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I guess the board of directors must have forgotten to take a look at Creative Loafing’s flagship and namesake paper. Creative Loafing is kind of like the bad parts (or, all) of Time Out, RedEye, and the Red Streak put together. Put together sounds too organized and legible; I mean smashed together in a poor and ugly and unreadable design layout, which was tabloid-style last time I saw it. The “loafing” part of the paper seems to be the more dominant side. CL is consistently the opposite of creative when it comes to cover art, inside art, photos, layout, copy, everything else. You might not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you may judge your “independent” weekly that way (that’s kind of the point of the cover). The current cover article for Charlotte’s CL: a story about predatory moneylenders, or in the parlance what are called loan sharks. The graphic: A shark in a suit at a desk.
Another case in point: check out their Web site. The symbol for radioactive fallout covered by the slogan “Shelter From the Mainstream” is right out of a 90s “alternative rock” radio station spot by Clear Channel. These are the Reader’s new parents? Nice knowing you, but I don’t think I want to hang out anymore.
Forgive me of foreboding a little too much like Ben Joravsky, but when the Reader changes in the future, like property taxes supposedly will, remember back when they said nothing would change. I don’t own any property in Chicago, but I do have an interest in the Reader. Not for long though, I’m putting it up on Craigslist. Maybe somebody with a pivotal gateway of connectivity can make better use of it.
