One More

And if we're counting live albums, I'd have to include "Glitter and Doom Live" by Tom Waits.

Top 10 Albums of 2009

Here's my top 10 list for 2009.

1. Phoenix - "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
2. As Tall As Lions - "You Can't Take It with You"
3. Brendan Benson - "My Old, Familiar Friend"
4. Sondre Lerche - "Heartbeat Radio"
5. Brand New - "Daisy"
6. UGK - "UGK 4 Life"
7. Empire Of The Sun - "Walking On A Dream"
8. The Bird and the Bee - "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future"
   
9. Bat for Lashes - "Two Suns"
10. The-Dream - "Love vs. Money"

Enjoy some Holiday Music

'Tis the season... so enjoy some great Holidays tunes brought to you by the fine people at EMI Music. Click here! Every time you send this player to your friends, EMI will make a donation to the EMI Music Sound Foundation and The Grammy Foundation. Great cause, great music, and great project to conclude 2009 over here at Ten Minute Media.

Over the Last Few Months...

Over the last couple of months, here at Ten Minute Media, we've finished a slew of projects, here and there, for New Kids on The Block, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Jason Mraz, Alice in Chains, Billy Bush, T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment, Cat Deeley, Joey McIntyre, Brendan Benson, Jon Reep, James Patterson, and many others... I look forward to more exciting projects this upcoming year!

Another small Renaissance City: Telč

On the same cue as Zamość, I came across another small Renaissance City in Eastern Europe by the name of Telč in the southern regions of the Czech Republic.



Telč's street scape is enhanced by dynamic gables, continuous arcades, and impressive sgraffito façades. It's a much deserving World Heritage site.




I'm eager to get over there this spring when I'm living in Warsaw.

Zamość?

On an after-work research spree, I came across a beautiful aerial view of Zamość and was excited to find a dense, miniature city plan. I never knew much about this small town in Poland, but this picture along with images of the market colorful Armenian merchant houses that line the market square, inspired to me to find out more.



According to UNESCO, Zamość is a "perfect example of a late-16th-century Renaissance town", not only in terms of Poland but for the entire of world! It's supposedly one of the only untouched Renaissance cities on the planet. It has an interesting story too: Jan Zamoyski, an extremely wealthy Polish magnate, had tremendous sums of money to burn so he hired a reknown architect to create what they considered to be an "ideal city" and a capital to bypass paying certain trade tariffs. Clever. When all was said and done: the outcome was vivid, unique and awe-inspiring.


Zamość... it might even be more adorable than Cieszyn. Hopefully on my next trip, I'll have the opportunity to explore Zamość.

Last Saturday's Voyage to NYC

This past Saturday, a bunch of friends/entrepreneurs spent the day in NYC. Instances of the dreadful flu knocked out a couple of our comrades, but Sam, Zach, Caleb and I headed on our way. We grabbed lunch at Daniel Boulud's DGBG Kitchen, where we met up with Dominic of Garment Valet, and then made our way into the depths of SoHo to see some compelling art, cast-iron architecture, and furniture design. After parting ways with Dominic, we were joined by Justin, a friend of Zach and Sam of One Mighty Roar / BuildInternet.

We then made our way uptown to Columbus Circle to explore the Museum of Arts & Design where we were enticed and inspired by the current exhibition, Slash: Paper Under the Knife. Highly recommended. After that, we walked up to Verdi Square, one of my favorite general areas in the city... as I made the claimed that coffee taste better the closer you are geographically to The Ansonia. How could that not be true?

We headed back down to SoHo for dinner at Mercer Kitchen, and were joined by Andy of One Blue Brick / Edopter. The conversation was great... the food was so/so. Come on Jean! After narrowing down to the original Pioneer Valley crew, we hit up the Upright Citizen's Brigade for the some hilarious improv. I haven't laughed so hard since Jim Jefferies. After that came to an end, we made our way back to our neck of the woods. Time well spent. Always a good time in New York City.

