BIG IDEAS

As reported by Richard Prince:

Vibe magazine, the best-known and most respected magazine of the hip-hop generation, is folding immediately after 16 years, Steve Aaron, Vibe Media Group’s chief executive officer, announced on Tuesday.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share some tough news, VMG is closing down effective today, June 30 due to lack of additional financial investments,” Aaron told staffers in a memo.

“Unfortunately, over the last several months, a confluence of events has obviously posed VMG to exceedingly serious challenges.

“The collapse of the capital markets has impacted us greatly. Over the past several months, we have actively pursued investment resources while working intensively with our bank to find a solution. But the deal market right now remains very poor and at the end of the day, the lack of investment resources to restructure the huge debt on our small company has made this outcome become a reality.

“The print advertising collapse hit VIBE hard, especially as key ad categories like automotive and fashion, which represented the bulk of our top 10 advertisers, have stopped advertising or gone out of business. It’s also unfortunate that in a recession many companies reduce the multicultural campaigns. These facts, coupled with the continuing decline of the music industry not to mention the newsstand wholesaler consolidation in early 2009 all negatively impacted our business in a significant way.

“The relentless economic situation has depressed our growth initiatives on the digital front. To be clear, VMG has made significant improvement in this part of our business, but not at the accelerated pace required to offset the devastating effects of the most severe recession in our lifetime and the accompanying print losses.”

According to The Guardian, one of my all time favorite magazines, THE FACE, might be up for a comeback either in print or digital or some combination of both.

If true, this is wonderful news. THE FACE was by far the publication that made me absolutely fall in love with magazines. I was kinda already there, having been roped in by mags like Andy Warhol’s INTERVIEW and ID, but THE FACE did it. Something about it felt completely me, completely of my mindset. That’s what you look for in a mag, something to teach you a few things, reflect your style and interests and make you want to stretch your boundaries. Does your favorite mag do that for you?

A sad goodbye to yet another favorite. This time, Conde Nast’s business magazine, Portfolio. After 21 issues as the Vanity Fair of business coverage, the title has bitten the proverbial dust, something many people thought would not happen because it was very much a point of pride for Conde Nast chairman SI Newhouse. Then again, it was bleeding money and likely was related to the reason Conde Nast mags DOMINO and MEN’s VOGUE got the ax first.

President and First Lady Release 2008 Income Tax Returns

Today, the President released his 2008 federal income tax returns.  He and the First Lady filed their income tax returns jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902.  The vast majority of the family’s 2008 income is the proceeds from the sale of the President’s books.  The Obamas paid $855,323 in federal income tax. [Editor's Note - YIKES!!!]

The President and First Lady also reported donating $172,050 – or about 6.5% of their adjusted gross income – to 37 different charities.  The largest reported gifts to charity were $25,000 contributions to CARE and the United Negro College Fund.

The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $77,883 in state income taxes.

In what sounds like something from a spy novel or Spiderman comic book, the Obama Administration has announced The Narcotics Kingpin Act to target Mexican druglords. From the White House:

The Administration has released the names of three Mexican organizations against which the President has decided to impose sanctions pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (the “Kingpin Act”) (21 U.S.C. 1901-1908, 8 U.S.C. 1182). Kingpin Act targets, on a worldwide basis, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives.

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Say it ain’t so. And since it’s April Fool’s Day, maybe it ain’t, but according to a number of sources, and second-hand via GAWKER, KING Magazine, that brash bastion of booty has folded.

Count me as one who will mourn. That Stacey Dash cover from last year is still under a sweater in my closet. But (and that’s a Big Butt!), all the complaints about its objectification of women aside (and what magazines, including women’s magazines, don’t objectify women?) KING was actually quite enjoyable as a page to page read.

I was never into the acquisition of depreciating toys and goodies, so the whole rims and sneakers fetish thing was lost on me completely. But I could still appreciate the magazine’s appeal to the people who were, and I was able to enjoy it as well.

