Rolling Stone changed its design and became monthly.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last week I got a butt-slapper-sized issue of Rolling Stone in the mail and immediately knew something was up.

The previous issue, with Camila Cabello (???) on the cover felt more like a pamphlet than a magazine in all its 66 pages of content. RS has been declining for years in terms of page count and content.

Then along comes this new issue with Cardi B & Offset (???) on the cover (btw, the ??? signifies that I have no idea who these people are. And while I haven’t kept up with pop-chart music for years, at least in the old days I recognized the people on the cover of Rolling Stone. Apparently that’s no longer the case). The giant-sized, perfect-bound issue weighed in at a hefty 136 pages — twice the size of the previous issue. The reason: “A New Era for Rolling Stone” as Jann Wenner put it announcing the new format and the new monthly (instead of bi-weekly) publication.

It typically has taken about five minutes to flip through a Rolling Stone (with four minutes spent in the reviews section). I flipped though this new issue page for page and will likely go back and read the features about the cover people as well as a “booze and hash”-laced portrait of Johnny Depp.

The new format emphasized lots o’ photos (including a Sebastian Salgado feature — he’s been doing pictorials for Stone for decades), “lists” (“100 Greatest songs of the Century… So Far” which is (you guessed it) off the mark), and chart stories (a la Wired), along with its usual fare: Random Notes, National Affairs, and of course, Reviews, which have been expanded (though in the same format).

As a whole, I like what they’ve done with the magazine. The bi-weekly format has seemed somewhat slap-dash for a while now. No doubt this is a last gasp by a magazine that has managed to survive while so many others have been taken down by the internet plow. And while their focus on pop music / bad fashion can be rather gagging, I still enjoy getting it in the mail, as I have for decades….

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Denver folk-pop singer/songwriter Esme Patterson (Grand Jury Records) plays tonight at The Sydney. Joining her are Sean Pratt and the Sweats, Mike Schlensenger and Annalibera. $10, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.