Holyoksterdam!

Welcome to a City of beautiful canals, elegrant architecture, cobblestone street(s), and loads of history. Let your imagination get to work as to what Holyoksterdam could be. It's cool being a "fossil Venice" but it's damn cool being a Holyoksterdam.


Just some rambling... maybe I'll put my somewhat facetious proposal sometime.

Upstarts Book Launch

I just got back from Donna Fenn's Upstarts! book launch party. It was at 7 World Trade Center in New York City and attended by many of the vibrant, young entrepreneurs featured in the book. If you haven't ordered a copy of this book, you can do so at Amazon or pick it up at your local bookstore.

Story in Boston Magazine

Young Gun: Would You Let This Kid Save Your Town? Brendan Ciecko made his name—and a boatload of money—as the music industry's go-to website designer. Now that he's finally old enough to buy beer, he's decided to take on a slightly less sexy project: remaking his hardscrabble hometown.

The story hits newsstands today but you can read it online at BostonMagazine.com. I hope you enjoy.

Innovate Holyoke

Last Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick unveiled the next steps for the massive high-performance computing center planned for downtown Holyoke. I'm glad to say that things are moving forward, and quickly at that. The HPCC should be completed by 2011. At the press conference, I had the honor of speaking at the podium to share my enthusiasm and walk everyone through the project's online presence. The event and various details are outlined here and all the latest news can be found at InnovateHolyoke.com, which was launched by my company, Ten Minute Media. With the computing center, Victory Theatre, CanalWalk, Mountain Park, and a few other new developments, noticeable progress is definitely being made.

P.S: Holyoke has a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France...

Meetings in NYC

A week or so a go, I headed down to New York for at meeting at Hachette Book Group. Rather than drive in like I usually do, I took Amtrak from Springfield. I can't wait until the line comes back to downtown Holyoke so I can walk from down the street to the station.

I arrived earlier in the day for a stroll through the city and so I could stop by and say hello to some clients. I headed over to Warner Music Group headquarters in midtown and as I was leaving the building, I bumped into one of the most dapper musicians around, Tim Nordwind from OKGo. We talked for a bit and then I went on my way to EMI / Capitol / Virgin down near the beautiful Flatiron.

Then, I was onto the main reason I was in the city, a meeting with the good folks at Hachette, the second larger publishing group in the world. I met a bunch of the talented people that lead many of James Patterson's online initiatives. I also had the exciting opportunity of meeting James Patterson! Overall, I was very impressed with the way they do things over there.

After the meeting, I had a quick dinner at Brasserie Les Halles and then I was on my way back home. It's always an adventure when I'm in New York, I can't wait to go back.

It's All Here

This past Thursday, I was in Cambridge at Akamai Technologies headquarters for the start of the day. I was recently appointed to the Advisory Council for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' "It's All Here" campaign and was there for the launch event. Powerful words were delivered by Greg Bialecki, J.D. Sherman (CFO of Akamai), and Robert Culver (CEO of MassDevelopment) to warm up the crowd. Soon after, the Commonwealth's communications guru, Kofi Jones took the floor and unveiled the campaign. You can read more about the initiative in the Boston Globe.

Anyways, from the invention of chocolate chip cookies, to the technology that powers the internet, endless innovations flow from this state and it's time to take another look at everything that's here... especially those cookies.

The Wodka Wars

"Vice Scandinavia correspondent Ivar Berglin travels to the front lines of the Vodka/Wodka Wars – and discovers that the tortured history of Russian-Polish relations can be saved in a bottle."



At first glance, I thought this would be a comedic piece about vodka, but as the documentary played on it revealed a powerful story of Polish nationalism, identity, history - and of course, the rightful origin of wodka. I was very impressed by this video.

Note: When I was in Kraków a few years ago, there were no people walking around in giant beer costumes. Maybe next time?

