Track Gals (and Megan!) Rip Off Hardworking Staff

November 30, 2012

Yesterday the hardworking staff at kissin’ cousin Campaign Outsider noted that the Boston Globe was having a difficult time distinguishing between the late Tip O’Neill and Ken Howard, who played Tip in a local stage production.

From yesterday’s boston.com homepage:

picture-21

 

Then, lo and behold, the Track Gals (and Megan!) include this in their Boston Herald column today:

Boston.com, the website of our favorite Boring Broadsheet, posting a picture of actor Ken Howard, in costume as Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, and identified it as the late House speaker in a story about a new federal building named for Tip. (It was later swapped for the real ONeill)

 

So not only can’t we get quoted in the feisty local tabloid (they know what we’re talking about), we can’t get credited either.

That’s just wrong.

Meanwhile, the Globe took the high road and didn’t mention our post at all.

UPDATE: Unbeknownst to us, Megan Johnson had left the Track before this item ran.

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Storm und Drag

October 30, 2012

The Boston Herald’s coverage of the local Hurricane Sandy coverage is all about The Dress.

From the Track Gals (and Megan!):

Bianca de la Garza’s dress weathers storm

The local TV stations were whipped into an 81 mph frenzy by Hurricane Sandy yesterday, and while the record barometric pressure, killer tides and flying projectiles were all very interesting, inside the Track Shack we were most mesmerized by Bianca de la Garza’s red dress.

Channel 5’s morning anchor reported for duty looking like she had just come from da club, in a slinky, skin-tight red number with cutaway cleavage that came to a knot at her shoulder. Va, va voom!

Meanwhile, the rest of the journalism world was in hurricane drag, as The Track helpfully illustrated in this side-by-side composite:

 

That’s (top to bottom) WHDH’s Victoria Block, WHDH’s Steve Cooper, and WCVB’s Susan Wornick, for those of you keeping score at home.

And speaking of keeping score, the hardreading staff checked the Boston Globe, but they apparently pulled their reporters off the Bianca beat.

Once again, the Track stands alone.

 

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Conor’s a Goner

October 26, 2012

The Taylor Swift/Conor Kennedy bustup is of course the Main Dish in both local dailies, but as usual, the ingredients vary.

The Globe’s Namesniks are pretty tentative about the whole thing:

Taylor Swift and Conor Kennedy split?

On the same day Taylor Swift released a video for “Begin Again,” a song about starting over after a bad breakup, word comes that the country singer’s romance with Conor Kennedy is kaput.

Citing an unnamed source close to Swift, Us Weekly reported that the 22-year-old “You Belong to Me” singer and the 18-year-old grandson of Robert F. Kennedy have split.

“They quietly parted ways a while ago,” the friend told the magazine. “It was just a distance thing. No hard feelings. They’re fine.”

That sounds like a Kennedy-industrial complex party line, eh?

No such pussyfooting around from the Track Gals (and Megan!) in the Herald:

Taylor Swift/Conor Kennedy fling hits the rocks

Like so many summer romances that burn hot in July and August, Taylor Swift’s fling with Conor Kennedy cooled once the leaves turned and the Hyannisport sun faded.

It was epic while it lasted — all two months’ worth. They frolicked at the compound, where, according to Ethel Kennedy, Tay Tay, 22, was just like one of the family. In fact, Swift and the Kennedy dowager seemed to have a lot hotter romance than the singer and Ethel’s 18-year-old grandson. (“I love her,” Taylor said. “She’s sensational inside and out,” Ethel said.) . . .

Word is, Conor cooled on the relationship because Tay Tay came on waaaay too strong for the frightened Deerfield Academy junior.

“It kind of freaked him out,” a source told Radar Online.

There – that’s the kind of dish we like served up.  Fresh and steamy.

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Herald to Globe: Wrong, Baby, Wrong

October 10, 2012

It started out small, the second of two seemingly mundane corrections:

That’s what appeared in yesterday’s Boston Globe.

