yesterday i interviewed four very nice people

two matts a stuart and an aaron.

aaron for some reason isnt crazy about being interviewed on the phone, and i can appreciate that, i hate the phone too. and whats great is he likes aol chats. so for those of you who like inside baseball, meaning not just “yankees suck”, but intelligent deep deep discussion of our national pasttime, then you will enjoy any upcoming conversations with my favorite baseball blogger.

then i got on the horn and talked to canadian rocker and blogger matthew good who has returned from his mini tour across the great white north. we talked for about an hour and we both decided that it was a good interview but it wasnt perfect. i wouldnt call matthew a perfectionist but he cares far more about details than i do. i respect that and i should learn from his fine lesson.

whats also interesting is where i might look at blogging and podcasting as a fun lil hobby to do on the side, guys like matt good are talking about not just his life but his profession, and part of his profession depends on his image. id be a liar if i didnt admit that part of the formulae that goes into my cd-buying habits has to do with the politics of how i view bands. not “is it cool or not to buy BandX” but things like “Singer Y is an asshat, fuck if im ever going to buy his records again.”

mr good is quite aware of that mentality among music buyers and is wise to be careful about the things that might be misunderstood in the press and in blogs. especially in coversations with guys like me who try to get people to drop their natural defenses. what i like about matthew is i know we will have plenty of conversations in the future, on the record and off, and therefore i want the ones that will be on the record to be educational and interesting and insightful and one dry run practice is fine with me. it’ll be novel to hear me come across as professional and prepared for once.

i also had a nice chat with mr stuart berkowitz a producer of the howard stern show who is still employed at E! stuart and i worked side by side for several years. i called him when it looked like he might be laid off from E! like the crew in ny but he was already on vacation. today he called me back and we got to discuss my lay off and his current employment. i invited him repeatedly to talk in a podcast with me about some of his experiences on the show but he hesitated since its sorta well known that the behind the scenes staff of the show pretty much stay behind the scenes. again i respected his wishes since that show has been his profession for the last six years and my podcast is a bs lil hobby that i started a few days ago. i would hate to have stu’s future get jeopordized and i would be very saddened if i found that ive upset howard. stu and i are to have lunch next week so maybe i can get him to say hi to you all.

then i hung out all night with my good pal mr matt welch and his beautiful wife emmanuelle richard. matt and i sat in his backyard and talked all night about a variety of topics and drank bottles of wine. not only was it so much fun bopping from sports to politics to our glory days at the nexus, but it was great just to hang out with my former little league co-manager, something i rarely do despite living a half mile away.

you all realize im an idiot, right?

so matt and i talked until the batteries ran out of the player and then we talked some more and then em found more batteries and we talked even more. if you think me and aaron got into some inside baseball shit you should hear where me and matt went. fuck! and lucky you over the next week i will be sending portions of those conversations onto the web.

will you find it interesting? who knows. i hope you will. i tried to break them up by topic so if you dont like baseball dont download that segment. if i were you id download it anyway because you might want to hear me make fun of matt for knowing all the sick shit that he knows about baseball players of the turn of the century. its bizzare. how can you know someone for nearly 20 years and not realize that he can pull out names like Stuffy McGuinness and actually know who the fuck he is.

after he said that, of course i grabbed the mic and said, “for those of you listening, Matt is not reading off notes, nor has he made that name up. i know this because i know he’s not that creative.”

im a lucky man who has been blessed with awesome friends and cool coworkers. just like i feel blessed to live here in hollywood and i have made this blog as a way to give those of you a glipse of the real tinsle town, i am interviewing these people so you can meet, in a way, some of the best bloggers and coolest people. i know that if i had stayed in suburbs of chicago i would certainly appreciate interviews with people like stu and aaron and the matts, and thats what i think of when i do these things. you. the one in the burbs.

expect some more updates on the podblog supersoon.

scotty has another bad day + crooks and liars has so many great vids + shane defends himself + “busblog? im not impressed”

exlusive interview with Aaron Gleeman!

busblog: holy crap is this The aaron gleeman?!?!?

Aaron: it might be

busblog: <- tony pierce here Aaron: heh
Aaron: THE tony pierce?

busblog: ahahahah
busblog: yes!

Aaron: I was just about to e-mail you, actually.

busblog: good!
busblog: what was your response going to be?

Aaron: I’m a chicken shit with radio shows, podcasts, phone interviews, etc.

busblog: get out!
busblog: why?!?!

Aaron: Yeah, i think it’s like a phobia.
Aaron: for real

busblog: interesting. ok i can appreciate that. not everyone is meant for everything

Aaron: Yeah, I’m meant for very little.

busblog: so not ture
busblog: do you have a few minutes, can i aol interview you?

Aaron: of course

busblog: right on!
busblog: ok aaron, what a pleasure to chat with you
busblog: you are probably the best baseball blogger out there
busblog: first since youre the guest, lets do some twins talk

Aaron: They stink right now. Despite them finally getting rid of Luis Rivas, I am very depressed about their season.

busblog: whats up with Brett Boone?

Aaron: Bret Boone is done. As Bill Simmons would say, it’s hard to play baseball effectively with a giant fork sticking out of your back.

busblog: why the Twins demise? age? roids?

Aaron: They are almost exactly as good as they’ve been for the past three years, but the other teams in the division (namely the White Sox) are way better. So instead of cruising to the AL Central title, they have to fight with teams like New York and Boston for the Wild Card. And us Minnesotans aren’t meant to be fighting with New Yorkers.

busblog: perhaps
busblog: salary-wise, definately not
busblog: but thats never bothered you guys before

Aaron: Yeah, I think we’re pushing like 1/4 of NY’s salary. It’s never bothered us, but we’ve never had to beat NY or BOS (or Baltimore, whatever) for a playoff spot.

busblog: can the Sox keep that pace?

