Results tagged “washingtoncitypaper”

New York hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management were the winners in a bankruptcy auction in Tampa today to see who would control the Creative Loafing newspaper chain, owners of the Washington City Paper and other alternative weeklies, reports the St. Petersburg Times. Atalaya was Creative Loafing's largest creditor by far, and they took control of the company by significantly outbidding a partnership made up of now former Loafing CEO Ben Eason and another hedge fund creditor, BIA Digital Partners. Atalaya offered $5 million, while the Eason group opened with $2.32 million.

Dish of the Week: Strip club dining

If you didn't already spend your lunch hour, like we did, listening to the series of voicemail recordings, leaked to the Washington City Paper, that Marion Barry left for ex-girlfriend and alleged "stalkee" Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, we can verify that they make for fairly fascinating listening. The tapes (and the Loose Lips column that goes with them) have even started to become a bit of an internet sensation, if the WCP's Twitter feed is any judge: "Marion Barry killed our web server :'( ... we're working on bringing it back to life," they updated earlier this afternoon. The web site and the tapes are both back up now though, so take a gander, or if you can't listen in your office, they're also offering some typed up partial transcripts.

The Washington City Paper will continue to be owned by Creative Loafing Inc., thanks to a ruling handed down today by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Caryl E. Delano in Tampa. CEO Ben Eason will retain control of the alternative newspaper chain despite an attempt by creditor Atalaya to take over the company, reports Wayne Garcia from Loaf HQ in Tampa, who was careful to get the name of the D.C. publication correct this time. Eason is quoted as being "psyched" by the ruling, but his enthusiasm appears to need at least some tempering.

Delano also struck a cautious tone, saying that she believed the company has “an uphill battle” ahead to have any reorganization plan confirmed by the creditors since Atalaya is far and wide the biggest creditor and could choose to vote against any plan. Delano suggested mediation for the two sides, but after a 30-minute recess in which the two sides’ lawyers talked by telephone, the idea of having a mediator appointed was tabled for now, at least until April 20 when Creative Loafing reveals more details of its reorganization plan, including possible new investors.

The Washington Business Journal has a rather curious update on the bankruptcy proceedings for Creative Loafing, the owner of the Washington City Paper, among other publications.

Judge Caryl E. Delano will decide whether the Tampa chain will remain under control of publisher Ben Eason or Atalaya Capital Management, which says it’s owed $31 million in loans used by the paper to purchase Washington City Times and Chicago Reader in 2007, according to Creative Loafing reporter Wayne Garcia. The decision is expected at 2 p.m.

Yesterday Creative Loafing, the owner of the Washington City Paper, announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In a post on City Desk, City Paper editor Erik Wemple quoted Loaf CEO Ben Eason playing the filing off as not as bad as it sounds, since bankruptcy will give the company the breathing room it needs to finish a structural reorganization directed toward the internet. TambaBay.com's The Feed blog dug into the Loaf's financials, arguing that despite assurances to the contrary, it does appear as though debt accrued in the course of purchasing the City Paper and the Chicago Reader last year played a role in the bankruptcy.

Early last week Fishbowl DC had more about the coming changes to the Washington City Paper we first reported at the end of August. Now the Georgetown Voice has the full story in its latest edition, which confirms that the alt weekly is undergoing a massive transition away from long-form features and investigative pieces and toward a larger online presence. Within a few weeks, the paper will cease to run its trademark lengthy cover story, instead likely running a sort of wire cover story common to all Creative Loafing titles. Sounds like things are more than a little grim in the City Paper newsroom these days: “Now [the response is] more outright angst and anger and misery over what’s going on,” the Voice quotes editor Erik Wemple. Read the whole thing. UPDATE: Wemple wrote to tell us we've got the future of City Paper covers all wrong: "No one here has ever, ever talked about, proposed or even considered publishing "wire" cover stories from Creative Loafing papers." We definitely shouldn't have used the word 'likely' there -- a source had told us something like this might be in the works, but it's definitely not something the City Paper intends to do, according to Wemple. As for what readers can expect to see on City Paper covers in the future, we've asked Wemple to fill us in, and will let you know if and when we hear anything.

