Thursday, July 23, 2009

I'm a WW Best People? Me? Oh, for THAT.

I had forgotten that a young lady from Willamette Week nameded Whitney Hawke (Is that her porn name? Or her Storm name?) had called me up and asked me some questions about my days long-ago as a supermarket tabloid writer.

Then today their Best of Portland came out and I was named Best Tabloid Journalist in the Best People section. Scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll to get to it.

Or look at what they wrote here:

Best Tabloid Journalist

When you look at a rack of tabloids in the grocery store, do you ever wonder what sicko thought up stories like “Grandma Turns Pet Dog Inside Out Looking for Lost Lottery Ticket,” “Cult Uses Human Heads for Bowling Balls” or “Rabid Nun Infects Entire Convent”? Well, the answer is Portland resident Tom D’Antoni. The bearded and bespectacled D’Antoni wrote for The Sun—a national tabloid rag —while living in Baltimore in the mid-’80s, earning $25 for each salacious story he wrote. Plus another $10 if the story went on the cover.

D’Antoni describes the experience as being “fun at the beginning because it was a status symbol,” but the job quickly became a morbidly depressing gig. “I would get up in the morning and think of the worst things I could think of. Sometimes it would upset me so much I had to leave the house,” he says. D’Antoni compares the world of tabloids to so-called “professional” wrestling. The vast majority of people know it’s bullshit, but some kooks believe every bit of it without question.

Now a radio host on Portland’s KMHD 89.1 FM, a blogger for The Huffington Post and a freelance journalist for The Oregonian, D’Antoni has become a player in Portland’s local media scene. He’s tossed tabloid writing aside for now to focus on other projects, including one he says he “can’t even talk about yet, but will have a major impact on journalists in Portland.” So long as you don’t plan on using our heads for bowling balls, Tom. WHITNEY HAWKE.


Thanks WW.....I think.

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