Time passes quickly -- unless you're at the DMV or being tortured, I guess. Can you believe the Las Vegas Weekly is turning 9?
It seems appropriate to reflect on that for a moment.
If you go to any city in the U.S. that has an alternative weekly, you won't find a single one that quite stacks up to the Weekly. Sure, there are some very good ones: e.g. Westword in Denver; the Boston Phoenix in, you guessed it, Boston. But LVW has a big fat edge in terms of quality. Sure we live in a city that has a story on every corner ... and in a lot of other strange and fabulous places as well. But it takes more than good material to crank out a great publication week in and week out, for nine years.
The magazine's tagline is "Arts, Entertainment, Culture + Everything Else That Matters." That's a pretty broad mission. A tough ask. But anything more restrictive wouldn't do the capabilities of the Weekly staff, or the city they cover, justice.
We get considerable feedback from readers, both to the print and online versions of the publication. Some of it is glowing praise, some of it is venomous vitriol. Plenty of it is in between. But we love it all. Why? Because we want to engage the Vegas community: from club-goers to arts afficionados to socially concerned citizens and on and on.
The staff of the Weekly hold themselves to very high standards, and they manage to crank out a top-drawer "book" (to use publishing parlance) every week because they do so. Whether they have to work back late hours or make various other sacrifices.
So you ought to check out the masthead of the Weekly; or note the names on the articles and photos and artwork. And email these folks to let them know what you think. Remember, all feedback is welcome.
Permit me to at least list the principals (these people are far to unassuming to ever announce themselves):
Pat Kelly (Publisher)
Scott Dickensheets (Editor in Chief)
Stacy Willis: (Executive Editor)
Benjamen Purvis (Art Director)
They are supported by a committed and talented staff unsurpassed by any I've seen in my 25 years in journalism. And that isn't blowing smoke. Take a close look at the magazine and you'll see it on every page.
Las Vegas Weekly is a publication that the Greenspun Media Group is extremely proud of. Nine years is a long time to produce something so consistently good: whatever the field. Next year marks a decade for the pub; and there'll be many great years to come after that.
This little blog might seem like a "love fest," but if you pick up the Weekly every Thursday, you know it's appropriate to give a little love at this time.