I was upset about something in this week's Other Paper and wrote it up here: http://donewaiting.com/oh/index.php#001718

I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions.

I agree Rob....What a cheap shot, both in the paper's and Diane's case. The Other Paper been hurting for months and losing me by the week. Whether what happened was drug related or not, we, as the reading public, do not have any business seeing that. I've always though of Mr. Bearer as a nice individual and he really did bring some great shows to that dive. I'm reconsidering if I'll ever read the Other Paper or go to High Five again.

Paul's a good guy and has all ways been great to me and my band, and has generally helped a good amount bands out.
If he is going through rough times, I wish him the best of luck.
Paul will bounce back and keep on bringin in great shows.

yeah. he's been here forever doing shit, and he's always been very cool to most everyone i know. best of luck.

this is why i hate people, if we could all join hands and sing in harmony maybe people would stop being mean to each other. going after paul like that was totally purposeless and just a horrible thing to do, if you believe in karma you gotta think that plenty of birds will be shiting on some cars the next few months, and not just little birds, those huge ass crows that look like they could eat people types of birds.

i've heard lots of good things about dealings with paul and he brought in a lot of great shows to the five, with him gone i wouldn't be surprised for that place to fall apart, given the current situation. it is reprehensible for a paper to exploit and capitalize on paul's dealing and business in such a personal and slanderous manner. you'd think there would have been somebody with enough decency and taste not to print that garbage, oh well.

honestly, paul bearer has given more to the music community this past year through the high five than any other music venue. plus bands actually got paid good money to play there.

if you have shows booked there in the future, I would suggest cancelling, you will be ripped off.

for those who just go to see bands, I would suggest an all-out boycott till things get fixed.

it amazes me that the High Five is even still in existence.

we (TIARA) never really enjoyed playing at the High Five, i mean really.
there was always something weird about that place besides the obvious
difficulties...the drumkit being basicly on a trampoline of a stage, the soundguy
there usually being clueless and taking a huge cut of the door and last time
we played there, the bartender didnt show up? the only thing
that made our last show there any good was having Paul booking and
keeping track of things. i guess a good way to look at it is that maybe
he can now move on to something better. i know we won't be doing any
shows at the High 5 anymore.

i've watched the Other Paper go from bad to worse but this is really too far.

on the other hand, the Alive has gone from pretty OK to really good as far
as covering local music and music in general without ripping everything to
shreads just for fun.

best wishes to Paul.

Eric

i wonder who took the story to the other paper? from reading it... it seems doubtful to me that diane would have taken the situation to the press... probably doesn't want any more negative publicity than the place already has. so if paul or any of his friends took the story to the paper, then i guess those persons should be prepared for any retort that may happen publicly, for better or worse.

and if neither of them took the story to the paper, then yeah, the paper is just making the scene look catty and silly in the eyes of people who are not involved with it. probably hurts the scene a little.

Libel:

2 : a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression (1) : a statement or representation published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt (2) : defamation of a person by written or representational means (3) : the publication of blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or obscene writings or pictures (4) : the act, tort, or crime of publishing such a libel

I haven't read the story yet and I have no idea who wrote it, so this is all just initial observation from you guys. I guess there is always a fine line of ethics at any paper. Lord knows I love to throw in some punches at elected officials at the paper here in Marysville. I even like to have other people do it for me in some juicy slanderous quotes. But when it comes to referencing someone's drug use that is unfounded, then that's a pretty clear line not to cross.

I mean if Bearer was in public snorting a mile long line of coke off of 100 naked hooker backs on High Street that is one thing. But, as far as I'm concerned I'm not sure which is worse: TOP for printing Diane's quote on the drugs or her complete and utter lack of professionalism for saying it in the first place. It's pretty sad as a business owner that she is that slow-witted. Everyone knows if you wanna insult someone in the papers, just be vague about it.

As a reporter, I think I should have the right to print anything I want and if some jack-ass is stupid enough to say it then full steam ahead. But there is a reason they teach journalistic ethics in college. TOP isn't really hard news. It has more of a flare for drama and sarcasm that you wouldn't find in central city papers. And there's nothing wrong with that. I enjoy it and think the TOP writers are pretty damn good at it.

But when someone says a quote that is obviously meant as slanderous and the writer doesn't reference the medical records to prove it inside the story (which I'm assuming they didn't do, here)...It's just plain unethical, and that's the shit that's ruining journalism.

When Paul annouced that he was no longer booking shows @ the High 5
the first thing I said was"We'll I guess MonsterMovies won't be playing there anymore!"
Paul then told me how he appreciated our loyality and invited me to a show he moved to Little Bros.He booked a great Japanese band seriously that kicked ass.
The point is when it came to the High 5 I only delt w/ Paul.Before Paul came to High 5,local bands NEVER saw a dime!(mine being one of them).
Now w/ Paul gone I would only expect the same.
The Other Paper preoccupation w/ dooms-day sarcasm and open ended drama only proves how low their readership actually is.So they stick to tired politcal or sports coverage OR "the High 5 story".
It's amazing what's actually newsworthy in the Other Paper.
Best Wishes
A.Perkins
New MonsterMoviesC.D. is out!

When Paul started booking at the high-five it had a bad reputation for consistently screwing local bands by either overbooking or underbooking shows, ripping them off from the door money, and having one of the worst sound systems in town. Many bands in town wouldn't play there at all. When Paul took over it brought alot of people and bands back to the club because he treated the bands fairly and setup quality shows (and it helped that the soundman seemed to learn to work with what he had). I don't think Diana realizes what Paul has done for her bar. Her comments were ridiculous and shame on the other paper for printing them. Couldn't they at least have gotten the account of the night she mentions from some other high-five employee?

How many great bands did Paul bring to Columbus in the last year that may have otherwise skipped our city? Off the top of my head I can think of plenty; The Briefs, Black Cat Music, The Dragons, The Riveboat Gamblers, The Immortal Lee County Killers, Modey Lemon, The Epoxies, The Mud City Manglers, Slaughter & The Dogs, Thrall, The White Heat, The Little Killers, The Mystery Girls and the list goes on and on....

Do you think Diana is going to be bringing in good music? I think it's probably back to booking lousy nu-metal travesties for the high-five. I know my band won't be playing the high-five again.

I know this topic seems to have dwindled out, but I just read the actual story in the TOP. I recant what I wrote up above. I don't think there was anything wrong with what Chad Painter wrote. The only thing wrong is what Diane chose to say in public. Everything negative about Bearer was in quotes from her and they gave him a chance to address it. I thought they were pretty fair about it, actually.