Pick It Up, Lay It in the Cut

"First you ignore the nonsense and clear your conscience" - People Under the Stairs, Acid Raindrops

It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you without a hot beat to step to. Step. Step.

Is this thing still on?

Hi, my name is Jason Toney. You may remember me from Afro-Soul classics like, "Hey, How Much is that Negro in the Corner?" and  that hot but little seen documentary "Jumble Fever" - the poignant story of a black man revealing his scandalous and taboo love of word games.

Or something.

Privately, I've spent the last two months telling people I was probably going to retire negroplease.com. That it had flamed out and would rise like the phoenix from archived ashes on my new, more grown up and professional jasontoney.com. The problem was that every time I sat down to design my new home, it ended up looking pretty much like this. I'm just going to point my new (I don't want it unless it's brand new) domain over here and re-focus my content here a bit.

This is looking like it is going to get long. I apologize but I guess I've finally got shit to say.

I have this recurring dream where my car gets stolen. There's no sign of it being broken into (no "broken glass...EVERYwhere"). I just leave it in a parking lot, go in somewhere, come out and it is gone. I don't think it is a literal dream (even though I've had a car stolen in the past, it isn't some constant fear. Plus my car is always locked, just got fresh tags and I finally switched to Progressive Auto Insurance, something I've wanted to do for a while) but I don't know what it really is about. It weighs on my mind a bit. I also need to not fall asleep with NBA TV on. The Red Cross Hurricane Katrina commercial plays on the station constantly and I just hate when I'm having a good ass dream and all of a sudden Aaron Neville is walking through howling and warbling his countrified blues.

That shit ain't right.

I have a job. For all of 2 days, I have been the producer/responsible for Blognet - a mobile phone social networking site that you haven't heard of yet. We are in soft launch mode (essentially Beta and maybe more accurately Alpha) while I figure out what I like, what I hate and what it needs. Check it out when you get a chance. Register. Play around with it a bit. Let me know what sucks. But, like I said, it is in its infancy, I just got there and I have yet to make a single change on it yet. Don't be cruel.

What else? I'm not dead. I haven't given up. I'm not spiraling into depression. I haven't said goodbye to the blog world. What else have people asked or commented? Yes, I still love all of you. Except you. You know who you are.

LAist is doing well but now that I have a gig that is going to take serious focus of both my creative and analytical minds, I'm going to be pulling back from the lead editor position. I'll still be posting there regularly but more of my feature style stuff rather than the constant interesting news updating. I think I'm going to become "Editor-At-Large" because that's how I do it. I think we've got an awesome replacement for me as daily content editor but I will wait to discuss all of that until it happens.

And that's my life today.

I'm back, y'all.

It's your boy!

Comments

[ariel]

I'm too smart for you. I didn't even take Negro, Please off my bookmarks bar.

[George]

Excellent. *rubs hands together*

[monique]

I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away.

[Jen]

NO, I didn't know it was me. *Huff* RUDE.

[j. brotherlove]

And now... back to our regularly scheduled program.

Keep bouncin'.

[cindylu]

Took you long enough.

[ej]

it's time to get on down and party!

[Michelle]

With you coming back, the brotherlove coming back somewhat as well, monique being back I guess the time is right to confess that I've been thinking of reviving On a path. It's just feeling like that. I'm psuedo excited about the Internets again.

It's good to have you back in this space.

[Jason]

It makes me nervous when George rubs his hands together.

It wasn't you, Jen. It was that other one.

Michelle, I'm so down with an "On A Path" revival. It's like we're putting the band back together.

J. I didn't even know you were blogging again.

Ej, it ain't over. The party's not over.

Cindy - we're last.fm friends now!

[j. brotherlove]

Jason, that's because I'm on the DL. *dead*

[lk]

Glad you are back.

[bballmom]

Yeah, he's back!

You've been missed.

[-K-]

Negro Please has always been my idea of what a blog should be like.

[tony]

LAist=my favorite LA blog. thanks for holdin it down like you did for the past 10 months. best of luck with blognet!