The double "> >" is what appears in the interview.
The single ">" is Jason Miller, aka greenday@openix.com ...
who I'll refer to from herein as just "Jason", and who I note
is different from Jason Holmes, author of the interview.
The "Adam" below is, of course, yours truly.
For context, Cara and Andrew are undergrads at Ohio State, Jason's
dropped out of high school and presently lives in Livingston, New
Jersey, and of course, you know I've been a grad student for forever at
Caltech...
> From greenday@landslide.openix.com Wed Apr 16 16:34:47 1997
> To: ChefDog27@aol.com
> Subject: Re: Green Day.com/Cara DeCarlo
>
> On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 ChefDog27@aol.com wrote:
> > How much of this is actully true?
> >
> > SPECIAL INTERVIEW: THE STORY BEHIND WWW.GREENDAY.COM
> > **********************************************************
> > * JH - Jason Holmes
> > * CD - Cara Decarlo (former co-owner of www.greenday.com)*
>
> That is incorrect. She was never a co-owner of www.greenday.com.
> Since it was moved to greenday.com, it has been Adam and me all the
> way. Now it is fully owned by Green Day.
Since it moved to www.greenday.com , Jason Miller's been doing most
of the cool changes. I just was supportive in his doing so.
Cara co-owned the pages that eventually led to greenday.com -
but greenday.com isn't a company in the normal sense, being we never
made any money off it (in fact, we lost a bunch!)
> > **********************************************************
> >
> > JH - Could you tell us about how www.greenday.com first started and
> > how it has progressed in the four years since?
> >
> > CD - Well, it was originally just Adam's site. My friend told me
> > about it in about late December of 94 or January of 95, and I
> > remember that there was not too much on it. I wrote to Adam and
> > told him that I was a totally diehard fan and said that if he needed
> > any help with anything, that I would love to help. As they say, the
> > rest is history. Along the way, we added all kinds of stuff to it.
> > I helped him to scan pictures, type articles and whatever, and he
> > did all the actual technical work. We were a great team! We got
> > things done, etc. I don't remember how Jason (Miller) entered the
> > picture,
This is all true. Later, Andrew joined us and then Jason.
> All the content was redesigned by me, including the interface.
This is also true. Jason had a lot of information at his own site, and
later he combined the two, redesigning the content, and putting it all
at www.greenday.com
> > but I know he just popped up one day with all his glorious stories
> > and fantastic solutions, and we believed him.
>
> I would hope Adam still believes me, because if he doesn't, he's doing a
> really good job of pretending.
Cara's right, Jason had lots of cool stories. And yes, I believe Jason,
and I still believe Jason.
> > He decided that he wanted to take over, and it started going
> > downhill from there, cuz he caused all kinds of problems.
>
> They were two different sites. I had one and Adam had one. And we
> combined them. Cara obviously doesn't like me because of personal
> reasons, i.e. Andrew Clute is one of her best friends (who, may I add, is
> having his domains taken away by Green Day's management in a few weeks).
Jason didn't decide that he wanted to take over, though I can see how
Cara and Andrew can see it that way. See, Jason was really into the
site, and as a result, he added a lot more stuff to it.
And that was fine by me, but I should have cleared it with Cara and
Andrew, since they are important, too. The error in judgment was
my own.
Cara and Andrew do not dislike Jason; I think they just wish he would
keep them more informed.
As for Green Day's management taking sites away from anyone, I wish we
could just settle our differences and let the past fade away.
> > JH - When you and Adam Rifken started the site, where did you get your
> > information from and what kind of stuff was on the site?
My name is "Adam Rifkin" for the record. :)
> > CD - We basically got our info from magazines, word of mouth, emails
> > and the news. We didn't have too much to go by, but at the same
> > time, the band had not yet completely exploded with their whole
> > Dookie phenomenon. What was on the site? Hmmm, there were pictures,
> > some articles... I suggested to make a quotes page, and we together
> > came up with the fan pages. I think I also came up with the trivia
> > page, but then we started to run out of facts for the questions! It
> > was pretty basic.
This is all true.
> > JH - When did other Green Day sites begin to start popping up?
> >
> > CD - When we started. there was probably only one or two other
> > sites.
One of which was Jason's.
> > Others really appeared after the start of 1995. Or after the
> > Grammies... (whenever those are)
February 1995.
> > JH - The counter is currently at over 800,000. When did the site start
> > becoming really popular?
When "When I Come Around" started becoming popular, in December 1994.
> > CD - It started becoming really popular when we changed the name to
> > greenday.com, cuz for some reason it never got advertised much
> > before that.
The reason being, I never advertised it. :)
> > I guess we happened to be on people's links pages and all, and I
> > started to get tons of mail (I wanted to answer all the mail since I
> > couldn't do anything with the actual creating of the page). I can't
> > remember exactly when we changed the name, but it was Jason's idea.
