Chronicling the past week via quick links and pithy commentary: It’s so sad to say goodbye edition.

The economic crunch hits us where we live: We had to say goodbye to Derjue, which sucked worse than anything has ever sucked.

More scandal, coming right up: Deep Pockets promises more outrage to follow.

We found a Chuck Turner supporter: On the 1 Bus.

Speaking of Chuck: City Council plays hardball, then whiffs like Jason Varitek. (more…)

They get recognized, even by children, all over the city. Strangers ask for their advice and, sometimes, their phone numbers. One of them signs autographs for his fans.

They are the seven bus drivers whose smiling faces appear on the MBTA’s bus time tables, the little paper maps distributed at bus stops, on buses, and at T stations throughout the Boston area.

Who are they? And what did they have to do to get on there? This curious tale begins two years ago, but the better story, as we found out sitting down with six honorees recently, lies in the competition among drivers to make it onto that map. (more…)

Score one for the Herald’s Jessica Van Sack who waded into the murky mess of the Boston Licensing Board, to uncover what looks like a grant of favored status upon the Michael J. Perkins American Legion Post in Southie.

The Post is run by war vets and firefighters and has incurred the wrath of neighbors for its late-night carousing. Van Sack reports that at a hearing, Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski “lambasted its leaders, and a board member vowed, ‘You will be closed.’”

The Post wasn’t closed and Polaski tells Van Sack, “We read them the riot act. We hope they get the message.” Right. (more…)

Eliot Spitzer, the deposed and disgraced former governor of New York, found an ally yesterday in the form of Congressman Michael Capuano who wants to know if the government was targeting the prostitute-loving would-be “f–king steamroller” of Albany.

Spitzer made no friends on Wall Street during his days as a prosecutor, which has led several liberal blogs and the like to wonder if Spitzer was being unfairly targeted (see Chuck Turner, no one likes the Feds).

“The question was: Why were they looking for this? Is this political retribution?”

(more…)

In the December issue of Boston magazine, Maureen Tkacik profiled Barney Frank for her story, “A Crash Course in Crisis Economics.” The constraints of a 3,500-word piece against the backdrop of an economic meltdown left some of her material on the cutting-room floor. But that’s why we have the Internet. Take it away, Moe.

Barney Frank is a politician of many years, many thoughts, many achievements and many, many words. I would have liked to have done justice to this man in the space allotted; alas, the art department didn’t appreciate my proposal to shrink the text down to 8 point font in a subtle tribute to the “fine print” on the subprime mortgages that begot the credit crisis.

So here are some of our favorite quotes, footnotes and outtakes: (more…)

With each passing day, it becomes more and more obvious that the people in charge of our complicated economic instruments had no earthly idea the malevolent forces they were about to unleash on an unsuspecting populace. Or if they did, they simply didn’t care.

That’s all well and good in the abstract, but today the economic downturn hit us where we live and we were forced to lay off the lovely and talented Amy Derjue. What does this mean? We’ll try to make sense of it after the jump. (more…)

Every Tuesday, Matthew Reed Baker will offer his thoughts on the arts and culture scene. This week: We are through the looking glass with this strange Alice in Wonderland adaptation; DVD picks including a Wes Anderson classic. Plus: A shoutout to the Huntington Theatre.

One of the not-so-hidden pleasures of working at a magazine is getting free stuff, whether it’s a promotional CD or book or DVD. The power of free stuff means that magazine staffers routinely check certain things out, whether or not there’s any actual interest.

Woe be the sadsack item that gets left unclaimed, and Boston magazine’s giveaway table sure has its share of self-published books, hastily burned CDs of musical demos, and overly specialized policy tomes that lay abandoned for weeks at a time. But late last week, an oddly specialized slim little book came in the mail and caught my attention, probably because it was the weekend of the Harvard-Yale game.

This serendipitous volume is the latest sent us from the History Press. Normally, the output of this Salem publisher ends up unread in our research library… (more…)

In today’s Globe, Boston businessman Ron Wilburn confirms he is actually Deep Pockets, otherwise known as the Cooperating Witness took down former State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and current Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner.

We don’t often admit our ardor, but we’re kind of in love with him.

Asked if he was surprised that public officials would allegedly take money to help push a liquor license, [Wilburn] responded quickly. “Hell, no,” and let out a hearty laugh.

But here’s where it gets good—Wilburn says we should expect to see more arrests in conjunction with the FBI investigation, but doesn’t name names.

Why do we always fall for the teases?

(more…)

Really, the Globe should have ran a picture of an atomic bomb with this story, because the Turnpike Authority is pretty much doomed.

[E]ven if the toll increases are given final approval by the turnpike board, the threat still looms that the authority could soon be sent a bill for $353 million if the financial markets continue to deteriorate.

That’s right. $353 million.

Wouldn’t it have been more cost-effective to actually sell someone’s soul to finance the Big Dig?

(more…)

Your condensed guide to today’s daily papers.

Why are you giving him such a hard time? It was his day off: A Boston police officer has been placed on leave as the department investigates whether he witnessed a murder this summer and didn’t come forward to report it. [Globe]

Guess we’ll just sleep in, then: Experts say retailers won’t be offering many sweet deals this Black Friday. [Herald]

(more…)