Here’s what appeared in today’s Boston Herald, compliments of the Track Gals (and Megan!):

Globe won’t ‘Live’ down this blunder

Bestselling Boston writer Dennis Lehane blasted the Globe yesterday, saying the Boring Broadsheet called him racist in a Sunday book review. Trouble is, the “Magical Negro” character that the Globe reviewer claimed Lehane created in his new book is white!

“Accusing a writer of engaging in racial stereotypes is accusing a writer of racism,” Lehane told the Track. “That’s not something you should do casually or without your doing your homework. To call me out for creating a racist stereotype of an African-American character when that character is, in fact, Caucasian is offensive on a multitude of levels.”

The reviewer, Eugenia Williamson, wrote this according to the Globe’s website:

The novel’s flaws converge during a stunningly embarrassing scene in which Joe meets a character named Turner John, a wise yet humble bootlegger and self-described “champeen in the snoring.” Although Joe’s been sent to put a hit on him, instead Turner John tugs at his heart strings with a soliloquy written in dialect: “I had me a fine daddy. Only beat me hard when I had it coming and never when he’d taken to drink,” he says. “You want my money, Mr. Coughlin? Well then you best set to working with me and my boys on the mash and helping us work our farm, till the soil, rotate the crops, milk the cows. You follow?” Does Joe kill Turner John or make his father proud? You decide.

Except that’s not all she wrote. The Globe has removed her references to Turner John as “what Spike Lee would call a magical Negro” and an “African-American bootlegger.”

Except he’s not.

Lehane’s pretty lathered up about this, calling the correction a “pseudo retraction” and  telling the Track “For (Globe editor) Marty Baron, (book editor) Nicole Lamy or the reviewer to then not have the simple decency to contact me and say, ‘Sorry we implied you were a racist, Dennis,’ shows a serious lack of class on their part.”

Eric Randall at Boston magazine’s Boston Daily blog has a smart follow-up:

Dennis Lehane got so angry at a Globe review of his new book Live By Night that accused him of creating a stereotypical “Magical Negro” character, that he learned to use Facebook so he could turn the tables and call the review racist. And not because he says his character isn’t an African American stereotype but because he says his character isn’t an African-American at all. Well played, Lehane.

Randall also includes a link to Lehane’s Facebook page.

Go, baby, go.

 

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Boston Globe: Red Sock of Courage on the Shopping Block

October 5, 2012

Curt Schilling has apparently hit sock bottom.

From yesterday’s Boston Globe (boink! sorry, paywall):

Schilling may have to sell ‘bloody sock’

The bloody sock that came to symbolize one of Curt Schilling’s greatest victories could also play a starring role in one of his biggest losses.

The former Boston Red Sox pitcher could be forced to sell a “bloody sock” he wore while leading the Sox to their first championship in 86 years, among other cherished items, to help pay back millions of dollars in loans he guaranteed for his failed video game company, 38 Studios.

The sock, worn by Schilling in the 2004 World Series, was among the collateral Schilling recently pledged to lenders, according to a document filed with the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office.

The Boston Herald catches up today with this piece from the Track Gals (and Megan!):

The lowdown: Curt Schilling to auction 2004 World Series bloody sock

Red Sox hero hurler Curt Schilling seems resigned to losing his memorabilia collection — including his 2004 World Series bloody sock — which he put up as collateral for millions in loans for his failed video game company.

“Been asked about everything many times in the past few months, I kept coming back to ‘Every year of life is NOT 2004’ :)” Curt wrote on his Facebook page yesterday. “I made some mistakes, I owe people and institutions money … add to that the 400 families (that) were upended and I was at the helm.”

The posting was Schilling’s first comments following reports that the legendary sock, which could fetch as much as $25,000 at auction, and a cap worn by Schilling’s hero Lou Gehrig, were among the collateral the pitcher promised to lenders who financed his 38 Studios.

$25,000?  That’s lunch money.

Then again, the market ate Curt Schilling’s lunch.

Go figure.

 

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Locals Rise to Phoenix Redesign

September 19, 2012

The Boston dailies ran entirely true to form in their coverage of the Boston Phoenix facelift (and a little lipo, we assume).