Aaron: They won’t keep this pace, but short of their team plane crashing they’ll win the division.

busblog: it seems to me that its all due to their pitching noone is hitting over .300 and only two guys have over 15 dingers

Aaron: BTW, if the team plane crashed, how long would I have to pretend like I was sad for? A week?

busblog: as a cub fan id have a party. but itd kill my fantasy teams

Aaron: But yeah, Chicago’s pitching has been sick this year.

busblog: and now el duque is coming back

Aaron: Yeah, he’s going tonight. The funny thing is that they have this rookie McCarthy who is a great prospect, but he’s stunk when called up to fill in.

busblog: still garland, buehrle, garcia, contreras. not bad

Aaron: Yeah, although either Ozzie or the pitching coach deserves some sort of award for turning garland and conteras into something so good

busblog: but again, can they keep the twins at bay without a .300 hitter? has there been such a playoff-bound team before?

Aaron: Sure. The Twins last year had a horrible offense and the top pitching staff in the league, and it worked for them.

busblog: no .300 hitters last year on the twins?

Aaron: I don’t know about .300 hitters, but I’m one of those stat-head geeks who is into more than just batting average. 🙂

busblog: ahahah kids today

Aaron: The White Sox have outscored the Twins by 26 runs this year.

busblog: im old school: ave, sb, hr, era, ks
busblog: ribbies
busblog: explain to the audience why thats flawed

Aaron: Well, I think the White Sox are a good example. You might think they have a bad offense because they don’t have any .300 hitters, but like I said they are actually scoring more runs than the Twins. And in the end, scoring runs is what matters, not batting average. Batting average is just part of scoring runs, you know?

busblog: so their success is due to on base percentage, walks, hitting with men in scoring position?

Aaron: Yeah, they are better at those things than hitting for an average. Take Tampa Bay. They rank fifth in batting average, but they stink because they don’t walk or hit any home runs. All they do is hit singles.

busblog: will they trade away Huff?

Aaron: They should. By the time they have a good team he’ll be as old as you.

busblog: ahahaha

Aaron: 450 or whatever.

busblog: explain the Nationals’ success …changing the subject… 🙂

Aaron: That’s a confusing team. To be honest I’m not sure how they’re doing it. They’ve been outscored this year, yet are 53-39, which is crazy.

busblog: credit has to be given to their closer, right?

Aaron: Usually comparing a team’s runs scored and runs allowed is a good barometer of how good they are, but not in this case. Yeah, they’ve been very good in 1-run games, which helps a lot.
Aaron: Same with the White Sox, they’ve killed people in 1-run games.

busblog: and guillen is their only guy with more than even 10 homers

Aaron: They’re dead last in runs scored in the NL.

busblog: woah. i did not know that

Aaron: me neither, i just looked it up so i could sound smart

busblog: and yet first place in the east!
busblog: major props to Frank Robinson, obviously

Aaron: Yeah, although I’d bet on them fading down the stretch.
Aaron: It’s tough to keep it up all year when you don’t score more runs than you allow.

busblog: Preston Wilson was a good pickup, no?

Aaron: Fair. They’ve had some injuries, so they could use another bat and another outfielder, but he’s nothing special. He put up some nice numbers because of Coors Field, but he’s not so good at regular altitude.

busblog: ok, new topic… steroids

Aaron: I’m on the juice right now, actually. Helps me type faster.

busblog: its my belief that this crackdown has brutally effected some stars who are trying to learn to play without the juice

Aaron: I think it’s tough to say. Early on homers were down and everyone was saying it was because of the juice crackdown, but now homers are almost back up to “normal” levels. Every guy having a down year gets pointed to as a steroid user, but in reality he might just be having a crappy year.

busblog: is giambi a good example of that?

Aaron: Giambi had all kinds of problems, not the least of which is that he’s 34 years old and sort of husky. But he’s been really good lately.

busblog: were the Cubbies fortune tellers by unloading sammy when they did?

Aaron: Yeah, definitely. He’s a mess now.

busblog: roids? or lack thereof?

Aaron: Baltimore is DHing him and dropping him in the lineup and giving him days off. The end is near.

busblog: so sad

Aaron: Could be, but who knows? He’s also pretty old and was declining before all the steroids crackdown started.

busblog: last year he had his worse year ever and still knocked 35. this year he wont even get 25

Aaron: Yeah, he had the great year in 2001 and has gone down in overall production every year since

busblog: but hes not the reason the O’s keep sinking. is it their pitching? cuz their lineup is amazing

Aaron: They’ve had a ton of injuries. Erik Bedard, Javy Lopez, Melvin Mora, Luis Matos, etc, etc. But yeah, their pitching isn’t great, I don’t think.
Aaron: My Twinkies play them tonight, so I’m sure Baltimore will sweep us.

busblog: i’ll light a candle for you. ok Cubs talk

Aaron: ok

busblog: explain Derek Lee’s triple crown season. there were No signs that would have pointed to this. in fact everyone thought Ramirez would break out this year

Aaron: Right. He’s been very good for the last few years, but this is a whole nother level.

busblog: ive watched closely and bro swings at everything, uses all fields and Everything drops, or goes in the first two rows

Aaron: It’s a shame that they haven’t been able to get that many guys on base in front of him, or he’d have even more RBIs

busblog: was dusty a fool for forcing Patterson to lead off?

