The
paper trail

Call
it human resources Gannett-style.

By
the time staff at the Democrat and
Chronicle learned they were getting a new publisher, the previous one,
David Hunke, was already in Detroit, where he’ll be leading the venerable Detroit Free Press. Gannett obtained the
Freep from Knight Ridder, another
giant newspaper chain, in an elaborate three-way deal with MediaNews Group
involving papers from Bellingham, Washington, to Tallahassee, Florida, “an
undisclosed amount of cash,” and, probably, next year’s first-round draft pick.

For
Rochester the swap means we get a new publisher. Michael Kane hails from
Michigan’s Lansing State Journal (another Gannett property) where he was also publisher.

It’s
impossible to tell if Kane will run Rochester’s biggest news outlet differently
than Hunke, but there are hints that he’ll do some things the same. Community
involvement for one: “I’m going to be out in the community quite a
bit,” he said in the D&C last week.

Berl
Schwartz, editor and publisher of City
Pulse, Lansing’s alternative weekly, says that’s consistent with Kane’s
management style in Lansing.

“Michael
is a high-profile publisher,” he says. “He built a lengthy list of memberships
in community organizations.”

There’s
at least one interesting episode from Kane’s tenure in Lansing that’s worth a
closer look. For the September 12, 2002 newspaper, the State Journal announced they’d be including a special section
commemorating the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks — at an
additional cost of 15 cents. Some of the proceeds (two-and-a-half cents) went
to a fund to install a September 11 memorial. Subscribers were told they could
opt out if they wished.

That
rubbed a few readers the wrong way, and they found a sympathetic ear in one of
the paper’s own columnists, John Schneider, who wrote this in his column:

“That
sounded, to some, like what the folks in the Attorney General’s Office call
‘negative optioning.’ That’s how it sounded, in fact, to Stanley Pruss, head of
the AG’s Consumer Protection Division. Pruss was unequivocal in his opinion: ‘I
think that’s unilateral, unlawful negative optioning.'”

Kane
disputed that, telling his own columnist that the law was a “gray area.” The
AG’s office took no action, but nine days later, Kane wrote to readers
explaining the paper’s action and saying it would remove the charges.

For
those in the crowd who care about the daily paper and want to know a little
more, here’s one more piece of reading, an interview Kane gave to the Greater
Lansing Business Monthly in April 2001:

lansingbusinessmonthly.com/article_read.asp?articleID=2909.

The
big atomic swindle

Who
are we kidding? We love to boast. And
we know we’re right. When City Newspaper tells you a band’s righteous, then you know it’s righteous. Still, it’s nice to
be backed by the big guns every now and then.

In
the midst of a Gwen Stefani interview in the latest issue of the lesbian
magazine Curve, the writer referred
to The Atomic Swindlers’ April
Laragy as “the next Gwen.” Now the Atomic Swindlers รผber-sexy chanteuse
deserves the praise and recognition, but we gotta cry bullshit; Curve got it backwards. Laragy’s been
rockin’ out with her cootchie out long before Stefani had any doubts.

And
that ain’t all. In a recent article hailing glam rock’s new wave, Village Voice writer George Smith raves
about The Swindlers as being “the very best in a fine bunch.” He also compares
drummer-producer Roy Stein’s knob-twiddling to Alan Parsons’ while commenting
on Laragy’s vinyl-clad sex appeal.

And
now for something completely different: Rochester’s low-down tele-slingin’
bluesman, Dave D’Angelico (aka Texas Son)
is featured in the latest issue (#95) of Blues
Revue Magazine. Tex’s cut, “Chester’s Blues,” graces the free CD sampler
inside.

Told
ya.

Bug
Bowl blues

Citing
mounting financial constraints Bug Jar bigwigs have pulled the plug on this
year’s Bug Bowl, scheduled for August 27. National (and international) acts
scheduled to play that show — The Queers, The Irving Klaws, and Japan’s The
Spunks — will play inside that night at The Bug Jar along with The Grinders.
The plan next year is to actively seek corporate sponsorship.

Visioning
Upper Monroe

The
Upper Monroe Neighborhood Association and the Rochester Regional Community
Design Center (RRCDC) just completed “visioning” for the area of Monroe that
stretches from Culver Road to the YMCA.

The
groups gathered input from roughly 100 residents and business owners, using the
information to complete a series of architectural drawings that will be on
display Saturday, August 13, at the New Life Presbyterian Church starting at 2
p.m.

“People
are seeing that we are losing our authenticity. A town in Oregon looks the same
as a town in New York,” says RRCDC Executive Director Joni Monroe. “As we have
seen with ARTWalk, this process revitalizes an area because people are drawn to
its unique character.”

Some
of the plans set for display: narrowing Culver down to two lanes; a serpentine
walkway through the lower half of Cobbs Hill Park that circles Lake Riley; a
pedestrian bridge that connects Monroe to Park Avenue at Berkeley; and
untangling the anti-pedestrian mess at I-490 and Wilson Farms.

This article appears in Aug 10-16, 2005.