Taskrabbit delivered an awesome guy to help me move heavy crap

I was not looking forward to moving two monstrously heavy pieces of furniture from my house to my sister-in-law's house. They probably weighed about 200 lbs each, but we had to get them out to make room for some new heavy furniture we bought. So I used Taskrabbit to post a notice that I needed someone with a truck to help me. Later that day, a fellow name Brett said he'd do it. I ok'd the offer on the spot.

Today Brett came over with a huge white cargo van. It was hard work but we got the job done and Brett was awesome. We had fun talking in between grunting and lifting. He's the bass player for Falling Still, and I've been listening to the band's excellent hard rocking tunes this afternoon. Check out Falling Still's "I am the Dr" below:

Thanks, Brett!

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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RJ

Very cool. I like the music and their video, too. Nice editing work there. How about that for some easy publicity, eh, Brett?
- awjt
  
  They are AWESOMESAUCE. Too bad all these great bands persist in such obscurity, even with tools like YouTube, websites, iTunes, etc. etc. There has to be a way to sift them fast, get people listening and get their music KNOWN.
- http://www.theblacklaser.net/ Joe The Wizard
  
  Hah! Yeah, you respond to an ad for moving some heavy stuff and your band gets Boing Boinged. Awesome!
jeligula

Q: What’s the best way to get publicity for your band?

A: Help Mark move furniture.

lol. Cool story, good music.
Moog

The video’s great, but it could have used more slow, lingering shots of the drummer. Hawt!
- Cowicide
  
  That wasn’t the real drummer. It was a stand-in model they brought in from L.A. for the video shoot. Here’s the real guy:
  - Moog
    
    Ok, he’s not quite as hawt, but still stalk-worthy.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000539953518 Han van der Heide
    
    I’d luv to know how that conversation went. “Hey buddy, you’re a great drummer and all, but you don’t have the right vibe for the vid. You see, you look like how to put it… uh square”. Yep, that would go over well with most people.
johnnyaction

I think this service is neat and would love it to spread to more places.
- Ipo
  
  Yea, and going by the video they offer dog walking, wood chopping, security services, musical entertainment, prisoner transport and anti-protest style law enforcement.
  Or at least that was the impression I got watching the video muted, before reading . Am almost disappointed that it wasn’t a fantastic ad.
niktemadur

…so I used Taskrabbit and found myself in Portland!
One thing missing from the story, though: microbrews.
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Pei/100000869878567 John Pei

Love it! Hey, working musicians gotta eat.
http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

Maybe you should stop buying heavy shit. (god knows I should)
- brerrabbit23
  
  Hey, man, like…
  
  Maybe YOU should stop POSTING heavy shit.
- niktemadur
  
  I’m like, getting some heavy vibes here. Why can’t you guys just… you know, grok along? I’m gonna take you both to the medical tent and give you some B-12 and orange slices, everything’s gonna be fine in a few hours.
itinko

He doesn’t look like any movers I’ve used. He must use The Force.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  We once hired a company called Big Ed & The Gorillas to move a piano. Turned out to be Pickwickian Syndrome Ed & The Four Guys Who Complain A Lot. They couldn’t move it, so we called another company. Two guys, who were about 5′-5″ and weighed about 100 lbs, showed up and had the thing downstairs in five minutes.
  
  Lift with your brain, not with your back.
  - retepslluerb
    
    I always suspected that there’s a reason why there are specialist movers for pianos.
    - http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers
      
      Primarily because it’s extremely easy to destroy a piano if you don’t know what you’re doing. Plus, you have to re-tune if you move it.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        In this case, it was an old, dead piano abandoned by the landlord. It’s only specialness was that it was heavy.
    - AlexG55
      
      “Right,” said Fred, “Both of us together
      One on each end and steady as we go.”
      Tried to shift it, couldn’t even lift it
      We was getting nowhere
      And so we had a cuppa tea and
      
      “Right,” said Fred, “Give a shout for Charlie.”
      Up comes Charlie from the floor below.
      After strainin’, heavin’ and complainin’
      We was getting nowhere
      And so we had a cuppa tea.
      
