So ever since learning how hot Stuart found Skype and the ensing mad rush for the hundreds of thousands minions to reserve their Skype handles. And discovering Dina has been making connections from Pakistan to Patagonia via Skype, I can safely bet VoIP has never seen such a thrust of energy. In the "old days" greedy types would be begging for first dibs on the IPO.
The other think I've noticed about my brief mention of Skype here in The Digital Tavern, is that I'm getting loads of traffic from the search engines. I can imagine what Stuart's referral numbers must look like.
So with all the hype about Skype, what I feared most was true. There's no Mac version. And that's too bad. So folks like Liz, Joi, Doc, Mollusk, and countless others simply can sit this out. Or, we can wait and see. Fact is, we're on the sidelines. Skype promises a Mac and Linux version but gives no dates.
So enjoy your skype. I hope to join you when they release a solid version for OS X.
1:37:49 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Wow. I just found out that Robert Palmer died of a heart attack today. So we've seen Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon and now Robert Palmer. Both Zevon and Palmer in their 50's. Ouch.
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When I worked at PRISCOMM and then Wirestone I had the opportunity to collaborate with a bunch of extremely talented and creative people. It was the people that I worked with the spurred the drive and gave me the energy to work so hard for many years.
The great thing about working in a creative business where much of the creative talent is channeled for commercial purposes is that each creative I worked with were passionately creative both in and outside of work. And while so much of the creative product we created for our clients was generated digitally and using the latest and greatest tools of technology, each of these creatives had outlets that I fondly refer to analog creative.
There are so many names and faces that come to mind but a recent email from a friend and former Wirestone art director inspired me to jot this post. It also jogged my memory about many of the Wirestoners, as I also was fond of calling our team, analog creative pursuits. Jim Young with his relentless pursuit of music, pottery and sculpture, for example. Doug Buchman who has earned his place as one of Orange County, if not Southern California's top water color painters. And Michael Ward, who's email inspired me to share the work of these great artists and friends. There are others including Jason Clark, Bonnie Toth, Elaine Welinder, Vance Martin and James Parker and many others. Each had creative pursuits that expanded their character and enriched anyone who'd bother to get to know them more.
As analog art goes, many of these creatives have yet to create websites or blogs. Because many times the art is for expression, personal pursuit or simply for the sake of art. But Michael's email was just to fun not to share. He shared with me the story of his analog creative pursuit. And the fact that his realistic oil paintings are a passion of painstaking patience and as a result, take some time.
[...]I don't set out to paint nostalgic scenes in my paintings; it's just that I'm
so slow that by the time I get them finished, they've become nostalgic. The
fireworks stand seems to strike a chord in a lot of people--childhood memories
and all that. And, there are only a handful of cities that allow fireworks
stands in OC anymore, and even fewer vacant lots for them to set up, it seems
Michael discusses the painting which I have desperately tried to show in a jpeg here, but to see it in person and you'll get an idea of the incredible detail and work that took Michael two-years to complete.
[...] I painted this over a two-year period,
finally finishing it in time for the 2003 OC fair. I had always wanted to do a
fireworks stand, with all the signs and colorful fireworks boxes. The image is a
composite of several photos I took of a stand on Harbor and McArthur, in 1995,
in what was then a vacant lot. There happened to be a small brushfire at the
top of Saddleback when I took the photos, which is in the painting. The title,
"Almost Independence Day", is from a Van Morrison song.
He's selling limited edition prints that are 42 x 26. Check out the painting and more of its story here.
The other piece of artwork I'm sharing here is a watercolor painted by Doug Buchman. Unfortunately, Doug doesn't have a website live at this time. Though you might catch him with his lovely wife Heather and young son Frank at the top art shows in California. I've watched Doug's artistry grow and blossom for more almost twenty years. I'll be sure to share his website with you when it's live.
Maybe it was my recent visit to LACMA. Perhaps Michael's email. Or perhaps my own mind hammering me to complete many stalled and incubating creative projects of my own. No matter what, take this post as a reminder or inspiration to pursue your passion. Create. Explore and express. In art or whatever works for you.
A few things I found interesting this morning. First, Doc weighs in on his propensity to listening to satellite radio and his preference of Sirius over XM. But more important is his overview of a Times article than reviews radio options which ironically doesn't even mention AM and FM -- the old stalwarts.
[...] The truth is, licensed over-the-air broadcasting, which Michael Powell and the FCC made such a big deal about "saving" with their relaxation of ownership rules in June, is slowly dying in the "marketplace" where users continue to have approximately zero influence on receiver design decisions. The radio manufacturers gave up on AM a long time ago. There's almost no way to get a good AM radio anymore, even if you want one [...] So today, unless you get a high-end FM-only tuner, the FM section of your new home entertainment system can't compete on performance specs with a good analog tuner or receiver built twenty-five years ago. Back in those days, the audio stores and salons went out of their way to get good signals into the units on display. Today you're lucky if there's an antenna hooked up at all [...] But back then FM radio was still a living, vital medium. Now it's just a vending machine for ClearChannel.
