The Garage Sale Blog Network

Busy Day

Will be working on the "Tribe 25" party for tonight and then immediately after will be rolling out with friends in an RV to the Butchart gardens in Victoria.  Happy 4th!

In the interest of full disclosure

And to massage my pursuit of transparancy I am disclosing ten songs on my itunes playlist to which I'd rather not have my friends be privy.  These are the songs you play when you are alone and look over both shoulders to ensure the coast is clear:

1. Britney Spears "Everytime"
2. Cyndi Lauper "All through the night"
3. TLC "Unpretty"
4. Tiffany "I think we're alone now"
5. Mariah Carey "Always be my baby"
6. Lynda "Gira que Gira"
7. When in Rome "The Promise"
8. Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes "Up where we belong"
9. Don Henley "Leather and Lace"
10. Heart "All I wanna do is make love to you"

Making a smooth transition from agnostic to alligned

If you're like me aggressive proselytizing repels you like kryptonite to superman.  I make a conscious effort not to bring religion into my blog domain just for that reason.  However I'd like to blog a bit about my efforts as an agnostic trying to find a home for channeling my spiritual energies. 

I think increasingly there is a disconnect between one's spiritual journey and churchgoing or institutional affiliations.  I actually attended a unitarian universalist service some months back and they presented a stunning find by the New York Times: 14% of atheists pray.  I couldnt' find any website to back the claim so if any readers can contribute I'd appreciate it.  But I digress. 

Point is, people are harboring spiritual energies with limited channels for expression.  I can empathize completely as I am very reluctant to align myself with any church with such definitive delineations around what is accepted and what is not in their prescribed dogma.   Especially for someone who is going from confusion to affiliation.  I mean if it's my first day in the church I feel very uncomfortable being told when to stand and what to sing and what mantras to memorize and repeat. 

I attended a unitarian universalist service some months back and was shocked to find that even their service incorporated such a uniform and structured feel.  I was told when to stand and what to sing.  I don't mind if we're singing john lennon but it gets a bit weird when on my first day at a service I'm being told to sing specific songs about God.  Granted you don't have to sing but it seems they could be a bit more accomodating, especially at a place that claims to be a haven for those who are spiritually liberal. 

I must say I attended another unitarian universalist service this last Sunday in Pacific Grove and it was much more of a fit.  No mention of God and all songs were more focused on values, love and an earnest effort for the betterment of humanity.

It is interesting to see that in every organized religious or spiritual congregation uniform is such an integral part of the service.  Be it standing together to sing, being silent together, repeating phrases, praying, etc.  I guess that is part of the beauty of it as well as all these spiritual energies are synergistically working possibly reinforcing your subscribed doctrine. 

Who's in front?

I've always been fascinated with the positioning of band members in their album pictures or shots intended for press use.  I guess I'm just trying to imagine the conversations between band members before they pose: "Why does George get to stand in front?" "Why is my image so faint it looks like I am pixelated?" 

I suppose a band reaches a level of acclaim and then enters an intermediary that deals with decisions such as these.  But for the up and coming band I imagine it's an issue that is either out in the open or subtely ailing the band's rapport.  I mean for an up and coming band you may not know who the most celebrated and acclaimed member is and as a result you may get photos like this where it's hard to tell whose image is more pronounced in the picture. 

Ad Trafficking

Advertising will play an increasingly bigger role as a contributor to revenue at tribe.net.  What this means for me is I'll be managing ad operations on the site and I've been at a training course in San Jose the last two days to prepare.  It feels good to be acquiring a definitive and crystalized skill set.  Until now I feel like I could ramble on and on about the stuff I've learned at tribe and how applicable it might be for future opportunities but nothing as succinct as just saying "managing ad operations". 

For those of you who don't know, some general info about advertising online:

*Three main categories to sell ads on your site is through CPM (this link is especially helpful in understanding this stuff) , CPC (cost per click) and CPA (cost per acquisition/action). 

*An ad trafficker such as myself, trafficks, or directs the impressions bought by the advertisers in the directions they specify.  For example an advertiser might say: I want 100,000 impressions (ad views) to be seen on tribe.net and I want it to start today and end in three and a half weeks, and I want my banner just to be seen by males 18-35 in the bay area and only between the hours of 9-5 and only to those with the keywords pepsi and hiking in their profile." 