From a Black media perspective I tend to take the stand that every Black publication, website, radio station, whatever, that helps validate the Black community as a viable consumer market helps everyone in the Black media space, and the loss of any publication that effectively made that case is a loss worth worrying about.

THIS IS NOT GOOD.

Sure, it was kinda fun looking from the sidelines to see which so-so magazines have fallen by the wayside over the last months, but now it’s hitting too close to home when my very favorite disappears. Men’s Vogue was one thing, but BEST LIFE is a pill too bitter to swallow. It was easily the best men’s service magazine out there - with the possible exception of its big brother, Men’s Health.

READ MORE HERE

“This a very sad day for Illinois government.” So says US AttorneyPatrick Fitzgerald.

Yeah, so what else is new?

My wife, nice person that she is, called and asked as simple question, “Why would someone think they could get away with this?”

My answer: ‘It’s Chicago.”
This makes two governors in a row for Illinois.  Only Maryland during the Agnew Administration can compete.

Let’s be perfectly clear, conversations like the ones Gov. Blagojevich had on the phone happen all day every day in state, local and national politics. But not on the phone, you idiot.
That of course, does not make it right. There is a fine line between trading favors and flat out quid pro quo bribery. Favors are traded on the floor of the Senate and House all day. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours is how most of us get business done on any given day.

But even with that understanding, Blago’s brazen requests for tribute are fairly amazing, and all that more amazing given that he was under active investigation. And what’s pretty clear is that he was negotiating his way into a cushion with the assumption that the heat was going to come down on him even more. That just takes either balls made of steel or a brain made of mush.

Obviously this means confusion over the governor’s pick to replace Obama in the Senate. Who would actually want that seat from Blago, since technically he is still the sitting Governor unless/until he resigns? The latest talk is that State Senator Emil Jones wants to pull together a special senate session to pass a resolution calling for a special election. In which case, all hell breaks loose among the would-be candidates to raise funds and put together a quickie campaign to get elected. And of course it leaves that senate seat open for longer than anticipated, throwing off the numbers on votes if all of this goes down after January 20.

Developing…

Almost buried beside the New York Times online coverage of the Sean Bell verdict is this very interesting graphic that shows the record of the New York Police department on major cases of fatal over the last 24 years since the famed Eleanor Bumpers case. Upon first glance, the first impression is that over 24 years, 8 major cases (that includes Bell) is not an awful record given such a large city with a fairly major crime problem over those many years.

But take out the Bumpers case and you find that the majority of these cases happened in a fairly concentrated space within the last ten years. Not surprising also that most occurred during the Mayoral administration of Rudy Guiliani. And while New York is a friendlier place in general since Rudy left (certainly at the Mayor’s Office level), the concentrated nature of these police crimes points to some real holes in the theory of “Zero Tolerance” policies in policing.

Certainly New York is safer, cleaner and more vibrant (if more sterile) because of its drop in crime as a result of Zero Tolerance. But at what cost to life and community relations?

Most people assume that Zero Tolerance only meant fining people for littering, spitting and getting rid of porn video shops. Basically the theory being that one broken window leads to another and eventually a neighborhood of broken windows means crime. I tend to agree with that. The question is what categories of activities by residents does the New York police force define as metaphorical “broken windows.” Is it cursing at a cop? Reaching for a wallet? Taking three seconds to put your hands up instead of two? Whatever that definition is, the people in the street clearly are not on the same page.

What Zero Tolerance has done, even if it has been effective on the surface, is to create a tension that makes the community more fearful of the police than of the criminals who used to inhabit the streets. That would be just dandy if the only people who were fearful were the actual criminals. But what is the net impact when law-abiding people who should be the first line of support, communication and cooperation for the police are distrustful?

When the people are not on the side of the cops, how safe is the city ultimately?

Rudy’s made million since his reign pushing his zero tolerance agenda. And technically, there’s nothing wrong with Zero Tolerance, but without the critical components of community relations, a return to walking beats and more active community policing, it’s a false sense of security at best.