VIBE magazine is dead, which I didn't give much though to, until I read this article. I love getting a glimpse into 'behind the scenes' of anything - magazine offices, film sets, radio stations, book publishers, office supply offices - because I love seeing all of the chaos and messiness that goes on to create a shiny, polished end product.

This bit in particular was so well-written, it hooked me into reading the entire story - and it's long, for a website article!

"I walked away from the reception desk... I walked more, saw a conference room, and sat down. There was a sheet of papers with fine lines and columns on it, so I picked one up. It was the outline of the entire September issue, the 2009 Juice issue, that, now, will not be printed.

Planned was a series of short profiles on “The New Music Industry”... Their “Best Rapper Ever” spread. A “Hot 16s Opener” piece, that being the number of years the mag would be celebrating, with staffers critiquing the hottest opening verses on tracks made during the mag’s lifetime: Biggie on Craig Mack’s “Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)”; Lil Wayne on DJ Khaled’s “We Takin’ Over”; Scarface on Jay-Z’s “This Can’t Be Life.”

That these typically guard-them-with-your-life notes were just lying there—like money in the streets after the zombie apocalypse—told me what time it truly was at VIBE.

This photographer, David Anthony, was mid-way through shooting 15-yr-old skateboarder Chaz Ortiz (above) for the mag when he learnt it was collapsing.

Anthony had spent hours in the studio shooting Chaz, and was preparing to move outside for more shots when he heard the news. He decided to keep going as if nothing had happened.

“I had his whole family there on the shoot. I wasn’t going to let them know, ‘Hey, guess what, the magazine just folded,’” Anthony said. "I feel so bad for the kid and his family. I can't tell you how excited they were for this shoot."

Now he's considering giving the pics to the skateboarder's agent for promotional use. What a total pro! He's out time and money, but he still feels bad for Chaz. There is a silver lining about the GFC: challenging times reveal people's true colours. His colours look lovely.