after i did i got some really great advice about Medium and a bunch of people want to write for my new medium publication, Del Playa
then i went to Hollywood Blvd to photograph this dude im writing another piece on.
and then i got a Popeye’s sandwich and the manager there remembered me from when i interviewed her for Los Angeleno. she said that theres a TikTok video of she and i making the rounds of when i was talking with her.
i couldnt find it. i will try again tomorrow.
im pooped.
so out of energy.
do i really need to eat vegetables instead of fried chicken?
it was such a nice thing that she said that i honestly don’t believe it.
which is odd because if she had said something terrible i wouldn’t doubt it in the slightest.
there should be a study on brains. why do we have such a hard time when people say nice things or do very nice things.
but when things are crappy or people are awful, that stays with us longer?
i can’t help but think that it’s because the Devil lives in our inner ear, constantly saying terrible things to us, endlessly trying to break us down, kill our spirit, ruin our days.
i dont know how often you read this blog, but one reason i list my blessings so often in here is because im trying to fight the devil. and in doing so i am trying to remind myself that a) i have had a blessed life b) that i have known some incredible people c) lived in amazing towns d) things will be better just around the corner.
in part because i know the Great Deceiver is beating the drum that it’s over for me. my luck has run out. that im old and bald and fat and ive lost a step. that my magic no longer works. and ANYTHING i did of any value in the past was pure luck that had nothing to do with me.
i look at this picture of Linda in my apartment in SF on folsom street and 24th and its like it was all yesterday. look at that honking computer monitor, giant speakers in the corner, cds perfectly arranged in my book shelf.
today talking to her on the phone i did laundry, cleaned up a closet, and we yapped about police business until my phone died. she used to be a cop.
i do have the greatest friends. they seem to still love me for some reason. Lord only knows why. but i am super grateful.
i asked the doc what should i do she said you gotta wait 3-4 months to get adderall. i said i dont have that long. ive gotta make some major moves quick or else i will end up working for some soulless company doing the same old stuff and then poof my life will be over.
i dont wanna live in a soviet apartment.
i dont wanna have an ordinary life.
when i die i want people to say holy shit i didnt know tony pierce is buried here and when their friend asks who’s tony pierce they’ll say
spark up that joint and i’ll tell you.
i feel like im at a crossroads but its also a cliff
and ive gotta jump.
and i could crack my head open on the coral below
or i could stick it perfectly and swim into another land.
april 1 2001 i moved into this apartment which means in two weeks i will have lived here 20 years.
i have done some very fun things in this apartment.
i have had some huge breakthroughs and some deep deep disappointments.
but for the most part way more good things have happened than bad and this year will either be a truly new leaf
or more of the same.
i want a new leaf.
it’s hard to say good bye to the comfortable and familiar.
but it’s time to turn the page.
and maybe that’s why im all blocked up right now.
usually pizza makes my stomach knot up. but today i ate a pepto bismol before i went to get the pie and all went well.
then after i ate half of it i warmed up some peas and ate those too.
these 20 years have flown by at breakneck speeds.
please get high if you ever come by my gravestone.
after kpcc i just could not get a gig to save my life. if it wasnt for my friend amy i dont even know what i would have done.
she got me some freelance work that paid really good. it was hard but it paid.
then someone from the LA Times told me about the Oscars job and — do you know how much i love the Oscars? suddenly im working there. going to it. socialmediaing it? improving the numbers. talking to the people. learning the things?
if i had just gotten the ok job right outta kpcc, i would have never gotten the incredible job months and months later.
was i in a terrible funk in between those two? yes. terrrrible. i even went into fox news’ hq in nyc and interviewed for a job. i was maybe gonna move. while there the oscars called and said whats up. i was all im in nyc because obvs my life is over.
and they were all well get back here because out of 1000 applicants you’re tony pierce.
so whats crazy about todays denial, they know me. they reached out to me. then they made me jump through a hoop on the other side of the moon. and i jumped and flew around and stuck the landing.
and still no. which is totally fine because sometimes it’s nice to have to jump high and show what youre made of. and do things in a few weeks that whoever they chose couldnt do in years.
if anything to just see yourself that you can do it. and be funny. and be fresh. and be right on the money.
im gonna do my own thing going forward.
i dont ever want to be in a situation where one or two people determine my future.
the first half of my life was that and it was interesting but fuck that shit.
the things i have done have value and the things i know i can do have even more.
why am i splitting it with them with me getting the tiniest fraction?
the season of lent is not about giving up things but having a different relationship to the things we do through the rest of the year.
