1. Kym

   Abso-flippin-lutely Kevin!

   Sep 25th, 2008

      0

2. Dena

   I read this last night and was disappointed too – I don’t mind a few out of the way suggestions but I was a little frustrated. Unless we have plans with someone outside of Fort Worth, we always eat here and it would have been nice to have more Fort Worth critic picks…

   Sep 25th, 2008

      0

3. Bob

   As in typical fashion, a back-handed compliment brought to you by Kevin Buchanan. It’s titled Best Of 2008 which covers the entire circulation of the Weekly. Fort Worth institutions like PARIS COFFEE SHOP, Carshon’s Deli, Del Frisco’s, El Asadero, Day Break Cafe, Bonnell’s and La Playa Maya all brought home Critics Choice. While relative new-comers like Lambert’s, Brix’s Pizza and Wine Bar, Fuego, The Vault, and Piola took the critic’s choice gold (and that’s only in Good Grub).

   I know you’re Fort Worth-centric, and Fort Worth is awesome but there are other options in areas like Arlington, Cleburne, Bedford and Mansfield that our readers deserve to get a “heads up”.

   I take this personally because our staff (edit, production, business, circulation and sales) did a tremendous job getting a solid paper to the people of Fort Worth (AND SURROUNDING AREAS). And I won’t allow you to knit pick because the selections might not be in your backyard. I don’t care if you like us (The Weekly) or not, but don’t disrespect us – all I’m saying.

   Bob Niehoff
   General Manager – Fort Worth Weekly.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      0

4. Kevin Buchanan

   Bob,

   As you ask me not to disrespect you, I’d ask you do to the same – I’m not sure what “typical backhanded compliments” I’m known for regularly using, but I’d appreciate it if you’d back that up with some actual examples.

   I’m not saying your staff doesn’t do a great job putting the paper together. I know several of them and they’re great folks. It’s not the Weekly’s quality I find lacking – it’s just off-putting to see so much emphasis and attention given to out-of-town businesses. When I pick up a newspaper called “Fort Worth Weekly,” that is positioned as an alternative to what has quickly become the “Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Star-Telegram,” I’m just a bit surprised to see so many picks given to places that aren’t in Fort Worth, or sometimes even this county. There’s just something of a disconnect between the title FORT WORTH Weekly Best of 2008 and picks like tamale shops in Cleburne. I find it ironic that your “sign of the apocalypse” choice is high gas prices, in the same issue you’re telling people to drive 30 miles for tamales and such when there are outstanding local choices in a great deal of these categories.

   A lot of great places are hardly “in my backyard,” but they ARE in *Fort Worth* and I feel the greatness of this city should be recognized first and foremost by our local media before we start giving awards to Grand Prairie and Cleburne. Heck, if Cleburne is our “surrounding area,” why not give out a couple dozen awards to places in Dallas that are equally as close?

   I don’t have a problem with the Weekly giving readers a “head-up” on surrounding area happenings – I just think the Best Of awards ought to focus on our home town folks a bit more.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      1

5. Ross

   Who did Kevin compliment? He thanked the readers of the blogs and criticized your mag. Pretty straightforward. And does he give backhanded compliments regularly? All you had to do was say that the Best of 2008 issue covers all of your circulation area and be done with it. But no, you had to let us know what others are allowed to say/write about your mag and spout some hogwash about respect. Thanks for being a dick. I suggest you grow some thicker skin.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      2

6. fwtacoma

   I didn’t think Kevin’s post was a backhanded compliment. Instead it seemed like a fair critique. I also agree with him that FW Weekly should focus a little more on being a weekly paper for…Fort Worth.

   Maybe Arlington should start up a weekly paper to discuss whats going on over there.

   I disagree with Kevin on one point. There’s no need for reviews of Dallas restaurants. If I want that, I’ll just read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

   Zing!!!

   Sep 25th, 2008

      5

7. ICD

   Kevin:

   The Fort Worth Weekly is a BRAND NAME, not a defintion of the paper’s content. And in my reading of the Weekly over time, they rarely ever do get out of the Fort for their stories. Occasionally, they do something on state education of the trans texas corridor, but for the most part, they are doing stories on gas drilling and the TCC and JPS and city hall.

