Yes, social media and the internet have transformed the media sector in the last few years, something which is also having a huge impact on the number and types of jobs available. So our next Media Club session on Wed 3rd Feb 5-7pm with Rob Brown, MD of PR agency Staniforth and author of the book ‘Public Relations and the Social Web’, is one not to be missed!

Three of our clients’ ensembles, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society (also playing two sets at Jazz Gallery the following night), the Mary Halvorson Trio and the William Parker Quartet, will be part of the highly anticipated 2010 NYC Winter JazzFest this weekend.

The two-night extravaganza will feature over 50 performances at five different venues in the West Village.

Argue and his acclaimed 18-piece big band will kick off Friday night’s festivities at (Le) Poisson Rouge at 6:20 p.m.

Parker’s all-star quartet, which features Lewis Barnes (trumpet), Rob Brown (alto saxophone) and Hamid Drake (drums), is a last-minute 10:30 p.m. addition to Saturday’s line-up at Sullivan Hall.

Ms. Halvorson’s longstanding trio, with bassist John Hébert and drummer Tomas Fujiwara (sitting in for Ches Smith), will also perform on Saturday night. Their set at Kenny’s Castaways is scheduled to start just after midnight.

“No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think! “

- FINDING FORRESTER

Last weeks headlines were dominated by a gagging order placed on the Guardian newspaper – which in something of a masterstroke ran a story about absolutely nothing. For those with their head in the sand, the newspaper was gagged at the request of Trafigura, an oil company who unsurprisingly wanted to keep quiet details of reported toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast.

Within minutes of the Guardian publishing its ‘story’, bloggers and citizen journalists were busy assembling the facts to find out what was being blocked from publication – it didn’t take long to work out it was Trafigura. This was then widely reported over the internet and the ‘Streisand effect’ took hold once more – namely if you try and gag/block/censor something you will make people doubly determined to unearth it.

This once again highlights the democraticization of the internet. Whilst ‘super-injunctions’ may be granted the borderless nature of the social web will continue to find ways past them and ensure organisations are held to account. What one court in a county rules can not easily be implemented on the World Wide Web, which is made harder by servers being hosted in multiple countries.

As Rob Brown said in Public Relations and the Social Web: “The rise of citizen journalism should provide positive sustainable benefits for society as a whole. It is reasonable to assume that it will bring pressure to support the continued ascent of ethical business practice.”

This is certainly an example of citizen investigative journalism in action, albeit encouraged by a newspaper and hopefully the negative impact will encourage openness from organisations.

I’m guessing the decision to go for an injunction was made by Trafigura’s legal rather than PR team. It is normally the favoured move by lawyers to restrict the flow of communication. However, once you try and get something banned, you immediately make it hot property and the press/internet users will become fixated on it, causing hysteria until the secret is revealed a la Barbara Stresiand.

As Keith Ashby, Head of Litigation at Sheridans put it: “If people get a whiff that publication of information has been injuncted in the print media, they are getting more canny about how to find the information on the internet.”

This also pays as a very important PR lesson – if you have bad news, it is probably best to be truthful and try and put it into context rather than block or hide your head in the sand. In crisis management it is always better to be honest, say ‘sorry’ and rebuild from there.

Lying, bullying and not being apologetic makes this even harder – which I’m sure Trafigura will find out to their cost.

It’s not what you think. Though, looking back on the evening I had, I almost wish it was.

No, I haven’t become a he-whore. On Saturday afternoon I went to the Coal Hole on the Strand, and there I met a bunch of magicians.

I’d been invited by The Beacon. Now of course he has a real name, but let’s not spoil things. For me, he is, and always will be, The Beacon. You can find out more about The Beacon, but not much more, here. He has a blog about strange belief and behaviour, and, having just finished The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene for this week’s book club, I can’t help but feel I was summoned by The Beacon, who may well become my very own Richard Smythe (a character oddly missing from the Neil Jordan film adaptation). Smythe is a rationalist, and so, I suspect, are all these magicians and mentalists who happily turned my brain into a pile of mush and confusion.