Aaron: yeah, and Neifi leading off or batting second was an ever worse idea. but now they’re going with walker and hairston a lot in front of lee, right?

busblog: yeah and it seems to be working now that walker is healthy, but will that get them into the playoffs?

Aaron: i think they have a shot. they arent catching st. louis, but they could definitely win the wild card. i figure washington fades, atlanta takes over atop the NL East, and the Cubs have to beat Washington, philly, florida and the mets for the Wild Card

busblog: im still nervous, when i think of a solid playoff team i dont think of neifi and todd walker at the top of the lineup. and it aint like the bottom of our lineup is much better

Aaron: neifi is horrible. one of the worst hitters in baseball history

busblog: meaning d.lee, ramirez, burnitz and that pitching staff is all we have?

Aaron: right. they really could have used nomar

busblog: they say he’ll be back 8/1 … but of what year
busblog: last cubbie question, is Dusty overrated?

Aaron: yeah, i think he is. he does some things very well, but i dont think he’s strong at filling out a lineup and i think he abuses certain members of the pitching staff and then acts shocked when they come down with arm injuries

busblog: exactly. i worked for the SF Giants in ’97. they had a great young staff. but who really had a good solid career? reuter? no. estes? no ortiz? not really.

Aaron: Yeah, thats always been the knock on dusty. he’s old-school to the tenth power, but sometimes thats uneccessary

busblog: livan was only there for a short time

Aaron: yeah, livan is a freak of nature when it comes to avoiding injuries despite throwing tons of pitches. in fact: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-arm-pitch-counts-forgot/

busblog: nice!
busblog: i’ll read it later

busblog: ok so lets finish up with the yanks and the sox. explain to the audience how the Bosox have been able to take care of the yankees despite stienbrenner putting every single dollar in NY into that team. including nabbing leiter who threw great yesterday

Aaron: its kind of funny. the red sox are (or were, at least) seen as sort of the underdog team, but the reality is that they spend more than anyone else besides the yankees

busblog: on who?
busblog: shill… but who else?
busblog: manny?

Aaron: so if you spend 70% of what the yankees do, when other teams are spending 30%, and you make better decisions than NY, you can beat them

busblog: right. didnt they get ortiz for a steal?

Aaron: yeah, from the twins too

busblog: i know, sorry bro

Aaron: i think damon makes like 8 mill
Aaron: renteria, varitek, damon, nixon all make about 6-8 mill a year
Aaron: foulke, clement, ortiz all around 5-7

busblog: i guess that adds up. so what are their “better desicions”?

Aaron: the red sox do a better job building a deep team in case of injuries

busblog: and is that all theo epstein’s brilliance?

Aaron: the yankees seem to find themselves scrambling for retreads like leiter a lot, or calling up rookies who arent ready
Aaron: yeah, i think theo is pretty damn good

busblog: clement was a key pickup. why was it that noone was high on him during the off season?

Aaron: yeah, boston signed clement, whereas the yanks signed pavano and wright, who have both stunk. Clement had a bad record when he was with the Cubs, and a lot of people (like you!) don’t look beyond wins and losses for pitchers. But now that he’s on a team that scores some runs, he can win more games.

busblog: i looked as his K’s which were great. 190 last year

Aaron: yeah, he gets strikeouts and doesnt give up many hits

busblog: so do you play fantasy baseball?

Aaron: nah, i just write about it

busblog: why dont you play? youd seem like a ringer

Aaron: i used to. now i play much more dorky things, like this thing called diamond-mind which is liked a suped up fantasy baseball for uber-nerds

busblog: sheesh
Aaron: we dont look at RBIs and batting averages and all that

busblog: well next year i want you in one of my yahoo leagues

Aaron: i’d probably stink. i barely keep track of RBIs and steals and all that stuff

busblog: steals dont matter?

Aaron: they matter, sure. but not even close to as much as they matter in fantasy baseball

busblog: oh right. so if i were to set up a new league next year what stats should i have?

Aaron: On-base percentage, slugging percentage
Aaron: or you could get really nerdy and go with some of these stats with initials in them … VORP, RCAA and all that

busblog: yeah no thanks
busblog: is bill james in the hall of fame?

Aaron: no, but he should be some day

busblog: is moneyball the best baseball book of all time?

Aaron: not even close. ball four. and a close second is (plug alert!) the hardball times baseball annual

busblog: ahahahaha

Aaron: second edition coming to stores in november!

busblog: lemme know and i will link it
busblog: final final question
busblog: Rafael Palmerio hall of fame?

Aaron: For sure. I am surprised by how many people argue against him, actually.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/raffy-and-the-hall/

busblog: me too!
busblog: 3000 hits
busblog: total consistancy

Aaron: he’s gonna end up with like 3200 hits 600 homers

busblog: so why are they hatin?
busblog: cuz he was a dh?

Aaron: because he was never an MVP, never one of the 2-3 best players in baseball
Aaron: but he was always a very, very good player for like 15-18 years running

busblog: but at first base theres so much competition for all star appearances, and MVPs – feh

Aaron: right. first base is tough

busblog: thats the book id like to read: The Fallacy of the MVP

Aaron: yeah, im sick of the people who vote for baseball awards

busblog: Ron Santo… hall of fame?

