I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY (PART 2)

June 30, 2010comment

As the Pythons would say, “Now for something completely different” (at least from my last blog). I did read in the news that John Lennon’s hand written lyrics with corrections to “A Day in the Life” were auctioned to an anonymous bidder from the US for an astounding $1.2 million! Obviously a big Beatles fan - or maybe not. I believe that there are many types of bidders for collectables; those that want to own a piece of history (Antique Road Show hello); those that want to possess a thing of beauty for the aesthetics such as a work of art or a vintage guitar; those that want a piece of an artist or athlete that represents an important era of the bidder’s life (this also applies to car collectors); or those who simply want to invest in something that they hope to be able to turn a profit for in the future.

When John Lennon was scribbling those lyrics did he ever stop to think that someday those doodles would fetch that kind of cash? Hardly, even though he was a Beatle, he would have been quite amused. Once I had the privilege to work with my boyhood idol, baseball great Ernie Banks, on a fund-raiser for a children’s charity. The friend who introduced us told me that Ernie would sign a few things for me. Knowing this might be my only chance, I brought several items I acquired over the years including a dog-eared copy of his autobiography aptly named “Mr. Cub.” When Ernie signed it, he said he didn’t even have a copy. I apologized that I couldn’t give him mine because my brother Ed had given it to me for my birthday when I was young (you know, sentimental reasons). Then he asked if I knew where any of his old used bats were and when I told him that I didn’t, he said, “When we cracked them, we just tossed them away. Who knew anyone would pay good money for them today?”

In the 1980’s when I worked at Dean Guitars, we noticed Japanese businessmen coming to consumer guitar shows paying top dollar to take classic guitars back to Japan - not to be played, but as an investment. Same with classic cars from the 1950-’s and 1960’s. (How many of us have seen a car we once owned from that era bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in auctions like Barrett-Jackson?) In was that period that I began to notice the prices of collectables being driven sky high. There are only so many vintage guitars and many artists will still pay top dollar and then to actually play them because like a fine wine, some instruments improve with age. Charity auctions bring out the best in some people as well. Clapton’s famous “Blackie” Stratocaster guitar was auctioned for just under $1 million to benefit his Crossroads foundation. I personally have been involved with auctions of autographed guitars by the Stones and Eagles that each brought in just under $100K.

The point is should we hold onto stuff just because it might be worth something in the future? Barbie’s, GI Joe’s and other toys are even extremely collectable now. I can only answer for my own generation when I say I guess some baby boomers simply want to hold onto just a little piece of the glorious era we grew up in. By the way, I think I just heard John Lennon chuckling.

Coda: I have to confess - I have a pretty nice collection of Beatles and Cubs memorabilia tucked away - and I will never sell any of it!

@7:43 am
Author: admin
Tags: , ,

I READ THE NEWS TODAY…..OH BOY!

June 28, 2010comment

The Superman comics I enjoyed in my youth had this very weird place that the “man of steel” used to visit; a cube shaped planet called Bizarro World (also called htrae or “earth” backwards) where everything good is bad and vise versa. Bizarros used to say that they “hated beauty” and “loved ugliness.” In that world, one could be arrested for buying something but admired for stealing the same item. Reading the news, I can’t help think that we live in an age of opposing world’s - the “Bizarro” world where some show little compassion or respect for their fellow man, and one of good where we help each another - each being polar opposites with seemingly nothing in between.

Think of the stories that we read about in the just the past few months:

A CEO who runs the major oil company that is completely fouling the Gulf Coast, forever changing the lives of those that depend on the area for their livelihoods, remarks that he “wants his life back” and then proceeds to go sailing on his yacht, in the pristine waters halfway across the world…. A young girl, whose dream of sailing around the world is shattered by a storm that cripples her vessel, is saved by Australian and French responders who state they would hope that another country would do the same if one of their citizens’s where caught in that situation.

Two opponents running against each other for the Republican Party’s nomination for Governor of California, spend a combined $100 million on campaign ads that are nothing short of mutual character assassinations. Their Democratic foe claims “off the record” that the winner is planning a Nazi style propaganda campaign against him, while the Republican candidate for a California senate seat is caught “off the record” mocking the hairstyle of the Democratic incumbent…One of the biggest blown calls in all of baseball robs a young pitcher of one of the rarest of all feats; a perfect game, on the last play of all things! Afterwards, the remorse stricken umpire admits that he blew it and took away the pitchers chance at immortality. The next day the ump, with tears streaming down his face, and the pitcher embrace at home plate as tens of thousands of fans cheer.