After what I saw that Saturday my life will never be the same again. Oh, and I drank a lot.

The invitation came through Twitter. I’d never met The Beacon before, nor spoken to him. Yes, I know it sounds like the set-up to a trick but it’s not. Our only communication had been through Twitter, and I have no idea why he invited me along. But let’s face it, if you got a invitation to meet a melee of mysterious magicians in a dingy old Victorian pub, well, you’d go, wouldn’t you. Wouldn’t you?

(Oh, and to the person who left the comment the other day stating that the world of Twitter is not real… well, after my Saturday experience I’m tempted to agree).

I got there at 4pm, planning to leave after a couple of pints and head off to the cinema. I left at 10pm (ish). I walked out of the Coal Hole and found myself in a London I had never seen before; urchins pulled at my trouser legs, flowers girls thrust baskets of poseys’ at me, toffs rolled by on penny farthings, and a peeler blew a whistle somewhere away in the fog. (Never leave a pub drunk when it’s throwing out time for the cast of Oliver).

And in the pub the magicians’ set about me. Rob Brown made me sign my name on the back of a card. He did this;  he did that, he… I can’t remember… too much to drink…  all I know is, a little later he pulled out his wallet and my card was in there. Signed. Now, I know it’s a trick, but-

I knew it was a trick when he got me to sign a 10p piece, and then, whilst it was safely wrapped up in my hand, proceeded to bend it out of shape. I’m sure he had a pair of pliers somewhere about him, but still, I have no clue what went on there. It’s magic, or it’s not magic. And I know it’s not magic, so… but… what happened? Am I that unobservant? Well, no. He’s just amazing. I know one thing, and that is the truth; it is a trick. But then I am being shown something else that makes no sense. And how did Jesus do that thing with the bread and the fishes?

Rob also tried to hypnotise me. It didn’t really work, but then we were in a crowded and noisy pub. I could feel where it was going. I could sense how I was being manipulated. And I can see how many people will go with it. I asked Rob if he had more success with females. I had a theory; Rob couldn’t hypnotise me but a sexy female magician could. It’s a kind of flirting, and you can choose to go there or not. I felt all Graham Greene again; if The End of the Affair is about faith (or the lack of it), in both love and God, then I’m afraid, Rob, I didn’t have faith in our love, but I do believe you are a god. I held a card at arms length. Rob told me it was the heaviest thing I had ever held. Well, of course, it seemed like it was getting heavier because it’s hard work holding your arm at length. Then he said it was getting lighter again. I knew it wasn’t, but it did, a little bit. You made me momentarily believe in something that I know cannot be; you evil devil.

All the tricks made me feel nauseous. I tried to explain to the magicians that they should take this as a compliment. I’m not sure I convinced them. Dammit! I KNOW they’re not doing magic. So what are they doing?

It’s sleight of hand, it’s misdirection, blah blah blah. But it’s so much more. I could find out, I could Google, I could maybe even learn… but there would be something missing. Magician’s are dangerous people. They know more than you or I, but they’ll claim not. They’ll say they did a trick wrong, to fool you, to empower you; and then somewhere down the line, maybe two or three months later, maybe years, decades even, they’ll go “a-ha!” And they’d have had you, got you, all that time back, without you realising.

Avoid them. They’ll mess you up forever. Go and learn a trick; fool yourself into thinking you’re like them. Look everything up on YouTube. you’ll entertain the kids at Christmas but someone’ll see the mechanics and you’ll come unstuck.

And they, the bastards, they make you shuffle the cards. You shuffle them. Like it matters. Like it’s having some effect. Like you’re in control of your own destiny. They’ll let you cut the deck. They’ll let you change your mind. And you fight this because you know it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER. But you acquiesce. And you feel in some small part that you do matter, that you can affect the outcome. And then the demons’ screw you!

I’m feeling nauseous again.

Thank you so much Rob Brown, Neil Edwards, Iain Dunford, The Beacon, and all the other magicians I had the pleasure to meet but, mainly through drunkeness, the inability to remember your names.