Aaron: He’s a close call, but I think I’d say yeah
Aaron: plus the guy has no limbs at this point, he needs something to cheer him up

busblog: simply because he played with Diabeties… the bad kind

busblog: well dude this has been an honor
busblog: i think youd do well on the phone
busblog: so think about it

Aaron: ok, i will

busblog: we need to podcast your ass

Aaron: it’s not you, i turn down everyone for phone stuff 🙂

busblog: ahahahah thats ok. we all have our quirks
busblog: i love your blog so this has been a thrill for me

Aaron: if that’s true, you have some problems, but thanks

busblog: get drunk and email me and maybe that will get you on the phone

Aaron: yeah, that might be the best chance for everyone involved

busblog: i’ll send a bottle of rum over to the house

Aaron: im a vodka man 🙂

busblog: done!
busblog: good luck in the second half

Aaron: you too. have fun watching neifi

busblog: ahahah yeah

Aaron: and dont let instapundit make you crazy. because really, who the fuck reads him anyway? not me.

busblog: i think i make him more crazy than he makes me
busblog: and hes got the #2 most read blog in the universe

Aaron: who is #1? sullivan? kos?

busblog: Daily Kos

Aaron: ah yeah, and they’re taking over the baseball world too now

busblog: who>?

Aaron: kos

busblog: really? howso?

Aaron: they have set up a blog for almost every team

busblog: i didnt know that
busblog: i never go to kos

Aaron: like here’s one for the A’s: http://www.athleticsnation.com/

busblog: thats a kos blog?

Aaron: and here’s the main site for the whole baseball group of blogs: http://www.sbnation.com/
Aaron: he doesnt write it, obviously, but he is in charge

busblog: whoah. brilliant! how smart to use your popularity and expand on it
busblog: damn

Aaron: it was even in the NY Times a while ago. They must have a sweet publicist

busblog: 222 comments on that a’s blog~

Aaron: yeah, it’s crazy

busblog: thanks for the tip!
busblog: im out bro
busblog: thanks again

Aaron: see ya
Aaron signed off at 3:39:32 PM.

hewhocannotbenamed + stoner diary + kool keith + dave the pa

lets get a few things straight.

there are more than a few blogs out there that are busblog ripoff sites. and thats nice. Imitation is the highest form of blahblahblah, and all that. and hell, if im going to preach and teach and be all righteous on this shit then nobody should be surprised if a few people actually take me up on it.

however, never have i said that you should write in all lowercase

or break yr lines for emphasis

or take all your pictures from yahoo news

or have fake interviews with inanimate objects like your blog

hi blog

fuck you tony you dont talk to me anymore dont talk to me now

if anything ive tried to help you be more comfortable in being yourself and telling your stories and developing your style. its great that you like mine, but its mine, and i will whip your ass at being tony pierce any day of the week stoned or sober, employed or free.

i appreciate the props but realize you cannot blog like that forever and know that you will never be as popular long-term as the person who youre imitating. ask john cafferty and the beaver brown band.

and you damn well arent in the position to “nudge” me or “correct” me in anything other than spelling, but guess what, i have a spell checker right here and i dont use it so what makes me think im going to listen or be influenced by you?

i do the influencing here.

whats fascinating is some have had the guts to think that after five posts on their brand new blog that they can teach me a thing or two about writing or blogging or livin. as if!

on the fourth of july of last year i was given a gmail invite by one mr jason sutter of blogger. on that day i set it up so that every time i made a post it would get emailed to my gmail and put in my folder called “posts”. since last year at this time i have made 1,078 posts. you dont even have a tenth of that.

you dont even have 78.

some of those posts ended up in a self published book that some (maybe you, paid real money for), one of those posts ended up in the washington post.

you know who gives me advice? nobody. my mother does. she begs me not to curse. i love my mother more than anyone in the world and i dont even listen to her so why on earth do you think id listen to you, you who steals from me without kissing my ass properly.

if im number one in your blogheart i need to be number one on your blogroll. if youre jacking my style if youre stealing my design if youre biting my look or sound or technique my name needs to be in big letters at the top of your shit. period.

wanna call me the king of bloggers? that’ll do. even king call me the king. he doesnt put me on top of his list, but that may change and xtx rules so im cool with that.

dc puts me on top, right above lileks and thats about right. fuckr. and dc’s done that for a long time and he doesnt even bite my style so doubly good for him. and guess what, hes been linking me for years and his writing has only gotten better. why? because hes working on his shit, not mine.

YeahYeahs put Lick way up top on her shit and kept it there even though we havent done Lick in a long time. but notice on her links of people im on top and she even prefaces my name with a “mr.” good for you baby. props right back at you.

flagrant has me as her only external link. now thats love. “emergency exit” is how she links to me, and guess what, any time someone asks me about bloggers shes one of the few who i talk about. its called mutual respect. shes got her own thing going too and shes been consistently kickass over the years and im stoked that we might get an interview out of her soon cuz its been far too long.

ive dropped a notch on paige‘s blog, but its below goldenfiddle, which is fine cuz i dont visit bro enough and its a nice reminder. ive also dropped below anti on alecia’s but i think shes hot for him so thats cool too.

yes im vain and competitive and flawed and fucked. it makes me happy to be linked on the sidebars of instapundit and little green footballs as well as matt and jen good, and i love having gregs portrait of me on raymis blog.

how many bloggers do you know who are on such a wide spectrum of blogs like that without selling out, without pandering, without blatantly kissing ass.

therefore if youre going to come here every day and go back to your blog with what youve learned you better damn well put my name and my link up where it belongs: far up top for everyone to see. else youre frontin and thats wickeddy wack yo.

and if you want to pretend that im famous like oprah, im cool with that too.

yes links mean a lot to me which is why i link back as much as i do.

probably because i know how much they mean to you too.

