The paper for guys who like guys
Has shockingly met its demise
Goodbye to the Blade
But don't be dismayed
A similar rag may arise...

We hear that the writers conspire
(They're surely too young to retire)
They're thinking of names
For out of the flames
A phoenix is born from the fire

Here's the way Benton tells it: His people and the Blade's corporate overlords were in the very final stages of completing the ownership transfer. Around Nov. 6, Benton was waiting for some notes from the other side's lawyers on "finalizing the contract for sale." But they got no notes. "We got silence," says Benton. "We weren't in touch."

Next thing Benton knows, the Blade is dead.

Here's a bit more detail on just what the deal would have involved. According to Benton, the idea was to acquire the Blade free and clear of the debt load that was killing it. Benton also wanted to "retain as many of the employees as possible and continue business as usual." Money was also part of the deal, though Benton won't say just yet how much he was offering.

Perhaps it wasn't enough to offset the always-high legal fees involved in transferring ownership of a paper. Or perhaps it was---who knows at this point. More updates to come.

The press release states that Benton's bid to acquire the Blade was accepted but that the transaction never went through. "The Blade was closed without Benton's advanced knowledge on Monday," says the release.

"Benton said he regrets that the negotiations to complete the transfer of ownership failed to be completed, and that as a result he is unable to carry forward the Blade, its legacy, its employees, and its service to its community regionally and nationally."

The release does not state how this deal fell apart. City Desk has begun making inquiries on the matter.

Cathy Renna, a spokesperson for Benton, says that Benton is not part of the efforts of former Blade staffers to launch a new Blade-like publication. However, Benton would be interested in talking to them, says Renna.

PRESS RELEASE:

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS OWNER CONFIRMS HIS COMPANY WON BID TO BUY & PERPETUATE WASHINGTON BLADE PRIOR TO ITS SHUTDOWN

Washington, D.C., Nov. 18 -- In response to media inquiries and an apparent information blackout by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Nicholas F. Benton, owner of the Falls Church News-Press, a Washington, D.C.-area weekly, confirmed today that his corporation, Benton Communications, Inc., had won a bid from parties that included the SBA in September to obtain the assets of the Washington Blade from its bankrupt parent company for purposes of a seamless perpetuation of the nation's oldest gay community newspaper. The Blade was closed without Benton's advanced knowledge on Monday.
Benton said he regrets that the negotiations to complete the transfer of ownership failed to be completed, and that as a result he is unable to carry forward the Blade, its legacy, its employees, and its service to its community regionally and nationally.
Benton said that, after responding to a request for proposal in early September, he was contacted by agents of the sellers, including the SBA, later in that month and told Benton Communications' bid had been successful. Benton Communications won based on a number of factors, including: 1.the company's record of 19 years of the successful management and publication of an award-winning weekly newspaper not unlike the Blade in the and in same region, 2. its stated commitment to perpetuate the Blade's legacy, to offer on-going employment to the Blade's existing staff, and to continue the Blade's service to its readership and community of interest, and, 3. Benton's own history of involvement and leadership in the Blade's community of interest, including Benton Communications' standing as an officially certified "LGBT Business Enterprise" by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. There was also a cash offer which the SBA confirmed that Benton Communications had the resources to cover.
The process to complete the sale continued through e-mail, telephone and mail contact until as recently as Nov. 6, just 10 days before the news came on Nov. 16 that the Blade and other Window Media publications had been abruptly terminated.
"Everything was in place, although moving slowly, to make the seamless transition we hoped for. But I remain unaware of what happened, and as a result of Monday's events, the Blade is gone after 40 years of publication, its employees are out of work, and the nation's and region's LGBT community has been stripped of an invaluable institution." Benton said.

But I must say that it was Continetti who grabbed me this morning, right from the start of his piece. If ever there was a perfect lede, this was it:

Like a lot of people, as soon as I got my copy of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue," I immediately thought of the German literary critic Hans Robert Jauss.

