Best of 2016: Top #OPS Twitter Interactions

Fanboy Much...Maybe?

Okay, I will admit it, I get a kick out of talking to the artists that inspire me and to other critics.

This is a shortened list of some of the cool folks I have gotten to interact with this year on Twitter.

Mr. Robot Interactions

As you probably know, I do a TON of writing about the television show Mr. Robot (USA Network).

You can read my complete #OPS Guide to Season 2 of #MrRobot HERE.  

Or, if you are interested in the companion book Red Wheelbarrow, you can read my Deep Dive into the book HERE.

Technically, the interactions started when @KorAdana responded to one of my questions during a Reddit AMA (and he was nice enough to respond to my Tweet saying thanks). But, the coolest moment of the year for me was opening my Twitter to see this response to a question I randomly sent to Sam Esmail (creator, writer, director) about if David Lynch's Mulholland Drive had influenced Season 2:

Since then, he has been nice enough to respond to about 6 more of my questions throughout the year.

In particular, I did a post responding to all of the criticisms of Matt Zoller Seitz made about Mr. Robot throughout season 2 which drew responses from both MZS and SE:

Mr. Zoller Seitz was really classy about the disagreements, he even RT'd my article to his followers several times. A real pro!

If you want to read the post, you can read it HERE.

I would also like to send thanks to the creators of Halt and Catch Fire who have always "liked" my recaps whenever I post them on Twitter.

I also want to thank Director Kevin Smith(@ThatKevinSmith), I have sent him a few critical tweets and quite a few complementary ones over the years, and he is always kind and self-effacing when he takes the time to respond:

At the end of the day, I still love several of his movies, I love his spoken word tours, and his podcasts are often a riot. Most recently, his direction of the "Killer Frost" episode of The Flash (The CW) was my favorite in the three-year history of the show (he sent me a "like" for saying that at the time.

Punk + Other Interactions with Music

Really early in the year, the subject of Germs (seminal California Punk Band) came up and someone asked about the story (handed down through the years) that Go Go's singer Belinda Carlisle had once been the drummer of Germs. I decided to just ask her in a Tweet, she graciously answered:

Won't lie, that was pretty cool. I am a big fan of the Go Go's and think that they deserve much more love than they get for being the first all-girl rock band to really dominate the charts in America. I am also a big Germs fan, so the whole thing was pretty cool.

I was also lucky enough to have a brief exchange with one of the founders of one of the most legendary early Punk Zines "Lobotomy" Theresa Kereakes, I don't remember what we were talking about at the time, but this is the snippet that I decided to save (lol):

One of my favorite books about Punk and Post-Punk is "Rip It Up And Start Again" by Simon Reynolds. Throughout the year he was nice enough to Tweet with me a few times. I mentioned that I had read "Rip It Up" 8 Times to which he said:

So, yeah, I am a fanboy, but you should read his book (it is GREAT!).

I also had many interactions with Dan LeRoy, the author of two books about Beastie Boys, including the 33 1/3 book about one of my all time favorite albums "Paul's Boutique." 

Somehow, I found out that famous marketing guru David Meerman Scott is also a Ramones fan and I sent him a link to my piece on the first Ramones album, to my surprise, he responded:

I have talked on and off throughout the last two years with one of my guitar heroes Keith Levene who was an early guitarist for the Clash and a founding member of Public Image Ltd. He was also the very first person to ever comment on my blog, which was one heck of a christening IMHO.

I interviewed Chad SB of Controlled Bleeding for the blog (you can read that interview HERE) which led the great Gerald Casale (one of the founding members of DEVO) to hear a cover Chad had done of one of his songs for the first time:

It was really cool to be the intermediary for that moment! Oh, I also asked Curse of Pigface if En Esch would be touring with them (I met him a few times) and this was the response (for any Pigface fans out there):

I have obviously gotten tons of RT's and likes from bands and labels throughout the year. I do want to thank the truly iconic Kim Gordon (@kimletgordon) for many RT's of my stuff. Very humbling when someone you have listened to for decades is nice enough to support your stuff.

A few days ago, I tweeted some silly response to a tweet of MC Serch (3rd Bass) and for some reason, he took the time to response (without giving me too much of "The Gas Face"):

I grew up a huge fan of Ska music and, in particular of the English Two-Tone Bands (The Selecter, English Beat, Madness, and the Specials in particular). When John Bradbury, the drummer for the Specials passed away early in 2016, I wrote an article and made a tribute playlist (You can hear it HERE). 

I was really blown away to get this response from one of my favorite bands of the period The English Beat:

Of course, this was before the many other losses this year, but I think the spirit of their response says it all!

So, with that in mind, I would like to thank all of the labels and bands who interacted with me in 2016 (and for the many RT's and likes). I hope everyone has an amazing 2017 (and a much less cataclysmic one for my music heroes).

And just to finish with a bang, I did have an interaction towards the end of the year with one Solange Knowles. A friend and I were arguing over why Solange had two bass players on stage during her SNL performance and to the great shock of both of us, this popped up:

One of those dueling bass players "Starchild" also joined in:

Knowing that Solange was a fan of Kraftwerk, I tried to induce her to discuss their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bid, but, alas, I never got a response again :(.

I was on the wrong end of that bass discussion after all.

Anyway, I did have a pretty cool year, I even got RT'd and got a like from the great George Clinton. It is not going to be hard to make out my gratitude list for 2016!

That's all I have, hope you enjoyed it!

What was your favorite interaction?

Have you had any cool or fun interactions this year on Twitter?

Let me know, leave a comment!

Best Of 2016Joshua B. HoeThe Clash, Twitter, #Twitter, #OPS, Best of 2016, Mr. Robot, #MrRobot, Red Wheelbarrow, Kor Adana, Sam Esmail, David Lynch, Mulholland Drive, Matt Zoller Seitz, Kevin Smith, The Flash, USA Network, The CW, Killer Frost, Germs, The Germs, Belinda Carlisle, Go Go's, The Go Go's, Lobotomy, Theresa Kereakes, Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up And Start Again, Dan LeRoy, Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique, 33 1/3, David Meerman Scott, Ramones, Keith Levene, Public Image Ltd., DEVO, Gerald Casale, Chvad SB, Controlled Bleeding, Pigface, En Esch, Curse Mackey, Kim Gordon, MC Serch, 3rd Bass, The Gas Face, The English Beat, Solange Knowles, Starchild, George ClintonComment