Backstage with Steel Panther

As promised, here's my interview with Steel Panther before last Thursday's show at the Sound Academy here in Toronto. It was perhaps the most bizarre "interview" I've done in that it ended up being more of a comedy routine than Q&A.

I was warned in advance by Universal, the band's label, that they never break character, so I planned accordingly. I figured that if it was going to be a "joke" interview, I'd ask them "joke" questions. So I sat down with a couple of friends and came up with such gems as "Why are you so awesome?" (cribbed shamelessly from Stephen Colbert's famous interview with Rush) and "What inspires you most to make music: sex or drugs?"

Of course, within 30 seconds of entering the dressing room, it was clear that I wasn't going to be in the driver's seat, and that even those joke questions were pointless. Indeed, it was apparent that they were going off into their own schtick and that I was just there for the ride. Fortunately, the guys in Steel Panther are amazing at what they do - their act is finely tuned and they are really, really, really into it, which means it's almost believable and completely fun to watch.

It could be said that much of their humour is of the low-brow toilet variety, but it's the genuineness with which they deliver that really makes it funny. Check out the interview, with (from left to right) lead singer Michael Starr, lead drummer Stix Zadinia, bassist Lexxi Foxx and guitarist Satchel (but don't watch it if you're easily offended):



And no, this video has absolutely zero to do with Sex, Bombs and Burgers, other than I'm fairly sure the band loves at least two of those three things. It would have been great to have them play the launch party this Thursday, but I couldn't come up with enough cocaine and hookers to get them interested.

Don't miss the launch party!

Just a reminder that the Sex, Bombs and Burgers Canadian launch party is this Thursday in Toronto. Come on out for drinks, food, entertainment, more drinks, and of course, books. If you plan to buy a book, I'm told the seller will be accepting cash and credit cards (no debit). If you need details on the party again, check them out in this handsome e-vite:



The party kicks off at 6:30 at the Cadillac Lounge, 1296 Queen Street West (just west of Dufferin). I'll say a few words around 9-ish, and plan to be there until the last person goes home, whenever that is. Here's a map to the bar:


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In other news, I've added a "Media Coverage" section to the column on the right, where I'll list interviews, reviews and other assorted stuff that comes through the pipe. Over the weekend, the National Post ran an excerpt of the book - a section from the final chapter about the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons research is turning into life-saving technologies. Ironically, with the recently signed deal between the National Post and the CBC, the excerpt is also available on the CBC website.

In Australia, ABC National Radio's Breakfast program also aired an interview, which can be found online.

If you're in Halifax, be sure to check out today's Metro - there's a story on Sex, Bombs and Burgers in there. The story will be running in other editions of Metro, including in Toronto, later this week. More to come.

A whirlwind week!

Man, the term TGIF has never been more appropriate. It was a whirlwind week capped off with a crazy concert (and requisite beer drinking), so I'm very pleased the weekend is upon us. The whir of activity this week also explains why I'm so late in getting this post up today!

I did a flurry of interviews for Sex, Bombs and Burgers this week, some of which I'll post links to somewhere on this site next week. There was also the big Authors@Google talk yesterday - I'll write more about that experience next week, hopefully to coincide with the video going up on YouTube (the Google folks say it'll probably be a few days).

The concert last night was, of course, the legendary Steel Panther. I "interviewed" the band backstage before they went on, although "inadvertently took part in their comedy routine" is probably a more apt description of the event. I'll be writing up a story for CBC Arts next week and I'll post the full, hilarious interview here as well. At left is an iPhone-snapped photo of me and singer Michael Starr, drummer Stix Zadinia and guitarist Satchel.

The last thing I'll mention today is to keep your eyes on the National Post tomorrow. Saturday's paper will have an excerpt of Sex, Bombs and Burgers - I believe they're putting it online too, along with a podcast interview, so I'll be sure to link to that.

To .xxx or not .xxx, that is the question

An issue that's been percolating on the internet for some time is whether or not porn sites should all effectively be put in one place by giving them their own domain name - a .xxx suffix instead of .com or .net, or whatever.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body that governs such issues, says the idea of a .xxx is now back on the table after turning it down several times. The Associated Press has a pretty thorough story that explains this thorny and complicated issue.

In a nutshell, a company called ICM Registry is arguing that the .xxx domain name suffix, when adopted by porn sites, would make it easier for parents to block their kids from accessing such content online. The plan would be beneficial for porn companies too, ICM said, because it would allow them to continue to do business but take the heat off them in regards to making sure minors don't access their stuff.

But there are all sorts of problems. Firstly, and perhaps most foolishly, moral and religious groups have argued that creating a special domain name for porn would legitimize the industry. That's pretty ridiculous given that there are at least half a dozen pornography companies, such as Playboy, that operate as publicly traded companies. Newsflash: porn was legitimized by stock markets a long time ago.

More importantly, as the AP story reports, the .xxx domain probably wouldn't accomplish its intended goal because an internet address can actually be typed in two ways: with letters or its numerical IP address. You could set web browsers to block a particular domain, such as .xxx or even .com, but blocking those numerical addresses would be much more difficult. Kids could simply navigate to the sites by learning the IP addresses.

Then there's also the issue of whether porn companies would want the .xxx suffix. Some feel it would ghetto-ize them and potentially make them easier for governments or regulators to attack. Many would probably like to have a .xxx domain as well as their existing .com address too, which some critics argue could actually raise the amount of porn traffic on the internet (I'm not sure I follow that argument).

I don't think the .xxx is necessarily a bad idea. Certainly there are some technical hurdles to overcome, but something has to be done to limit minors' access to online porn. The industry may want to try to make this solution work, otherwise governments are going to start coming up with potentially more drastic measures. Then again, as I mentioned recently, maybe that's what they secretly want to happen.