At that moment, I mind-melded with Continetti, because that's the very reaction I have when I pick up just about any book. When I recently finished off Hank Stuever's delightful Tinsel, all I could think of was Jauss. Sure, I was thinking of Tammie and Blake and Caroll and Marissa and all the other great characters in Stuever's narrative, but it was Jauss that really preoccupied me.

Last night, I grabbed Honey, I Wrecked the Kids. I began reading about such child behavior-influencing techniques as redirection and distraction, not to mention the important distinctions between praise and encouragement. But I was really obsessing the whole time over the teachings of none other than Jauss. He provided the frame of reference for the entire affair. Yup, Jauss.

Same dynamic applied to this morning's newspaper reading. I was checking out the Post's stories on the closing of the Washington Blade and about the killing of a 9-year-old in Columbia Heights. People like Lou Chibbaro Jr. and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham were mentioned in those stories. And they were so overshadowed, yet again, by Jauss.

Like a lot of people, I just wander around thinking about nothing but Jauss. I've got to get together with Continetti and talk some Jauss.

Tomorrow morning, the staff of the defunct Washington Blade will meet to launch a new publication that does pretty much what the Blade has done/did since 1969---cover gay Washington.

It just won't be called the Blade anymore.

"The staff is united," says current/former Blade editor Kevin Naff. "We’re all together. Our first meeting for our new venture is tomorrow morning."

The staffers don't yet have a name for the newspaper.

Not a dumb move at all: The Blade as a standalone publication runs a profit; however, not enough of a profit to keep its debt-troubled parent company, Window Media, in the black. According to Naff, Window is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protections, which means that it's ceasing operations. Naff said that he was expecting Chapter 11, which would have allowed the company to restructure.

So what Naff and Blade Publisher Lynne Brown are trying to do is essentially replicate the Blade without the debt load.

The staffers sure won't be wasting any time finishing up old Blade business: They were given till 3 pm today to pack up. When asked if the company was handling the shutdown in a professional manner, Naff responded, "I should probably not comment."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Reports are coming in that the Washington Blade is closing effective this week. The source for the news is our sister paper, Creative Loafing Atlanta. City Desk has made several calls to the Blade but hasn't yet gotten through. More to come.

UPDATE, 11:46 A.M.: Queerty posts a nice wrapup on what went down. Seems that the Blade's publisher, Window Media, posted a note on the front door of its Atlanta offices saying, hey, we're done. It instructs employees to return on Nov. 18 to retrieve belongings and get the lowdown on "separation stipulations."

UPDATE, 12:55 P.M.: Politico's Michael Calderone reports that Blade staffers are already planning a new venture. Editor Kevin Naff tells him, "The Blade staff is united and ready to continue the paper's long-standing mission. The first meeting for our new venture is Tuesday and we welcome the community's input as we move forward."

photo by Darrow Montgomery

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. has been walking a mighty fine line the past couple of weeks.

When you're representing a ward that contains both quickly gentrifying (and gayifying) areas like Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Brookland, in addition to the generally conservative Bungalow Belt and many of the city's most politically active churches, same-sex marriage would be one of those issues you might wish would go away.

Thomas veered heavily to one side of that line when he voted this month to recognize other states' same-sex marriages here in D.C. He leaned even further when the Washington Blade reported last Friday that Thomas was on the record in support of a full gay marriage bill—-a story LL had highlighted in his Friday news roundup.

Leaned too far, perhaps: That afternoon, Thomas spokesperson Victoria Leonard called LL to say the Blade story, by Lou Chibarro Jr., wasn't true. Her boss, she said, wasn't committed either way.

Chibbaro says that he went with his story after Leonard mentioned to him a questionnaire that Thomas had filled out for the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance ahead of his 2006 election. It asked, "Do you support legal recognition of marriages between partners of the same sex?" Thomas replied, "Yes." Leonard told Chibbaro that her boss stood by his response three years later.

"She was very upbeat and definitive," the veteran reporter says. Thomas himself was in Las Vegas for the shopping-centers conference at the time and unavailable for direct comment

Leonard says she indeed told Chibarro that her boss stood by his old line. Giving such an unequivocal response, she says, was a mistake. "I'm not an attorney, and I'm not a councilmember," she tells LL. "As a spokesperson, I'll have to learn to be more careful, especially on tumultuous issues."

