August Newsletter: A Review of the Month’s Culture, Arts & Trends

AUGUST LIVED UP TO ITS NAME

Majestic, grand, august…The rare blue moon appeared, not to be seen again in these here parts until 2015…The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked mid-month…Film at Lincoln Center’s retrospective David Bowie, Movie Star…In a little bit of book news, little book news that is, Chapter One of Genesis found in a book the size of a ladybug…Hidden in his personal archives for 50 years, Pavarotti’s first-ever recording, an aria from La Boheme taped on August 29, 1961 in Italy, just found, to be re-mastered and released…The first electric guitar patent awarded in 1937. Eric, Jimi, and Pete are grateful…The 50^th anniversary of the audio cassette tape. A revolution: small, cheap, and could be played in cars…Owning three Steinway pianos wasn’t enough, billionaire John Paulson now owns more, lots more. He bought the company for $512M…Harlem Week, now a month-long, with food, music, and loads of culture…Prayers to Linda Ronstadt whose beautiful voice is silenced by Parkinson’s…What’s love got to do with it? Everything for Tina Turner who married her beau of 27 years. Her debut single with Ike in August 1960, A Fool in Love, “…the blackest record to creep into the white charts since Ray Charles’…” went to #2 on the R&B charts. No fool, she. Oh yeah, mazel tov!…Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sid Bernstein, who brought the Beatles to Shea in 1964, was remembered for something much more than that at his memorial. His kindness. Amen to that…Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors celebrated Americana with country, rockabilly, Southern soul and rock ‘n’ roll…No mostly about it. The Mostly Mozart Festival’s closing concert led by Maestro Langrée was all Mozart…Could be a story by O. Henry. An acoustic ecologist who searches the world for nature’s quietest spots, Gordon Hempton the Sound Tracker, is going deaf. He’s racing to complete Quiet Planets, a 19-volume set of nature recordings…Left brain logical, right brain creative? New study says hooey. “The artistic network needs both sides of the brain…if art is really about communication about your emotions, if you’re not able to do that, you’re not much of an artist, are you? You always have to use both sides of your brain to be a functional human being.”…Spike Lee using Kickstarter to fund his new film. Is he doing the right thing? Discuss amongst yourselves…Richie Havens’ ashes were scattered over the site of Woodstock, where he was the opening act in 1969…August is Admit You’re Happy Month. Just as research from Scotland reveals links between culture, health and happiness. So listen to music, go see art, read books, see a movie. Find your happiness.

 CIVIL REFLECTIONS

The Butler was dramatic, emotional, thought-provoking, and inspiring, “…In this movie, history is more than a succession of public events, it is individual experience given a full measure of respect.” Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey imbued their characters with dignity and fortitude, taking us through the civil rights movement, Viet Nam, and beyond…About a lifelong hero of mine, I was looking forward to the new documentary, The Trials of Muhammad Ali. Having seen all the others, what could be new? With revealing details about his conversion to Islam and refusal to serve in Viet Nam, there were remarkable interviews with his second wife, the straightforward, no-nonsense Khalilah Camacho-Ali and his loving brother, Rahaman Ali. After a long legal fight that ended in 1971, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Ali was awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King memorial award in 1970 after his return to the ring. Coretta Scott-King told Ali he was “…a champion of justice, and peace, and human dignity.” Ralph Abernathy called him “…the living example of soul power, this was the March on Washington all in two fists.” Ali followed his faith, his conscience, his moral compass…Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, which culminated in his I Have A Dream speech, happened 50 years ago. A day of nonviolent protest, a day of speeches, prayer and song. Thousands were there to commemorate it 50 years later. Many who appeared in The Butler and The Trials of Muhammad Ali came and spoke: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Caroline Kennedy, and President Barack Obama. Dr. King’s moral voice and his honorable message memorialized. He lifted us on hope and he is ever with us as we keep his dream.

ART IS THE DRUG THAT I’M THINKING OF

Great works of art on billboards and bus-stops all over the streets of London for the Art Everywhere project…“Someday everything’s gonna be diff’rent when I paint my masterpiece.” Bob Dylan’s paintings at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Ties in with his new release, The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 Another Self Portrait (1969 – 1971). Ties in with his tour. An absolute marketing bonanza of tie-ins…Sounds of art at MOMA? Yes, sounds. Carsten Nicolai uses waves, mirrors and projections in exhibit of artists who use sound as their form of expression…Celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the first photographer to have a solo show at MOMA, Walker Evans’ pictures of American life in the 1930’s…And using light, color and space, James Turrell transforms the Guggenheim. 

