Thursday, November 06, 2008

I know I will catch shit for this, but...

Have you ever seen anyone take a lightrail pub crawl so seriously?

I will officially proclaim right now, that yelper Scott C. invented the idea of taking lightrail to various bars.  I haven't read the article yet, but I imagine that Guphy was making a gentle joke when she claimed to be copyrighting the term.  We young hip gridsters are so busy putting on our tight pants and riding our fixies around and getting stds and wearing neon sunglasses or whatever the fuck you think we Midmo contributors are all doing that we don't have the time to come up with original material, sorry.  I  do indeed feel great shame that I did not personally contact the "round corner crew" to verify the fact that yelper Scott C. has all rights and claims to this phrase and concept in perpetuity.  


79 comments:

Patrick J. said...

It's like wow, no one has ever took public transportation to different bars before. When I lived in San Francisco, we had a name for this called "Every Weekend." I thought light rail article was cool.

beckler said...

hipster!

Anonymous said...

People, people, must we refer back to a previous blog entries comments which I am too lazy to look up the exact date of wherein and henceforth it was SCIENTIFICALLY proven I am the only hip person. ever.
jamattack!
Also, the first time I ever heard the idea of a lightrail pub crawl it was from gbomb. I'm pretty sure her dog told her about it, but still, in my heart that means it's her idea.

Anonymous said...

Shame on Guphy, shame on Midtown Monthly. SHAME!

-miller

Libby said...

My 90 year old uncle still claims he was the master-mind behind the grocery store conveyor belt idea, but that someone else copyrighted it first...super sad really...maybe poor Scott C. and his yelper friends deserve our pity if this coin-phrasing is all they have to hold on to?

Anonymous said...

Let it be known that if you hear anyone referring to weed as "the tation", that was MY IDEA!

-miller

beckler said...

better copyright it

Anonymous said...

What if i just Yelp it? Or go tell some people at the Round Corner about it?

-miller

Anonymous said...

I heard they called it the Premier not because they thought it was the first but because it was better than the Scott C. one, which some have apparently dubbed "the mindless loser idiot lightrail pubcrawl."

DJ Rawkafella

Anonymous said...

don't worry, you people are all much too old to be considered hipsters. how's about hepsters?

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm defending the dude here.

While this is maybe not THE biggest issue that sac has to deal with right now, I do feel bad that this guy has apparently been doing organized Light Rail Pub Crawls for two years now and we totally stepped on his dick. It doesn't help that the article's subhead adds insult to injury.

AND, it's very telling that LRPC Scott's pals are posting and that he's been very quiet and reserved about it. props to his friends for coming to his defense, even if they come off a bit shrill sometimes. It sounds like Scott's events are pretty fun.

I sent an olive branch to LRPC Scott, and i'm trying to get to the bottom of who did what when (like in the parlor with the candlestick?) and we'll do our best to make it right ASAP.

and, MM was scooped by Heyamoto. Ouch. i guess we can turn in our hipster ID badges now.

-omf

Anonymous said...

Sorry if I sounded shrill in my Yelp review, but as said in the comment above me, I thought you were "stepping on Scotty's dick" by the way the article was presented.

Scotty has put a lot of time and energy into organizing his crawls. He does dry runs. He times them perfectly. And we have had a lot of fun on them.

I'm proud to be a mindless loser.

Anonymous said...

oops, make that mindless loser idiot. My bad.

Anonymous said...

Tim, I couldn't read the whole article because I was so disappointed in it. I couldn't even eat the rest of my potatoes at Crepeville. Stolen articles and stolen ideas make me queesy. The Light Rail Pubcrawl. I just thought you should know that the Light Rail Pub Crawl has been running for a couple of years in midtown Sacramento. It was a major article in the Sacramento Bee's Ticket section. It was an article by Lisa Heyamoto and Bee photographer Brian Patrick. Great pictures. "Light Rail Pub Crawl Scottie" as he's called, came up with the idea a couple years ago and has been putting it on ever since. Every few months he hosts. It's a Yahoo Group. There is a MYspace page dedicated to it, too. It's all over Meetup and Meetin...It's been an "Event" posted for all to see on Yelp on many many occasions. It's been a high profile event. The fact that your writer, guphy, has patent pending makes it all the more suspicious. It's a blatant ripoff of Scottie's Light Rail Pub Crawls. I've only attended a couple of them. He's also had themes. Just like your writer is planning on doing. I feel bad for Scottie...he almost revolves his life around the Light Rail Pub Crawls. Hard to believe it's a coincidence. Hate to throw one of your writers under the light rail train but, it just doesn't seem like good journalism.
******************