      And Charlie had a think, and he thought we ought to take off all the handles
      And the things wot held the candles.
      But it did no good, well I never thought it would
      “All right,” said Fred, “Have to take the feet off
      To get them feet off wouldn’t take a mo.”
      
      Took its feet off, even took the seat off
      Should have got us somewhere but no!
      So Fred said, “Let’s have a cuppa tea.”
      And we said, “right-o.”
      
      “Right,” said Fred, “Have to take the door off
      Need more space to shift the so-and-so.”
      Had bad twinges taking off the hinges
      And it got us nowhere
      And so we had a cuppa tea and
      
      “Right,” said Fred, ” Have to take the wall down,
      That there wall is gonna have to go.”
      Took the wall down, even with it all down
      We was getting nowhere
      And so we had a cuppa tea.
      
      And Charlie had a think, and he said, “Look, Fred,
      I get a sort of feelin’
      If we remove the ceilin’
      With a rope or two we could drop the blighter through.”
      
      “All right,” said Fred, climbing up a ladder
      With his crowbar gave a mighty blow.
      Was he in trouble, half a ton of rubble landed on the top of his dome.
      So Charlie and me had another cuppa tea
      And then we went home.
  - Kerouac
    
    That’s why I always call Uri Geller and tell him there’s a six pack and a pizza buried somewhere under all the stuff I need moved.
  - http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
    
    Damn…..first time I have literally “laughed out loud” at a comment in a long, long time. Tears!!
- DevinC
  
  “You accidentally sent me a UNIX programmer! Bad Taskrabbit!”
koko szanel

Was there candy in the van?
Blaise Pascal

hard rocking? Tony Iommi’s lymphoma could out-rock these guys any day.

with the dystopian/mad max-esque characters in the video..I was expecting just a little more…evil…in the mix.

Cool story though..Thanks for sharing.
dicebourbon

Could’ve sworn it was Dan Deacon.
Mister44

Hmmm so taskrabbit will lure unsuspecting hipsters to my lair. Good to know. Mwuhahahaha!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-McCann/807745781 Tom McCann

Band and video are awesome.
http://www.facebook.com/pierrebalian Pierre Balian

He’s a parallel universe Will Oldham.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__UQbZVcMU
- Rob Feldner
  
  Actually without the glasses…
  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hM3Q0KU2aV0/TLi8GzvSFEI/AAAAAAAAApM/PZyXqDHuDtU/s1600/Gg-high-res-geiger.jpg
tw1515tw

In one of those guerilla marketing type books they used removal firms in the yellow pages as a case study for naming your company – as the most called company was called “grunt and shunt”.
- wysinwyg
  
  There’s a company in Boston named “Deathwish Piano Movers”.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000539953518 Han van der Heide

he looks harmless
- edgore
  
  Mostly
ffabian

Gimli
hexmonkey

Judging by the look of the awesome mover guy, Mark either lives near San Francisco or Brooklyn.
Blaine

Ok. So apparently there are TWO reasons someone who looks homeless and wears a t-shirt advocating cannibalism would have an unmarked white van.
Bill

This post goes well with Cory’s astroturf story that appears just before this one. Although I’m sure it’s just a coincidence they appear next to each other. ”I will call you awesome and post info about your band on my wildly popular blog. Cost: Use of white van and a bout or two of hard labor.”
http://twitter.com/johncfarrier John Farrier

Do you have to worry about liability with Taskrabbit? If Brett had been injured on the job, could he have sued you?
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  I dunno. If you are concerned you could probably hire a lawyer to evaluate the risk.
  - http://twitter.com/johncfarrier John Farrier
    