Yesterday’s Globe had a front-page feature that looked at the rapid erosion of  local macher Stephen Mindich’s media holdings.

A hybrid rises from the old Boston Phoenix

Alternative paper’s longtime publisher adjusts to changing times

As summer approached, staff meetings at The Boston Phoenix grew more frequent amid mounting concerns about layoffs, an announced move to new offices, and the future of the Phoenix itself.

One indication of the meetings’ importance was the presence of owner and publisher Stephen Mindich. He has guided the paper’s fortunes since the 1970s, making it the centerpiece of a youth-oriented media conglomerate, yet he had scaled back day-to-day management duties while his son Brad ran the company.

The outcome of those staff discussions has left many observers wondering if the Phoenix they have known and read for decades — a pioneering alternative weekly paper celebrated for its lively coverage of politics, media, and the arts — will be around much longer.

This Thursday, The Boston Phoenix will formally merge with its sister publication, Stuff, a glossy biweekly, into a publication called simply The Phoenix. As a newsprint entity, the old Boston Phoenix will cease to exist.

As has WFNX-FM, stripped for parts like a car left overnight on the Cross Bronx Expressway (signal to Clear Channel for $14 million, staff to boston.com to start up Radio BDC, call letters to the web for wfnx.com). Spanish-language paper El Planeta was also jettisoned. The Mindich media empire is down to a sandlot.

Crosstown at the Herald today, the Track Gals (and Megan!) have something much dishier:

Phoenix sex ads under Twitter attack

The Boston Phoenix, which will debut a new glossy-mag look this week, was under Twitter attack yesterday after someone hijacked the name of its new adult rag and began tweeting X-rated missives at advertisers, public officials and Phoenix staffers.

@BostonAtNite is not the Twitter handle of the Phoenix’s new adult publicationBoston At Nite, according to editor at large Peter Kadzis. But the “Parody” account was tweeting up Mayor Tom Menino, Attorney General Martha Coakley, clubs and bands that advertised on the Boston At Nite website and columnists for the alternative weekly.

“Find your underage sex slave today! Sex trafficking for all,” said @BostonAtNite, adding the word “Parody” so you’d know it wasn’t real.

Not surprisingly, the Phoenix folks are not amused.  “[Editor at large Peter] Kadzis said the Phoenix has complained to Twitter about the account and is trying to get it taken down. ‘Any sick (bleep) can sign up for a Twitter handle,’ Kadzis said. ‘My prediction — and it’s probably true — is that there’s a connection to a rival publication.'”

As in the Weekly Dig, whose publisher Jeff Lawrence, the Track Gals (and Megan!) point out, just happens to be one of the whopping 19 tweeps who follow @BostonAtNite.

Fun for the whole family! Except for the X-rated part, of course.

 

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Running in Different Social Circles

September 17, 2012

The local gossip gangs went their separate ways over the weekend, as their columns revealed today.

The Boston Herald Track Gals (and Megan!) motored west:

Taylor Swift’s romantic western Mass. weekend

Taylor Swift made the journey out to western Massachusetts this weekend to visit her high school honey, Deerfield Academy junior Conor Kennedy, but there were no football games or school dances on the couple’s agenda. In fact, their weekend agenda was more like a middle-aged couple’s than a pair of young lovers …

The duo kicked it off with a low-key dinner at the appropriately named Taylor’s Tavern in Greenfield, where Swift, looking lovely in a green dress, ordered a salad, and even let Conor grab a few bites. He sported the typical prep-school “uniform” of shorts and a button-down shirt, and ordered a burger.

But don’t worry that 22-year-old Taylor is a negative influence on Conor, who’s got to wait a few years before he can legally hit the bars. Staff told the Track that the couple’s beverages of choice were all non-alcoholic.

Okay . . . that’s plenty of that.

