Cultural Offering.com

Music for a Wednesday - Alan Jackson and George Jones

Cultural Offering — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:54:00 GMT

Watch this and you are officially over the hump. Two great singers, one amazing song. Alan Jackson and George Jones sing "A Good Year For The Roses" from the Bradley Barn Sessions:

Perspective

Cultural Offering — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:53:00 GMT

Thanks, Dean.

The Word. . .

Cultural Offering — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:43:00 GMT

. . .On Employment Law, a great employment law blog operated by attorney John Phillips, has moved here.

John and I started our blogging hobbies at roughly the same time late in 2007 and I am certain that I discovered his site through Michael Wade's Execupundit, another essential web site. I imagine John still blogs reason and common sense from his messy desk; the words just show up somewhere else.

His site is an example of what is so cool about blogging. With a few daily clicks to the right sites, you can gain access to valuable information with commentary (though not legal advice he would be quick to add) from experts like John.

But sure to stop by and congratulate John on the move. Bring a pie. Make him feel welcome in the new neighborhood.

In search of wow - Slow down

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:09:00 GMT

A conversation erupted at a meeting this evening about the coarsening (and cheapening) of business relationships. There was discussion about expectations in the middle of a snowstorm, about foul language and a general impatience everywhere from the parking lot of Wal Mart where people look for the best parking spot to business where one wrong move ends the deal.

I've noticed it. Maybe not as much as my friends. I try to resist it, to slow down and look at the bigger picture when I am examining situations. But it is there.

I received a voice mail today that reflected the change. The sales person sounded like a client I needed to call back on an urgent matter. Her voice was pregnant with importance: "Our organization works on cost control matters and I need you to call me back about some placement opportunities." Placement opportunities? Cost control matters? Which is it? I like to think my reaction was appropriate. I ignored her.

A client was recently telling me about a sales call he received. "I almost have to meet with them or they'll go to my President and ask him why I'm not interested in saving money.," he said. The meeting? It was chocked full of gimmicks: "Total BS," he laughed. But I wonder.

We had another client who met a competitor at a trade show. He reported the conversation to me:

"When am I going to get to save you some money," the competitor asked him as he pulled a calculator from his pocket.
"We're happy where we are," the client responded.
"Let me ask you this?" said the competitor. "How many employees do you have?" he asked with the calculator posed for calculation. "85," said the client.
The competitor worked the calculator keys. "I can probably save you $85,000," the competitor said with a straight face.
My client laughed. "He had to use a calculator to multiply 85 times $1,000?" Come bid time, though, the guy got a shot. He lost but he got his shot.

Seth Godin notices a similar trend in society: The constantly renewing search for wow:

"My fear is that the endless search for wow further coarsens our culture at the same time it encourages marketers to get ever more shallow.That's where the first trend comes in... the artists, idea merchants and marketers that are having the most success are ignoring those that would rubberneck and drive on, focusing instead on cadres of fans that matter. Fans that will give permission, fans that will return tomorrow,fans that will spread the word to others that can also take action."

Read and act.

Music for a Tuesday - Dwight Yoakam

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:19:00 GMT

"I blame it all on someone else, 'till there's nobody left, then I just blame me."

Dwight sings "Blame the Vain". This is a song to sing out loud. As the weather changes, these songs turn up more frequently in the rotation. Volume Up:

Thanks to Eclecticity.

The secret to happy employees

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Jay Goltz has a formula for keeping happy employees:

"I have learned the long, hard and frustrating way that as a manager you cannot make everyone happy. You can try, you can listen, you can solve some problems, you can try some more. Good management requires training, counseling and patience, but there comes a point when you are robbing the business of precious time and energy."

Read on.

Thanks to Ian Aspin.

A new season

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:24:00 GMT

Little League baseball drafts were held this past weekend. My calculation is that son Henry (and nephew Blake) are about to take me into my 14th year of Little League baseball coaching. Our first lesson of the season comes from Ben (four years ago, I believe):

Always, always, always hustle down to first base on contact with the ball. When you hustle (in baseball as in life), good things happen:

Dinner conversation: Coyotes

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:13:00 GMT

This article via Execupundit was part of our dinner conversation this evening. I enhanced it a bit to get wide eyed reactions from Henry and Libby. Feel free to stick to the facts if you like. We, however, now have roving packs of coyotes in our woods. Happy hiking.

Monday is just about over. . .

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:01:00 GMT

. . .let's keep Nicholas Bate's genius recommendations for a radical week going.

The jukebox

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:30:00 GMT

I was reading about great jukebox songs - Dean Martin's "Volare", Tony Bennett's "Rags to Riches", Derek and the Dominos' "Layla", Jerry Vale's "Pretend You Don't See Her", Willie Nelson and Julio Inglesias's "To All The Girls I've Loved Before". As an exercise I built my own jukebox playlist on my iPod. All of the above songs were included but then I mentally placed myself in an old comfortable restaurant on a Saturday evening with an endless supply of quarters. What selections would I put on my jukebox?

