Greetings to all fair weathered citizens.
As we come upon the dawn of a new era, I wanted to take this chance to reflect on some of the highs and lows of the last five years. I wanted to take a look at the past which was SRTV, and to the future which is MJP.
The Stoned Ranger was developed with a cause. SFR was a creation that was based off of rage and I guess the word I am looking for here is boredom. After all, I started doing recordings in a bedroom at a house in good old Hanover Park. Why? Because I was bored with life. It was 1998 and life at that point was pretty boring. So I had to complicate things by being the world's most annoying prick. The rage grew from tragic events that took place in my life at the time, and many different demons I was trying to wrestle with.
I will never forget how nervous I was when we did the first SRTV. I am not talking about the pilot when I was talking all this stupid shit about the power going out on New Year's Eve 2000. The cheesy ass words with KMFDM playing. I am talking about the one where I earned myself an enemy named Bob Surriano. The man wanted to shut me down because I said some comment about some 16 year old. I was just being goofy and trying to find myself an edge. Nice way to do that huh?
I really do believe that doing SRTV made me lost in the shuffle so to speak. I was trying to find my way, my style, but all I did was turn into something that I am not. An angry young man. Sometimes, I was so involved with the Ranger character I found myself acting on it in person. Most people who know me know that I am a little strange, but I was not as bad as I was on TV. It was getting to the point where I was trying to offend people on purpose. People could see through it that it was bullshit. They stopped watching. Some lost faith. People in my crew even were questioning my motivation. Hell, I had no clue what my motivation was.
I did a lot of great things as the Ranger. I helped many bands play shows for their friends and for future followers. I brought a television show to cable that broke all the rules of a normal show, and saw a couple of people follow my example. I was able to get a cult following going, and hopefully that following will stay with me during the MJP time. It is much better to be yourself rather than be something that you think will just make people react. That is the biggest lesson I believe I have learned through this period of life.
Tomorrow marks a very important day for me, for the MJP crew, and for the people who have followed my bullshit antics for the last four years. Tomorrow is the beginning of a transition that will know no boundaries.
Tomorrow night, you will see a whole new me. You will hear a new voice. Sarcastic yes, Witty yes. Will I sound like a stoned jabroni? No. Will I have something worth saying? Yes. Tomorrow night begins the project to save television, to save the media, and in essence save humanity. Tomorrow, the virus becomes a blessing. Tomorrow at the stroke of midnight, a new hero is born. That hero will be me, Michael Jae. As the song by Fear Factory goes "I'm Michael Jae, prepare for salvation." Well, maybe not that way but close enough.
Now how is that for a marketing statement? Makes me want to get HBO on the phone and say "show my show."
Be watching tomorrow night, otherwise I will step on your tongue.
Peace
MJ