4rilla is nervous about stern + small island girl + bart + tsar was on KROQ last night

ready for twenty six minutes with tony?

good cuz here it comes.

tivo stoked my ass today with suggesting two of my secret favorite movies so i had to watch them instead of blogging or doing the hundred page photo essay that im going to bust on your unsuspecting asses this week some time.

why? because i havent done a proper photo essay in a super long time and youve been patient and others have done photo essays and i havent and finally i have a good topic that i think you will all like and soon i will have a new job that will probably be hard and i wont have “time” to bust and i cant really look at my blog and say yeah thats what i did the summer that i had off.

so it would be nice to look at a kickass photo essay and say yeah no way could i have done that if i had had a job.

oh the movies that ive been watching? cant hardly wait, and fifty first dates.

right now im watching fifty first dates again cuz im a sucker. right now drew just found out that it isnt october, a few minutes ago she ran over a penguin. how cant you love that.

ok so the instapundit and i exchanged some nice emails today and that was nice. when you take pot shots at a guy and call him names sometimes they take it the wrong way and sometimes they get it. im not sure he gets it but i have a feeling that he knows i dont hate him. the truth is i like him and i read his blog all the time and i just want him to play this game fair. and anyone who doesnt think that blogging isnt a game is fooling themselves. especially political blogging.

i mean yeah we can all talk about cat food and pajamas but bloggers dont have any real power and if anyone thinks that the election was won or lost by bloggers is silly. michael moore had far more influence on americans and they still didnt give a fuck. so bloggers are just delusional if they think that they have any true effect on the big picture. yes we are all part of the game but individually we’re a tiny part. a speck. a voice in the chorus. a huge chorus.

laaaaaa

see.

so after some quick emailing of me telling him that he was linking something innacurrate he told me that as soon as he got home hed investigate my last post and true to his word he updated his post and then linked to it in a new post.

on top of that he linked to my post where i talked about him being wrong and where i called him names. you gotta admit thats mighty classy.

the way i see it this whole thing is just one big swimming pool and it should be treated as a huge splash fight.

laugh as you call someone fat. giggle as they call you a dumbass. duck when someone does a cannonball from the high dive. say poo-poo when someone calls marco.

none of it makes any difference and if someone can get laid off their blog, or some bills can get paid, or if they can score a job off their shit then good, but for the most part all of this is just zeros and ones spinning through the ether, voices in the wilderness, signifying nothing.

the music is great in this movie.

of course the instapundit is dead wrong when he called joe wilsons correction “useless“, and i find it crazy that a respected law professor cant see the difference between wilson saying “My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity” and meaning “My wife’s job as a clandestine officer was fucked over and her career as a spy was ruined when Bob Novak that piece of shit outted her as part of payback from the whitehouse,” and a dumbass like me in my pajama bottoms can see it clearly.

on friday when the mr reynolds linked to the quote and said that wilson was letting the air out of his story, even he had to believe that the former ambassador probably didnt mean it that way, because if joe wilson meant it that way it would mean that there was no crime since she wasnt undercover, and this two year investigation would be over deserving of far more than an aside buried into his post.

when wilson corrected himself the quote stood as more of an attack on novak as opposed to an admission. huge huge difference.

huge.

theres a woman in jail right now. a white woman! reporters are yelling at the white house press secretary. karl roves big fat mouth is shut right now, all because an investigator is trying to find out if plame was covert and if she was who was responsible for her cover being blown.

if joe wilson, her husband, all of a sudden says “oh yeah she wasnt a spy when novak wrote his piece” then it would be the biggest story of the day, not the fourth link of a post on a blog that last summer was devoted to nailing wilson against the wall.

therefore how could his correction be useless?

stil unconvinced that theres no way plame was still undercover? heres an exchange between lawrence o’donnell and tony blankley on kcrw on friday

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL:
Here’s what I think is definitive on this question. Patrick Fitzgerald has represented to the courts that he is pursuing a serious, national security, criminal violation. It seems to me in this grand jury, witness number one — and Tony you’ve been a prosecutor, you know how they assemble cases — witness number one would have been a CIA administrator who comes in and testifies about how Valerie Plame does indeed fit the law’s requirements. Because if witness number one doesn’t do that successfully for the prosecutor, there is absolutely no reason to call witness number two, because there is no crime to investigate.

Tony?

TONY BLANKLEY:
Yeah–well–I mean–that’s one way to approach it.

– via crooks and liars who also has audio

this is where i wish i had a radio show on sirius satelite radio called Bloggers cuz i would have the good professor on each friday the same way al franken has joe conasan on his show every friday. because obviously at the end of the week i have lots of questions to ask my favorite blogger.

who linked me today for the first time in over two years.

which was nice.

i could go on but our time is done.

and tomorrow you will hear at least one new podcast, and maybe four depending on how the quality of what i recorded turned out.

i took the best shower tonight.

its four am so i guess i should bid you good nite.

congratulations zulieka! + i shoulda interned at brooks’s this summer + sk smith + hell to the no, y’all

two years ago

today

jamie says that sometimes the comments are the best part.

and of course he’s right.

#7 Jul 16 2003, 06:47 pm

Please don’t have children.

