Dancin' in the Gorge

on the road with Trim!

Cool the World

When the temperature spikes to 30 degrees, its time for the first bike ride to work. Along come feelings of hope, optimism, and change. One less car contributes to the wellness of everyone. One small change impacts one person at a time.

Ecospace sends a newsletter chockful of items endlessly fascinating items. Today's "buried deep" story links to a haunting music loop by an artist, Deborah Pardes. Its called "Cool the World". Simple melody, wonderful message, and a call to action. As a bonus, it offers anyone with video skills to create a picture show.

Hack away all the doubt and fear. Rid yourself of political bias. Listen to the science. Time for a change, readers. Its not as hard as you think. Make conscious choices. Its real - we have but one journey, one world - let's enjoy the ride.

Four Minutes

I'm still alive with a little bit of kick
Seems all I wanna do is pedal and pick...

Its tough coming back from vacation - maybe this will help :)

Music is Art this Friday

Art, in all its forms, is created to evoke a response or reaction. Its the main reason I continue looking, listening and learning. Whether it's making music, visiting museums and galleries or wandering the streets and alleys of a city, the opportunity for our senses to spark is ever present. The old becomes new and the new becomes old. Today's technology allows connections from far away places.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a band based in Belgium - Bang Lassi. This is a band on the edge! You haven't heard them yet?

Philippe Deltenre - Bad Idea, Indeed - tipped me to the sound. Philippe knows this band and I trust his instincts. The Lassimen have serious chops. What hooked me was the influences list on their MySpace page. I'm big on diversity and so is Bang Lassi. From Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa, John Coltrane and Miles Davis to the Beatles plus Ennio Morricone to Cream - this group knows music and its endless varieties of structure and rhythm. The sound will take your ears floating if you allow it. They are artists in the truest sense of concept, experiment and experience. I love this band!

Don't take my word - check out "Blue Suede Sea Shore" on the MySpace page.

Added bonus* - a psychedelic, minimalist YouTube view of "Friendly Faces" -

Lewis blogged a little Bang Lassi history, with added links, here. You haven't hear Bang Lassi?

What are you waiting for? Its free for now! As always, let me know what you think. No charge for that either - I'd really like to know.

*not for the faint of heart - 7 minutes and 3 seconds of your life

Paul Potts can sing - for real

Cord Silverstein, Marketing Hipster, posted first on Monday and again on Friday this week on Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman in UK. A great conversation going on over there. What I really dig about Cord - and Marketing Hipster - is his bold approach and wide range of topics. He posts about a lot of things and you know where he stands on them. Here's the video of the semi-finals on the UK's "Britain's Got Talent" - the final is Sunday, June 17:



If this performance does anything for you be sure to view the first one (2,000,000 views). This WILL chill you! It appears Britain has an "undiscovered" opera singer. My comment at Marketing Hipster alludes to my skepticism about Paul being newly found talent. The show plays up his lack of confidence - Cord's main point, too. The producers have chosen to portray him as an underdog and everybody loves the underdog (see Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs). I might have chosen a focus on his persistence and desire - a touch more humanistic is my approach. But I'm not a television producer.

His voice is astounding and well trained. He has had marvelous teachers. I have a feeling his PR machine is about to explode should he win the competition. Carphone Warehouse - where Paul works at the moment - has him pictured on their home page. Don't you just love opportunities to market! It appears they need a little server help at the moment as the links to Paul Potts video aren't working.

I don't see any way he doesn't win. Paul - and Britain - knows he's already a winner. Next week the world will know. Whether opera can stick in popular culture might be the next big question.

In Praise of Creative Conversation

Imagine that Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan or the Beatles were breaking into the music and recording business today. Yeah, the question shows my age but bear with me. You can insert the most popular - or your favorite - recording artist from your own bad ass era. Do you think Lennon & McCartney would have a MySpace page? How much control would Elvis hand over to his fans? Would Dylan have peddled "Blowin' in the Wind" as an mp3 download on iTunes? What would Miles Davis blog be like? Would Johnny Cash have kept us posted while in prison?

