Still hiding out in Az near my high school and University of Arizona past...
And while I’ve compared, to an extent, the Arizona Daily Star and Kansas City Star newspapers, leave us not forget about those passengers still aboard KC’s alt weekly Titanic, The Pitch.
You know, the record store rag I saved from extinction and oversaw converting from a weak-kneed music monthly into an alternative news vessel. And hey, it’s still standing…amazingly.
No small feat, given that far more successful and widely known alt weeklies like New York’s Village Voice and Boston’s Phoenix have long since blown taps.
A little catch up history…
In 2012 SouthComm, a Nashville based company pulled the Pitch off the funeral pyre of Village Voice Media – a conglomerate that had bought out the Pitch and a dozen other struggling alt weeklies in the ’90s -before running out of dough and exiting the biz
In 2017-2018 SouthComm dumped the Pitch off on its current local owners in KC, and dealt what remained of the surviving pubs – including St. Louis venerable Riverfront Times – to a Cleveland-based company Euclid Media.
It hasn’t exactly been pretty, still Euclid boasts how much fun it is to work there because of the “awesome parties,” casual attire and its “pet friendly” outlook.
“Hell yeah, bring your furry kids in, we love them!! ” Euclid’s website boasts. “Ok, if you have a lizard, bring him in too. (And) screw dressing up -you can if you want to though– come relaxed and casual.”
Now forget all that, cuz I’ve seen the future and there’s hope for our Pitch.
Here’s how:
As a result of last fall’s vote, recreational use of marijuana is now legal in Arizona.
And Tucson’s formerly moribund, weak-as-a-kitten alternative newspaper Tucson Weekly is cashing in big time on the legal marijuana advertising.
Take its July 8 to 14 issue…
No fewer than 9 of the zine’s 13 total ad pages are pot ads.
Think about it, that’s nearly 70 percent of Tucson Weekly’s total ad revenue.
I haven’t laid eyes on a copy of the printed Pitch for six months, but they seem to be getting some online ad revenue from an edibles company company called ROBHOTS GUMMIES.
Established in 2015 ROBHOTS tagline is “Born & Raised in Kansas City, the ROBHOTS are Home.”
Just one problem…
Even with 96 locations in Missouri, ROBHOTS (pronounced “Robots,”) is what you call a “Medical Marijuana” only company in the Show Me state.
Meaning you gotta do a Bill Nigro and go see a doctor who prescribes it for you.
This is only a guess, mind you, but I’ll wager the majority of the 9 pages of marijuana ads in Tucson Weekly would go away or dramatically shrink if limited to Medical Marijuana.
Not to mention practically the entire front cover of TW’s issue is dominated by ads and twin cover stories about dope.
“Does Cannabis Help With PTSD?” reads one And “What is This Weed Oil, Anyway?”
Tucson Weekly still includes a smattering of run-of-the-mill alt weekly features, columns and cartoons.
For example, a Humane Society story; how Maricopa and Pima counties fell short of mid year COVID vaccination goals; a warning about a “dark” 4th of July holiday; movies and stuff to do, plus Savage Love and Rob Brezsny‘s Free Will Astrology from my early Pitch and New Times days.
There’s even an itty bitty ad for the mag’s upcoming Best of Tucson issue.
By the way, there’s one ad for a Medical Marijuana card you can get for just $299, good for two years.
Which is a better deal than what Wild Bill told me costs $200 for a single year in KC.
Missing in action in TW: Pitch editor Brock Wilbur’s magnificent review of the classic Godzilla vs. Kong movie, that describes it as “dumb as hell, and that doesn’t matter.”
Nuff said?