LL finally got Thomas himself on the horn yesterday: "That's why I always speak to you guys directly," Thomas says. "My spokesperson's statement was taken out of character a little bit."

OK, fine, unfiltered, straight from the horse's mouth. No confusion, right? Well, see if you can parse these comments from Thomas:

"We're going to have to make sure whatever we do passes the congressional smell test. And so I am looking at how we look at possible referendums and other options where we have a true voice of the people on this issue, to strengthen our position when we go forward."

So you favor a voter referendum, then?

"Well, I want to look at the possibilities of having one...make sure that we as councilmembers ensure we have due process in this whole piece. I think we've gone a long way in a quick period of time, and people need to have input in this process. And I've stuck to my guns about my position on it, but at the same time, we must be open to making sure that the whole citizenry feels like it was engaged in this process."

Stuck to your guns? What guns?

"My position is that, I've supported the equity issues in recognizing what other states have already done, so people would not have those legal issues here in the District of Columbia."

What about the questionnaire?

"I am supportive of that, but again, in defining that support, you have to look at how you get to that point. I think there's legislative [ways] and there's ways through referendums to do it. And so I haven't hedged from my support on the issue. My issue is how you bring others along in a city with such a diverse opinion on it."

Haven't hedged, huh?

"Have you ever seen me hedge? I'm not a hedger, man. That's not in my nature!"

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

An American Idol upset last night. Don't care. Don't watch it. But today the Washington Blade is saying it was "smear the queer" time in America. Just like when Brokeback lost! Scandal! Sniff!

My idol? Michael Volpe, the 25-year-old guy standing in front of Metro stations with a bright orange sign advertising himself as an entry level jobseeker. I have a soft spot for SUNY Geneseo grads after spending several weekends there as an undergrad way back in the early '90s. But even if you don't, you gotta read Petula Dvorak's sweet little story about this guy. And she took the photo. Is the Post turning into the Current?

Also local in our paper of record: Tai Shan really is leaving this time. Know the real reason why? He gained weight and ceased to be cute. My mom told me the same thing way back in the early '90s.

Moving on to other people who write blogposts:

* DCist has the lowdown on the trainwreck Tweets between DCRA and the owner of the Capital City Diner, the 1940s dining car moving to a Trinidad used car lot (which Tim Carman broke a few days ago on our Young & Hungry blog). Matt Ashburn, one of the partners in the venture, had to drop the car in the middle of Bladensburg Road. Spokesman to the stars (or just for DCRA) Michael Rupert later cleared things up. The foundation was poured wrong and the dining car's on blocks for now. Also on it: We Love DC.

* There's Euro Trash in Borderstan.

* Hoogirl gives it up to Hoogirl for landing in the Post. Also, she's going to Target today.

* The Anacostia Gateway's getting some new buildings that probably won't be boarded up. And, Now's got the scoop, of course.

* I can't believe we missed Cher's birthday. Q Street News cannot say the same.

* The Ride of Silence honoring local killed cyclists couldn't have happened on a nicer evening, weather-wise. I see no updates this a.m., although the peloton went by my apartment. The WashCycle, which organized the ride, has other news, namely the opening of the pedestrian/cyclist bridge over a historically dangerous and often-crossed section of Route 50 in Seven Corners. (Incidentally, this bridge goes to the shopping center targeted by the snipers in 2002. I mean: Could that Home Depot be any safer these days?)

Don't touch that remote!

The Blade reports:

"The victim was identified as Durval V. Martins of the 200 block of Bates Street, N.W. A police statement said Martins also suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

Acting Lt. Brett Parson, who oversees the police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, said the motive for the killing was unknown but could have been robbery. He noted that officers found the victim’s wallet in his hand.

Martins’ credit cards, cash, cell phone, and jewelry were still in his possession, Parson said."

We will be updating this story soon.

Via DCist.