Authors

Active this month

• BETSY SHERMAN
  - Reviews - Review: Mystery Team
  Indie comedy has it tough in the marketplace, so though it's no fun to pan the first feature by the Derrick Comedy troupe, neither was it fun to watch Mystery Team .
• BILL RODRIGUEZ
  - This Just In - A memoir, a tour, and a state coming to grips with slavery
  The latest turn in Rhode Island's complicated dialogue with its slaveholding past: a yearlong project encouraging locals to read a memoir by the son of a freed slave.
• BRETT MICHEL
  - Reviews - Review: Tooth Fairy
  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dons a pink tutu and wings as Derek, a hockey player who's earned the nickname "The Tooth Fairy" for his knack for knocking out opposing players' bicuspids on the ice.
• BRIAN MCFADDEN
  - Big Fat Whale - Corporate Persons Are Jerks
  "Your cancer is making me rich!"
• CHRIS CONTI
  - Music Features - Bring on the major leagues
  There ain't enough lighter fluid in your Bic to keep pace with Fairhaven's piano-driven anthems on their full-length debut Origins.
• CHRIS FARAONE
  - CD Reviews - Fresh Vetz | Vet Status
  It's a bright sign for hip-hop when at least three promising subterranean sluggers ride flows comparable to that of the almighty Nas.
• DAVID SCHARFENBERG
  - This Just In - A nation hooked on cars
  The car is at the center of many of our troubles — our addiction to oil, the warming of the planet. Car accidents do incalculable damage.
• DAVID THORPE
  - Music Features - The Big Hurt: Billboard Top Hip-Hop and R and B songs
  This week, a jolly traipse through one of Billboard 's most artistically fecund charts: "Top Hip-Hop and R&B Songs." What wonders await?
• DR. LOVEMONKEY
  - Dr Love Monkey - Dennis the menace, the Steve Buscemi Maneuver
  I've been going with Dennis for two and a half months and we have grown very close, very quickly ...
• EDITORIAL
  - The Editorial Page - Trying times for Obama
  It was only a matter of time before President Barack Obama turned into a deficit hawk. But it is a measure of the desperation sparked by Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat that Obama hatched before the conclusion of the 2010 congressional elections and unveiled a spending freeze.
• ELIZABETH RAU
  - This Just In - In Pawtucket, a Haitian-American family anxiously waits
  Their roof is a blanket held up by sticks, their bed is dirt. Every morning, they wake — the grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews — and begin their journey on foot to search for something to eat and drink.
• GUSTAVO TURNER
  - CD Reviews - John Heartsman | Music Of My Heart
  John Heartsman's career had two modest peaks.
• JIM MACNIE
  - Books - Heart keeps beating
  Storytelling is largely about character, and writer Thomas Cobb came up with a doozy when he conceived Bad Blake.
• JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ
  - Restaurant Reviews - The Village Haven
  We were headed to a concert in Cumberland and we thought we'd make a slight detour to North Smithfield — the village of Forestdale, to be precise.
• JONATHAN DONALDSON
  - CD Reviews - The Magnetic Fields | Realism
  This will be labeled as the Magnetic Fields' folk album, and fairly so.
• MARION DAVIS
  - This Just In - Rhode Island’s own stab at health reform
  Health care reform, if it survives the election of Republican Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat, will make insurance accessible and provide a slew of new consumer protections for millions of Americans.
• MATT BORS
  - Idiot Box - What if John McCain had become president?
  Straight talk takes time
• MICHAEL BRODEUR
  - CD Reviews - Various Artists | Pop Ambient
  It'd be easy to understand a resistance to "ambient" music — beyond all of its unfortunate Enya and dusty Eno connotations.
• MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY
  - CD Reviews - Pit Er Pat | The Flexible Entertainer
  Pit Er Pat, the minimalist duo of Fay Davis-Jeffers and the dubiously named Butchy Fuego, have pared down their sound in search of simple beauty, but the result is an icy album utterly lacking in energy.
• MIKAEL WOOD
  - CD Reviews - Priestess | Prior To The Fire
  Now Priestess are back in Indieland, rubbing denim-clad elbows with the likes of Nebula and Black Math Horseman.
• MITCH KRPATA
  - Videogames - Review: Army of Two: The 40th Day
  When I reviewed the original Army of Two , I found myself in the unfamiliar position of being the guy who liked something everybody else hated (as opposed the guy who hated something everybody else liked).
• PETER KEOUGH
  - Features - Is there 'hope' in Hollywood?
  Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
• PHILLIPE AND JORGE
  - Phillipe And Jorge - A wake-up call
  Some months back, Judge Richard Posner, a prolific author and longtime leading figure in the laissez-faire-oriented Chicago school of economics published his latest tome, a little bit of conservative heresy titled A Failure of Capitalism .
• PROVIDENCE PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF
  - New England Music News - Those drums and wires
  Makeupbreakup + Jon Hope + more
• RYAN STEWART
  - Television - Lonely island
  This Tuesday, the sixth and final season of Lost will launch onto home screens (ABC; February 2 at 9 pm). When the show last left us, you'll recall, it appeared to have killed off one of the Island's main string pullers, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), in 2007 while simultaneously detonating a nuclear bomb underneath the Island in 1977.
• TOM MEEK
  - Reviews - Review: Extraordinary Measures
  Most parents would go to great lengths to save a child in peril, but would they find a cure for a terminal disease?
• ZAK JASON
  - Reviews - Review: Legion
  What are angel wings made of? Why, bulletproof titanium with razor-sharp tips to slice open the entrails of sinners.
• ZETH LUNDY
  - CD Reviews - Basia Bulat | Heart Of My Own
  Like a Laurel Canyon Billie Holiday or a pixilated Tracy Chapman, Bulat sports a voice rich with vibrato, hearty oomph, and dignified lonesomeness.

