I'm not going to Google Developer Day...

...but I will be watching some of the webcasts.

I wonder how close it will be to seeing the real thing. My real fear of missing out is whatever the gift bag will contain, they've always got the best SWAG!

I was going to go, but considering that I was out of the office last Friday, Monday was a Holiday and I'm staring down an ever present deadline to get things rolling over here, I had to make the call. I'm actually ok with it, really...anyone who reads this blog knows how big of a Google fan I am, but this time I need to actually get work done.

I was discussing with a friend recently how difficult it has become to keep up with the pace of innovation on the internet. Every week a new company is coming out with a set of tools, APIs, features and widgets that I feel compelled to investigate, see if we should get involved, build our own, stay away from. It seems that the infusion of capital once again into Silicon Valley has incubated a ton of great ideas, many of which have no sound business model behind them except to get people to look at them (collect the underpants).

The biggest challenge of a bubbling marketplace is keeping the focus. I could spend all day reading blogs, researching new tools and playing with the latest gadgets, all the while forgetting about the things that have kept us in business for the last six years...

By the way, JamBase does indeed have an API. It's private right now, but if you'd like to play with it and integrate tour dates with your website, just let me know.

We're also working on a new version of the site. If you'd like to help test, also let me know.

Back to work...

Update: Watching the Google Desktop Gadgets session webcast they mentioned the JamBase Touring Gadget that our friend Martin Mroz built! Check it out!

IE6

Looking at the stats for JamBase, it surprises me that 50% of our users are still using Internet Explorer 6.0.

If you're one of these people, do me a favor. Go here to download the latest version of IE, or here to get Firefox.

You'll thank me for the tabbed browsing alone.

p.s. Programming style sheets for 5 different browser versions (PC: IE7, IE6, Firefox, Mac: Firefox, Safari) really really blows. This is one of those situations where ya kinda crave a monopoly, or at least a standard! Oh right

The Mountain Play

This past Sunday we went to see the Mt. Tamalpais Mountain Play production of Hair! It takes place at an amazing 4,000 seat outdoor amphitheater on the top of Mt. Tam in Marin County, CA.

It was a beautiful day, and we drove over to the Tam High School to catch the 30 minute school bus trip up the mountain. I was reflecting on the fact that it must have been 15 years I'd been in a real school bus, and either I've gotten bigger or the seats have gotten smaller.

Arriving at the theater was a breeze, and as we entered I was transported back 40 years to the summer of love, free spirited 60s. Golf carts were adorned with flower power symbols and some in attendance dressed the part to participate in a costume contest. A mix soundtrack of classic sixties tunes played over the PA as the crowd assembled, and the performance began promptly at 1pm.

As the ensemble ran through the musical numbers I couldn't help but think how much things change, they really do stay the same. Hair is a story of a war worn country battling the disparity between a free thinking movement and a senseless war. I was recently lamenting about the lack of total outrage that exists in our country lately, how why there aren't more public protests.

Hair reminded me why: The Draft.

The focal point of the play is one character (Claude)'s battle with his decision on whether or not to burn his draft card or go die fighting a senseless war in Vietnam. His peer-pressuring friends are all pushing him to let it go and live free and love, but Claude is torn with a certain sense of duty.

It was a great rendition of the classic musical, which I'd never actually seen live before (except for that one 'Head of the Class' episode). Yes, they swore a bunch. No, they didn't do the last scene nude (and left out the sodomy song). It was already a little more PG-13 than the Mt. Play is used to.

All in all, a wonderful day on the mountain. They had plenty of free buses to bring people back down to town, and we were home by 4:30 in time to look back on how far we've come in 40 years, and really how far we lave left to go.

"Let the sun shine in!"

David Cross on the Cheese

Uhhh...ha

You have new Picture Mail!

I call this one - 'Waiting for the bus on a grey morning'

5/8/77

What makes something the "best"?

Today is the 30 year anniversary of what is widely regarded as the greatest Grateful Dead performance.

I used to start the Scarlet Begonias as I was driving out of Chicago heading back to college at Michigan State. By the time the Fire ended I was half-way into Indiana.

With over 3,000 performances in their history, this one surely stands out. Maybe it's the crispness of the instruments, the voices, the crowd, the time, the place or the convergence of all the above - it's undeniable that the band was just 'on'.

And clearly a lot of people agree

Happy Grateful Dead Day!

Walkin to New Orleans

JazzFest Webcast going on right now!

More Google Reader...

I must sound like a broken record at this point with another post about Google Reader, but I just can't help it.

In a web world where promises aren't always delivered, Google often comes out ahead...and whoever the people are that work on Google Reader are one DIALED IN set of folks.

With tonight's announced upgrade of Google Reader's email function (which I found in great need of said upgrade) the platform has reached a plateau. It is incredibly well rounded, functional, proficient and effective.

You can Subscribe to all of your Blogs and Feeds, star them for later reading, share them with Friends, tag them to organize or share the tags and now email a post to anyone. Integrate it with Gmail and the game will be over.

It is now easier to spread an idea to the farthest reaches of the globe than it ever has been in the history of our civilization. We just need something worth saying.

Passion vs. Emotion

Passion vs. Emotion

What's the difference?

Especially in business. You want to be passionate, but emotional decisions can often cloud judgment.

When you start your own business, everything is personal. Business is all about relationships. Relationships are personal.

Music is emotional, passionate, irrational, liberating, manifesting, triumphant.

The music business is...well, I don't have enough time right now to describe that one...I have to get back to work.

Where do you draw the line? How do you navigate the waters to make pragmatic decisions? Most of us just wing it.

A friend once told me that the key to winning in the music business is to "act first, apologize later"

A fortune cookie once told me: "Observe, Listen, Think, Feel. Use Your Intuition, Then Speak."