Grammy Winner

Congratulations to Paul Winter and everyone at his label, Living Music. "Paul Winter Consort & Friends: Silver Solstice" won the Best New Age Recording Grammy Award last night. I developed a page on his website that provided Flash-based streaming of the entire album.

Good Old Tom

The Tommorow Show with Tom Snyder - Punk and New Wave. Wow, I never expected to see this pop up. I was a huge fan of The Tomorrow Show back in the late 70's and early 80's, and saw many of the segments featured on this double DVD set. The format of the show was the absolute best - no studio audience, just Tom and guest sitting and talking, with appropriate no-bullshit, harshly lit musical performances. I can't wait to see them again, particularly Elvis Costello (if I recall correctly, he did a killer version of "New Lace Sleeves") and The Jam. Trailer here.

Real Beauty

As the father of a 13 year old girl, I'm 100% behind the Campaign for Real Beauty established by Dove. I'm not taking the obvious cynical and dismissive "it's just marketing" stance. Of course it's marketing, but when it sells a truly positive and important message along with the soap, I'm all for it. Like Fuji Film's "Forests Forever" and Doc Marten's "Veer" - this is advertising I can certainly live with. More ideas like this please.

Just Old?

Within different news reports of Al (Grandpa Munster) Lewis' recent death, I've seen his age listed as 82, 83, 85 and 95. The mystery deepens. Stay tuned.

IE7RSS

Look elsewhere for much more nerdish posts about this topic, but as a devout Firefox user I must admit that the inclusion of RSS feed reading within the new Internet Explorer 7 takes the wind out of Firefox's sails a bit (maybe tons). It also puts RSS into the minds of the non-tech masses, opening doors for small business owners like myself. It's time for some thinking.

Joe Strummer Doc

A documentary on Joe Strummer is in the works. Julien Temple will direct. This is good news.

Strummer and The Clash meant the world to me during high school and his swan song, "Streetcore" is easily one of my favourite records of the past few years. I spent many, many hours in my teenage bedroom absorbing The Clash.

Small Business Thoughts

What I've learned while growing my own small business:

1. Networking groups have their place, but don't forget - everyone is selling, few are buying.

2. The internet is your best friend. Use it.

3. Respect your clients and be there for them. They're not that in love with your talent.

4. Instead of placing an ad somewhere - spend 2 evenings finding customers on the web.

5. Your local community can only provide so much for you. Find ways to reach beyond.

6. Don't be phony. There's no need to pretend your PO Box is a "suite." Running a business from home doesn't mean "unprofessional."

7. Never cheat and always take the high road. Every client is a salesman for you. When necessary, bow out gracefully.

8. Trust people. Whenever possible, don't make a client feel like they have to pass a test. Yes, there are people who'll take advantage of you, but not enough to warrant a tacky security system.

Staying Organized in the Drone Zone

Two things that have made my work/life better:

EssentialPIM - an Outlook clone that works like a champ. My entire business is now housed completely in this great little program. There's a pro version with additional features, but the free model I've been using for the past couple months is exactly what I need. It's one of those well designed programs that you actually look forward to using. The litmus test of interface design.

I'm also a huge fan of SomaFM - the free streaming music site, based in San Francisco, that offers up multiple "stations" of great work-friendly (for me at least) ambient and beat-driven electronica. My favorite is "Drone Zone" - an endless stream of textured ambience that fills the air around my desk nicely. Up to the minute playlists are linked to Amazon - giving SomaFM a well-desrved 5% commission. This whole arrangement seems completely logical to me. Everyone's winning - me, SomaFM, the artists and Amazon.

Underappreciated Revisited

On my old "Spinning Away" blog, I once posted a list of things that I thought were underappreciated. It's time for another one. So, in no particular order...

1. NPR's Tom Ashbrook
2. Fabio getting a seagull in the face on that rollercoaster.
3. Aaron Brown
4. The Frisbee (I never see people tossing them anymore).
5. Jeff Garlin
6. Craig Ferguson
7. Christo
8. Generally, the mystery of our existence.

Rootless

Nothing beats the graceful aging of the real thing, but when you absolutely must have a full grown tree inside your shopping mall or casino right way, who ya gonna call? The Naturemaker, manufacturers of amazing fake trees. I find this cool.