My past ranting and opinions on Clear Channel's contribution to radio can be found here, here and here.
What I found interesting in Scoble's answer was number two in his ordered list:
[...]
2) If I put them on my blog, I know that Google will be able to help me find them later on.
This is probably an overlooked benefit of Google and blogging. Today after reading Doc's post on Radio, I jumped to Google and quickly found my three posts I wrote about Clear Channel from month's ago. This saved me perhaps an hour of time trying to dig up old material, find permalinks and embed into my post.
Secondly, i liked Scoble's number nine; number nine; number nine:
[...]
9) I enjoy learning about conversational marketing. I really do believe that blogging will someday be a "new PR arm" of most major corporations. By blogging every day, I can learn a set of "best practices" that I can teach to others at Microsoft and at other corporations.
I've been long discussing the use of Weblogs in corporate America -- especially in the marketing communications department. It's only a matter of time.
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Wow. Can't tell whether Davis is posturing to take attention away from the Total Recall campaign and the short lived stall for the October 7th election. Maybe he's trying to make a mark. Some kinda mark.
But Davis signed a bill yesterday that calls for a hard no-tolerance stance toward that pesky unsolicited email we all seem to get every five minutes. And while I'm typically against such broad-reaching legislation, I guess I've been numbed and beaten up by the amount of spam that gets through my filters -- let alone the stuff the winds up in the cesspool called Junk Mail on my Mac.
[...] "We are saying that unsolicited e-mail cannot be sent and there are no loopholes," said Kevin Murray, the Democratic state senator from Los Angeles who sponsored the bill. [...] The law would fine spammers $1,000 for each unsolicited message sent up to $1 million for each campaign
And while the industry where I earn my living is up in arms about the bill's restrictive measures, I welcome the effort but worry about what it will cost to enforce it. Frankly, I'm one of those odd internet users who feel that the best way to end spam and the pour excuses for communication incubated by the simplicity and low effort of pushing "send" on your email app, is to simply charge per email. Remember those silly petition hoaxes you received over the last few years calling for immediate measures to stop "the government" from taxing or charging "postage" per email? I think I earned more than a few second looks or even enemies when I sent the petition back with alterations suggesting we support per email charges. I believe that most of us would think a bit more about the content of our email, the volume we send and the mindless mode of "cc'ing" everyone in your address book.
But the chances of my fantasy becoming reality are nil. So in the meantime, I'll support this legislation and hope that a cost-effective method for enforcement is implemented. And while other states have passed or are considering similar legislation, California will lead the way and as a result email boxes nationwide would be reduced.
[...] "California represents up to 20 percent of the e-mail that is sent or received," said J. Trevor Hughes, the executive director, of the Network Advertising Initiative, a group of technology companies that send e-mail for marketers. "Instead of trying to segregate the California e-mail addresses, many of our members are going to make the California standard the lowest common denominator."
How many unsolicited messages did you receive today? Leave your answer in the comments section below.
2:32:16 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I spent most of the day in LA today at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art where two exhibits were winding down their final days in Los Angeles. The first was a sampling of Old Masters, Impressionists and Modern art of French Masterworks from The Pushkin Museum of Fine Art in Moscow. Among the highlights were Monet's White Lilies, and works from Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and Van Gogh. Many of these paintings shown for the first time in Los Angeles.
What struck me perhaps strongest was Van Gogh's Prison Courtyard. While the jpg here hardly does justice to the color, lighting and mood of this dark work Vincent painted while he was in the asylum at Saint Rémy. Perhaps one of his last paintings, e died less than six months later. The dark, depressing mood reminded me a bit of one of his earliest works, The Potato Eaters, which I was lucky to see at the National Gallery a couple years ago. Both of these paintings are far from the Sunflowers and Daisies one thinks of when Van Gogh's name is mentioned. Here the one prisoner who's gaze captures the viewer seems almost a self-portrait of Van Gogh with his light hair and resemblance to the artist. Trapped in an asylum, prison or life. And wandering in circles. Wow. It always has amazed me that the great and famous Dutch painter painted for less than 8 years, yet in those 8 years a body of work that has captured the imagination of artists, collectors and casual fans for generations.
The other exhibit at LACMA was paintings and sculpture from Modigliani. While I appreciate his work, especially his nudes, I found that painting after painting were portraits of mostly women with their hands folded. Long faces and dark colorless or grey eyes. Some are quite intriguing. But there's no diversity here. I guess you'd have to say he had his "look" or his "brand image" and stuck to it. Consistently and focused, you know for sure it's Madigliani. Perhaps of more interest to me were his sculptures. These tended to draw on the long faces of his paintings, but you could definitely detect an influence from African and tribal art as the angular and geometric shapes pointed to such influence.