Meanwhile, back in the civilized world, the Boston Globe Namesniks went the society route:

John Henry and Linda Pizzuti Henry host a big night for MGH

Red Sox owner John Henry and his wife, Linda Pizzuti Henry (who is pregnant), opened their Brookline home on Saturday night to a crowd of more than 400 Massachusetts General Hospital supporters who have contributed to its $1.5 billion charity campaign. The dinner party included a quick performance by Brandeis-educated Broadway actress Mary Faber (inset), who recently starred opposite Nick Jonas in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Guests included New England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft and his wife, Patti, Jack and Eileen Connors, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner . . . 

And a bunch of other usual suspects.

For some inexplicable reason, the hardreading staff never got its invitation. Maybe next time.

 

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Romney’s Taxes = Adultery?

September 13, 2012

From our Hey! Cheating Is Cheating! desk

Special delivery from the Boston Herald’s Track Gals (and Megan!) this AM:

Mitt Romney, AshleyMadison.com caught up in billboard affair

A Southie billboard advertising a website for adulterers, which slammed White House wannabe Mitt Romney over his tax returns, disappeared less than 24 hours after it went up after the media company got complaints from fans of the ex-gov.

“It didn’t even survive 24 hours,” AshleyMadison.com founder Noel Bidermantold the Track. “This doesn’t feel like America to me. It’s like something that would happen in some Central American dictatorship.”

OK, so here’s the deal: Biderman rented a billboard in Southie to advertise his website, which promises to hook up people who are in relationships but looking for some side action.

The billboard features a pic of the ex-Mass. governor with his fingers to his lips in a “Shhhh” pose. The caption read: “If cheating on your taxes is OK … so is AshleyMadison.com.”

But then they broke up:

Priceless quote from the founder of the sleeparound site:

“They took my money and breached the contract,” Biderman complained. “That also feels pretty un-American to me. I imagine they are going to hide behind whatever notion they are going to hide behind, but this is America!”

No, this is Boston.

Not to get technical about it.

 

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Aly Ops

September 12, 2012

Needham gymnastics golden girl Aly Raisman was on the town  – The Big Town – yesterday, but the local dailies were right on top of it.

From the Boston Globe’s Namesniks:

Aly Raisman hangs with fashion elite in NYC

Talk about good company. Needham gold medalist Aly Raisman sat with “Gossip Girl” actress Michelle Trachtenberg , Katrina Bowden of “30 Rock,” and author/fashionista Lauren Conrad at the Badgley Mischka show during New York Fashion Week on Tuesday morning. The local Olympian also hung out with Kevin Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers) and his wife, Danielle Deleasa .

(Fashion elite? Really? Does Anna Wintour know?)

From the Boston Herald’s Track Gals (and Megan!):

Gymnast goes glam

Needham Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, left, hangs out with ‘The Hills’ star Lauren Conrad; ‘Married To Jonas’ star Danielle Jonas, wife of Jonas Brother Kevin; and Danielle’s sister Katie Delesa at the Badgley Mischka Spring 2013 show at Lincoln Center during New York’s Fashion Week.

 

Excellent! The hardreading staff thinks we’ve covered all of Aly’s new friends between the two papers.

 

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Globe More Krafty Than Herald

September 10, 2012

From our Ricki Noel Lander (Or Is That Landing?) desk

As the hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider has noted, the Huffington Post caught Bob Kraft and galpal Ricki Noel Lander at the U.S. Open yesterday.

So the hardreading staff looked to see which of the two local dailies would feature the lovebirds today.

Surprise! Not the one you’re thinking.

From the Boston Globe’s Names column:

Bob Kraft, Ricki Noel Lander hit US Open

Patriots owner Bob Kraft and actress girlfriend Ricki Noel Lander were among the recognizable faces at the US Open tennis tournament in New York over the weekend. Lander has a tiny part the January release “Movie 43,” which features big names such as as Elizabeth Banks, Kate Winslet, Emma Stone, and Richard Gere. Kraft was spotted with one of his other favorite companions, Jon Bon Jovi, at the Pats game in Tennessee on Sunday.

Not as lovey-dovey in that pic, eh?

(As the Track Gals (and Megan!) might say) File Under: Alone together.

 

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