    I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like a risky proposition to hire someone for manual labor without some sort of insurance coverage or waiver of liability.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I have renter’s insurance (~ $200 annually) for the condo that I live in. It covers casual employees, like handymen, as well as casual clients in case I decide to turn a few tricks.
    - surgicalsnack
      
      Please refer to Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #65.
- Cowicide
  
  Call Lawrabbit.
http://profile.yahoo.com/4LVCTQGNJ67GAODA4DJUQHS4VM Mamabear

Totally Awwwwwwwwwwwesome!! Sharing it on my FB page! Rock on!
Lord Xenu

Taskrabbit looks kickass! Is there a Canadian equivalent, I wonder?
That_Anonymous_Coward

And I shall call him Mini Notch….
http://twitter.com/bigbadchang Chang Terhune

That’s the best Fallout video I’ve seen yet!
blueelm

You know, honestly, you people who write for BoingBoing could probably get most of your work done for free by various artists and musicians who would do labor for publicity.

I know I’d do it at least.
Cowicide

Taskrabbit? I love companies that incorporate animals into their names. I would trust ActionBear Moving Company over ActionHoss any day.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I used to use One Big Man & One Big Truck. Funnily enough, I got two big bears and one big truck. I was not disappointed.
  - Cowicide
    
    The amazing thing is they train these huge bears to drive the trucks too.
    - Cowicide
      
      The late bear that showed up by taxi…
GIFtheory

I was kind of ‘meh’ until I saw the Tusken Raider kid. They had me at Tusken Raider kid.
http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Natural-Water-Based-Lubricant-Gallon/dp/B005MR3IVO/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1329969578&sr=1-1 K. Kebabyoghurt

He looks glorious.
Can´t help but think of the impossible lovechild of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage.
Reuben Rivas

talk about a race to the bottom for slave wages… any poor soul submits the LOWEST bid WINS the privilege of getting the menial – no benefits – temp job. it’s only a matter of time before all jobs are competed for in this demeaning this way. win for the 1% for sure.
- brett hamilton
  
  it’s actually quite beneficial. i’m able to make more than enough to support myself as i pursue my creative endeavors, i’m not locked into a dead-end job, and i get a chance to meet a lot of great people (like mark) along the way. i believe systems like this should be the future of financial gain. people working for people. it’s a lovely thing.
  - penguinchris
    
    Is this really how you make most of your income, and it’s enough to support you living in LA? Presumably you already had the van?
    
    If you’re really making that much I’m going to try it myself… I too had figured you don’t make nearly enough for it to be worth it by doing this sort of thing and if I’m wrong that’s fantastic!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=57104670 Jacob Pitcher

That’s awesome! He kinda reminds me of a combination of ZZ Top and Adam Savage…. ZZ Savage anyone?

http://mythbustersresults.com/photos/adam-savage-mythbusters.jpg
http://superbossfight.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/beard12.jpg
brett hamilton

i never could have imagined that such a random sequence of events could bring so much attention to our band. i helped mark frauenfelder move some heavy shit one day, and the next day i’m displayed brilliantly at the top of boing boing. myself and falling still cannot thank mark enough for mentioning us in his post. he is a tremendous gentleman and a hell of an innovator.. both in journalism and armoire-moving.

we also cannot thank the kind people of our glorious internets enough. we have been so honored by your presence at our various websites and social networking engines. making music is really hard right now, and even with all of our resources, the avenues for young artists are becoming dark and seedy and unfit for travel. it’s refreshing to encounter a beautiful reminder of why the future of d.i.y. entertainment can be a bright one indeed.

and of course, none of this would have occurred without the magnificent invention of taskrabbit. it allows me to stay free from soul-sucking dead-end jobs so i can focus on being creative. people working for people is the way of the future. the last couple days has been a humbling example of that..

falling still thanks you all. please stay in touch.

-brett.
http://www.theblacklaser.net/ Joe The Wizard

That video makes me miss California a lot.