The LAist Interview: Tony Pierce

Followers of the busblog are given a virtual all access pass to what its author, Tony Pierce, is thinking and doing in and around Los Angeles. And Tony’s world within this city is a textured, unorthodox, engaging place to be. (Check out the FAQ Tony posted on January 06, 2005 for a busblog primer.) His insights into myriad topics can also be found on the printed pages of his newly published book, How to Blog.

Sticklers for grammar and punctuation best look elsewhere, but loyal busblog readers can’t get enough of these glimpses inside the life of a car-less resident who passionately lives Los Angeles to the core. Fortunately for us, Tony’s prolific blogging proves he’s committed to keeping his audience sated.

1. Age and Occupation:

111, undercover superhero for the xbi

2. How long have you lived in Los Angeles, and which neighborhood do you live in?

I have lived in LA on and off since 1984. I have lived in Venice, Santa Monica, Westwood, West LA, Atwater Villiage, and Inglewood. For the last 3 years I have been a happy resident of Little Armenia.

3. Where are you from?

A tiny hamlet 45 minutes northwest of Chicago

4. What are the best and worst transportation lines in the city?

Best: The 720 Rapid runs pretty regularly from downtown to Santa Monica via Wilshire. Bad part is you can go a mile or more without a stop so know where the stops are.

Worst: I love the red line but it doesn’t run past midnight and at the Wilshire/Vermont transfer spot the waiting train likes to pull away just as the commuters are running down the stair waving their arms frantically. If I can say fuck in this interview allow me to say fuck mta drivers who are cruel in that manner.

5. Please share some stories of romantic solicitations you’ve received from the busblog readers.

I’m not a handsome man. And I’m old. And I have no automobile. And I make very little money. None of that has stopped the lovely ladies of the Internet from sending me sweet gifts, photographs, and offers of romantic dalliances.

Yes I have taken a few of them up on their offers.

Yes, some were ridiculously young.

Every encounter was beautiful and bizarre and mindblowing and precisely the reason that young boys learn how to play the guitar.

God bless the Internet!

6. Is blogging still an addiction? If not, then what motivates you to continue the busblog?

Yes I am still addicted. But the addiction doesn’t motivate me. What motivates me is my job is really hard and during my 15-minute breaks it’s really nice to just float away into a different world where I have total control and where people flood me with compliments and love and nice attention. I can honestly say that if I was happy in my career a few years ago there would have been no busblog.

7. If you had to make a soundtrack of the busblog, what might some of the selections include?

Tsar, “Wrong”

The Replacements, “If Only You Were Lonely” and “Kiss Me On The Bus”

R.E.M, “Superman”

N.W.A, “100 Miles And Runnin’”

Jane’s Addiction, “Three Days”

Led Zeppelin, “The Immigrant Song”

The Donnas, “Take It Off”

The Corvids, “Worried”

The Cure, “Why Can’t I Be You”

Soul Asylum, “Cartoon”

Beastie Boys, “Shadrach”

they asked me 28 questions. click here to read the whole thing.