– Google buys Blogger (Feb. 15, 2003)

i had never been on a panel discussion before. and there i was with two people from BoingBoing, the mighty Doc Searls, the Reverse Cowgirl, Heather Havrilesky, and Ev Williams the main man behind Blogger.

it was called “Live From the Blogosphere”. it was held in Chinatown.

everything was going well when Ev got up and clicked the laptop connected to the overhead projector to show us a website to announce the groundbreaking news: up n coming behemoth search engine Google was about to buy Blogger.

the room erupted in applause. there were gasps. and a few ladies fainted.

at the time many of us thought “oh good for Ev and his small band of geniuses, for now they will be rich.” (as Google was pre-IPO at the time, etc)

but little did we know that Ev and crew would turn that sale into Obvious Corp., which would turn into Twitter, and the rest is history the future.

The LA Times was there and for some reason interviewed me before getting to Ev. i told them who cares what i think, Ev is the man. without Ev there would be no busblog. still they insisted for a quote which i gave but later grilled them.

because the world is a strange place, of course now i teach people at the LA Times how to use blogs to better cover breaking news. And not just that but i encourage them to utilize Twitter. Currently we have over 40 blogs that consistently draw over 20 million clicks a month, and we have over 200 twitter feeds.

its safe to say that much of that revolution was set into motion in Chinatown when Ev showed us a link that said “holy crap” which lead to a news story announcing the bombshell, catapulting blogging (and Ev) to the next level.

holy crap indeed.

just the concept of these three-piece suits singing “dolla dolla bills y’all” makes me all warm and happy inside.

Where the Princess at?

“how to blog” (June 16, 2004)

at some point i realized i had made a terrible mistake by telling my boss about my blog. the point might have been when i was talking with him and i noticed that he had a folder named “Tony” on his desktop. we worked in a small department and there werent any of my other coworkers honored with their own folder, so i assumed that he was filing away anything negative about me so he could easily make a case against me.

these were the days when i rode the bus and subway everywhere and occasionally caught rides from people. one night i was waiting for a ride home from someone and while i was waiting i decided to do a post.

the purpose of the post was to warn people not to make the mistakes i had made. but while i was making it i became inspired to also give some unasked for advice in the name of Better Blogging.

i was inspired by a book written by a gentleman named Biz Stone. i had met Biz and had read his blog and i was shocked and amazed when he wrote a book. also jealous. also mad and competitive because even though i respected Biz, his blog at the time wasnt anything that i felt would inspire any book deal.

so when the post “How to Blog” became an overnight sensation (that lead to a Bloggie Award a year later) i decided to make a blog book (a blook) called “How to Blog”. but unlike Biz’s book i was determined not to give any advice whatsoever other than my list of 30 tips, which i would tuck away for the last two pages.

strangely the blook became a huge hit, despite being self-published via Cafepress.com, and despite having 210 pages with only 2 pages of straight up tips.

like most great things, today the list seems outdated. and i dont even obey most of the rules, but thank god nothing in here is true.

one little aside about the cover. other than the text for the title, the photo is something that i shot of an electrical box near my work. and yes thats one of Shepard Fairey’s famous Andre the Giant posters.

when the blook started flying off the virtual shelves i got an email from Cafepress saying that they needed permission from the artist if i was going to continue to use that cover. i said, no offense but thats graffitti, since when is grafitti copywritten? the guy was all, man i just work here. unfortunately this was the Monday after Thanksgiving, now known as Cyber Monday. i didnt have a lot of time, so i blogged about my dilemma and strangely people came out of the wordwork with Shepard’s email address.

i wrote Shep and a day later he gave me generous permission. and we’ve been virtual friends ever since.