DOGS+PANDAS GET THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

The first 24-hour channel for dogs, DogTV, launched on August 1…What’s your dog telling you? Learn their facial expressions. Raised eyebrow? Pay attention to me. Left ear back? I’m scared…Sunny, also a Portie, joins Beau at the White House…Did you know that the best bomb detector is a dog? After Boston Marathon attack, demand is up. Good dog, brave dog!…Alert the media! Baby news means Pandacams everywhere…“We have a cub.” The tweet heard ‘round the world for giant panda cub born at Washington, DC’s National Zoo…The first twin pandas born in America in 26 years at the Atlanta Zoo…My heart swelled and my eyes got teary watching the mother and child reunion at the Taipei Zoo, as the mother panda swept up her cub in her arms…And Scotland’s on panda-watch, she may be pregnant…With only 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild, their survival relies on this surge in births, giving us cause to hope, and hopefully cause to celebrate. 

LE BLOG C’EST MOI

We lost Elmore Leonard, but he left us Chili Palmer, Nestor Soto, Cundo Rey, Teddy Magyk, and Richie Nix. Tough guys all, but honest (in their own ways) and big hearted. Read my two tributes to him…Also posted: Glenn Gould on the arts, Patti Smith’s advice (clue: integrity!), Paul Simon’s songwriting method, marketing gone wrong, Stephen King, M&M’s+Meatloaf, before Bono there was Satchmo, and my Summer Reading List. What are you reading?…All this and more on Yvette Perry’s Blog…You can now easily share this newsletter with your friends. I have posted it there. Just click on any of the share buttons below the post…Lastly, yours truly is quoted in the Great Big Book of Things Marketers Say just published in video. Look for me at 4:57. My pearl of wisdom? “Listen.” 

Soundtrack to this Issue is Dream On from Aerosmith. Check out this version with the boys live at iHeartRadio Music Festival 2012.

 Buddha, stay. Good dog.“…live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”  (Buddha)

Sources:
Steinway showroom pic: Steinway & Sons
Maestro Langree pic: Mostly Mozart
Tina Turner quote: I, Tina by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder
Brain Study quote: Dr. Gayatri Devi, CBS This Morning, August 27, 2013
The Butler quote: Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Scott King and Abernathy quotes and Ali pic: The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Make Art Not War print: Bob and Roberta Smith, Art Everywhere (London)
Bob Dylan lyrics: Bob Dylan official website
Aerosmith pic: iHeartRadio

The Arts Give Us Wonder and Serenity

Glenn Gould (1932-1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century.

“The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.”

 

Source:
Glenn Gould: Music and Mind, page 64

Because Patti Smith Knows

I have known Patti Smith. A smile at the ready, a warm embrace of loving kindness always, and a generosity unbounded. Patti Smith, songwriter, singer, poet, painter, photographer, and author. In a word: artist.

With her 1975 debut album, Horses, a classic, she influenced a music genre. She also influenced a state of being, an attitude, a style. References cite her as the Godmother of Punk. Cliché. Patti, well, she’s everything but cliché. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and won the National Book Award in 2010 for her memoir, Just Kids. Her honesty, openness, and devotion to truth course through all her work. What Patti Smith is is cool.

As far as optimizing your marketing mojo – that is, your creative integrity – no better advice than what Patti Smith learned from William S. Burroughs:

“Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful – be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.”

 

 

Source:
Pic: Amazon (vinyl)
Quote: Interview by Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, August 24, 2012, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Elmore Leonard + John Travolta = Get Shorty’s Chili Palmer

Elmore Leonard’s dialogue told you everything you needed to know about a character. He did it in as short a prose style as necessary. To him, less was definitely more. I already knew Chili Palmer – I knew how he walked, how he talked, and how he looked you in the eyes. So when I saw him in the big screen version of Get Shorty personified by John Travolta, I was already along for the ride. 

Get Shorty tells the story of a loan shark in Miami, Chili Palmer, who goes to Hollywood to collect a debt and ends up a movie producer. Hey, he figures, it takes the same skills he already has as a mobster. Who knew? Chili’s talk is straight, no bullshit. And he knows his movies. Here are some of Chili’s bon mots:

“Rough business, this movie business. I’m gonna have to go back to loan-sharking just to take a rest.”

“That was ‘Rio Bravo.’ Robert Mitchum played the drunk in ‘El Dorado.’ Dean Martin played the drunk in ‘Rio Bravo.’ Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both. He played John Wayne.”

“Look at me.”

“I’m the guy who’s telling you the way it is.”

“I got an idea for a movie.”

“They always pay.”

“Going into the movie business. I’m thinking about producing … I don’t think the producer has to know much.”

“Look at me. What I’m thinking is, ‘You’re mine’ … But what I’m not doing is feeling anything about it one way or the other. You understand? You’re not a person to me, you’re a name in my collection book, a guy owes me money, that’s all.”

