#TBT The Beatles, Free As a Bird, 1995

Beatles Anthology

Free As A Bird
The Beatles
Anthology 1
Apple Records / Capitol Records
1995

 

Free As a Bird was released in 1995 as the first “new” song by all four Beatles in 25 years. It was part of a multi-media blitz of the Anthology CD releases and the Anthology mini-series on ABC television.

Yes kids, in 1995, multi-media meant CDs and a TV show (plus a lot of promotion on something called FM radio).

At the time, Free As a Bird was received as a novelty. It was a publicity stunt as part of the Anthology releases. Most fans watched, listened, and said, “Okay, it’s good, but play something from Rubber Soul or Sgt Pepper again!”

But 23 years later, Free As a Bird is BRILLIANT. If you haven’t heard it in a while, give it a listen again please:

 

How did we get here?

Perhaps our standards just that much lower now. As musicians stopped playing actual musical instruments, did we lower the bar of what constitutes a good song?

In spite of the media’s phony accolades poured upon the likes of Jay-Zee, Beyoncé, and Adam Levine as “geniuses,” the universe hasn’t produced songwriters close to Lennon and McCartney in decades.

Even an unproduced, unfinished scrap song demo from John Lennon is brilliant compared to anything by Kanye West.

 

A True Beatles Song

I’m a huge fan of the Anthology albums and the mini-series. At the time, I had thought of the new songs Free As a Bird and Real Love only as interesting codas. But now I consider them full-fledged Beatles creative achievements.

And unlike Real Love, which is fantastic in its own way, Free As a Bird was not a complete recording. Real Love allowed Paul, George, and Ringo to come in as a backup band to provide backing vocals and a guitar solo to John’s nearly-complete song. But on Free As a Bird, the other three Beatles created 75% of the song that John started.

Also, in writing this, I realize for the first time that Free As a Bird can be abbreviated as FAB. Heh…

 

2018

I’m glad Free a Bird was made back in 1995 and not 2018.  If created in 2018, someone may have convinced the surviving Beatles to use auto-tune. John Lennon auto-tuned. Imagine that…

 

 

 

 

 

Marketing Budgets to Meet Changing Consumption

#FCMCon

 

 

Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference

I’m thrilled to be moderating a timely panel at next week’s #FCMCon titled, Build Your Budget to Meet the Customer’s Changing Consumption.

Joining me are two Rock Stars in the franchise marketing space who will share their ideas and experiences in building marketing budgets with an eye on changing consumer media consumption:

Terri Snyder is the EVP, CMO, and Board Member at Checkers & Rally’s and has an impressive history of leading marketing at franchise and global brands such as Dominos, Pizza Hut, and TGIFridays. I had the pleasure of interviewing Terri recently for my Social Geek Radio podcast and found her insights and trend-spotting abilities in the restaurant space to be second to none!

Sally Facinelli is the Vice President of Strategic Growth at Silvercrest Advertising and has been working in franchising for 22 years. Growing hundreds – if not thousands – of franchise brands and businesses means Sally will have fantastic ideas to share on marketing budgets in this changing space.

Please join us on Wednesday, June 20 at 3pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead in the Hope 1-2 rooms. For more details or to register for the conference, please check out Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference.

 

Pre-Game with the WFN!

On the eve before the FCMCon, the Atlanta Chapter of The IFA Women’s Franchise Network is hosting an event that you won’t want to miss. The topic is “Training within Franchise Systems”, the speakers are excellent, and the networking opportunities will be fantastic!

The Atlanta WFN is the biggest and best chapter in the nation with an executive team that puts together great educational programs and community service events all year!

Get details and register now. See you there!

WFN Atlanta

New York Playlist

New York Playlist

 

The most important part of any travel for business or pleasure is planning out the proper soundtrack for your trip. With the 2018 International Franchise Expo starting this week, I wanted to share my playlist of my favorite songs by New York artists, recorded in New York, or about New York.

  1. Love Supreme – John Coltrane
  2. Take The A-Train – Duke Ellington
  3. Blue Monk – Thelonius Monk Trio

I can’t decide on which classic jazz song should lead off. I settled on all three of these.

 

  1. Pennies from Heaven – Louis Prima

Face it, when you set foot in New York, you feel as excited and sugared-up as Buddy in Elf.

 

  1. New York, New York – Frank Sinatra

I don’t really like this particular song, but I feel like I must include it.

 

  1. Piano Man – Billy Joel

This song always painted such a perfect a picture of an old piano bar in the city. I can smell the beer on the microphone.

 

  1. Personality Crisis – The New York Dolls
  2. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
  3. I Wanna Be Seated – The Ramones
  4. One Way or Another – Blondie

If I could go back in time, I would go straight to 1977 at CBGB.

 

  1. Shattered – Rolling Stones

Bite the Big Apple…

 

  1. New York Groove – Ace Frehley

Great tune! That is all.

 

  1. Angela – Bob James

Soft jazz song that you will recognize as the theme to the gritty NY sitcom Taxi.

