The Boston Phoenix and Time Out London along with a bunch of scruffy local 'zines were my windows into music, movies, and culture when I was in my late teens an

The Boston Phoenix and Time Out London along with a bunch of scruffy local 'zines were my windows into music, movies, and culture when I was in my late teens and early 20s. I picked up the Village Voice when I was in NYC or saw it for sale elsewhere - in addition to the arts and culture coverage and listings, they went deep on investigations and exposes that was really refreshing. Later I was the editor for a daily newspaper's weekend supplement, which mimicked the alt-weekly style and voice. Like the author of TFA, I regarded it as one of the best jobs I ever had although the pay was basically poverty level wages. While I lament the loss of the Phoenix, the Voice, and many others, others seem to be doing well (I was happy to see Time Out Tokyo when I visited over the summer). It's also encouraging to see that windows to music, arts, culture, are thriving online, many of them controlled not by third-party gatekeepers, but by the creative people themselves.