While the Roma Children Sleep and Dream of Multiplication Tables and Toothbrushes
If it weren't for others (via email from YM's one regular reader, blog posts by Rex and LHB and oh yeah...THE VANITY GOOGLE ALERT on my unique enough last name) I would have missed this NY Times article:
Although I didn't say it in so many, or any, words, all I could think was "fuck you and your chance to get mentioned in the NY Times when they write about this groundbreaking magical punk rock blog book tour!!" Of course I don't really mean "groundbreaking" but goddamn, it did combine some unparalleled multimedia-ness at the time with a video trailer plus different MP3 audio readings and song clips accompanying a new Q&A each day. Screens practically exploded from the content excess.
The out-of-town replacement turned out to be the biggest boon for the tour because Largehearted Boy was probably the best fit for mixing music and books. Stereogum and Lindsay Robertson's Jane Mag guest blog were the others not mentioned above. (Ha, just realized the Jane one is gone now that the mag and its website are defunct. I guess I should back it up on YM at some point. And look, Lindsay's best bud John Green is on the cover of the King Dork UK edition.)
Well, thanks but no thanks to Warren St. John (I'm looking at your Bama RV and dude, it's dirty), it only took a year and a half for the Times to mention it.
Previously: King Dork I & II
But the results can be impressive. When Frank Portman, the frontman for the band the Mr. T Experience, published "King Dork" in 2006, he teamed up with Andrew Krucoff, a popular blogger, who created a video "trailer" about the book's main character, an alienated boy who dreams up imaginary bands, and asked Mr. Portman questions for a Q. and A. These files were posted on Web sites like Gawker, Largehearted Boy and BrooklynVegan, along with a recording of Mr. Portman reading from the book and performing songs he had written for it. The goal, Mr. Portman said, was to generate "links and Google-ability."Funny thing, when I originally organized the blog tour I had hoped a certain New York blog (oooh, can you guess which one? yes, that's right!) would be one of the participating sites -- I had tried to focus on people I knew locally -- but an initial "yes" was later followed by a kinda-assholish and ridiculously explained "no" at the last minute.
Although I didn't say it in so many, or any, words, all I could think was "fuck you and your chance to get mentioned in the NY Times when they write about this groundbreaking magical punk rock blog book tour!!" Of course I don't really mean "groundbreaking" but goddamn, it did combine some unparalleled multimedia-ness at the time with a video trailer plus different MP3 audio readings and song clips accompanying a new Q&A each day. Screens practically exploded from the content excess.
The out-of-town replacement turned out to be the biggest boon for the tour because Largehearted Boy was probably the best fit for mixing music and books. Stereogum and Lindsay Robertson's Jane Mag guest blog were the others not mentioned above. (Ha, just realized the Jane one is gone now that the mag and its website are defunct. I guess I should back it up on YM at some point. And look, Lindsay's best bud John Green is on the cover of the King Dork UK edition.)
Well, thanks but no thanks to Warren St. John (I'm looking at your Bama RV and dude, it's dirty), it only took a year and a half for the Times to mention it.
Previously: King Dork I & II
