So you wanna be a roadie...

Be prepared to work...!

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!