New website for music promotion.

Overdubdub.com is a new site that promotes up and coming musicians.  It just so happens that my daughter, Carly Gibson, and her boyfriend and co-collaborator, BJ Wilbanks, are being featured this week!  Here's the video of the two of them performing one of their songs together:

Jam Sessions: B.J. Wilbanks & Carly Gibson perform "Walk Softly On These Blues" from OverDubDub on Vimeo.
Watch as acoustic duo B.J. Wilbanks & Carly Gibson perform their song entitled "Walk Softly On These Blues".
You're definitely going to see more out of these two.

Seth Godin rocks.

Here's a great video of Seth Godin discussing branding.  It's really worth taking the time to watch:

Fight Internet censorship.

If you are an American and you care about the free exchange of ideas on the Internet, you need to be bombarding your Congresscritters, who are currently poised to make it all a lot less free. Regardless of what side of the aisle you identify with,censorship hurts everyone. Please watch this TED talk by Clay Shirky, who explains why SOPA is such a bad idea. Then contact your Senator and give him or her hell.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr: Attributed to Indrarado.)

My lizard brain.

The class that I'm taking this month has pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that it has me in another different zip code entirely: Professional Communication and Presentations.  I expected to enjoy this class because I like creating imaginative slide presentations, but oh, no, no...they expect video presentations as well.  Like as in, me on camera, talking to people.   Ai yi yi!  There was a time when I'd rather be stood up against a wall and shot at than do this.  Obviously, I'm braver than I used to be, but it still has me shaking in my boots.  My lizard brain is telling me that a) I'm uninteresting, b) I look old, c) I sound dull, and worst of all, d) everyone can tell I gained that Freshman 10 and Sophomore 20.  Ouch!  My cover is blown!

My professor seems to disagree with my lizard brain, however, and this gives me some confidence.  How do you deal with your lizard brain?  I'd love to know!  (This video, BTW, is not my presentation.  It is a source I refer to to slap some sense into myself.)

All you need to know about the music business.

Donald Passman is the foremost expert on the music business, having written the indispensable book,  Everything You Need To Know About The Music Business.  He also has a lot of video discussions available at Artistshouse Music, a fabulous resource for musicians and the people who support them.

I love innovation.

I love innovation, especially when it saves me money.  I've been really frustrated with banks charging excessive debit card fees and annoyed with the percentage that I have to give up if I use PayPal to accept payment for the websites I build.  I'd been asking folks to just write me a check, but I may have stumbled across a better, more efficient way to do things!  I just finished reading this article about a relatively new company called Dwolla that might very well make debit cards obsolete.  It will also give PayPal a run for its money, as its sole transaction fee consists of a flat rate of just twenty-five cents.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

By the way, I apologize for my posting infrequency.  Last month involved two extremely challenging classes in the same four week period, and it was all I could do to keep up with it and maintain my grade point average.  This month is also a challenge, but I have a little bit more time than I did.  Hopefully I'll be able to be more regular here.  So if you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me!

I fear that our federal government is guitarded.

I have been watching the Gibson guitar issue with great interest, collecting the media stories about it and trying to get to the bottom of what is happening.  To make a long story short, the US government has raided Gibson twice (the first time in 2009; no charges have ever been filed) for alleged environmental violations over imported wood.  The problem has virtually nothing to do with the wood being harvested illegally; it is not.  The problem has everything to do with the fact that the wood purchased is only two-thirds of the way finished, as Gibson (naturally) prefers to finish their own fretboards for purposes of quality control.  There is no US law prohibiting this, yet the Feds are claiming that Gibson may be violating an obscure Indian law which they (the US gov't) are interpreting to state that only Indian workers can finish Indian-sourced woods.  The last raid involved similar shipments from Madagascar; according the Gibson's CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, the Feds have told him that if he will allow foreign labor to finish the wood, "the problem will go away."  Does this make sense in America, particularly given the current unemployment rate and the stagnant economy?  It is also interesting to note that Gibson's major competitors use the same wood without retaliation from the federal government.  The difference is which political party the competitors support.  This smacks of political retribution to me, and I don't like it.

Now here's the real rub: owners of Gibson guitars are now at risk of having their instruments seized at the border if they are unable to provide documentation that sources the wood and bone used to make the instrument.  I don't know about you, but while I can document when I purchased my guitar, and from who, I know that I cannot document the source of every little piece of wood used to build it.  Does this mean that I can no longer travel with my instrument of choice?  Will this ridiculous trend affect owners of other makes and models of instruments, or only those loyal to the Gibson brand?  Are we willing to take the risk of having our legally purchased instruments confiscated by overzealous government agents?  Where does the abuse end?

I remember what it felt like to live in a free country; it was nice while it lasted.  It'll be a great story for the grandkids.

References:

Gibson: Feds Want Guitar Work Done By Foreign Labor
Chris Daniel Interviews Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz
Gibson Guitar CEO Responds to Federal Raid
CEO of Gibson Guitars' Main Competitor is a Huge Democrat Donor; Also Uses Same Wood Without Any Complaint From Feds
CEO of Gibson Guitar a Republican Donor; Democrat Competitor Uses Same Wood - Landmark Report
Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear

Some scathing related satire:
New Scandal at DoJ as Illegal Guitars End Up In Hands of Mexican Drug Lords

Updated 9/10/11:
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2011-09-09/federal-seizure-wood-products-used-gibson-guitars-concerns-local-guitar-makers#.Tmt7xXPHoj6