As a Californian, I knew of the Village Voice from family and friends (as my boyfriend once said "your family got off the boat [Ellis Island] and didn't go very far away."] I did earn the honor of having the first movie I wrote reviewed (and panned) in the Voice. Ouch!
1
Long ago, in 1969, I found myself in disagreement with some essays in the Village Voice. I wrote a response entitled "The Left Is Soft on Anti-Semitism"
http://jochnowitz.net/Essays/TheLeftSoft.html
To my great surprise, it was published. It was the first time that a political piece I had written had appeared in print. I was especially delighted that it included the following sentence: "The basis of morality is pity, and the basis of pity is sex."
http://jochnowitz.net/Essays/TheLeftSoft.html
To my great surprise, it was published. It was the first time that a political piece I had written had appeared in print. I was especially delighted that it included the following sentence: "The basis of morality is pity, and the basis of pity is sex."
1
Growing up as southern kid in the late 60s, the Voice was a window onto the world for me. The public library in my town had a subscription to the paper. Can't tell you how many times I skipped school to read the latest issue. Thanks for the memories that this article elicited.
1
You took me back with this article. I arrived in NewYork thirty two years ago and the village voice was my staple reading. I especially love apartment hunting from their ads and the personals was another favorite. The Village was to me New York's best gay weekly paper. Entertainment, art, dining, private clubs, sex clubs it was all there. The Voice is the NewYork I will always love.
3
"The Voice’s great stalwarts — Nat Hentoff, whose columns on civil liberties and other issues were a weekly feature for 50 years..."
Last week - in the comments section of a Times article focusing on the current issues we're facing regarding free speech and the expression of unpopular opinions -- I wrote a comment extolling Nat Hentoff - who was my favorite Liberal, in the truest sense of the word --
Hentoff would regularly write about civil liberties in his Village Voice column - and was never afraid to infuriate his liberal writer and ACLU colleagues by taking a stand for the civil liberties of everyone - the people you like - and the people you don't like --
Hentoff would regularly point out that the First Amendment was designed specifically to protect the speech of others which you may find to be insulting, abhorrent, disgusting and reprehensible -- and it was a part of what made the Village Voice so wonderful --
While it may be a shame that the Voice will no longer publish its print edition -- the real shame is that we no longer have people like Nat Hentoff, Wayne Barrett, Jack Newfield and Alexander Cockburn - to name a few - with the courage to speak the truth - without worrying about how the "Feel-Good Liberals" might react -- and let the chips fall where they may --
We all talk about "Fake News" these days -- but as a dear friend of mine used to say -- "There's the truth, and then there's the lie about the truth." --
The Village Voice will be missed...
Last week - in the comments section of a Times article focusing on the current issues we're facing regarding free speech and the expression of unpopular opinions -- I wrote a comment extolling Nat Hentoff - who was my favorite Liberal, in the truest sense of the word --
Hentoff would regularly write about civil liberties in his Village Voice column - and was never afraid to infuriate his liberal writer and ACLU colleagues by taking a stand for the civil liberties of everyone - the people you like - and the people you don't like --
Hentoff would regularly point out that the First Amendment was designed specifically to protect the speech of others which you may find to be insulting, abhorrent, disgusting and reprehensible -- and it was a part of what made the Village Voice so wonderful --
While it may be a shame that the Voice will no longer publish its print edition -- the real shame is that we no longer have people like Nat Hentoff, Wayne Barrett, Jack Newfield and Alexander Cockburn - to name a few - with the courage to speak the truth - without worrying about how the "Feel-Good Liberals" might react -- and let the chips fall where they may --
We all talk about "Fake News" these days -- but as a dear friend of mine used to say -- "There's the truth, and then there's the lie about the truth." --
The Village Voice will be missed...
5
Used to pick up copies in Philly back in the '70s. Find what jazz or punk bands were playing at Vanguard, or CBGB's and head to NYC on the weekend....I don't think I every read much more then the adverts for the clubs...
2
to find an apartment or loft, one would stake out a newsstand that got the Voice on wednesday night (i think it was wenesday) before it hit the stands on thursday.
check the rental listings and start calling. it worked.
check the rental listings and start calling. it worked.
2
The Voice had plenty of blind spots over the years, but it's still sad to see it end. Some of our best writers and culture critics worked it pages to offer us new perspectives and ideas. Soon there won't be any worthwhile correctives to conventional wisdom, and just when we need them the most.
1
Just a quick thank you for mentioning Ellen Willis.... She was a wonderful editorialist and I have clippings still of columns she wrote for the Voice!