Jim Jefferies in Boston

Last Friday, Elizabeth and I headed to Boston to see emerging comedian Jim Jefferies. He has been the talk of the Edinburgh Fringe / Comedy Festival, regarded as the UK's most offensive comic, and he's also a client - I was very excited to see him live and say hello.

Before the show we had dinner at Gaslight Brasserie, a French bistro in the South End. The decor was very similar to that of Pastis in NYC (very, very similar menu) and Kingston Station in Boston - covered in shiney white subway tile, a floor of mosiac tile, antique lighting fixtures. After dinner, we walked over towards the BCA to pick up our tickets and meet with some friends at the Beehive, which was right next to the theatre.

After that, we went over the theatre to see Jim Jefferies.

I've seen lots of his older material, and recent HBO Special... I must say, his current stand-up routine tops any I've seen or heard so far. Witty punchlines, intense stories, dirty and clever, no boundries. You must hear it for yourself.

He'll be back on the East Coast in September at Carolines in NYC. I might need to experience his live show once again, it's worth it.

Turks Head Building

Although, I haven't been to Providence in a few months... I feel it's important to confess my admiration for the iconic Turks Head Building. Designed by Howells & Stokes and constructed in 1913, the Turks Head Building is one of New England's coolest buildings. It has classical touches, beautiful proportions, and it's one of the only V-shaped (not flatiron, but V!) structures around. My note to aspiring architects: if you want win people over (or just me) just carve up a block of granite into an Ottoman Turk sultan's head and attach it to the façade.

Eccentric Architecture

Here is a small round-up of my favorite examples of eccentric architecture. I decided to consciously avoid including obvious buildings, anything by Gaudí, and items covered by other sources. I haven't been to Belgium yet, but have personally explored out in and around the "Crooked House" in the beautiful city of Sopot on the Baltic coast and also checked out Otto Wagner's floral ceramic covered Majolika Haus while in Vienna. As you can see, I'm largely drawn to art nouveau / jugendstil.


't Bootje
Architect: Frans Smet-Verhas
Location: Antwerp, Belgium



Krzywy Domek
Architect: Szotynscy Zaleski
Location: Sopot, Poland



Maison Saint-Cyr
Architect: Gustave Strauven
Location: Bruxelles, Belgium



Majolika Haus
Architect: Otto Wagner
Location: Vienna, Austria

Esser - "Satisfied"

This is an incredible song by English musician Esser. The video takes inspiration from Georges Méliès's early film masterpiece "Le Mélomane". Great song, great video.

Interviewed by BMW Magazine

I just had the honor of being interviewed by BMW Magazine. This publication goes out to over 3 Million readers in more than 120 countries and is published in 33 languages - nice! Hopefully in Polish and Czech, that'd be fun. What's it all about? You'll have to wait until September to find out.

Update from Ten Minute Media

Ten Minute Media has been busting out work for the TV-celebrity Cat Deeley, re-united Blink-182, buzz-worthy Shwayze, world's biggest DJ Paul Oakenfold, heavy-hitters Staind, indie rockers White Rabbits, and more. Stay tuned for more.

Earth, Wind, Fire, Phoenix, Great!

On Tuesday, last minute, I went to see Earth, Wind & Fire. My hood-neighbor Steve Porter and I headed to Boston to find out why this group is one of the most successful bands of time, one of president Obama's favorite bands, and why they've been the recipients of so many Grammys. As I've been working on a project for Philip Bailey, we had backstage passes and met the band after the show. It was an honor to meet Philip Bailey and Verdine White among others. Their performance was full of energy and sounds that crossed numerous genres. By the end of the night, my questions had been answered - EWF are true living legands.

