What's Better: Blogger or Columnist?

The front page of Slate today is a strong indication of that the user-driven model has taken over the web. Their feature space highlights two stories. One about the decline of the blog business and another soliciting user content. I just skimmed the stories, but the headlines are quite enough to make the point. There are a lot of people out there capable of creating compelling content, or have access to juicy secrects that make for good content. But there are not a lot of people who can sustain good content over the long term.

Anyone can start a blog, and every smart or connected person can write a few good pieces. But eventually they fizzle out. This has been known for awhile, but now it seems larger media organizations are finally getting this point and trying to take those people and run their content instead of having those people trying to sustain their own micro-blogs that may never make it in an increasingly saturated blogosphere.

I totally agree with this model because everybody wins. The bigger sites get more diverse content, and the smaller content creators get a bigger audience. Writers go from being obscure bloggers to highly-visible columnists for doing what they do anyway.

So the biggest question for larger sites is: how do they get contributors?

My answer to this question is brand. What kind of user experience are they creating for readers, and more importantly, for contributors? Is it a place that contributors will want to be part of? A place so compelling that a contributor feels that they are better off putting their material on another site than they are on their own blogs. Good examples of this user-driven model right now are SuidideGirls and ThePhatPhree. But these are specific-genre content sites, not general-interest sites like a Slate or a Salon. But Slate and Salon, in my opinion, lack the cool factor -- and Slate especially is losing that factor more and more as it gets absorbed deeper into the Washington Post/Newsweek umbrella.

Of course this is what we're tring to to with Guerillasphere: create a user-driven environment that has a tone and feel that people want to be a part of. For those following along, I hope you don't lose interest, because even though it's been 5 months since we shut down our old site to begin re-building, we haven't disappeared. Guerillasphere is very much thriving behind the scenes; it's just very hard to build quickly when you're not Microsoft or the Washingtonpost. But I guess that's the guerilla ethos, and that's what we're going to give to users and contributors when we finally finish in the next couple months. So please be patient and don't forget about us.

As for the Slate story about the dying out of the blog business, the interesting thing is that they failed to mention Nick Denton's blogging empire. He's the man behind the Gawker family of sites, and all of his properties are wildly successful (and I suspect profitable as well). But as a true guerilla, I'm sure he's fine that he's not mentioned in there, so he can just keep on taking what's his from the unsuspecting monoliths.

Stern's First Month On Sirius

Howard Stern began broadcasting on Sirius one month ago today. I never intended to get Sirius but my new car came with it, so I've been following Stern's second act. And I am impressed. I'll even go so far as to say I think he's well worth his $100m annual income and his King of All Media title.

The reason is simple: Stern is entertaining.

As a pure radio DJ, he's compelling with unscripted banter, lightning fast with his commentary, and -- huge as he is -- he still lets user calls and emails drive a lot of the show. As a creative force, Stern is on par with the gold-standard Daily Show/Colbert Report crew – his show's skits and songs and other scripted material are all funny.

This is from my perspective as someone who was never a devout Stern fan in his pre-Sirius era. Over the years I only listened to him on a cursory basis, but my accidental Sirius acquisition has given me a renewed interest. And I'm glad to be judging for myself because it's easy to listen to all the negative hype.

Even the most credible detractors still chide him for the same old thing; that he's too reliant on raunchy content. Here's what Slate's Bryan Curtis had to say about Stern in March 2004 (in a piece Slate re-published in December 2005):

"Stern's trademark brand of public lechery--alternately focusing on strippers, porn stars, and dwarves--has been swallowed up by a wider culture of public lechery. Stern's problem is too much success: He helped create a shock culture that makes him seem harmless by comparison. He's a provocateur whose time has passed, a shock jock who shocks no one."

Curtis is eloquent indeed. But wrong.

The argument isn't about whether or not Stern shocks people. It's about whether Stern entertains people. And looking forward, I think Stern's creative control at Sirius easily gives him the fuel he needs keep entertaining people through his five-year contract.

Yes, there is still plenty of trademark lechery, like today when two Penthouse Pets got crazy with each other while riding his Sybian machine. But there is also a renewed commitment to media watchdog-ism, like in his first couple weeks when he spent days exposing FoxNews' Neil Cavuto and Bill O'Reilly for the lying hypocrites they are.

If you like hot lesbians, Stern is more entertaining than ever. And if your taste is more attuned to the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert approach, you'd definitely be entertained by the Sirius Stern. He's deadly precise and unflinchingly direct during his media soliloquies, and listening to them gives you the same feeling you get watching the Comedy Central power hour -- the comfort knowing that there's at least some media players that get it, and who are crusading to expose the 'No Spin' world for the spin that it is.

For people who stick to their cliched Stern attack based on his proclivity for sexual content, allow me to offer my equally cliched retort: Sex Sells.

And for people who claim Stern will be the same on Sirius as he was on terrestrial radio, remember that much of his media commentary was censored on terrestrial radio because his direct approach (rather than the satirical approach used by Comedy Central) was deemed too risky by his bosses. So when people like Curtis say Stern's time has passed, they're either dead wrong, haven't listened to the Sirius broadcasts, or both.

So far, Stern's second act on Sirius has shown me he's far from relinquishing his King of All Media throne. He's not harmless in a shock culture he created. Nor lecherous. Nor shocking. Nor a sell out. He's just entertaining. Pure and simple.