I just saw those yelps last night and contacted Light Rail Scottie asking if he would care to send a letter in that we would publish ASAP.
I've known Guphy for many many years, and I find it hard to believe that she would steal an article idea... but it is awfully close to what seems to have been going on for years. I'd never heard of it before, but then I'm not much of a Yelper and don't get the Bee, so it wouldn't have been hard for me to miss.
I haven't heard from Scott yet, and I'm hoping that he will contact us soon
Thanks again for bringing this to my attention and I hope we can set it all to right... Tim FosterPublisher

Anonymous said...

so, to make this less confusing to the uninitiated, OMF and Tim Foster, publisher of MM are one and the same.

Anonymous poster above has posted both his/her initial letter to me and my response.

I still haven't heard back from Scott or Guphy-- I'm pretty sure this will all end up chalked up to an unfortunate misunderstanding. While there are a lot of similarities, I've been researching this and there are similar events all over the country- I suspect that Guphy came up with what she thought was a new idea, not knowing about LRPC Scott.... just like Nikolai Tesla and Marconi.

Drama!

-omf

Anonymous said...

Who CAN finish all their potatoes at Crepeville?

-miller

Anonymous said...

Dishums.

-omf

Anonymous said...

This Light Rail Pub Crawl article by Guppy the Plagerizer seems to be written using the Diana Griego Erwin fill-in-the-blanks story generator.

Cody said...

I can. I'll eat the rest of yours too.

-Cody

beckler said...

even the really crusty ones? i secretly love those. i'm ashamed.

beckler said...

I detect the presence of the droll troll on this thread!

Anonymous said...

This happens all over this country too? This happens in any city with a mass transit system.

I'm still waiting for the flak I'm gonna get for blogging a year ago on the Ring-Bahn Pub Crawl that circumnavigates Berlin via subway.

Oh yea, no one read that blog anyway.

Well, I'm off to get tationed and mindlessly ride the lightrail, or what I'm starting as the Tation to Tation Snack Crawl

-skpr

Liv Moe said...

Yeah, I've been feeling the piquant sting of the anonymous poster all day myself.

I wonder if it feels good and justified to be an anon poster or if feels more petty and pathetic the way it seems it would.

Seriously, it's nice that you got a good dig in but really we could all say all sorts of shit anonymously there's really no courage there. It's sorta like socking a blindman in the nuts ot shooting someone in the back.

Liv Moe said...

make that "OR shooting someone in the back."

Anonymous said...

Oh Jesus, this is like people in the craft world getting their panties in a wad over who has the rights to the record album purse or Stitch and Bitch. It also confirms my 99.9% suspicion that there's a direct relationship between people who spend a lot of time on Yelp and taking themselves way too seriously.

Anonymous said...

Of course there are pub crawls everywhere around the country.

Funny, if you google "sacramento light rail pub crawl" you get pointed to one of Scotty's creations right off the bat.

Way to fact check!

Anonymous said...

Ah, Sacramento, helluva town.

Anonymous said...

way to keep ur anonymity!

It's not really a creation. It's just people who time getting together right by looking at a time table and googling whatever bar is near what station. If they wanna theme it up...then whatevz.

Are you gonna tell me now that he gets kickbacks from the bars that he leads these people to?

-anonyfag

Steve V said...

I have yet to see this article, but I'm sure it was an oversight & not stealing an idea. No biggie - lightrail pub crawling is a schweet idea. Scottie just did it first & people are correcting the publication.

Lightrail pub crawls are a great time & it's awesome that more people like the idea. We should all join together on a giant crawl for some beers - Midtown Monthlies, Heckasackers, LRPCers, etc. etc.

That's cool - as long as the magazine will post a correction/retraction/whatev. It happens.