3
Sad indeed--and always sad when any print version of a newspaper has to abandon actual paper. Not so the Syracuse New Times, where I did theater reviews and automobile articles from 1972 until the late 1980s. It's still around, although a shadow of its former self. Like the Village Voice, the New Times in its heyday brought genuinely alternative news to a town starving for what the mainstream media couldn't or wouldn't provide. Once on a visit to the local Newhouse dailies (yes, there were two!) I noticed copies of the New Times scattered about. "Oh," said at the reporter I asked about it, "that's how we find out what's really going on."
2
Great piece Tom Robbins. I miss the old, we were all younger, days. I read it all the time, Hentoff, Barrett, the comics, the music, J. Hoberman on film. Still online but somehow everything is different, changed. I'm sad. Thanks for all the great writing!
10
Anyone remember The Good Rats? Pepe Marchello's falsetto?
"I read your advertisement in the Voice
Seeking some companionship to pass the lonely days
You made no stipulations, and only signed it "Friend"
Oh it's three o'clock, and I'm alone again"
"I read your advertisement in the Voice
Seeking some companionship to pass the lonely days
You made no stipulations, and only signed it "Friend"
Oh it's three o'clock, and I'm alone again"
1
I'd be remiss not to mention the joy of reading Robert Christgau in the Voice, and of course, the annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Tons o' fun.
3
Here in Los Angeles, L.A. Weekly is not the same either. The print editions still exist but they are so super-thin compared to its heyday 20 years ago when it used to be thick. I predict like The Voice, it will go the way of digital-only very soon.
Wasn't the Village Voice a free newspaper at one time?
It's been free since 1996.
2
During the 70s (I think it was) and perhaps beyond, The Voice had a pull-out book review section that was far better than the Times's and more readable than the NY Review of Books.
Bookforum has sort of filled that niche.
Some of the very good and not quite Pulitzer worthy investigative features were done in the Voice in the 1960s and 70s but it has lost its way kind of like WBAI Radio and is not able to tell the stories or share the features of that long ago glory era. The NY Times was the target of much critique by Press Clips stars Mr.Auletta etc. It deserved them. And if you are a fan of that earlier Voice, be mindful of the Fake News vitriol of this President. It's done a lot of good for the Times digital circulation since November...
1
I have been a Voice reader since about 1970. Even when I disagreed with it I loved it.
It was my digest as to what movies to see, what concerts to attend, what food to eat and where. Not to mention that it broke major news stories that you did not see elsewhere. I especially like this piece about how Andrew Cuomo, a Clinton appointee single-handedly brought down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which led to the 2008 financial crises.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/08/05/andrew-cuomo-and-fannie-and-fred...
I will miss it. I hope they change their minds.
It was my digest as to what movies to see, what concerts to attend, what food to eat and where. Not to mention that it broke major news stories that you did not see elsewhere. I especially like this piece about how Andrew Cuomo, a Clinton appointee single-handedly brought down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which led to the 2008 financial crises.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/08/05/andrew-cuomo-and-fannie-and-fred...
I will miss it. I hope they change their minds.
4
Read it every week when I was at NYU/in NYC 72-76. Any apt I tried to rent through it was already taken. Sorry to see it go.
2
In the Jim Crow South, African Americans in the rural South learned about urban freedom and a thriving Black metropolis "up North" thanks to the black-owned and operated Chicago Defender. Thousands left the South in search of new lives in cities. For suburbanites in the 70s and 80s, the untamed, freewheeling flavor of New York City, espec. the raunchy personals and amazing art and music reviews reached the Wonder Bread hinterlands and drew a generation to find new life in NYC. Thank you, VV!
2
Soon US journalism will follow US poetry into the academy.
Glad to see that Robbins managed to land safely.
Glad to see that Robbins managed to land safely.
4
After moving to NYC in the early 70s, I quickly became a fan of the VV and used it to find my first apartment on 7th Ave So. I wish I had saved a copy from way back when--it would have proved a real time capsule. So much of the old Village has passed away and that makes me sad. It's not a "village" anymore.
3
It would be interesting to read investigative journaling about court cases involving VV's refusal to remove advertising by Back Page, which allegedly was involved in human trafficking of sex slave minors.
Let's not forget the VV's consistent, vicious homophobia over the course of most of its existence.
Huh?
4
Would be nice to have on line access to the entire Village Voice archive - full color version and searchable (like the NYTimes "TimeMachine"). Call it the V2 Machine. I suspect monetary and and issues like copyright may render this impossible.
2
Great article, well written that captures the spirit. When I had a sublet in the West Village in late '60's read VV religiously. But Daily News readers also were a faithful group in those days, and I recall a line of folks sometimes half a block long in front of news stand on 79th and First waiting on saturday night for early edition to be delivered by truck.Those days are gone now, just like the political clubs that one found in the West Village--remember Carmine Desapio?--and on the UES when we in 1964 earned in the GOP club on 85th and First of RFK's victory over Sen. Keating.There was also a plethora of dailies in those days, early and late editions:dear old days, gone but not forgotten!
