Shabooty Interview Series: The Tony Pierce Interview Revisted

Pictured: Tony Pierce and Raymi The Minx

Since my December 2004 interview with Tony Pierce, Tony has gone on to do bigger and bossier things. He whipped LAist.com into thee formidable LA city blog of today, and now he is the blogs@LATimes.com‘s abbot Blog Editor (LATimes Staff announcement here).

I wanted to go back and repost this interview. Tony’s one of those guys you just want to stand next to, and shrapnel of ‘good things’ will hit you.

The original interview is buried in my archives, but now it’s better than rejuvenation, right below:

2004 TONY PIERCE INTERVIEW, your neighborhood blogger, if your backyard is the Playboy Mansion and UCLA!

Shabooty: For those of us whom haven’t been there with you since day one, catch us up. So, there was a time you had a FRO? What made you “axe” it, and where are the pix of the fabulous fro days?

Tony Pierce: theboys.jpg, hlkrgrl.htm, withannken.jpg.
I shaved it off cuz I hated my job and instead of jumping off a bridge, I figured I’d do something else drastic and noticeable. Strangely all the chicks who loved the fro suddenly loved the bald head even more. Weird.

Hypothetically, let’s say you cut it off because you had pre-mature male balding and the “Homie the Clown” look was horrifying to you. So, that being said, if you had the nice head of hair still, do you think you would be as articulate of a blogger as you are now? You know what they say, adversity breeds creativity, and a blog is a way to be creative (while you sip your systematic cup of coffee every morn, EH).

At 111 years old, i wouldn’t say that my hairline had prematurely receded. But that’s not why i shaved my head. lots of people liked my fro. adversity does breed creativity, but only the easy kind. the trick is to be creative under every circumstance. the toughest, of course being abundance. lots of the stories that you read in the busblog are from the point of view of a guy with a hot chick in his bed, not of a guy bummed out rocking in the fetal position crying out why me oh why me.
that shits for kids.

Have you ever had any girlfriend “breakups,” due to a blog post, or g/f arguments because of one?

I’ve had girls annoyed that i didn’t want to go to their house because they had crappy computers and i would want to blog that night or in the morning, but we never broke up over that. as for arguments, i don’t have many arguments with the ladies.

I have had that happen when I referred to a girlfriend inconspicuously, but she reading it, knew easily I was talking about her, and ended things. The funny part of it is, I had written a big [response] defense post that took an hour to compile and I saved it as a Draft.. It still remains a draft to this day, and unpublished (I guess she wasn’t worth the trouble of clicking that Publish button).
[editor update: history repeats itself apparently, cause since '04 I've further burned another "broad bridge," via 'tha blog', but enough about me, back to Tony.]

I don’t air my dirty laundry on my blog very often. if at all. no whining on the blog.

Does your immediate family read [the infamous] busblog?

Yes. On one hand it’s nice, on the other hand it could limit the things that i would say, but the trick is to pretend that nobody is reading. nobody at all. the same way a basketball player at the freethrow line ignores the screaming jeering crowd. after a while it’s easy to block it out. the point is to write from your heart. if anything gets in the way of that you have to ignore it, zap it out of your mind. all that matters is the writing, everything else needs to take a backseat as you write.

What do I tell my sister if she wants to read mine, (so far I have been side stepping it)?

If you don’t want her to read it, ask her nicely to stop. Personally i dont care that my sister reads it, she knows im a freak, as well as anyone.

So you are here to tell us there are in fact “blog groupies?” I think I could see that be the basis for “Almost Famous 2″ movie.

I have yet to run across any blog groupies. i have met a few young ladies that i wouldnt have met without my blog and for that i am grateful.

Why did ya buy shares of my fledging stock on blogshares, yet haven’t given me that link-back-love? *tear*

I do enjoy playing Blogshares and i am always looking for a cheap stock. meanwhile i am usually slow to add people to my blogroll if they don’t send me an email letting me know that i havent reciprocated their love. my apologies.

In terms of TV, what is your reality show of choice? Or do they all make you sick?

im a huge fan of reality tv. off the top of my head, i like all of the following: big brother, real world, the osbournes, survivor, nanny 911, wife swap, and the surreal life.

With your (blog book) success, do you expect to see more bloggers follow your footsteps with cafepress (and self-publishing)?

In order to have a blog work in a book there needs to be stories, not just “went to work today, those bastards…” so hopefully people will start writing more narrative tales about their daily lives so they could put together a book. plus you need a lot of material. most people dont write every day, so it could take years for them to have enough good posts to do it. so hopefully it will inspire people to post more often too. there are a few blogs who i would love to see put together a book: raymi, flagrant, and sk smith. i would buy any of those books immediately.
[editor's note: I think since this interview, raymi has released a book, buy it here].