Anonymous said...

I helped Guphy write the article. Mostly the rules segment, including the 'theme' and 'matching item' bits.

I'd like to make a couple points:
A. It's funny. Especially the 'I then invented the first pub crawl, which got us right home.' I'm empowered to step-up at this juncture, stake claim and type that it was I, who invented getting waisted. Bring it, ancient Egyptian drunks! I understand it could be difficult to catch the subtle spices of Guphy's wit on paper, however the general flavor is apparent throughout the piece. For instances, a group of crawling pub crawlers, or the idea that she would try to legally posses an idea, that she, herself, is recommending for the enjoyment of others.
We can all agree, that ideas, although personal by design, are seldom original.
Secondly, Hemingway and Clinton walk into a bar. They walk up to the bar, Bill starts to order, bartender says, "Pipe it. I wanna hear what He has to say."
Not funny? It must be in the delivery.
Also, I can appreciate the resentment felt when one believes their friends have been robbed of their ideas. However, it is hard for me to congratulate a course of action so threateningly violent. Consider the good times to be had during a pub crawl vs the evils of, say, throwing someone under a moving train. The extremes are far from parallel.
I have yet to read the Bee article, and when I do, I expect to learn of a well organized group of recreational drinkers, who've probably a lot in common with most of my friends and myself.I look forward to an article five years from now, or so, perhaps detailing a different light rail pub crawl, or one that substitutes cabs, bikes or even rickshaws, who knows? When that day comes, Guphy and I will probably drink beers and remember the day the Light Rail Pub Crawl came to town, and appreciate a world where friends don't show their love for one another by threatening strangers.

Marletta Harmon
-Prop 8, you broke my heart.

Anonymous said...

as long as all yall motherfuckers realize i came up with the word grody i think shit's cool, right?

fuck i even invented the 80s during a coke binge in 1978.

Wendy Sue R. said...

Where did "threatening strangers" come in to play here?

I'm the original complainer on Yelp. I was critical of the article and felt my friend had been slighted.

How did I threaten anyone? Or any of the rest of Scott's supporters?

Anonymous said...

I have been working on a letter with my thoughts about this issue after I was informed about the Light Rail Pub Crawl article in your publication but I have not complete the letter yet but wanted to drop a quick note to you to acknowledge you and to tell I'm aware of what is happening on Yelp and the Blog. And I will have a have response for you and those interested in hearing about my thoughts on the said article and the since i have not said anything yet.. But that probably will not happen until Monday or Tuesday because of work on Friday and i will be out of town over weekend doing a pubcrawl in San Francisco in celebration of my newly granted status " inventor of the lightrail pubcrawls for perpetuity" .


Scott C....

in other words....whatever man

fft said...

journalistic lesson learned: fact check everything w/ the Round Corner.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to say that this whole thing is not so much about Scott C. and his popular pub crawls, but maybe a lot about how WendySue really needs to be in the spotlight, but I accidentally said it anyway. Whoops!

jamstalk!

Anonymous said...

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS SCOTT C GUY??? Why are people acting so indignant about him being 'slighted'? Jesus, it's a stupid pub crawl, not the goddamn steam engine.

-- Patrone

Anonymous said...

the only real solution is a lite rail pub crawl brawl. Winner takes all. It would be kind of like the movie The Warriors except not totally awesome.

Crepeville potatoes are awesome. The burnter the better.

Million band show at the coffee place by willies tomorrow.

-man-fighting dummy

Ps. My word was "doott" which Is great. "what up, doott?"

Anonymous said...

I step away from the internet for one day and I turn into an Internet Villain (trademark, Guphy 2008).

It's kind of awesome.

I will probably write something official later today on the Midtown Monthly blog apologizing to Scott C. who seems like a good guy and certainly has some loyal friends. Totally didn't mean to salt you meat, dude. Sorry. I would totally party with you.

As for the rest of it, I am just going to wait to write it because seriously cannot stop the zingers. I really need to spend a few moments with my brood of zingers and cultivate the strongest and best looking and crush the rest.

Guphy

beckler said...

No, don't apologize. I read your article and it's funny! I can't believe people read it and literally thought you were going to copyright this concept.

