Muse 2

Adrianne Duncan’s LA Modern Jazz Series presented its latest concert at the Whitefire Theatre last night, and the intimate space thrummed with the eloquent compositions of the William Galison Quintet. I admit I wasn’t a big fan of the first tune, but when pianist Otmaro Ruiz played the opening bars to the 2nd tune, “New Samba”, I was hooked, and the rest of the audience was right with me. This was an infectious groove, written over 20 years ago by Galison, yet - as is the hallmark of any classic – as up-to-date and timely as one could wish.

The next piece, “Body and Soul”, was an exquisitely sad and longing rendition of the famed jazz standard: Galison controlled the delivery so well, some members of the audience were actually crying at the quiet end. Quite the accomplishment, to reduce your listeners to tears by your third tune!

Another famous piece, “Just Friends” followed that, switching the tempo up and delivering fun, fun, fun. The quintet sounded like a group that had been playing for more than 20 years, reuniting for a feisty jam session. It should be noted that Mr. Galison barely knew his fellow musicians, and many of the tunes performed last night were played by that quintet for the very first time together: an extraordinary demonstration of the sensitivity, communication, and openness required by truly talented live performers.

I had no idea that there are so many different different types of harmonica, each producing a distinct sound, suited to a particular genre of music (I lost count at 14, sitting at Galison’s feet, or waiting on the stool next to him) For “Whitefire Blues” (premiered here, and therefore named so), he used a small blues harmonica to deliver a solo that felt like going to a Baptist revival. The fervor was intoxicating, and I truly thought we had reached an early pinnacle to the evening’s entertainment. Then Otmaro Ruiz casually (seemingly) whipped his arse with a virtuoso solo of his own. The solos at this concert were thrillingly served up, one more impressive than the last.

After a short break, the quintet returned to play several more tunes, and this time I decided to see if my mobile phone video camera, which I had no idea how to use, would be able to capture a little of the magic.

I finally got it working halfway through Ruiz’s beautiful piano solo from “My Romance”:

This was followed by another Galison original, “Lucky's Wedding” (Here is Galison in one of his two solos during the piece):

Galison next enthralled us with a rendition of Toots Thielemans’ (his mentor) hit single, “Bluesette”:

He then switched to a great guitar original, showcasing his versatility, before ending the concert with two blissful harmonica tunes. The first, another original, was called “Over the Moon”, followed by a blistering version of “Sweet Georgia Brown”.

The LA Modern Jazz Series has been consistently presenting artists of the highest quality, and if you live in LA and love Jazz, I urge you to take advantage of this great deal before it becomes better known, and consequently more costly!

The William Galison Quintet comprises:
William Galison – harmonica, vocals, and guitar
Otmaro Ruiz - piano
John Tegmeyer - clarinet
Greg Swiller - bass
Dan Schnelle - drums

G_d forbid you should get a speeding ticket. However, in the event that you DO get a speeding ticket in the USA, here's a little offer:

A "friend of mine" recently got a speeding ticket, and they did a lot of research in to which traffic school offered the best options (shortest course, most reliable, no hidden fees, etc). They found an online traffic school, offering the lowest guaranteed price, and they were as pleased with the experience as one could possibly be, under the circumstances.

GoToTrafficSchool.com is simple, straightforward, and with no hidden fees. "My friend" paid only $13.50, including the cost of mailing the certificate of completion to the Court, which the Traffic School takes care of for you. In fact, the only *hidden* thing, which "my fiend" wishes they had known about, is the referral discount you can get from someone who has already taken the course, giving you an additional $2 off the price.

So, in case you are planning to go to Traffic School, here is the code you should enter to get yourself that $2 additional discount: X25-BM4-7KK. It's apparently good for a year, so spread the word. In this economy, every penny counts!

"What's it really like to be a new member of the world's most powerful legislature?"

Freshman Year is a new online series, comprising webisodes, diary entries, and other content, following the experiences of two Freshman Congressmen: Congressman Jared Polis, America's first openly gay elected House Representative; and Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a conservative Republican from Utah.

Quite an interesting series, and worth following.

One of the great things about social media is that you get introduced to a wide array of content and thought leadership, pre-qualified by your own network. No need to sit through endless hours of content on YouTube or MySpace or CNN, not when “the best of…” is delivered to your virtual doorway by your ever-loving Facebook friends!