So my role ranges from addressing initial advertising inquiries from possible advertisers to working out the spec requirements of their creative (their banner ad) to uploading it to our site to trafficking their impressions and making sure we fulfill their specified targeting demands and impression counts.....I'm pretty impressed if you are still reading and haven't given up on me yet. 

*There is a high demand for ad traffickers (the prevalence of job opportunities is unfortunately also indicative of the job's high turn over rate), so this translates to some job security for me!

Alright I fulfilled my techie blog post requirement for the next month or so...posts to come will include the usual rants regarding midgets, cracker jacks, daisy dukes and the cat's meow. 

The Entertainer's Medallion

I've always been intrigued by those three sentence reviews on the back of books or the one line masterpliece summations a band or performer uses to describe theirselves.  I love analyzing words, looking up words, juxtaposing words like bumper cars to hear which ones make the coolest crash....i mean the flight that departs from brain and lands in vocalization is one that should be ridden in leather seats with plenty of leg room. 

Some of my favorites:

"Two-fisted, whiskey-soaked rock with a post-punk edge, '50s country dipped in battery acid and broken-hearted tears." The Famous

"Recently selected "Best Comedian" by the SF Weekly, Will Franken is a psychedelic collision of satire and absurdity, blind rage and delicate lyricism, highly literate, highly tangential and tailor-made for anybody who's ever hated mainstream stand-up comedy." Will Franken

"Bat Makumba's show is a hip renegade carnaval party full of tropicalia tinged ska, punk influenced forro, and rock infused samba." Bat Makumba

 

Brade Wolfe and the Moon CD Release Party

A great friend of mine indeed but also one of the most played artists on my playlist, Brad Wolfe and the Moon will have their cd release party this Friday at the Great American Music Hall at 9:00. 
Peter Pan at heart and the ju-ju of concert magic on stage, Brad seriously offers some of the best shows I've attended.  It is reflected through his loyal following you'll see in the front rows. 

Hope to see you there!

PoP Blog

Well I know I haven't been the avid blogger I once was in these last few weeks but such is life.  My readership isn't attached to my blog's hip enough to write me after a few days though wondering if I'd been kidnapped, abducted or eaten alive by a beracuda.  I guess that may come after a few more years of blogging. 

So to play catch up let me play pop blog here and give a rundown of recent events in my life:

1. Friends are thoroughly convinced that I have an obsession with midgets.  It all started with me referencing the "Willy Wanka and the Chocalate Factory" musical sequences every chance I had in conversation; "He's got the winning t-iiiiii-cket....Cause he's go the winning t-iiiii-cket".  Then friends noticed I thought EVERYONE and EVERYTHING looked like or reminded me of an oompa loompa.  Then I started dressing like an oompa loompa to work on Fridays.  Then I wrote the cambodian midget blog post and shit hit the fan.  Some people have even gone as far to say that I am running an underground midget trade. 

2.  There was a month or two where I was really tripping out about not having an artistic outlet after work to channel my creative energies.  I started thinking I should start acting, doing stand-up(there's a big niche for people who aren't funny but really think they are like me), finally start my underground hip hop career, etc.  Then one day it all made sense because I realized my calling was to become a cowboy, wear the boots, the hat, even have the straw coming out of my mouth while still being able to say "howdy ma'am".....and then borrow a horse and ride across a province in Canada by myself. 

I consulted with some horse experts and they quickly deflated my balloon of romanticism.  They told me no responsible barn owner in the world would just let an inexperienced rider such as myself just take off with their horse into the wild.  I told them that at first I wouldn't be experienced but after riding for a week I would be.  They didn' t see the logic. 

So I've compromised and I decided that each year I will get closer to becoming a cowboy.  One year is the hat.  The next will be for the boots.   2007 I'll always have straw in my mouth and then will come the day I buy my own horse or go out late at night and steal one from the closest barn (returning it of course after my trip). 

3. I've come to terms with my blog becoming somewhat of a mid-twenties pop blog.  I used to feel I had to incorporate an entry here and there dealing with social software or tech...now it'll just be once in a blue moon. 

More to come ya'll..........ya'll come back now ya hear?