9
In the late 80's I used to read the Voice all the time; for the club listings, the classifieds, and of course, the stories. I loved that it was alternative lifestyle - gay friendly (even though I wasn't gay). The City back then was gritty and edgy and wildly fun, and the Voice fit in nicely.
The Voice was sold. Its quality went down.
Manhattan cleaned itself up and became the boring, safe, sterile place it is now. The Voice didn't have a reason to exist in the new New York.
Of course, what really destroyed the Voice was technology: the internet.
The Voice's print passing does seem like yet another part of old New York departing.
The Voice was sold. Its quality went down.
Manhattan cleaned itself up and became the boring, safe, sterile place it is now. The Voice didn't have a reason to exist in the new New York.
Of course, what really destroyed the Voice was technology: the internet.
The Voice's print passing does seem like yet another part of old New York departing.
27
With any luck, the Rolling Stone will be following suit. Can the NYT be far behind?
1
@Hooey....The fourth word in your missive shows your familiarity with copy editing and accuracy. "the" is not in the masthead of RS....a musical group has it. but they're plural.
Your gift subscription to "The Daily Pinky™ Liar & Lost Cause Gazette" is due to expire soon. Better reup. The Publishers ( Dewey Cheatham & Howe ) are thinking of doubling the price because they know that their main news source has a shelf life somewhere between milk and yogurt.
Your gift subscription to "The Daily Pinky™ Liar & Lost Cause Gazette" is due to expire soon. Better reup. The Publishers ( Dewey Cheatham & Howe ) are thinking of doubling the price because they know that their main news source has a shelf life somewhere between milk and yogurt.
6
Rolling Stone. Ugh. I'm actually a subscriber, but only because I was offered two magazine subscriptions for $2 per year when I bought tickets for a concert a little more than a year back. Neither the New Yorker nor the Atlantic being options, I picked RS (and Sports Illustrated, which is another story unto itself), and not sure that $2 a year constituted a bargain--still, I re-upped (for $2 for a second year) on the theory that there might, eventually, be something worthwhile. The political coverage is awful and predictable, with authors often forced to quote from other publications because they have no access, and allowing anonymous sources to spout without saying anything of note. The writing, everywhere, is abysmal. Now, they're running a series of 50th anniversary nostalgia pieces that are, essentially, Jann Wenner doing to himself what Bannon said someone in the West Wing likes to do to himself.
Sad.
Sad.
@Hooey: You got that straight. Rolling Stone, Marie Elle, Vanity Fair, New Yorker might follow suit, but would hope Times newspaper survives and believe it will with innovations like the Comments column, encouraging wider readership.But we have passed the point of no return when it comes to raising generations of young adults who are bookish, read newspapers and magazines, have heard of Pegler, Lippmann, Alsop brothers, Reston , Lewis. Remember a time when u looked forward to seeing who or what would be on covers of TIME and Newsweek and reading that witty, trenchant Time style of writing.Unlike 1960's when protesters had solid liberal arts educations, today's generation is more in to feelings, emotions,taking extreme positions on topics they know little about. Ask a Antifa what fascism is , what the suffix ism means--system of ideas--and few I reckon could give you a learned answer.Its the end of the bean crop as far as traditional learning and education are concerned.Time was when to get your teaching license in French you had to be able to write the language. No longer. Exam is almost entirely composed of multiple choice questions.
3
Nobody cares about the people who can't read at length online. The headaches, the blurred vision, the strange nerve fatigue. Some of us have to read anything longer than a short article on paper. And as the millenial idiots age, this will start to happen to them too. But there won't be anything in print to read anymore.
Maybe they won't care. Because they don't really read do they?
Maybe they won't care. Because they don't really read do they?
6
I'm sure Louise Linton will still be able to get her copy to show off and tweet about. She's so stylish and you're not.
5
I wrote for the Voice a few times in the early 70s. The paper also published a photo I took.
For a while my life would've been incomplete without the paper. I don't think I read an issue in the last 30 years, and have used the Voice's website about twice.
Historical tidbit. Rolling Stone briefly published a NYC supplement to compete with the Voice.
For a while my life would've been incomplete without the paper. I don't think I read an issue in the last 30 years, and have used the Voice's website about twice.
Historical tidbit. Rolling Stone briefly published a NYC supplement to compete with the Voice.
1
For everyone who says nothing's really changed, it's just going online, be careful.
NYT stands virtually alone in its ability to generate sufficient revenue to sustain quality journalism via online revenue, much of it from subscribers. There's a reason for that: It's, well, the NYT. The VV, beloved as it may be, isn't in the same league, nor are most other reputable papers. The Wall Street Journal is the only other that comes to mind. The rest have, largely, become shadows of their former selves as revenue disappears and staff is laid off. That is happening across the country, in every town and city. The Seattle P-I went online only with fewer than five employees after the paper edition folded years ago and it's not worth reading anymore. The once-mighty Oregonian is barely alive.