At an anti-healthcare rally, tea-baggers heckle a man who is down on the street holding up a sign begging for them to support healthcare reform so he can get his Parkinson’s disease treated. As they continue to shout him down, some begin throwing money at him crying out, “Is this what you want, free money?…..As several states move to block the healthcare reform, a group of doctors and dentists set up shop in Los Angeles to offer free medical care to those who don’t have insurance and thousands gratefully show up.

I am sometimes ashamed at the one world I live in, but very proud to be a citizen of the other.

Coda: As I was working on this blog, two major music stars announce that they will be performing a concert fund raiser to benefit the victims of the Gulf oil disaster while at the same time, several major country stars announce that they will be performing a fund-raising concert for the victims of the recent Nashville floods.

@1:59 pm
Author: admin
Tags: , , ,

Drove My Chevrolet To The Lev… Ro… ???

June 13, 2010comment

It’s common knowledge that nicknames are for the most part, terms of endearment. They also help to make people or brands seem less formal and maybe just a little more cool. For instance, the Kennedy clan -John F., Jacqueline, Robert F. and Edward Moore were most often referred to as Jack, Jackie, Bobby and Ted making them not less regal, but certainly gave them a more human element in relating to the general public. The slang expression for McDonald’s, “Mickey D’s” is embraced by McDonald’s Corp. because it promotes its street cred to a core market, and growing up in the Midwest, we affectingly referred to those little square White Castle hamburgers as “slyders” which is now a WC trademark (my cousin Ken called them “gut busters” for apparently the same reasons but I doubt that one is officially sanctioned by White Castle’s suits). In lieu of corporations adapting consumer’s nicknames for their brands, they love to create catchy nicknames or abbreviations because it’s easier for the public to wrap their brains around them and can promote a certain corporate message. Until the recent disaster in the Gulf, the lower case “bp” next to a happy little green and yellow daisy presented a more, well, environmentally “friendly” face to the world than the staid uber-corporate British Petroleum.

That’s why is was downright odd when GM’s vice president Alan Batey and marketing vice president Jim Campbell recently sent a memo to employees asking that they talk about the brand as Chevrolet, not its age-old shortened nickname “Chevy.” Apparently, they wanted the “brand to be consistent,” especially since General Motors is trying to push Chevrolet in global markets where some people may not know it as Chevy. Sounds like typical corporate-speak that happens when marketing and sales execs have to come up with something (when they have nothing) to prove that they’re hard at work.

The problem is, to the general public, Chevy will always be a cool sounding moniker for Chevrolet. The classic “Chevy Nova” and “Chevy Malibu” just roll off the tongue so naturally. Now substitute, “Chevrolet” for Chevy on those models and see how clunky and uncool that sounds. Better yet, do the same substitution for these lyrics “Drove my Chevy to the levy” or “I get off on fifty-seven Chevy’s” and you’ll wonder what type of Korporate Kool-Aid this guys were drinking when they concocted that memo. It should be said that Chevrolet tried this once before in the 1950’s with their sponsorship of the Dinah Shore Show by having Shore sing the theme song, “See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet.” Interesting enough, the popular show was renamed the Dinah Shore Chevy Show the following year. If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.

The GM execs also broke the #1 rule of “positioning” – once your brand is positioned in a consumers mind, a very arduous, yet desirable result of a long term marketing campaign, it’s even more difficult to undue – and why would you want to negate all that and maybe even rile your brand loyalists? Coca-Cola messed with the original 100 year old recipe and their beloved nickname “Coke” with some marketing brainiac’s vision of “New Coke.” The public outcry from their loyal consumers was so relentless that they were forced to reintroduce the original as “Classic Coke.” Not too many years ago, with little fanfare, they dropped the “Classic” from the label and of course everyone still refers to it as “Coke.” Wait a minute; maybe these GM execs aren’t so clueless after all.

Coda: No, these guys are clueless -  as I was writing this blog, because of all the commotion the original email caused throughout the blogosphere and terrestrial media, GM VP Batey put out a press release stating that they “Love the nickname Chevy” and never intended to blah, blah, blah…which is corporate spin for “Wow, what we thinking?”
 