If you find yourself in Los Angeles before October 13th, 2003 take a few hours out of your time and visit LACMA. The exhibits are truly great.
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Today I bought an new Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. Damn this is nice. A few have asked "Why did you buy a keyboard for your laptop computer?"
Reason is simple. First, my laptop (the 17" PowerBook) has built in Bluetooth. I tend to be an early adopter and wanted to try out the new wireless technology which allows me to be totally untethered. Second, I write a lot. I actually like the feel of a true tactile keyboard. At least when using my PowerBook as a desktop surrogate. Third, for the amount of 'writing' I do, I'm guessing the ability to move, adjust position and lose dependency of touching aluminum will ultimately be healthier for any looming repetitive motion or stress related injures that are surely harboring safely in my psyche and musculoskeletal system.
The keyboard came with a disk that included a Bluetooth Firmware update and an installer for the new Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The readme instructions strongly suggested that no matter how current my system software, that I update firmware first. I tried. But I was unable to update any such thing. The installer returned a message that said something to the effect of "your bluetooth software needs to be version 3.1 or greater. Please update Bluetooth software prior to running this firmware updater." Funny. I just opened my Bluetooth preferences from the System preferences and was able to get my new keyboard working in minutes.
They keyboard has a nice feel, no USB ports and a full size numeric keypad, function keys (1) and navigation tools. I must say that I opted against buying the mouse because I've become accustomed to having a scroll wheel like that of my Kennsington Wireless Optical Pro and Logitech mice. While I understand Steve Jobs' and Apple's goal for simplicity, I'll simply wait for a third party two button mouse with scroll wheel with Bluetooth. Then I'll have the perfect desktop and mobile solution.
In short, this is cool But only will get cooler.
2:41:27 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Everybody has a story. Everybody is a story. Everybody tells stories. And this is what I love about humanity. Sure. Sometimes the stories are sad, happy, boring, nasty or simply mediocre. But they're stories nonetheless.
One of my passions is traveling. But more than the destination and perhaps sometimes more than the journey, I find it's the people I meet, encounter, watch or befriend that truly add color to my travels. And these travels needn't be far away in exotic lands. Sometimes they can be local, simple and in your back yard.
I dropped my motorcycle off at the BMW dealer today. As I chatted with the service manager a leather clad motorcyclists riding a BMW GS1150 pulled up. Upon pulling his helmet off and straining to throw his leg over the saddle as he dismounted the bike his flock of silver hair, weathered face and gold tooth caught my eye. He seemed about 70 years old or more. His jacket a few years older, perhaps. I continued with the service manager. He patiently waited his turn.
Later sitting in the front of the dealership I found a comfortable seat in the patio chairs where the older motorcyclists had draped his leather jacket, saddlebags and helmet. Waiting for my ride to arrive, I impatiently dialed Jim's number to find out the nature of the delay. The older motorcyclist shuffled across the parking lot and sat not far from me. He grunted, breathed heavy, and made a number of other respiratory and vocal noises.
Finally, I spoke up. "How's it going?" Leaning close to me he asked, "What was that?" Motorcycles are noisy. And they do take their toll on one's hearing.
"How's it going?" I repeated.
"That ride used to be a bit easier. Whew."
Immediately I was drawn to him. I felt a spirit, a history; and his face, gleaming gold tooth and acute hearing loss hinted to a great story. We were two strangers. Years apart. Yet we shared something simple, basic and raw: we both ride motorcycles.
He explained how he used to be able to make the ride in no more than three and a half hours. Today it took him a bit more than four. He continued you tell of his plight. And the toll of his journey. He kept talking and whenever I interjected with a quick question or comical conversational jab, he's simply lean toward me and ask "What?"
I learned he drove his excitingly new motorcycle from Arizona to Orange, California that morning. It was about 11am. I figured he was a wandering motorcycling nomad making a stop at a local BMW dealer for a quick service before continuing his travels to Mexico, Alaska, Peru or wherever. But I was wrong.
His name? Flint. And I couldn't have found a name more appropriate. The years have scraped, scratched and rubbed him in every way. Good. Bad. Sometimes lighting a fire in his soul. Others false starts. Sometimes wet. Other times just not the right angle. But in the end, Flint always delivered.
When he left Arizona that morning his bike had only 320 miles. Still new. Not even broken in.
As I pressed for Flint's story he more than volunteered. Pulling a Marlboro light from the crushed box he pulled from his jeans, he looked at me through his dark shades while taking a least two or three pulls on the flint of his Bic lighter.
"I had pretty much gone blind," he explained. "And what does a man do when he finds out he's blind?
I shrugged and waited for him to deliver the punch line.