One of the worst things about social media is that you get subjected to a wide array of content and thought leadership, recirculating through your network. As your network evolves, so does its memory alter, until you are seeing your Facebook friends gasp and thrill at the “brand new” cool video piece from 2007:



I’d like to suggest that the concept of “browser cookies” be evolved at this point in our interactive history: could some smart programmer at Facebook please develop some sort of autotagging feature which – should we choose to activate it – lets us selectively screen pre-viewed content. For example, I should be able to configure the “Facebook Refresher” application to tag each video clip I watch, and screen out any future instances where that video is “shared” with me. Even better, I should be able to draft an autoreply, to be sent to the sharing party. Something along the lines of “I agree that this is a great piece of content, but just as I recommend to my friends that they check out Snopes.com before they send me chain emails about the threat of a new virus that will eat my computer from the inside out and send all my money to an elderly grandmother in Belarius, so do I suggest you check the original posting date of this video you just sent me. Did you not realize this video first found its way on to the internet when Al Gore was still sitting in his virtual Archimedian bathtub?”

Don’t get me wrong: I love being introduced to new content, new ideas, and new interesting people. Heck, I love old content, ideas and people even more. I just don’t want to sift through everything and determine what belongs in the “wow! That’s cool!” pile, or the “seen it/done it/read it” heap.

I want to simplify, and I proactively bless the engineer/programmer/geek who invents the tool that will filter out all the unwanted revisiting content in my online life (and while you’re at it, could you filter out revisiting creditors, ex-girlfriends, and overly spicy meals?)

Sometimes, an otherwise strong brand manages to prove the value of intelligent marketing strategy, by dint of its abject failure to manifest such a concept:


In between snorting rice milk out of my nose, as I watched this embarrassing/astonishing/hilarious/infuriating “home video” promoting the upcoming MSFT Windows 7 launch, I wondered whether I had made the right decision to leave my Chief Marketing position at T_____ last year, in favor of pursuing a year of non-profit volunteer work. While there is no doubt that the new leadership at the company is pursuing all the right fiscal and operational fixes, the complete and utter lack of interest in market positioning and brand strengthening is fast eroding any chance they will have of rebuilding a robust operation, short of mass cash infusion, spliting the company into smaller peices, or a hostile takeover.

What so many unwieldy brands do not seem to accept today, despite clear current and historical evidence in support of the thesis, is that a strong and clear-valued brand is a buffer and a springboard. In good times, a strong brand positions the company to spring forward past the competition, without undue additonal investment: the reputation of the brand in the client or consumer mind affords said company a measure of “credit”. During challenging periods, meanwhile, such as the one most industries are today experiencing, a strong brand serves as a security blanket, protecting the value offering for a period, while competition freezes in the cold chill of a tough economy, unprotected simply because they do not enjoy the warmth of customer loyalty.

Brands such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola, which could easily be pilloried as artery-clogging killer meats and battery-corroding acid poison, respectively, are instead still valued the world over, as marks of reliable warmth; brands we are happy to have in our home. Compare their brand and marketing investments with companies such as Wimpy Burger and RC Cola, and you realize swiftly that strong marketing equals strong market position (Wimpy was all but gone until its bargain-basement purchase by Famous Brands in 2007. Its survival now depends on – you guessed it! – a significant marketing campaign, which may still prove too late in the game. Meanwhile, RC has been fractured, and sold off to multiple stakeholders, who now bury it deep inside their portfolios, due to lackluster performance).

Instead of dumping one’s marketing budget, at the first sign of financial challenges, today’s smart corporation needs to recognize that investing in a dynamic marketing team, with innovative and cost-conscious leadership, will do far more to shore up and reverse the damage done by lost sales, than the traditional cycle of fires and hires throughout the BUs, followed by satellite business interest sell-offs, and share revaluations…companies need to stop behaving like banks (look where that got the banks!), and return to the practice of devotedly innovating valued goods and services, and communicating said value in a clear and believable fashion (minus the extremely awkward “let’s have a party” YouTube videos…)

Does your city or town have a staircase and escalator setup similar to this, somewhere within its municipality? If so, why not suggest a project like this?



(Thanks to K.Delin for the link)

Fairly or not, the Brazilians are renowned for their party spirit...and lack of organization. The question hangs in the air for the next 6 years, therefore: "which attitude will prevail when the games open in Rio?" This site presentation below suggests the former, and I am hopeful, because there is no disputing the fact that the Cariocas know how to throw a party, and the culture is unquestionably global. Here's wishing the newest Olympic host the very best, as they begin the daunting (and some would say Sisyphus-like) task of preparing for their Olympic moment in the sun...

