Yesterday around 4:30 I was working at home with Marjorie and my sister Alex. We heard a popping and a bang coming from upstairs. We weren’t sure what it was and almost chose to ignore it. I walked to the back door and saw water coming into my place and smoke off the porch above me. Outside I saw huge orange flames shooting from the laundry room. I ran back into the apartment, screaming, “FIRE!!!, get out!!” I called 911 and ran upstairs to my neighbor’s place. I heard her leave a few minutes before the fire started so I knew she was safe, but there were animals in the house. I bolted up the stairs and didn’t see any fire, thought for a minute I was overreacting and had called the fire dept for no reason. Then I saw the smoke and flames in the kitchen. The dogs were gone, so I grabbed her turtle from his tank and flew down the stairs to help Marjorie and Alex. I had no idea what to take, where anything valuable was or what to do until the fire dept arrived. My brain shut down, I could hardly move.

The fire dept. arrived in minutes. Five engines, and dozens of firemen poured out of the red trucks and went to work. I have never seen anything like it. They were heroic in their yellow uniforms with oxygen tanks strapped to their back, dragging hoses up the massive flight of stairs to our house. I love firemen. I love firemen. I love firemen.

I had my phone in hand so I began trying to locate my neighbors and my landlord. Before too long the street was a sea of red fire trucks, seven engines and two SUV’s. The neighbors were lining the street, photographers were taking pictures…and a “public adjuster” was on scene freaking us all out. My phone kept buzzing and ringing, I couldn’t understand why the hell everyone was choosing that minute to call and send emails. When I had a minute to check, I found emails like “Are you okay? Twitter is blowing up about the fire at your place” so I checked twitter and could not believe the number of tweets about the fire!

I tried not to be alarmist about it. But the medium is all about the moment. It was a strange feeling to be standing across the street from my house, watching the firemen tear away the roof, and tweeting about it. But it was also somewhat comforting, I felt less helpless and vulnerable in the experience. In a tragedy - thinking about where you are going to sleep or eat are the hardest decisions to make. Knowing that so many people made themselves and their homes available to me and my dog - it made the experience so much easier. I didn’t have to think, I knew we would be okay.

Those amazing fire fighters (did I mention that I LOVE firemen) escorted me to my apartment and told me there was going to be water damage and they wanted to cover my apartment with plastic. They pulled shelves away from the walls, took all my pictures and paintings and put them on the table, placed anything that looked valuable away from the leak and covered my furniture, computer, bed and photos with plastic.

There wasn’t much to do after that, but watch as piles of burned wood cascading from the roof. Marjorie took us to get some food and a change of scenery. By the time we got back to my place it was dark and there was no electricity. Black foam and burned wood covered the backyard. My apartment was a disaster. The entire ceiling was on the floor, puddles of water, plants on their side, furniture turned over. Its a mess, but nothing compared to upstairs. Walls and roof, gone. My Janey is not my neighbor anymore. This makes me very sad and my heart goes out to her.

Alex, Sophia and I stayed at Marjorie’s last night. I’m dreading going home today.
I’m not sure what the day or next few weeks will bring. My biggest concern is not having a place to work while they re-build the house. Do I move or find temporary office space? Please let me know if you have either a place on the West side for rent or an office I can crash for a few weeks.

The LAist picked up on the Twitter fire story. What more could a Social Media Consultant want? A story about using Social Media in a tragedy….

Thank you to all who expressed concern and offered help. The emails, tweets and calls meant so much. Thank you to the spectacular LA Fire Dept. and the firemen who did an amazing job of saving the house and protecting my apartment. Los Angeles is truly a great city, I’m lucky to be here.

Earlier today an electrical fire started in the apartment above mine. 7 fire trucks and 30 firemen put the fire out and an enormous hole in the roof. My apartment is intact, but the extent of the water damage has yet to be determined.

I’m not sure yet, what I’m going to be dealing with, so if we had plans this week - they may be postponed.

Thank you for all the tweets, calls and emails with offers to help. My furniture and clothes are in good shape, however - I may need to find a place to work for a few weeks while the apartment is being worked on.

UPDATE:

This morning the LAist published a story about yesterday’s events as they played out on twitter.

*the fire was not started by a dryer as I assumed, but by faulty wiring in a porch light that was not even on.

Marjorie took these photos just after the fire was put out.

I could hardly wait to see Tim O’Reilly, the man who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, give his keynote on Wednesday. I expected to hear about cutting edge innovations in business models, groundbreaking developments in software, and the effect that Web 2.0 is having on the world offline; there was just so much to talk about! I’m sad to say it was a disappointing speech. He talked about a narrow version of Enterprise 2.0, data mash-ups. He mentioned Wesabe a company of which he happens to be a Board Member.