   Just because they mention a tamale place in Cleburne ain’t such a bad thing.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      -4

8. Chad

   +1 for Kevin.

   If it is for your circulation area, call it the Metroplex Best of 2008 or something like that. What is wrong with giving pubilcity to establishments in the city. If you want to highlight some places outside of Fort Worth, great, but have another section for that. I understand that you have readers in Arlington, Richland Hills, etc., but it is a FW paper. I think it should be a Best of FW and FW only, unless you want to change the name.

   Keep fighting the good fight Kevin.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      4

9. Chris

   Wow there is some good stuff here. Kevin not sure why you are having a hard time that theFort Worth Weekly covers all of Tarrant County? I actually call it the “Weekly”. I work in Arlington but live in Fort Worth South. I like to eat in Arlington at Lunch and the Weekly is the only one who will give any of those mom and pops ink. Think about it. Pierre’s Mardi Gras is one of the best places in Texas, but who else will tell you that? He should have the same chance to win as much as Razzoo’s don’t you think? Finally, take the award Kevin. I do not belive that everything you own or consume is manufactured or processed here in our great city. Kevin don’t get me wrong you do a good job, but be careful. I think your award is great, but try not to criticize the only paper we have left in town. They are strong, while the Daily is weak.

   Sep 25th, 2008

      -1

10. Chewy

    Bob,

    I too think you’re being too thin skinned which is surprising coming from someone in your position. I would assume with a publication like yours you’re used to lots of criticism. It just comes with territory. Same thing goes for the guys that post stories here.

    I thought Kevin’s post was critical but fair. He stated his issue and explained his issue. I don’t see any shots at the staff or any individual so not sure why you reacted the way you did. All you needed to do was explain your distribution reaches out beyond Fort Worth proper so that’s why some awards were given in those locations and left it at that.

    At least your passionate so I’ll give you that.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       3

11. Kevin Buchanan

    ICD,

    I dunno – I think, brand name or no, that “Fort Worth Weekly” implies a certain Fort Worth-ness to the proceedings. I’m not saying they should never mention anything outside of Fort Worth, and indeed they do great work in the city – the recent Barnett Shale story an issue or two ago was outstanding, for one, and Dan McGraw does great transit stories.

    This is more about the Best Of awards, and I still maintain that the Best Of awards ought to lean extremely heavily towards Fort Worth businesses. By giving the Best Of awards to so many non-FW places, it can be interpreted as saying “the best of Fort Worth is…all these places that aren’t Fort Worth.” The awards ought to be nearly exclusively Fort Worth-centric.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

12. Chris

    BTW: Just tried to go to the Weekly’s site and they will not post the winners until later. Not a bad way to push people to the streets and support all of those advertisers. Pretty genius.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

13. John Peter Smith

    “the best of Fort Worth is…all these places that aren’t Fort Worth.”
    — That’s pretty much sums up the FW Weakly’s attitude about everything.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

14. Jeremy

    “Great Job” to everyone at West & Clear and to Kevin at Fortworthology!! You guys are awesome!

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

15. Piece of Eight

    FYI: The Weekly has a ‘Letters of the Week’ section you can send your comments/criticisms to.

    And aren’t you libs supposed to be collaborating to take down the evil S-T instead of bickering amongst yourselves?

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

16. ICD

    Kevin:

    The FW Weekly used to call it the Best of the Westoplex. But that title was somewhat stupid. What you are missing is the concept of what Fort Worth really is. Is the definition of Fort Worth limited to the city boundary lines. Or are we a bit more than that, with boundaires that shouldn’t seem limited by straight line geographics. I think of Fort Worth as pretty much everything west of Dallas, and that includes places like Southlake and White Settlement (opposites attract).

    As I read the Best Of issue, it seemed to me that most of the winners were in FW. But if you like Vietnamese or Thai food, you have to think of Arlington, because they have so many good restaurants and lots of Asian immigrants. Hell, I go to Haltom City for good Vietnamese. Should we not patronize those places (or should the Weekly ignore them), because some political boundary just a few miles down the road was set up so many years ago?

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

17. Kym

    ICD,

    Kevin is certainly NOT missing the concept of what Fort Worth REALLY is. I might say you are. Yes, Fort Worth IS defined by city boundary lines. Most cities are. Most people from Southlake, TX will not tell you they are from Fort Worth, TX when asked where they are from.