Masthead

Need a new article just for masthead authors

THE PHOENIX MEDIA/COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
126 Brookline Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 536-5390
FAX (617) 536-1463
letters@thephoenix.com

The Phoenix Media/Communications Group is a family of companies that work together to reach people who share a similar lifestyle. Cooperatively, they create a unique atmosphere for our readers. Our company reflects a commitment to new ideas rooted in a solid and broadly cooperative business model. Put simply, we think this is the way new media works.

The Phoenix and thePhoenix.com
The Boston Phoenix was started in 1966 as a four-page arts-and-entertainment alternative newsweekly. Today, it is one of the largest publications of its kind in the country. The Phoenix is nationally known for its award-winning, incisive journalism and publishes the most comprehensive arts-and-entertainment listings of any paper in New England.

Over the years, the Phoenix has received many awards for excellence in journalism, including honors from the New England Press Association, the Penny-Missouri Newspaper Awards, the American Bar Association Gavel Awards, and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. In 1994, Phoenix classical-music writer Lloyd Schwartz was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for criticism.

In 1988, the Phoenix got into expansionist gear by acquiring the NewPaper in Rhode Island. In 1993, the NewPaper was re-christened the Providence Phoenix. In September of 1999, the paper extended its reach into Maine and Southern New Hampshire with the publication of the Portland Phoenix. Today, total Phoenix circulation is 253,000.

The Phoenix Web site features 90% of the paper's content posted online every week, and it is searchable and archived. We've won a host of critical awards for both our layout and content.

El Planeta Newspaper
Since its inception in May 2004, El Planeta has become the leading publication for the Hispanic market in Massachusetts. El Planeta is the only audited newspaper in Spanish in the Massachusetts and Greater Boston DMA. It is a newspaper with editorial integrity and a real mission: to inform, educate and unite the Hispanic community with other communities in the region. Read El Planeta on the web: //npaper-wehaa.com/elplaneta

FNX Radio Network
In 1983, 101.7 WFNX signed on the air in Boston to provide listeners with the best in new music and comprehensive coverage of arts and entertainment. People quickly took notice and tuned in, and the fledgling station was soon recognized nationally as a pioneer in the alternative music format. Broadcasting worldwide at fnxradio.com and over the airwaves of 92.1 FNX in Maine and New Hampshire. FNX has expanded its reach and vision even farther to its broad, yet eclectic alternative audience. Visit FNX Radio on the web:www.fnxradio.com

STUFF Boston
Showcasing the best that life in Boston has to offer, our bi-weekly magazine provides a must-have guide for the city's trendsetters and tastemakers. From nightlife and dining, to fashion and interior design, to culture and green living, STUFF covers the people and places that make this town extraordinary. Our readers are industry insiders, purveyors of cool, and life-long enemies of the status quo. We understand them because we are them. Visit STUFF on the web at www.stuffboston.com.