 

@9:01 am
Author: skorinc
Tags: , ,

MY TOP JUKE BOX HEROES

June 4, 2010comment

Long before there were iPods, boom boxes, multi-speaker car stereos or hi-fi consoles, if people wanted to hear great records on a great system, they would have to go
their local diners or malt shops (okay, malt shops were even before my time) to listen to them on juke boxes. Like most baby boomers, I listened to Rock music on my little battery powered two transistor radio – crappy sound but you could take it anywhere and even hide it under your pillow to listen to the latest tunes while you were supposed to be sleeping. My dad had this top end West German made Grundig stereo console and he would often let me blast my 45’s and LPs, although most of my vinyl records were mono so I couldn’t get the real quality effect. That’s why it was a special treat to drop a dime into the local juke box and experience my favorite records in the way they were mean to be heard which included the super rich bass from the throbbing subwoofer (bass guitar was my instrument so that’s what I listened for first). As I got older it was still a thrill to plug coins into those boxes. Rosa’s in Chicago has one of the best for Blues (obviously). Often you had to take the drinks off it and then plug it in, but man what a sound and what great classics. In Hoboken, not far from my publisher Wiley & Sons, there’s a wonderful juke box filled with whom else but local hometown hero made good – old blue eyes himself Frank Sinatra.

If I ever have enough deposable income, one of my dreams is to have an old restored Rock-Ola in my music room so I can play all those great records. Here are my top 11 juke box songs if that fantasy ever becomes a reality (note that there’s not much new stuff because most new stuff is not available on 45 records. Note #2: the list goes up to 11 instead of 10 because as Nigel Tufnel proclaimed, “Eleven is one more”).

11.) “Rock n Roll” by Led Zeppelin – If that opening drum part and guitar riff was enough to electrify Cadillac’s staid image in one felt swoop, it’s good enough for me.

10.) “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles – Incredible guitar riff, slammin’ drums and than booming McCartney bass riff at the end makes for a perfect JB track (check out Geoff Emerick’s book “Here, there & Everywhere” for the secrets on how Macca got that monstrous bass sound).

9.) “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the Who – Daltrey’s scream alone is worth the price of admission but add Townsend’s power riffing and you have one of the all-time classic arena anthems.

8.) “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak – One of the most haunting guitar riffs of all time over Rowland Salley’s sensual bass lines that created the unforgettable mood for David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.

7.) “Ain’t That Peculiar” by Marvin Gaye – One of the best of all the Motown singers (and that says a lot) with the legendary James Jamerson’s brilliant bass lines as a perfect counterpoint.

6.) “Lay Lady Lay” by Bob Dylan – Bob’s venture into Nashville produced not only this all-time classic, but you have to concentrate to the amazing rhythm section behind him to really capture the true nuanced emotion the track.

5.) “All Right Now” by Free – With “the voice” Paul Rodgers on lead vocals and Andy Fraser’s killer up-front bass, not to mention Paul Kossoff’s constructing one of the most famous guitar riffs in all rockdom, this recording launched a thousand stripped down hot-roddded bands.

4.) “Green River” by Creedence Clearwater Revival – John Fogerty’s swamp tinged vocals and lead guitar made for one heck of a top ten single (CCR almost single handedly kept rock on the radio with hit after hit that cut through the lame pop that most of Top 40 stations programmed in the 1970’s).

3.) “Return to Me (Ritorna-Mi)” by Dean Martin – My wife and I were married in Siena, Italy (same town featured in the new movie Letters to Juliet) and after the town official “gave” the sunset to my lovely bride Bettina as a wedding gift, we danced our first dance under a storybook sunset and since we had no band, I sang the only song I knew in Italian and I would love to celebrate that moment over and over again.

2.) “Boys of Summer” by Don Henley – The ultimate tribute to lost youth and one of Don’s most powerful vocal performances, this song has one of the best series of memorable guitar hooks of any song courtesy of co-writer Mike Campbell of Tom Petty‘s Heartbreakers.

And the #1 is…drum roll please…(pun intended)

“Honky-Tonk Woman” by the Rolling Stones – That opening cowbell and Charlie Watts’ signature drum intro which leads into Keith Richard’s legendary guitar riff, this is my vote for the greatest juke box song in Rock history.

Coda: Every time I hear “Honky-Tonk Woman” it takes me back to my basement band the Tobacco Rouges when we took a break from practicing to grab a burger at our local grill down the street. After lunch, I had all of one quarter left in my pocket and noticed that the juke box in the corner had one play for a dime or three-for-a-quarter; so I got to hear “Honey-Tonk Woman” three times in a row.

