Book Recommendation: Bumping into Geniuses…
Posted by: Jay in Literature, Music on May 20th, 2009
I just finished reading a pretty good book and I wanted to pass on a recommendation.
Danny Goldberg’s Bumping into Geniuses offers a candid take on the music industry, told chronologically from the autobiographical perspective of an insider. For the uninitiated, Goldberg started out as a rock journalist before making a bigger name for himself in the area of artist management. After doing doing PR for Led Zeppelin, he managing some pretty big acts like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt and the solo career of Stevie Nicks. He also had a short-lived career as a record executive for a couple of major labels before forming Artemis Records. The label has since been dissolved and Goldberg has returned to his life on the artist management side of things.
I’ll admit that I was drawn to Bumping into Geniuses on account of the value added by his celebrity clients (I previously knew him as “that guy who helped break Nirvana”). This curiosity was certainly satisfied, as Goldberg goes into detail on many of his major clients, with typically a chapter devoted to each. It was actually pretty interesting to read about just how close of a relationship Goldberg developed with the likes of Kurt Cobain and Stevie Nicks.
But I’d be doing the book a disservice if I didn’t also draw attention to deeper aspect of it - as someone who started laying the groundwork for his career in the late 1960’s, Goldberg was in the right place to bear witness much larger factors at play while the music industry evolved. His eloquent take on the the rise of rock ‘n’ roll music, ‘rock’ radio programming and MTV are (almost) as interesting to read about as the stories about all the big rock stars.
In its entirety, the book’s primary selling point is simply Goldberg’s honesty - about the people he worked with, his successes and failures, and his own intentions (self-serving or not) behind his business decisions.
Hmm..looks like a softcover version is on the way in July as well.
Cut the power - but don’t turn off your TV set.
Posted by: Jay in Current Events on March 28th, 2009
The TV news media making Earth Hour into an “event” is ironic at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Deploying news correspondents to attend events and provide up-to-the-minute coverage consumes energy. So let’s say they’re able to greenwash that process, maybe throw some solar panels on the news van durignt he day so it can charge up a battery for use during Earth Hour coverage (in case it’s not bright enough at 8:30, or it rains, etc.). That’d be great right?
Only one problem - the media’s entire end goal (people tuning in to watch) undermines the entire premise of energy conservation.
I get that we want people to bear witness to what’s going on in the world, and Earth Hour is the sort of thing we want people to see and care about. It is, by all accounts, a “news event”. But I don’t think it is being handled in very good taste. I’m all for the networks hyping it up and getting people on board, but once the hour starts, it would seem the most environmentally-responsible networks would impose a blackout. I mean, once it’s Earth Hour, people know, right?
Another approach, so folks audiences wouldn’t be too confused, would be to have a simple message displayed on screens. That way a network could explain their support of the issue and still use a minimal amount of resources (compared to running the whole dog-and-pony show at the event and maintaining a central newsroom at the station).
Sure, they could lose ad dollars, but a smart ad exec could be creative and find a company that’s willing to endorse and hour of “silence” - whose name could easily be displayed alongside whatever key message is used as a placeholder on screens during the hour. Even if people are only tuning in for five seconds and reading the message, there’s potential for a pretty high number of impressions over that span of time.
In Defense of…Coffee?
Since graduating university, I’ve worked hard to reduce my caffeine intake. I reasoned that if I did enough of the ‘natural’ things (eating energy-rich foods, sleeping well, getting regular exercise) I wouldn’t be dependent on coffee to get me through the day. I viewed the item as a very enjoyable but quite addictive drug, a crutch that was needed when I wasn’t living ‘right’ that would suck my body’s hydration like a sponge.
So you can imagine my surprise when I start reading praises of the beaned beverage in Eat This, Not That, a book based off of the popular column on food swapping from Men’s Health magazine! A few interesting claims warrant mentioning here. First:
Best Brain Booster: Beyond boosting alertness for up to 90 minutes, that morning cup is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet, and can help decrease your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by as much as 60 percent.
The book also claims this “ultimate brain fuel…retards the age process” and in another spot writer David Zinczenko points to data suggesting that those who regularly consumed a diet of four 6 0z. servings of coffee a day had a considerably lower risk of death by heart disease.
This high-minded sort of stuff is interesting, but it was one of the more practical applications that really hit home; and was particularly surprising to boot. Later in the book coffee is selected as something to consume “when you want the most from your workout” and Zinczenko points to an interesting study:
Taking a caffeine supplement (eqaul to 2 cups of coffee) after exercise reduces muscle soreness more than pain relievers can. Caffeine reportedly blocks a chemical that activates pain receptors.
Some online research reveals that there are still opposing schools of thought on the coffee battle, so I’m sure I’ll be reading more about this in the future. In the meantime, this certainly serves as some interesting food for thought.
I’ll likely post a more formal review of Eat This, Not That after I’ve had a bit more time with the book. So far it’s been a pretty useful tool.
Recommended: free mixtape
A little while ago, Edmonton-based rapper/producer Cadence Weapon released the “Separation Anxiety” mixtape under the popular “pay what you want” model. I finally got around to checking it out and couldn’t help but pass on a recommendation.
The quality of the content here is better than what you’d expect for an an odds-and-sods collection. Fans will be happy to get
rarities, collaborations and his remixes of other people’s tracks.
Even if you don’t know who this guy is, take a look at the tracklist. There’s a good chance you’ll see someone you’re into featured here, and for the optional price of, well, free it’s a great way to grab the track.
It’s great to see more artists opening up to the idea of giving away content that is actually worth paying for. With that in mind, I might even duck back in and make good on the “may pay later” consideration I picked when I selected $0.00 as my payment option.