"He buys a motorcycle."
The smile on my face grew as laughter erupted from my gut to my mouth. Flint joined me in the laughter.
Apparently Flint had read about this model of the BMW motorcycle, but never had seen one. Every other motorcycle he ever bought he purchased from this BMW dealer in Orange. Except for this new GS1150. A long story, he assured me. But he explained that he bought the bike sight unseen. As he explained this I thought well that's very appropriate for a blind man. Did he expect to see it?
Flint owned 7 motorcycles in his life. And everyone he bought in California. This new 1150 was trucked in from Chandler, Arizona. He convinced a few buddies to make the 4 hour run from his home in Western Arizona and bring it to him.
Flint took another quick drag from his Marlboro and told me the story of his first ride on the new BMW. He pulled out of his driveway in the remote country of Western Arizona and headed down the winding road.
"I was wondering what was with the guy in the yellow raincoat standing in the middle of the road. As I approached him I realized that there was no man in a raincoat. I was seeing the double yellow lines in the road."
I couldn't help but grimace and chuckle.
Flint continued. "At that point I turned around and parked the bike in my garage. I knew I had to do something about my eyesight." He explained to me at that time that he only had one good eye. He called virtually every eye doctor in Western Arizona. No one would treat him.
"Allan, they all told me we don't work on one-eyed old men."
I felt a bit sorry at this point. But I reigned in my compassion. I knew it would get better.
"I finally found this doctor," Flint explained. "A young guy. Kinda like you. He warned me. Had me sign these papers. Told me that I could end up blind."
I interjected and asked, "Well, weren't you already blind and seeing yellow raincoats?" He laughed and continued.
"But it worked out. And I can see. Probably better than you Allan. And I only got one good eye. But it's a real good one."
I quickly learned that he drove from Arizona to Orange California that morning for his 600 miles service on the new BMW. Funny thing is he only had 320 miles on it when he left. That's when I really knew what was going on. His ride had nothing to do with his service. It had everything to do with 600 miles and more. It was about the ride.
Flint explained that he just bought his wife a new Cadillac. He talked about his place in Arizona. And how there's no way he could live in Southern California. He had two motorcycles, 5 cars and 4 dogs. "Can you imagine all that in Southern California?"
We talked about cars, motorcycles, women and dreams. The time flew. My friend Jim called and apologized that he got caught up and was running late. I was glad.
Flint? He was waiting for the service guy to give him a ride to the hotel. Killing time chatting with me, he asked what I was doing that evening. This guy had so much life, an incredible spark and energy to be envied by anyone over 70 years old. Oh hell. Anyone over 50 years old. I explained that I had a commitment. And my evening while certainly would be fun, it wouldn't be as enriching as it could spending more time with Flint.
"I'd rather have a beer with you," I explained. He asked, "What?" So I repeated myself and then we exchanged numbers. Knowing that I had a trip planned for Arizona in the next 60 days we agreed that I'd visit his house and we'd grill steaks.
My friend Jim pulled up, we made the introductions and I said goodbye to Flint. He'd be waking up tomorrow, picking up his motorcycle and taking a 4 or more hour drive back to Arizona. A drive that used to take him less than 3 1/2 hours. But he'll be smiling all the way.
What else would you expect for a one-eyed old man on a BMW motorcycle?
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Jaws dropped with mouths wide opened when in January 2000 we all learned that the tiny little internet company Steve Case started bought the largest media company in the country. It was as if Steve Case was saying "the new economy rules" and "the internet will be the driving force for media in the future." It was like Segway acquiring General Motors. it happened. But no one could figure out how. A year later when the deal was finalized, the new economy had already started to show signs of weakness.
The how was simple. A bloated stock market (read bubble) and an over valued company with a bunch of foo-foo currency, a big ego and a spending spree that ultimately would rear it's ugly and wounded hung over head. As the adage goes, guilty by association, and as such AOL slapped it's ubiquitous three letter initials in front of the most revered media company in the country: AOL Time Warner.
Let's throw another adage to the crop: the honeymoon is over.
As I read this story I couldn't help thinking about the branding problem. From the beginning AOL has been saddled with a reputation that could be described as love them and hate them. For those of you who haven't shut the new economy out of their memory, one of the best dot com Superbowl Ads was for CompuServe (or was it Prodigy) that for nearly thirty seconds showed a blank screen with a highly compressed and repetitive telephone busy signal. As the spot wound down it's thirty seconds, it revealed the CompuServe logo and alluded to the ever present and annoying busy signal AOL users would deal with when trying to dial up.
Ahhh. The days of dial up. Perhaps a good book title. Or a horror movie that should never be produced.
AOL acquired CompuServe. And a bunch of other companies. Using that foo-foo currency propagated by get rich quick schemers betting their pensions, salaries and savings on the too good to be true dot com rush.
