city beats the reader

i was reading the city beat summer guide on the plane to miami last week and i couldn't get over how much more engaged these guys are with the san diego core neighborhoods than the reader. it's one thing to slap together a bunch of long-winded stories, a stuffy music roundup, and occasionally useful restaurant reviews between page after page of botox ads like the reader does. yet when has the reader ever had any interaction with their audience - do they ever sponsor any events, or even provide coverage of major events like street scene? no, they just put out a rag that exists solely to bring in (big) advertiser income that its editor can then use to fund state propositions that would deny rights to a significant portion of its readers (abortion access, gay marriage), simply because, well, "the bible says so".

the summer guide was packed with really useful info, like good eats on el cajon boulevard, new restaurants that are opening in the urban 'hoods, and plenty of locally-infused humor. in particular, the consistently funny enrique limon is a real find. i like that city beat has a gay writer(s) on its staff to provide an alternative to the gay and lesbian times, which isn't exactly the edgiest publication. i mean, when would you ever read "Nothing says “sexy” like pairing a skimpy mesh tank top with some size 28 True Religion jeans" in glt? poking fun at the gay community doesn't come easy to them. and you won't find the reader skewering del martians like v.h. mcloughlin does - "A bunch of tackily dressed, overly pretentious drunken assholes in the Coors tent pretending like they know anything about horse racing" - because moneyed north county pricks are the reader's target audience.

a new feature that's been turning up in my inbox has been their red list, a weekly roundup of interesting events in town that appeal to cosmopolitan folks interested in art, music and food. when has the reader ever done anything like that? and city beat has been rocking the community events, with the beer festival in north park, the summer fashion party at the laffayette hotel (complete with runway extending over the pool) and the city beat beer club. so instead of having a one-way relationship with their readers (publish crap, suck up ad dollars), they actually provide useful services and interact with them.

i wonder if a lot of people take city beat for granted, and with newspapers in decline, we probably shouldn't. so support them and their advertisers, and think twice before you spend your money on something you saw in the reader. that money could end up being used against you.