Latest Posts (All Countries)
Artist Interview: Producer Ben Bernstein
July 29, 2010 by Deborah Crooks
Given his deep affinity for roots, Americana, blues and indie music, there’s been no question for me to keep working with Oakland musician, producer and bass teacher Ben Bernstein on my latest recording projects.
During the several years I’ve known him, he’s developed his own Petting Zoo studios into a thriving hive of activity for local and touring acts interested in committing their work to recording.
As another wave of artists prepare to release Cd’s with production and engineering credits to Ben, I asked him some questions about his music and recording aesthetic.
Q: You’ve been a producing madman this past year—what producers do you look up to? Could you name 3 albums that you look to models of excellence and perhaps exemplify the aesthetic you’re going for?
BB: I really like the work Daniel Lanois and Malcolm Burn have done, especially with Emmylou Harris’ work. Also, George Martin, of course. Three albums that exemplify my aesthetic goal? Blood on the Tracks, Goats Head Soup, and The Fleet Foxes self-titled debut. It has a really great space on the whole album…
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Posted in California, North America, San Francisco/Bay Area, USA
Lori Taylor on Marketing in the 21st Century
July 29, 2010 by Haegwan Kim
Click here for her introduction.
Haegwan Kim (HK); Today I’m going to talk with Lori Taylor, who is renowned as a marketing professional and the CEO at REV Media Marketing. Thank you so much for your time.
Lori Taylor (LT); Thank you.
HK; Why did you start working in the field of marketing?
LT; Well, I started right out of college working for a company called Wallace, at the time. It got bought a couple of times, so it was really with the same company but I worked in RR Donnelley Printing, which is a $12 billion printing company, and I was in a specialised division that was the direct marketing response, we called it Response Marketing Services Division, and was focused primarily on creating strategic marketing programmes for customers that were integrated with their TV and radio and other mediums.
But, primarily, we focused on direct mail, and so direct mail was really my area of expertise that I honed very well with because I landed a big account called Disabled American Veterans. And we raised over $2 billion for them over the last 17 years; so $5 at a time through the…
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Posted in North America, USA
By A Country Grimace
July 29, 2010 by fred hatman
“The bontebocks, above all appeared in flocks of two thousand at least. I am persuaded that this day, buffaloes, antelopes of all kinds, zebras and ostriches, I had before my eyes at one time more than four or five thousand animals.” – Le Vaillant, the Overberg (1796)
I live in the Overberg. Two hundred and fourteen years later, where and how far do I go to witness such a thing?
And, in 214 years’ time, what real chance do the future inhabitants of Africa, never mind the Overberg, have of seeing just one of these, alive and running free in the wild?
* So I Google “bontebok photo” to bring you a pic… and I find this…
A dead bontebok. Shot. By a hunter. American. Very pleased with his work.
Ain’t that pretty? This photograph was first published on a South Dakota taxidermy website. With this caption…
“Bontebok was the easiest shot of the whole Safari. After a unsuccessful stalk and sitting in an open field, the Bontebok along with another herd bull came walking out of…
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Posted in Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa
Kona Coffee Cultural Festival
July 29, 2010 by Susan McKee
The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year from November 5-14, 2010. It honors the multi-ethnic heritage of the pioneers, farmers and artisans of the brew on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The first coffee was planted in Kona by missionary Samuel Ruggles in 1828 or 1829. These first arabica trees were taken from cuttings planted on Oahu a few years earlier. Today many Kona farmers can lay claim to being fifth generation coffee farmers.
Some of the 50 different events at this annual coffee harvest festival are the coffee cupping competition, coffee recipe contest, the Miss Kona coffee pageant, coffee picking contest, colorful parades and a collection of food, music, dance, arts and crafts from Kona’s diverse ethnic heritage. Visitors can take tours of working and historic Kona coffee farms, mills and roasting operations.
The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is recognized and supported as a ‘Major Festival’ by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
(Photo courtesy of Kona Coffee Cultural Festival/KCCF)
Posted in Hawaii, North America, USA
A City of Murals
July 29, 2010 by Christian Carollo
Philadelphia: the City of Brotherly Love, but it could also be called the City of Murals. With more than 2,800 murals painted on walls all around the city, you can see buildings and neighborhoods transformed with images of heroes (from Dr. J to Frank Sinatra), beautiful landscapes or hope-inspiring scenes. The Mural Arts Program, run by the city, was started in 1984 in hopes of discouraging young artists from graffiti and encouraging them to express themselves in a way that would benefit them and the community. The result is an ever growing collection of art for the residents and visitors of Philadelphia to enjoy!
