shes 24.

when hilary clinton wrote her book “it takes a village” many moons ago i didnt think it had any relation to me at all. but in reality any professional success i am currently enjoying is due to the kindness of others.

carolyn and i met in austin at sxsw. i was there to speak on the Blogging While Black panel and she was in the front row. afterwards we chatted a little and then a year later there i was on the panel and there she was in the crowd and we chatted some more – except it ended with her letting me know that she was soon leaving her job running LAist.

she floated the idea that i would be fairly qualified to succeed her but when she told me how little money she was getting paid there i politely declined, saying, damn thats such a great job its too bad it doesnt pay.

two months later Carolyn was on her way to Pittsburgh to get her MFA and i was being fired from Buzznet. within days Carolyn had convinced her soon-to-be former bosses that i was the right man for the job and they should pay me. the rest, as they say, is herstory because without that lucky break i would never have had the chance to really show my stuff at LAist, and thus i would never had ended up here in my dream job less than two years later.

so when the former president Bill Clinton had me do a favor for him, he asked me what he could do for me in exchange. i said, write carolyn kellogg a personal note. he was all, “the Jacket Copy blogger at the Times?” i said yes, and she also is the main writer for the Brand X blog. and because Bill always keeps his word, bam she got a pretty sweet gift yesterday.

happy birthday Carolyn, i wouldnt be here without you!

aka why craig ferguson is better than letterman & conan

the late late show host’s openings are always funny and sometimes brilliant

monday night he explained so much in such a short period of time

the irony of course is his audience is much younger than letterman and conan, so in a way he was preaching to the choir

the question is, does the choir know they were being laughed at, or do they think theyre being laughed with?

via Metafilter who at 10 years old is neither stupid nor young (in Internet time)

in case you didnt hear, or incase youre not a baseball fan, heres what happened

it was a tie game, it was Manny Ramirez bobblehead night but Manny couldn’t start because he had been hit by a pitch the night before. he’s only played a few games after being suspended for most of the season for taking stuff thats against baseballs rules. something to do with female hormones.

but like i said it was a tie game, with the bases loaded in the 6th inning so Joe Torre figured he might not get another chance to break the game wide open with one swing, so he called on Manny who, on the first pitch, blasted a grand salami into the left field seats otherwise known as Mannywood.

Vin Scully said it was the loudest Dodger Stadium has been in 20 years and said that it was the greatest moment since Kurt Gibson hit one out in the world series.

needless to say the Times has amazing coverage even including a little bit of something from yrs trly.

long time host of the busblog, longer time musician and southern gentleman,
os first came to this planet disguised as a copyeditor for the world famous daily nexus

no one initially knew what his deal was, but we trusted that he came in peace

armingly quiet, like a boozy gremlin if you added some red wine os would find himself yirping from atop a desk or small vehicle

YIRP hed say

YIRP!

and then he’d hop down.

not sure when os learned how to play the guitar or sing, but one day he showed up with probably the most beautiful guitar in all america and when youd least expect it hed be strumming it and then playing it and then serenading the stars with his calm, perfect tone

did he secretly record vocals for Tsar? yes
did he somewhat secretly marry my lawyer? cant remember
do they have two of the most adorable kids since sliced bread? si!

my only regret in life is not following all of my friends to Prague back when they all moved out there and changed the world as we know it.

i dont regret missing out on trying to start that country’s first english language newspaper, i regret seeing german tourists form huge semi circles on charles bridge to listen to Os’s international hits.

happy birthday kind sir, and many happy returns!

photos via joel brand’s facebook

in Austin is shutting down after 10 years

the sad part about it is that its been a labor of love for UCSB alumn Asher Garber who not only opened up the club to up n coming bands, but also to LAist and later the LA Times.

but whats worse is the Red River club scene was basically started by Asher and his unique vision to put Isla Vista style grungy punk into the mix of Austin’s eclectic music stylings.

Austinist interviewed our man today who reflected on his reign of awesome:

[Austinist:] What was the Red River St. music scene like back then as compared with now? What do you consider to be (a) positive changes and (b) negative changes on Red River St. since Room 710 set up shop?

