Super Blogger

Instead of writing about what lives inside his navel, Towle spouts off about culture, specifically queer culture-which, apparently, makes him the perfect blogger for today's Internet junkies.

According to a recent survey by an Internet consulting firm, queers check out blogs more often than straights. Twenty-seven percent of gay and lesbian adults regularly seek out blogs, versus 18 percent of hetero adults. And thousands of these queers are reading Andy's daily thoughts on his blog, Towleroad.

Now, Andy is not your stereotypical 37-year-old blogger who still lives in his mommy's basement. Until recently he was a big-time editor at two national queer rags, Genre and Out Traveler. He began Towleroad as a hobby to share with his friends about a year and a half ago. According to his site, "it's not specifically about one thing or another, but topics that often bubble to the surface are gay culture, pop culture, media, entertainment, photography, fashion, technology, men, music, travel, or whatever else catches my eye." I caught up with Andy via cell phone last week from his New York City home base.

WW: How many hits did you get when you first started?

Andy Towle: When I started measuring [Web] traffic in August '03, I had 2,500 visits. Last month I had over 260,000.

What pushed it up?

I just think blogs have caught on. There were certain sites I admired when I started. Matt Drudge [drudgereport.com] is brilliant in the way he presents his material.

Wow. You admire Drudge? Is he gay?

He's a gay Republican as far as what I've heard. I don't agree with his politics at all. His site has a sensationalist aspect to it. He is the original blogger.

He's just the freakiest, hat-wearin' freakoid....

Yeah, he tries to mold himself in the image of the old-school tabloid, sensationalist conservative reporter.

Should everyone have a blog?

I think everybody who wants one should have one. But I think the majority of them are blogging about what they ate for breakfast. Mainstream media is so caught up in its own bullshit that you never know if what you're reading is fair, balanced, biased or what. I think they're being influenced a lot by the government and that they're really scared of this new independent media that has popped up.

Is this new media biased?

I think that it's very biased, but I also think that if a widely read blog publishes something that isn't true, there is a strong force...of people who read blogs that will take that down. It's a self-correcting system.

Why is blogging popular with gay men?

I think the gay population is ahead of the curve a lot.

What do you think of the celebrity bloggers?

A lot of them tend to do this without any kind of buffer. Particularly with Rosie [O'Donnell], I was shocked when I read her blog [onceadored.blogspot.com] because I thought, "This sounds like an 8-year-old child writing this blog," but ya know, may the Force be with her. It's very raw stuff.

Is your blog schedule 24-7?

It does become an obsession. You start looking for things all day long, walking down the street: "That's a great blog entry there." You start thinking of everything in terms of the blog. I don't know if that's healthy or not.