    I can certainly appreciate your wanting to give deserved recognition to great establishments that are outside of the city limits. But Arlington and South Lake, just for example, are cities in their own right that should probably have their own local rags.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       1

18. cozette

    I’m not sure kudos are in order considering this award comes from a pack of dope heads. But, nonetheless, I find Fortworthology a very impressive site, as is West and Clear. Congratulations, Kevin.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       1

19. Annie

    I’m not sure why the Fort Worth Weekly must center on Fort Worth only establishments—isn’t that like saying the Fort Worth Star-Telegram must focus only on Fort Worth ?? With all due respect, some of the non Fort Worth establishments winning awards are closer to some Fortworthians than those inside the city limits, depending on where one lives!!!

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

20. AndyN

    I didn’t notice any Dallas establisments on the list, so Kevin, I agree that your criticism is a little short-sighted. Other parts of Tarrant County need an alternative weekly magazine too and I’d rather it be our beloved Fort Worth Weekly than the Dallas Observer. Let them earn a little revenue and serve the suburban masses. Don’t shun Arlington and Grapevine. Remember some of the stuff they are building and doing will help the Tarrant County Tax coffers and to some extent, Fort Worth too. I don’t think Amon Carter would be as provincial as long as he didn’t have to cross the eastern Tarrant County line.

    Sep 25th, 2008

       0

21. Foat Wuth, I Luv Yew!

    Amon Carter went so far as to have a peach orchard in Arlington. Also, look at where the airport is currently located. He was at least willing to compromise on that. His problem wasn’t that he only wanted to see Fort Worth grow. He wanted to see Fort Worth and its environs grow at the expense of Dallas. He didn’t care if Dallas was a second city, so long as Fort Worth was first.

    Kevin, however, wants the Star Telegram to only publish news about Fort Worth, and for Fort Worth to be its own little island, as per his comments. Maybe he would like to see how long he can make it doing a Brock centered publication, that only deals with Brock and nothing else. He can sell fedoras to the subscriber base as a special deal.

    If that doesn’t work he can join the South Fort Worth renaissance with a very specific paper that only covers fifty blocks. Maybe Phillip Poole will get some doctors to finance him.

    Bottom line, we’re either going to convince our suburban neighbors to identify with our big tent, or they’re going to identify with Dallas. I hope that the Basses are in fact going to buy the Startlegram, because we could really do with a first class paper that covers our city. I don’t know that they will, because Belo already passed and wouldn’t have if there was much there. Didn’t need two cripples in the canoe. The Basses may see some community reason, but I doubt that it will get past the talking stage.

    As for the FWWeekly, I think it seems to be weathering the storm. I don’t particularly dig on their editorial staff, but since they seem to be making enough sales to put out a much thicker edition of their paper than the BizPress, I ain’t gonna make a comment there. I will give them props for realizing that this is, in fact, a bigger town than Magnolia Street, TCU, Downtown, and the West Side. Many of us don’t.

    Whatever happens in any newspaper deal, we need to abandon our provincialism and make ourselves the cornerstone of our region, giving Dallas its due and keeping it as its own completely set-apart deal, while we seek national attention as the home of the Arlington based Cowboys and the city that escaped the downturn.

    If anyone needs me, meanwhile, I’m going to be syphoning gas out of my neighbors car to drive to Burleson and get me some tamales.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       1

22. Pirate

    Fort Worth Weekly is distributed throughout Tarrant County, folks!! Grapevine, Arlington and other areas that won, may be far for YOU, but not for readers in that area. Think about it. Congrats to the blog for winning!

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

23. John C.

    Well, I think we’ve answered two questions with this thread … first, that Bob Niehoff demands respect and can’t tolerate even the mildest of criticism, and second, that Kevin doesn’t like to drive anywhere for tamales. Noted.

    I fall somewhere in the middle. I’ll hop in the truck and head out for some good food in an out-of-the-way-place every now and then, and I appreciate the effort to give a little pub to these places. I also support the notion of not trying to be all things to all people, however, and see nothing wrong with MOST of the press going to FW businesses (especially non-chain establishments). Good discussion, either way …

    Sep 26th, 2008

       1

24. Dan

    To All:

    I have been very intrigued by all the postings about our Best Of issue. So let’s get to some of them:

    1) Cozette, we at the Weekly are not a pack of dope heads. We all used to be in our youth. Now we are more like middle-aged, functional alcoholics.

