Last year I crashed Paris Hilton's birthday, rescued her about-to-be-wasted cake, and gave it to the homeless.

I posted the story on reddit, and then things got sort of weird. It was all over the news; interview requests poured in; blogs wondered when I'd be arrested.

I didn't think I'd done anything particularly wrong, but still thought it wise not to talk too much. I turned down the interviews and went back to my life as a struggling songwriter. A year later, it feels ok to talk about it. So if you're still curious about what went down, ask away. I'll try to answer all your questions.

If you'd like to support my next record on Kickstarter, here's a short video that includes me trying to break into Warner Bros headquarters. I give away all my music for free on a Creative Commons license with BitTorrent, so I rely on things like Kickstarter to keep me going.

EDIT: Proof

EDIT 2: Awesome!! kn0thing gave us a shout out!!

EDIT 3: Wow! Front page!! Thanks guys! Keep the questions coming, will try to get to them all

Comments: 607 • Responses: 50  • Date: 

McLarenF1God536 karma

"For my next trick, I will steal the Kardashian family and donate it to the homeless."

This is your next move.

[deleted]576 karma

[deleted]

whoispaz259 karma

...or cocaine

whoispaz111 karma

Challenge accepted.

FXOfrequency338 karma

Congratulations for being the first person linking me to a PerezHilton post and not making me want to kill myself.

whoispaz159 karma

congratulations accepted :)

eastlondonmandem240 karma

I once had dinner with Paris. (well along with 10-15 others)

All she said was "hi I'm Paris".

whoispaz255 karma

sounds about right

lovelyallen200 karma

Can everyone stop downvoting all of his comments? If your pissed that he did the cake stunt for publicity just downvote the fucking thread. He's answering questions politely and in the spirit of an AMA, lordy some redditors are childish.

whoispaz163 karma

thanks

lovelyallen51 karma

Yeah no worries. So question: did you eat any of the cake? I cant remember if that was in the article. If so did it taste good?

whoispaz119 karma

wound up getting about half a slice in the end. it was delicious -- red velvet, white frosting inside, just made it 100x more ridiculous that they were going to throw it out.

bringmemypants161 karma

So you're making this second AMA to promote your music?

whoispaz104 karma

This is actually the first AMA I've ever done :) The original post was just a link to the story.

bringmemypants34 karma

Ah, my mistake. There was my question for you though :)

whoispaz56 karma

No problem :) Question for you, inspiration for account name?

Zetsuhyuuga30 karma

When Paz posted about it on FB he was warned against promoting his stuff like certain other celebrities would.

whoispaz102 karma

I recall being told not to "Rampart it" :) I don't think its awful to include a promotional link in the post, lots of AMAs do, but what was really terrible about that one was the draconian insistence that all questions must revolve around the thing he was promoting. If I did that, I would be strung up a la I_Rape_Cats. And rightly so.

SyKoHPaTh26 karma

Not to derail or anything, but I completely missed what happened with I_Rape_Cats...

Back on track, I wish I had a question for you. I think your story is great, and even better what happened with the cake.

whoispaz94 karma

thanks man. the cats thing -- last april fool's reddit decided to pick a random youtube video to go viral. i_rape_cats was the user everyone chose to pick the video. instead of a random one, he picked a friend's video and was discovered. there was much downvoting.

EDIT: cats stuff

Frankeh123 karma

You need to somehow top stealing that birthday cake.. The publicity from that got you a shitload of fans/downloads.

Also I saw your kickstarter page.. Pretty cool idea! Kinda made me want to donate $10,000 incase you get mad famous and then I'd be able to crash all your gigs and fuck groupies and shit.

whoispaz86 karma

it was such a serendipitous event that I'm not sure it could be duplicated. but I have some fun ideas :)

Frankeh30 karma

Has other stuff like that happened to you since you live in Hollywood? It seems like it was pretty easy to get into that Hilton party.

whoispaz53 karma

nothing nearly that awesome. after the cake thing went down, I started to record my new album, which meant much less free time. but I did try to break into warner bros music building for my kickstarter video. that was fun :)

Kat_land110 karma

Did you get an opinion from the homeless on how the cake tasted?

whoispaz166 karma

They loved it. It was actually the best part of the whole thing watching them carve it up and eat it.

lulzette96 karma

I live vicariously through you. Keep up the shenanigans!

whoispaz131 karma

Funny, I live vicariously through you...

MapChicky89 karma

"The nod." The only authority a brave man needs. Well done.

whoispaz92 karma

that was my favorite comment from the original post. so true.

NuminousAdore87 karma

What happened after you gave the cake to the homeless shelter? What did they say?

whoispaz134 karma

They were thrilled! They sliced it up and served it to the guests after lunch. It was the best possible ending.

[deleted]64 karma

How did you pick the shelter? :p And did you just randomly show up and give them the cake, or tell them in advance?

whoispaz128 karma

I found a homeless shelter I had heard of and got their contact information. Called them in advance to let them know paris hilton had decided to donate her birthday cake to the hungry and I'd be bringing it by.