A final thing. One of the magicians was called Jonathan. Just before he left he came up to me. He’s the cousin of Stephen, the son of my Godfather… complicated I know, and again not the set-up for a trick (or not quite). He remembered me, Stephen, and himself playing some kind of ghost game when we were teenagers. In 1978. 31 years ago. He remembered us meeting 31 years ago! I stood there a little open mouthed, a little drunk. I needed to know more.

And, like that, he was gone.

Bloody bloody infuriating brilliant evil magicians.

Here’s a link to an interview I did with reputation, networking and referral expert Rob Brown a short while ago.

We cover some of my thoughts on effective use of social media and social networking in business.

Link to the interview

Silent Things edit is coming along really really well… looking forward to the screening in Bristol.

Silent Things is now in post… working on a new short with Christian James and a new project with C4.

This blog is a companion to my book ‘Public Relations and the Social Web’ , so if you are reading this you probably have some interest in the subject and might like to know about some events that I will be speaking at in the next few weeks. 

On the 16 September I will be talking about ‘The Cutting Edge of Digital PR’  at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations(CIPR) in London. It is a freshly squeezed breakfast briefing. 

Then on 6 October I will be running a session on Social Media in Leeds for the CIPR Northern Conference.  The one day conference has a great line up Alistair Campbell, former press secretary to Tony Blair, topping the bill.  Also in the line up are Yasmin Diamond, Director of Communication at the Home Office; Heather McGregor, Columnist for the Financial Times. 

There will also be masterclasses from Stuart Bruce, MD of Wolfstar; Sarah Knight, Engagement and PR Director at BJL; the eponymous Andy Green of Green Communications; Paul Willis, Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies at Leeds Business School (LMU) and Robin Wilson Director of Digital PR and Social Media at McCann Erickson; plus more besides.

Then on the 30 October I will be speaking at the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Summit at Merchant Taylors Hall, Threadneedle Street, London.

Woken by my alarm clock for the first time in ages, filming today… great rehearsals yesterday, our actors are stunning and really lovely

filming this week, all systems go… rehearsals yesterday went really well, it looks like the shoot is going to be amazing.

Rehearsals tomorrow with @acampbellhughes, @georgiagroome and Andrew Scott

Steve Swell -   Planet Dream (CF 148)
La costruzione di un processo creativo condiviso è sempre stata la centro dell’interesse del trombonista Steve Swell, musicista le cui notevoli qualità di improvvisatore non sempre trovano il giusto riconoscimento. Planet Dream, in trio con il sax contralto di Rob Brown e il violoncello di Daniel Levin, si muove proprio sulla condivisione delle traiettorie improvvisative, sulla creazione di un obbiettivo espressivo comune che si nutre delle identità dei singoli musicisti per aprirne il lessico all’inaspettato.
In questo senso, il preciso richiamo che Swell fa, nelle note di copertina, alla figura di William Parker [della cui Little Huey Creative Orchestra è, insieme a Brown, un componente fondamentale] è piuttosto eloquente: questo “pianeta dei sogni” è un luogo dove, nelle parole del musicista, “l’accettazione di se stessi, l’accettazione del cambiamento e l’accettazione degli altri con la loro musica e come l’aria che respiriamo”.

Alternando temi scritti a improvvisazioni libere, con una forte attitudine all’astrazione che viene però spesso ricondotta – attraverso un senso del blues lacerato e attualissimo nelle sue fibrillazioni—a un’umanità dai tratti riconoscibili, dolente [i glissando che sia il trombone che il violoncello usano in funzione espressionistica e vocalizzante] ma mai sfiduciata, il trio mette in atto una serie di strategie creative che, se talvolta non hanno nell’immediatezza il loro punto di forza, riescono comunque a non suonare mai autoreferenziali o aride.

A volte entrano in gioco richiami quasi inconsci [pensiamo ai fantasmi di Abdul Wadud e Julius Hemphill, stemperati da una rinnovata ibridazione del gesto] e una semplicità ancestrale, come nell’ostinarsi di “Airtight,” ma il piacere di ascolti ripetuti svela continui piani di scambio emotivo, oltre che sonoro. Non facilissimo in certi momenti e forse meno sognante di quanto non preannunci il titolo, ma davvero denso di musica.
http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=4267

Silent Things shoots next week with 3 great artists… its going to be an amazing week!