Does anyone truly think that BuzzFeed, while financially successful, qualifies as a great newspaper? The late (but hardly great) Gawker? When's the last time Huffington Post produced a piece of quality investigative journalism that mattered?
Driveby, gotcha journalism really isn't journalism at all, but that, and click bait, is what successful online-only publications rely on to survive. The VV's current owner has boasted about his family's deep pockets. Maybe, hopefully, he'll find a way that had eluded others. I'm not a regular reader anymore, but just checked the VV website, and it didn't look too bad. Not the golden years, but better than nothing, which is what's happened in a lot of towns.
NYT stands virtually alone in its ability to generate sufficient revenue to sustain quality journalism via online revenue, much of it from subscribers. There's a reason for that: It's, well, the NYT. The VV, beloved as it may be, isn't in the same league, nor are most other reputable papers. The Wall Street Journal is the only other that comes to mind. The rest have, largely, become shadows of their former selves as revenue disappears and staff is laid off. That is happening across the country, in every town and city. The Seattle P-I went online only with fewer than five employees after the paper edition folded years ago and it's not worth reading anymore. The once-mighty Oregonian is barely alive.
Does anyone truly think that BuzzFeed, while financially successful, qualifies as a great newspaper? The late (but hardly great) Gawker? When's the last time Huffington Post produced a piece of quality investigative journalism that mattered?
Driveby, gotcha journalism really isn't journalism at all, but that, and click bait, is what successful online-only publications rely on to survive. The VV's current owner has boasted about his family's deep pockets. Maybe, hopefully, he'll find a way that had eluded others. I'm not a regular reader anymore, but just checked the VV website, and it didn't look too bad. Not the golden years, but better than nothing, which is what's happened in a lot of towns.
8
Bought with cash every week for 30 years up until the middle of the last decade. Only missed when I was away or it wasn't delivered, which was rare. In Jersey, no less.
1
i know it was inevitable, but i'm still devastated by this news. I didn't miss an issue of the Voice for 15 straight years, I was so thrilled when I actually saw my byline in there, over a photograph of my subject (Galt McDermott) taken by Sylvia Plachy! RIP to a newspaper that was once an essential component of New York life.
5
In 1999 I was researching an article, and had to visit the NY Public library to look at microfilm. Sifted through many VV articles, but the most shocking were the classifieds from the 70s:
"3 BR railroad apartment, W79th and Riverside, $350 per month."
"Soho Loft, Broome and Broadway, 1000 Sq. ft, "$600 per month."
I am now 1,700 miles away from NYC, priced out of Manhattan, priced out of Brooklyn, priced out of Long Island, and finally just...priced out.
But I have my memories of the pre-net era, and the VV is one of 'em.
"3 BR railroad apartment, W79th and Riverside, $350 per month."
"Soho Loft, Broome and Broadway, 1000 Sq. ft, "$600 per month."
I am now 1,700 miles away from NYC, priced out of Manhattan, priced out of Brooklyn, priced out of Long Island, and finally just...priced out.
But I have my memories of the pre-net era, and the VV is one of 'em.
19
Half a century is a long time. Things change.
Sure, but what was your salary in the '70s?
To this day I remember a brief article, maybe a letter. It was during a time when pets were fouling the sidewalks and dog owners weren't picking up the messes. The writer advised something like this: "Carry a rolled up newspaper, and when you see a dog owner shirking his sanitation duties, whack him soundly about th head and shoulders while saying, 'No, no. Bad owner.'"
That was The Voice. Saying it like it was.
That was The Voice. Saying it like it was.
21
Robert Christgau doesn't merit a mention? His consumer guides on the latest in music from American Punk to Afro-Pop were indispensable.
12
Pazz and Jop!
2
Wouldn't it be great if the paper version of the Voice went out with a bang? Hire back all the greats (at least the one's still around - not many, I know) and print one last edition - full sized. And include all the cartoonist/illustrators - such as Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" (pre-Simpsons) and Stan Mack, Ted Rall, R. Crumb. And all of the ads. I'd spring a few bucks for it.
20
Excellent idea!!!
1
Oh, those glorious years, reading the likes of Jill Johnston, Deborah Jowett, and reviews of the latest opening of a Charles Ludlum Ridiculous Theater production masterpiece.
4
Several have pointed out that the Voice is only moving online, not going away. True. But from my perspective this is akin to announcing that one can now stream the Boston Philharmonic but they will no longer be performing live. Same music, right? But it's not the same either, is it?
38
You mean the Boston Symphony Orchestra and not the Boston Philharmonic. All good musicians, but the former is the one of world renown.
2
Hooey - no, I mean the Boston Philharmonic - my brother-in-law plays trumpet for them and my sister-in-law violin. Cheers!