Anonymous said...

Salt you(r) meat?
Trademark that shit too!

I haven't wanted to comment, partially because I hate stepping down to the internets level, but seriously why are people acting like she killed his kids or something? I highly doubt ripping her up online is teaching her some sort of journalistic lesson.

I am totally down with this
lightrail pub brawl. and i am still totally down on the crepeville potatoes, subpar and totally forced on me with everything.

Can I get STD's from tight pants?
It would really kill two birds with one stone.

-Natalie.
Word verification: kanet.

Anonymous said...

The Midmo ain't exactly the Onion.

beckler said...

Yes. The Onion is the worlds most famous satirical website. We are a local publication trying to give people some insight on various fun things to do around Sacramento. Not the same at all.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Midtown Monthly should come with a special laugh-track CD that you can play along while you read so people will know when something's supposed to be a joke.

That's MY idea by the way.

-miller

Cody said...

I'll eat 'em burnt, I'll eat em crusty, with ketchup AND Tobasco, or without. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll eat any potato prepared in any way, as long as it doesn't involve mayonnaise (sorry traditional potato salad).

Jeff M. said...

"I hate stepping down to the internets level"

I'm a Sactosphere (© McCrory, 2002) booster, so you can take my comment with a grain of salt. But I really don't understand the sentiment of the comment above. Didn't this beef get resolved on this thread? Everyone got their say, Midmo will say some nice things about Scott C.'s org next month, miller made everyone laugh with his witty remarks.

Didn't, then, the internets raise the level of social cohesion?

Anonymous said...

What, Patrone? You trying to take my steam engine idea? that ws supposed to be confidential.
-Ed C."

word: velyps

Anonymous said...

Bump Crepeville potatoes; dump copyright protection. I've been plagiarizing entire paragraphs from Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" in my reviews for years. This would explain my admittedly mercurial piece on "Made of Honor".

-DB

Word verification: "bolds". Damn straight. Big, brass bolds.

Anonymous said...

Can I claim the concept of biking around drinking beers out of my bike basket as my idea? I first started this activity in 1985 (of course at that tender age I was drinking sodas and eating skittles but you get the idea).
jamattack!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, well I invented hating hipsters.

-miller

Anonymous said...

I know I'm a day late but WTF! The first pub crawl was invented by the greatest Armenian Kevork Hagopian in 1865. Heand his band Armo Hipsters, let's call them Armsters(?) rode sheeps from one cognac factory to the next for a solid week! This was well over 100 years before either of these writers claimed invention of the pub crawl. It's also entirely possible that Chaucer invented the pub crawl in the 1360's but he was most certainly not Armenian!
healogi- the belief in the superiority of the Father over the Son visa-vi the Godhead

Anonymous said...

I apologize to the Armenian people for having wronged them.

This is me taking the high road, not like some Eurasian countries that I won't mention.

g

Anonymous said...

Thanx Guph! It's about time someone gave us our due.


palinal-having to do with Sarah Palin?

Alice said...

you know, i'm not trying to sound like a bitch or anything. maybe scott c's friends are just very protective of him. that's a good thing. but, for lack of a better word, getting all up in arms about who came up with the LRPC is pretty fucking retarded.

i expected more of sacramentans than to freak over something so insignificant. it seems basic diplomacy skills (like maybe a private email to MM about this issue) have been buried by the internet. i guess i'm guilty by adding to this thread but i just wanted to say can people cut this shit out? it's actually really embarrassing to live in a town where these types of dramas happen.
next time anyone has an issue with any one else's blog/publication/etc., why not just email them privately instead of going down the public-rant path that ultimately makes you look like a douche?

Anonymous said...

If I may direct your attention to Sacramento's newest secret blog. The Bills and Bird show where there is one thing we can all agree on...Bills and Bird are the cutest.
http://billsandbirds.blogspot.com/
jamattack!

Anonymous said...

Can't we all just get along and get a drink? I'm sure that Scotty would be up for inviting you to the LRPC event next month. Of course, you should probably realize that we are not nearly as hip as some of you would like to think you are, but we are willing to look past those differences and share a cigarette and a drink with you anyway.

beckler said...