    2) Our circulation does go throughout Tarrant County. Much of it is in FW, but we have readers in Arlington and Grapevine and even Denton and Johnson Counties. So when we do things like Best Of, we like to spread things around. Most of it is FW, but if you have a great Asian eatery in Arlington, we consider that part of our territory. We obviously don’t give awards to Dallas or Abilene establishments, but to limit ourselves to only FW is just that, “limited thinking.”

    3) We do not to the Best Of awards to help promote business in one city or another. Nor do we think of these awards as merely a chamber of commerce type honor. We try to have some news value in it. Just because the Paris Coffee Shop is a Fort Worth institution, it doesn’t mean they have to be honroed every year. Maybe there is a new spot that is great that no one has noticed. That’s why we have Reader’s and Critic’s choices. The readers tend to vote for the established and well-known, and we as the critics, like to look beyond that in some cases.

    4) This city limits argument is bizarre. We are called the Fort Worth Weekly because this is the largest city in our region. Same reason for the title of the Austin Chronicle or the Dallas Observer or the Houston Press, etc. The business model is such that we all need to define our territory, and the ad base wants a decent size. Thus content follows the business model. A Keller-based “rag” (as some of you folks call us) would not make it. You need a bigger circulation area, and we cover stories that will interest our readers in that cir. area.. Most of those are in FW. But we don’t limit our content by city limits boundaries.

    5) Quite frankly, the criticism I hear most about our rag is that we do too many stories about issues downtown and the near west side. They call us FW Weekly 07, as in zip code 76107. We would prefer to be the 817Rag.

    Thanks for all your time and attention to this important matter. Keep reading the rag produced by the “pack of dope heads.”

    Dan McGraw
    FW Weekly

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

25. Anthony

    I write for the Weekly, and while I duly appreciate Kevin’s thoughts re: our annual Best Of ish (and thoughts in general) and while I’m sure we’re all sick of talking about his particular ones here, the debate-team bench warmer in me can’t help but weigh in to clarify some things.

    Criticism is fine, but it must be based in fact. Kevin’s post is not. Nothing more to say. Over our 11 years in business, we’ve grown to develop circulation points throughout the ENTIRE 817 and some of Denton. We are still based in the biggest city within our vast distribution area, hence the name the FORT WORTH Weekly. (We once thought of changing it to the “Tarrant County Herald-Tribune-Examiner-Post-Advertiser” but quickly – and thankfully – sobered up.)

    Moreover, Kevin’s post is what you’d call a straw-man argument, a rant based on a flimsy premise: that because we think gas prices are a sign of the apocalypse we shouldn’t be encouraging people to drive to bars/restaurants outside of Fort Worth proper. (Meanwhile, isn’t West Arlington closer to downtown than parts of North Fort Worth are? I don’t know the mileage differential, but I’m pretty sure I can get to Caves Lounge from town more quickly than I can get to North Fort Worth where I live.)

    First, Best Of is light-hearted and fun – to get riled up about it, you must have a really big, cheap ax to grind. Or, perhaps like Kevin, you just hate fun >:(

    Second, the critic’s choices are not made by one or two staffers — months before publication, all 12 of us staff and freelance writers gather around a, uh, “conference table” (read: several high-tops pulled together at a nearby bar) and take turns selecting categories to write about. As you all can imagine, my idea of, say, best pub is probably different from yours, whose favorite is probably different from Dan McGraw’s, whose fave is probably different from Peter Gorman’s, whose fave is probably different from Jeff Prince’s, and so on. But since I decided to choose to write about best pub — and Dan, Peter, Jeff, and you didn’t – and since I’ve done, uh, extensive “research” on the subject, my choice is the one that appears in the paper.

    Editor Gayle Reaves and I do our best to make sure that all of the choices are IN THE SPIRIT of the Fort Worth Weekly. We can’t tell our writers what to say, though. Writer X’s choice for sign of the apocalypse this year is in the spirit of the Weekly but not part of some overarching editorial plan other than “Here are some cool/weird things that have happened over the past year, and here are some cool/weird places to visit in the ENTIRE 817.” We’d eventually back ourselves into a stylistic hole – and perform a disservice to our readers – by imposing on our writers further guidelines such as “All picks must be enviro-friendly” or “All picks must be indie.” Before long, we’d be writing about the same ol’ places and people year after year after year, and readers would be complaining about how we write about the same ol’ places and people year after year after year. You get the picture.