6
Syracuse, March 1971 (I'm pretty sure): an ad in The Voice for a triple bill at the Fillmore East: Steve Miller Band, Miles Davis, Neil Young with Crazy Horse. My friends and I pile in a car, drive 240 miles or so, run up to the box office and get third row seats! Great show! Snow falling as we exit at dawn!
One of many reasons I loved The Voice
One of many reasons I loved The Voice
31
I had piles of Voices in my apartment upstate when I was in my twenties --I read it religiously and it made my life so much richer! I learned! Ah, 1976.
5
The paper had mutated so much in the last years that it was hardly recognizable as the iconic Village Voice. I could not believe J. Hoberman was fired (I always looked forward to his film reviews) and others when I lived in NYC. Unbelievable its collapse. The remains of that memorable paper can go. No regrets.
1
In the 70's, my older sister had a subscription, and I would grab every copy after she was done with it. It certainly helped to reassure me that there were things I was interested in happening beyond the boring upstate town I grew up in.
5
Discovered the Voice in the 70s while working at a publishing company which had a library. At the time they had the best arts critics around, but they ended up firing everybody. Losing Musto was the last straw
5
Doug Ireland, Guy Trebay, Gary Indiana, Stephen Kroninger ... I looked forward to their work in the Voice every week.
7
and the appreciation notes to St. Jude in back page classifieds... Priceless...
11
Can I just say that as a sometime writer there in the late 80s, we freelancers hardly saw any of that rain of revenue you mention. As members of the National Writers Union we picketed brandishing issues from which all freelanced articles had been removed with scissors...alas, something that won't be possible with a digital-only Voice.
7
the voice may be just another sign of time marches on but these days it sure feels like it's barely stumbling along and I'm pretty sure I don't like where it's going.
7
It's events like this that make me glad I won't live forever.
1
In the summer of '62, my parents moved back to New York City (Queens) from Bergen County's borough of North Arlington. I was not quite 10 years old.
As I grew up, I'd hop on the E, F or 7 Subway to Manhattan to discover life beyond the wide boulevards & disappearing farm land of New York's largest borough.
My journeys took me to Central Park, Times Square, MoMA, Rockefeller Center & inevitably to West 4th Street subway station. I'd traverse the narrow streets, alleys & lanes crammed with people who looked different than me, but at the same time right at home it that environment. While my hair & clothes didn't fit in, my soul did!
New York City was my home & the Village was my heart. The Village Voice quickly became the voice which spoke to me louder than the daily papers & often whispered to me about life's meanings & purposes! Even for this boy from Queens, that smart, honest & sometimes rude weekly kept me informed & entertained in ways my beloved New York Times could not.
In High School, I worked on an underground school newspaper. I wrote articles & drew cartoons. My inspiration was Jules Feiffer & I copied his format for my own political satire!
For many years, working in New York's Printing Industry, I'd grab a copy of the Village Voice to read on my subway commutes.
I've since moved to Long Island. I still long for & think of NYC as m home, the Village Voice became part of my past. I'm glad it was there when I didn't even know how much I needed it & sad to see it go.
As I grew up, I'd hop on the E, F or 7 Subway to Manhattan to discover life beyond the wide boulevards & disappearing farm land of New York's largest borough.
My journeys took me to Central Park, Times Square, MoMA, Rockefeller Center & inevitably to West 4th Street subway station. I'd traverse the narrow streets, alleys & lanes crammed with people who looked different than me, but at the same time right at home it that environment. While my hair & clothes didn't fit in, my soul did!
New York City was my home & the Village was my heart. The Village Voice quickly became the voice which spoke to me louder than the daily papers & often whispered to me about life's meanings & purposes! Even for this boy from Queens, that smart, honest & sometimes rude weekly kept me informed & entertained in ways my beloved New York Times could not.
In High School, I worked on an underground school newspaper. I wrote articles & drew cartoons. My inspiration was Jules Feiffer & I copied his format for my own political satire!
For many years, working in New York's Printing Industry, I'd grab a copy of the Village Voice to read on my subway commutes.
I've since moved to Long Island. I still long for & think of NYC as m home, the Village Voice became part of my past. I'm glad it was there when I didn't even know how much I needed it & sad to see it go.
37
A lament for a lost time where neighborhoods were unique communities, not marketing gimmicks
21
Isn't that just like New York. It takes down one thing and puts another in its place. . .sometimes better . . .sometimes not.
1
I was 7 years old when my mother subscribed to TVV. They used my name on the subscription. My dad worked for a Navy contractor and McCarthy and all that. It certainly did alter the way I saw life along with WBAI.
13
Remember the Light Bulb Jokes? A friend actually got one published.
Paper is not dying for crying out loud, it's simply going online.