> > It was in the middle of the Dookie craze.
>
> At least she gave me credit for SOMETHING. Actually, Adam and I changed
> the name. She had nothing to do with it. Adam was at my house (we were
> about to go see GD) and we registered the domain and assigned the DNS.
November 1995.
> > JH - There is a rumour going around that you and Adam Rifken were
> > bumped out of the creation of the site by Jason Miller. Is this true?
> >
> > CD - Pretty much.
Not true, though I can see why Cara thinks so. I've been busy for the
last 18 months, and not really contributed to the site much in that
time, so Jason is the one maintaining the site right now.
> Anyone who doesn't believe Adam is a part of the site still... email me
> and I'll forward you mails from Adam.
I'm definitely part of the site still.
And I back Jason AND Cara AND Andrew 100%.
> > For some reason he feels this need to have total power, and if he
> > doesn't he wants to whine, tell people more of his stories to make
> > him seem like the victim and the good guy, when in essence, the way
> > he is, he is very controlling and a crybaby.
>
> That's not true at all. Actually... I don't whine to anyone. I don't
> bash HER with complete lies, do i?
True, Jason doesn't say bad things about Cara.
As for the whining, I haven't heard it.
I have seen Jason send some mean emails to Andrew, and I really think
that was wrong. I think we're all still friends, and hopefully we can
put this behind us.
Jason thinks Cara and Andrew don't contribute to the page.
Cara and Andrew think Jason won't let them contribute to the page.
So who's right? Well, they both are. It's a perceptions thing again.
I should be a better communicator and help them resolve their
differences. But everyone has to agree become friendly again to let
that happen.
Yes, Cara and Andrew helped a lot to get it started, and yes Jason has
done a lot to keep it going, but those are not conflicting things.
Everyone deserves some credit for the success.
> > JH - Do you get a little bit jealous or bitter now seeing that
> > greenday.com is the official site of Green Day and you are no longer
> > part of it?
> >
> > CD - No, I really don't even think about it.
I would like to see Cara and Andrew again be part of it, especially
since they both now do excellent Web page design themselves -- Cara's
Sex Pistols page is cool, and Andrew's Tilt page is wonderful!
As for the site being the official site of Green Day, well Jason had
everything to do with that, so he's the one to thank.
> > Greenday.com I don't consider a worthy site anymore.
It is worthy, though with more contributers it would be better.
> > It is all manufactured, all in an attempt to get himself popular.
>
> I don't need the 'net to make myself popular. I need it to make money to
> survive and next time you drop out of high school and get kicked out of
> your house, then you'll understand.
Jason's a cool guy, and he's had a rough life. But he's a good worker
and a good web designer, and he'll probably go to either Netscape or
Reprise Records starting in May...
> > Before Jason joined, the site was a creation of FANS, who
> > did it for the love of the band, not to get famous.
>
> And you're turning it into something political for the love of the band.
> Bullshit!
It is still, and still should be, a creation of the fans. I've just
been too busy myself to keep up with it, so I'm passing the torch for now.
> > Don't get me wrong, Jason is (or at least was) a big Green Day fan.
He is.
> > But when I look at this site now, it makes me sick. It is totally
> > like a business now. I don't want any part of that. I still talk
> > with Adam regularly, we are still really great friends.
It's true, I think Cara is so cool! And Andrew is very cool too.
And of course, Jason's awesome, too.
> > I have my own homepage, and a link to greenday.com... I guess that
> > is cuz it will always be me and Adam's baby. WE got it off the
> > ground, not Jason. He wants all the credit, when we had that thing
> > running for at least 6 months before he showed up.
>
> Again, I had a site up for a WHILE before I joined up with Adam.
> I talk to Adam all the time... and one other note: greenday.com has always
> been my domain. It's a business now because I dropped out of high school
> and have to make money.
Cara AND Andrew AND Jason all contributed to the site's success.
Yes, it did really start with Cara. And yes, Jason had his own site
too at the time. And yes, Andrew contributed a bunch, too.
And yes, Jason needs the business to make money.
> > JH - Do you or Adam or Jason know the members of Green Day personally?
> >
> > CD - I don't, and I don't believe Adam has ever met them (he surely
> > would have told me).
>
> Adam HAS meet the band. At the taping for Saturday Night Special.
No, I didn't meet them then. Although I did see Tre Cool give a little
kid in the audience a mop from the custodial closet ("Daddy, the guy
from Green Day gave me a mop..."). And I did see BJ when I was walking
to the bathroom.
But I'm not hip, and I couldn't really think of anything to say to them
that would keep me from feeling like a dork. So no, I didn't meet them.
I did see them perform then, though. So did Michelle. And there were
only like 100 of us in the crowd, so that was pretty cool.
