Ambush Interview #31 - 2HousePlague

there we go. 50

Nice interview so far

While studying at NYU, I worked a number of different jobs that afforded me great perspective over a number of industries.

One such was being a ticket agent for the Eastern Airlines Shuttle at Laguardia.

Because the flights were so short (just about 1 hour each to DC and Boston), I got to see thousands of people every day (literally, myself, helped directly by me).

I met and spoke with many celebrities, like Kris Krostofferson, Robert Deniro, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, Frank Gorshin (the Riddler), Chris Walken (amazing man, from QUEENS, like me!), Lou Reed, Maya Angelou, and many others.

Just one of those examples of how ANY vocational situation can be full of life-riches, if you pay attention.

I always pay ATTENTION.


j-

When I was about 17, I was approached by a scout in New York City.

I did some runway and catalog work, then went on a LOT of acting auditions that resulted in very little money, but many, many amazing experiences.

Here too, I met lots of celebrities. I read with Chris Walken (AFTER meeting him at the Airport the first time) and with with Rita Moreno.

I'd say many people think "acting" is making stuff up or pretending.

For me, it is the externalization of interior truth.

Sadly, most people don't know themselves or what's going on inside them emotionally or what to do about it.

My experiences as an actor trained me to keep always open the "pipeline" between what I'm feeling and what my body and face are doing.

In a world filled with deception, duplicity and false-facades, not always a good thing.

But I am what I am.


j-

great answers so far jack, it was great connecting with you in phx. i may have to pick your brain on the fishtanks, halcyon and i are struggling to keep our 3 goldfish happy, how pathetic is that?!

Finance was my first "career". After working in investment banking for only 11 months, I had a crisis of conscience.

While unspeakably lucrative for a person in their early 20's, the work was ethically and morally challenging for me on several levels.

At that time, I was also in a relationship with someone who had very specific ideas about what they wanted and when they wanted it.

The money I was making in IB made her happy, but the work was making me miserable.

Another convergent circumstance was that my very best friend, Gil, had just had an emotional breakdown, and I was spending a lot of time with him, trying to make him well.

For our different reasons, we both (Gil and I) found ourselves longing for change.

We were both young, idealistic and very cause-oriented.

Gil had "family" I BELIEVE were "associated" with the Israeli intelligence agency -- the Mossad.

I spoke to some of these people and they became interested in us as recruits.

We took steps in that direction, but, ultimately thought better of it, and decided it would be too hard to part from our families in the manner that would have been necessary.

With our trip-zeal fully aroused, we decided, instead, to go to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

As always with the unfolding of life's events, everything that is supposed to happen, does. We found what we were looking for. We did a lot of soul-searching in a beautiful place, and met amazing people -- seekers, as we were.

One such was a beautiful Dominican girl, I met and married on the island.

We were together only a few months, but it figures among the most essential experiences of my life.


j-

After investment banking and the Dominican republic, I went back to work in Finance -- but this time on the Credit side (large, syndicaed, Fortune 100 loans, for the most part).

Though I did this for a few years (working on the 99th Floor of World Trade Center, Tower 2!) I got bored and decided to combine my affinity for Web technology with my salesmanship.

I took a job in Marketing for IBM, and wound-up writing speeches for Lou Gerstner (including his '96 InternetWorld Keynote) and hawking all kinds of Java ?things? that came out of the IBM labs, to the enterprise.

Basically, I would sit down with the programmers and they?d tell me what the code could do, and I?d think up what kind of product to make it into ? the marketing, the Web strategy, who the customer was, etc.

My IBM years taught me a lot about how to get things done in large mainstream companies -- something that will prove invaluable in the execution of profitLAB's mission.


j-

Fascinating stuff Jack. Standing by for more!

Great stuff! These Ambush Interviews are clearly the best threads on GFY.

For working so much on Java things at IBM, I was traveling out to the West Coast more and more, to visit the IBM Java and Sun MicroSystems (Java partner) HQ's, in Cupertino, CA.

My first time staying in San Francisco, I stayed at the beautiful Mark Hopkins Hotel, and a seed was planted.

This was near-peak-size for the DOTCOM Bubble, and the offers I'd been getting (without much interest on my part till then) became more and more interesting when they were connected to Bay Area companies.

I finally accepted a postion with (then) AltaVista subsidiary, Zip2.com. My title was "PR Manager/Marcomm WebMaster". This happened about the same time AltaVista had just been purchased by CMGI.

It was a time of enormous ambitions and unchecked spending (see answer to question 12, below).

One of the first things CMGI did was undertake a floor-to-ceiling revamp of the AltaVista.com search site, creating a Yahoo-esque "portal", instead.

There were also 2 new sites to be built -- Shoppping.com and AltaVistaLIVE.com (a customizable, multimedia news-delivery portal).