3
this online comment section is an example...it's not dead, just changing
Hentoff did a lot for jazz, but he got it very wrong in his first review of John Coltrane.
In the '70s and '80s in NYC, if you could type, you could eat, and I can't count the part-time, temp, extra, pick-up word processing or transcription jobs I landed from ads in The Voice. It fed me, literally. The Voice was never about your whole life, but it was always about a PIECE of your life. I never picked up The Voice and found nothing that interested me. If you didn't check it out, you were missing something.
And headlines. The Voice was masterful. My all-time favorite was on the front page and pointed inside to a classic review by an outstanding critic of a big movie that has also turned into a kind of classic: "Phallus In Wonderland: J. Hoberman Takes Aim at 'Top Gun'". No publication could write a provocative headline like The Voice.
And headlines. The Voice was masterful. My all-time favorite was on the front page and pointed inside to a classic review by an outstanding critic of a big movie that has also turned into a kind of classic: "Phallus In Wonderland: J. Hoberman Takes Aim at 'Top Gun'". No publication could write a provocative headline like The Voice.
12
Seems better that the Voice go to digital than to become a parody of itself the way the NYDaily News is now. And digital doesn't preclude quality and depth. It's the quality-depth that's missing so often today.
4
Jules Feiffer, Stan Mack, the cheap apartment listings (there were some in those days!), and the $2 and under activities!
All the luck in the world to them.
All the luck in the world to them.
5
Cheap Thrills!
We read the Voice in Philly when we could find a copy. It was the most LGBT positive publication we could find most of the time, and it had a great deal of influence on my coming out. I do still see it online and follow it on twitter, but something more is lost here.
10
As Richard L., who I don't often agree with, comments here: "its all part of the same dynamic" that's going away. On line entities struggle to justify subscriptions while we all tithe to our ISPs, who are in many cases ancient phone companies with new found monopolies. If there's a Voice that missing here, its the call for municipal wi-fi.
In elementary school I toured a small town daily where they still used hot lead linotype machines. The fumes were something. As a young man I worked as a small press operator with ink on his hands every day. More recently when scripting code, you know development is everything, production costs noting. There's still little traction to web sites. What's your key click worth? Your tithes are enormously out of proportion.
In elementary school I toured a small town daily where they still used hot lead linotype machines. The fumes were something. As a young man I worked as a small press operator with ink on his hands every day. More recently when scripting code, you know development is everything, production costs noting. There's still little traction to web sites. What's your key click worth? Your tithes are enormously out of proportion.
6
I too was a bridge-and-tunnel kid introduced in the late 1960s and early 1970s to a wider world of culture, ideas, and ferment by reading the print Village Voice. I don't like nostalgia but I'll spare a thought and raise a glass to the passing of a New York institution that changed the world.
18
Longtime fan in rural Georgia:'it's art and music reviews got me reading, and it's commentary kept me coming back...Roy Edroso's yeoman digging through the sludge coming out of the right and right loggers to highlight idiocies and unintentionally comic pronouncements is necessary reading, and generally hilarious.
1
My goodness. As others have reminiced, let me. Stopping at the news stand at Sheridan Square early on Wednesday morning to grab the Voice hot off the presses.
2
You read the Voice because you want to. You read the Times because you have to.
7
"no one will ever again spread a copy over a bar or across a table in a Greenwich Village coffee house."
This brought a small tear to my eye. It struck me as so very sad. Truly another piece of old New York never to be had again.
This brought a small tear to my eye. It struck me as so very sad. Truly another piece of old New York never to be had again.
15
I appreciate the lament, and believe Michael Musto's contributions deserve a mention.
8
Just one more name for the nostalgia pantheon: Bill Manville, whose column 'Saloon Society" ran for many years. Bill chronicled the watering hols of the Village - the Lion, the Horse, the kettle, Julius and many more. If the Voice had it's own Joe Mitchell, it was Manville.
1
Gone? It's online for a new generation.
The Village Voice was from a time when New York City was such an interesting place to live. Now it is mindless double stroller-villa like the rest of America
21
THE VILLAGE VOICE Surviving only online may seem like a ghost of its former self. But to those raised on smart pads, it will remain as powerful as before.
1
That's hopeful. I'll take my comfort with you.
1
I believe the damage here was partially self-inflicted. Honestly, I gave up once there was no more Michael Musto or New York-based film criticism. Haven't glanced at it in years.
4
The Voice lost its remaining relevance in the 1980's when it failed to acknowledge the AIDS crisis in NYC.
By the time it addressed the suffering and death, it was too little too late.
A shameful dereliction of journalistic ethics.
It was not the only newspaper to do so....
By the time it addressed the suffering and death, it was too little too late.
A shameful dereliction of journalistic ethics.
It was not the only newspaper to do so....
