A DAY IN "THE LIFE OF RILEY"

Meanwhile, in the shaky world of magazine publishing, I've stumbled across a few new "quality" titles that are worth mentioning. This past Wednesday, I attended another Harlem-based party (sponsored by the up-and-coming-again area's Chamber of Commerce) for "JOLIE" Magazine, considered 'the ultimate beauty guide for women of color'. Vivica A. Fox is the "editor-at-large" for the magazine, which boasts a Kimora Lee Simmons cover this month. It's nice, glossy, and - to skim it - reads like a magazine that can compete with other more established brands out there, like "Essence". Also, I ran into a Morehouse brother with whom I graduated ('92) and he introduced me to another Morehouse brother who graduated the same year as Spike Lee ('79) and he is involved with a new magazine called "PULSE" (for the discerning, mature, gay man of color). Byron Barnes, known for creating the make-up formula that is IMAN Cosmetics, is the Editor-in-Chief of this project. Though he comes to the table with that aesthetic expertise (READ: not a journalist), PULSE is nice, glossy, and - to skim it - reads like a magazine that can compete with other more established brands out there, like "GQ". And "BLEU" and "BALLROOM ROCKSTAR" are two other titles on newsstands that have been out since the beginning of the year or thereabout. Both are for gay men of color but skew younger, hipper, and perhaps edgier than "PULSE". The latter features a story on me in its debut issue. It's titled "Superman". Again, both magazines - to my eye - are nice, glossy, and - to skim them - read like magazines that can compete with other more established brands out there, like "Details". The questions become "Is there room for them all?" or perhaps "Who will be the last new magazine standing?" as down-sizing, shut-downs, and shut-outs have been the more popular options of choice inside the tier of the magazine industry that targets people of color. We'll see; meanwhile, we'll root for them all to succeed and pay their freelance writers on time.