XM Ben attended the Rolling Stones concert Monday night (DC) and managed to get backstage where he had his photo taken spooning Ron Wood. I think that qualifies as a Brush with Near Greatness.
It flashed me back to 1964 (my sophomore year in high school) when the Rolling Stones were all over the radio. We had never heard anything remotely like them. How can they possibly be touring 40 years later?
PS: That’s been peeping out from behind Ron Wood
Clear Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays, citing competition from satellite-delivered subscription radio, proposed that broadcast radio operators be able to own 10 stations instead of eight in markets where there are at least 60 stations and up to 12 stations in markets where at least 75 radio outlets operate.
“Free radio is struggling. The cost of competing with new technologies and increased listener choice is staggering and profits are down,” Mays said at a speech to the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Clear Channel, which owns about 1,200 radio stations, saw earnings decline 13 percent in the second quarter because of weak advertising revenues
“We are streaming the vast majority of our radio stations,” he said in response to a question. “From that perspective, we are cannibalizing ourselves and we feel like we have to be in that Internet space.” [Thanks to the Heater Man]
A few weeks ago I had lunch with some lads in the Missouri Senate information office and we talked about podcasting. They’d heard about it but didn’t think it was anything “the members” would be very interested in. They emailed me today to say that some of the members are eager start podcasting. Whoosh.
And all my MSM buds keep asking, “Are they making any money?” Uh, no. And they’re not paying us to distribute their programming either.
They dropped the livestock reference many years ago after a fire broke out and cooked up a lot of beef and pork. But “the fair” is a Kennett tradition and OMIK (Our Man in Kennett), Charles Jolliff, shares his excellent flickr set. These bring back memories of Minnie the Mermaid and riding the Scrambler with Melanie Price, high school hot in her Girl Scout uniform, her chest encrusted with merit badges. Sigh. Where was I? Oh yes, Charles’ photos.
Most folks have a couple of John Grisham novels on the the shelf but what would it be like to chat for a couple of hours with someone who has read all or most of the same books that you have? The Library Thing lets you browse the libraries of others that share your taste in books. It’s cooler than I can describe.
More than 6,000 users have signed up since August 29, 2005. And some of them have catalogued thousands of books. Mary Elizabeth Burstein –an associate professor of English at the State University of New York– has 3,424 titles in her library.
I’m not even at the half-way mark of my 500 titles but I’m getting there. Once I’m caught up, it’ll be time to give a holler to some of the folks that share my taste in fiction.
“You’d think that all those years of probing, criticizing, attacking, and lampooning others would give them Teflon skin. But, no, like a schoolyard bad boy, if you confront them and criticize them back, they turn either weepy or prickly. Can give, can’t take. That is not so surprising, after all, when you realize that this is really an issue of control. In the closed worlds of the newsroom, the page, the show, and the media conference, journalists are in control. In the wide-open world of the web, they’re not. And that’s a tough adjustment for some.”
— Jeff Jarvis thinks journalists have thin skins and explains it as a matter of control
I spottted this at AgWired.com and agree with Chuck, this is pretty cool. The Syngenta Resistance Fighter website is a far cry from the typical “farm” site. Very cleverly done and, as Chuck points out, the radio/audio component is pretty nifty.
Props to Syngenta (and the site creators) for daring to think that farmers are not just a bunch of slow talking guys driving around in pick-up trucks. Why should all ag-related websites have cows and pigs and corn as the focal point.
As a rule, I don’t care for these “click on the file cabinet” navigation schemes but this one is very well done. Will this accomplish Syngenta’s objectives. Who knows? (Well, Syngenta will know) But Chuck linked. And I linked. And maybe you’ll link. And the music comes out here.
Speaking of using the web effectively, Chuck is blogging next week’s World Dairy Expo over at the World Dairy Diary. Based on Chuck’s previous efforts, you’ll know more about the Expo from reading the blog than if you were attending the event in Madison, WI.
We’ve all experienced brushes with near greatness. These pulse-pounding moments can range from a drunken limo ride with Courtney Love to an elevator ride with someone you’re pretty sure plays for the Cubs. A brush with near greatness does not require that you actually speak to or with the great one, or that they even know you’re in the room.
Today we debut what we hope will be a sustaining feature at smays.com. David –a friend and co-worker– has had not one, but two brushes with near greatness and he was kind enough to share them here. You can download the MP3 file for now and we’ll podcast as soon as I can figure out how to do that.
Kennett correspondent Viretta got an early listen to the new CD by Trent Tomlinson (son of Bragg City/Kennett basketball star Don Tomlinson) and tags it “incredible.” Trent’s been in Nashville for about 12 years and recently signed with Lyric Street Records, a division of Disney headed up by another good old Kennett boy, Doug Howard. Viretta reports the CD will be coming out soon and describes Trent’s lyrcis as “fantastic.” And she would know.
In other music news, we received an email from a nice lady at VH1 asking for permission to use some of the photos of Sheryl Crow at the dedication of the Aquatic Center for a news package they’re putting together. I confessed that all of the good pix were shot by professional photog Bill Greenblatt.
Rich emails that the Town Grill masthead image reminded him (a little) of Edward Hopper’s famous painting, Nighthawks. I thought so too as I stumbled into the Town Grill that morning.