One of the first posts I read from Mack Collier was his "100 CDs for 100 Bloggers". I thought "this guy must be in the music business"! Come to find out, he's a merely great marketer and social network wizard. I've chewed on different ideas of music marketing since then. Its no secret that cd sales are in the tank - something like 20-25% this year depending on what metrics you use. Downloads are way up although how many are being "purchased" is elusive to determine at best. Suffice it to say - you want music, its easy too find it. Music for money is a far different game than your momma and daddy played. And while there is a ton of mediocrity - there is also some terrific music being played and passed along. I still believe the best is had live by a bunc h of rank amateurs...but thats for another time.

Most recently what got me reflecting on internet music marketing (or any internet marketing for that matter) was a story by Clive Thompson in the Sunday magazine at nytimes.com. Titled "Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog", the article looks at current practices by "b-list" artists. None of the names above would be considered anything but "a-list" though they had to start somewhere - right? The piece is about 4500 words and well worth the read. I'm going to focus on one part of the story and call it "BobNotes". (no disrespect to Cliff)

A one-time computer programmer named Jonathon Coulton decided to bag his job for a year in order to write and record a song a week. Then he'd post them to his blog. Thats 52 songs in a year and no small challenge. He managed to embark on this "forced march to creativity" and by the middle of last year had more than 3,000 people on average - per day - to his site. The most popular songs were being downloaded as many as a half million times. What do you suppose he discovered along the way? He found that his fans not only wanted his music - but they wanted to be his friend. They wanted to interact and communicate. They want a conversation. hhhmmmmm? Sound familiar? They send email. And while he responds to each of the more than 100 emails per day, it has got to be tiring. Thompson writes "his replies have grown more and more terse, to the point where he's now feeling guilty about being rude". (although this may be overstating if you visit this post) There are music videos from fans on YouTube. Along with asking advice on how to make more dough with his music, Coulton has toured. How does he decide where to play? Post a poll for fan interest in a given city and if there's enough to make it worth while (more than 100) - he goes and plays. He asks, then listens. I'm going to put a label on him - populist artist.

Which is really what blogging and marketing is about - asking and listening. These are the times I tend to philosphize - isn't that part of what being human is also about? Listening and learning.

I'll conclude with 3 quotes, and my reactions, from the article. The first about online networking -

"It is the central paradox of online networking: if you’re really good at it, your audience quickly grows so big that you can no longer network with them. The Internet makes fame more quickly achievable — and more quickly unmanageable."

I'm not convinced its unmanageable. Seems to me we all make a choice how to deal with whatever attention is afforded us. And we all deal with it in different ways. Some are more hands on than others. It becomes a paradox when your unable to fulfill whatever goal you've set in any given situation. Thus the importance of setting a goal.

The next about what caused the biggest spike on Coulton's website -

"Coulton’s single biggest spike in traffic to his Web site took place last December, when he appeared on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday,” a fact that, he notes, proves how powerful old-fashioned media still are. "

I'm a big believer in old media - and new media. My newspaper enters its 125th year on May 19. An organization in existence for that many revolutions around the sun plans to be around for a few more. Sure there are bumps along the way. Ain't life grand!

Finally, Thompson's observation on creativity -

"For many of these ultraconnected artists, it seems the nature of creativity itself is changing. It is no longer a solitary act: their audiences are peering over their shoulders as they work, offering pointed comments and suggestions. "

This statement might be defining the nature of creativity a little too narrowly. If the artist does not take time for herself - she will burn out. Its pretty simple. We also live in a time where pointed comments and suggestions come from anywhere and everywhere. Art by its nature is ever evolving and ever changing. Thankfully, we can experience current day creatives through ever broadening options. The opportunity to grow through conversation and connection can only make us better.