The following night, Elizabeth and I headed back east to see one of my favorite bands. The French band Phoenix was playing at the Paradise Rock Club. I last saw them live back in 2004 at the Irving Plaza in New York City. Like last time, they played an incredible show. This time they played a set consisting mostly of songs off of their new album Wolfgang Amedaus Phoenix and other recent album It's Never Been Like That but only one song from Alphabetical... "Run Run Run" - I hope they come back to the area again soon.

"High Tech for a Historic City" Op-Ed on Xconomy

"High Tech for a Historic City—A 21-Year-Old Web Entrepreneur’s View of the Big Computing Center Planned for His Home Town" - Read More at Xconomy.com

Decemberists to play Holyoke

Now it seems, there's no shortage of good news for Holyoke... The Decemberists might be playing at Mountain Park on August 16th. Who's coming to the show?

The Big Day

The press conference for the high tech computing center project took place today at the Holyoke Public Library on Maple St. The room quickly filled with eager listeners, residents, and press. I was very excited for today!

For a full recap of the event, you can check out the Local Buzz's Twitter coverage.

Photo Credit: Greg Saulmon

After the signing of the "statement of intent" for the project, the press swarmed to the front. I was delighted to see familiar faces from the state, tech, and academic world. Dr. Susan Hockfield, the president of MIT, and I shared a few words and reflected on enthusiasm of the project and city's potential. Paul Bosco, VP of Cisco's New England operations, gave me a powerful high-five.

Fellow young entrepreneurs / office-mates, Sam and Zach Dunn were also in attendence. They're the founders of One Mighty Roar, a network that includes the rapidly growing blog BuildInternet!. Check it out, good stuff!

MIT News - Collaboration eyes computing boost for New England

CBS 3 - High-Tech Center Planned for Holyoke

22 News - Patrick announces new computing center

ABC40 - Gov. Patrick Announces Computer Center in Holyoke

Springfield Republican - Gov. Patrick, presidents of UMass, MIT and BU announce 'landmark' collaboration to build computing center in Holyoke

Springfield Republican - Holyoke to be site of high performance computer center, Gov. Deval Patrick, presidents of UMass, MIT and BU announce

Grist Magazine - Clean-tech and urban renewal in one fell swoop

EFYTimes - High-Performance Computing Centre Coming Up In Holyoke!

Local Buzz - High Performance Computing as the Future of Holyoke's E-conomy, Part I

Local Buzz - High-Performance Computing as the Future of Holyoke's E-conomy, Part II

Local Buzz - Twittering Holyoke's Future

Web Host Industry Review - EMC, Cisco, MIT Plan $100M Data Center

Ryan's Take - Techy Future for Gateway Cities?

Energy 2.0 - Holyoke Green Data Center

Holyoke History - Governor Patrick Visits Holyoke Public Library

Holyoke welcomes High Tech!

A massive technology data-center project involving Fortune 500 technology giants Cisco System, EMC along with world-class academic institution MIT has finally been announced to set stage in Holyoke! This is easily one of the largest economic development projects in the city's history. I'd imagine a project like this will bring an excess of $100 million of investment into Holyoke and will certainly designate the city as a top-spot for high-tech companies. Who's next? Maybe Google, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, AOL, Akamai? Anything is possible!

Now... why is Holyoke one of the best places in the state / region / country for a project like this - you can read about that in a recap of my involvement in the technology roundtable at MIT last October.

Xconomy.com - State Set to Make Big, “Green” High Performance Computing Announcement: Effort to Bring Jobs to Western MA

Boston Globe - Holyoke chosen for computing center

Mass High Tech - Holyoke targeted for green data center

Springfield Republican - Holyoke eyed for computer complex

MassLive.com - Harvard, MIT, Cisco Systems, EMC to be part of computer research center in Holyoke

Data Center Knowledge - MIT Team Weighs $100M Green Data Center

Environmental Leader - EMC, Cisco, MIT Partner on $100M Data Center

GreenerComputing - Cisco, EMC Team with MIT to Launch $100M Green Data Center

insideHPC - State of Massachusetts Working on Green HPC Center

Gogol Bordello at House of Blues

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to Boston to see one of our favorites bands Gogol Bordello. The concert was at the House of Blues and we met up with some friends of ours for a night of rambunctious and entertaining gypsy punk rock.