@8:18 am
Author: admin
Tags: , ,

Is It Time To Free All Music?

May 28, 2010comment

The business model that has worked so well since the beginning of the music industry is almost broken; the “cash cow” was always for labels to charge as much as the market would bear for albums and CD’s. Artists would tour when they had new product to promote and they would supplement tour costs through on-site merch sales. The tours would reunite the artist with their fans, attract new ones and introduce the latest release which in turn would hopefully sustain sales of the record throughout the tour. If we had to spotlight a tipping point it would have been that fateful meeting back in 2001 when the major labels rejected the partnership with Napster. No one could see the writing on the wall that there was an exciting new delivery system for dedicated music fans that had the potential to not only support the old business model, but also to become a more cost effective means to introduce new artists without the massive resources it took back then to launch a new artist through radio airplay and tour support. To be fair, labels did have another powerful tool with MTV supporting new releases by playing the artist’s latest music video, but the writing was already on the wall with success of MTV reality shows like The Real World which ultimately took the “M” for “Music” out of MTV which then ended up being just TV.

Consumers who were used to downloading music through Napster weren’t about to change their ways – record labels be damned – which led to the rip and burn mentality that just about ruined the business. To add fuel to the fire, labels began going after what would have been their most valued customer, the true music fan, by punishing them for illegal downloading (the labels really had no choice at that point) which effectively was like killing the proverbial goose that laid the golden record egg.

Some may argue that the death knell for the industry could also be attributed to the lack of quality music being released in the last decade, but even our biggest artists like Coldplay and U2 sell significantly less records today than their counterparts did decades ago did. Speaking of decades ago, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead had an interesting business model which was “Give the music away for free and the fans will pay for everything else.” Of course they fought tooth & nail to protect their merchandising rights and distribution, but most artists and labels at the time thought they were either on drugs, or just simply insane. Now we look back at that model and realize they were true visionaries. Today, artists put their music up on their MySpace pages and encourage downloading just like the Dead encouraged fans to record their live shows and rip for their friends. Today, some touring artists sell t-shirts that come with their latest record as a “valued added” download. Free downloads of master-tones and single tracks are aimed getting the consumer to opt-in for the complete album. Concert promoters are already building studios at venues to record that evening’s performance as a souvenir of the show (but you still have to pay at this point).

I’m not saying that music should be free all the time, but except for “jam bands” in the Grateful Dead mode, when’s the last time you saw hundreds of fans of a major artist caravan from city to city to attend several shows in a row?

Coda: This blog was inspired by a lunch I had with Ken Lopez, professor at USC, prior to a lecture I presented to his class. Ken gave me so many valuable insights into this type of “new-old” business model for today’s artists so I am, well, grateful.

@3:39 pm
Author: admin
Tags: , ,

ATTENTION BP, GOLDMAN SACHS, ET ALL! ALL WE WANT IS THE TRUTH!

May 20, 20101 comment

These stories dominated the news in just the past few weeks…..UCLA student gets abducted, but wait; she turns up at a police station and we find out that not only was she not abducted, but she hadn’t been a student a UCLA for the past two years. Apparently, her parents were planning a graduation party and well, she couldn’t bear to tell them the truth so she ran away and concocted the abduction story as a cover-up…..Another “college” student lies his way into Harvard, and almost a writing gig with the New Republic, that is, until he gets caught…..Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal claimed he was a Viet Nam vet, but when he was called out by the press, he admitted he didn’t actually serve in Viet Nam, but nonetheless continues to spin the tale to the point that he has effectively turned an almost sure Senate seat into a toss-up race…..the tres stooges’ at BP, Halliburton and Trans Ocean point the finger at each other as a Senate hearing tries to find out who was responsible for the BP leak… and so on and so on.
 
This type of news has Goldman Sachs breathing a sigh of relief because it was just a few weeks ago that their CEO Lloyd Blankmind, I meant to say Blankfein, and his boy wonder Fabrice “Fab” Tourre were tap dancing around the truth during a Senate Subcommittee hearing on their role in the financial meltdown. These guys had more memory lapses than the two clueless stars in Dude Where’s My Car? Note to BP and Goldman Sachs: not taking responsibility for your actions sometimes ends up as bad as lying, at least in the court of public opinion.