The Washington City Paper launched a new "sex & gender" blog on its web site this week, called The Sexist, penned by staffer Amanda Hess. Hess will leave behind her old Show & Tell column to helm the new feature. The blog is just getting rolling, but mercifully it looks nothing at all like the weekly's now defunct, dreadful confessional sex and dating diary, Melanie Boyer's About Last Night. Hess tells us she intends this new venture to be "something else entirely" from the old sex blog, "a blend of snarky feminist commentary, alternative scene reporting, and in-depth coverage of District health and identity issues." One recent post identifies the price tag rape victims had to pay for a rape kit in Wasilla while Sarah Palin was mayor ($300 to $1200!). We look forward to reading more.

Word came down today that more staff cuts are coming for Washington City Paper. According to a newsroom insider, Creative Loafing—which acquired the City Paper along with the Chicago Reader alternative weekly in summer 2007, and proceeded to lay off many production and editorial staffers by the end of that year—told City Paper staff that they would need to cut the publication's budget by $170,000. City Paper ran a profit for 2007, apparently, but with the summer doldrums came a couple of bad months for advertising sales. The Loaf's line with its creditors is said to be so thin that even a somewhat foreseeable setback must result in staff cuts. UPDATE: City Paper Editor-in-Chief Erik Wemple confirms the cuts: "Like a lot of media companies, we are going through an exceptionally rough period, and indeed we are discussing how to cut expenses. I don't want to cite any figures at this point because we are trying our best as a company to minimize the impact. But yes, layoffs are part of the discussion."

Could you please buy Mike DeBonis a little video camera? Nothing fancy, just a small handheld job that will produce web-quality moving images and sound? He's got this really funny partycrashing post up that I'm totally envious of, but I want to see the actual dance moves of D.C. Council members, not just blurry, underexposed stills. Also, is that Vincent Gray wearing white jeans in the background there? That's a pretty bold fashion choice for the chairman. KTHXBAI.

Color us honored! When we thumbed through the massive, two-lb. "Best Of D.C." edition of this week's Washington City Paper, we were surprised and delighted to find that publication's readers had awarded us "Best D.C. Web Site." Best locally-focused blog, OK, but best web site? Washingtonpost.com was a runner up? Allow all of us here at DCist HQ to deliver a collective "gee golly." That was just awfully nice of you, City Paper readers.

So it is for you, the stupid car-owning resident of Washington, D.C., that I write this blog entry—as well as those that will inevitably follow it as I continue to be almost killed by stupid shits such as yourself during my daily 10-minute walk to work. No, no—don’t thank me. Thank the batshit crazy driver of the silver Nissan Pathfinder who refused to stop at the crosswalk on Columbia Ave. NW in Adams Morgan even though I was in the middle of it. Thankfully, he wasn’t going fast enough to prevent the big fat fucking loogie I hocked up from landing right in the middle of his rear passenger side window.

Continue reading "Don't Mess With the City Paper's Matt Borlik"

The Washington City Paper's Angela Valdez provides a two-pronged update today to the monstrosity that could be the Late Night Shots reality TV show we told you about earlier this month.

Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since Nov. 17. That adds up to roughly half the average murder rate for the rest of the year. Are the District's murderers just feeling the holiday spirit a little more deeply this year? Chief Lanier, naturally, credits the work of her detectives, noting a sharp increase in the number of homicide arrests made during the same period.

Last week a little dose of relief came to the city's art lovers and critics, as the National Gallery of Art announced they've filled the position to head up their department of modern art, vacant for around six months now. Harry Cooper comes to the NGA from the Harvard University Art Museums, and Washington City Paper's Jeffry Cudlin does a good job putting it in perspective. In other museum news, camera-in-cell-phone technology is officially history....

>> Don't forget: thousands of dirty hippies and the gun-toting maniacs who hate them are getting together for a big ol' hootenanny down on the National Mall tomorrow morning. It's the War on War on War. >> At the Washington City Paper, editorial assistants who make mistakes aren't just named, they're taken out back and tortured with one million paper cuts using the latest issue while Erik Wemple screams "you're not good enough to...