Aside from the classifieds, it was the art and music reviews that i read the Voice for. (And Musto just for fun.) Those started to be few and far between in favor of film reviews. And unless i'm confusing it with another publication, they then started to do reviews of porn, at which point it pretty much became a parody of itself and lost me. They've been on their way out for a long, long time. Which is indeed sad.
1
Downtown back in the 70's and 80's, where else were you going to get your important info?
- music/club listings for each night
- apartment listings
- music reviews
- restaurant/food reviews
- all other art reviews/schedules/listings
- politics
- whatever was going on in the city that week and beyond
- etc, etc
- and some of the things not listed were often also important... because they weren't listed
That was fun back then. Thanks Voice.
- music/club listings for each night
- apartment listings
- music reviews
- restaurant/food reviews
- all other art reviews/schedules/listings
- politics
- whatever was going on in the city that week and beyond
- etc, etc
- and some of the things not listed were often also important... because they weren't listed
That was fun back then. Thanks Voice.
9
When I moved to NYC in the early 80s to go to school, The Voice was my key to local culture and inexpensive fun things to do. Also, where else was I going to read about the history of Aunt Jeremiah or the sociological implications of George Michael's "I want your sex" ?
1
When I was unemployed and counting my nickels I still found enough to buy the Voice.That was many years ago and the Voice helped shape my thinking and life in latter years. Barrett,Newfield and Cockburn were must reading I even liked classified section. Gone but never will it be forgotten in my life.
17
This is very sad news. Not only because it marks the end of an era for one of the most iconic newspapers in New York City, but because it's the final nail in the coffin of what was once known as 'The Village'.
To those familiar ith the The Voice in its heyday, it was home to a wide-range of talented and hard-nosed journalists from Nat Hentoff to James Ridgeway to Michael Musto and yes, Tom Robbins -- with weekly anticipated offerings from the master cartoonist Jules Feiffer.
It was far more than just the smut-filled classified section it would later become.
So, another ship passes into the night.
Thanks for the memories.
Hail and farewell.
To those familiar ith the The Voice in its heyday, it was home to a wide-range of talented and hard-nosed journalists from Nat Hentoff to James Ridgeway to Michael Musto and yes, Tom Robbins -- with weekly anticipated offerings from the master cartoonist Jules Feiffer.
It was far more than just the smut-filled classified section it would later become.
So, another ship passes into the night.
Thanks for the memories.
Hail and farewell.
25
My 1980s-1990s Village Voice routine was as follows: 1) Open up to Ernie Pook's Comeek by Lynda Barry and Life in Hell by Matt Groening, 2) Savor theatre and dance reviews, 3) Devour the news, 4) Find jazz/blues for the weekend, 5) Study classifieds (I found my Brooklyn apartment in the Voice), 6) Marvel at escort ads, 7) Marvel at back page ads, 8) Go back to the front page and read from cover to cover. No matter how much stuff I had to schlep, I always made room for my Voice.
47
The back page with all those thank you to St Jude for lost causes or lost items!! I miss those, don't you?
I know, it's not the end of the world, but it just may be a sign or a portent. Especially when you mix it in with the disappearing Arctic permafrost.
10
The classifieds were a large part of the entertainment.
6
I came to the Big City in 1968 from the provinces (of N.J.) long on enthusiasm for the intellectual life, short on capacity. The Village Voice, particularly Jill Johnston's elegant writing, helped right this shaky boat and set it on its course. Thank you.
8
I lived in NYC long ago in my misspent youth and the Village Voice was a vital part of the experience. This is a huge loss.
9
i happened to be in New York in the summer of 1971 right at my 21st birthday. i tried to put a congratulatory classified in the Times but was told i couldn't do it for myself. so i went to the Village Voice and was able to get a birthday note to myself published for the ages.
15
I first encountered the Voice at 15 in 79/80 in central NJ. It was my first consistent exposure to the arts world, a diet I nourished weekly.
2
Thank you for this reminiscence. I am a baby boomer and that rare bird, a native of New York AND Greenwich Village. Yes, there was only ONE Village then, Greenwich Village, no East and West Village. My father, born on Christopher Street, always objected to this East/West designation. It held no reality for him.
I read the Voice throughout my university years, while attending the FREE Hunter College, where I was receiving a stellar education from eminent professors. The theory then was that if this great city educated its own, they would pay it back with their hard work, talent and creativity, which most of us did.
It was from the Voice that I developed many of my values and opinions on civil rights, equality and justice, political integrity and chicanery, importance of art as an inner resource in a turbulent world, etc. Unlike writers in the more mainstream papers, Voice columnists did not see a need to pull their punches. It was exhilarating to read the unvarnished truth about events of the day.
I am sad to see the print version disappear. However, we are blessed that unlike other alternative newspapers, it will live on in digital version.
Thank you, Village Voice.
