Manic Bloom : New Music For You

// July 21st, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Music & Entertainment

As many of you know I’ve been playing and fighting this music business game for over 15 years now.  I’ve got a distribution label called Tone Box Records and it’s been fun.  Recently I started Velvet Farm Records as an off-shoot of Tone Box.  However, I teamed up with some pretty smart kids-  kids as in 13+ years younger.  All who are very active in the music business.

Our goal was to start an indie label and focus on bands we love.  We’ve taken our time and have recently signed and launched our first band.  Granted these guys were doing good things without us but they’ve decided to let us drive a little.  Manic Bloom.  These guys are great and I’m really enjoying working with them.  The music is good and right up my alley.

This is my post to ask for your support.  Today Manic Bloom’s album “In Loving Memory” hit the different digital outlets.

Not sure you wanna buy it?  Visit their site @ www.manicbloom.com // Like it and want a free track?  visit manic.velvetfarm.com to get your free download (in exchange for a tweet of course).

Get it on either of these sites (or your favorite digital spot):

Thanks for checking them out and even supporting indie music!

Double Rainbow!!! Double Rainbow!!!

// July 11th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Funny, life

At the End of Slavery

// July 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // life

Who Are The Influencers? You May Be Surprised.

// July 9th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Technology

Really interesting experiment by Fast Company to determine who the ‘real’ influencers are online.  With so many self proclaimed gurus, rockstars, experts this little test takes a look at real influence.  The only problem?  Not everyone will sign up to use it! And how many times do I have to repeat on Facebook and Twitter??  (don’t worry, I’m not going to bombard you).

So here I am asking you to sign up and be apart of this little project-  who do you influence online?  You may be surprised at how many people actually care you ate at McDonald’s this morning!

Give it a try-  you may even end up in the Fast Company magazine this fall.

Click Here To Sign Up…  Thanks for playing!

Let The Good Ole’ Boys Clean The Oil

// July 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // life, Technology

The World’s Reaction to Landon Donovan’s Game Winning Goal

// June 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Venus Zine: Exclusive Jack White Poster!

// June 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // life, Music & Entertainment

via venuszine.com

Venuszine is donating a portion of their Jack White cover poster to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s flood relief.

Great cover for a great cause! Check it out.

Posted via web from This Is Pro-Posterous!

LOST – Time To ‘Move On’

// May 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // life, Music & Entertainment

Sad day.  Just finished the series finale of LOST.

I know it’s funny and those who didn’t care for the series won’t understand but that show was amazing and I’m really going to miss it.  Really.

For six years, including the pilot episode, my wife and I have been glued to the TV each week to watch this show.  We’ve had 100s of theories and have spent countless nights with friends trying to guess/figure it out.  Yeah it sounds nerdy but it was fun.  It was entertainment.  No other show has had an impact on our culture like LOST.  At least not as long as LOST has.

At the end of every season many message boards and social networks have had ongoing discussions and  theory topics.  LOST helped the hype with hidden commercials, hidden websites, public websites and hidden eggs all through the series.  Amazing marketing and consumer engagement.  It worked.

Simple lesson in marketing.  Engage your consumer and they will engage you.

Thanks LOST for 6 amazing seasons.  Where ever those people ‘move on’ too we’d like to see some of that in the future.

No Arms. No Legs. No Worries.

// May 18th, 2010 // No Comments » // life

Facebook Privacy and All The Hoopla

// May 18th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Technology

It seems that Facebook has created mass hysteria with it’s ever changing privacy policies. Granted Facebook’s privacy policy is longer than the United States Constitution… and that’s without all the amendments. Pretty long @ 5,800+ words, eh?

Many groups are starting pledges to help users quit Facebook. The two most popular have about a 1,000-2,500 members. Even if these groups grow to 5,000 ‘strong‘ that wouldn’t even be .01% of the 400,000,000 current Facebook users.

Well, I don’t want to quit Facebook but I also want to control my privacy. Wait, you can’t do that! Yes, you can. This NY Times article graphic maps out the 50 different settings with over 170 options… it’s meant to overwhelm and complain about the privacy settings. It’s one of those situations where Facebook can’t win. With too few options we can’t control everything. With too many options we get to control (almost) everything but it’s too confusing. I like all the options.

What do I do? First off check out reclaimprivacy.org – they have a great app that once you login to Facebook it will tell you how your privacy settings are set. It let’s you know what you are or are not sharing. What’s the best privacy settings? It will vary by user. For me- I prefer it all to be private and for only my friends (my Facebook friends) to be able to partcipate in my Facebook life.

ReclaimPrivacy.org scans the following settings:

• Instant Personalization Feature:  For me, this was the main privacy setting I wanted turned ON, meaning block it all.  This feature can feed your information to other sites so that it can better match up your likes and dislikes.  Sounds interesting now with three ‘trusted’ beta sites but what about when it’s opened up to developers?  Just about any site will be able to pull your data-  yes, hackers, id theft punks, scammers, spammers and the such.
• Personal Information: This one is up to you.  I don’t mind my friends having my information.  My Friends.  Not the rest of the internet.  This section will let you adjust how your personal information is shared.
• Contact Information: Just like above.  it’s up to you who you want to see your contact information.  Mine, again, is set to Friends Only.
• Friends, Tags and Connections:  I respect my friends so I don’t let others outside of my network see my friends even when I tag them or how I’m connected to them.  Again, it’s up to you… to a point.  See the next option.
• Friends Sharing: This lets you decide what your friends can share about you on their Facebook pages.  Sometimes they may ‘accidentally’ share your information…  at least you get to pull back on those strings.
• Applications: Many applications pull and share your data as well.  This will let you know what applications are allowed to share and not share.  I do not let any applications pull or share my data.  Applications aren’t my true friends.  :)

There is no need to quit Facebook.  We all just have to stay informed and know our options.  This won’t be the last time Facebook changes their privacy policies.  Go ahead and give reclaimprivacy.org a try and I’ll see you on Facebook… maybe, if you aren’t blocking me.