(signed,)

al3x

now its true i do take requests, and al3x was polite enough to say please, so i might have to give the man what he wants purely on principle.

not that it would be hard.

im not the most lovable man.

i sweat when i sleep.

i enjoy the bible.

and pornography.

i really know way too much about sports, and most women find that annoying.

and then theres this blog, and the website, and the busriding. those three things dont usually add up to a lot of fornication, i dont care how big your dick is.

i dont like to read very many books, i hate dancing, and i like to do it three times a day.

who’s gonna want that from their man, al3x?

im not handy, i dont like salads, im messy, i dont cook, id rather not go out on friday nights, im a terrible dresser, im not interested in money, i like hip hop metal and punk, and im always changing my mind.

girls dont like to lose at scrabble.

i fucking whip their asses at scrabble.

girls dont like being called girls.

girls dont like it when i call the united states america. they tell me that america includes north south and central america, not just the usa.

and then theres the problem about the fact that on the rare occasions that i do get a little action, i always wear condoms.

always.

how am i gonna have any children doing that, my man?

so worry not, old chap, if your fear of a hundred little tonys running around this fine world in a few years has you losing sleep, rest your pretty little head.

besides

your momma swallows everything i got.

tao of poker’s pauly totally kicked ass this week + moxie + jennifer good

hey emailers, yes i know the instapundit fucked up

and i know that he’s still linking to an inaccurate CNN “transcript” that claims that ucsb alumn joe wilson said that his wife “was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity”.

and even though im still up to my elbows in alligators trying to get this podcast nonesense together, and i know that Kos, MediaMatters, and Metafilter were all over this earlier in the day,

and i know that AP via Yahoo have fixed the error that’s still in USA Today,

he obviously doesnt see his error. maybe he doesnt read any of those sites – or hasnt all afternoon. maybe it was pretty on campus and he was taking pics, or he was with his family. some people have lives you know.

but i agree it’s not cool that when CNN fixed their version they didnt add any comment saying that they goofed the first time. particularily since it was their fuckup that started the domino effect.

but why are you telling me?

shouldnt you be telling the blogfather?

he’s the one who still hasnt done an Update on his post, hes the one who’s still linking to the archived f’ed up transcript, and maybe he’ll write a big rant about how dishonest cnn was today in changing something that made everyone who linked to it look bad. he bitched about the BBC on tuesday for “airbrushing”, im sure he’ll give this equal time. and maybe while he’s at it he’ll ask wtf is up with their transcript archives.

i havent said shit about Rove today and not because i dont have anything to say, hell ive got plenty. including a response to some questions by a commentor from my rove roundup post of a few days ago.

i havent written hardly anything today because i’m trying to do my stupid ass podcast which i may think twice about because not only is the RSS bullshit a pain in the ass but this ebay-ed recorder might be a POS after all.

anyways, thanks for the heads up, but the professor has an email box too.

tell him.

if what you were doing was playing Gotcha so that id go off on some rant about how the good professor aint so good, thats not how we do it here. bro is finally doing what we as his loyal readers have been waiting for him to do: talk about Rove. yes he flipped it around to talk about Wilson, but baby steps, friends, baby steps.

i do not think that he is intentionally trying to mislead his gazillion readers. i do noth think that he is intentionally waiting for the end of the day to correct his error, i do not think that he would sit on his hands and intentionally try to keep a lie alive.

he and i might disagree with how to do things on blogs but i sincerely do not think that he would resort to flat out cheating to discredit joe wilson. if anyone knows that wilson does a fine job of discrediting himself its glenn. my question is, if we all agree that what comes out of wilsons mouth is suspect, why would the instapundit jump on that false line? the worlds most popular blogger established last summer that wilson’s words are curious at best, so why would glenn cherry-pick yesterdays alleged line? thats the only thing i have problems with.

but please, if you see that a blogger has linked an inaccurate article, or a story that ended up being changed, tell him, not me. i know it would be easier if he had comments, but not everyone wants to put up with commentors.

ten bucks says glenn will go through his email at some point tonight and see the correction that is due to his readers and he will fix it.

just because he’s dishonest about not being a republican doesnt mean that hes a dishonest blogger. everyone has funky lil quirks.

and by the way, if you want me to pat you on the head for something, stick to porn recommendations, tips on texas hold em, or find me a solution to my podcasting/RSS issue.

currently i have MP3s and im trying to figure out how to turn that into a podcast. my email addy is dumbfuck at tonypierce.com

gracias

[Update: a reader informs me that Drudge still has the innacurate headline, but its linked to a corrected Newsday AP story. but friends, i implore you, why are you emailing me tell drudge and insty!]

[Midnight Update: Drudge has taken down the inaccurate link and wording, Reynolds has not. Developing…]

[Final Update – 3pm PT: The instapundit updated his post, after we exchanged a few friendly emails and calls it a “non-error” correction. i suppose we will agree to disagree as context is everything and Wilson, obviously has been saying all along that his wife was covert… and what he meant was *once* Novak wrote his piece, Plame instantly stopped being covert. I cannot get into the head of Prof. Reynolds, but I imagine that the reason that he put the link and quote up there originally wasnt because he thought that Wilson was slamming Novak, but because Glenn though that Wilson was admitting that his wife wasnt covert at the time of the article. Kudos for Glenn for acknowledging Wilson’s context. see… told ya he wasnt so bad.]

maybe this is a job for the buzzmachine + sex and hockey + ciavarro + fc bearded

if theres one thing that ive learned about technology

it’s dont make promises about deadlines.

yes i promised that today id have a podcast for your asses. in fact i promised an interview with miss karisa j. hotshot.

i did get that interview and the sound quality was no good. so now i am using Audacity to try to clean it up because i know many of you have not heard a podcast before and i wouldnt want to give you the wrong impression that podcasts sound like podshit.