One of our friends scored the exclusive Foundation Room, a lavish private lounge embellished with artifacts from India. The decor was plush and elaborate - the floorplan was a labyrinth with countless offshoots and hidden rooms. We arrived a bit early and got our own sneak peek at the show to come; we walked in as the band sound-checked to "Dogs Where Barking" and a few other songs.

Gogol Bordello hit the stage sometime after 9PM. The band played an energetic show to a sold-out crowd hungry for their Slavic rhythms and punk rock antics. I wish I could see this band night after night - their live performance is that inticing.

After the show we stopped by a late-night party at Kingston Station, a downtown bistro covered in smooth white subway tile reminiscent of many French brasseries you'd find in Manhattan.

Short Films for Great Brands

I very much enjoy when brands shoot an entire mini-film series to push their brand equity to the limits and show they're in touch with their cinemic-side.

Recently, French haute couture designer, Dior released a film noir piece entitled Lady Dior. It's definately worth the watch.

One of my favorite short films of all time is BMW's "Star" featuring Madonna and directed by one of my favorites, Guy Richie. I love seeing Madonna thrown around in a sleek M5 with "Song 2" by Blur as a soundtrack.

New Music Venue in Holyoke

Dear Mountain Park, welcome back! It's been decades and now you're back. I wonder who the first band/group will be for the grand opening.

Good Tunes for Saturday Afternoon

Tiga - "Shoes"


Yelle - "Je Veux Te Voir"


Esser - "Headlock"

Recently at Ten Minute Media

Things have been wicked busy over at Ten Minute Media. In the last few months, we've worked on / are working on projects for Kylie Minogue, Jason Mraz, Slash, Katy Perry, A-Trak, Philip Bailey, T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment, Cisco Adler, 3 Doors Down and many others. We've very excited to be working on a new online presence for Jim Jefferies, an emerging comedian who's HBO stand-up special premieres on May 16th. Stay tuned!

Oh, New England.

The weather was excellent this weekend. I started off Saturday, walking around downtown Holyoke and relaxed at Heritage State Park by the canals... good news, Canal Walk is scheduled to break ground in a few weeks.

For the evening, Elizabeth and I headed up to Brattleboro, VT. It's a laid-back, little town with an evident emprace for arts and local, independent business. After walking around downtown and checking out a few shops and galleries, we saw a movie at the Lathis Hotel & Theatre. The Latchis is a landmark Art Deco building that holds a theater, restaurant, hotel, and shops under one roof. On a side note, did you know that two of the most prominent North American architects were born here? Richard Morris Hunt and William Mead came from this small town.

On Sunday, we took a day trip to Hartford, CT. We started at the world-class Wadsworth Atheneum, a true gem and the oldest art museum in the country. In addition to the grand permanent collection, they had a great piece by Dutch artist Folkert de Jong that caught my eye. After spending a few hours enjoying the art of the Wadsworth, we walked over Bushnell Park. On a sunny day like today, the park was full of life... and masses of Deadheads that infested the city for tonight's show. We then drove over to The Mark Twain House and Harriet Beecher Stowe's house. There's so much to see in the region. Dum-de-dum-de-dum-dum-da-dum-day... Oh, New England.

Day Trip to Albany

Yesterday, Elizabeth and I took a day trip to Albany, the capital of New York. We haven't been there in ages, so we decided it would be a nice place to explore on a nice sunny day. They have an incredibly beautiful State Capitol building. charming housing stock, and a fascinating history. We started in downtown to examine the city's civic buildings and skyscrapers, all top-notch. We more or less had the entire district to ourselves - we saw maybe 2 or 3 people over the course of the first hour. We talked to a nicely-dressed older gentleman who has lived in Albany since 1954 and he said it's always like this; empty. Either way, we were very impressed with the architecture, public spaces, walkability, and surprises around every corner. We took a quick tour of the Albany Institute of History and Art to learn some more about how the city, it's history, culture and to also see some mummies.