AOL never recovered from its image as a mediocre service provider. But they were big. And they were ubiquitous. Kinda reminds me of where Quark sits today. But that's another story. But egos are hard to crush. Especially when they are your own. So AOL pasted its name in front of Time Warner as it hoped to create a new chapter in media history sitting proudly next to Life Magazine, RKO, KDKA of Pittsburgh and CNN.
But in a move that redundantly punctuates the end of "the new economy", one wonders what will happen to AOL. It's suffering massive subscriber attrition, poor marketing, loss of focus and a brand that a helluva a lot of value, but no customer loyalty. It failed to do anything with Netscape, it's efforts to market and convert its customer base to sign up for its own broadband have failed miserably and recently its efforts to follow (rather than start) trends in terms of offering blogging and enhanced social networking features and services to its antiquated online service are pithy at best.
For me, I'm happy to see the AOL brand get swept under the carpet. I'm sure shareholders are, too. It just goes to show you no matter how strong your brand might be, if you fail to deliver on its promise you're going to lose equity and customers fast.
On another venerable brand note, I'm wondering how BMW will do with Rolls-Royce. Remember, BMW paid hundreds of millions of dollars simply for the Rolls-Royce automobile nameplate. They're introducing the first BMW built Rolls this week. At $320,000 it better live up to the Rolls-Royce name.
Have you been following Stuart's blog lately. He's on quite the rant about Skype. Frankly, being locked in a cabin in the Wyoming wilderness at night and spinning tires and squirreling around the forest service and fire roads while crossing muddy waters on a motorcycle, I've been a bit out of it. In fact, no dial up and my infrequent trips to the big megalopolis of Jackson (ala Jackson Hole) were short and sweet and for the most part absent of any brushes with technology save a chance browse through a music store with an internet cafe.
I was particularly interested in Stuart's criticism of Skype's founders in building and recognizing the importance of the Skype brand. In short, Skype appears to be leveraging Peer-to-Peer networking (ala Kazaa or the old Napster) for telephony. Or more appropriately, Voice over IP (VoIP).
[...] there are already a number of branding problems. First we have (as too often with tech products) no consumer stories. The closest we get to smiling faces on the main screen are these two mug shots in the company section . Hey great they look like rock stars.... Well no. These photos in the company section are almost scary. They may want to change the world. However, that will require color and a smile. They must appear "pleasant" and "approachable". Some simply manufactured warmth would help. Change these photos quick!. They may work on Hot or Not ; they aren't appropriate here. [...]
Bravo Stuart. Success can go to one's head. As such, fundamental strategic and tactical common sensory (sic) goes out the window. We saw what happened to the intense accelerated growth with Friendster. And it appears Skype is the latest social network wildfire. But out of control it's just a fad. Reigned in and focused it could be a solid brand, build equity and offer founders and users intense value. This isn't revolutionary. But it's certainly evolutionary.
[...] It's about welcoming in tomorrow. We are in the age of P2P telephony. How people share in these riches will define the potency of the solution. [...]
I'm curious if any of you have tried Skype and invite you to share your experience in the comments here or ping the trackback ID for this post and let's explore this together.
Gee. See what happens when you take a bit of time off. You know. Relief and relaxation away from technology and the allure of the computer, email and the internet? Out of nowhere comes Skype. And I'm already behind.
Geee. Next thing I'll learn is they haven't made it for OSX yet.
12:29:17 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Several years ago during the dawn of the internet I was asked to speak at a conference in Prague for the European Journalism Network. At the time my brother Jon was a working journalist in New York City. I was asked to speak about technology as it related to delivery of journalistic content while my brother was to speak on journalistic practices in a free world.
So I arranged to take a flight that would stopover in New York City. This way my brother and I could fly together to Prague. A great plan and we worked the flight schedules accordingly.
My flight arrived in the red eye early morning in New York's Kennedy Airport. I recall landing sometime after midnight. The international terminal was quiet and mysterious in its dim lighting with the caged storefronts bolted shut. Starbucks had yet to penetrate the airport market and there were no consumer services open at the time. The stopover was a couple of hours and my brother was already in the airport gate waiting area.
I decided to journey into the darkened terminal to find the rest rooms and to explore the dead of a major city international airline terminal on a early May morning. As I strolled through the corridor toward the bathroom the tan speckled tie of the dated sixties airline terminal basked in the cold fluorescent lights -- complete with flickering strobe effects from dated ballasts -- when in the shadows a tall man dressed in a dark suit slowly emerged from an intersecting corridor. The sound of his boots echoed in the empty corridor as he walked closer toward me.