They hired USWebCKS for branding and Seattle agency Weiden & Kennedy for the ad campaign, which included 3 spots on the SUPERBOWL!!

Within a month of being hired by Zip2.com, I met Charles Rashall, the brilliant man who'd just been named VP of Marketing. Charles tapped me for his direct team and made me Director of User Experience -- one of those Bubble-esque titles that always left people thinking -- "WTF do you DO?"

Things were so crazy during that time that I had a hand in all sorts of things coming out of the marketing department -- it was a real Dream Team of some of the smartest, most talented, most ambitious people I've ever met.

Among the projects I worked on was the info-architecting of the AltaVista.com and Shopping.com sites, creating a branding guideline document for use by all designers in the company, a co-branded credit card and the PR and logistics for the HUGE launch event on October 25th in NYC, to name just a few.

This was the day I oversaw the "burning" of a $2million budget, which included such things as the rental of the Jumbotron in Times Square, the hiring and "motivation" (by me) of 600 actors, the production of more than 4,000 pieces of marketing collateral (ranging in size from a postage stamp to a 9-story banner), a Cirque de Soleil style stage performance we put on for the media and analysts, and a Lauren Hill concert -- yes, we hired her.

Here's the first paragraph of the Launch Day press release I wrote:

"NEW YORK, October 25, 1999 ? AltaVista Company today unveiled its plans for enlarging the power of the Internet as a medium for the exchange of knowledge. A dynamic new media MegaPortal, the Web?s most powerful and comprehensive search engine and a revolutionary new approach to online commerce put more within the grasp of users that at any other time in Internet history..."


This was easily one of the most exciting days of my life.

We really pulled off something amazing that the world may never see again.

It's too bad the market lost confidence before we could IPO.

I was a really rich guy for a little while -- on paper.


j-

This is rather interesting.

great stuff so far

When the bubble burst, I got laid off from AltaVista and, though I must have gone on 100 interviews for "good" jobs, did not earn more than $12/hour for 3 years.

For most of those 3 years, I worked in hotels in the Union Square and Tenderloin areas of San Francisco. The Tenderloin is famous for its large population of homeless people and is proud to boast what I would describe as one of the most humane homeless assistance programs in America.

It's hard to describe or list the many lessons I learned during this time in my life.

I had been an arrogant guy, and found myself carrying bags up flights of stairs for usually no tip.

As you will understand later (below, when I answer 16, 17 and 18), this came after a time of great pain and difficulty for me, during which things I NEVER DREAMED could happen to a person like me happened to me.

Suffice it to say, I was very different, and the lessons penetrated quickly and well.

I happened to be working at this one Hotel (The Olympic in SF), which was, then, owned by a woman with messed up views about people and the differences between them.

Though her hotel was undeniably in a "seedy" neighborhood, she was in denial. She spent all this money trying to attract a certain kind of guest, though many times I saw taxi cabs carrying "desirable guests" roar off in confusion and consternation when they realized the hotel did NOT resemble the picture on the Web site


I encouraged her, instead, to embrace the LOCAL community and make her hotel a more welcoming place to a different kind of customer.

By then, I had noticed what kinds of customers not only came through the door without looks of horror on their faces, but also left happy and satisfied with the accomodations.

To her, they all looked like criminals though they had CC's that cleared or paid cash in advance.

She had the good sense to hire a General Manager for the hotel who understood what I was up to.

He was the one counting the money made on the nights I worked.

But, too bad for silly Ms. M., she never followed my advice, and soon fired the GM that got it.

Left without an advocate at the Hotel, M. both wanted to expand my role, but also to force me to pursue business in the way she thought was best -- though it was OBVIOUSLY NOT WORKING.

I refused.

She hired spies to check in on me during the night shift, then fired me because I was seen giving stale donuts to the homeless.

I guess you already know what happened to Ms. M. -- she was forced to sell the Hotel to a big company, very soon after I left.

The good news is, I hear her that "idle retirement" has finally afforded her the opportunity to enjoy the exclusive company of the people with which she so desperately longed to rub elbows at the Hotel.

Though I was delighted with the consequences of this separation for myself, this is still a sad, sad story of the needless waste that results whenever employers can't/won't recognize the value and intelligence and (otherwise unavailable) insight into a market that a very special employee candidly offered them.


j-

hey! do you know the phoenix hotel on eddy in sf (tenderloin) then? i LOVE staying there, so much style and fun - when i toured w/bands a lot i always ended up there when we got to SF.

.

As I think is the case with most sons, my mother was the most influential person in my life.

She was also a beautiful, brilliant woman, a poet and the most generous person I ever met.

She was flawed and broken, but loved completely and unconditionally.

Here are she and my dad, circa 1960...




They parted when I was 1 year-old, and she spent the rest of her life single.

Among the pursuits to which she did give her attention was the discovery of spiritual truth.

