I’ve only got a minute here in between important job responsibilities and pressing concerns, so trust I won’t waste your time. Christgau’s online archive is a great place to waste some time.

Here’s a gem as Christgau recreates the experience of interviewing rock legends the Archers of Loaf.

His favorite interview question ever: “Do you love the Archers of Loaf?” His answer: “Yes. I must love this band, because I think about them more than I do myself.”

I interviewed the Archers once after a ’93 or ’94 show at Rick’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tough to pin down, irony was just getting hot and they owned it. Maybe the most exciting rock band at the time.

It’s fun to travel back with Christgau!

At this point no one knows which way to go… eventually someone somewhere will find someplace good and we’ll give music a new rev level and blog about it ’til you puke.

In the meantime, here’s an interesting perspective from the frontier (h/t PotLuckCon):

Technology is advancing far too quickly for the old safeguards of intellectual property rights to keep up, and while we wait for the technical fixes to emerge, those of us who want to explore the opportunities the Internet offers need to establish a set of ground rules that give us the power to decide how our music is exploited and by whom.

That’s singer/songwriter Billy Bragg in an intelligent opinion piece last month in the NYT titled “The Royalty Scam”.

[tags]intellectual property, publishing, Billy Bragg[/tags]

Comparing activities to golf is feeling like a lazy angle. If I ever write about something being the new golf, please submit Plan Resonate refund form #5 for complete satisfaction. That’s an honest-to-god-money-back-guarantee friends.

Here’s an interesting business idea via Andrea James at Seattlepi.com:

Employees at Seattle law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro recently got a big incentive to take up the sport. Management promised bicycles worth $3,500 to any employee who pledges to bike to work three months out of the year.

Firm managing partner and cyclist Steve Berman said he wanted to find a way to reduce the firm’s carbon footprint and encourage fitness.

Berman said he gets the bikes at cost from Ridley Bicycles for about $1,800.

So far, 35 of the firm’s 100 employees have signed up. Berman expects to hand out the bikes by May, and it will cost the firm $63,000.

Cool idea and good storytelling by Berman.

FWIW, riding a bike isn’t the same as cycling, and neither are the exclusive domain of type A fashionable at 4AM workaholics. Spandex, faux sponsorships, and $3,500 geometrically insane racing bikes are entirely optional.

Loosely edited notes from SanFran MusicTech Summit 2008.

Claudio Prado is an inspiring public figure. He represents Brazil’s Department of Digital Culture. A good starting point for learning about Mr. Prado’s work is in this video interview.

Mr. Prado’s presentation at the SanFran MusicTech Summit was generally an introduction to his work and an invitation to collaborate. The ideas that follow are his…

Advances in networked digital technology and communications can only be understood from a cultural perspective. These changes are redefining who we are and what we do.

He’s in favor of reinventing the rights of authors. He makes the compelling (if somewhat confounding) argument that copyright is obsolete.
Read the rest of this entry »

Good thoughts in a recent post by Victor Lombardi:

“I’m definitely guilty of what the skeptics of play call “play ethos,” the reflexive, unexamined belief that play is an unmitigated good with a crucial, though vaguely defined, evolutionary function.“

Victor’s post builds around ideas from Robin Marantz Henig’s recent NYT essay.

Unfortunately we can’t appeal to the intrinsic, experiential goodness of playing. We’re forced to intellectualize it for the supposed benefit of those who can’t feel it and the result is perhaps like talking about music or writing about painting.

Sorry if this reads like some kind of pretentious hack at Plato’s Ideal. What I’m trying to get over is that although we can use language and discussion to share perspective and transmit knowledge, ultimately there are defining aspects of certain things that only exist as they’re experienced. Such things defy description – they laugh in the face of academic dissection.

The utility of play might be one of those things.

[tags]Victor Lombardi, Robin Marantz Henig, Play[/tags]

Today is a big day for our friends at the EFF. Please learn if there’s anything you can do to help.

Some of the more innovative and free things you can do:

1.) Use goodsearch. Before you search, make a selection in the “who do you goodsearch for” field. Select Electronic Frontier Foundation. That creates a file on your computer that will remember your choice. From then on every goodsearch you make will raise funds for the EFF.