    Last, the motive behind Kevin’s straw-man argument is evidently murky but is probably a tad intellectually fraudulent and probably has something to do with being snarky for the sake of being snarky. (Oh, you rowdy bloggers!) I’m probably wrong, I admit. But I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that anyone would get so upset over a Best Of issue, ours or any other alt-weekly’s. (Remember: the Fort Worth vs. Tarrant County + gas prices premise is moot.)

    ANYWAY, thanks for your time and thanks again to Kevin for his thoughts and continued support of all things Cowtown.

    P.S. John C. is funny.

    P.P.S. JPS: What Fort Worth Weekly are you talking about? Almost everything we write about — bands, events, plays, art exhibits, developments, politics, and people — has some basis in the 817.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

26. ears1foru

    Dan….don’t worry I have argued for a few weeks with Kevvy trying to explain Senate District 10 is not just Davis’s old Council seat. As a functioning alcoholic how many bartenders or wait staff do you know that are working in our FW joints while putting themselves thru UNT or UT- Arlington. Those folks deserve to know what is out there too. Actually I wish you had a top ten in Dallas…that way when Kevin and Wendy head over to Fred Baron’s house (Edwards mistress sugardaddy) for his 10,000 fundraiser they would know where to eat. (Just a little dig).

    Sep 26th, 2008

       1

27. Kevin Buchanan

    Anthony,

    Intellectually fraudulent? How about that I really do love the Weekly, read it every week, and just get a bit disappointed that the Best Of list can sometimes skew so non-FW at times? The only difference is that I’ve got a well-read blog to express my feelings. Don’t mistake this for any indication that I “hate fun” or that I’m trying to snark upon you just because. I can’t speak for everybody at W&C but I can speak for myself, and I really do enjoy the Weekly a great deal. Usually. I just think the Best Of awards ought to be mostly about FW, and yes, quite a lot of them are, but still – I feel that Fort Worth is marginalized by the S-T and wish the Weekly wouldn’t send so many awards to Cleburne and Grand Prairie and such. Call it a vicious sense of civic pride.

    (I will say that I found the choice of “Best Architecture” this time around rather wrong – which I’m sure doesn’t surprise you , but that’s more of a FWO post, I suppose.)

    Dan,

    Nobody’s saying it should be a chamber of commerce same-results-every-time thing, but still – there have to be some Fort Worth choices for some of those things. Or alternatively, perhaps the Readers’ Choice ought to get a little blurb? Doesn’t have to be too fancy or elaborate, but perhaps a few words thrown the direction of what the readers picked would be nice.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

28. Anthony

    Again, I appreciate all that you and your cohorts do for the city, Kevin. Keep up the good work.

    Re: the Star-T. We do tend to think that we pick up some of the slack being left by the slow disintegration of our local daily paper, but, as you know, our business models are pretty different. Plus, we’ve got to do what makes us “us,” so to speak, regardless of what the Star-T or any other daily paper is doing.

    Re: readers’ choices. We’ve batted around some improvement options and by all appearances will have a little somethin’-somethin’ (cool, we hope) in regard to said choices next year. Stay, a’hem, tuned. Uh. Dudes.

    Re: Cantey Hanger Plaza. At least it’s something different, though I don’t know how any ground-level retail’s gonna go there — there aren’t any ground-level entrances! (Just exaggerating to make a point here, folks. Please don’t e-mail back to limn the exact sizes and locations of the building’s ground-level entrances.) The law firm might have just been paying lip service to the notion.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

29. Dan

    One more thing.

    If we are the “pack of dope heads,” we should get credit for picking a Fort Worth Head Shop in the Best Of’s (Smokies House of Pipes on Camp Bowie). See, we do back established FW businesses.

    Cause we ain’t going to promote some head shop in Cleburne. Or all of those up in Denton. Too far to drive when you really need a bong.

    Dan McGraw
    FW Weekly

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

30. Dan

    After this I’m done, I promise.

