Secrets of the City

More of me editorializing: Tortorello’s voice has really been much of the backbone of the paper for years. He’s also the best writer on staff (yes, even better than Dara), but he drops his byline with such infrequency as to go under the radar. This one’s gotta hurt.

Michael was my editor for three years. He’s easily the best editor I have had — his suggestions really went a long way toward shaping a story, and his edits were never obtrusive. He always respected a writer’s voice.

There have been rumors that City Pages was looking for a managing editor for a few weeks now, so I’m not entirely surprised at this news. But it is a hit for City Pages — the number of long-term staffers who helped define the voice of the paper is rapidly dwindling to nothing.

And Rex is right — Michael is a hell of a writer.

That’s one gloomy headline, Rex. The use of “was” means you can only end the sentence with something singular. And there was… Kevin Hoffman?

When I freelanced for CP, I worked with some good editors, like Melissa Maerz and Jen Vogel. Did a piece for Askari that was fun too. But Michael was The Man. Not only did he dramatically improve each piece I wrote for him, but he would always come up with the killer line that people would end up parroting. I would have to say, “Yeah, thanks, uh, but actually my editor came up with that one…” Great writer. Whichever rag ends up with him should consider themselves very fortunate.

You noticed…

I completely agree. Hands down, Michael was one of the best editors I’ve ever had. He’s smart, conscientious, honest, and straight-forward. And he somehow is able to understand a writers’ intentions and voice, even if the writer doesn’t quite know it herself. He’s everything a good editor should be.

His replacement is a nice enough fellow, but a bit of a wallflower.
Very big shoes to fill.

Is it just me, or are comments disabled on that City Pages item? (Not that I have anything to say anyway.)

I remember when rex, maybe a year ago, said that the City Pages was in the top three alt-weeklies in the country.

I’d like to hear his assessment now . . .

In fairness, City Pages is still in the top three newsweeklies in Minneapolis.

barely

Michael Tortorello wrote every smart, memorable damn-I-wish-I-came-up-with-that headline in the City Pages. Every one. What a loss.

Michael Tortorello ghost-wrote every one of Prince’s songs except “The Exodus Has Begun” from the 1995 album Exodus.

He also hypnotized Par Ridder and supplied him with flash drives.

G.R. Anderson Jr and Paul Demko are the hold outs in the news department from the Perry era. Or at least they were, last I checked. Anyone have updates?

That Prince shit is funny.

Tortorello was creative, but there was usually a bit too much of this going on: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002547.html

Or, if you just look at some articles, this is probably the most egregious example: http://citypages.com/databank/19/907/article4836.asp

Still, an unconventional approach — you gotta credit that….

Ha ha ha! i’m on here as well as ‘This weeks completly random question’