Do big numbers impress you? Sometimes smaller number mean more.
We’re fascinated by TV shows that reach 100 episodes or 10 years on the air; bands creating a record with multiple producers and dozens of musicians; or movies with a cast of hundreds. But does that make them good?
These small numbers impress me more:
12 = number of Fawlty Towers episodes (6 in 1975, 6 in 1979).
10 = number of years The Beatles were together.
9 = number of Led Zeppelin original studio albums.
3 = number of guys in Johnny Cash’s band…including Johnny Cash.
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1 = number of musicians playing all of the instruments on John Fogerty’s Centerfield album (and that was John Fogerty!)
How do you feel when an album that you didn’t like when it came out celebrates its 30th anniversary, and you still don’t like it today…BUT, it’s still better than most of today’s music?
This summer celebrates the 30th anniversary of Huey Lewis and The News’ Sports album. Okay, “celebrates” is a bit of a stretch. Let’s say “marks” the 30th anniversary.
Yeah, Huey Lewis still sucks. He’s not a great singer, songwriter, or musician. But he’s still better than Kanye West or Justin Beiber. Yeah that’s right, I said it. Beiber sucks so bad he’s worse than Huey frickin’ Lewis.
I spent the 80’s making fun of those who bought this horrid stuff. But here and now, I would listen that mediocre mainstream rock and roll album now any day over any Hip-Hop / Pop nonsense by Jay-Z or Beyonce. And, as far as “The News” was concerned, there is a cool connection is the always-cool Elvis Costello. Also, I did kind of identify with the one guy in the band that always had the sunglasses and the dangling cig…
Check out the most tolerable of Huey videos below:
If Pete Townsend was the Godfather of Punk, then Ray Davies is the Godfather of New Wave.
The Kinks delivered a one-two punch in 1982 and 1983 with the albums Give The People What They Want followed by State of Confusion. The former was loved by the critics; the latter was loved by the masses.
Next week marks the 30th anniversary of State of Confusion. It had everything that albums by new bands in 1983 had: World premiere videos on MTV, stylish costumes on stage, and non-stop radio play on Top 40 and Rock and AC formats. For most of 1983, Ray Davies was both as iconic as McCartney or Jagger and also as relevant in the moment as Bono or Madonna. Check out the title track video below!
Stan Phelps is a master marketer, author, and soon-to-be-reality TV star. You may recall his awesome book of crowd-sourced research on customer relationship-building and Lagniappe called The Purple Goldfish. Stan’s latest Goldfish is the color of most associated environmental concerns, Hal Jordan, New Orleans, and not coincidentally, profits.
What’s Your Green Goldfish drops this Friday, and Stan was kind enough to share with us a Slideshare presentation of some of the best parts. Please take a look here and share with us your thoughts via comments!
FranCamp– the Social Media conference for The Franchising Industry – is happening May 14 and 15 at the Loews Atlanta Hotel. I am pleased to once again be part of the team organizing FranCamp, this time with theIFA!
If you haven’t yet registered for FranCamp, do so today as space is limited. And now, the numbers…
Number of days: 2
Speakers / sessions scheduled: 20
Education Credits you will toward your CFE accreditation: 300
Number of times in the next two monthsPaul Segretoand I will make a joke that begins: “This one time, at FranCamp…”: 7
Cost: $395
Contacts you will make while networking: up to you!
Social Media marketers and community managers are channeling their inner Churchill.
At the onset of World War II, Winston Churchill needed more hours in the day. Sound familiar?
Being the leader of the free world at the time, Churchill was able to do the impossible and doubled the number of hours in his day.
Each day at around 4pm, he left the office, went home, and went to sleep. Around 7pm he woke up, went back to the office and worked with this war staff until about 4am. Then he’d go sleep until 7am, and start the day all over again! In essence, he did create two working days out of one!
And that’s exactly what many of those managing social media for their organizations are doing. And, without the nap! So many of my colleagues are standing down around dinner time, doing their own thing in the evening, and then jumping back in work mode around 11pm or so.
Do you fit this model? Are you jumping back in late in the evening after your time with IRL friends, family, kids, etc? I would love to hear your take on this.
The International Franchise Association’s annual convention returns to Las Vegas in February 16 – 20. As you get ready for the show, here’s a list of gear you’ll want to remember.
What to bring:
1. Business cards. Yes, we still use those. No one really wants to tap phones to exchange contact information because that’s just weird.