I read the Voice throughout my university years, while attending the FREE Hunter College, where I was receiving a stellar education from eminent professors. The theory then was that if this great city educated its own, they would pay it back with their hard work, talent and creativity, which most of us did.
It was from the Voice that I developed many of my values and opinions on civil rights, equality and justice, political integrity and chicanery, importance of art as an inner resource in a turbulent world, etc. Unlike writers in the more mainstream papers, Voice columnists did not see a need to pull their punches. It was exhilarating to read the unvarnished truth about events of the day.
I am sad to see the print version disappear. However, we are blessed that unlike other alternative newspapers, it will live on in digital version.
Thank you, Village Voice.
79
Couldn't have said is better myself.You said it much better.
3
It was 1981, I was an 18-year-old NYU theater major. The Village Voice told me other people thought and felt as I did, and they were committed to speaking truth to power. I loved the Village Voice back then.
17
As a teenager growing up in suburban New Jersey in the mid-70's, I read The Voice with near religious fervor. Yes, I looked forward to Ellen Willis's essays (my first real exposure to feminist writing) and Nat Hentoff's columns on the Constitution were eye-opening (his views on abortion excepted). But the real prize of the Voice was reading the weekly film reviews of Andrew Sarris and J. Hoberman. For a budding cinephile, nothing was more wonderful - or enlightening - than their reviews. As Sarris, along with his arch-rival Pauline Kael, introduced serious film criticism to American audiences, and Hoberman, for decades, has been our nation's most eloquent and spirited defender of alternative cinema (his video column for the NYT is still a must-read), their contributions to the Voice's cultural significance must be recognized and remembered.
22
I learned everything about the movies from Andrew Sarris.
1
Thanks for this lament. All great things come to an end and change - thanks Voice.
16
Growing up in a semi-rural town in NJ, back in the 60s, I discovered The Voice and had a subscription - which automatically made me one of the coolest kids in high school - at least among the theater/art class/history crew I hung out with. Of course I carried it around with me as a coolness prop - LOL! I also actually read it and it opened my eyes to issues, creativity and to a world that I wanted to discover more and more of. The Voice has had its ups and downs over the years but no one can deny the vital role it has played in the social, political and arts life of New York and indeed, of the nation. One of my students had a copy in class a few weeks ago. I mentioned I'm a long-time fan and he said "Oh, yeah, it's, like, the coolest paper." To see it reduced to a website is sad for one of my generation but I hope it can still play that vital role and today's kids can still show how cool they are - and how informed - by having it on a tablet or a cell phone
44
As a teenager on Long Island in the early 1970's, the Village Voice was my "newspaper of record". It was my introduction to culture, politics, and current events, all that seemed important at that time. I went into Manhattan every weekend and getting the latest copy of the Voice was the first thing I did after the train pulled into Penn Station.
I haven't read it in years but I mourn the loss of the print edition...
I haven't read it in years but I mourn the loss of the print edition...
36
Village Voice started as an alternative newspaper for everyone but since the 90s at least, it has become almost exclusively gay, so, as a hetero New Yorker, albeit artsy and cultured and intellectual, I felt left out and marginalized, so I found it more and more irrelevant.I can't recall the last time I read it, but it was fun to look for jobs and personals in the late 90s. Some theater reviews were also good.
12
It's sad if you're of an age, like me, that dirtied his fingers every day when quite young on a bus and two trains to get from Queens to work on Wall Street proper. I was never a Voice fan, my papers always were the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal; but it's all part of the same dynamic. Ink and paper, presses and delivery trucks, are just too expensive in an age when subscription fees have become punishing and print ad revenue is drying up.
It's all going away, folks, eventually even the Times. But the content will be the same, the great newspapers of the world will continue to be superb content engines online. And that will need to be enough for the generations of newspapermen and women who no longer produce a newsPAPER but continue to inform and entertain us. It will need to be enough for us, as well.
It's all going away, folks, eventually even the Times. But the content will be the same, the great newspapers of the world will continue to be superb content engines online. And that will need to be enough for the generations of newspapermen and women who no longer produce a newsPAPER but continue to inform and entertain us. It will need to be enough for us, as well.
25
"It's all going away, folks"
Learn to read better.
The point is that it's NOT going away, despite a Trump apologist's attempt to wish the Times away.
Learn to read better.
The point is that it's NOT going away, despite a Trump apologist's attempt to wish the Times away.
9
With all due respect, Mr. Henry, I believe you should heed your own advice. I believe Mr. Luettgen's point was that newspapers will all eventually transition into online-format only and abandon physical print copies - which are becoming increasingly expensive and unnecessary in the digital age. It's not the writers or content going away, only the physical medium.
I'm not entirely sure where you read the "Trump apologist" in that comment.
I'm not entirely sure where you read the "Trump apologist" in that comment.
You apparently don't know RL's history.