After a quick stroll through one of the city's many urban parks, we made our way up to Lark Street. There were a handful of people walking around up this way. We stopped at Crisan Bakery & Edible Art Gallery for some tea and pastries - the cafe had a clean modern interior with some touches of Romanian folk art. After that, we walked a few miles up and down the residential streets of that district. I must say, this city has some of the most beautiful, vivid, historic housing stock out of any Northeast city I've been too, especially for it's small population. Endless blocks of lovely rowhouses. Most of the buildings are the same turn of the century townhouses you'd find in NYC - brownstone, stoops and elegant cornices galore!

We also stopped in Troy, a neighboring city. From the highway, the city looks like your ordinary run-down industrial city, but once you get downtown it's a completely different story. I was completely blown away with the townhouses that surrounded Washington Park. There are tons of eclectic buildings throughout the historic district. Just ask the New York Times, they claim that Troy has "one of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century downtowns in the US" - and to that, from what I've seen, I strongly agree. Although, we saw many vacant storefronts, it seems that many new businesses were opening up. Similar to Albany, we only saw a handful of people walking around the city. Where was everyone on this sunny Saturday afternoon? Hopefully next time we visit, we'll see more life on the streets.

Canadiens, come out to plaaay...

Everyone is hating on the Montréal Canadiens 1912-13 jersey. These are brilliant! I want one of these jerseys! I think they're incredible and have a wicked flair to them - just like one of the gangs in one of my favorite films of all-time, The Warriors. Get your 3D glasses ready, I'll soon become anaglyphic thanks to the Canadiens.

Live, Work, Play

Word on the street is that I take my State to the gym from time to time... you know, helping to make Massachusetts strong. Read more about it here on the Commonwealth's new online resource for young adults. That's some nice Holyoke brick behind my headshot, thanks Jeff.

Urban Waterslides

I stumbled upon a great commercial for some credit card company in UK that involves water slides winding through the urban scape. I'd love to connect my office to my residence, which are a less than half-a-mile away from each other, via a water slide. Hopefully Holyoke's building commissioner would grant me a permit.



When the super rad Northampton/Amherst Subway gets built out... maybe they'll create a special hub that connects the underground rails to my water slide system.

Boston Globe / G Force

The other day, my phone rang - it was the Boston Globe. They wanted to know what types of shenanigans I was up to over here. The G Force feature is now online and will be on newsstands this morning in the rad 'g' section.

Parade Day

Late last night, Elizabeth and I decided it might be fun to put together a last-minute gathering for the parade in Holyoke... our city is host to the 2nd largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country. Through out the duration of the parade, friends and family stopped by my office to watch the festivities below. It's so nice to see hundreds of thousands of people line the streets and sidewalks of Holyoke on this day each year.

Robots Take Over Cambridge!

We just got back from the Middle East in Cambridge where a very special celebration took place. What was the celebration about? Our friends at iRobot hit $1-Billion in total robot revenue - an incredible achievement for entrepreneurship, high-tech, robotics, and, damn that's a lot of zeros.

A group of slick Grammy-award winning, YouTube celebrities stopped by the party... déjà vu and familiar faces, it was OK Go! They played a quick game of Rock Band on stage to their own song and a track by the Pixies. Colin from iRobot rocked the guitar and Alex from Harmonix held it down on the drums. After the performance, Elizabeth and I hung out backstage with the band and Colin let us all test-drive some cool robots. Rock stars and robots. I'll post a few pictures in a few days.

Congratulations to iRobot on their continued success!