> > Jason claims he met them, but he has all kinds of stories.
I don't think Jason's met the band, but he knows them.
> > Most of them are a big fat pile of BS too. He made all these
> > promises for us, like how we were gonna have some benefit with the
> > band, meet them, blah blah blah. Ask me if THAT ever happened? No
> > way. Nothing Jason ever promised us ever happened, so I just never
> > believe anything he says. I know that the band knows of our
> > existance tho, and that is kinda cool!
Yep, that is kinda cool.
> Maybe that's because I never promised her anything! I tried to put
> together a benefit show and it didn't work. Minor technicality
> because I was 15 years old! That makes a lot of sense.
This is true. Jason will get better at concert promotion as he gets
older... :)
I guess I promised Cara that Reprise might hire one or more of us for
intern jobs, but that never really gelled. So I guess it's my fault for
making the expectations too high.
Reprise and Green Day both do know about our site -- they even made it
official -- so that was pretty cool.
And Green Day is still the best rock band on the planet, punk or not.
> I haven't MET the band. I KNOW them. It's not just as simple as
> meeting them (they control the site content) and if she'd like to bash me
> even further, I don't give two shits about what she has to think. I don't
> have a reputation to protect. This is a job. The 'net may be YOUR life or
> HER life, but I actually have a social life and when I'm not working you
> can bet your ass I'm doing something else. Besides, I have better things
> to do than listen to people kiss my ass and talk shit about me behind my
> back.
True, I can vouch for Jason having lots of better things to do.
For example, his record label Cyclone Records keeps him busy.
And his band Attention Deficit rocks hard. :)
> > JH - Is there anything else you would like people to know about
> > greenday.com or anything else you want to get off your chest?
> >
> > CD - Hmmmm, lemme think... just that Jason has GREAT fantasies, but
> > nothing he says ever happens.
Someday, some things might happen. You have to believe.
> > I think making this site the official site was the only "promise" he
> > ever made that ever came true. But he decided that he didn't
> > wanna talk to me anymore about a year and a half ago.
>
> Oh. maybe that's because she never emailed me. I took EVERYONE'S name
> off of the site, if that's what your bitter about, including mine.
She's not bitter, Jason. She just wants to be friends.
And so do you.
You just have to relax a little, and life's pretty good.
> > Know what? I have not lost any sleep over it! As far as I am
> > concerned, all that page needs is me and Adam, and he lost both of
> > us.
Jason didn't lose me. And I hope he didn't lose Cara either.
I think we're still all in this together.
> > I hope he is happy now! It seems like the only person he is ever
> > concerned about is himself anyway.
Jason's a very caring person, both of others and himself.
He just sometimes gets a little angry at the world, but then
again, don't we all?
> > About greenday.com, well, it is a huge and informative site, but I'd
> > rather look at the smaller sites now, cuz those are created by fans
> > who still love the band.
Which is, of course, cool.
Grassroots is what the Web is all about, and when a site grows and grows
to become THE canonical site on something, it loses the look and feel of
a grassroots, down-in-the-dirt, totally-dedicated-lone-gunman web site.
But that's fine. greenday.com can't be all things to all people, and
that's where all the fan-created pages become a nice complement to the
official site. It's totally awesome. I think EVERYONE should make a
Green Day page of their very own. :)
In greenday.com becoming more popular and thus losing the focused
attention of a small fan base... well, one could say the same thing
happened to Green Day itself. But it doesn't change the fact that Green
Day is awesomely wonderful, nor should it change the fact that so is
greenday.com ...
> > I know I do, and I know Adam does, but we are not a part of the page
> > anymore.
>
> To Cara: Don't speak for Adam, because you know he'd contradict what you
> said about him.
Well, about contributing content, it's true, I don't do that anymore,
because school keeps me busy.
Jason does a good job of doing that right now, and I think if Cara
and Andrew re-joined our effort, they would do a good job of that, too.
> > Like I said before, greenday.com is more of a business than a fan
> > page, and THAT is really sad. It started out so well, too...
>
> Adam is most definitely a part of the page. She's completely
> bullshitting. I'm actually staying at Adam's house in Pasadena in May.
> He's one of my best friends. email him. He'll tell you.
She's not bullshitting, it's just that I work with the page in a
different way now. This way I spend my time on school, because that's
my priority. But yes, I am still a part of the page.
As for coming in May, you may have to clear that with Michelle... :)
> This is the one and only response I will make to this deliberate attempt
> to make me look bad. I refuse to get into a childish argument with
> anyone. I don't have time for it.
Jason's cool. Cara's cool. Andrew's cool. Arguments aren't cool.
But it's something we would have to work out together.
And working stuff out requires every participant wanting that.
I can't speak for everyone, but I do want to work stuff out.
:) Adam
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
Bite my lip and close my eyes, take me away to paradise...
-- Green Day