(Side note: while looking for a picture to illustrate this post, I did a Google image search on .xxx - give it a try and you'll see what I mean about this stuff needing to be cleaned up. You may not want to try this at work, though.)

UPDATE: AP now reports that ICANN has held off on making a decision about .xxx until June.

Penn & Teller on food hippies

Just a quick post today, given the craziness of the week. A heads up that I'll be on Toronto's CFRB radio (Newstalk 1010), live tonight at 6 p.m. EST, talking about Sex, Bombs and Burgers with host John Tory. If you're driving home, tune in for some chuckles. And if you're not driving but do have access to a computer, you can listen in live online. (UPDATE: I'll also be on ABC Radio National's Breakfast program at 8:40 a.m. in Australia today.)

On an unrelated note... one thing that's come up in the conversations I've had with journalists so far is how emotional people get about food. As it happens, in preparing the talk I'll be giving at Google Waterloo on Thursday, I was reminded of Norman Borlaug and the issue of genetically modified foods. Borlaug, you may recall, passed away last year with relatively little fanfare in the media, which is puzzling because he was certainly the greatest humanitarian who ever lived.

Borlaug was the father of the Green Revolution, a movement in food technology that saved hundreds of millions of people in developing countries (some estimates peg the number of lives saved at a billion - a BILLION!). In his latter years, he was also a staunch defender of genetically modified foods, which are crops that have drawn protests from the likes of Prince Charles and Greenpeace.

I won't rehash the whole Borlaug-GMO situation here, especially after finding a video that encapsulates the whole issue perfectly. I came across this clip last night, from a 2007 episode of the Penn & Teller: Bullshit show, about Borlaug and GMOs. It's 10 minutes, so a little long, but if you care at all about food and food technology, you should watch it. Especially Penn's final, if somewhat vulgar, message to critics. Check it out:

Down Under dates confirmed

I mentioned back in January that I was heading to Australia and New Zealand to do some publicity for Sex, Bombs and Burgers. Well, I've finally got those dates confirmed. I'll be landing in Sydney on Easter Monday (April 5) and staying there till the evening of the 8th. From there, I'll be in Auckland until the 13th, then traipsing across the paradise that is the Land of the Long White Cloud for the rest of the month.

In that previous post, I referenced just about every Australian cliche I could think of, so today, it's New Zealand's turn. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks practicing my Haka (that's me in the photo on the left, in the back doing said Haka), my sheep shearing skills and my strange phrases, i.e. "good on ya," "how long is a piece of string," and "shiver that goose down" (okay, I made that last one up). I also have to remember not to confuse Dave Dobbin, the head of new Canadian wireless provider Moblicity, with Kiwi folk hero Dave Dobbyn.

During that week-or-so in Sydney and Auckland, I'll be talking with various media about the book. I'm particularly looking forward to speaking with my old mates at the New Zealand Herald, and with Radio Wammo on Kiwi FM, which looks like it'll be a hoot. Check out a recent episode with my old colleague Paul Brislen, who used to edit Computerworld NZ but these days works for Vodafone New Zealand (a much better cellphone company than we in Canada could ever hope for):



Speaking of media, The Mark News - a really cool web news magazine here in Canada - has a preview of our interview up. In this snippet, we talk about the future of porn and the internet (my section is around the 25-minute mark). The full interview will be up later this week, I'm told.

But getting back to New Zealand... aside from seeing old friends, I'm very excited about finally taking a vacation. Claudette and I managed to finagle two spots on the world-famous Milford Track, a four-day hike through the most beautiful part of the country. I never did get to do this hike during my time in NZ, so I'll be fulfilling another dream.

Geeks, Googlers and Panthers

It's shaping up to be a crazy week with a bunch of stuff on the go. But before I get to all that, check out this weekend's episode of CBC Radio's Spark. Host Nora Young (who wrote an awesome blurb for the back of my book) and I talk about Sex, Bombs and Burgers. It's a neat interview as the producers spliced in some old radio archive audio about microwave cooking from the fifties. Very retro! (The interview starts around the 38:20 mark - you can also download the podcast from iTunes here).

If you're wondering who the handsome young lad is in the photo at left, that's my nephew Nick picking up a copy of my book at Chapters. There's nothing obscene or vulgar in the book, but it's probably best his parents don't let him read it just yet. It might be a little too difficult to explain the Real Touch to a 10-year-old.

Aside from doing a number of media interviews this week, I'm also taking part in a few speaking engagements. On Wednesday, I'll be at the Ontario Science Centre for GeekFest, where I'll be on a panel talking about the future of the media. We'll be trying to answer the question: is print dead? (Short answer: no.) Fellow panelists include Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente and Mike Dover, pop culture critic and co-author of Wikibrands: How to Build a Brand in a Customer-Controlled Marketplace. GeekFest is also holding a nifty Dragon's Den-style contest where inventors will present their concoctions to a panel of judges.

On Thursday, I'm heading to Waterloo to talk Sex, Bombs and Burgers at Google's offices. The search company runs a regular program called Authors@Google, where book writers come in and give presentations on their work to staffers. Past participants have included Salman Rushdie and Barack Obama, so it's a very significant honour to be able to take part. Google posts the talks on YouTube, and I'll be sure to embed that here once it's done.

And to cap off the week in grand fashion, I'm heading out to the Steel Panther concert on Thursday night! I'm teed up to interview them for the CBC's Arts section - apparently they never break character, which should be a hoot. I'll try to get some video of that interview up as well. Can't wait to feel the steel!