Posted in North America, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Photos, USA
Top Ten Ways Authors Can Use Twitter to Promote Books
July 29, 2010 by Rebecca Lacko
140 characters: part treasure map, part scavenger hunt.
I’ll admit, I prefer Twitter over Facebook. My friends (the real ones, not merely FB “friends”) faithfully post to Facebook, which to a self-absorbed writer working from home with little more than a silent cat for company, means I must dedicate segments of time to read posts and comment. On the one hand, I’m thankful–I keep in touch with people I wouldn’t otherwise, I like to send well-wishes for new babies born, graduations, new jobs, and view photos of holidays and tender or wacky moments. On the other hand (I say, bristling) I occasionally feel my time is stolen when visits to FB cull info such as “XX is now a fan of ice cream/monkeys/dryer sheets, etc.” I’ve hidden all the Farmville-esque silliness, but when it comes down to it, minute for minute, I prefer Twitter. Nearly everyone in the writing and publishing industry has an account; (Twitter is after all the ultimate challenge in sentence clarity and brevity–how can they resist?)I am now connected to a network of admired authors, editors, publishers and PR geniuses, and at any moment of the day I can log on to posts of their links…
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Posted in All Countries
Women on Entrepreneurship and Mentorship
July 29, 2010 by Renee Blodgett
Elizabeth Tinkham, the Global Lead at Accenture moderated a panel this afternoon at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit on ‘entrepreneurship.’ They discussed the venture community, raising capital as a woman in the current landscape and the kind of mentorship (with examples) that led to their success today.
On the panel was Donna Wells, President and CEO of Mindflash, Victoria Ransom, Founder & CEO of Wildfire Interactive, Lisa Stone of BlogHer, Hilary DeCesare, of Everloop, Carol Realini, CEO of Obopay and DoubleTwist’s Monique Farantzon.
Posted in North America, USA, Videos
RIP Mrs. Ivy Bean: @IvyBean104, the 104 Year Old Tweeter
July 29, 2010 by fred hatman
One of the first posts I put on this blog was about Ivy Bean, 103 years old (at the time) and the sweetest tweeter on Twitter.
I am so sad to tell you that I have learned that Mrs Bean – or @IvyBean104 as she was addressed on Twitter – died in England on Tuesday.
Mrs. Bean was followed by many celebs on Twitter. Here, Peter Andre meets his Twitter idol.
A tweet sent from @IvyBean104 confirmed this, saying: “Ivy passed away peacefully at 12.08 this morning.
In my last post, I featured a charming video interview with Twitter’s oldest netizen. She was an absolute darling and will be greatly missed by her family and everybody at the nursing home, as well as by her 57,000 followers on Twitter. Mrs. Bean tweeted with an abundant warmth of spirit and no little endearing cheekiness too. RIP, dear Ivy.
* You can read more about Ivy Bean here.
Posted in British Isles, England, Europe
Please try to relax… and brace yourself for the beauty of this image!
July 29, 2010 by fred hatman
You probably don’t need to know this but my best ideas bubble up while I’m on the bog. Bog, not blog. Just yesterday, after completing the Cape Times’ Wordgame, I thought of a saying that I believes holds very true.
“A good picture is worth a thousand words.” I was quite pleased with that. I then dreamt up “Every Picture Tells a Story” which is not quite as profound. It’ll probably be stolen by an ageing Scottish rock star, who also once stole my mop to wear as a wig, and worked into a title of an album. Plagiarism. Sis.
So, I had no sooner thought of these sayings when a photograph came my way which, I believe, is worth no fewer than a million words. It is so utterly and outrageously beautiful that I really don’t mind adapting my saying.
Please try to relax and brace yourself for the beauty of it all…
No caption required. Pic: Allen Walker
So the whole idea is that I don’t now give you a million words, right? OK.
Olivia “OJ” Symcox.…
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Posted in Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa
Squirrel Steaks
July 29, 2010 by Katherine Hui
Mmmmmmm. Yummy. Squirrels.
From people being fined for killing them, to a company making the world’s strongest beer in taxidermied one, Squirrels are a hot topic these days. Today, squirrels are in the news because of their meat.
Budgens, a North London supermarket is now selling squirrel meat. Apparently, it tastes like rabbit.
Andrew Thorton, owner of the Budgen’s that’s selling the meat claims that “squirrel meat is more sustainable than beef” and “Squirrels will be culled anyway. You have two choices. Either you dispose of them or you eat them.”
It’s really popular, despite animal welfare groups disapproval.
There you have it. Another reason to go easy on the meat.
(Spotted in the Guardian)
Posted in All Countries
