Nothing Can Replace the Phoenix, But These Snarky Signs Sort of Help

With The Phoenix gone, and only its sultry adult section still standing, one long-time fan of the coveted publication decided to place public announcements where the magazines once lived.

Ryan Walsh, of Hallelujah the Hills, a Boston-based musical act, placed placards inside the now-empty Phoenix boxes that are plastered around the city, before they get scooped up by the distributor and disappear for good. This week, Walsh conjured up some “humorous” wording on laminated pieces of paper and slipped the messages into the red boxes where the magazine used to be.

“I enjoy making my own billboards and putting them in public.  It’s like graffiti but less damaging and more to the point,” says Walsh. “The Phoenix was very important to me as a suburban kid trying to find out about bands in a pre-internet world, then as a champion of some bands I’ve been in, and lastly as a place that let me publish some fairly out there, crazy pieces. I’m so sad to see it go.”

Walsh says he understands The Phoenix closing is “part of a cycle” and “it’s no one’s fault,” but with that in mind, “I thought some kind of humorous tribute to their passing was in order,” he says. “I love finding surreal messages out in the everyday world.  That was my mission here.”

He also created messages for people to personally print out, and distribute around the city.

Even former editor-in-chief Carly Carioli was tickled by the idea of reminding people in Boston what they will be missing out on now that the area is void of a weekly magazine chock-full of events and investigative reporting.