Kim Dorn, Sara Dick, and Liz Eckstein tell Nest in a Q&A that the idea for City Paper's annual craft fair, which celebrates its fourth anniversary this year, originated in the heart of the classifieds section. "Through our free ads, we create a community marketplace where people can sell goods and services directly to each other. ... We had been tossing around the idea of hosting a big citywide yard sale," they say. "In the spring of 2004, the indie craft movement was just getting its legs and we decided it made more sense to do an arts-focused event. ... [Publisher Amy Austin] is a huge supporter of the arts and theatre and pretty much gave us free reign."
Washington City Paper's Pete Morelewicz and his wife Christine Henry have decided to close their collection of squished pennies to the public after running it out of the front hallway of their home for 11 years, the Washington Post reports. "We started to get so many visitors that we were overwhelmed," Morelewicz says. "We didn't have enough time to accommodate everyone who wanted to visit us. And that was really tough for them as well as for us, because we wanted to make people happy."
Despite MediaBistro's speculation that the hawkers were sent out in response to the recent D.C. launch of The Onion, City Paper staffers were just helping to promote the redesign yesterday as they braved chilly temperatures to hand out free papers. On the City Paper's blog, reporter Jonathan York notes his lack of preparation compared to the hawkers of free dailies the Washington Examiner and Express. "These guys were pros," he says. "As the wind brought snowflakes, my hands were bare, and Messrs. Examiner and Express wore gloves."
Bob Mould, best known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter for the indie bands Hüsker Dü and Sugar, will answer reader questions on "music, cooking, travel, politics, religion, neighborhoods, sociology and more" in a column appropriately called "Ask Bob Mould," according to City Paper. Arts editor Mark Athitakis tells AAN News the idea "was kicking around for a while here at the office" and that the column will run "on the opening spread of the arts section."
Admitting it "has had a rather checkered history when it comes to our commitment to the Web," the paper announces it is moving into "the mid-2000s" with its newly reconfigured site. Among the changes: the blogs are no longer using Blogger, i.e., an open-source software solution; a "toolbox" with listings and classifieds has been added to each page on the site; and the previously pay-for-access editorial archives are now free.
Having been allowed to read an advance draft of a critical story about him that the Washington City Paper is apparently preparing to publish, investigative reporter Murray Waas (pictured) beats D.C.'s alt-weekly to the punch with a rambling indictment on Huffington Post. Waas accuses the City Paper of baiting him to get juicy quotes for the story; making "degrading comments" about his experience as a cancer survivor; and using the newspaper as a tool to wage personal battles. "I believe that I have a clear obligation to other cancer survivors not to remain silent about such acts of prejudice and intolerance," Waas explains in defending his decision to go public.
On Monday, a federal grand jury returned an 18-count indictment accusing three individuals -- including a woman named Ho -- of operating brothels in the Denver area. Court documents suggest the defendants drummed up business by purchasing ads in Westword. Several hundred miles east in Indianapolis, a woman was arrested this week on prostitution charges after an undercover officer responded to her ad in Nuvo that said, "For An Afternoon So Sweet to Treat, Call Candy." And last month in the nation's capital, the feds seized the assets of a woman accused of running a prostitution ring. According to court documents, the alleged madam spread her ad dollars among several local media outlets, including the Washington City Paper.
The Washington City Paper operated a dunking booth at the Adams Morgan Festival in D.C. on Sunday. Fishbowl DC reports that Editor Erik Wemple and columnist James Jones both volunteered to get wet, and there are photos of the latter.