Rob Brown: What a Load of Kabul!
Gilded Balloon
Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Rob Brown, Comedy, Gilded Balloon

*** 3 STARS

Rob Brown is a proper Australian ‘bloke’. He’s enormous, shaven-headed and covered in tattoos. It comes as absolutely no surprise when he announces that he used to work in ‘security’, looking after maniacs in one of Australia’s high-security prisons. More recently, he was attracted to Iraq and Afghanistan by big pay-cheques, eventually finding himself in war-torn, poverty-stricken Kabul.

The real surprise comes when we discover that Brown, who resembles nothing more Australian super-crim’ Chopper Read, is actually a big-hearted softy. On finding himself in charge of catering for his employers in Afghanistan, Brown spotted an opportunity to feed some of the local kids. Despite his employer’s furious objections to this, he eventually found himself catering for a small village of travelling families.

Brown is not a comedian by trade but he does a decent job here. He’s a charming, naturally funny man with a talent for story-telling. The show starts off as ordinary stand-up and it’s pretty funny stuff. But this is actually a serious affair: Brown is something of a crusader, showing us that small acts of kindness can make a big difference to the lives of others. He avoids sounding sanctimonious by describing his own good deeds in a funny, self-deprecating way, devoid of slush and sentiment.
It’s a strange show, part comedy, part morality tale. But it’s a very enjoyable one. He got the biggest applause I’ve heard for any stand-up at this years festival – not because his comedy is the very best but because he’s a big, lovely bloke who made us all feel a little bit better about the world.

Reviewed by: Iain MacDonald

We are busy looking for a Bournemouth or Poole based 2nd AD and Script Supervisor / Continuity to help us on our forthcoming short drama shoot between 7 – 10 Sept.  The production is part of the UKFC / South West Screen Digital Shorts programme and stars Georgia Groome (Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging / London to Brighton) and Antonia Campbell-Hughes (BBC TV Lead Balloon).

Shooting in Poole, Dover and Portsmouth between 7 and 10th September “Silent Things” is a drama about how the friendship between an autistic man and woman is tested when an impulsive teenage girl comes between them. The film will explore themes of miscommunication and isolation.

You can contact the production team on admin@whitelantern.co.uk.

Steve Swell – Planet Dream (CF 148)
Steve Swell, an Important Trombonist and Leader with a New CD
Following his very interesting Magical Listening Hour (Cadence Jazz), trombonist, composer and bandleader Steve Swell returns to the fray with a trio (including Rob Brown on alto sax and Daniel Levin on cello) that continues in the chamber format. The CD, Planet Dream (Clean Feed), in a sense takes up where Listening Hour leaves off, with spontaneous three-way improvisations. The addition of Steve’s lively compositional material and the denser, more contrapuntal texture gives the session a somewhat different sound, however.

Brown and Levin turn in good work and contrast nicely with Swell’s burrish, airborne bone. Both compositionally and as one of the foremost new jazz trombonists active today, Steve Swell never gives anything but his best. If there were a clunker CD trade-in deal out there, I doubt if anything Steve has done would qualify.

Planet Dream manages to combine sensitive free interplay with the excitement and drive of historically more widely disseminated styles of jazz. It’s one of the reasons we should look to Swell in the coming years as one of the handful of important musical leaders to emerge full-blown (no pun intended).
http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/

Un tip intra intr-o farmacie. Multa lume, inghesuiala.
- Nu va suparati, va rog sa ma lasati sa intru in fata ca am pe cineva la pat.
Oamenii cumsecade ii fac loc si ajunge la ghiseu. Tipul se apleaca la ghiseu si spune:
- 3 prezervative va rog.