I walked out half way through, bored and wanting more. So I headed down to the Expo floor with my partner in crime, David Preciado, where I was met with more disappointment. It was a typical expo set-up. Rows of booths with huge displays staffed with personnel in branded t-shirts reciting memorized pitches. And, of course, TONS of brochures, hand-out, pens, foam balls, stuffed animals and other useless crap with company logos splattered all over them. Much of this stuff would end up in the collection cans outside the Schwaggin’ Wagon.

It was very disheartening, while O’Reilly was calling for Silicon Valley to take on bigger challenges (a part of the keynote I admittedly missed); the companies represented at his conference were anything but innovative. Now, I’m not a tech expert by any means, my specialty is marketing and from that perspective – there was no innovation or revolution or new standards setting happening, except in the white van parked in the loading zone outside the Mascone Center.

Reputation Management is a crucial element in online branding. A Google search of your name or product can tell you quite a bit about what is being said about you, who is saying it and why. Unless you are a real asshole, you shouldn’t be afraid of what you might find. Most music bloggers embody the sense of community that makes the blogosphere such a unique environment. They tend to lean toward being kind rather than being cruel. If you do run across any bad reviews, take the opportunity to reach out to the writer and clear things up. And who knows, some of those lemons out there may offer a chance to make some lemonade.

I recently did a Google search on Kyrareed and was surprised to see how well the recent post I wrote for Tunecore was received. Not only did I find some really nice things said about my blog, but I also found some new blogs to add to my list of recommends. Thank you to all the bloggers who mentioned kyrareed.com.

Revel Lever

Sink to See

Unsprung Media

Ken McGuire

Kurb Promotion

The Brooke

Know the Music Biz

Platinum Blue Music offers musicians a service that will “tell you if your song has the “optimal mathematical patterns” to become a success, a necessary but not singly sufficient condition for having a hit.”

In the past I would have been skeptical of such a service, arguing that it takes the magic and mystery out of the music making process. But in this rapidly changing industry, every little bit helps. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Mike McCready, Platinum Blue’s Founder and CEO. I’ve learned that Mike is a genuine guy who actually gives a crap about music and musicians. Based on him alone, it’s worth giving them a try.

Platinum Blue was recently featured on the Grammys.com website. The story referenced Gnarls Barkley, remember the HUGE hit they had with their single CRAZY?

Prior to the release of CRAZY, Warner Music decided to contacted Platinum Blue Music and run the song through their process. Using a cutting-edge technology called Music Xray that analyzes underlying mathematical patterns in music, PBM determined that the song had all the makings of a hit. And that hit eventually nabbed the group a Grammy. So, maybe there really is something to Music Xray.

If you do send them a song for analysis, let me know what you think of the service and results.

Since I have fallen way behind in my posts, I thought I’d just give a run down of my last few days in Austin.

Friday

The final day of the Little Radio parties at the Red Eyed Fly. Took off at lunch to change my clothes, it was a HOT day, and ran into Nic from The Roxy. He reminded me that Megan Jacobs was having a show - so I got there in time to watch her last three songs. She is a solid performer with an electric voice. Got back to the bus in time for another round of visitors. Sink to See stopped by for a cocktail and to catch Rogue Wave and The Little Ones. Favorite band of the day - Helio Sequence. Their new album is their best to date.

Finally had a chance to hang out with my favorite EJ, Alyssa from Ourstage. Jason Russo from NYC band Hopewell and Piper met us at the gallery. Piper snapped this sweet photo of Autumn and her books at the end of her exhibit.

Then we headed out for a killer dinner at Koshobi. After dinner, I met up with my pal from NYC Johnny G for a little rest in his suite hotel room. The Little Radio guys were finishing dinner next door to the hotel so I joined them for their last beer and we headed over to the Mohawk for Jans Leckman and then to Club DeVille for White Denim. Another long day so I headed back to the gallery early for a good nights sleep.

Saturday

The last day of SXSW and my first free day. Alyssa and I took a cab out to the middle of nowhere for the Mojo party and caught the last two songs of my new favorite artist, dan le sac VS scroobius pip. Check out their addictive video “Thou Shalt Always Kill”

Back in downtown, we tried to get into the Fader/Levi’s party but had no patience for the line. I ran into Matt Ellis on the street and took him along to see Sink to See. We then headed to Jamie’s on Red River and ran into Charles and Rob from Brown Sound Clothing and decided to grab a table and some grub with them. Inside we ran into the Spindrift/Upsidedown crew. It was a crazy afternoon. Finished off SXSW with a show at the Whole in the Wall with another amazing performance by Restaurant.

Sunday

My dear old friend Brooke is now living in Austin at Turning Stones Ranch. Brooke’s daughter Britney collected me and Piper in the morning and drove us out to the most spectacular property I’ve ever seen in Texas.