TuBoston.com
The most popular Hispanic-focused local web portal in Massachusetts, TuBoston is a bilingual Web site that offers advertisers a unique opportunity to reach Greater Boston's online Spanish speakers and those who love the Hispanic community. Dynamic, easy to read, promotion and user-friendly, TuBoston includes the complete weekly editions of El Planeta Newspaper and other special El Planeta related publications. Visit TuBoston: www.tuboston.com


Phoenix Media Ventures
The sports magazine and music program magazine division of PM/CG. PMV publishes the official yearbooks of the Boston Celtics, Boston Bruins, and the Boston Marathon Official Program. PMV also publishes the official program guides for the Tweeter Center, Bank of America Pavilion Summer Music Series, and World Music/Crash Arts. Tele-publishing, Inc./People2People.com is the world's largest provider of voice personals to the publishing industry, and the web's most advanced online personals site. Visit Tele-publishing on the web:www.tpigroup.com and www.people2people.com

MassWeb Printing is a state-of-the art four-color web offset printing facility which prints all of our own products, plus many other regional newspapers. Visit MassWeb on the web: www.masswebprinting.com

The Masthead

Publisher & Chairman: Stephen M. Mindich
President: Bradley Mindich
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer: Richard Gallagher
Executive Editor: Peter Kadzis
Editor: Lance Gould

BOSTON
Assistant Managing Editor: Vanessa Czarnecki
Design Director: Kristen Goodfriend
Associate Design Director: Kevin Banks
Editorial Designer: Christine Atturio
Production Artist: Nicole Mercado, Jennifer LePore
Arts Editor: Jeffrey Gantz
Associate Arts Editor: Jon Garelick
Contributing Editor (Theater): Carolyn Clay
Arts Editor (Film): Peter Keough
Arts Editor (Music): Michael Brodeur
Staff Editor: Sean Kerrigan
Staff Writers: David S. Bernstein, Adam Reilly, Chris Faraone
Events Editor: Ian Sands
Listing Coordinators: Maddy Myers, Ashley Rigazio
Assistant to the Editor: Marianna Faynshteyn
Contributing Editor: Lloyd Schwartz (classical), Carolyn Clay (theater)
Contributing Writers: Greg Cook, William Corbett, Amy Finch, Michael Freedberg, Kris Frieswick, Dan Kennedy, Brett Milano, Christopher Millis, Robert Nadeau, Alan Olifson, James Parker, Gerald Peary, Alicia Potter, Marcia B. Siegel, Harvey Silverglate, Gary Susman, Charles Taylor, Jason Vest, Steve Vineberg, Caitlin E. Curran, Clif Garboden
Cartoonist: David Sipress
Astrologer: Symboline Dai

New Media
Web Editor: Carly Carioli
Web Managing Editor: Lisa Spinelli
Assistant Web Editor: Ryan Stewart, Shaula Clark
Senior Web Developers: Gavin Storey
Web Developer: TJ Miller
Web Designer: Alex Slater
Interactive Media/Traffic Manager: Elizabeth Witte

Advertising Sales
Senior Vice President, Client Development: A. William Risteen
Vice President, Integrated Media Sales: Mame Conroy
Vice President, Integrated Media Sales: Everett Finkelstein
Vice President, Integrated Media Sales: Joe Charves 
Sales Directors, Integrated Media Sales: Sean Weymouth, Peter Lawley, Michelle Benfer
Account Manager, Integrated Media Sales: Huntley Rainville
Senior Account Executives, Integrated Media Sales: Matthew Segien, Charles Dannison,Margo Dowlearn
Sales Coordinator, Integrated Media: Adam Oppenheimer
Vice President, Media Sales: Jordi Chapdelaine
Vice President of Print Media Sales: Marc Shepard
General Sales Manager: Brian Russell
Senior Account Executive: Howard Temkin,
Retail Account Executive: David Carona, Amanda Saunders, Jessica Smyth, Kathleen Grenier, Greg Shellock
Traffic Manager: Kevin Lawrence
Classified Sales Manager: Matt King
Classified Lines Account Executive: Ashley Lundgren