    I would just like to point out a few more Fort Worth establishments that won critic’s choice Best Of awards, since the issue on this blog seems to be whether we pay too much attention to things outside of the Fort. In no particular order of importance:

    * Happy Hour (A Great Notion)
    * Cold Beer (The Bull Ring)
    * Gun Store (Shooter’s Club)
    * Adult Toys (Cristal’s)
    * Strip Club (Fort Worth Gentleman’s Club)
    * Place to Nurse a Hangover (University Pub or Rick’s Cabaret)

    So when it comes to the important things in life — guns, booze, naked women, and adult toys — the Fort Worth Weekly is all Fort Worth, all the time. Let the record reflect that.

    Dan McGraw
    Fort Worth Weekly

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

31. fwtacoma

    Anthony, are you saying that the Critic’s Choice is actually one staffer’s opinion? Or does FW Weekly take a vote?

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

32. Anthony

    One critic’s choice with input from interested parties — and there are always interested parties. Every alt-weekly follows the same formula. There’s no logistical way that a bunch of writers would be able to sit in a room and vote category by category, place by place, person by person: “OK, gang. Who had the best barbecue this year? Angelo’s?” (Show of hands.) “Deer Creek?” (Show of hands.) “The Pit?” (Show of hands.) And all the way down the line. It would take days to get through one category. Plus, the writers who have specific beats — HearSay (music), Jimmy Fowler (Stage), Chow, Baby (Eats), Laurie Barker James (Eats), Last Call (committee), Leonard Eureka (dance), Kristian Lin (Film), me (Art, Kultur, Music, Eats), and so on — write about their specific categories, as we are paid princely sums to know our beats inside and out and have a wealth of institutional knowledge from which to draw informed opinions.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

33. Kevin Buchanan

    For anybody who tried to post a comment earlier and found the thread locked, there had been a problem in our back-end that resulted in the comments being turned off on this post. None of them were lost. I’ve been without Internet all evening or I’d have seen it earlier. Feel free to continue telling me how wrong you think I am. Have fun.

    Sep 26th, 2008

       0

34. Recyclican

    I am going to be siding with the Weekly folks. If the Weekly narrowed its scope to just Fort Worth stuff, they would lose 1) quite a bit of content, and I believe 2) quite a bit of readership…and possibly 3) advertising. I could not imagine, for example, how poor turn out would be for the Music Awards each year (both in # of performances, and attendance) if you limited it to just Fort Worth bands. None of these outcomes would really benefit the Weekly or its readership.

    As Anthony had said earlier, the Weekly fills a tremendous void for the west-half of the metroplex. A lot of these smaller communities, if they attempted to start their own Weekly, would not get the readership/advertising base required to sustain themselves.

    Additionally, if the FW Weekly reported on fewer things going on outside the city, they would likely stop distributing there too. And what do you suppose that might do for some of those Fort Worth establishments and events that we all love? For example, I (an Arlingtoner) first found out about Arts Goggle by reading the Weekly. I also would have never found the best pub in Fort Worth (Conlon’s Pub on White Settlement) without reading a Last Call column (Anthony’s?). Despite moving out of the area, I still read it online to inform me of all sorts of interesting happenings, new bars, or events I wouldn’t want to miss out on when I’m back in town. I am willing to bet I’m not the only person from outside Fort Worth that relies on the Weekly for quite a bit of arts/culture/current events news.

    Part of what makes the Fort Worth places and events so fantastic are the people that attend; and that includes the rest of us folks in the 817 that aren’t “locals.”

    A weekly alternative news magazine that focused solely on Fort Worth would become, well…Fort Worth Magazine redux.

    Sep 27th, 2008

       0

35. John Peter Smith

    Anthony:
    I glance of the FW Weakly almost every week. What I find most annoying is not the absurd liberal slant given to everything. I actually find that rather amusing and the main reason I read it. What I find most annoying is the whole tone of the paper which is “why can’t we be as cool as Austin or have ___ like they do in dallas?” Perhaps if I had a few tokes with your pot-advocate-featured-writer it wouldn’t annoy me so much, but it does.