She experimented with many belief systems, including Afro-Caribbean Santeria, Spiritism (possession) and White Voodoo.

All I'm going to say about it is that, while growing up, I got to see things that prepared my mind for the discoveries and challenges of my adult life.

My mother was the very thing that I want to be, though I know it is very, very dangerous.

She was a lightning rod -- an attractive object placed at a dizzy height, to draw down bolts from the heavens.

Victoria Mardach* died on February 11th, 2000 -- a year whose arrival she strangely dreaded. I should have, too.


j-


*(Not a typo, I changed the "h" to a "k" in 1995)

Of course, I know it!

I had my birthday sin-bash last January there -- the suite in the far-right corner with the stairs that come down straight into the club.

Mmmmm-Hmmmmmm.


j

HA HA HA!! I've always viewed you as a Paladin/Cleric with high charisma.

Definitely enjoying your answers, Jack!

In Phoenix, I told my brother Halcyon that he is a narrator of our lives.

At times he is literal, his meaning will strike you in the face.

At times he is lyrical, his words dissolve into music before our ears.

At times he is metaphorical, because he is gentle enough with TRANSFORMATIVE TRUTH to recognize when it must be changed in form to be received.

I love you, Hal.


j-

I started early and wth a lot of AP credits to my name.


j-

I love you, too.
And I'm really glad you re-stated that. I loved the way you phrased it poolside and wanted to remember it.

Now, MORE ANSWERS!!

Jack, if you don't mind me asking. How old are you?

Intresting interview ,great answers

sweet! is that the one with the "atrium" attached, aka smoking pot room? hehe

I'll be 40 early next year.


j-

I went back to New York for the first time after 9/11 in June of 2004. For me, it was also the first visit since I was there last in 10/1999.

All I can say about the events that happened in my life between July, 1999 and December 2002 is...

When I visited my Stricken City, the place where I had lived so long, I measured the changes in myself, I measured the changes in New York...

I decided we had been equally traumatized, since we'd last met.



This is a vast story with many, many strange turns. The only way it makes sense to tell it here (for attempting to encompass ALL of it) is with bullets.



But before the list of bullets, it is important to know the themes of the lesson learned:


1. Thou shalt not exert thy will ABOVE the will of others.

2. There are no short-cuts -- go through it this time, or start all over again.

3. Don't try to rudder from your head, "listen", instead for the direction you should go.



And now the bullets...

I culminate a life-long tradition of selfish acts by leaving a woman who loves me, whom I have told I love her, because she is not intellectually my equal.

I follow the prospect of "that WANTED love" from IBM to Venezuela to San Francisco.

She freaks out for my willingness to come so far.

I am alone (in a new place).

I go on more than 200 online dates.

I meet the one who changes everything in one night.

She freaks out for my willingness to go so far.

I am alone (in a strange place).

<insert Yosemite fall>

I go on more than 300 online dates.

I make a really bad mistake.

I meet Lauren, the love of my life.

I try to "run away".

<insert Egypt adventure>

I can't get away.

I pay for my mistake (and the love of my life pays with me).

We catch a break (conditional upon growing up).


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For as long as I can remember, whenever things got to be too much for me, I have crawled into my bed and wished that I were dead.

I don't do that anymore.

I couldn't begin to tell you how to get there. But something definitely happened to me, and things were never the same after that.

I found all the evidence I needed to convince me that there IS a purpose, and there IS a reason for everything that happens.

Define it any way like -- I WON'T OBJECT TO YOU.

But, offer me the occasional indication that you see me as much as I see you.



This is what I looked like JUST BEFORE...




j-

My understanding of such facilities is that they are appropriate to those persons who have forgotten the value of their lives, or who have permitted others to convince them the value is small.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Corporate Responsibility" is a strange-sounding term.

Let's consider its two components, separately...

1. "Corporate" <kor-poh-reht>, as in coporation, from the Latin "corpus", meaning body.

In order to be "corporate" a thing must be integrated, it must be permitted to occupy a place of importance and vitality within the body. Otherwise, it is merely a wart, with neither expectation of ever being welcomed into the body, nor possibility.

2. "Responsibility" <reh-spahn-sih-bihl-ih-tee>, from the French "repondre", meaning to respond. It is the social force that binds you to your obligations and the courses of action demanded by that force.

Since responsibility is a social (subjective) rather than moral (absolute) force, I preserve my right to invest allegiance and compliance ONLY in those societies that I agree with and that welcome me.

I acknowledge no force of responsibility greater than my righteous refutation of it.


j-

Oh, this is SOOOO silly.

There isn't ONE sane person I've asked about this who said it was anything other than the funniest thing they'd ever seen.

I think people reflect their own sad sexual distortions on anything that threatens their feelings of safety and compliance.

Judge for yourselves...