“You know, Welles didn’t even want to do this movie. But he had some studio contract he couldn’t get out of. Sometimes you do your best work when you got a gun to your head.”

 

Source:
Chili Palmer’s quotes from Get Shorty: imdb

Elmore Leonard Sure Could Write

Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky, Out of Sight, Be Cool, Stick, Killshot. Could there be any cooler book titles? The guy who wrote about Chili Palmer, Nestor Soto, Cundo Rey, Teddy Magyk, and Richie Nix – could there be any cooler names? – died yesterday. His name was Elmore Leonard and he was writing stories for most of his 87 years.  Just like the titles of his books, his writing went straight to the point. No extra words, no meaningless flourishes, no redundancies. An economy of style – that was his thing.

I love his books. Especially Get Shorty. But I don’t really think it’s the book that I remember or what it’s about. It’s the characters. How they talked. The things they said and how they said them. I could never forget Chili’s saying the words, “Look at me.”  I could actually hear Chili talk. The sound of his voice, his inflection, his whole style.

The dialogue Elmore Leonard wrote told me everything I needed to know about his characters and their stories. In an article he wrote for the NY Times, Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle, he listed his 10 rules of writing. This is Rule #10:

“Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip … Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them. What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle … I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.”

 

Source:
Elmore Leonard’s rules on writing: NY Times, July 16, 2001

What’s On Your Summer Reading List?

There’s nothing like summer to catch up on our reading. And there’s no better time to reflect on the state of books. To that point, this week Seth Godin’s admonitory post, An End of Books, riled our sensibilities and our core emotions. In it he states, “Books, those bound paper documents, are part of an ecosystem, one that was perfect, and one that is dying, quickly.” Then he evaluates these endangered species: bookstore, library, publisher, our book shelves, and even the Pavlovian response of our reading process (!). But he ends on a hopeful note of reinvention. Thankfully. Because I love to read. I love the feel of a book, the turn of a page, and the thrill of discovery.

So, it’s summer. We can take the plunge into that pile we’ve been building for just this moment. I’m starting with my favorite author’s latest, Daniel Silva’s The English Girl. Gabriel Allon, master art restorer plus Mossad assassin equals #1 bestseller. Then it’s on to Khaled Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed, The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith, I mean J.K. Rowling, and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, hailed as this summer’s must read, much as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl was last year. And what a great read that was!

The rest of my summer reading includes Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews, Lexicon by Max Barry, and Brad Thor’s latest thriller, Hidden Order. He’s always topical and always action-packed. And the urban drama, Ivy Pachoda’s Visitation Street, is said to recall another fave author, Richard Price. In that case, I’m into it.

I’m really looking forward to getting into Roots drummer and Jimmy Fallon’s bandleader, Questlove’s memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues and to learning much more in Harry Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter by Alyn Shipton.

Still to come is Roy Peter Clark’s next glamorous book on grammar, How to Write Short, out August 27, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep in September, and Jo Nesbo’s next Harry Hole thriller, Police, in October.

Last but not least, The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think by Brian Hare will remind me who’s really the smart one around here.

I order a lot of my books from the Public Library. You can also check out Amazon’s Best Sellers of 2013 and the weekly NY Times Sunday Book Review.

Now it’s time for me to stop writing and start reading. What are you reading this summer?

 

Sources:
Seth Godin’s quote: Seth’s Blog, August 15, 2013
Pic: Charles Schultz

How Do You Write a Song, Paul Simon?

Twenty-two years ago today, August 15, 1991, Paul Simon’s concert in New York City’s Central Park drew hundreds of thousands of fans. And they all sang along with him on The Boxer, Cecilia, You Can Call Me Al, Kodachrome, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

All these great songs. We all know the words. And the melodies. He talked to Wynton Marsalis about his songwriting process:

“It’s not so much that I’m creating with it, it’s that I’m untying knots with it. And the more experience that you have with problem solving, the more creatively you can untie and re-tie that knot.”

Sources:
Quote: CBS This Morning Interview with Wynton Marsalis, May 30, 2012
Live Concert Album Link and Pic: Paul Simon official website

Stuck for an Answer? Here’s a Tip

Y’know when someone asks you a question and you’re at a total loss to answer?

Maybe you’re at a job interview, at a press conference, or in a meeting?

Or maybe you’re in the middle of a presentation or you’re on a panel?

It’s that baffling feeling when you know that you’re just plain stumped for an answer. Well, don’t just scratch your head. Try this:

“The best answer … is the most honest one … taking a deep breath and looking inward …. If a question of any kind ever stumps you, remember your experience and who you are as a person has ultimately prepared you for this moment. Even if you get initially stumped, there is a place inside of you that has the answer you need.”