BipolarBear080 karma

Have you ever been contacted by people representing Paris?

whoispaz130 karma

never, though the absinthe company that made the cake tried to get in touch to promote themselves more

ronronjuice74 karma

The cake was made by an absinthe company? Was it made with absinthe? Please say yes.

whoispaz116 karma

there was absinthe in it, but turns out it all burns off during the cooking process.

spamato79 karma

How did you carry a 70 pound cake while piss drunk? Better yet, how did you successfully get it into the car while drunk?

whoispaz149 karma

Carrying it was kind of tricky, almost tipped over 2 or 3 times. People along the way helped me out, which was kind of funny. One of the security guards even helped keep the door open for me as I exited.

Getting in the car was a balancing act. It was so tall that it was almost scraping the roof of the car. Plus the party was up in the hollywood hills, so we had to go like 2 miles an hour down super windy roads to prevent tilting the cake over.

cloudcrash55 karma

I actually read somewhere that you are friends with Paris, and she just let the cake thing slide. Basically, the article screamed "Conspiracy!" Have you met her before the birthday party?

whoispaz99 karma

I read that too :) nope, haven't met her. I've seen her around LA with her entourage, but I don't know her. I was kind of amazed when people thought the whole thing was some conspiracy cooked up by her PR team. I guess I'm pretty skeptical too when I see stuff on reddit (see: I_RAPE_CATS), so I can't really blame anybody.

lurker291834 karma

can someone channel the "book of reddit" guy and refresh my memory on the i_rape_cats scandal of 2011?

whoispaz89 karma

posted this above too, copying here: last april fool's reddit decided to pick a random youtube video to go viral. i_rape_cats was the user everyone chose to pick the video. instead of a random one, he picked a friend's video and was discovered. there was much downvoting.

[deleted]54 karma

Jesus, what's with the downvotes? Okay, if you don't agree with him quickly promoting his stuff, downvote the thread and move on. Don't downvote ALL of his comments.

whoispaz78 karma

thanks

lm141951 karma

Awesome move. Have you thought about making any other efforts to feed the homeless?

whoispaz117 karma

I briefly considered a nationwide party-crashing tour, pilfering every cake along the way, but realized that would require more funding than the value of the cakes.

IntellectualEndeavor39 karma

Why'd you do it? Was it to feed the homeless, or did it just seem like something fun to do to make a statement?

I mean it's a damn good statement, she probably spent atleast a few thousand on a cake.. Thousands of dollars can hand out a lot of blankets and sammiches to the needy.

whoispaz112 karma

it was a reaction to seeing something so valuable about to be put to waste. I actually thought of all the starving dudes on hollywood blvd. who would kill to eat that cake. something inside me just kind of said "do it."

[deleted]38 karma

Will you go see Rampart?

Just kidding. Really though, I read about this when it first hit the web. Nice going, glad you didn't get in trouble for it.

whoispaz35 karma

probably, it actually looks good. sucks that they had to ruin it by being jackasses. and thanks, me too.

sugar12737 karma

Feel free to crash my party and steal my cake. I think what you did was amazing.

whoispaz59 karma

thanks :) I prefer red velvet, sprinkles optional. ice-cream cake also never a bad choice.

riverstyxxx36 karma

Hi Paz, your facebook sent me.

Tell us about Paris's recent birthday, I think you mentioned something about this the other week?

And you were talking the other day about forcing someone to 'like' a page before getting a free link to a download and how you disagreed with that..That was really cool.

whoispaz47 karma

Thanks :) Yea, I was always kind of curious if everyone else in the world felt the same way about artists forcing fans to "like" their facebook page before they could listen to a song. That always bummed me out. Glad to hear I wasn't the only one. I don't really blame any artist who does it, because the apps that enable it sort of prompt you to do it, like its a smart thing to do.

I used to do it myself -- you had to like the page to download my mixtape. But then I realized that was sort of ridiculous -- most people have never heard my music -- why would they "like" me before they even knew if they liked me? :)

The short story with Paris's birthday is I wasn't invited :) Honestly, I didn't even know it was happening until someone posted on my facebook wall that it was happening. By then it was kind of late to plot anything, but probably just as well.

norris528e36 karma

I hope she steals your birthday cake.

whoispaz99 karma

Me too... me too.

Howsmydirktaste32 karma

Okay, cool story, but from reading the story, did your buddy, who was drinking all night, drive you home? If he did, fuck you, don't ever drink and drive, that is nothing to fuck with, no matter the facebook fame and karma implications

whoispaz51 karma

answered this in another question too, so pasting the answer here: It turned out he wasn't drunk. He stopped drinking way before I did, knowing he had to drive at some point. At the time I wrote the story, it was about 6 or 7am and I hadn't slept, so I didn't do a lot of fact checking.