There was something oddly familiar about him as he moved into the light. Then it hit me. My god. It's Johnny Cash. I had seen him play the Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana California many months prior. His whole family played. June Carter Cash. And his daughter, Roseanne. Lip locked and stunned, but not in a star struck way, I didn't know what to do or say. As we started to pass like two ships in the night the only words that escaped the endless ideas swirling in my mind were "How's it going, John?"
He looked up and our eyes locked. And a smile evolved over his hardened yet tender face. He nodded and said, "Alright." I quickly let a stream of words flow from my mouth without thinking as I explained the experience I had seeing him, June and Roseanne at the Crazy Horse. He continued walking and the echo of his boots provided a rhythmic yet minimal soundtrack to his Cashesque response, "The Crazy Horse. Yeah. I like that venue."
He soon disappeared into the next intersecting corridor. For a moment I felt an opportunity missed. But then the reality hit me. Here I stood in the darkened halls of one of the busiest airports in the world alone with the man in black. My mind raced with the things I should have said. Could've said. Or never would've said.
But the imagery is imprinted. Unforgettable. Unlike many of my peers, I owned a number of Johnny Cash CDs. This may have been right about the time Rick Rubin and American Recordings discovered him. I can't remember. But we walked the line in the ring of fire as I headed to Prague and he headed to Europe for yet another tour.
When I arrived home on Saturday and through the faded plastic of a roadside newspaper vending machine read that Johnny Cash had died, I felt a pang of loss. Yet I remembered his performance. And I remembered the time we met. Alone -- in the big city.
His first hit "I Walk The Line" could quite possibly have incubated the Rockabilly movement. His music transcended country, blues, pop and rock. It opened country music fans to pop, rock folk and blues, while paving the way for country rock and roll. His recent cover of Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails cut "Hurt" was nominated for 7 MTV music awards. Sadly, it only captured only one for cinematography. But even weeks before his death his influence and artistry is still recognized and respected by both fans and critics.
I'll miss Johnny Cash. But his music will always find a home on record, CD, MP3 or whatever is next.
Thanks John.
Past posts about Johnny Cash at the Digital Tavern:Circumstance | June
Update: Blogcritics has a load of comments and links on Johnny Cash.
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After a glorious two weeks in Wyoming and then a few days cruising through the amazingly scenic mountains and deserts of Southern Utah I'm back home in Southern California.
Kodachrome Basin National Park, Utah.
Some of the highlights of my trip include the intense, diverse and abrupt changes in weather in Wyoming. In Utah, I was amazed at the colors of Kodachrome Basin State Park and the intensely rugged and diverse terrain of Escalante Staircase National Monument.
Traveling from Salt Lake City to Southern California via motorcycle was a sensual thrill. Taking in sights, sounds, scents and climatical changes through every sensory organ in my body I've come to realize what I've missed since I sold my last motorcycling in the early 90's.
I've posted a bunch of photos from the dual-sport motorcycle adventure in Wyoming, Utah and Idaho here. And for a journey through Southern Utah, check out another photo album here. (be sure to click 'start slide show' so you can see full size images)
I've produced a semi-short video of the first part of my journey that will be posted later this week. So many stories to share. And so much to catch up on. But the short sabbatical stint was well worth it. Now to catch up on everything before my next journey in early October to Italy.
I should note that many of you have posted comments on my posts I wrote prior to leaving for Wyoming. I'm catching up on my comments so check your comments and see if I've posted. If not, I'll be at it by Tuesday morning. Thanks for your interest.
And for those of you who've sent me email, my inbox is overflowing. I will catch up and respond to you early this week. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
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The image here is actually taken from the back side of the Grand Tetons outside Victor, Idaho. Been cruising the back roads on motorcycles. Through rivers, up mountains and blazing down gravel roads.
I'm internet challenged here in a cabin in Jackson, Wyoming. Dragged my laptop to a local music store that doubles as an internet "cafe". Sweet. Got my 17" plugged in -- no wireless here -- yet my iStumbler sees two access points but I can't get in.
I've been on the road one week now. Sorry for the lack of updates, but just no way to "log on".
It's been wonderful. The adage in Wyoming is if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it'll change. Seen it all. Huge hail. Rain. Even last night what must be the first snow up on the mountains.
Last night a moose in the backyard with her baby moose. Seemed to be pouching our grass. A few days ago through a beautiful valley and field of golden yellow high grass a herd of antelope raced across the road in front of me and disappeared into the grass. Glorious.
Still have several more days and my time is running out here at the internet bar. More later.
new? I see that Apple upped the speed of the iMacs and introduced 20 and 40 gig iPods. Out here in the mountains and the woods I've been out of touch with the news but definately in touch with the earth. Cool.
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Ok. I've got to be fair. I've been feeling a bit guilty by my lack of posts for this past week here at The Digital Tavern. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to make up for some lost ground. So read on.
