Black Tide

It's safe to assume it was the first time a bunch of West Kendallites appeared in the New York Post's infamous "Page Six" gossip column. And it's especially notable because they did so for indirectly inciting a minor riot in L.A. alongside a famously celebrated, then disgraced, then semiredeemed memoirist.

"Crowds Collide" was the headline on the blurb this past May 17. It read, "James Frey — who told Page Six, 'I'm trying to break the mold of what readings can be' — had a mini-riot break out at his session Thursday night at Whiskey-a-Go-Go in Hollywood. Six... full story >>

The Dirt Doctor

The announcer is a little girl. In the clear airspace of Sunday morning radio, her voice is sweet, but the message is heavy. As if introducing story time for the kiddies, she tells listeners, "This is the show that exposes the chemical pushers, the environmental thugs and the certified organophobes."

Quite a mouthful for a first-grader. The introduction to The Natural Way, Howard Garrett's organic gardening show on News Talk KSKY-660 AM radio in Dallas, was recorded almost two decades ago by his daughter, Logan, but it's still aired every Sunday morning in 94 markets around the... full story >>

Ray Ruybal Made His Mark

Ray Ruybal can picture the tagger's face: shallow eyes, cocky sneer, mouth that would run almost as quickly as his legs. He refers to the tagger as a "kid," but the guy was 35 years old — and a father of two — when Ruybal put him in jail five years ago on a slate of felony vandalism charges. Busting the punk was one of the few truly successful prosecutions he has to show for all his years of exertion and frustration. But for the life of him, Ruybal can't dredge from his memory the most basic piece of information in a graffiti cop's arsenal: the tagger's street... full story >>

What Mainstream Publishers Don't Want You to Know About Door-to-Door Magazine Sales

In the Ramada Inn, across I-10 from Ikea, dozens of young sales agents spill out of vans and head for the first-floor conference room. They're in their late teens and early twenties, tired from a long day of selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but excited about the money they think they're going to get.

In the conference room, a line of ­middle-aged managers sit behind folding tables and count the stacks of receipts and cash their agents place before them. It's a ton of money. The crews hit Houston in late February, it's near the end of March now and it's been a... full story >>

Anthony Mots was driving the firetruck that killed Aaron Becerra. Afterward, Mots’ brothers in the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department rallied to defend him

Central Avenue curves fast through Kansas City, Kansas, lined with auto-detailing shops, gas stations and panaderias. At 18th Street and Park Drive, it meets a confusing, asterisk-shaped intersection.

Aaron Becerra was 21 when he approached that intersection on the evening of September 30, 2000. This drive was part of his daily routine. He'd just gotten off work at the KCK police garage, where he maintained the cop cars, gassed them up, checked their oil. His father, Hector, lived nearby. Becerra often stopped at Hector's house after work for a shower and a bite to eat. But... full story >>

Black Tide Rocks

It's safe to assume it was the first time a bunch of West Kendallites appeared in the New York Post's infamous "Page Six" gossip column. And it's especially notable because they did so for indirectly inciting a minor riot in L.A. alongside a famously celebrated, then disgraced, then semi-redeemed memoirist.

"Crowds Collide" was the headline on the blurb this past May 17. It read, "James Frey — who told Page Six, 'I'm trying to break the mold of what readings can be' — had a mini-riot break out at his session Thursday night at Whiskey-a-Go-Go in Hollywood. Six... full story >>

A new wave of gay seminarians prepares to take the pulpit

It was late November in 2004 and Lauren Wendt was on her way to a Wednesday-evening church service. As she walked up the concrete steps and entered through the white doors of the brick-faced Ascension Lutheran Church, she was ready to pray. She enjoyed her work volunteering for a church-based immigration and refugee service in Maryland, but moving to a new city had made her lonely. Although she thought about dating, she was used to being single—she'd been that way all throughout college.

The walls inside the church were soft blue, the carpet red, and the pews a brilliant... full story >>

Suzi Dodt’s on a mission to return the nameless dead to their loved ones

"99-305 has a name, a family, a story, but we just don't know it yet," says Dodt, a death investigator with the Office of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner. "It's amazing and sad to me that no one has gotten a hold of us or the police to ask if we've got her down here."

Dodt is speaking of a young woman (pictured above) who died on January 27, 1999, the day after she jumped, fell, or was pushed out of the Cadillac in which she was riding on Interstate 10 with a man and another... full story >>

Cougar Heaven!: Unreal goes on the prowl for (and with) honky-tonk older women

Editor's note: Advice Columnist Wanted: Riverfront Times seeks an author to pen "Ask a Cougar!" Follow this link for details.

She summarized her m.o. within the first five minutes of our telephone conversation: "If I can smell you," she said, "I'm gonna wanna do you."

Six days later she has a Busch in hand when we arrive at Venice Café, her watering hole of choice in Benton Park. Her given name is Debra Reed, but she goes by "Ginger" after Memorial Day and "Scarlett" come winter.

"First of all," she says, pulling some notes from her Kate Spade purse, "the... full story >>