THE NIGHT STUFF
Get friendly with Tom, others at MySpace party
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Tom Anderson is everybody's friend at MySpace.com. He's heading this way for a party at Pipeline Cafe. |
Anderson is everyone's first friend on the wildly successful social networking site. The 29-year-old co-founder of MySpace, Anderson's mug is the first one that pops up on your "friends space" list when you sign up. His is also the first welcome e-mail that finds its way to your inbox before you collect a single friend.
In just a year of existence, MySpace has amassed three times the number of unique visitors (almost 4 million) its closest networking rival, Friendster, has. It signs on 25,000 new users daily, many of them former Friendster slaves weary of that site's increasingly cranky server.
Users can host blogs, do instant messaging, post classified listings, color their site with HTML, or just pore over the site for folks with common interests. It's an easy way to stay in touch with old friends, or (in one of the site's more popular uses) make lots of funky new ones.
Locally, you'll find promoters and club DJs eager to add you to their friends space for party alerts. Bands like Pimpbot, The Quintessentials and Ten Feet can throw up MP3s and future club dates using MySpace Music.
American Idol finalist Jasmine Trias even has a MySpace space — or at least a whole lot of people claiming to be her do. And therein lies the real joy of MySpace — being equal clicks away from meeting someone who shares your cheesy love of Cameron Crowe films, and some doofus who claims to actually be Cameron Crowe.
So when Tom Anderson personally e-mailed me (and thousands of other Hawai'i MySpacers) a couple weeks back about an official MySpace party at Pipeline Cafe on Sunday, I figured I'd e-mail him back for a story. I mean, what the heck. We're, like, friends, right?
We started with why Honolulu is getting a MySpace blowout à la New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Miami.
"The tipping point (for us) was when MySpace got popular in Hawai'i. That was really the first place that we got explosive growth," said Anderson. "There are more total users in other states, like California, but there's a larger percentage of Hawai'i (users) than any other state."
Anderson's goal with MySpace was creating an information portal where every feature and service was built around a user's profile and network of friends. His theory? People under 21 — who were pretty much raised online — wouldn't find it odd to look for lost friends, make new friends, date, find clubs, scout jobs and start bands online.
"The music section is really important to me," said Anderson, a former musician. "I love it that bands can put up their music, promote their shows and find new fans. Bands are even booking tours through MySpace because they can now connect with people all over the country."
MySpace's Honolulu party will feature Black Eyed Peas' DJ Motiv8 and two dozen local bands and DJs. Everybody's buddy Tom will be there — taking his first vacation since launching MySpace — to meet a few of the (at press time) 1,500,673 souls on his friends space.
"Girls have asked me to go to the prom, marry them, be a sperm donor," said Anderson, about the 2,000 MySpacers who e-mail him each day with expressions of love, venom or for simple acknowledgement. "One guy asked me to be the best man in his wedding. A band asked me to sing on their album.
"I really can't keep up anymore."
From 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sunday, at Pipeline Cafe. $10 (21 and older), $15 (ages 18-20).
FILMMAKER'S LOUNGE
Cinema Paradise film mixmaster Sergio Goes gave The Night Stuff the advance word on a handful of after-hours parties and post-film lounges he's cooking up for the fest's Sept. 17-23 run at Varsity Theatres.
An addition this year will be the Filmmaker's Lounge — a 3,000-square-foot chill space on the ground floor of the neighboring Varsity Building. Open daily from 3 p.m. to midnight, the lounge is where you'll get to chat with filmmakers, find information on films, and purchase tickets and all-access passes for screenings.
The lounge also will be stocked with open turntables and displays of the latest sound and editing equipment from Mac Made Easy.
The Barnstormers, a collective of 25 visual artists from New York and Japan, unspools its signature time-lapse videos combining elements of painting and filmmaking all week.
Some of the fest-related parties dropping that week:
Cinema Paradise Opening Night Party at Indigo Eurasian Cuisine, 10 p.m., Sept. 17.
Beat Junkies' DJ Shortkut spins; the New York City cast and crew of opening night film "Point and Shoot" represents. Entry is $12 (free for fest badge and patch holders).
Feng Shui Ultralounge at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, 10 p.m., Sept. 18.
Feng Shui goes on with its usual semi-bad self, but you'll have free access to the fest's VIP area with your fest badge or patch.
Best of Honolulu Underground Film Festival at thirtyninehotel, 10 p.m., Sept. 19.
Films and live punk, funk, ska and rock with Amos Zolo, Ryan Kunimura, Neckless and Head. BYOB and $5 to get in (free entry with fest badge or patch).
Cinema Paradise Closing Night Party at the Buddha Bar, 10 p.m., Sept. 23.
San Francisco-based airwave and club DJ and OM Records artist J-Boogie spins.
More Cinema Paradise information at 550-0496 or www.cinemaparadise.org.
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.