Will your write a “How to Blog” post for next year, 2005? (One ever year?)

I put together the first blook two years ago. i had plans about making one last year but i didnt feel happy with the material. im glad i waited two years cuz i think that How To Blog only has good posts. I wouldnt want a book with clinkers. I do hope to put out a book of my political posts inn 2005 but it might not happen cuz i dont even want to think about politics for a while, let alone have to go through all that old crap any time soon. I also hope to put together a small book of my old poems. This Christmas is the 10th anniversary of my favorite book of poems, Ilka, so maybe i will do something nice to celebrate that this spring. but don’t hold your breath. i also am interested in making a book of emails. also a book from my secret blog. and also a book of pure sex stories. but im really lazy and hyper critical so if we get another collection of blog posts by 2006 then i would consider that an accomplishment.

Also, does cafepress check copyrights (eg. images, etc)?

Surprisingly, yes. They have a legal department that needs written proof.

What is your dream job?

Blogger at the Playboy Mansion.

Where did you go to college?

Santa Monica College, and UC Santa Barbara

Did you know your name, Tony Pierce reminded me of a long-haired hippy white dude?

Could be worse.

What WOMENS’ perfume do you think best embodies TONY PIERCE? Me myself, I think I’m a “Lucky You” because my girl likes it, and there is a male counterpart of it. Sigh GEHHH!
[2008 editor's note: I ain't with that broad anymore, so no 'lucky you' gehness, here *snicker*]

I’ve enjoyed the scent of Poison, Happy, and whatever Danielle wears, i cant remember. they dont embody me as much as they embody those particular women. but yes, i am a sucker for a sultry odor.

Care to tell us what (yahoo?) image pages you surf for a majority of your site’s pics?

Correct, but if you tell everyone then I will not be all that pleased cuz i will have to find something else to get my pics as people like to copy me, which is usually nice, but not if everyone is using the same pics as me.

How long have you been doing this… and how long with blogger?

I’ve been writing ever since i was 79, and ive only used Blogger while ive blogged. im very loyal, i like the people who work there, their service is reliable, the price is right, and it does all the things i need it to do. so fuck the also-rans.

How long did it take to get a “following”?

For some reason i have never had problems being popular. at anything. but the focus should be in being good, and worthy of the attention. i but to answer your question, after two months of blogging i had a few hundred thousand people come to my blog. but that was all due to my photo essays about Afghanistan that led people to the blog. so i suckered them over. im still suckering them over and about 20% of my traffic are people who are going to the photo essays who get dumped off at the blog. people are missing out by not doing photo essays and things outside of their blogs.

Or, should I be asking, how long before 9/11 were you blogging?
[editor's note: after 9/11, there was a 'burst' of new blogs]

One month.

Fill in the blank: Blogging is a _______ dollar industry.

Not to be evasive, but its not an industry yet. there are a few companies making decent money through blogs (BlogAds, PayPal, Amazon, Google), and maybe 150 blogs, but that doesnt really an industry make. and as much as i would like to blog for a living, im not sure blogs and ads and money should be combined in the traditional sense – even though they’re doomed to. if people spent as much time writing and experimenting as they do in getting hits and making money, the blogosphere would be a better place. im sure my little schemes only add to the problem but i never said i wasn’t a hypocrite.

How patient do new bloggers have to be to really get heard and recognized?

Through blogging you can learn a lot of things and patience is one of the great traits. New bloggers and old bloggers should give up on the concept of being heard or recognized and instead simply focus on speaking from their hearts. The Velvet Underground weren’t heard or recognized during their reign but they kept making records. Thank God they didnt give up right away. The same could be said for Van Gogh and Sonic Youth. If your purpose of writing a blog is to get popular and rich, odds are your blog is going to suck and you will get neither goal. If you simply want to write every day then its a great thing. If you want to practice your writing, it cant be beat. But popularity many times makes no more sense in the blogosphere than it does in real life so just think about the new kids at high school who were obviously trying to be popular: they always looked like kiss-asses. dont be one of them. be yourself.

I understand traffic goes down during the weekends when people aren’t surfing at work. I imagine the same goes with holiday times like right now when a lot of people are on xmas vacation, correct?

Yes. But when theres less traffic you should be trying new things. If people aren’t at work then put nudes up. If you want to get hits on the weekends, do things that are perfect for weekend blog-readers like loooong stories or photo essays or something.

Are some of the big name bloggers egomaniac assholes? (which ones?)

Almost every blogger I have met were actually very educated and nice. The furthest thing from egomaniacal or assholish. Indeed, at their worst they can sometimes be nerdy and shy.

