Well, the promised 7×7 interview has finally hit the streets. It’s a disconcerting experience to read one’s spoken words in print, especially if it turns out that they’ve been edited to fit the story! I’m not complaining, though — it’s all more or less correct. And the more San Franciscans are inspired tune in to hear the stories of our city, the better… not to belabor the point, but of course that is the point!

I haven’t actually seen a copy of the magazine yet, but a FoS (Friend of Sparkletack) over at Roshambo Winery not only posted a scan of the page, but painstakingly retyped the text of article in a blog post.

Curious? Read the text of the article here. (thanks, Scott!)

EDIT 5/30/07
Hey! I just noticed that the subhead of the article characterizes me as “debunking” Mark Twain. Faithful listeners will recognize that this notion is a little wide of the mark — I’ve never said a negative word about “Cousin Mark”, and never will.

“Hey mom, my picture’s gonna be in a magazine!”

Strange but true. I just spent an hour in a studio with a battery of hot lights trained on my mug… the results of which should appear in the June 2007 issue of San Francisco’s local style magazine “7×7“.

I suspect the “new media” cachet of podcasting is what lured 7×7 to my digital doorstep — and who knew 1875 was going to become hip? I can’t say I’ve ever actually read the magazine, but to my delight I was informed that I’ve got a few fans on the inside. The interviewer couldn’t have been nicer, and the whole thing is a fantastic opportunity to promote San Francisco’s history to the people who will benefit the most… San Franciscans.

My hope is that the interview will spark 7×7’s readership with enthusiasm for our city’s past, to just start noticing as they walk around town. Chances are good that you ‘re already inspired — after all, here you are — but wouldn’t it be cool to be able to share the energy and wonder of everything that’s come before with the whole population? A city completely connected to its past…. that’s exactly what we’re trying to do here.

And apropos of that, I thought you might enjoy the work of the photographer who happened to draw the job of shooting me. His name’s Jeff Singer, a native Bay Area guy, and there’s a small gallery of San Francisco-themed black and white work up on his website. Never fails to amaze me what a photogenic city we have here. Enjoy…

My time away from the show has been action-packed, both because of the profusion of ideas for changes and improvements, and also because my personal life has taken an unexpected turn for the hectic. Moving out of my cozy apartment after almost eight years turned into a much more complicated maneuver than I had imagined, a european sojourn has created its own set of issues, and… well, enough said.

well, here goes: as i give attention to some exciting san francisco related projects that i’ve been cooking up, including the writing of a book, sparkletack will be on hold for a month or two.

the book will be a how-to guide on the subject of urban history podcasting, something I hope will inspire sparkletack-like projects in other parts of the country, and the website will go through a much-needed transformation, with a san francisciana resource center, san francisco tour reviews, and lots of other new and useful stuff.

San Francisco Magazine for the complimentary review of Sparkletack appearing in the “Snap Judgements” section of the January issue.

The February issue is already out on the stands, of course, but better late than never, right?

San Francisco Magazine