Village Voice Media Inc.

Westword ownership to be based in Denver, again, after Voice Media Group deal

The first edition of Westword hit the streets of Denver in September 1977. Over the past 35 years, Westword has gone through many changes -- as has the publishing industry in general, and the alternative newspaper industry in particular. But our basic mission has not changed: to cover (and sometimes ... More >>

Crossing the Line

Freedom under fire: A Village Voice Media Special Report

Seven Sins: New VVM ebook features "The Case of the Kidnapped Coed"

Every week, writers for Westword and our parent company, Village Voice Media, produce elegant, magazine-style feature writing, a gritty portion of which comes in the form of true-crime stories. Now VVM has collected some of its best recent true-crime yarns into an ebook: Seven Sins: A True Crime Ant ... More >>

Reader: Not all sex workers are victims

Village Voice Media responds to clergy

​Today, 36 clergy affixed their names to a paid ad and open letter to Village Voice and the classified ad site Backpage.com. The full page ad was published in the New York Times. The religious coalition demanded that we close down our legal, adult classifieds.

Village Voice Media and Frank 151 throw down at SxSW with Wu-Tang Clan and Yelawolf

​WU-hah! If you're going to SXSW this year, be sure to mark Thursday, March 17 on your calendar with a big fat red circle. Austin Music Hall is the place to be from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. for our annual Village Voice Showdown, being co-produced by Frank 151. This year, Wu-Tang Clan is headlining the ... More >>

Return to Sender

What would comprehensive immigration reform look like if the Feds got off their duffs?

Update: Wikileaks: Where are its media friends?

UPDATED: "WikiLeaks Betrayed by Amazon, Visa, Mastercard---and Worst of All, the Media" Julian Assange of Wikleaks.​Where are the First Amendment's establishment warriors as government-spooked businesses try to shut down Wikileaks? Hackers with computers, not hacks with press passes, have be ... More >>

Human smuggling: Does Colorado's law, designed to catch coyotes, have any teeth?

​In 2006, Colorado passed what lawmakers called "the toughest immigration laws in the nation." Among them was a law that made it a state crime to smuggle humans. Four years later, Westword takes a look at whether that law is working. As detailed in this week's cover story, "Disappearing Act," ... More >>

Methods of Mayhem: Five alternate ways for Juggalos to express their displeasure

Village Voice/Nate "Igor" Smith​All right, Juggalos, shit's getting out of hand now. We just saw some pictures of our dude Method Man with his face bloodied after apparently catching some sort of projectile in the face this past weekend while performing at the now infamous 11th Annual Gatherin ... More >>

Let Westword's Happy Hours app guide your after-work debauchery

An Opportunity to Stand Up

SF Weekly/Bay Guardian fight: Does it have any impact on Westword?

​One of the longest running battles in the alternative journalism field involves two San Francisco publications, the Bay Guardian and the SF Weekly, a part of the Village Voice Media chain, and a sister paper of Westword. Back in May 2008, as sketched out in the Editor & Publisher piece "Batt ... More >>

Toke of the Town: A new marijuana blog

​ Emerging from the sweet-smelling smoke cloud left by the medical-marijuana explosion is Toke of the Town, a new national blog dedicated to all things weed. The blog is powered by Village Voice Media, Westword's parent company and the engine behind geek blog Topless Robot and crime blog Tr ... More >>

Balloon Boy: A nation turns its lonely eyes to you

When you woke up this morning, did you think you'd be riveted by the story of a Fort Collins kid who may or may not have floated away in a silvery balloon? And if so, are you being treated for assorted ailments at the Capitol Hill Medicine Shoppe? At this point, none of the reporters with the appr ... More >>

What's So Funny is back in Westword. You're welcome.

Layoffs aplenty at Westword's fellow Village Voice Media papers

A memo by Village Voice Media executives Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin published in the wake of a blog about layoffs at Westword mentions staff reductions across the chain of fifteen alternative weeklies across the country. These moves have been well documented, often by the papers themselves.

Layoffs strike Westword

In the December 18 blog "Westword: All About Us," publisher and Village Voice Media Chief Operating Officer Scott Tobias offered a relatively sunny assessment of the paper's health, particularly in comparison with daily newspapers in major metropolitian areas. But today, the forecast is far less p ... More >>

Village Voice Media memo discusses layoffs, other cutbacks at Westword and its sister papers

The layoffs at Westword mentioned in this blog didn't take place in a vaccum -- and had I not been on vacation until today, I would have seen them coming thanks to a memo issued by Village Voice Media chairman and CEO Jim Larkin and executive editor Michael Lacey (pictured). A printout of the Decemb ... More >>

Top Ten Hip-Hop Albums Of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM. A couple of weeks ago, an expert on the Harry Potter series told an audience of high school kids how lucky they ... More >>

Top Ten Latin Music Albums of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.Americans who still think of Latin music as mariachi bands and gyrating Ricky Martins and Shakiras might want to le ... More >>

Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Ka ... More >>

Top Ten Metal Albums of 2008

In a year worthy of your rage, metal delivered in spades. What with the economy circling the drain and Sarah Palin coming down from the tundra and then refusing to go back, 2008's been the kind of year that really makes you want to smash your head into walls or punch random strangers in the face. Go ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM. Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records t ... More >>

Westword: All about us

An interesting cyber-conversation cropped up in Tuesday's blog "Help the Denver Post by Paying Extra for Obama's Mile High Moment," much of it fueled by someone identified as Diane, who made several charges against yours truly. The gist: Village Voice Media, the parent company of Westword, is teet ... More >>

New York Dolls Keep Dolling and Other Assorted Goodies

The Best Soul-Blues Album Covers and Other Assorted Goodies

Monotonix Engages in Full-Scale Musical Riotry and Other Assorted Goodies

Hair Metal Flashback and Other Assorted Goodies

Alan Parsons as Living History and Other Assorted Goodies

Rock Band Comes Alive and Other Assorted Goodies

Ten Years of Aeroplane plus Other Assorted Goodies

The Art of the DJ and Other Assorted Goodies

James Blunt is a Douchebag and Other Assorted Goodies

The Magic Flute and Other Assorted Goodies

Necro Loves Violence, Hates Women and Other Assorted Goodies

Spice Girls' Box Set and Other Assorted Goodies

Murder, Myspace, Babysitters, Betrayal: The Best True Crime Stories of 2007

List of Lists and Other Assorted Goodies

QOTSA Rock Rehab and Other Assorted Goodies

Ike Turner's Lurid Life and Other Assorted Goodies

Japanese Awesome and Other Assorted Goodies

Mudhoneyed Krautrock and Other Assorted Goodies

Top Music Turkeys and Other Assorted Goodies

MIA Out of Context and Other Assorted Goodies

Gogol Bordello's Acid-Spiked Vodka and Other Assorted Goodies

Sex Pistols Shoot Nostalgia Dead, and Other Assorted Goodies

Care Bears on Fire And Other Assorted Goodies

VVM Executives Arrested in Phoenix for Grand Jury Story

Voices

Untangling a proposed alternative-weekly mega-merger.