Wow thanks for that really friendly offer.

HK said...

The internet is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Let me see if I have this straight. Considering yourself to be unhip gives you a free pass to be an asshole. Do I have that right?

-miller

Anonymous said...

I don't smoke, but thanks for the crappy sarcastic offer anyway- "Ed-the 39 year old hipster-C."

inele is my word. I hope that doesnt suggest any illicit activities with rick.

Anonymous said...

Jana you are right, those are some cute cats.

Everything else, I am ignoring you.

Silycher,

-Natalie.

Anonymous said...

ixnay on the amenay. geez, and after all the work I put into my super cool online name!
Also from now on could you direct all messages to my secret new blog http://billsandbirds.blogspot.com?
Thanks,
jamattack!

Liv Moe said...

Now that I know that Marletta invented getting "waisted" I'm not sure if I sure blame her or thank her...

drole - in honor of the droll troll

Anonymous said...

Jamattack,

Please allow anonymous commenting on bills and birds.

Also, more Birds. Sorry Bills, but we all know who brings the serious cute.

Thank You,
A Bills and Birds fan.

Also Ed. C and Ele kissing in a tree!

Liv Moe said...

make that "should" not "sure."

urshaniz - as in i urshaniz the typo queen

Anonymous said...

Comments enabled. This is hard work. I don't know how Heckasac gets anything done.
jamattack!

beckler said...

besides blogging? i just sit here and watch the ad revenue roll in. that's the genius of heckasac: invisible ads. p.s.-I have that idea copyrighted so don't even think about it jamattack.

Anonymous said...

As if. Have you seen how cute my cats are?* The monies will be rolling in.
jamattack!

*totally secret new sacramento blog
http://billsandbirds.blogspot.com

my word: corkin
As in kittens are totally corkin.
jamattack!

archbishop said...

You people are kooky. I only saw one dead person today so a good day for India!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see what the editor of the Pennysaver thinks about all this.

-not miller

Anonymous said...

I was just perfecting a little thing I call "The Wheel" when I remembered creating agriculture and inventing bread when I realized that my ideas could be stolen because I had no written or verbal language. This made me sad, so I tricked a Cro Mag into running off a cliff. I felt better.

Ed The Neandertal

Libby said...

You should do a blog entry completely devoted to the biggest pissing matches of all time over coin-phrasing and invention claims. Lightrail Pubcrawl Gate should be included along with who began the Trucker Hat phenomenon (Ashton Kutcher and Justin Timberlake are at war over that one) and who invented the devil horns rocker hand sign (Gene Simmons or Ronnie James Dio.) I'm sure there are a million others worthy of inclusion.

archbishop said...

I invented sitting on my porch drinking while making fun of people parallel parking. I think I'll start a betting pool on how long I can go in a day without seeing a dead person.

Anonymous said...

I've already patented, trademarked and copyrighted the Olde Steam Engine Saloon & Speakeasy Stumble. In all rail gauges: Standard, Broad and Narrow. I also own the .org, .edu, .mil, .com, .gov and .biz domains for said events.

I expect the Chinese to come up with a cheap bootleg version(s) of the above very soon, however. Harrrumph.

Mr. S Lyle Mar

Anonymous said...

Any town where this would be a big deal (either way) is lame. Who cares ? Reading this seriously made me want to move back to L.A. P.S. I have a copyright on the word "hella." It was invented in Southern California! How's that? :-)

Anonymous said...

The previous poster is no doubt an idea stealer.

Anonymous said...

Hella belongs to the whole state of California! But for the record I believe in So-Cal it's pronounced Halluh. And Sir, we are just as bored as any other people in any other town during working hours!


-bermax: I'm so bermaxin' and berlaxin' right now, it's hella sweet!

Anonymous said...

Hey Armeniac, did you see this?
I love a good old fashioned monk fight.

http://tinyurl.com/5zqdjz

g

Anonymous said...

Wow! Clearly the Armomonks won!

Anonymous said...

EMERGENCY NOTE TO SMITTY:

Your porch-sittin'-seat was stolen! You might have to stay in India where you can always find a corpse to sit on.

'ingestri'

-omf