Ah yes, and here we are, the day before deadline, scraping together the last of the final details. Making the paper, Laurel and Hardy got to press.
It was eight weeks ago that we put this concept into operation. There was a solid week on the telephone, a kickoff party at the Dangle, long days of trudging through the slush and ice, ads to sell, distribution to set up, stories to write, copy to edit, layouts to be done, and oh, so many details. As of this afternoon, most of them have fallen into place.
Isthmus
An isthmus is a connector, a narrow body of land that lies between two bodies of water, connecting two greater bodies of land. At this very moment, some of you are sitting on it.
Isthmus is a newspaper, a weekly publication we have conceived for the purpose of reporting and reflecting the ins and outs of Madison entertainment.
We define entertainment broadly---anything that people in this city do to amuse themselves and raise a little hell. That takes up a lot of territory. We believe we're up to covering it.
Beginning with this issue, and in those to come, we will be providing regular features on music, movies, clubs, restaurants, sports, books, travel, media, theater, the arts and more-not all at once, you understand, but often enough so that we do each scene some justice.
The weekly cornerstone will be the Isthmus Guide to Entertainment. The guide is intended to provide a capsulized listing of everything going on in town during the week. Pick it up and take it home. Refer to it. Go out and have some fun.
Our maiden issue is long on movies. There are several good ones playing this week and we have words on two of them. Contributing critic Tim Onosko, the man who brings you "At the Movies" Saturday afternoons on radio station WORT, gets the jump on Family Plot, the new Hitchcock film; and our own Fred Milverstedt sees Taxi Driver and gets off on the guns.
In music, we have Dr. Jazz-Ben Sidran-playing a few lines of type in combo with Clyde Stubblefield and Josh Levenson as they take a look at a couple of ways that people around here are meeting, or not meeting, their musical needs.
The "Star Trek Convocation" was in town last week, beamed down to us by Bob Corbett and Parnell Nelson of the Madison Civic Improvement Corp., and Ezra Sidran was there to talk with Gene Roddenberry and comment on the Trekkies.
We have a tight little piece on the founding of a new used book exchange as discovered by Tim Tully, scholar, musician and browser, and a tight little introduction to our forthcoming restaurant section. What else?
Oh, yes-Milverstedt again, back with a lengthy tome on sports, a book review and mildly prejudicial tribute to the New York Yankees that he remembers as a kid. Someday he might grow up, but we seriously doubt it.
So much for the first run of Isthmus. Read us and enjoy. The pleasure is ours.
