By Christopher J. Beale
“The X is gone!” screamed a text message from my partner.
Overnight, a gigantic X effigy sprung up across the street, bathing our living room in pulsing white light, like a disco or fire alarm, or both. On Monday, crews removed the short-lived tribute to Elon Musk’s “new” social network, but not before making me famous — I posted a video of the short-lived installation that garnered me nearly 40 million views. On his platform, of course.
If I am being honest, X is still my favorite social media platform but my interest is fading. It’s been an invaluable tool as I began a new adventure as a freelance journalist four years ago in San Francisco. I had burned out after 20 years as a radio personality and wanted to try something new, and it wasn’t long until I found myself living in Argenta, one of several spots with primo views of the now infamous home of X.
Crews last week began building a structure on the roof deck of Market Square (1355 Market St.), and whispers began about just what Musk was up to. By midday it became clear that the structure they were constructing was a large, lighted X logo. In the afternoon they began testing the lighting and I immediately sensed a problem. Even in broad daylight, the lights physically hurt to look at when they were on full blast.
When my partner and I returned home from dinner late that evening we were greeted by what felt like a rave inside our apartment. Lights pulsated off the walls, at times they seemed brighter than the television we were trying to watch. The layout of our apartment building has our largest windows overlooking X headquarters, and blinds designed to reduce but not eliminate light.
I saw Elon’s X sign for what it was — a publicity stunt — and I was sure it wouldn’t last long. So, I did what any journalist would do. I stepped out onto my patio, took a couple of videos of the X and went to bed in our non-Twitter facing bedroom. Saturday morning I tweeted, or X’ed, the video I’d taken.
That post promptly went viral, amassing close to 40 million impressions in 3 days, and the course of my weekend shifted to become primarily about this video, and this story.
As city inspectors worked to access the sign, alleged to be held in place by sandbags, I did interviews with KTVU, KPIX, CBC, New York Times and Rolling Stone.
City inspectors were turned away by X on Saturday, but the sign was off Saturday night, making my video from Friday all-the-more rare, and millions of views and several press interviews later and the attention was showing no sign of slowing.
On Monday morning, as I prepared to go to my day job I noticed a crew back on the roof of Market Square working on the sign. I thought nothing of it and went to work.
Then my partner sent that text, “The X is gone!” More than one friend messaged me something to the effect of, “You beat Elon congrats!” But honestly, that isn’t what I was trying to do. I just didn’t want it flashing in my window at midnight.
I moved to San Francisco with the hope of applying 20 years of media experience to serving the community in a city I love, and hopefully have a blast and grow in the process. Musk hasn’t prevented that with his shenanigans, and neither have his legions of fanboys in my replies calling me a tech bro, and an opportunist. I’m simply an independent journalist who saw something newsworthy and X’ed it.
Ultimately, I like having X in the neighborhood, as long as they and their overcompensating — and the light it generates — stays on the other side of the street.
Christopher J. Beale is an award-winning journalist, media host, producer and audio engineer based in San Francisco. christopherjbeale.com
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