    Sep 29th, 2008

       0

36. Anthony

    Hey, JPS. Thanks for your thoughts. Real quick: There’s not a person at this paper who has EVER written — or even thinks — “Why can’t Fort Worth be as COOL as City X,” ESPECIALLY if City X = Austin or Dallas. If anything, we have crapped on Big D (pretentious, expensive, overrated) and Awf-tin (dirty, clogged, the Cover Band Capital of the World, HIGHLY overrated) to the point at which we’ve had to scale back our vitriol. No use kicking dogs while they’re already down is our rationale. Please feel free to send along examples to the contrary. I can’t think of any in recent memory.

    P.S. Perhaps your definition of “cool” differs from mine. Maybe your “cool” means, say, “more liberal laws regarding Issue X” or “more gov’t money for public art, parks, and transit,” etc. However, “cool” to me means something along the lines of “friendly,” “progressive,” “cultured,” “diverse,” etc.

    Sep 29th, 2008

       0

37. Kim

    I’ve already learned so much from reading this thread on the blog. Kevin, thanks for writing the blog that began all of these comments. Thanks to the Weekly for adding your own opinions and adding insight into your Best Of processes. I see both sides of the argument. We usually stick to Fort Worth but if we need to go to Arlington or another surrounding area, we’ll make a day of it and plan to eat somewhere the Weekly has nominated. It’s not often we leave Fort Worth but it’s good to have some restaurant recommendations when we do.

    Oh, and to whoever at the Weekly picked Jose Juan Sauceda as Best Filmmaker (Fort Worth born and raised), THANK YOU!

    Sep 29th, 2008

       0

38. John MacFarlane

    I do agree with Kevin: that the Weekly Best of awards should primarily stay in FW. Many of the awards were out of the FW area, so I would rarely, if ever, patronize to them. I live in the city center and if I go outside of 820, its to the airport or to Dallas (to see family). With that being said, why not have an all FW best of section and then another section which focuses on Arlington, Watauga, Grapevine, Colleyville, Burleson, and the mid cities.

    Not to diss those people who live outside of 820, but, yea, it is too far to drive and I don’t want to waste the gas! There’s far too many restaurants, pubs, stores in FW. Some of them must be good.

    I always love to read Anthony’s posts, he seems to get riled up very easily.

    Sep 29th, 2008

       0

39. Anthony

    Hahaha! Not “riled up.” Just passionate

    And, as was mentioned earlier, there are parts of greater 817 that are closer to downtown than some parts of Fort Worth. But. Whatever. Sorry to keep hogging space here. Anyone who wants to reach me for further discussion is encouraged to contact anthony.mariani@fwweekly.com. Grazie.

    Sep 29th, 2008

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40. Frustrated!

    Wow, so I am kind of late on reading this particular entry, but the post and the comments have left me all riled up with a lot to say. Having been a loyal reader of the Weekly for almost the past decade, as well as a resident of several cities in the metroplex, I have always gotten a bit warm and fuzzy when a local favorite, (in whatever locale I may be in at the time!), gets a nod in the annual “Best of…” issue. I know damn well that a lot of effort and late nights go into producing this issue and that the whole staff works very hard in putting out a massive issue that is entertaining and informative for the masses. I also know that to keep things from getting boring, the picks have to change from year to year. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved Paris Coffee Shop since I was a child and my grandpa used to take me there every weekend but, just how many different things can one say about it? Unless you want a carbon copy “Best of” with the only change being the theme and the new ad designs, the critic’s choices need to vary from year to year. That being said, the particular choices this year did seem a bit off. I get the whole “Speaking to our entire circulation area v. one of the cities we distribute in” thing, but one of the picks was in a city that the Weekly is available in barely, if at all! While I will certainly admit that the Reader’s choice of Central Market lacked originality in that category, there has to be at least one other market of note in all of Tarrant County.

    A note to Bob, after reading this entry several times, I feel bothered that you took such personal offense to this post. Kevin’s entry did not seem to come off as a verbal assualt to your staff, merely a criticism of a lack of picks in the city that the Weekly calls home. No one is discounting the efforts of your employees to produce a readable paper, and in the spirit of free speech, you cannot discount Kevin’s choice to voice his opinion on those efforts. Being the general manager of the only true “non-corporate” paper in this market, I would expect that you would be supportive of that choice rather than serve up a verbal bitchslap.

    Dec 17th, 2008

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