its super flattering. i know how few i write to people who i dont know, so i appreciate when i get them.
this week the emails ranged between congratulations on the busblogs fifth birthday, to am i seriously going to drive around the country to promote the LAist, to how i felt about the cubs trading greg maddux to the dodgers.
but the most emails i got were regarding a blog post that former LAist editor Jason Toney wrote critiquing what i’ve been doing over there. some of it omg critical.
as much as id love to be funny and say negro, please, id have to say that i agree with pretty much everything that jason said about LAist in his paragraph. and i appreciate that he didnt worry about sending me an email saying heads up bro im about to not kiss your ass. what that tells me is that he trusts our relationship and knows that i have the utmost respect for him and vice versa. of the dozens of people who i should hang out with more jason is near the top of the list.
but from his post came this incredible reply in his comments section from carolyn kellogg, also a former editor of LAist (and the main reason i got the gig).
I miss LA too much to read these regularly, but my 4 tops are LAObserved, blogging.la, losanjealous and LAist. I think of LAist as a foster child: Adrienne taught it to crawl, with Jason it learned to talk and walk, with me it learned its ABCs, and with Tony it’s learning to party and pick up girls. Someday it was going to have to stop being all responsible and learn how to have fun, and Tony’s the man for that.
greatest review and compliment that i could have imagined. thank you baby.
LAist is my dream job. i seriously hope to have it for the rest of my life. my only aspiration is to make it better. will some readers get frustrated and yearn for the old days? of course. everyone likes your early shit. which makes sense because thats when they got into it.
should we cover neighborhoods more? of course. will we? of course.
do i pay less attention than others to what the local papers and blogs are covering? of course. the leader doesnt play follow the leader.
LA is a huge city with literally millions of things going on at all times. most of them beautiful.
what some out there might not be seeing is the beauty of the first two months of a long long reign of terror. the inmates have taken over. and are getting paid. their favorite LA groups in order include nwa, janes addiction, the doors, guns n roses, tsar, the beach boys, randy newman, the eagles, black flag, the minutemen, suicidal tendencies, thelonious monster, and redd kross. they are the influencers, not the influenced.
they dont get angry they get even. they dont whine, they type. they make that change.
LAist’s heart, unapologetically, is in Hollywood. one foot in the myth-making and glamour, one foot in the gritty realism of broken dreams and plan b’s.
if your little block in the valley isnt being represented, either you should start a blog like many others have about their micro-communities, or you should cover it for LAist. unlike the rest of the world, i accept unsolicited manuscripts. not because im desperate for material but because one never knows where the next bukowski might be writing in from.
i work day and night seven days a week on LAist. last night i was alone with karisa, moist from a midnight swim and hot tub in her beachside apartment complex and i excused myself to upload a midnight movie on the blog on a friday night. and yet still when i look back through the week of posts i want more.
im going to drive across the country and up to canada because im busting at the seams with ideas and plans and concepts about blogging and writing and quasijournalism and youtubing and photography and recording and editing and photoessaying and motivating and yes america, fingering.
i need to get out of my closet. i need to get out of hollywood. i need to get away from sunset blvd and east hollywood and LA and california and out of my pajamas and get a little perspective so that when i come back in a few weeks i can see this city in a different light. because as anyone can tell you, lighting is everything.
i also need to kiss some girls whose zipcodes dont start with 9. no offense. consider it a cleansing of the palette.
and i need to see america. i need to really see how we fit in, what our role is, how we stack up, what we’re missing, and where we’re going. its no vacation or even working vacation, its all business. i will be posting just as much.
when i first started dating anna kournikova we made out once in malibu state park up against a helicopter once used as a prop for the 70s hit M*A*S*H*, and it was there that i started to realize that context is everything.
she kissed just like every other girl ive ever kissed but my brain kept saying omg shes famous omg shes hot omg its, but with your eyes closed she could have been angela romano, diane poliakoff, or even her younger sister heather poliakoff (the Lord has always been so very kind to me).
writing about America, and how dare i, Canada, on the LAist should be less about context and more about the lessons in each tale. those stories will be in LAist because its a long time angelino hitting the road, subconsiously and not so subconsiously comparing everything to his hometown.
the new yorker isnt written only by new yorkers about new york and its seemed to hang in there despite those who wish it were something else.
LAist will be the greatest city-based blog in the world. mostly because i wont be doing it all myself.
tonight for example, anti took this video of jana pants dancing with big tanky in a secret studio apartment somewhere here in the city of angels. and as much as laobserved completely rules. rules so much that on the second day of my reign i sent kevin a generous paypal donation, but bro will never have video of jana and tanky dancing on a saturday night on his top notch page.
everyone has a story to tell. theres room for everyone. my come-from has always been tell your own story, keep your elbow up as you drive for the hole, and when you get there bring it home.
mark prior today got his first win since 9/10/05
it was actually the new movie by a famous director and an actor who will never not be known for his famous role. it doesnt come out till the winter so i cant write about it.
its super flattering. i know how few i write to people who i dont know, so i appreciate when i get them.
if your little block in the valley isnt being represented, either you should start a blog like many others have about their micro-communities, or you should cover it for LAist. unlike the rest of the world, i accept unsolicited manuscripts. not because im desperate for material but because one never knows where the next bukowski might be writing in from.
ashley’s friend jenny
supertsar7: with a boyfriend named rufus
i love you. nothing in here is true other than that. thats all you ever need to know. so lets go.
and she and i drank in front of him and she and i did bong loads in front of him and she and i snorted rails of coke off each other in front of him. mostly for dramatic effect but also because she would go along with any riff i started and vice versa, which was fun, and dangerous, which is even more fun of course.