Sfaturile lui Lacatus pentru Banel Nicolita:

1) Nu te intorci in jumatatea noastra de teren decat cand e absolut necesar.
2) E obligatoriu sa te intorci in jumatatea noastra de teren, in momentul in care schimbam portile.
3) Portile se schimba intr-un meci, cel putin o data, nu te lasa pacalit!
4) Nu ai cum sa-ti dai seama care e poarta adversarului, deci trebuie sa intrebi.
5) Nu-l intreba pe Nesu ca se tine de glume.
6) Nu lovi mingea in cazul in care adversarul face pressing sau tribunele canta.
7) Alearga tot meciul si intra in teren doar cand/daca iti spun eu. Poti sa deschizi si ochii.
Daca e necesar sa atingi mingea, roaga-i pe Goian si Ghionea sa faca zid.
9) Tu vei antrena portarii in sectiunea de “Atentie distributiva si capcane de joc”.

Citatul Zilei:

Da-i unui om peste si va manca o zi. Invata-l sa pescuiasca si va sta toata ziua in barca cu sticla de bere in mana.

Filmul Zilei:

Finding Forrester (2000)

Nota IMDb: 7.2

Gen: Drama

Filmul aduce foarte mult a Good Will Hunting cu un sfarsit inspirat din Scent of a Woman dupa parerea mea. Deci daca v-au placut aceste doua filme probabil ca o sa va placa si asta. Este vorba despre un tanar de 16 ani care se imprieteneste printr-o conjunctura ciudata cu un mare scriitor iar acesta il ajuta pe baiat sa isi dezvolte talentul la scris. Marele scriitor american este interpretat de Sean Connery. Rob Brown care il interpreteaza excelent pe tanar are si un talent deosebit la baschet in film, fapt care il ajuta sa se faca remarcat.

O aparitie interesanta este cea a lui Busta Rhymes. Ma asteptam sa joace destul de prost dar s-a descurcat ok interpretand rolul fratelui personajului principal.

Cu toate ca filmul pare inspirat din unele filme precedente lui asta nu inseamna ca ii lipsestc elemntele de originalitate. Din punctu meu de vedere filmul este o capodopera careia nu prea am reusit sa ii gasesc multe cusururi. Poate doar putin previzibil.

a little nuts

thinking about

building a shed.

(just like this)

wow.

Casey Brown Architecture

Mikkel Vang Photography

]]> http://cleanfeed.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/jazzreview-review-by-glenn-astarita-6/ Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:08:54 +0000 cleanfeed http://cleanfeed.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/jazzreview-review-by-glenn-astarita-6/

Steve Swell -  Planet Dream (CF 148) 
The trio led by trombonist Steve Swell, share some common ground within New York City’s infamous free and progressive jazz scene, as solo performers and members of various ensembles. Moreover, they’re well represented on a global basis, due to their respective output for a variety of record labels. Hence, this outing is partly about layers, contrasts, expressive dialogues and a high-impact mode of delivery. They leave no stone unturned, so to speak.

Brown and Swell complement each other with extended note underpinnings, fragmented mini-motifs, and feverish call and response mechanisms. But it’s cellist Daniel Levin who dishes out the rhythms while serving as the common bond via his nimble plucking and buoyant metrics. The soloists’ slice and dice time, amid a few start and stop based passages, where they often rejuvenate a given theme, then go for the proverbial jugular.

They mix it up rather heartily and loom as busy bees during the largely changeable movements, but converge with a rebellious attitude on “Not Necessarily This, Nor That.” In essence, the hornists perpetuate a humanistic element.

The trio’s bump and groove workout on “Airtight,” is accelerated by Swell’s raspy-toned and melodic, free-jazz solo as the musicians segue into a riotous finale. Therefore, Planet Dream is based upon a musical agenda that is periodically softened, but rarely sweetened. It’s a curiously interesting endeavor, indeed.
http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-20674.html

‘How Do’ serves the media industry in the North West of England, offering news, opinion and resources for those working in all aspects of media in the region.  This week they asked me to be the guest editor for their weekly news round up the How Do Weekly Wrap.  Click here if you’d like a look.

‘Public Relations and the Social Web’ (the book to which this blog is a companion) is now published in the United States. It is available for immediate delivery from Amazon.com or directly from the publishers KoganPageUSA.  In the UK it can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk or from Kogan Page (and a range of other booksellers).