Marketing
Vice President of Marketing and Business Development: Michael C.Bornhorst
Director of Promotions: Brian Appel
Interactive Marketing Manager: Isabel Aller
Senior Marketing Graphic Designer: Janet Smith
Marketing Coordinator: Leah O'Brien

Advertising Art Department
Creative Director: Mike Diskin
Production Director: Travis Ritch
Senior Graphic Designer: Angelina Berardi

Circulation
Circulation Director: James Dorgan
Circulation Manager: Michael Johnson

Operations
Vice President of Operations: David Dinnage
IT Director: Bill Ovoian
IT Administrator: Michael Rikeman
Senior Project Manager: David Hosker
Senior Infrastructure Manager: Curtis Bennett
Network Administrator: Hack Warrensford
Facilities Manager: John Nunziato

Finance
Corporate Controller: Michael Notkin
Assistant Corporate Controller: Chris Crandall
Print Controller: Scotty Cole
Corporate Credit Manager: Michael Tosi
Corporate Staff Accountant: Diane Harney-Buderman
Trade Administrator: Kristina Weljkovic
Payroll: Juli Zhu
Cash Analyst: Mark Meltzer

Human Resources
Human Resources Director: Kathleen Parrish
HR Administrator/Generalist: Stephen Rose
Receptionist/Administrative Assistant: Kimberlee Mullaney

PROVIDENCE
Associate Publisher: Stephen L. Brown
News Editor: David Scharfenberg
Managing Editor: Lou Papineau
Contributing Editor: Jim Macnie
Contributing Writers: Rudy Cheeks, Bob Gulla, Brian C. Jones, Phillipe & Jorge, Bill Rodriguez, Johnette Rodriguez, Pam Steager, Steven Stycos, Chip Young
Contributing Illustrators: Steve Brosnihan, Elizabeth Rock
Contributing Photographer: Richard McCaffrey
Contributing Graphic Artist: Collen Boisvert, Lisa Beauregard
Credit/ Collections Supervisor: Anita Anderson
Production Manager: Stacy Congdon
Retail Account Executive: Jennifer Dyson, Andrea Mark, Bruce Allen, Jennifer Alarie, Dayna Mancini

PORTLAND
General Manager: John Marshall
Managing Editor: Jeff Inglis
Listings Coordinator: Christopher Gray
Staff Writer: Deirdre Fulton
Contributing Writers: Al Diamon, Brian Duff, Tony Giampetruzzi, Megan Grumbling, David Kish, Amelia Labreck, Ian Paige, Sam Pfeifle, Todd Richard, Lindsay Sterling, Shay Stewart-Bouley, Lance Tapley, Rick Wormwood


Account Executives: Eric Kenney, Erin Frederick
Classified Account Executive: Nicole Elwell
Creative Director: Janice Checchio
Traffic/Credit Coordinator: Sonya Tomlinson

OFFICES

Boston:
126 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 536-5390
Advertising department fax: 536-1463
Editorial department fax 859-8201

Classifieds:
126 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 859-3300; Fax: (617) 425-2670

Providence:
150 Chestnut St., Providence, RI 02903
Tel: (401) 273-6397; Fax: (401) 273-0920

Portland:
16 York St., Suite 102, Portland, ME 04101
Tel: (207) 773-8900; Fax: (207) 773-8905

National Sales Office:
150 Chestnut St., Providence, RI 02903
Tel: (401) 273-6397 x232; Fax: (401) 272-8712

World Wide Web site: www.thephoenix.com

INFORMATION

Manuscripts: Manuscripts should be addressed to Senior Editor, Boston Phoenix, 126 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215. We assume no responsibility for returning manuscripts.

Letters to the Editor: Send to 126 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215, fax to (617) 859-8201, or e-mail to letters@thephoenix.com. Please include a daytime telephone number for verification.

Subscriptions: Bulk rate $45/6 months, $80/1 year; first-class rate $110/6 months, $200/1 year. Bulk-rate postage paid, Boston, MA; allow 10 days for delivery. Send name and address with check and money order to: Subscription Department, Boston Phoenix, 126 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215.