 

 

Source:
Mary Pat Whaley, LinkedIn article
Pic: Sodahead

Seth Godin’s Got a Point. Doing Marketing? Get It Right!

A Seth Godin blog post about marketing – marketing gone bad – not only resonated with me at the time I read it, it stayed with me. I want to share it with you.

First, why did it resonate with me? It was because of two recent conversations. The first was with an actor who told me that he understands my challenges because he’s “been marketing [himself] his whole career.” Well, that’s not so. My retort left unsaid was, “No, what you’ve been doing is trying to sell yourself.” Using the tools of his profession in the way it’s always been done. Sending postcards and head shots, posting projects and appearances. And that’s just not the same thing. When you have strategy and planning – with the know-how! – well, that’s marketing.

The second example was with a new client. After I outlined such a marketing strategy – with the basics and supplemented with thoughtful ideas to generate new audiences – she told me that she had already done all those basics. Meaning, she was set. But that’s just the beginning. Those basics must then do the work they’re supposed to do. That will involve refining each of those tactics. Getting them right so that they will reach your target. Getting them right so that the target will know what action to take. Getting them right so that your message is delivered.

In both these examples, they’re not getting the results they desire. Why? Because it’s not enough to do the basics, it’s not enough to go through the motions. Marketing is not just a word to bandy around. It’s not something anyone just knows how to do. It took me many years of working with colleagues and clients. Of doing it again and again. Many clients from diverse worlds – music, the arts, corporations, tech products, luxury brands, nonprofits. A gamut of interesting projects. Different targets, but with similar goals. Promote the product, bring in the audience, get new customers, make them loyal. I can do that. Effectively. The magic word. It’s what I do. I also know where my experience doesn’t live. That would be acting, for one, and running a school for another. I’ve honed my strengths and love to share them.

So, Seth Godin’s treatise resonated with me. Everyone isn’t a marketer. Notice what isn’t working. And get help – from a pro. Hey, I do!

Seth Godin’s Blog Post

More people are doing marketing badly…
than any other profession I can imagine. What an opportunity…

If we were building bridges this badly, the safety of our nation would be in doubt.

The local sub shop makes a fine sub, but has a dumb name, a typo in its sign, no attention paid to customer service and on and on. Same for the big hospital down the street and the politician you wish would get a clue.

There are three reasons for this:

1. Everyone is a marketer, so there’s a lot more of it being done.
2. Most people who do marketing are actually good at doing something else (like making subs) and they’re merely making this up as they go along.
3. There’s no standards manual, no easy way to check your work. Without a rule book, it’s hard to follow the rules. (For the innovators and creators out there, this is great news, of course.)

The cure? Noticing. Notice what is working in the real world and try to figure out why. Apply it to your work. Repeat. Learn to see, to discern the difference between good and bad, between useful and merely comfortable. And after you learn, speak up. Noticing doesn’t work if you don’t care and if you don’t take action.

 

Source:
Posted by Seth Godin on July 18, 2013

Good Thing It’s Book Lover’s Day Because I Love Books

I love to read. I have books all around me in every room. Books I’ve read and books I want to read. And there’s nothing like summer to catch up on your reading. So Book Lover’s Day is the perfect excuse to say adios to any more work (good thing it’s Friday!) and start digging in.

I’m celebrating with my favorite author’s latest, Daniel Silva’s The English Girl. Gabriel Allon, master art restorer plus Mossad assassin equals #1 bestseller. Then it’s on to Khaled Hosseini’s And The Mountains Echoed, The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith, I mean J.K. Rowling, and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, hailed as this summer’s must read, much as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl was last year. And what a great read that was!

The rest of my summer reading includes Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings, Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews, Lexicon by Max Barry, and Brad Thor’s latest thriller, Hidden Order. He’s always topical and always action-packed. And the urban drama, Ivy Pachoda’s Visitation Street, is said to recall another fave author, Richard Price. In that case, I’m into it.

I’m really looking forward to getting into Roots drummer and Jimmy Fallon’s bandleader, Questlove’s memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues and to learning much more in Harry Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter by Alyn Shipton.

Still to come is Roy Peter Clark’s next glamorous book on grammar, How to Write Short, out August 27, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep in September, and Jo Nesbo’s next Harry Hole thriller, Police, in October.

Last but not least, The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think by Brian Hare will remind me who’s really the smart one around here.

I order a lot of my books from the Public Library. You can also check out Amazon’s Best Sellers of 2013 and the NY Times Bestseller List.

It’s time to stop writing and start reading!

 

Source:
Pic: Charles Schultz