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Seems Doc is looking for a new phone system. He's looking at the Panasonic KX-TG4000B. I've been using this system for about a year. First, it doesn't interfere with my Airport Base Stations (I have two WiFi access points to allow roaming in both my separate office and my home). I'm using both the Airport Extreme (802.11g) and the original Airport (802.11b). Overall I'm happy with the system. It offers up to 4 lines and 8 handsets. Even better, each handset gets its own extension and private voicemail box. There's a general mailbox, too. I've got it setup with the automated attendant feature for my business, while I can set my home lines free of the automated attendant. This flexibility was the selling point for me. The automated attendant picks up the phone and instructs callers (in your own voice and personalized greeting) the ability to dial an extension. The only annoying thing about the automated attendant is that it requires the caller to enter the pound sign (#) after entering the appropriate extension number. While simply a pet peeve, until callers are used to this requirement, they may hang and hang and hang waiting for the phone to connect to the extension. Overall for the price you can't find a better multi-line phone system with immense flexibility for home or a small business.
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Tomorrow morning I'm heading out of town. Again. So much of this country and this world to see. So I'm heading to Jackson tomorrow morning. While there, I'll embark on a couple day or two-day trips on a dual-sport motorcycle and tour the fantastic mountains, scenery and roads of Montana. Big Sky country. I'll endeavor to check in. Share with you both thoughts and photography. Later in the month, I'll do a similar pilgrimage to Southern Utah and camp in Bryce and Zion National Parks. During that trip I may find it difficult to blog. But my heart will be into it and my experience shared with you on my return. If you've been to any of these destinations, take a moment and share your experience, good or bad, with the other readers of The Digital Tavern my posting a comment here or on your blog. Be sure to trackback. Give readers of the Tavern a place to go while I gather my thoughts, words and posts for future Digital Tavern musings.
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It's funny. Blogging as we all know is going mainstream. Some of you are probably a bit hurt, pissed and otherwise uncomfortable with the newfound fame "blogging" is experiencing. But as I've noted several times before, blogging is simply the promise of the internet -- the same internet we all bought into in the mid-90's -- finally realized. Call it content management. Call it ongoing updates to sites. Or call it "community". All of these were dreams of site owners, operators and designers in the mid to late 90's. But without a domain, budget or technical acumen you were out of luck. Company or individual. Then came the blogging tools. And here we are.
But like Kleenex or Xerox, blogging and blog tools have become saturated. As parity "products" there is barely any differentiation between tools, platforms and for the most part, even blogs. This represents both a huge problem and a magnificent opportunity. But we'll get more into that later.
To keep this post short and sweet, I point you to this Associated Press article that discusses, for the most part, what appears to be an article drafted after a solid pitch by a PR person for LiveJournal.
In order to differentiate itself from the crowded segment of blogging tools or software, LiveJournal is positioning itself as something different. Though it's really simply positioning and messaging. And it might just work. That's the beauty of strategic and well thought out marketing.
LiveJournal is not calling itself a "blogging" tool. Rather it's moving away from the crowd by calling itself a tool for online journals -- or diaries. The press is perfect for LiveJournal. The messaging and differentiation appears in the fourth paragraph of the article.
[...] unlike blogs, which are dated musings on certain subjects and often carry links to similar blogs, online journals are designed to be more like a coffeehouse, where a community regularly gathers, building friendships and connections as they share personal details [...]
In reality, a blog is journal is a diary is a website. The rest is all positioning and messaging -- good marketing. Sorry if I burst any balloons. But let's get real here.
Look for more segmentation as the "blogging world" or blogosphere gets even more crowded as more and more companies and enterprising individuals look to cash in on the craze. Ahhhh. Another boom. What a bang.
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For those of you who have subscribed to the Digital Tavern via the service I used, Bloglet, you probably haven't received a Digital Tavern update notification since early August. And to be sure, I haven't been that lax in posting items of interest.
It appears that Bloglet has had a serious malfunction. Several e-mails to its founder, Monsur, have gone unanswered. The result is a subscription service that's not working. So be sure to check in regularly. I will be posting several times a week. And I promise. It's going to get even more interesting. Truly.
If anyone knows what's going on with Bloglet please leave me a comment or drop me an email here. And like Hossein Derakhshan , I'd like to find an alternative solution so that my several hundred (a fraction of Hossein's) subscribers can again subscribe and receive ongoing updates. It's unfortunate that the database of subscribers is lost somewhere with Monsur. So if you're a subscriber or want to be, send me an email here so I can get you on the new system when I find one.
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So if you care about California politics and the crazy recall election, then I urge you to send a note to a candidate that's doing well in the polls and until I read this, he has refused to participate in a debate. Frankly, I don't think Schwarzenegger should be governor of California. Let's leave him to the movies, his wife to the idiot box and the California people with a better choice.