This is why it’s good that God made me a blogger and not the bouncer at the Pearly Gates. If I held the velvet rope and this guy showed up and said ‘hi, I invented cassettes,’ I wouldn’t even examine his heart or history.
He could have been a terrible person but I’d say, ‘lemme stamp your hand bro. VIP is behind that cloud.’
Cassettes were amazingly durable, flexible, and portable. You could toss one from one side of the house to the other. You could leave them in your blazing hot car.
If I made a mixtape for you and took time to list the songs on the card, it meant I loved you.
Thank you Mr. Ottens. Thank you so much.
You created something I still have too many of decades later, all of which could be repaired either with scotch tape or a #2 pencil.
coulda just said, touch me i am here because of trex.
instead he said, hi my name is roland, ready to watch Tsar?
trex had a song called calling all destroyers.
tsar had a song called calling all destroyers
and james gunn put it at the beginning of his movie Super
a couple years after james did Super he did a little movie called
Guardians of the Galaxy
then Guardians of the Galaxy 2
and in august his new movie will come out called The Suicide Squad
today i was signing up to see a therapist because i have insurance now
actual conversation:
have you been feeling lately anxious or worried?
we’re in the tail end of the plague.
correct. do you sleep well?
yes, i go to sleep around 5 and wake up around 10 or 11. today it was 9.
you don’t smoke medical marijuana do you?
im gonna stop.
why?
it used to help me go to sleep.
doesn’t seem to be working?
thats why im calling you.
the hospital called at the end of an interview i was conducting with the man in charge of the police in hollywood.
now typically i am not an anxious man.
id say it was because i played sports and in the band as a child and when you have to perform in front of crowds, and especially if youre the only one with a giant afro
pressure aint no thing by the time you grow up
but i was a bit nervous about this interview
because i was about to ask him about some bad things about his men and women.
and we only had a half hour scheduled.
for some reason i do better with an hour.
but we hit it off right away because we are both professionals.
i treated him respectfully and he didn’t give me a bunch of hype.
it was actually refreshing how little bullshit he gave me.
i am trying to talk with a giant food brand right now and the load of crap they have shoveled my way is shocking because — im not even asking them anything controversial.
with this captain i was talking about illegalities, deaths, social media. serious business.
and then i had to talk to this therapist assistant.
i said i am having a hard time concentrating. i first thought it was because my gf and i were fighting a lot because we were both unemployed and she had to be in a small apartment with me all day and im great in small doses. but 24.7? even the cats are like, no its cool.
i think she said we will give you so much adderall.
i was like, when?
she was all, it takes 4 months just to get tested to see if its right for you.
i was all ???
she was like i know, everyone in LA thinks they’re losing their minds right now, so theres a line.
and ive never felt more kinship to this beautiful city.
the good thing about Medium is lets say it takes off in a month, you get paid.
lets say it takes off in a year. you get paid.
if you give it to someone else you only get paid then and never again.
one thing i learned from record labels is: the majority of the money they reap is on the back catalogue.
even though the attention and hype is about the new releases, they actually make more on the long tail. all those classic records still get sold. maybe not hundreds of thousands a week, but enough that when you add them all up it keeps the lights on, for sure.
youd think someone who puts out, so to speak, as much as i do, wouldnt worry about productivity
but i know how much i am capable of and i know how much actually comes out
and that giant difference worries me.
it’s not even procrastination, it’s attention span.
i want to do interviews, i want to write but so much of it bores me
maybe because ive done it so many times.
i really should just have a damn radio show because that part is the only part that interests me. as soon as its over i wanna do the next thing.
i can go anywhere and talk to people and learn the best things
i was in the Ralphs in Beverly Hills yesterday talking to a woman from Western Africa
hell if i know the first thing about Africa, let alone Western Africa
so i looked at her up and down and gave out a wild guess
GHANA!?
she looked at me like i was a ghost. she said Close! Nigeria!
when i got home i looked at a map and sure as shit i was close.
we could have talked for hours. but heres the thing, if i had to record it, transcribe it and put it down on a website it would take me forever because all i can think of is the next three people i wanna talk to.
and thats how companies are built. because clearly i need to hire someone to do all the minutiae i don’t wanna do. but that cost money. which is why i just have to do these things i dont wanna do, get rich and start paying the people to do the things that stop me.
i interviewed this awesome dude last month and then i finished this huge project and now that im done i have to transcribe the dude and ask him a few more questions and get some pictures.
but now im distracted with the story i went to beverly hills for. DO YOU SEE MY PROBLEM? is this why people have children? so they can make them do the things you dont wanna do when you’re half a century old?
i wonder if my niece could do this work? bet she could.
by this young lady.
and heres why its ok.