 

  1. In The City – Joe Walsh

More theme music – this time from the cult classic film The Warriors!

 

  1. Double Fantasy – John Lennon

I can’t choose just one song from this album that defines New York City for me.

 

  1. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues with Kristy MacColl

Yes, it’s a Christmas song. But it also paints an amazing picture of New York City. It’s beautiful & ugly as well as sad & happy all at the same time.

 

  1. Unplugged in New York – Nirvana

Recorded in New York but not really a NY record. It’s the best live album ever, so I just look for any reason to put it on any list.

 

  1. New York Minute – Don Henley

Layers and layers of good stuff here.

 

  1. The Great American Nightmare – Rob Zombie

It’s been the theme to The Howard Stern Show for 20 years. That’s pretty New York.

 

  1. New York State of Mind (Live) – Billy Joel

Two Billy Joel songs on this list? Yep.

And, go for the live broadcast version from the post-911 televised Tribute to Heroes concert.

 

 

And for those wondering where Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are … I’m sorry, I just can’t.

 

 

Social Geek: Twice Per Week!

Liane Caruso

Last week I took a leap forward with the Social Geek Radio podcast. I will be hosting TWO shows per week.

I have recently met so many interesting marketers and franchise industry pros with fascinating stories that one show per week just isn’t enough! And I have a few other people to thank for inspiring me to take Social Geek Radio Season Nine to the next level:

THANKS to my new team at Social Joey for feeding my brain with all kinds of new ideas that are ripe for podcast discussions. The founders of Social Joey remind me that the most important thing in any business is the serve your audience and customers. I hope I am providing some value to anyone who listens.

THANKS to the three smartest digital marketers I know: Mike McDowell, Liane Caruso, and Jim Buckley. These three keep me informed (and honest!) about the latest trends in social media, digital marketing, and franchise marketing.

Mike, Liane, and Jim will be a big part of the new Social Geek Radio as regular contributors, alias The Digital Marketing All-Stars. Any success I’ve had in life or business is due to surrounding myself with the best and brightest people. I could not be more fortunate to have such great friends who are willing to jump into these conversations and keep it fun.

Lastly, THANKS to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for always giving us something new and controversial to discuss.

Check out the latest show where we analyze last week’s Zuckerberg testimony and make some predictions on Facebook’s future!

 

 

 

#TBT #Vinyl Kansas, Leftoverture, 1976

Kansas Leftoverture

Kansas
Leftoverture
Kirshner Records
1976

From 1976, when Classic Rock was Progressive Rock, album art was really art, and Don Kirshner had a record label. Yes, that Dan Kirshner. Later pressings were on CBS / Columbia / Sony labels.

 

Kansas Leftoverture

Kansas Leftoverture

Kansas Leftoverture

 

 

The Loop, 1977-2018

 

The Loop FM98

 

The Loop. WLUP-FM. FM98. Later, 97.9 FM.

As of this week, The Loop is gone from our radio dials. I rarely feel sad for dead celebrities, but I am a bit heartbroken over the passing of The Loop. For those of you not in the Chicago area, it was the greatest rock station in the universe. More on that debate later.

Sure, The Loop hasn’t really been “The Loop” for a decade or two. I’ve lost track of the ownership changes and lately it’s been programmed by some automated robot, or even worse, a Millennial who wouldn’t know the difference between Bon Scott and Brian Johnson.

There’s no Steve Dahl, Johnny B, or breaking cool Tom Petty records anymore. It’s pretty much full of 30-year-old Def Leppard songs lately like every other lame classic rock station owned by a failing conglomerate in America. I haven’t bothered to tune in for many years. And you haven’t tuned in either; if we had, The Loop may have survived. It’s just another underperforming media property being sold and dismantled.

 

Influence on My Life

The Loop was the most influential radio station in the universe from ’79 until about ’84. Well, in my universe anyway! My biggest influencers from the world of radio in my childhood were:

  1. The iconic one: WLS
  2. The fictional one: WKRP
  3. The real one: The Loop

The Loop influenced me in many ways from adolescence through adulthood. It was my friend in times when I had no friends. The Loop was a factor in my wanting to work in (and my obsession with) radio. Without The Loop, I would not have wanted to be a rock jock, and therefore would never have met my wife and therefore we would not have our daughter! Wow!

Without The Loop, there would be no Steve Dahl. Without Dahl, there would be no Howard Stern. Without Stern, there would be no Social Geek Radio. Okay, that last one is a stretch, but throw me a bone.

 

The Best?

Many people in Chicago will tell you that WXRT was much more influential and far superior to The Loop. Don’t get me wrong – someday when XRT inevitably folds, I’ll be writing about that brilliantly-programmed entity too.

As far as the availability of the Loop’s or XRT’s music, a few channels on Sirius XM currently fill that void for most of us Gen Xers who are not dead or have not relocated to Texas or Florida.

The Loop hadn’t been cool for many years and wasn’t yet old enough to be retro chic. But now that it’s officially gone, perhaps it will be cool to wear The Loop t-shirt again. I just hope it still fits.