By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

Another stage

Life goes in stages. And so does the newspaper business. We at Cityview have taken our next step without Jon Gaskell, who has been our editor for the past year. He is moving on to other ventures, and we wish him the best. He helped us bring an edge back to the pages of Cityview when the paper really needed it. For that, and for all Jon has done, we offer our gratitude.

And now to the future ...

I have asked Michael Swanger to serve as interim managing editor while we reorganize. His name and work are well known in local music and entertainment circles, as he has been covering this beat for Cityview for the past few years. He is a Central Iowa native who has been working for the past 11 years at daily and weekly newspapers in the area, writing and editing news, features and entertainment stories. He has earned not only the respect of readers, but of our employees and of me.

Both Michael and I welcome your input and ideas on how our staff can make Cityview an even better alternative newspaper with consistent weekly content. We want to give you more of the items we know you like. We also want to add additional content to keep you reading our paper longer and draw in new readers. But don't expect any drastic changes to our core content, as we clearly see the need to be more than a cheerleader for the chamber of commerce. Expect continued investigative stories that other media won't touch. Popular columns like Civic Skinny, our retooled local media column Media Matters (formerly Off the Record), and Mother Earth will publish more consistently than in the past. You will continue to find Food Dude, Art Pimp, movie reviews, Scene Scribe, City Sounds, What The and our extensive calendar listings. We recently added a new bar column, Belly Up, and a citizen watchdog feature, We the People. And, starting this week, you will find two new features - a weekly television column and a video-game review called Sore Thumbs.

With over 93 percent of our papers picked up each week, and with six out of every 10 of our readers not even looking at The Des Moines Register, we know firsthand how much you appreciate our mix of true alternative news. That certainly won't change as we move forward.

Now a few words about the local bar scene, our focus for this week's issue. Central Iowa has hundreds of local drinking establishments to entertain you and quench your summer thirst. And this week's Cityview provides the most comprehensive guide to finding the ones that will match your individual desires.We have categorized them into eateries, neighborhood bars, adult clubs/bikini bars, sports bars, upscale/dance/urban, gay and lesbian, and music bars. We encourage you to hang on to this issue and support as many of the varied establishments as you can to experience all that Central Iowa has to offer.

Thanks for reading. CV

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