I’m hardly the first to cast a stone, but it is fascinating to me how untruths can turn a little spark into a media firestorm. In the past six months it seems every other week there was another Tiger Woods, Jesse James or John Edwards scenario where a celebrity caught in some sort of discrepancy or incident, tells a whopper to try and get out, and then gets tangled up in a web of lies until their house of cards tumbles. Maybe it’s the proliferation of 24/7 media where a poor girl who lies to her parents garners media coverage like she was, well Tiger Woods. Andy Warhol was a true visionary when he said in the future, “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes” - but I have to believe that’s not the type of fame most of us seek or want (although anyone who watches YouTube might tend to disagree). But the message is still clear - the truth eventually will come out so why lie in the first place if it only makes matters worse? David Letterman got caught with his “worldwide” pants down (literally) and immediately offered the true story to his audience of millions. And guess what? It became a non-story except between his wife and himself. The story quickly went away along with his accuser Robert “Joe” Halerman who got caught in an implausible lie, and pleaded guilty to extortion with a six-month sentence.  
 
When I was a youngster, my mother use do tell me something her mother told her, “Don’t lie, because once you do, you will have to tell more lies and at some point you will forget the original lie and contradict yourself and get caught. On the other hand, you will never forget the truth.” Words of wisdom because the worst kind of lies are the ones that hurt someone else and the more one tries to cover up, the deeper the hurt. I consider myself to be a branding specialist, not actually in public relations, but when you look at the damage each one of these people has inflicted on a spouse, friend, client, or in the case of BP, the environment which affects us all, the more you realize that the real victims of the lies are the liars themselves.  
 
Coda: In grade school, Baby Boomers were uniformly taught the story of our first president George Washington as a young boy bravely admitting to doing a bad deed. “I cannot tell a lie - I cut down the cherry tree.” I don’t know how many history classes still teach that, but as we found out later, that story never happened. But even if it was meant to be a fable, it still speaks the truth because the consequences of lying are even worse. It seems at least David Letterman was paying attention.

@9:27 am
Author: admin
Tags: , ,

THE BEATLES HAD IT – HOW ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER?

May 6, 2010comment

Even though Justin Bieber can be compared to The Beatles as collective teen idols when it comes to driving their female fans to frenzy, the Beatles used that as a springboard to become one of the successful and groundbreaking musical groups of all time; whether or not that recognition will come to Bieber still remains to be seen so let’s give him some time. It should be noted that when The Beatles arrived on the scene, the naysayers were sure they were just a passing fad, just like many people in the ‘50’s thought that Rock ‘n Roll wouldn’t last. But this blog is not really about comparing the two musically; the real intention is to spotlight the one elusive trait all great artists (and brands for that matter) have – and that’s a “hook” - just like hit songs have that hook – the one thing that grabs a listener’s attention and stays with them – and “hooks” them enough to come back. Yes, The Beatles had many of the most memorable musical and lyrical hooks of all time, but I am talking about the essence of what made them stand out beyond the music. And that was their look; collarless suits, Beatle boots and of course, their mop top Beatle hair. The hair more than anything was key to their early success, and the image became so iconic, that many young musicians still channel it today – including Justin Bieber.

That one common thread in an artist’s hook gives fans something they can emulate to let everyone know they are almost as cool as their idols…besides The Beatles, think Elvis, the early Stones, Zeppelin, and on and on. But let’s put aside musicians for a moment and consider actors. In my world, Steve McQueen was the coolest and even though I was as far from cool as a 9 year old kid could be, I became coolest kid on my block when my parents bought me a replica of the sawed-off rifle his character Josh Randall on the hit TV series Wanted Dead or Alive kept in his gun belt, and was only all too happy to speed draw it out to mow down the bad guys with. Later on when I outgrew toy guns, I fantasized about riding a Triumph motorcycle just like the one he almost escaped the Nazis on as the “Cooler King” in the Great Escape (Side note: McQueen was a motorcycle racer in real life and since he was the best stunt rider they had, he also played the German motorcyclists chasing himself – I found out years later that the film’s insurance company wouldn’t let him do the big jump at the end, even though he was more than capable, so his riding buddy did that for him). When I finally grew up – many, many years later, my wife bought me a Triumph Motorcycle as a wedding present which fulfilled a fantasy two-fer – the bike, and the woman of my dreams.

I could write a book about this topic (actually I did) but the point is, talent a given, for any successful artist, actor or brand (even though there’s no “r” in “band” I believe you have to become one to sustain yourself in today’s world), you got to find that “hook” that grabs them and keeps them coming back for more.