2.) Get married. Find a special (preferably single) friend and plan a wedding party. Register with the I Do Foundation. Convince all your family and friends to donate to EFF via the I Do Foundation. (I definitely don’t understand this one but the EFF people do so what the hell.) Alternately, it seems like you could skip the whole wedding concept and announce to your friends and family that it would make you happy if they donate to the EFF directly.

3.) Sell your crap on eBay and direct the proceeds to EFF with the help of MissionFish. You know you have too much crap. EFF is registered with MissionFish. This means you can select EFF to receive any percentage of the proceeds from your sale. This might make it more convenient for you to donate to EFF. Again, you might stick with Craigslist and donate directly to EFF, OR keep your crap and donate directly to EFF. Any one of those options seems viable.

4.) Blog about the EFF… ha! It won’t accomplish anything but you’re a blogger so you’re plenty used to that.

[tags]EFF, Goodsearch, I Do Foundation, MissionFish[/tags]

Musician and producer Jon Brion:

“I think my life is a version of my show played out over a very long time. There are periods of structured things; there are periods of improvisation. There are periods that go better than expected, and there are periods where you fall on your face. You get back up if you really love what you’re doing, and you do it regardless. I have that freedom by not having a set list.”

Always fun to hear people from the pop music industry talking about ideas.

Interesting side plot seems to be the AV Club editors weighing their obvious appreciation for stories like this one against their desire to reach as many eyeballs as possible. Probably some kind of growth management story in there too. Difficult decisions to be made when opportunities for growth potentially conflict with efforts to honor an original vision.

[tags]Onion AV Club, Jon Brion[/tags]

A robotic aquatic glider (Reuters) that uses thermal energy to explore the depths of the ocean. Cool concept.

“Most gliders rely on battery-powered motors and mechanical pumps, the researchers said. This one draws its energy from the differences in temperature between warm surface waters and the colder, deeper layers of the ocean.”

Congratulations to Dave Fratantoni of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and all the other folks involved in this project.

Vanessa Carr published a great interview with Cheb i Sabbah at SFBG’s Noise Blog.

“I was working at Rainbow Grocery on 15th and Mission. I was the buyer in charge of homeopathy and Chinese herbs. I worked in the vitamin department. Of course, I was still collecting music. I would make tapes for the customers.”

Sabbah celebrates his latest Six Degrees release “Devotion” this Saturday night at Temple Bar, San Francisco.

Had a fun client conference call recently where we discussed specific goals to improve the client’s use of social networking tools. The consensus of the conversation was that the client can and will begin using familiar tools in new ways, while also investing time into new tools.

It was clear during the call that the client didn’t need expert advice; they knew what to do, maybe they just needed the conversation to feel more ready about doing it.

Here’s a list of thoughts to inspire that action:

“Practice these key points:

1.) Be an ‘activationist.’ Be someone who does things. Be a doer, not a ‘don’ter’.

2.) Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. They never will be. Expect future obstacles and difficulties and solve them as they arise.

3.) Remember, ideas alone won’t bring success. Ideas have value only when you act upon them.

4.) Use action to cure fear and gain confidence. DO what you fear and fear disappears. Just try and see.

5.) Start your mental engine mechanically. Don’t wait for the spirit to move you. Take action, dig in, and you move the spirit.

6.) Think in terms of now. Tomorrow, next week, later, and similar words are often synonymous with the failure word never. Be an “I’m starting right now” kind of person.

7.) Get down to business – pronto. Don’t waste time getting ready to act. Start acting instead.

8.) Seize the initiative. Be a crusader. Pick up the ball and run. Be a volunteer. Show that you have the ability and ambition to do.

- from Dr. David J. Schwartz, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, Prentice-Hall, 1959

I’ve been half kid whole earnest about Dr. David J. Schwartz before. It’s ironic how often we fascinate over the latest management ideas, only to find many of those same ideas published a generation earlier. Sometimes management advice from 1959 is more relevant and helpful than the latest tricks.

[tags]Dr. David J. Schwartz, Magic of Thinking Big, Action[/tags]