so all yesterday i was trying to polish the turd to no avail.

so what i did was i just spoke into my digital recorder and did a little 5-minute segment which i followed up with two 20+ minute jobbers.

and of course now im having technical difficulties beyond my control.

as radiohead said, this is what you get.

i dont mind deadlines when it comes to writing shit down because im in complete control of something that i know about. but this podcasting crap is new to me too.

so what i did because i like to be a man of my word, was i made a new blog just for my podcasting rants and interviews

its called tonyspodcasts.blogspot.com

you can right click > save the mp3s and listen to it on your various mp3-listening devices.

i realize that this is not how one typically listens to podcasts, but it’s a temporary work-around so that 1) those of you who want a taste of what this podcast show is going to be like will be satisfied 2) i can wipe a little egg off my face 3) you can laugh at me for being a fool and not a liar.

i know that nothing in here is true, but we’ve come this far i dont think its fair to go back on promises because of “technical difficulties”.

so hopefully next week or sooner this problem can be resolved and i can get on to what ive been so excited about this last week.

a thousand apologies.

the quick fix

the anticipated Tsar roundup

tsar band girls money Billboard

Masterfully mixing glam showmanship with gritty Sunset Strip attitude, Tsar’s “Band Girls Money” is one of the best rock albums so far this year.

Full of glossy vocals, playful lyrics and infectious guitar riffs, it delivers one power-pop punch after another on such songs as “Superdeformed,” and “Conquerer Worm.”

The title track/lead single is featured in a national Napster/Nestle Crunch ad campaign; that could give Tsar enough exposure to grab the brass ring. – Katy Kroll

Glide Magazine

Reeking with a combination of the rebellion of The Stooges and the glam-pop swagger of T-Rex, TSAR resurrects the seventies underground with “fuck you” arrogance. Formed in Los Angeles, TSAR released their critical acclaimed self-titled debut on Hollywood Records in 2000. After moving to TVT Records founding members, vocalist Jeff Whalen and guitarist Daniel Kern commissioned a new drummer, Check Byler and bass player Derrick Forget. The change in rhythm section revitalized and altered the make-up of the band.

Unlike the Weezer-esque timbre of the first record, this sophomore set is in your face with very little over-the-top production; just straight rock and roll. The songs on Band-Girls-Money are short, sweet, and tight with a poppy sashay reminiscent of Dream Police-era Cheap Trick. Front man Jeff Whalen struts through each track backed by raunchy guitar riffs and torrential drumming. If TSAR has a message it would clearly be one of defiance as they lyrically rail against the “system.” However, this LA quartet is not nearly as political as they are campy and fun.

In the age of cookie cutter garage rock bands, TSAR stand alone as totally unique by revitalizing a sub-genre of rock-n-roll that time had almost forgotten. – Tony Engelhart

Miami New Times

“We’re a hall of mirrors,” says Tsar’s candy-voiced singer Jeff Whalen. He must mean vanity mirrors — Tsar is one of a few rock bands wearing makeup these days for something other than gothic effect — because this retro-glam LA quartet can be a tricky beast to identify. With one foot in the Bay City Rollers’ toy shop and the other in the Dead Boys’ gutter, the new Band-Girls-Money is harder than the band’s 2000 self-titled debut, but the tunes are still top-down driving music, acutely infectious and liable to drive up the demand among men for platform boots and lip gloss. – Andrew Marcus

Music Emmissions

Glam is back indeed. I was really into Tsar’s self-titled debut album from back in 2000 and was kinda curious what happened to them. While it may be unfair to completely call Tsar “Glam”, they do take many influences from past artists. Regardless, Tsar is back with the dreaded sophomore album and succeed quite easily. The band rocks out hard on the title track, ushering you into the album. It’s along the lines of something The (International) Noise Conspiracy would do, with just as much energy. They follow it up with “Wanna Get Dead”, a fantastic power-pop track with the chugga-chugga guitars and a very melodic chorus. It’s tracks like “Wrong” that give the Tsar boys the glam feel. A very polished and poppy track that glimmers like nobodies business. Band-Girls-Money is a great album, maybe not quite as polished and complete as their debut but a fine album as well. Call Tsar glam, call them power-pop, whatever, bottom-line is that Tsar does rock hard and deserve some airplay and some attention. You can never go wrong with good, raunchy guitars and slick vocals. Four Stars – Dennis Scanland

LA Weekly Spaceland 7/8/05

No power ballads! We like that. Instead, a lotta very, very tuff yet heart-tugging true-rock glitter & grime, showing no mercy and steeding swift like the clock does tick. Tsar — Great Rock Hopes five years ago/lost their major-label deal/didn’t puss out/etc. — are now pumped ’n’ primed to be the Genuine Rock Stars they were born to be. Witness this Comeback Special, where they came on All Young Dudes/Banana Splits/sassy funny fun rock smack in the middle of saggy Silver Lake, a Tsar of wild, wild youth and unchained melody. Fun, yet Tsar have a lot at stake — you can hear it in the dark depth of their tunes and the wry passion of their performance.

So, runny mascara, big puffy lips, hands on hips, billowing fog and a Kiss-my-cheese flashing logo: Tsar mainman Jeff Whalen enters the stage draped in American flag like a cape, nice snotty bit of symbolism for this, yes, great rock unit brimming with actual triffic melodic (no BS) songs and a mind-blowing technical facility (tight!) for bringing the real goods back for a generation in true need, like a rocket fulla glammy-punky Captain Americas high on pop clichés and smart enough to have alchemized the juice.

