Monday, April 28, 2008

What's Up With the Nashville Scene

Our local alternative weekly, long ago scooped up by Village Voice media, saw editor Chris Farrell depart over the winter saying something about a new media company on his way out the door. This month it was announced said company is purchasing the Nashville City Paper, currently published by former Scene head honcho Albie Del Favero who left the Scene back in 2004. Interested gawkers can view some dish on the Scene's blog. Irony of ironies is Scene writer Matt Pulle made his initial splash in Nashville at the City Paper.

That's one piece of the background for my speculation - the other has to do with what's gone down in Dallas, home of another Village Voice-owned weekly, the Observer. Last winter when I was trying to help Ode Hazelwood drum up some Dallas press for their Club Dada show, every independent blogger I wrote to or called gave me a "sorry, we don't ..." and suggested I try the Observer. Amidst all manner of personnel changes, including an editor-in-chief's voluntary departure and a well-liked-around-town music editor's involuntary plunge, people on the Dallas music scene were so pissed off about the Observer pulling back on coverage of local artists they all started blogs devoted solely to area music. The result was a two-tier scenario in music media in Dallas: one type of outlet for nationally-touring musicians, and one for locals.

I wonder if we're about to get the same?

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