I urge you to send Arnie a message by signing a petition to urge him to debate Peter Ueberroth [~] who frankly in my opinion is the best candidate in the a crowded field of inexperienced wannabees. You can urge Arnie to debate by going here.
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A couple years ago while flying to Boise, Idaho an airline attendant took interest in me as I started working on the Palm portion of my Kyocera SmartPhone. Within moments she was by my seat with her SmartPhone and exchanging a number of free or shareware Palm OS applications. After several minutes of fun dialog and communicative comaraderie
or shared ownership of such a marvel of a technological device she blushed as she decided, after a long pause, to send me one more program. As I stared at my screen I watched the transfer of what I read was "The Palma Sutra." She giggled and said this was her favorite. A passenger buzzed an attendant call button and she whisked away from my seat. So I eagerly started punching my stylus on my Palm device to view this new "Palma Sutra" application. Wow. I leaned over the aisle seat and glanced down the aisle at the attendant as she gleefully and beautifully bounced to the rear of the plane. I was married at the time, so my thoughts and mind were simply gloating in the flattery. Or, at least what I certainly felt was flattery. And I'm sticking with it.
So I guess the Palma Sutra or Palm OS never hit Brazil. But they've got something better. If you're not sure how to spice up your love life or add a bit of zest to your lovemaking, all you need to do is make a quick phone call. And the next thing you know, your love will be expressing ecstasy and orgasm.
[...] Brazilian telephone company is offering a helping hand to Latin lovers who are lacking inspiration with animations of sexual positions based on the Kama Sutra flashed directly to their mobile phones [...]
And all along I had thought those Brazilian Latin lovers were just physically sensual dynamos of love and sex. There goes that fantasy. Anyway, check out the article here. And have fun. And then tell me if something like this would ever come from Verizon, Cingular or AT&T.
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The great thing about working in a creative business where much of the creative talent is channeled for commercial purposes is that each creative I worked with were passionately creative both in and outside of work. And while so much of the creative product we created for our clients was generated digitally and using the latest and greatest tools of technology, each of these creatives had outlets that I fondly refer to analog creative. 
where two exhibits were winding down their final days in Los Angeles. The first was a sampling of
colorless or grey eyes. Some are quite intriguing. But there's no diversity here. I guess you'd have to say he had his "look" or his "brand image" and stuck to it. Consistently and focused, you know for sure it's Madigliani. Perhaps of more interest to me were his sculptures. These tended to draw on the long faces of his paintings, but you could definitely detect an influence from African and tribal art as the angular and geometric shapes pointed to such influence. 
I dropped my motorcycle off at the BMW dealer today. As I chatted with the service manager a leather clad motorcyclists riding a BMW GS1150 pulled up. Upon pulling his helmet off and straining to throw his leg over the saddle as he dismounted the bike his flock of silver hair, weathered face and gold tooth caught my eye. He seemed about 70 years old or more. His jacket a few years older, perhaps. I continued with the service manager. He patiently waited his turn.
His name? Flint. And I couldn't have found a name more appropriate. The years have scraped, scratched and rubbed him in every way. Good. Bad. Sometimes lighting a fire in his soul. Others false starts. Sometimes wet. Other times just not the right angle. But in the end, Flint always delivered.
Jaws dropped with mouths wide opened when in January 2000 we all learned that the tiny little internet company Steve Case started 
The how was simple. A bloated stock market (read bubble) and an over valued company with a bunch of foo-foo currency, a big ego and a spending spree that ultimately would rear it's ugly and wounded hung over head. As the adage goes, guilty by association, and as such AOL slapped it's ubiquitous three letter initials in front of the most revered media company in the country: 
AOL never recovered from its image as a mediocre service provider. But they were big. And they were ubiquitous. Kinda reminds me of where Quark sits today. But that's another story. But egos are hard to crush. Especially when they are your own. So AOL pasted its name in front of Time Warner as it hoped to create a new chapter in media history sitting proudly next to Life Magazine, RKO, KDKA of Pittsburgh and CNN. 
Several years ago during the dawn of the internet I was asked to speak at a conference in Prague for the European Journalism Network. At the time my brother Jon was a working journalist in New York City. I was asked to speak about technology as it related to delivery of journalistic content while my brother was to speak on journalistic practices in a free world.
There was something oddly familiar about him as he moved into the light. Then it hit me. My god. It's Johnny Cash. I had seen him play the Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana California many months prior. His whole family played. June Carter Cash. And his daughter, Roseanne. Lip locked and stunned, but not in a star struck way, I didn't know what to do or say. As we started to pass like two ships in the night the only words that escaped the endless ideas swirling in my mind were "How's it going, John?"
When I arrived home on Saturday and through the faded plastic of a roadside newspaper vending machine read that Johnny Cash had died, I felt a pang of loss. Yet I remembered his performance. And I remembered the time we met. Alone -- in the big city. 
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