– the interview with the escalator (march 2002)

people will say things about you behind yr back, when youre dead, and sometimes even right to your face.

sometimes they’ll put a blanket over their head and tell you things

sometimes they’ll write it in a note and slip it under your door.

but when i die and they say yeah blogger this blogger that,

one thing i hope they remember is i was interviewing escalators

way before it became trendy.

they were really good and im super glad i went because there was mr os, jeanine, and our old pal Basart in attendance.

since when did they make the back room non-smoking? i dont smoke, but my friends do, and here in America, i enjoy freedoms and i would hope others get to have freedoms too. seems to me that in a freakin nightclub people might want a smoke with their drink, you know, like adults. plus didnt Spaceland install some really great air sucker uppers years ago?

was it nice not to have to breathe smoke, sure. but first they come for the smokers, then they come for the beer drinkers, then they come for the baldies.

muddled through with a nice drink and Axel the lead singer sat down next to me. for the last few weeks theyd been touring Japan because they have a Japanese record deal. we talked about sushi and how no one speaks english over there (“many know english but are too ‘shy’ to try,” axel told me.)

anyways being that we are two bachelors the conversation quickly moved to Japanese women.

it was there that i learned a little something about the Japanese language.

according to Axel, one night stands are so taboo in Japanese culture that “one night stand” translated to japanese equals “heart break”.

so when a front desk clerk at a hotel spots a rock star checking out, he says “enjoy heart break last night?”

after that lesson we went back to talking about sushi.

The Isla Vista Massacre 2/24/01

isla vista was a bubble. a safe, beautiful, debaucherous bubble.

how safe was it? despite having 25 foot cliffs border one long stretch of its most densely packed edge, the worst that would happen from the occasional drunken reveler who would stumble and fall upon the rocks below was a broken bone or two.

i used to joke that the angels would catch their fall.

rarely did anything mortally tragic ever happen at the party school until one particularly raucous February night.

the streets were packed on the two most partying stretches in IV: Del Playa and Sabado Tarde (often dubbed Sabado Party).

18-year-old David Attias, a rich kid from Santa Monica whose dad was a big time tv director (The Sopranos, The OC, Lost) lined up his 10-yr-old Saab at one end of Sabado and plowed through two blocks of horrified students enjoying a Friday night.

the chp estimated that he was going 50-60 mph through the crowd until he lost control and crashed into parked vehicles.

thats when he got out of the car and said “I am the angel of Death“.

four young people died. it could have easily been more.

SB Fire Chief Charlie Johnson said the street looked like a war zone. he told the Daily Cal, “There was a trail of broken car parts and bodies laying in the streets,” Johnson said. “There were dozens and dozens of kids in the street in shock. They were crying and screaming. It was a disaster scene you just wouldn’t expect to see.”

Attias was found guilty but also insane. he was charged with 60 years that he is serving in Patton State Hospital.

even though in reality, IV was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when “Crazy Dave” went off the deep end, any time i walk past that part of Sabado i think about how fragile we are. how one minute you can be just strolling from one fun party to the next and the next minute its all over.

tonight at spaceland. and next monday and next next monday too

axel and his band is back from Japan where they ripped them a new one

now Spaceland has given them the December residency

and if i can get someone to do my laundry, i might even attend

cuz not only is it the Mere Mortals, but its Spaceland

and its free!

: new years eve, the millennium

i wasnt born tall or handsome or wealthy or with any magical skills

but somehow ive always been very lucky to be surrounded by really awesome friends.

right around the turn of the century i had a great job, a really supportive boss, and my closest friends were in the best rock band in town.

and they were about to fly to spain for ten days to decompress after recording their debut album.

not only did my boss give me time off to enjoy that celebration with 20 of our amigos, but she surprised me with a little christmas bonus that would allow me to take my true love with me.

it was butt cold in Madrid. especially at night which was the only time that we found ourselves awake. my truest and i were in agreement that after the holidays we would break up and move away from each other, but for that last wintery vacation, we would love each other as if doom and gloom were not right around the corner.

thanks to delicious paella, endless amounts of sangria and cheap bottles of wine, thanks to fresh shrimp and late night subway rides, and thanks to several Tsar shows and the promise of a worldwide computer crash called Y2K, we were able to party like it was 1999 (even though it was about to be 2000).

it was one of the best vacations ever. mostly because it was with so many of my closest friends all gathered for some of the best music. and it didnt suck to be so far away from home – as much as we loved home.