I don't mean to pick a fight, I think. And lord knows the Village Voice has had a great history, and of course still has far more readers than does our humble operation. But the news that they're dropping Tom Tomorrow made me realize how long it's been since I bothered to pick up a copy.
When I moved to New York nine years ago, the Voice seemed like an oasis of progressive opinion in an apathetic America and a Guiliani-ized New York. But now I'm not sure it has any relevance - much less so since it was sold to the Great Homogenizer of alternative media, the New Times.
A comment at Tomorrow's petition made the point: "I don't get it. Time Out is a better entertainment publication that is the VV. Classifieds? Craigslist. If you don't have stuff like TMW, what do you have?"
That's exactly it. I'm still a fan of Wayne Barrett, and I suppose Musto is fun, but what else? Christgau is gone. Ridgeway is gone. The muckraking and community-building function that the Voice once served is now amply covered by the blogs, and if it's trying to turn into a zippy gossipy pop culture rag in reaction, well it's a pretty crowded niche there, too. So really, what's the point?