Coda: The idea for his blog began to germinate when I read about Fess Parker’s death a few months ago. You see, even before McQueen, I wanted to be like Fess Parker’s TV character Davy Crockett. All I needed, along with million of other baby boomer boys, was a coonskin cap. Think of my generation’s progress – Davy’s cap, followed by Beatle hair, Indiana Jones’ fedora….all about the “look” which of course is the “hook.”

Note: For another application of “hooks” you can check out my contribution in the Worst-Case Scenario Business Survival Guide.

@1:47 pm
Author: skorinc
Tags: , ,

JEFF BECK AND VINYL RECORDS – IN MY LIFE

April 20, 2010comment

I got a preview of Jeff Beck’s new band when I watched him rehearse for his tribute to Les Paul brilliant performance of “How High the Moon” at this year’s Grammy Awards. But nothing could prepare me for the mind-blowing concert I attended this week in Los Angeles when Jeff pretty much performed the new record “Emotion & Commotion” in its entirety. The new symphonic direction he explored on this recording was further enhanced by the string orchestra that backed him most of the night. Because of the soaring melodies, this is probably his most accessible album for non-guitarists. For guitarists, Jeff has taken the instrument so far that very few can even begin to fathom what he does, or how he can possibly get all those amazing sounds out his Fender Stratocaster guitar. I recall the first night I met Jeff was about 15 years ago when he co-headlined the Greek Theater in Los Angeles with Carlos Santana. The first row of was filled with other guitar greats who came to pay homage and after each song they would get up in unison to bow to the master. When I finally got a chance to speak with him I had so many guitar questions prepared but we never talked guitars; he was much more interested in hot rods.

Warning: Get ready for a sharp left turn…

This blog is actually not just about Jeff Beck, because I really wanted to talk about the resurgence of vinyl records and what the local record store meant to us growing up. The first band I was in, The Tobacco Rouges, used to hang out at Pearson’s Music in Niles, IL spinning the latest 45’s in the listening booth. We would try to figure out the chords to a new Stones or Kinks single – that was until kindly Mr. Pierson would ask us not to wear out the merchandise unless we wanted to buy it. At that time, Dee Hunt, the older sister of our drummer Jim, recommended a lead singer from her college that was looking for a band and she knew we needed a singer. Steve Nakon looked just like Mick Jagger – shoulder length hair and all. Keep in mind we went to Catholic schools so we couldn’t wear our hair any longer that a short “Beatle” cut so this guy was our idol. Steve took us to Old Town where the hippies hung out to get cool rock clothes inspired by the British Bands. Steve helped us almost look like we were a real rock band, to the point that the black-leather-clad-slicked-back-hair “greasers” at many of the VFW halls we played waited in line outside after the show to kick our respective asses – we had to learn to run pretty fast with our guitars in tow. Steve eventually left the band to go on to bigger and better things; he founded Gramophone, the first $3.00 record store in Chicago. Even though Nick Hornby wrote “High Fidelity” about a vinyl store in England, the movie was filmed on the Northwest side of Chicago, in the same area as Steve’s original store. In fact, when I saw the film I really believed it was based on Gramophone.

Anyway, Steve would clue us in on the latest records, particularly the British imports. One day he told me I had to hear this new record from ex-Yardbird guitarist Jeff Beck. I told him that I had just read a review in Hit Parader Magazine that liked Jeff but referred to his singer “Class Z.” Steve said, “No you got to listen to this guy he’s great – his name is Rod Stewart.” The record was “Truth” and it changed my life and no doubt the lives of many future Heavy Metal musicians before we ever even knew there was such a thing. It was one of the few records that I actually wore out to the point that it would no longer function. Our band changed our style, name, clothes and everything else to become more Beck-like – and never looked back.

Those memories of the old record stores are not just nostalgic – those stores were the social networking of that era where music lovers congregated to discover and share the best new music like Bloodwyn Pig or Taste. Often we would gather before a store opened just to be the first in line to get the latest offering from Zeppelin, The Who, or Traffic. Recently I read an interview with Gary Calamar, the co-author of the new book “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again” and he talked about the stores as a music hub & more for the community and how they are making a slight return. When Michael Jackson died, people connected through the media. Calamar states, “I worked in Licorice Pizza when John Lennon was killed. I had the day off but I came in anyway because people needed a place to mourn.”

Coda: The great thing about being an author and having a blog is just like the old neighborhood record stores, it connects you with new friends and it reconnects you with so many more old friends. In addition to Jeff Beck, this blog was also inspired by Steve Nakon contacting me after all these years through my website. He founded Northwest Yoga in Chicago and he’s still introducing me to new releases – he just sent me his newest Yoga record “Yoga: Breath & Body.”

