Journalism Gone Wrong

I had my first journalism fuck up last week.

I don't think anything quite compares.

I think I would've been better able to brush it off had I not been such a big fan. It was with OK Go frontman Damian Kulash and I am a HUGE fan: of the music, of the videos, of the guy (or what I know of him).

I was on a bus, headed to Queens. I was doing behind-the-scenes shots of the men's soccer team, who so happen to be ranked sixth in the country. They were watching a movie AND the bus was late, meaning there was lots of good background sound (nothing says I'm-taking-this-interview-seriously like background gunshots).

The bus being late I had to do the interview on the bus with about 20 rambunctious boys in the background. Needless to say, Kulash was not impressed.

Second, my tape recorder jammed, meaning I was left to fend for myself with good ol' fashioned paper and pencil. This also did not impress Kulash, who sounded a little disappointed in my lack of tape recorder. Me too, me too.

I did everything else to prep for this interview. I made my parents endure several phone calls as I double checked the sound quality of my phone and the phone reception to ensure everything was as it should be. It was. Sort of.

His publicist booked me in for a 20 minute interview, 10:40 to 11:00 a.m. Kulash has a busy full day and it was the only time that fit.

10:30 - Jane is prepped and ready, eagerly anticipating the interview, really nervous

10:39 - Jane starts nervously checking the time of her phone.

10:45 - Nothing.

10:49 - Publicist calls, confirms it's me, says he's connecting me to Kulash now, no problems with the connect so far.

10:51 - Jane and Kulash are speaking.

10:52 - Kulash starts cutting in and out. Jane works hard for the next 8 minutes to get as much of what he's saying down as possible (she succeeds, just barely).

11:01 - Publicist cuts in, time's up. What was supposed to be a successful, 20-minute interview that Jane's spent several hours preparing for, lasts for just under 9 minutes.

11:02 - Jane hangs up, the bus pulls in, everyone off... perfect timing.

The real challenge here? I still had to pull something out of my minimal quotes and my ass and turn it into a newsworthy interview that could grace the pages of the Charlatan's arts section. Not a fun task.

Still, I'm alive, rather proud of my creation, and I've started to breathe again. There is a lesson here, somewhere, but I'm still too shaken up from my first journalism near-disaster to figure it out.

By the way, I do need to get a new tape recorder...