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June 30, 2007

Manute Bol Walked Past Me at the Airport

While my just-completed nine-day Connecticut vacation was chock full of tidbits worthy of extended comment and description in a later post, one item has to be mentioned immediately: Former (unbefrigginlieveably tall) NBA center Manute Bol walked right past me at Bradley International Airport this morning. Bol lives in West Hartford and was, presumably, on his way back home.

No, I couldn't get to my camera fast enough to take a picture.
Yes, he is even taller in person.
Yes, weird stuff like this happens to me all the time.

Posted by colrus at 01:00 AM | TrackBack

June 27, 2007

The ChattAANooga Pulse

A couple of weeks ago, on our third attempt, our paper was one of five (out of 19) papers admitted into the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

The panel's recommendation reads as follows:

The Pulse
7 yes; 3 no
This paper is much improved from last year. "The local election coverage is remarkably hip, droll, and insightful," said one committee member. High marks for its sense of humor -- funny without being sophomoric. "This paper now has an identity and a level of maturity that puts it in a position to join AAN." There were some stumbling points but nothing significant enough to keep the committee from withholding its recommendation.

To all Pulsers past and present, as well as our supporters and dissenters, I offer a sincere "thank you." To have started this paper from scratch less than four years ago, and now be recognized at the table with papers we've long admired is a tremendous honor. We will strive to do all we can to build upon this validation, challenging both ourselves and our readers as we go.

Posted by colrus at 01:08 AM | TrackBack

June 18, 2007

Monday Miscellany

One of the premiere alt weekly writers on the planet, Tara Servatius, now has a blog. Check it out. Tara writes for Creative Loafing in Charlotte, and also hosts a talk show five nights a week at WBT.

Riverbend is over. Despite the fact that its lineup failed to fully jazz an intense music snob like myself, I have to say that $37 wasn't a bad deal for a pin that you could've used to attend each night of the festival if you'd wanted to. We're still wading through the aftermath and some ongoing discussions around the structure and purpose of Riverbend itself, but as for the talent on hand this year, it was worth the money.

In addition to attempting to convince our advertisers to boycott our paper, folks that are unhappy with what we print will sometimes go around town grabbing up any and all copies of our paper that they can get their hands on. This practice of theft (and, yes, it is theft) is supposed to, I suppose, keep people from reading something "bad," "wrong," or "damaging" that we've written about them or someone they know. This has happened on at least two occasions in our close to four years in business and, reportedly, happened again recently. In all cases, including the most recent one, we've stood by the stories the thieves took issue (and issues) with (and containing).

Though we'd love to catch and prosecute the offenders in these cases, it's a bit hard to do so. More importantly, however, the thieves' actions are just plain stupid. Our Web traffic is always increasing, and unless the thieves can steal all of the copies of the Internet that are floating around, our work will be read. Plus, big bunches of papers missing from our racks is good for our circulation numbers, helps bring in advertising revenue, and lets us hire more writers that'll undoubtedly write more stories that certain folks won't want other folks to see. If people don't want the light of truth to shine on their corruption, they should, oh, I dunno, stop being corrupt. How about that?

Posted by colrus at 11:37 PM | TrackBack

June 04, 2007

Wanna Revive One of Chattanooga's Dying Strip Malls? Bring In a Steve & Barry's

Visiting my sister in Charlotte this past weekend, we took a trip to Steve & Barry's, the super discount department store chain that's currently catching fire across the country. I first heard about the chain in a piece on ABC's 20/20 featuring the "Starbury" shoe line, endorsed by the New York Knicks' Stephon Marbury. The shoe line includes a variety of styles, all of which are priced at $14.98, and which was named as one of Business Week's "Products of the Year" for 2006. Marbury was interested in launching the shoe line, in part, because he wanted kids to know that good shoes didn't have to cost a lot.

Now, while Consumer Reports says Starburys are "not that great" for serious basketball players, they do say that "they seem to be a well-made shoe, and for $15 dollars are definitely worth a try." More than half of the players in Consumer Reports' study said they would wear them off the court. Ben Wallace will be launching a line of shoes through the store this fall, and Sarah Jessica Parker is launching a clothing line through Steve and Barry's this week.

The Steve and Barry's business model is aggressive. They seek out bargain leases in dying strip malls for their retail locations, do virtually no advertising, have no online store, offer modest employee salaries, and save on purchasing costs. According to their Web site, they "focus our energies to make sure sweaters for your family don't cost more than a tank of gas or this week's groceries."

My first impression: Steve and Barry's resembles a cross between The Gap (in terms of store appearance) and Old Navy (in terms of clothing quality). Also, like the Starbury shoe line, all of the clothes at Steve and Barry's are extremely affordable. (Cargo shorts and khaki pants were two for $20. Polo shirts were $5.98.)

While we didn't buy any shoes during our visit, Melissa and I bought several pairs of pants and shorts, and a variety of shirts. We each wore several during our stay. We were both very pleased in the style and comfort level of the clothes. (The clothes also held up very well after an initial washing.)

A store like Steve and Barry's would do very well in Chattanooga. We have plenty of empty retail space for the company to choose from, and the prices would be appealing to a community that's currently flooding the Wal-Marts and Targets looking for bargains on clothes.

The closest Steve and Barry's to Chattanooga is in Antioch, just outside of Nashville.

Posted by colrus at 05:15 PM | TrackBack