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Month: October 2010

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  • Merton and Ben Folds Are Different People, Here’s Proof [VIDEO]

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    Mystery solved. Everyone back to work...

    About six months ago a mystery man known only as Merton burst onto the scene, garnering acclaim and attention for creating improvised songs on his piano by surfing Chatroulette.

    In addition to the viral buzz, Merton also attracted the public’s interest because, well, he looks a hell of a lot like musician Ben Folds — they have the same black framed glasses and rather similar facial structures. Due to rumors that Folds was in fact Merton (which the latter denied in an interview with Mashable), the musician created a couple of “Odes to Merton” on YouTube, plugging into Chatroulette during concerts and singing before a packed house and the Internet at large.

    Determined to discover whether or not the two were the same dude, we interviewed Folds about the whole deal. After talking with both of them on Skype, I was pretty convinced that they were different people. Still, there are a ton of folks out there who would beg to differ.

    Well, sorry guys — Folds e-mailed me this weekend to inform me that he had met Merton in person, at which time they created the above vid. So unless they’re using some kind of fancy green screen tech, it’s safe to say that we can put this story to bed.

    Merton also shot me an e-mail after showing me the vid, which I’m posting below. If you’re not down to read the entire thing (short attention spans are an epidemic, huh?), I can tell you this: He doesn’t plan to ever reveal his identity. Although I’m sure the truth will out someday — probably like some 30 years later, Deep Throat-style, but still…

    Merton Speaks

    “I live in Colorado and Ben performed in Denver [Saturday] night, so I contacted him and said I’d love to meet in-person if the opportunity arose. I went to the show (which was great: Ben + piano + full symphony orchestra!) and afterwards we met up with a plan to take a couple of photos together, which turned into a video together, in order to explain our biological differentiation.

    I don’t plan to ever reveal my identity. I’m sure it will emerge somehow, sometime, and I’m fine with that. But even after I’m revealed I will probably only appear as Merton, because that’s been a very comfortable way for me to perform and to keep my public and private lives separated. I’ll maybe be like Borat — where people know who the real guy is, but they mostly just see Borat and regard him as being almost a real person in and of himself. Especially because Merton is not really a “character,” but just me wearing a disguise. Merton’s personality is my personality.

    Back when you interviewed me I was not yet sure if I would ever leave my little webcam box and appear live, but I’ve spent the summer doing live performances and that’s the direction in which I’m heading now. Chatroulette is an interesting technological gimmick and it helped to establish me in the public awareness, but really it was just a medium through which to do my basic guy-makes-up-songs-on-the-piano routine, which is something I can do anywhere in the world. So my newest video is the first in a series of Street Piano videos, and the reception has been incredibly positive.

    It may not have the same level of widespread public awareness because it doesn’t involve a flavor-of-the month tech trend, but if you read a couple pages of comments you’ll see that people are overwhelmingly positive about the transition and the Rating for the video is currently even higher than my first video, which was the highest rated video of all time on YouTube.”

    The Proof

    More About: ben folds, chatroulette, humor, merton, music, pop culture, viral video

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  • Hunter S. Thompson's 1958 cover letter for a newspaper job
    Wp-Content Uploads 2009 01 Hunter3555B

    In October 1958, a pre-fame Hunter S. Thompson applied for a job at the Vancouver Sun. The Ottawa Citizen recently published the quintessentially-Hunter cover letter, which also appeared in The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (The Fear and Loathing Letters, Vol. 1). Here it is:

    Vancouver Sun

    TO JACK SCOTT, VANCOUVER SUN

    October 1, 1958 57 Perry Street New York City

    Sir,

    I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I'd also like to offer my services.

    Since I haven't seen a copy of the "new" Sun yet, I'll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn't know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I'm not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley.

    By the time you get this letter, I'll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I'll let my offer stand. And don't think that my arrogance is unintentional: it's just that I'd rather offend you now than after I started working for you.

    I didn't make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he'd tell you that I'm "not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person." (That's a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.)

    Nothing beats having good references.

    Of course if you asked some of the other people I've worked for, you'd get a different set of answers.

    If you're interested enough to answer this letter, I'll be glad to furnish you with a list of references -- including the lad I work for now.

    The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It's a year old, however, and I've changed a bit since it was written. I've taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession.

    As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you.

    Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews.

    I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don't give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations.

    I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.

    It's a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I'd enjoy the trip.

    If you think you can use me, drop me a line.

    If not, good luck anyway.

    Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson

    The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (The Fear and Loathing Letters, Vol. 1) (Amazon, thanks Gil Kaufman!)


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