We arrived just in time for a blessing and Tibetan Bowl Concert by Joseph Knapp. Spent the rest of the day lounging and staring out at the gorgeous meadow. Annie made a lovely vegetarian dinner and by 10pm I was ready for bed. My accommodations were in the Tambo, a ceremonial house next to the main house, with windows facing the meadow and the sky. It was a great way to end my trip to Austin.

Monday

It is always hard to leave Austin. Especially this time…it was, by far, the best SXSW yet. And to end it at Turning Stones was such a treat.

Thank you to Little Radio, Transmission Entertainment, 4 Walls Art Gallery and Turning Stones Ranch for the warmth and hospitality that made this trip such a success. See you all next year!!

Day 4: Today was a bit insane. Someone did a NO NO in the tiny toilet. It made the bus smell really bad. Not a single interview…but after two 10 inch sticks of flavored incense, was able to do plenty of socializing in the RV. I gave the bus a break and headed up sixth to catch my pals from The Roxy. They had a party at The Belmont with Run Run Run and Hello Stranger. Got a chance to catch up with Heather, Megan and Nic. *The Roxy crew is one of the most genuine and hard working teams I have ever worked with. They give a shit for real. Love you guys. And, thumbs up for a great party! Looking forward to another next year!

Back at the bus, I met up with my dear friend Barbara Mitchell for a cocktail and some catching up. Stacy from Noise Pop, a sponsor of the party, brought her gal pals from —-marketing on board for a break from the heat. A fun bunch of girls, wish I could find their card! Matt Ellis, my new favorite Aussie, some random band dudes and Andy Sternberg also dropped by to say hi, and indulge in a Dewars and Ginger ale.

Day 3: Today was day one of the Little Radio parties at the Red Eyed Fly.

I spent most of the day playing hostess and interviewer on the Little Radio bus, serving up Dewar’s and Reed’s Ginger ale.

Foreign Born and Brothers and Sisters sat down gave great interviews about their new albums and the current state of the music biz.

My good friend and brilliant photographer Piper Ferguson stopped by the bus to say hi and catch a few bands at the party.

I tried, in vain, to get Sean Mills, President of The Onion, to co-interview Octopus Project with me. But he couldn’t make it…one day Sean, we’ll meet again.

The highlight of the day was snagging an exclusive interview with the buzz band of SXSW, White Denim. At 6:00 we loaded the crew up on the bus and headed to The Enchanted Forest to see Restaurant and Spindrift.

My favorite part of the night, aside from Restaurant’s amazing performance, was tripping around the forest with Jordan Levy, cinematographer extraordinaire. Here are a few photos of our adventure.

Restaurant was amazing.

And check out Restaurant:

We headed back to the bus with a crew of new peeps, including DJ Dan Mancini and two girls, both named Michelle. Once we got back to downtown, I had to crash so I made my way back to the gallery, only to find Elijah Wood and Autum de Wilde discussing her photo exhibit of Elliott Smith. Day three was a good day.

Day 2 was prep day. The Little Radio crew was busy with last minute logistics, including the arrival of the bio bus - which will be our new home for the next four days. Spent most of the day on the computer making hotel reservations, finding wristbands and hunting down a decent lunch. I love Austin, but they need some new restaurants!

Had dinner with Casey and some old friends of his. After dinner headed back to downtown to hit the RockBand party with Marjorie. Before I knew it, 11:00 rolled around and I had to catch The Upsidedown at Troubadour. I didn’t take any pictures yesterday, but I did shoot a few minutes of a new Upsidedown song…enjoy!

This year I’m doing the rounds at SXSW with Little Radio. It has been two years since I was here with LR, and I’m looking forward to a week of new music and killer parties.

DAY 1:
Jimmy and I arrived mid-afternoon, in the pouring rain. Met up with Dave and the guys from Restaurant and went to the 4 Walls Art Gallery in downtown Austin where we stayed the night. After dinner at Starlight, we made our way to the frrvrr.com launch party at Mohawk. Tokyo Police Club was headlining the party! They have been a favorite of mine for years now, but their stage shows always disappoint. I was optimistic this show would be different, since it is their only SXSW show, but they let me down again.

The party was sponsored by The Onion. That alone should have made people suspicious of frrvrr’s validity. Full page ads and exclusive VIP wristbands in the SXSW bags flamed the fever for frrvrr. Many of my tech pals from LA were pretty stoked to score some special passes and eagerly signed up for the new social network. I had a hard time keeping it to myself that the site, which openly states it will gather all your “webtory” including your medical records and legal filings, and send those to people in the network you have things in common with, was a total hoax!

I did have an opportunity to chat with the charming CEO of The Onion, Sean Mills. Hoping to get an interview with him for Little Radio this week.

Sadly, my pics from the day are too blurry or boring to post. But I will gather more as the week goes on and post lots of pics from the Little Radio parties at the Red Eyed Fly. The line-up is amazing, Autolux, The Ravonettes, The Little Ones, The Black Angels…and so many more.