@12:47 pm
Author: admin
Tags: , , , ,

WHAT’S EVERYONE SO AFRAID OF?

April 3, 20101 comment

Whenever he saw someone acting in a strange way, a friend of mine would remark, “It takes all kind of people to make a world.” That phrase jumped into my head this week when I read the story about the Michigan Militia group called Hutaree who were arrested by the FBI for planning to kill police officers. The head scratcher to me was that they were part of a religious group and the last time I looked, the Bible teaches love and compassion for your fellow man. These folks were obviously afraid of something, but what? When President Obama was elected, gun and ammunition sales skyrocketed, yet he never threatened to take away gun rights in the first place. When healthcare reform passed, some naysayers warned it would be Armageddon, and even Obama made light of this at a speaking engagement that week when he said the last time he looked, “The sky had not fallen.” We see angry Tea Baggers seemingly afraid of anything the government might do - even if it’s for their benefit. I feel qualified to right about this, because my job is marketing, and this is not just about politics, but a much bigger problem in how marketers use prime motivators to sell the public their products.

We all know that marketing can use strong motivators to trigger emotions, like lust and sex which pushed Tiger and Jesse James into rehab (as Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnell remarked while defending the obvious sexist album cover of Smell the Glove, “Sex sells”) and greed which turned out to be a major contributor to the Great Recession. But fear seems to be way out in front as far as a top motivator. Rush Limbaugh and his “mini-me” Glen Beck have considerably increased their audiences with a steady stream of doomsday predictions. Rush said that “Obamacare” was so disastrous that if passed, he would move out of the country (last time I looked he is still here so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all). But it wouldn’t be fair to suggest that the right wing has cornered the market on fear. In fact, after healthcare passed, Democrats and Republicans alike received threats and Tea Baggers seem to see anyone in government as a threat.

Once again, we are not just talking about fear in politics.

Just watch the nightly news in LA. Immediately following a car chase or some other threatening story, that in reality doesn’t really directly threaten us, we are barraged with parade of commercials offering to make us feel better - buy a new car and everything will be okay. Or better yet, take some medication for a malady we didn’t even know we had that was created by a marketing department for a large pharmaceutical (restless leg syndrome?). The problem is like anything else; too much of anything can anesthetize us. Groundbreaking comedian Lenny Bruce used the N-word and F-word over and over again in his routine in front of a shocked audience to demonstrate that after so many repetitions, those words would eventually lose their impact. And so it is with fear - the more you try to scare us, the more scarier you have to be next time to get the same results. That’s why Glen Beck is forced to be more hysterical and seemingly more out of control to get his point across. Funny thing is that his network mate, Bill O’Rielly, purposely has toned down his fear factor rhetoric and guess what? His ratings are way up as well so maybe there’s still hope.

I was raised Catholic and even though the religion attempted to scare us kids into good Christian behavior with threats of purgatory & hell, I really wasn’t that afraid of those places as much passing the house on my block with the dog who chased me home on a regular basis. Even then, my mom would try to calm me my telling me that nine out of ten things we worry about never come to fruition. And you know what? She was right. Yes, it’s a scary world out there, but I have a wide circle of friends and co-workers and none of them really seem all that afraid. In fact, most people I know actually think things are improving as the economy is on the mend, healthcare reform passed and spring is in the air.

So what are worried about?

Coda: I left off music as a motivator in this blog because when it comes to good music, you can never have too much.

@1:08 pm
Author: admin
Tags: , , ,

THE DOG HAS NINE LIVES!

March 25, 2010comment

(Note: I am forgoing my usual marketing rants, ramblings, musings or whatever you would like to call them for this one blog to tell a dog story. If you are not an animal lover, you may want to skip this one).

A few months ago, the big controversy in Southern California was not about healthcare reform or the state’s financial problems - no, it was about the Los Angeles Fire Department dangling one off their brave firefighters from a helicopter to rescue a dog trapped in the Los Angeles River. For those of you not familiar with the LA River, it’s more like a stream that actually reminds me of the small “gutters” that ran down the middle of our alleyways in Chicago that carried the melting snow away in winter, and in summer, the water we used to clean our cars with. However, on the rare occasion it rains in sunny California, the river can become quite treacherous as fast rushing rainwater races to the sea. The public was pretty divided over this rescue that dominated the local media for days on end - one side thought it was so brave of the fireman to risk his life to save the dog, not only hanging above the rapids but also because the frightened dog bit him (he even received several marriage proposals - dogs lovers unite!). The other side predictably thought it was a colossal waste of taxpayer funds, particularly in a state that is near bankrupt. The latter obviously were not pet owners, for if they were, they would have cherished that poor dog like a member of their family - just like I do with my Abbey Rose.

