If you’ve been at the front of a local store, restaurant, bar chances are you’ve seen the stacks of free flyers, postcards, and newspapers. You’re probably very familiar with Scene Magazine, Earth Watch, etc. There’s a new kid on the block (well actually two, but Buzzbin Magazine deserves and will get a post all of its own very soon). The new kid that I am talking about now is The Independent, which began local printing & distribution this past fall. The captain of the Independent ship is local writer James Renner. I became a big fan of James’ work at Scene Magazine and later the Free Times. After a merger of Scene and the Free Times (if you recall I had a brief stint at Scene at that time too), James decided to start his own completely local paper. In addition, James is the author of two true-crime books, Amy: My Search for Her Killer, about the tragic kidnapping & murder of Amy Mihaljevic, a Bay Village girl in 1989; and The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, a collection of unsolved mysteries in NEO- with a few in/about Akron.
(Especially this week) Pick up a copy of The Independent! This week’s cover story is titled “20 Reasons We Love Akron”. On the cover is our lovely friend Maya from Musica/Mocha Maiden who is modeling our Survival shirt like no other. Flip to the cover story inside & you’ll see Maya wearing Route 8. You’ll also see the “Top 20″ list of Akron, with RCC at #16. XTC…that seedy “Gentelman’s” club on Brittain Rd. is #14…proving that in a game of shirts vs. skins, skins wins. Alright, well I thought that was funny. Anyway, The Independent is a wonderful publication, and a great place to read the things that mainstream publications might be afraid to write about. And it’s FREE!!!