Remember a couple months ago when I wrote about a guy named John Pecorelli? He was the firebrand writer who worked for my college newspaper, the columnist I compared to Hunter S. Thompson. If you’ll recall, I wistfully mentioned in that post that I’d lost track of Pecorelli in the years since college, and that I hoped he was still out there somewhere, rattling chains and pissing people off.
Well, yesterday I received an e-mail from a guy who knows a guy who is a friend of the infamous John Pecorelli. He kindly offered me the following information:
I thought you might be interested to hear that he is alive and doing well and rattling chains anywhere he goes. He toured as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine with Gwar a few years ago. He had the dubious honor of being part of their stage show for at least one of the performances. He still writes… a lot! He’s still extremely opinionated and not afraid to voice them. I’m never sure from one year to the next what he’s officially doing, but he’s mostly in Los Angeles, writing. I thought I would just let you know that your personal encounter with Gonzo is still alive and kickin’ in this world.
This sort of thing has happened to me several times since I started blogging — I’ve written about some obscure subject and sent my musings out into the void, certain that only half a dozen of my Real World friends were likely to read them, and then out of the blue a stranger (or a long-lost acquaintance, in a couple of cases) has contacted me because of what I wrote. It never fails to amaze me when this occurs, and it amazes me even more to think that the medium through which I’m making these connections didn’t exist (at least not in its current form) up until just a few short years ago.
Truly, we are living in magical times…
Really, the internet (and blogging!) has revolutionized the way we communicate with one another and gather information. There was a very intriguing bit on the radio news program On the Media a couple weekends ago that talked about how advertising and even news distribution is having to respond to the relatively instantaneous and yet selective ways people receive information these days. It is less and less television, and more and more online.
And it’s fascinating. 🙂 (/tangent)
When I think about it, I’m watching less TV in favor of the ‘net, too, but in my case it’s more time spent writing blog entries than actual surfing. Funny… I remember an episode of “Next Generation” where Data remarked that television had died out by the mid-21st century; I used to think that was pretty far-fetched. Maybe not so much.
Re: the changing way we communicate, I’ve had a couple of out-of-state friends apologize recently for not emailing or calling more frequently, but they feel like they are keeping in touch with me because they read Simple Tricks and Nonsense. 🙂