Happy listening!
Cool promotional item from Capcom
Posted by: Jay in Uncategorized on February 24th, 2009
When booting up my 360 tonight a few minutes ago, my dashboard told me that there was an “exclusive special announcement” from Capcom. All there was to click on was a black screen, so my curiosity definitely won out and I clicked….
Jun Takeuchi, a producer at Capcom, came on to personally introduce the new trailer for Lost Planet 2. While I didn’t place the first game, and only mild interest in the series, this is a pretty interesting way to announce the sequel (and finally gave me a reason to have the “Spotlight” tab activated on my dashboard).
I’ll give them points for trying something a little different (actually breaking the news in this manner), and a nod to Microsoft for featuring it in a way that I would actually notice. I’m sure we’ll see more of this in the future, so it’s tough to say if these will enjoy as captive as an audience as they become more common.
Gonna rise up to the occasion (feeling old)
Not from last night's show, but you get the idea.
Last night Colleen and I went to the Opera House to check out the Planet Smashers concert with another couple. It was a lot of fun, and quite interesting to see how little has changed in this sort of (for lack of a better term) ’scene’.
In a lot of ways, these ska shows have remained in a vacuum since the first time I saw the Planet Smashers back in high school. And to speak to the performance itself - the band still puts on a great show, and the crowd ate up every note, so I see no need for them to mess with the formula. (But really guys, can you at least put out a new record? It’s been four years!)
What has changed of course is that it’s been around a decade since these guys last broke through! I’d venture to say my life’s changed pretty drastically since I started going to these shows in the middle of high school.
To borrow from Dazed and Confused, I definitely couldn’t help but feel a little old when I came to grips with one fact: while I may be getting older, concertgoers (and merch booth workers, bartenders, bouncers, hell even opening bands) stay the same age.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Creepshow, the one opener I did catch. Who knew they had good pyschobilly bands in Burlington?
Hmm…imeem’s not playing nice, so I’ll just link to a track.
Media Mashups and GIS
[This is a repost of a Facebook note I wrote on this date when I was between blogs.]
As promised, some explanation.
Today I went to a seminar about media mashups. I’m a big fan of the mashup - I found my apartment using one and have even hunted for the occasional beer store using another.
But as helpful as those services can be, I haven’t really used the service for anything groundbreaking. Needless to say, I was pretty floored when I saw what the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) has been up to.
Basically, the SSMIC teamed up with the city and municipality on a 5 year, $5 million project to detail every inch of ‘the soo’. And that’s no overstatement - speaker Paul Beech stated that literally every tree has been entered into their geographic information system (GIS).
So what to do with all of this information? Well, that’s where it gets interesting. Here are a some applications Beech detailed:
- assessing health risks based on geographic location, then using selected mailouts by postal code to inform residents of a risk (for example, a high concentration of West Nile Virus);
- mapping the concentration of people with DUI charges so that police know where they should place a limited supply of ‘think of the kids, drive sober’ types of billboards;
- mapping bear attacks, which had the effect of driving bears out of the city by instructing the right neighbourhoods to take appropriate measures; and
- identifying priority sidewalks for snow removal in neighbourhoods with high concentrations of elderly people.
I was surprised at the complexity of what they could do with a full GIS. It turns out, so was Beech.
“When you pull together data, you can solve a problem that seems to be unrelated.”
In mapping out tripping hazards in the city, they ended up coming across a number of underground generators with grids placed at street-level (apparently these can rise slightly when the weather changes, creating a hazard). When investigating this case, it turned out they found that these grids, in trapping water and grass clippings underground, were ideal breeding grounds for the West Nile mosquito! As a result of this information, the city has acted to fill in these holes, which I understand has effectively eliminated the threat in the community.
It was like reading something out of Freakanomics.
Disclaimer: Following the presentation I’ve learned that the agency I work for has provided funding to the SSMIC for various things. Personally I think this is awesome but some folks may cry conflict of interest, so I thought I’d state it here.
Here we go again!
So I’ve been away for a minute, but I return with a new-and-improved space on this here series of tubes. (Hat tip - Dan.)
I’m going to give Wordpress here a shot. On my end, it’s already looking like a lot more fun to use. Hopefully it’ll be at least a little easier to customize, too!
Dan’s also working on importing the 5+ years of my archives, but currently I’m more concerned about looking ahead. I’ll be happy to have the old posts up, but stylistically I’m hoping to take things in a new direction with my could be considered the “next chapter” of this blog.
Anyway, I’ll keep this one short - mostly just wanted to say that it’s good to be back!
new job, twitter account…
(This is a repost of a facebook note I wrote when I was ‘between blogs’.)
I have some good news to share and didn’t want to put it off any longer. At the beginning of this month I started a new job, working as the New Media Coordinator for the marketing team at my ministry. It’s a good fit to my interests, as I was hoping to carve out a niche in new media. But because it’s focused within a marketing team, I’m getting the opportunity to learn a whole new skill set as well.
The set-up of the team is pretty ideal as well, as I currently report to one senior staffer. This gives me a good opportunity to benefit from someone else’s years of experience while also having more than enough work to do to cover my share. And because it’s situated in the same office I’ve been working in since the summer, I’m building off of relationships I’ve already spent a few months cultivating.
Ironically, I’ve been lagging behind on new/social media items of late, so with some upcoming formal and informal gatherings I’m hoping to bring myself up to speed. If anything, it’ll be nice to now have a context to apply all the new media stuff I’ve been reading and talking about.
In a related note, I finally started posting to my twitter account, so I’d encourage you to check it out. I’ve been following a few posters for awhile, but I figure this way I’ll be able to keep up with people a little easier and contribute to the conversations in a meaningful way.