AMANANDABIRD



j-

"3. Don't try to rudder from your head, "listen", instead for the direction you should go."

Amen!

It's interesting (and perfect) that you use the word, "rudder."

Tassy and I often talk about "being in the flow."

And I've found that I am most in tune with the meaning you describe when I adhere to the mantra: "float more, steer less."

My first was Atlanta, last year, and we have almost come full circle.

So far a distance has been traveled, in fact, that I cannot think of them as "conventions" anymore, in the original business sense.

So many of you have become my friends, and in such meaningful ways, that I cannot separate the business that we do together from the pleasure of your company.

Over the next few months, I will continue to make the circuit of the shows we know and love. But I will also be venturing more and more OUTSIDE Adult, to do the work and build the GREAT BRIDGE it is my vision to create.


j-

Rose(pink) colored glassed for all!

So much has happened so much has changed since then. Was a great start don't you say?

Before I answer, I want to apologize if at any moment my answer sounds arrogant or self-inflated. It is difficult for me to speak about things I truly believe in and feel I understand, without becoming a bit of a bully.

The answer to your quesiotn is "Because I was born to do it."

From the beginning of my life, I felt as if a "strange technology" had somewhow interfered with my in-utero brain and created a handicap of communication in me.

I always felt like I was speaking in a foreign language, or that the people I was talking to were either not listening or could not hear me.

I don't know what "normal" is, but I reacted to the impression that I could not be understood by going inside my head. I spent most of my time in there, speaking very little, and perfecting a language of silent facial expressions, with which I achieved great conveyances of meaning.

I became a weird little kid, who terrified drunks and readily befriended retards and the insane.

For "dropping out", as it were, from the Constant Cackle of human drivel, I was able to consider the essential ways in which human beings connect.

I watched bodies move in their infinitessimally subtle ways, I watched pupils dilate, I trained my nose to detect arousal/interest, and I became a sexual pianist. I realized that Essential Connection lay not in the words or the circumstances, but in the manipulation of words and circumstances to connective ends.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


I've been on about 500 online dates.

I'm really, really good at it.

It's not because I'm wily or clever or deceptive or coy -- but because I have discovered the ways in which this medium can be used to seduce.

I have a vision for the ways in which the Web can expand and improve on human interaction.

I feel it in my bones.

I know it's right.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Over the short-term, we'll be making some changes to the SexSearch.com site, intended to push it in the direction of a more interactive, live, real-time interaction model.

Those of you interested in a more architectural discussion of this evolutionary pathway, should pick up the May issue of AVN Online -- and look for my article:

"Peer to Peer Pornogrpahy"


j-

What exactly is an "online date"?

No Jack, this, is a sexual pianist.

Bump!

Oh, and another question... do you happen to have a really large freshwater aquarium that could use a couple of rather large, very shy fish?

First off great interview Jack and Tassy I have stayed there. I loved it. Turned a Motel 6 into a piece of art.

Your asking of the question gives me the opportunity to expand the definition beyond the current convention.

An "online date" is a liaison, a tryst, a rendezvous with a person you NEED never meet, but with whom, nevertheless (for the agency of technology), you may engage with to a gratifying end.


j-

It was great to get to know Jack in Phoenix. Good luck in the new job!

The short answer is -- "Porn in which people are being themselves".

The voyeur delights in the detection of hidden truth.

There is a "penetrative" thrill in seeing others as they are/would be when having sex.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When I was about 15 years old, I found a Polaroid photograph under the tire of a car.

The image was grainy, and the photograph, itself, had been defiled by the tortures of the street.

But, it was clearly a picture of my 20-something, ruddy-nippled, gap-toothed, swarthily-slim neighbor from across the street.

It had, clearly, been taken by someone who was either just about to fuck her, or had just fucked her.

I could see that in her face.

For having "some" connection to the model, for the sordid condition of the conveying medium (a run-over Polaroid print), and for the transferability of a prior fantasy into the forms of the "available porn", I must have jerked off to the thing over 1,000 times.

This is good...





j-

interesting, personally I think she looks a LOT like your wife with shorter hair....

These are good...


















j-

We don't own a car, right now.

We rent a flat in Nob Hill that looks like this (through the bottom of an old Italian Glass ashtray)...



This is our "cat"...




j-

I think I'm pretty clean, but I've been lucky.

As I answered above, I think addiction happens when you lose control of your relationship with pain.

I think I grazed a perilous edge in the Summer of 2000...



j-

Jack..

Good luck with your new venture.. You will always be family to me.. Good people..

You didnt even say goodbye to me, hit me up soon and say hello... Need to shoot the shit with ya..

Much love.

Bp

very nice interview

5 days.


j-

Jack, enjoying the interview!!! Just wanted to let you know you missed Q9 about the Mossad

Cool interview.

Uh, I think I got it -- HERE.



j-