Tomorrow morning will conclude a very dark chapter in my life. For the first four years of my young adult life I was tortured by the legal system and a few individuals stupidity.
For awhile I was in a state of shock until I focused my attention on personal and business goals. This is what I have always done, not look back. Now I am blessed with a successful business, financial freedom and overall, opportunity. Opportunity to travel, to learn, grow and forget.
I would like to thank the following individuals for their support, encouragement or friendship through this mess: My grandmother, Rich and Cheryl Gilliland, Clark Phipps, Anthony Gorospe, Mike Woodward, Eric Cullen, Keaton Watts, George R. Kravis II and Michael Paul Mason.
It’s New Years Eve and I’m on my way to meet up with a good friend from grade school to see the Flaming Lips perform. In addition to a set of their own music, they will be playing “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd in its entirety.
I decided to drop the aforementioned album to my iPod to listen to on the way as well as the Lips recorded version. My driving buddy just asked me if I was tired as I had my eyes closed.
“No, I’m just listening to the album.”
Even though I’m only a twenty something I do have my own vinyl experience. Starting at eleven, I would sit for hours next to my fathers Bang and Olufsen to listen to Beatles albums and “Dark Side of the Moon.”
The way we purchase music has definitely changed but I still continue to consume music the same way. I will only purchase and listen to an entire album.
About three years ago I had a plot to only record and release singles. In a conversation with Justin Meldal-Johnsen, I told him my plan and reasoning. He argued that the album format is sacred and a creative moment in time that must be documented in it’s entirety.
In a recent issue of Rolling Stone, record executives discuss mini albums, EPs and singles. The goal is to put more content, in this case songs, in front of fans quicker so they don’t forget about the artist. If you create something great to begin with, how could anyone forget?
In another recent issue of Rolling Stone, “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley was named Song of the Decade. Although it seems like forever ago that that song was playing on iPods everywhere, I remember it and I will always want to listen to the next Gnarls Barkley release because of that track.
After all, I am going to see a band that has been playing together since before I was born perform an album that was released when my father was my age. Why? They both have created an incredible catalog of music. Music that others have remembered and passed on. Music that I will remember and pass on to others.
It’s funny. As I began to write this post, I found a similar piece on Fast Company.
Wrap rage. This is the common name associated with heightened levels of frustration, anger, and potential injury resulting from one’s inability to open a package.
I recently needed a new pair of scissors so I found this very appealing set at Lowe’s. I didn’t realize until I got home that I needed scissors to open these scissors (see below). This is very poor planning on “Kobalt’s” part. I’ve attached a random and very funny clip from an episode from my favorite show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry experiences “wrap rage.”
Back in October, I was in New York to celebrate the launch of a new biography on David Bowie. I was in charge of online marketing for the book which was written by Marc Spitz and published by Crown / Random House. I recently finished a case study on how we used social media to attract Bowie fans to the book prior to the release date and sell over 500 copies. Order the book and look for me in the Acknowledgements section!
Creative Technologist Connor Raus Brings New BOWIE Biography Into the Limelight
New York December 3, 2009 — BOWIE, a new biography by noted author and rock ‘n’ roll journalist Marc Spitz was released on October 27th, 2009 by Crown/Random House. Connor Raus, the marketer behind the book’s online success has just released a case study which details the digital marketing strategy.
When author Marc Spitz needed to draw attention to his new book “BOWIE: A Biography,” he knew what his publisher could and couldn’t do. That’s why Spitz turned to new media expert Connor Raus.
“Publishers specialize in drawing broad attention through traditional media,” explains Raus. “But Marc Spitz needed to target fans of David Bowie specifically. You can’t do that in magazines, radio or television.”
Through web analytics, Raus realized that a Bowie book was in big demand—there were over 20k searches a month for the term. On behalf of the author, Raus acquired a domain, DavidBowieBook.com, designed an intuitive website and began optimizing the site for search engines. Then he took it a step further by marrying the website to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
“Traffic exploded on the site almost instantly,” says Raus, “But I was shocked to see what an enormous impact we were able to make with social media.”
Before the book was even released, the author had over 1,700 interested fans on his newly-created email list, and over 500 pre-orders for the book. In just two months, Raus corralled over 3,000 fans to Spitz’s fan page on Facebook. Within a matter of weeks, Spitz had readers all over the world clamoring for his book—and he was able to sustain their interest even after the books release.” “Has anyone started reading the book yet?” the author asks on his BOWIE: A Biography Facebook Fan Page. Seventeen people immediately chime in with praise.
Following the wild success of Spitz’s digital strategy, major publishers and literary agents have sought out Raus’s expertise and have signed on in hopes of tapping into his social networking prowess. Although Raus is able to tap into readers, he still maintains that a book has to have the right kind of draw in order to work as a social networking phenomenon.
“Books that deal with a specific topic that we can find a large viable audience to connect with will initially fair much better than general interest books,” says Raus. “But every author needs to have a web and social presence regardless.”
I just returned from a little break in Miami, FL. Yes, during hurricane season. It was very hot and humid and being by the beach ruined my camera lens. I did manage to get quite a few shots and interviews that will be featured on my Deco Explorer website soon. Below are a few of my favorites.
Below is an exterior closeup of Hotel Victor and a closeup of the jelly fish tank in Hotel Victor’s restaurant.
Below is a closeup of the exterior of the Wolfsonian Museum. I actually visited the museum which had a great exhibit on the history of swimwear at the time.