Drinking Drinks

When you drink as much as I do, which is a lot more than I should, your drinking game evolves from a pure consumption play to more of an analytical approach. I often find myself watching how much other people drink and how stupid they can become when they drink a lot. I also have learned to read how people drink to tell me anything about them I'd ever want to know about them.

I could focus on the big drinkers, but will stick to the more fun negatives, and talk about a few people you need to look out for, when bellying up to the bar (mostly for work functions, but this is still applicable to other, random situations).

I'm not judging people on whether or not they drink. Some of the finest people in the world don't drink, and I respect them for that. You just don't happen to meet any of these people in a bar, because they know that they don't belong there.

Most people look at the drink itself as what tells you the story about who a person is, but I don't. Instead, I look for consumption patterns. Is this a person that has one drink and goes home? If so, I automatically figure them as someone not down for the cause. They're usually just a bar making an appearance, the thought of actually sticking around to get to know people, the last thought bouncing around their heads, filled with too main non-alcohol damaged brain cells. These are going through the routine people, and at the first sing of trouble, these people will bail on you.

Next on the drink roster is the guy that won't do a shot with you. This is one drink and done's slightly more adventerous blood brother or sister, and the real danger element to watch out for. They might stick around for up to three drinks (mostly light beer), but when the shots start flowing, they suddenly get a cell phone call to sneak away, or will steadfastly refuse the shot. These are the people that I trust the least.

Won't Do Shot Guy may seem like he's down for the cause, but is more likely a wolf in sheep's clothing. He wants to appear like someone that is part of the crowd, but they're only there to gather intelligence on everyone else. These are the people that want to appear like they're your friend, but will talk shit behind your back the first chance they get.

In the days of old, our dirty, grimy ancestors banged mugs in a cheers not so much for fraternal purposes, but to make sure if they were being poisoned, the poison would be shared. In our more modern times, the best way to check for poison is to call for a round of shots of Tuaca. The guy that's sharpening his knife to stick in your back will be the guy that hides or says no thanks. Don't think of this as a buzzkill, but as a lesson learned - keep your blood shot and hungover eye on them in the morning.

Bud Bowl Commentators Report From The Packed Stadium Bowl

Here's a super story from our old site.
We wish everyone a super bowl this Sunday.

Greyboy Allstars Reunite For Tour, Album

So far, the biggest music music news of 2006 is the Greyboy Allstars reunion tour. It began last night with the first of three consecutive sold out shows at the Independent in San Francisco and continues through April. For me, it seems only fitting that the kick-off venue is right down the street from my place. Since the Greyboy Allstars gave birth to the U.S. acid jazz movement right up the street from my place in San Diego 13 years ago.

I was a sophmore in college and totally bought into the grunge movement, rocking to Soundgarden and Nirvana and the Chili Peppers. But chicks didn't frequent the mosh pits, so I was also chasing girls around roving San Diego clubs of the day like TicToc and Taxxi. That's where a DJ named Greyboy was replacing the standard trance/techno club tunes with a more funky style: minimalist hip hop style beats seasoned with sax, keyboards and guitar. For once, girls and guys were inspired to the dance floor -- and not by some cocktails and tab of E but by the infectious grooves.

Greyboy's ode to this San Diego/La Jolla era was his 1993 album Freestylin' (an absolutely esstential download), on which he recorded live musicians over his beats. The most notable musician was a sax player named Karl Denson who had most recently played on Lenny Kravitz's Let Love Rule and Mama Said albums. And many of the beats came from San Francisco record store The Groove Merchant which went onto become the formidable funk & groove label Ubiquity Records. One sample track called Unwind Your Mind (another essential download), recorded just before Freestylin', went to #1 on dance charts in Europe where there was already a burgeoning acid jazz scene. Freestylin' essentially launched the movement in the U.S.

Denson and Greyboy founded Greyboy Records and put out a couple albums, and then Denson formed the Greyboy Allstars so he could have a live outlet for the new style he and Greyboy created. They released two albums. First, the Greyboy-produced West Coast Boogaloo which featured James Brown sideman and trombonist Fred Wesley in 1994, and then they started branching out from Greyboy and did A Town Called Earth in 1997. They toured relentlessly until they broke up in 1998. But Denson kept the scene alive by forming Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, which he's been touring with since 1998.

Over the years, the Tiny Universe wrongly got lumped in with the whole jam band miasma. Their recorded material has been true to the funk & groove roots, but their long sets for live shows drew in the hippie crowd over the years, which drove many early fans away.

But here's why the Allstars reunion is such a big deal: part of the tour announcement included a note that, after the tour, they'll be recording a new album which will be produced by Greyboy. This is basically a guarantee that proof is coming ... proof that there's a giant chasm between jam bands and funk & groove (or acid jazz) bands. I'm sure the music mags will come up with some clever new name for the jazz/funk sub-genre. All I know is that the sub-genre definitely exists. And I hope the de-hippified subculture will return with the new Greyboy Allstars album.

Download Essential Funk/Acid Jazz [itunes]
>> album | Greyboy: Freestylin' (1993)
>> song | Greyboy & Karl Denson: Unwind Your Mind (1993)
>> album | Greyboy Allstars: West Coast Boogaloo (1994)
>> album | Greyboy Allstars: A Town Called Earth (1997)
>> album | Karl Denson: Dance Lesson #2 (2001)