FRIDAY: >> Tired of putting those great costume ideas on the back burner till October? Dying for a chance to wear a costume without wearing a jacket over top? Three Stars vets New Rock Church of Fire feel the same way. Tonight, join NRCOF, D.C.'s The Gaskets and Richmond's The Invisibles at the Rock & Roll Hotel for July-O-Ween. Incognito fun, rip roaring rock from all three bands, DJ sets, drink specials, a costume contest...

Via Editor & Publisher, the Washington City Paper, along with the Chicago Reader, which the City Paper owns, has been sold to Atlanta-based company Creative Loafing, publisher of four other alternative weeklies in Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. The City Paper name will remain in place, despite the other four papers all carrying the "Creative Loafing" name. In a post to the City Paper's staff blog, City Desk, Senior Editor Mike DeBonis said...

>> Vandals armed only with a U-shaped bicycle lock and a sense of irony managed to trap about 40 commuters on the Virginia Railway Express Monday near Woodbridge, when they locked the metal gates from the pedestrian bridge at the Rippon station. The gates, which the VRE removed Tuesday, were originally put there to keep vandals out of the station. [AP via NBC4] >> Post columnist Courtland Milloy makes a compelling case for abolishing...

If you're into the Washington City Paper, approach this week's issue with care -- it's not a quick read. This week the city's premiere alternative weekly profiles investigative journalist Murray Waas, using some 21,514 words over the course of three articles to attack his journalistic standards and detail a long-running feud between the paper's staff and Waas. If that many words don't mean much to you, think of it this way -- only 11,000 or...

Earlier this week we heard some terrible news for one of our favorite venues in the city. Warehouse Arts Complex, located on the developing 7th Street corridor near the Convention Center, was greeted with a property tax bill over 500% what they paid last year. The concert venue, art gallery, theater, screening room, and cafe/bar serves the arts community in more ways than any location outside the Kennedy Center, but this kind of work isn't...

>> After a wet, gray day, we're happy to report the sun is peeking through and you can probably skip the "standing at the front door and debating whether to bring an umbrella" part of the evening. Enjoy!

Last week the Washington City Paper unveiled a redesign featuring "more color and a new convenient size." Paper pushers were even out in force at several Metro stations pimping the new look. Once we got our hands on the issue though, these lofty promises fell a bit flat. Their Web site redesign early this year got our nod of approval, but after some thought the print edition has no such luck.

Cue sounds of cats hissing at each other. The latest issue of the Washington City Paper contains not one but two tongue lashings of Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham. The first, a lengthy cover story by Jessica Gould, nicely summarized in the subtitle: "Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham never met a misbehaving nightclub that blanket legislation couldn’t fix," details Graham's latest crusade against nightclubs -- an issue we've certainly talked about before....

Clearly, the District is tired of being referred to as "Hollywood for Ugly People." Instead, we'd like to be called "Hollywood for Ugly People Who Also Pay for Sex." The Washington Times has the latest on a bomb of salacious gossip that may be about to go off in our fair city. For some background, The Smoking Gun first talked about the case back in October. It's hard to know whether to be worried or...

It seems that the folks over at the Washington City Paper have made good on what has become a yearly resolution -- to play catch-up with the rest of online world.

>> The Politico breaks into D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's family home, and what do they turn up? Twenty cases of Gillette Mach-3 razors, a box of replacement Blackberry chargers and a picture of Fenty in his younger and hairier days. [The Politico] >> Investigators have confirmed that the deaths of two area teens, whose bodies were discovered on Friday, were acts of suicide. [WTOP/AP] >> Tomorrow is the day that area minors and all-age venues...

What do you do when you, the dutiful copy editor, is are forced to adhere to an in-house style that flies in the face of the rules of grammar you hold in such high esteem? You blog about it.

FRIDAY:

It was a week ago that the Washington City Paper joined the blogosphere, kicking off their staff blog, City Desk. Since then, they have posted on politics, media, fashion, theater and even kicked off their own question-and-answer feature, "The 'Huh?' Bub."