Out of context,
this is the most frightening picture I've ever seen.
Radio has always signified a complete failure of The
Journey... and in Columbus to boot? Clearly I made a
serious error somewhere. However the fact that I'm
being interviewed on my old station about The
Journey? Makes it the most perfect wrap up of the
first 1000 entries I could've ever
imagined.
Looking
at this video from 15 years ago I'm struck
by the fact that at that moment... I was
doing the most I could to keep "the dream"
alive. It was in every produced bit (by
'96 & '97 the show was a constant
barrage of bits), this ambition to make
things bigger and better. It's that youth
thing. That whole "ignorance is bliss"
thing. You don't know what will work so
you do EVERYTHING. You keep believing the
next bit will be better. It's that
attitude that absolutely gets killed by
adulthood. Marriages & Mortgages kill
that shit...
...yet 15 years
later, I've had 3 of one and 2 of the other and when
you watch this interview? Guess what you see. That
same kid. Happy, excited, certain the next thing is
gonna be bigger. Proud of his favorite project, The
Journey, and giddy to talk about it. Somehow, what
kills that spirit in most has made him believe even
more. And that... THAT is what The Journey means more
than anything else. It's as my friend Linda told me
when she was interviewing me in Africa, "Cheating
Failure". Because I treat everything in life as a
chapter in a book or a scene in a movie? Nothing has
enough weight to kill the spirit. If you're 20 minutes
into a movie and the main character is crushed by some
event... it hardly registers 'cause you know there's
more to the story and you want to see how it ends.
With this project I've found a way to weather any
storm and in fact smile at the art it brings. That's
magical. That is fucking magical. I wish everyone
could live like this. Now, onto the interview in two
parts:
Couple thoughts on
part one: Dirk knows his shit. I have never spoken to
someone in the media (that I'd never met to boot) that
knew my life so in-depth. He certainly did his prep
and you can also tell he's kept tabs for over a
decade. That's just rare. Secondly, I've never been
interviewed about "The Journey". Everything has always
revolved around a product like The Egos or a CD
I was releasing... so watching this video just
blows my freaking mind. I'm still having a hard time
processing the fact that while focusing so much on the
"destination" (CBS, Comedy Central), "the journey" is
the key. It's so cliched. I'm just really friggin glad
I made the journey an actual "project" because
otherwise, I'd have an assload of failed
"destinations" with nothing to show for 'em. Giddy-up,
onto part two:
Sooooo love the
shit during the breaks. When watching any live event,
I always wish I could see "the breaks". When
going to Letterman that was always where I perked
up. I'm a "behind the scenes" geek for sure. Wanted to
also say that my "you don't have to invent it now"
line sounded uber-arrogant, and I was never able to
clarify. What I was really trying to say was that
YouTube has a button you push, your camera comes on
and records you, and you hit stop and upload. Done.
You now have a videoblog entry. In 1999? Sweet, holy
shit. You had to create everything by hand.
I guess that's pretty much what I said in
the interview, but it just came off a little
pretentious and that was not my intention. Though come
to think of it, it's never someone's intention to be
pretentious... they just are. Fuck me. I'm a
pretentious bastard. Just like that it happens. Hmmm.
:-)
So thank you Dirk
-- this was an absolutely precious moment for me. I am
so honored that you've supported me all this time and
are seemingly just as excited about The Journey as I
am. I cannot wait for you to see the show on the 2nd
and I have a feeling your question about "the
next 10 years" just made its way into the final
segment. All of this thanks to Palaur? Really?