Loose_Seal_Two30 karma

So, was this pre-meditated, or was it spur of the moment?

whoispaz64 karma

mostly spur of the moment -- it was only once I heard they were throwing the cake away that I decided to do something about it.

keve23 karma

[deleted]

whoispaz70 karma

the song or the dangerous combination of illicit substances?

cloudcrash21 karma

Hey Paz. I have a way more important question.

What would you do…FOR A KLONDIKE BAR?

whoispaz66 karma

walk into a store, pay $1.50, and buy a klondike bar

BipolarBear017 karma

No way I would do that, It's just too ridiculous.

whoispaz32 karma

Did it ever strike anyone else as odd the things they depicted people doing for an item that cost the same as a pack of gum?

elasticbingbong19 karma

Holy shit, last year? When I saw this my first thought was "Shit, this guy should of done this five years ago when people would have still remembered it."

Internet time is fucked up.

whoispaz11 karma

it feels like 5 years ago. real time is fucked up too.

zsshamalama17 karma

I would like to thank you for taking a giant cake that would have never been eaten, and instead would been destroyed by some drunk guy, and taking it to a place where people would be appreciative of it. You did a good deed, sir.

whoispaz19 karma

thanks

GenderlessThrowaway16 karma

THIS QUOTE IS BY FAR THE BEST:

"I am Jack's incredulous stomach."

High Five! Fight Club!!!!

whoispaz38 karma

thanks man. I never turn down an opportunity to quote that movie.

GenderlessThrowaway7 karma

not many people catch onto it when i do manage to get a good quote in. just cocked eyebrows and a wtf look. :(

whoispaz30 karma

its a risky reference to throw out there -- you're either gonna get a high five or a bunch of weird-ass confused looks. worth it though

Robo-Erotica15 karma

Your music's pretty good, I accidentally downloaded it when it came bundled with uTorrent eons ago, believe it or not.

whoispaz24 karma

thanks man

master_cable15 karma

How did the cake taste? If you did not taste said cake, then why did you not eat cake?

whoispaz39 karma

It was pretty delicious. I had a small piece of it when it was being carved up at the homeless shelter. It was red velvet and all kinds of awesome. To this day, no idea why they were going to throw it away.

Limjucas32813 karma

You have the change to collaborate with any living musician. Who do you choose, and why?

whoispaz37 karma

man. the easy answers are willie nelson and bob dylan, because they're the most incredible writers of our time still breathing. I consider myself a writer first, so those guys are easy picks.

But to go into a studio and record an actual track tomorrow, the guys who get me most amped are porter robinson, kanye, drake, deadmau5 and skrillex.

I'd lay out a song with an anthemic hook by kanye (he's good at those), and an instrumental base by deadmau5. Drake would take verse 1 and I'd go in on verse 2. Porter would drop the nasty after the first build, and Skrillex will have Optimus Prime take a shit on the remix.

EDIT: spelling

PaeP3nguin11 karma

Where do you get the inspiration for your songs? Sorry if this has been asked before.

whoispaz60 karma

mostly from dragonballz trading cards and reruns of old fresh prince episodes

[deleted]9 karma

How did Kevin manage to get you into Paris's party?

Also, you're fucking awesome for giving the cake to the homeless.

whoispaz30 karma

He had a friend who was working there and able to get another name on the working list, while also finding out what kind of wristbands they were giving the guests. I really didn't think he could pull it off -- I was pretty sure we were just going to get turned away at the door. It was surprising as hell how smoothly it all went down.

And thanks :)

[deleted]7 karma

That is awesome!

Did you get one slice?

whoispaz23 karma

I eventually got part of a slice. I waited until after the cake had been served at the homeless shelter and got about half a slice worth of cake that was left. It was awesome.

[deleted]7 karma

[deleted]

whoispaz24 karma

thanks. this city has one of the weirdest dynamics, with all the celebrities who live up in the hills, contrasted with the thousands of homeless who live in the streets below. there's so much wealth and so much waste.

[deleted]5 karma

[deleted]

whoispaz19 karma

Despite its shortcomings, its an awesome city. It has blemishes, but what city doesn't? Its Rome for music -- if you want to be a musician, why not come here. I'm playing a small show this thursday at Coffee Bean that will be webstreamed. Here's the info

gregdoom7 karma

Paz, what is your favorite movie, food, and band. Thank you.

whoispaz22 karma

punkrockerwee6 karma

when are you gonna get over to us people in the midwest and east coast? I'd love to see you play

whoispaz20 karma

hopefully really soon. the biggest barrier to playing more shows is getting an agent who can book them :)

KofiD4 karma

I absolutely love Young Broke & Fameless, just thought I'd say that.

whoispaz16 karma

thanks :)

DJSlambert3 karma

What are your thoughts on Boom Goes The Globe? (www.BoomGoesTheGlobe.com)

whoispaz16 karma

they are awesome.