Frank Sinatra - "Strangers in the Night"
Kenny Rogers - "Coward of the County"
George Jones - "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
Patsy Cline - "Crazy"
Tom Waits - "Downtown Train"
Bruce Springsteen - "Rosalita"
England Dan and John Ford Coley - "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight"
Dwight Yoakam - "Little Sister"
Bill Withers - "Just The Two of Us"
Crowded House - "Don't Dream It's Over"
The Eagles - "Hotel California"
Tommy Tutone - "8675309 (Jenny)"
Garth Brooks - "Much Too Young to Feel This Damn Old"
Sade - "Smooth Operator"
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Don't Do Me Like That"
The Mavericks - "Blue Moon"
Joe Jackson - "Is She Really Going Out With Him"

What else belongs?

Update: Idea Anaconda helps (kicking myself for The Beatles oversight but kicking the jukebox so it skips past Snoop). Eclecticity made a selection. On my own I've added Eddy Arnold's "Make the World Go Away", Darius Rucker's "Alright", Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is", and Sarah Vaughan's "How High the Moon".

Update: This has become a mission. More later, but Steve Layman has helped at Anderson Layman's Blog.

Applause please

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:14:00 GMT

When to applaud at a great music concert? Alex Ross says to do so when you feel moved:

"The classical concert of the 18th century was radically different from the rather staid and timid affair of today. Famous evidence comes from a letter that Mozart wrote to his father after the premiere of his 'Paris" Symphony: 'Right in the middle of the First Allegro came a Passage that I knew would please, and the entire audience was sent into raptures . . . and as I knew, when I wrote the passage, what good effect it would make, I brought it once more at the end of the movement — and sure enough there they were: the shouts of 'da capo'.' This kind of behaviour seems in line with what you find in jazz clubs, where people applaud after each solo, as well as at the end of each number."

I must admit that I am puzzled by talk of demystifying great music. It is music. You will like it or not. No mystery. Start with some Bach, Beethoven or Mozart - any piece. If that doesn't work, sample some Handel, Copeland, Gershwin, Debussy or Stravinsky. Still nothing? Try Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Corelli, Clementi or Glass. Something will start the process. Mystery solved. Soon you'll be padding through the house whistling your favorite pieces.

Read Ross's essay here.

I've referenced the source before, but if you want to dig into some of the stories behind great music and fuel your love for the music, I can think of no better source than The Teaching Company's course How To Listen To and Understand Great Music. The professor for the 48 lectures is Robert Greenberg. I can almost guarantee that you will love the series. It is bundled with Greenberg's course on the Symphony here.

Thanks, Arts & Letters Daily.

Where will Space land?

Cultural Offering — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:07:00 GMT

"In January, Democrat Zack Space of Dover wrote House Democratic leaders to tell them he would not support the Senate version of a bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

The Senate bill, Space wrote, would 'saddle my constituents with a new financial burden they cannot manage.’' He complained that the Senate tax on expensive insurance plans would be 'an unfair penalty on the working families of my district.'

Yet sometime in the next week or so, Space will be asked to vote for the same Senate bill he so vigorously criticized. Exactly as it was written. Word for word, including such unpopular provisions as the millions of dollars in federal Medicaid money to Nebraska to win the support of Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson"

Read the Dayton Daily News article on the politics of health care reform.

The difference

Cultural Offering — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:24:00 GMT

There is a difference.

Thanks KA-CHING!

Spring. . .in place

Cultural Offering — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:10:00 GMT

My favorite tech guy, Scott Blitstein, takes a pass on the whole spring forward thing.

Recess coach?

Cultural Offering — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:54:00 GMT

A Newark New Jersey school has hired a recess coach to make sure that the students are active during recess. The coach is also assigned to curb bullying on the playground. The goal of organizing every waking moment of our children's lives moves forward. I wonder if they have any math or science coaches?

For the rest of the world's students, I post the Andy Griffith episode dedicated to bullying here, here and here - the real excitement starts at the third here. (Warning: The Andy Griffith Show offers a politically incorrect method for dealing with bullies).

Cats

Cultural Offering — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:48:00 GMT

Clouded Leopard

National Geographic has stunning photos of seven rare jungle cat species captured in a single forest: the Jeypore-Dehing lowland rain forest in northeast India.

House health care reconciliation bill

Cultural Offering — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:33:00 GMT

The House Reconciliation Bill that will be used as the vehicle for the health care overhaul plus student loan "reform" (which starts at page 2101) is now available for your reading pleasure here.

Update: Before you get too far into this week's reading project, the language will be changing from this "shell" language to the real language by mid-week. Also, the student loan language could change based on the Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate for the bill. If a vote occurs it will be the end of the week - probably this weekend.

The next round of deal-making has already started.

Great mob movie scenes: Miller's Crossing

Cultural Offering — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:09:00 GMT

Sing along if you like. I can dig the dressing gown:

Funny because it is formulaic

Cultural Offering — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:02:00 GMT

How to make an award winning movie trailor:

Thanks NLT.

Keynes is still dead

Cultural Offering — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:24:00 GMT

Historian, Paul Johnson, looks at the results of the Keynesian revolution and is unimpressed:

"The Obama Administration and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government both chose to meet the credit crisis and subsequent recession with huge increases in public spending and debt. Brown even boasted that by doing so he had 'saved the world.'"

And:

"Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain are still deeply mired in recession,having acquired a vast amount of new government debt to no constructive purpose. No amount of juggling with unemployment figures can obscure the fact that in both countries real jobs are still being lost and that the creation of phony government ones is not altering the drop in family incomes. The public senses the truth, and the signs point to voters taking a fearful revenge on the Keynesian 'miracle workers.'"

Read the rest of Johnson's piece at Forbes.

Thanks, David.