As Whalen puffs his cigs and twitches and roars and preens and cajoles and tears his hair and rips his lungs & heart out, and his comparatively stoic lead-guitar buddy Daniel Kern applies the sonic sizzle (along with the warhorse-not-drayhorse new rhythm section of Chuck Byler, drums, and Derrick Forget, bass & vocals & pouts), the band just plain blows through a nonstop, hi-hi-NRG set of things mostly taken from the ace new Band–Girls–Money, and it’s — okay, it’s like the Archies meet the Ramones, or ELO humping BTO, and a grand finale of Buzzcocks briefing BOC. Whalen’s songcraft is such seriously persuasive stuff, each song’s an overture ensconcing every classic pop-punk experience you ever had, and fooling you into figuring you never heard it before.

They think ambitious, yet they aren’t pretench-ish. Watching them smoke these tunes onstage was exhilarating, inspiring and, most important, very, very funny. – John Payne

Alternative Addiction

Tsar’s 2000 debut was an excellent yet poorly marketed album. Combining elements of bubblegum pop with a harder edge it wildly underachieved. As a consequence the label dropped the band-a bitter irony when you consider the lack of effort put in by Hollywood records- a decision compounded by the fact that they were none too impressed with the follow up.

Apparently its lack of radio friendly attributes sent Tsar packing into the great corporate dustbin. TVT records had the common sense to ransack the bin to release this worthy second effort.

Whereas the debut was as smooth as a baby’s backside with Rob Cavallo’s production dominating, “Band Girls Money” is as rough as wiping the same baby’s backside with sandpaper.

Taking their lead from anyone from the New York Dolls, Cheap Trick and Brit glam rockers The Sweet through to Red Kross, Tsar cook up a tasty pot of trashy hard rock. The smooth pomp of the debut is wrenched aside and in its place comes a raging lip stick wearing pit-bull with a sweet tooth. Songs like the revved up title track, the catchy trash pop of “The Love Explosion” and the T-Rex influenced
“Superdeformed” exemplify rock in its lowest denominator. The faint hearted should step aside now and leave Tsar to swagger on down the sunset strip, with sweat, honesty and a touch of eyeliner. three and a half stars – Mike

Not Lame

2005 release from this band that totally POPPED Not Lamers back in 1998…and then the major dropped. Old Story, New Ending. This is not the power pop style that many may be hoping for, but this smoking gun of pop slinger kicks out the jams with explosively raw riffs, shiny hooks and jackhammer choruses. One of the best, hard rocking, kick ass rock-via-pop albums of 2005. Yes, not for folks quesy about volume, but if you do like it loud is glam pop of the finest sort. “A trash-glam masterpiece. `Band-Girls-Money` is made to be played at the Rainbow Room while…Slash sprawls unconscious across the bar.” – Boulder Weekly. “Think punk, glam and British Invasion–Cheap Trick, New York Dolls, Sweet and the Beatles.” -Knight-Ridder Newspapers. “TSAR pounds and swings the boogie harder and sweeter than ever.”-Village Voice. It`s not the old Tsar, but the new one is *still* Extremely Highly Recommended! (site includes 4 downloadable mp3s)

ModernRock.com

How odd that a rock band can be an anachronism in this day and age.

In the case of Tsar, TVT Records’ newest family member, they’re emerging onto the national scene in an era of Mancunian moping and Gang of Four idolatry.

Somehow, tried-and-true rock ‘n’ roll fundamentals have been fallen by the wayside. Tsar is that rare band that isn’t easily categorized, or easily swayed by trends.

“My brothers are all proud rockers,” sings frontman Jeff Whalen in the blistering “Startime,” one of ten songs on Tsar’s debut, Band-Girls-Money. Part glam sex-pose, part punk sneer, part pop craftsmanship, Band-Girls-Money synthesizes decades of music history and combines with contemporary zeal to create three-minute bursts of energy.

The savvy listener will hear traces of power pop legends Cheap Trick and Sweet, as well as the three-chord attack of the Dead Boys, the glam appeal of T-Rex and the Dolls, and the showmanship of Alive-era KISS. Whalen, the band’s primary songwriter, has a pure bubblegum past – and you can hear that, too. His favorite bands are The Monkees, The Archies and Tommy James. “I have a belief that all really great bands are not the genre the people associate them with. They’re actually pop bands. It’s always the bands with good songs that outlast any trends or styles.”

Combine Whalen’s countless hours with such a record collection with Tsar’s here-and-now sound and you’ve got music that’s utterly contemporary, completely free of stereotype and above all pure rock. “With us, it’s kind of impossible to say what kind of music we are other than rock and roll,” he says.

Seeing them play live is the best way to appreciate this well-oiled sonic machine. In their native city of LA, crowds have grown to appreciate the band’s energetic gigs. A “Tsar” sign straight out of a Vegas chorus line’s dressing room flashes behind the four members’ sweaty performance. The PA system strains under the force of dual guitar distortion and a pummeled bass. It’s rock showmanship. Short songs and long on emotion.

“You wanna get that rock and roll desire,” explains Whalen of performing on stage. “It’s really powerful. It involves embracing the ludicrousness of what’s happening. I’m going to stand up here and dance around and everybody’s gonna look at me. The times you really enjoy the show are the times you really don’t know what you’re doing and nothing is planned. When it’s working, it’s a great symbiosis.”

so the question is, why havent you gotten band girls money yet?

buzznet will make a book of yr buzznet pics + did zulieka deliver? + fook the people