The Scene Magazine is finally live and you can see my work (and some stuff by some other people ... whatever) at SceneMagz.com. Check it out, register, and give me articles as many stars as possible.

Also, PopMatters just published my review of Clash of the Titans (2010), which you can read here ... and, if you're so inclined, you can see my past review on my contributor's page here

Happy trails ... more to come.....

  posted by S. Parker @ 11:18 PM

 
Still waiting for the ball to drop....

  posted by S. Parker @ 5:31 PM

 
The Tragic Story of Eddie Perez and the Promise of the American

My mayhap groundbreaking article on the Eddie Perez scandal has been posted on the as-yet-not-live Scene Magazine here.

A new one on Abe Giles is soon to come...

  posted by S. Parker @ 11:04 PM

 
My latest article for Scene Magazine (which has still to technically launch) has been posted here. My next article will be a fairly juicy piece on soon-to-be-ex-mayor Eddie Perez.

But, back on topic -- the Phish show was a blast: everything I've missed for nearly six years. Returning to the scene made me feel as though it has never left, and I was one with the man I was at 18, when I first started following them around. It was spiritual and beautiful and a cannot wait to see them again.

  posted by S. Parker @ 7:58 PM

 
Well, it's been a while, but Ruby Tuesday's done -- I was sick of being a cook there anyway.

Luckily, I've managed to get three jobs in two days, writing for various online websites. I'll list them from worst to best:

(1) Get Debit.com is a financial news website primarily aimed at the debit card and prepaid card industry. You'll be surprised how much news there is out there regarding this topic. Anyway, my first article just went up, "Prepaid Debit Cards Used to 'Prepay It Forward'". That one's actually kind of interesting.

(2) The Southbury Patch is part of a growing number of online community-based news sites run by AOL (so, I guess that mean I'm sort of an AOL employee -- strange). I've yet to publish anything there, but its official launch date is June 30, so check it out then.

(3) The Scene Magazine is focusing on happenings in the greater Hartford area. It's official launch date is August 1, so the URL to which you'll be directed if you click on the above link is actually not going to be the real URL (it's just the work-in-progress on). The final URL will be http://scenemagz.com/. Working for this magazine is going to be really exciting, as I'll be given inside access and, most likely, VIP treatment at most Hartford-area hotspots ... so I'm sure a lot of people will suddenly come out of thr woodwork to become my "friend." Yesterday, they posted a minor piece I wrote on the CT Lotto, "You Can't Lose If You Don't Play, but I'll be covering the Phish concert for them tomorrow and then writing a piece on Eddie Perez, all of which should be posted in the next two weeks.

And, of course, I'm back on board with , which I've been writng for since their fledgling days over a decade ago -- now PopMatters is a major player in the entertainment world, so I hope that generates even more publicity for me. My upcomming projects involve reviewing two soon-to-be-released DVDs, Clashe of the Titans and Crumb.

There's also an anthology I'll be editing, The Last Man Standing, which should prove interesting.

Mu next move is to rebuild my Sparker Media website.

Things are looking good for me ....

Labels: freelance writing, hartford, popmatters, southbury, Sparker Media

 
Today was my first day back to work at a new Ruby Tuesdays (in Bloomfield) after the Waterbury store unceremoniously shut down nearly three weeks ago. I'd forgotten to write the story down at the time, but new information obtained from management at the new store have provided me the impetus to convey some of the details:

On Sunday January 24 the Ruby Tuesday in Waterbury held an impromptu staff meeting at 7 pm, announced only days before. The managers claimed they had no idea as to the purpose of the meeting, but the brass was to attend. I wasn't even going to go, since I worked from 9 to 4:30, but I came back so I would look good.

About half the employees showed up for 7, then we waited around for two hours for the last customers to leave. As soon as the doors were closed, the regional manager announced the store was closed for good -- no forewarning given to anyone. My immediate question was whether transfers were guaranteed, as they seemed reluctant to suggest everyone was suddenly fired. They were.

The lie was that management had had no foreknowledge of the store's closing as the result of failed lease negotiations with the Brass Mill Center Mall that had come to a head only days before. In fact, the managers had known for quite a while and had simply chosen not to tell any of the employees for fear of mass absences, theft, etc. Their acting during the weeks prior to that Sunday were worthy of an Academy Award.

At least I and my friend Mike were able to actually take advantage of those "guaranteed" transfers and still have jobs...not without a lot of work calling and visiting a bunch of stores throughout the state. Many of my former coworkers have no means of transportation to other Ruby Tuesdays and are now wholly unemployed. Some may have been able to transfer but have nowhere near the hours on which they were dependent, effectively leaving them partially unemployed. For example, two of the employees with whom I worked and who were dating each other are expecting a baby. Their situation -- especially that of their unborn baby -- has been made drastically dire. It's a situation that could have been ameliorated, if only slightly, given a dose of rudimentary consideration on the part of Ruby Tuesday's management.

Yet again corporate America has proven itself to be an uncompassionate, profit-hungry leviathan. Concern for the community and the working person is clearly no longer part of the fabric of the modern-day capitalistic system. This is simply one small example of a much larger and dangerous phenomenon engulfing our entire society.

The question now lies in how it can be remedied before more lives are ruined and the American Dream becomes even more of a myth.

  posted by S. Parker @ 4:54 AM