2. Hand sanitizer. You really don’t want this flu bug that’s taking people out of work for a week at a time. It’s killing our economy faster than Obamacare, which is ironic.
Stop by the Engage121 booth in the exhibit hall. We’ll have plenty to share. In fact, let’s all bathe in the stuff.
3. A pen. Because, no, I don’t have an extra pen. You would probably just get flu germs on it.
4. Your power cords. A colleague of mine forgot his and headed off to find the Apple Store in Las Vegas during the 2011 IFA. We’re still waiting for him to return.
5. All of the cash you plan on using. Nothing good happens after going to an ATM in a Las Vegas casino.
It’s just media … messages … communications. We’re putting too much emphasis on “how social” something is. It’s losing its meaning quickly. Also, the faster we can stop saying “viral video” when describing every video online, the better!
2. 2013 is the year of Google+.
Sure, some say Google+ is the perpetual also-ran to Facebook.
Will you use it as much in your personal life as you use Facebook? No.
But, when potential customers search for information, will they see the content you put on your Facebook Fan Page or the content you put on your Google+ profile? Yep, it’s called Google+ for a reason. Get on board now!
3. 2013 is the year Public Relations steps up.
After 5 years of complaining that we’re once again not at the executive table, PR professionals will take a leadership role within most organizations to manage the messaging and manage the relationships with the audiences.
4. 2013 is the last year a CEO thinks Social Media is about reaching “the kids”.
During MTV’s golden age of 1981 through 1986, an annual tradition was the low-budget, slapped together, in-studio Christmas video! Let’s take a look…
Billy Squire “Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You” 1981
This was the first MTV Christmas video and arguably the best of the songs. The video itself could be replicated now with the phone in your pocket. It set the trend of featuring the MTV staff, most of whom look really high. I think there was a White Christmas in the MTV offices in 1981!
The video set a nice precedent for having A-list artists involved in these MTV-produced projects. Squire was huge at the time, a veritable one-man Led Zeppelin reborn. But that would end in just a couple of years, ironically when his “Rock Me Tonight “ video on MTV killed his rock credibility in less than 5 minutes.
Joe King Carrasco “It’s a Party Christmas” 1982
This song is truly awful. It’s not only the worst Christmas song of the Modern Rock Era, but is in the running for the worst song EVER. I’ve tried to like it for years in the spirit of being such a fan of the genre. But, c’mon, this sucks. I am embedding the video below, but do yourself a favor and DON’T watch it.
George Thorogood “Rock n Roll Christmas” 1983
Unfortunately this video has been pulled from YouTube. C’mon Lonesome George, really?
Bryan Adams “Reggae Christmas” 1984
By ’84 the budgets were bigger and Pee-Wee Herman showed up. Somehow this give us Canadian Reggae. Yeah, mon, eh?
Jon Anderson “Three Ships” 1985
This is 90125 – era YES lead singer Jon Anderson. It’s indescribable; just watch.
Monkees “Christmas Medley” 1986
Sixties nostalgia reigned supreme in 1986, culminating this part of the Monkees’ comeback. The Monkees were one of the biggest bands of 1986 and capped the year with this video that officially reunited Mike Nesmith with the other boys. Spoiler! He’s in the Santa suit.
And there’s the circle of life for MTV: Nesmith, whose PopClips videos were an inspiration for MTV’s creation appears at the very end of the golden age of MTV via this Christmas video. Within a year, new owner Viacom would gut MTV and begin replacing music with reality shows and other nonsense.
Sometimes when you hear newly-written Christmas songs, you end up thinking, “man, they sure don’t make ’em like they used to.” But Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s new favorite son JD McPherson is here to prove that wrong. See, this little white dude who sings like Little Richard DOES make ’em like they used to. And without any ironic, cooler-than-you sensibilities. Nope, this guy and his band (notably including bassist and musical director Jimmy Sutton) nail their vintage sound so well, you actually just feel like you’re listening to the greatest 1950’s album you’ve never heard. One review of his record said it was “engineered to renew your faith in rock’n’roll” and that is dead-on.
And while you are busy having your faith renewed in rock’n’roll, why not multi-task and have it renewed in newly-penned Christmas songs. This one takes a little something old, a little something new, adds some warm feelings and some holiday cheer, and comes out of the oven with my favorite track of the season. Merry Christmas. .
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Thanks to Atlanta-based singer/songwriter Michael Hodgin for today’s guest post!
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