[Asher:] The bands that established the Red River scene were never appreciated by the (Austin) Chronicle, and so not many people knew what we had going on. When we started in 2000, the only places open on our block were the Red Eyed Fly, Bull McCabes, and Atomic Cafe. Stubb’s had their shows, but we just did our own thing. We began with 3 band nights, moved on to 4 band nights. We did a couple 10 bands in two nights. (The Independence CD compilation is a good guide to what we had going on back then.) When Beerland opened, it brought another venue that could play 3 or 4 bands a night, and we got to see how the different places got people to interact. It was easy to co-exist. Add Elysium taking over Atomic, Headhunters, and then Side Bar around the corner and that was the basis of our district. We pooled our resources and bought an ad. Got free red ink.

2004 saw the start of the boom in our neighborhood and 2005 was a real tough year for 710. (Woody left, the smoking ban, added competition.) When I read on the Austinist that The Mohawk was seen as “Red River North” and Emo’s was considered “Red River South” I realized that the Red River District was something beyond us.

[Austinist:] What is the number one reason for Room 710 shutting down? Why has it been a struggle to generate profits at the club?

[Asher:] There are a lot of reasons, but the bottom line is that it takes a lot of money to run a live music venue, and between the economy, the taxes, and a flight from downtown (whether by fear, economy, or hassle), 710 simply isn’t a solvent institution.

Read the whole Austinist interview with Asher here, and if you want to see the diversity of taste that Asher has, check out his top ten list of Room 710 touring bands that he did for me when i was running LAist.

so, mom, i wrote about the newest senator, al franken yesterday

and his first order of business, which was to get service dogs for hundreds of war veterans

all because of a golden retriever named Tuesday. awwwww

for beating up his xgf

if i was chris brown i wouldnta done that. if i was chris brown i would do a few things.

here they are in order.

1. join the peace corps
2. while he waits the year to get in, build houses for habitat for humanity
3. be celibate for a year
4. record a cd with all proceeds going to a battered woman’s shelter
5. quit making youtube videos
6. go to state fairs and sit in the dunk tank and give that money to charity
7. swear that you wont be doing any MTV reality shows for 10 years
8. get a tattoo that says “im so sorry Rihanna”
9. do a pay-per-view event where you let Jay-Z hit you in the stomach 20 times
10. date tila tequila

not to be confused with Vons

in fact one reason she liked it so much was because the logo and name seemed to be ripping off Vons, however inside the store was what she called “a ghetto” version of the supermarket chain.

i was at a Jons last night and yes the store is smaller than its competitor, the parking lot is tinier, and there are less aisles, but when the store manager saw that there were lots of people waiting in line for the two open lanes, he turned on the light of the express lane and opened it up. “no need to wait,” he said when i thanked him.

all i was there to purchase was some body wash – sorry, “shower gel”, while the woman in front of me (the woman so large she needed a cane) plopped two 40 ouncers and a bottle of a pre-made cocktail onto the conveyor belt. and a bag of chips.

i took a picture for the world and wondered why anyone would want such a collection of food and beverages for dinner.

when i got home i received a phone call from someone very dear to me

and when i was finished with the conversation, i understood.

MCA the deep voiced rapper of the Beastie Boys has cancer.

the Times’ Health and Science editor, Tami Dennis, wrote a really good indepth piece about this type of cancer in Booster Shots. an excerpt:

Now for some facts on salivary gland cancer:

* For starters, it’s rare, accounting for less than 1% of cancers in the United States.

* It’s most often found in people 55 and older (which is true for most cancers). Yauch is 44.

* Risk factors include smoking, prior radiation treatment and, occasionally, a family history. There are other, less proven connections, such as a poor diet and environmental exposures, but the data there are a bit thin.

Here’s an overview of salivary gland cancer, courtesy of the American Cancer Society.

The explanatory portion begins with this context:

Salivary gland cancer is a cancer that starts in one of the salivary glands. It is not a single disease. There are actually several different salivary glands found inside and near your mouth. Several types of cancer and benign (non-cancerous) tumors can develop in these glands.

even though i know everything will be fine, im still nervous. the only time i met the boys i insulted their choice of clothing – probably cuz i didnt know anyone was about to get cancer two years later.

the original version of the spike jonze classic (as it has the MTV-banned mannequin being thrown into the LA River scene)

:

so that crazy japanese super fans wearing skirts and knee highs can win contests and request that they touch you, etc.

and this concludes our harry potter coverage for the decade

h/t Mark Frauenfelder‘s twitter