“I guess I’m hyper-self-conscious about people thinking that I’m egotistical, but there’s a difference between being egotistical and knowing your value as a product and an actor. I know my value as a product, and I’ve divorced myself as a human from myself as a product. Sometimes, I feel that I’ve controlled my image too much, and no one knows who I really am.”
– From a 2007 profile of the prolific designer written by Vanessa Grigoriadis and published in New York magazine.
In San Francisco it’s common understanding that nothing helps tech entrepreneurs mingle more than some Dom Perignon. After writing about Ticketfly for Rolling Stone, the girls at their PR firm InnerCircle Labs were kind enough to invite me to Dom & Digital, an ongoing mixer they put together with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, investors and media folk.
It was the first time they had taken the event from a lounge or bar to the more intimate dwellings of a private residence, a penthouse at the Millenium Tower to be exact, home to 49er Faithful Joe Montana. After appetizers coupled with bottomless Dom, we sat in our assigned seats for a yum dinner catered by Banker & Banker.
Assigned to sit next to me was Mark Johnson, CEO of Zite, whom I had coincidentally met just a few days earlier at a StartOut event about digital publishing. The same event where Paul Colichman, CEO of Here Media, told me to my face that Out.com paid all of their writers. A fact I know not to be true.
Anyway, when I went up to talk to Mark at the StartOut thing he immediately brought up Dom & Digital. I had no idea he was in the inner circle of InnerCircle Labs, and apparently he got a list of names (and photos?) of all the attendees. Something I guess the media folk weren’t privy to.
At dinner, Mark talked to me about Zite, the CNN acquisition and how users can plug in their interests to get news about certain topic. For me, for example, he said, I’d plug in “Rolling Stone,” “San Francisco” and “Boy Toy.” Apparently entrepreneurs are good at Google searching, too.
But it got me thinking: with so much of my life already made public, can I even go to a dinner party nowadays and present myself clean? Forever more will I not get the chance to make a fresh first impression? Julie Crabill, founder of InnerCircle Labs and pictured with me on the right, referred to this as me having “a moment.” So I guess I better finish my book before that moment fades.
Also present at event were the CEO of Tagged, the founder of Bebo, the co-founder of Kitchit, the CEO of One Hope Wine and the former NFL linebacker who founded Bow Tie Causes. I went home with a nifty bow tie.
Photos: Mark Kuroda
BOY TOYS TALK BACK: How personal and intimate do you get when posting thing online? And when you already know something about someone do you just pretend not to and hear them out when you see them?
The series E-motional features inspirational or disappointing love messages sent through mobile devices, e-mail or other instant online correspondence. Confessions 2.0. if you will. A refreshing and far more romantic alternative to the bombardment of crude booty calls, sexts and cyber one-line pick-ups that seem to be the norm nowadays.
Let me know if you have an image that you’d like to add to E-motional. Let’s hear it for modern romance (and heartbreak).
Above is a short compilation of several live performances at Coachella 2012, weekend 2. The song is Calvin Harris’s “Feel So Close” remixed by Nero (both Coachella 2012 acts). I felt like making a video was the only way I could even being encapsulating a weekend full of overwhelming, mind-blowing shows.
The video includes footage from Martin Solveig spinning “Hello” with special guest Dragonette. Coachella was the first time the duo had played that song together in America. Miike Snow teased about bringing out “L.A. finest” and at first I thought it was going to be Britney Spears for a indie electronic reworking of “Toxic” or “Piece of Me.” Turns out Lykke Li was the scheduled guest for “Tin Black Box.”
I wished Calvin Harris had played more of his songs, but I guess he was booked for a DJ set. The Shins were nostalgic as always, and I was utterly impressed by what Florence Welch can do with her god gift of a voice. She is also incredibly fun to watch onstage. I got a little crazy dancing (spasming?) during Radiohead, but hey… if you can’t freak out during their set then when can you? Besides Thom Yorke’s got you automatically beat in the weirdo department.
Other highlights included performances by Grouplove, who played a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and The Rapture. But both those shows were on Friday, and I didn’t sneak my camera in that day out of fear of getting it taken away.
The only thing I regret is going to David Guetta instead of St. Vincent. The leathery-tanned women there seemed stuck in 1994 South Beach and their ethnic manfriends in blazers reeked of Acqua Di Gio. I’m worried that Calvin Harris will be affronted with a similar crowd as he gains in popularity.
Coachella’s best kept secret is H&M’s tent pictured right. Similar to their air-conditioned tent last year, the clothing company employed some good looking folks to generously pour us water. However this year, the H&M tent offered a more elaborate shelter with a plushy resting area, free wi-fi, vanity mirrors, photo booths, free sunscreen lotion and other desert-friendly grooming products. It was all in part of their Kiss for a Cure campaign to raise awareness against AIDS.
Saturday night, we accidentally got on the party shuttle back to our resort. Now, I don’t mean just wasted kids and loud music, I’m talking tinted windows, a guy in a Winnie the Pooh costume, club lights and a freaking stripper pole right in the middle. Attention ladies: stripping is only empowering when you are getting paid money for it…
On Sunday, we ran into Glee‘s Darren Criss as he sprinted his way to Gotye, of course. Denys stalked him for a good minute, shooting a video of him walking away from us. He was with some not-so-fabulous people so at first we had our doubts, but when he turned around briefly, even his colorful face paint couldn’t hide that dream boy mug. I could have also sworn we saw the hot werewolf from True Blood, but they were so many shirtless muscle bros there that it might have just been my delirious, overheated imagination.
BOY TOYS TALK BACK: Were you at Coachella this year? Were you wearing politically incorrect Native American wear? What were some of your favorite moments? Did you bump into any celebrities? Who would be your ideal Coachella headliner? And would you have sex with a muscle bros?
The Shins
Miike Snow
Florence and the Machine