For the past 7 months or so President Obama has been consistently criticized for his "weak obeisance" to foreign governments, as he presents a diplomatic methodology and style far different from that of his predecessor. Where Bush was possessed of an almost ordained sense of the rightness and superiority of his convictions and, by perceived extension, the rightness of his nation’s position as “the most powerful country in the world”, Obama has chosen – for right or for wrong – to reposition the USA as a far more equal player on the world political stage. The USA of Obama’s administration is not the cocksure “you’re either with us or against us” motherland that Bush held up for the entire world to see, and hopefully fear. Obama is repainting the canvas upon which our nation rests, and his worldview is based upon a belief in collaboration, cooperation, mutual respect and deference.

This is where the criticism has found its footing.

How dare the President NOT blindly and passionately, nay rabidly defend his nation against any form of criticism or critique?! What sort of President chooses to allow enemies of our nation to shake his hand? Upon the conservative critical wall is painted the moniker of “traitor”, branding this upstart young semi-American President as unpatriotic and unwilling to show his nation the type of aggressive support the conservative flank expects and demands of its leader.

I find it rather telling, obvious, contradictory and sad therefore that these very same critics are jeering and cheering at President Obama’s aggressive demonstration of the very qualities they previously accused him of lacking. That he stepped forth and strongly campaigned on behalf of the US bid for Olympic hosting in 2016 can be criticized for many reasons, but it did not lack for patriotism.

This is just the latest in an ever growing collection of nonsensical guerilla warfare tactics. This sort of politic has existed since the days of George III, and before, but in this day of ubiquitous connectivity, the damage is quicker and deadlier. The citizen majority is not equipped with a self-correcting “snopes.com” filter in their brains, and so what may seem idiotic to some of us (that Obama is not rally an American, that he is a Muslim, that he is part of Al-Qaeda, that he wants to kill your grandmother…and so on) miraculously bypasses that part of the brain governing reason, and connects powerfully with the emotional cortex.

History will show, I am confident, that the attacks on Obama had nothing to do with logic, rational opinions, or reasoned counterpoints. It has always been about fear, ignorance, and bigotry.
My fear, however, is that history may record also some terrible consequences to these irrational and unpredictable motivators. I grow more afraid, on a daily basis, at the mounting loss of calming influence our political system has over those who simply can no longer differentiate between rhetoric and riots. We may well point the finger of accusation at the oratorical firebrands of the right wing, and hold the conservative fire starters accountable for their irresponsible incitements, but what good will that do, if the damage done is the kind of damage that cannot be undone?

I pray that someone realizes what is going on before it is indeed too late. I pray, because I find there is little else I can do.

Strange and sad days.

I recently reviewed my Facebook friend list and was struck by several facts:

• I am thrilled by the number of good friends I have.
  
• I am thrilled by the number of friends I have, who also use Facebook, permitting me to keep in touch with them in a creative and interactive fashion.
  
• I am thrilled by the several new FB friends I have made, who are slowly but surely becoming "real world" friends, too.
  
• I am curious about the few complete strangers who, polite and courteous as they may be, have not clarified why they wanted to "friend" me in the first place.
  
• I have decided to no longer accept friend requests from anyone but already existing friends or family.
  

With respect to the last point, I made this decision when I realized that Facebook has been lately morphing into an online meeting zone, akin to Second Life and Match.com, and that was not the sort of social network I want to be a part of.

I am a big fan of Facebook, privacy concerns aside. I find it to be an eminently useful tool for keeping in touch with, and getting back in touch with, my friends around the world - whether they are family, old school friends, or business associates with whom I enjoy working an brainstorming.

What I want to avoid, however, is becoming that FB user with 2,000 "friends". Apart from the fact that I would be overwhelmed by the info stream, it would not be long before I made some comment on some wall, which would be deemed quite appropriate amongst my friends, but wholly offensive in public society! I did spend my formative years in England, after all, and despite our charming accents and bow ties, we are a truly inept culture when it comes to political correctness (see? Right there I've offended every British "friend" in my network!).

That said, I’d hate to miss an opportunity to make new friends, so perhaps the service’s next update should include Dante-inspired “circles of Facebookness”: The outer circles, with limited profile access, would be reserved for people whom we have met exclusively via Facebook; the next circle of friendship would be reserved for casual acquaintances and business networks; and the inner circle would be reserved for pre-existing and pre-qualified “real world” friends. Our FB friend’s “circle” status would not be available to them, but it would enable us to more efficiently manage our use of the service.

I believe there are certain settings on Facebook that allow us to emulate an approximation of this dynamic, but not on an ongoing and default basis. I believe this system should be implemented right away, so I can retake that great Friend Facts quiz, and get a pie chart showing me the ratio of close friends to "other" friends that I have!

The alternative, after all, would be to have to go out and find friends in the real world, and that’s too much like work…

Lipdubbing has been around for a while, but these kids did it all in ONE TAKE...and it looks as if they had a wonderful time doing it!: