the staff weren’t even on speaking terms with him. Ultimately they canned him and he spent the rest of his life writing for WSJ.
Wish they’d got rid of him 20 years earlier, but the rest of VV wasn’t like that.
My favorite Village Voice Personals Classified ad, after describing the very exotic and unique advertiser, ended with the words “sincere replies only, no weirdos please.” Their Astrology column was very good during the 70-90’s, and very funny. They also carried Cecil Adams The Straight Dope. My favorite Voice columnist was Alexander Cockburn, who got run off for his constant criticism of Israel’s Likud Government and took up residence at The Nation.
The last time I saw Alexander, we reviewed Alan Dershowitz’s latest blunders and both nearly died laughing. That was a short while before he actually died, not laughing.
Flashback: Mark Alan Stamaty’s Washingtoon
Used to digest Cecil Adams - “Fighting ignorance since 1973 (It’s taking longer than we thought)” - in the Chicago Reader back when I lived in ChiTown. Get it now through the website:
Well, shit on a stick. That sucks.
Yes!
But before he did Washington, Mark Allan Stamaty did a cartoon about real NYC people and things. The first one of his I saw was the Charles Nelson School of Self Defense (on the Upper West Side). Stamaty also did a cartoon about a day he spent in Housing Court with Steve Myers, who is the best Tenant Attorney ever in NYC.
Is Stamaty still working?