We know you are big on Kurt Cobain but, who is your favorite rapper?

Ad Rock, Ice Cube, Eminem, Dr. Dre. four-way tie.

You appeared on the TV program Screen Savers recently. SS’ producer Cat was kinda cute, eh? I think the move is to give her a copy of How to Blog 2005 edition, with a sticky note on her page, and your #. That would be the move.

Cat is hot and a true professional who is serious about how her segments turn out. there was a lot of production in my little segment that she was responsible for that made my peice look great and im grateful. she also prepared me perfectly and i was not as nervous as i was afraid i would be all due to her. she has my numbers.
[editor comment: but are her days not in your arms, out-numbered?]

Do you think that’s a good way for student bloggers, to holla at milf teachers, instead of apples?
[editor's note (2008): I must have had a student-teacher crush in 2004]

Anyone with a book is going to impress someone. But, if you’re trying to score a teacher, you might need two books.
[editor comment: yeah, the joy of sex and Coat Room Sex for dummies, and maybe, "An apple a day, keeps your teacher bobbing away"...rofl.]

What do you say to Howard Stern, who says male bloggers are a little…nehh..fruity? (and to paraphrase, female bloggers=yentas)

I’m a huge fan of Howard’s. If you recall his last book was called Miss America and on the cover he is wearing a dress and makeup, so if he wants to call anyone fruity, i guess he has the right to say so under the old rule of “it takes one to know one.” Btw, i dont think Howard or Robin know very much about bloggers, with all due respect. he also said that in the wake of him shutting down his overly-popular message board. Howard could easilly be the king of the internet, but he seems to be spooked by it pretty quickly, and thats understandable, he’s a control freak, and the web doesnt like to be controlled, ask aol or yahoo.
[editor comment: I too, am a big Stern fan.]

What is your blogging “process?”

I go to work and do my thing until its time to take a break, then i write whatever comes to my head that doesnt suck. i try to do this before 11am for the east coasters. then i try to write something before or right after lunch. then i try to write something before i go to sleep at night, again, for the east coasters. i barely re-read, and i rarely edit or spell check. not cuz im cocky, but because im critical and if i look at it and hate it i will obsess and i might delete it. the point of blogging is to write and hit publish and duck. not to go back and tinker and poke at the zits.

Would you rather publish an incomplete blog post or do you save drafts until they are up to snuff, then you post?

If it’s incomplete its because im too afraid to keep writing the next step. so I will either delete it or be more courageous. I have saved a few drafts and I usually forget that they’re there and never return to them.

Did you ever fix your spyware issues?

No, I still have a VSX issue that adaware’s plugin cant even touch, and anytime i use dreamweaver i have to Allow All on my firewall and all the bad things can get in, therefore i havent updated tonypierce.com in a long time.

What blogs inspired you the most when you were a “noobian” (newbie)?

Vacant.cc, nay (sacred.nu), mindy (http://www.voxura.com), chelle (lush.nu). they were mostly cam girls and i was trying to see if a dude could be as popular as them without being cute and having cool design, etc.

Should have TIME MAGAZINE’s person(s) of the year for 2004, been the Bloggers?

No, and it shouldn’t have been George W either. It should have been Osama who literally changed the world And has eluded the biggest smartest richest military in the history of the world. if the media was liberal W wouldn’t have beat out Osama Bin Laden.

Would you say blogs became a public relations professional’s nightmare in 2004? (and at times, saving grace?)

No. blogs are nothing without the mainstream media to validate them. so if ABC gets a tip from a blog or a tip from another source, its still ABC making it seem “important”. so PR pros need to not worry so much about the source but continue to remain close to the major media outlets.

Thanks to blogs (and Raymi) do you think we will see even more nip-slips in 2005? (premise of all publicity is good publicity)

Nipples have been exposed since Adam and Eve. we live in times where certain people become hysterical if they see a nipple. those people should not be followed, they should be ridiculed.

And finally, what else do you think we have to look forward to in 2005?

I only see bad things happening in ’05. bush thinks he got a mandate. suprnova was shut down. and BALCO might just out every pro athlete alive. the only hope that we have is that bush comes out of the closet and admits to blowing Cheney in the lincoln bedroom. even under that circumstance that fucker still might get away with it, so i’m investing in rum.

Thanks for your time!
-shabooty ’04

My pleasure.

-tony

tony pierce.com + busblog + how to blog

Remember folks, Tony pIErce… I before E except with D…EEIZNUTS!

Good Times,
shabooty 2008

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Permalink Posted in: howard stern, interview, shabooty, shabooty exclusive April 4, 2008