Abbey is a pure bred “Aussie” who is just shy of her 8th birthday. Before we adopted her, my wife Bettina said that if we ever wanted a dog we should try to get one of the offspring of the legendary Max, who my wife thought was not only the smartest dog on Catalina Island when she lived there, but one of the smartest dogs she had ever seen. That was good enough for me and when Max finally got around to siring a litter - we were there – unfortunately behind everyone else from the island. When we arrived at the breeders, Abbey was the last one left and she was obviously the runt of the litter. Although she ended up half the size of her dad, a gentler, devoted and
more beautiful companion we couldn’t have asked for; and yes, very smart. When she was just a puppy, she got out of the house and like most dogs, decided to explore the neighborhood. I drove round and round to all the places she might have gone – the park, my stepson’s school, friends homes, etc. When I exhausted my possibilities I dejectedly came home and lo and behold, there she was patiently waiting for me on our front porch. That was the last time she ran away.

And Abbey almost never barks, even when my mom’s feisty little Chihuahua Alfie tries to instigate a tussle by leaping out of a hiding place to jump on her. That is, as I found out, unless she is threatened. I found out how tough the girl was when she was attacked by two large dogs, the neighbor bullies - a giant Poodle (don’t laugh, it’s vicious) and a Dalmatian. The only dog that ever bit me in an angry attack when I was young was a Dalmatian so I was always leery of this one when I saw the dog being walked with the Poodle. Each time they approached Abbey on her walk, their owner was barley able to contain them. I was usually able to keep her out of harm’s way until
one day when they pounced on her while Bettina and I were working out in our community gym and Abbey was patiently waiting outside for the remainder of her morning run. I never saw Abbey become so aggressive but I figured she thought she was fighting for her life and instincts took over. The other dogs were pulled off her and by the time my wife and I got to her she had a bloody nose and looking at me as if to say, “You think I look bad, should have seen the other two!” That was the last time we brought her to the gym. But nothing could prepare us for the scare of a lifetime.

Last week, my wife and stepson Kjell took Abbey for a run in a remote part of the Cleveland National Forest near where we live. My wife rounded a corner on her bike and caught glimpse of a large rattlesnake sunning itself on the path just in time to raise her legs to avoid being bitten. Abbey was chasing behind in full throttle and as the snake coiled, Abbey went to sniff the intruder but my wife called her back. When I got home, my wife retold the story saying that we were so lucky Abbey wasn’t bitten, but we noticed she was just feebly standing still and wouldn’t even come when I called her. At first, we thought she was just worn out but my wife began to get concerned and examined her and noticed a cut on her leg. Not taking any chances, she rushed Abbey to the emergency animal hospital in the nick of time, because Abbey was bitten and the deadly venom was racing through her veins. She had to be monitored all night so she wouldn’t go into cardiac arrest as they pumped her with anti-venom. We couldn’t sleep most of that night, fearing the worst, but hoping for the best. I did doze off in just before sunrise and normally when the automatic coffeemaker goes off; Abbey is always there to gently wake me by stroking my arm with her paw. I always rub her belly as a reward and that’s been my wake-up call for the best part of seven years. But that morning I realized Abbey wasn’t there and still in the hospital. Just then, my wife came in and said that she had just spoken to the hospital and Abbey looked like she would pull through. That was mainly because when Abbey had her teeth cleaned a month ago, the doctor said that she was due for her rattlesnake booster shot in June, but since she was already there, we could have it done at the same time as the teeth cleaning, mainly for he sake of convenience. I knew nothing about rattlesnake boosters for dogs, but Bettina did and so she agreed. Who would have though that simple suggestion would eventually save Abbey’s life?

Coda: Abbey’s recovery was slow but each day we could see the progress as the evil black venom visible under her skin where she was shaved began to recede and she became more active. After five days, I was pleasantly awakened by her gentle pawing to announce the coffee was ready and I should get my lazy butt out of bed. At that very moment, I realized I couldn’t imagine life without her.

@10:15 am
Author: admin
Tags: , ,