OK Go at Pearl Street

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to see OK Go perform at Pearl Street in Northampton. They're great on stage, great on treadmills, great with handbells, great with pin pong - what else could you ask for? Excellent show!

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wow, the new track on Phoenix website is killer! They've been one of my favorite bands for along time now and I'm really excited about how the new material is sounding. I first came across Phoenix when working on a project for Tony Hoffer (one of my favorite producers) way back - he's worked with Beck, Air, The Thrills, Fischerspooner, Silversun Pickups - basically all the best stuff around. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this track, "1901" by these good, catchy Frenchmen...

The Bird and The Swede

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to see The Bird and The Bee. My friend Marcus, a young Swedish entrepreneur, joined us for this occasion. If anyone knows good pop music, it's the Swedes and he granted them his Swedish-stamp-of-approval. The Bird and The Bee played an entertaining show, shared some travel stories and graced the crowd with their cute retro outfits.

NYC Book Launch

On Monday, I woke up to a foot or so of snow... despite the weather conditions and after finishing up some work, I made my way to New York for some meetings and an event.

First, I stopped by EMI/Capitol Music on 5th Ave. The lobby there is dressed with huge illuminated pictures of their recent hottest artists; Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lily Allen... I've done quite a few projects for these folks. After some greetings, a quick meeting, and such... I left for my next destination and with some great Bluenote vinyl.

I was in the city for the official book launch party for "Student Entrepreneurs: Mentors Matter" - a book that I contributed a chapter to (more on this at a later date). The event was held at PS450, a business-chic place on Park Ave S. It was nice intimate celebration with many fellow entrepreneurs.

After that, a few of us headed out for dinner. We ended up at a nice French bistro in the Meatpacking District called Pastis. As my New York night came to an end, I headed back to good old Western MA.

T-Pain, Tea and CT Adventures

On Friday, I got a few tickets see T-Pain at the MGM Grand in CT. Overall, the show was a fun time. An up-and-coming heavy hitter, Ryan Leslie was the opening act. He was backed by a full band and put on an energetic show... (on a sidenote, he went to Harvard when we was 15). The main attraction, T-Pain played for an hour or so. His performance was entertaining and almost theatrical at times with hit after hit after hit. I think he closed with "I'm So Hood", a song full of pure scholarly and artistic expression of the socio-economic divide of inner-city America... right?

This type of music is a guilty pleasure of mine. When I drive, I usually flip between stuff like Interpol, The Smiths, Elliot Smith and uhhhh, Hot 93.7.

We didn't get a free boat ride or anything but being of the music industry, we did get to meet T-Pain after the show. Backstage he has wearing a green pair of Mountain Dew pajamas which nicely complimented his platinum grills.

On the way back we stopped in downtown Hartford for midnight tea at Steam City Cafe (they serve food until 1AM!) which is located in the beautiful Cheney Building which was designed by H.H. Richardson. I'd say this building has Bristol Byzantine / Moorish influence and one of his greatest works.

It's Called The Music Business

Check out the March 2009 (#248) issue of Alternative Press magazine in which I reveal some "insider" advice in the DIY column. This issue features Thursday or Bring Me The Horizon on the cover.

I started reading AP about six years ago - it's one of the best ways to find out about new music and it goes out to more than 200,000 eager music fans. It's on shelves now at most major stores - you can pick it up at Newbury Comics, Best Buy, FYE, Hollister, Hot Topic, or where ever you fancy.

Twenty First Birthday

Yesterday was my 21st birthday. I started off my day in Boston at the State House. I was invited to a major gathering of government officials and business leaders where the discussion was focused on the state's technology sector. Heads from Google, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, iRobot and many more filled the room. Governor Patrick posed questions about how the state can position itself to be the leader in tech sector, help the sector flourish, and retain it's brightest companies, entrepreneurs, and students. So far, I've been very impressed with his administration's attention and enthusiasm about the topic.

After the meeting came to an end, I met many new faces and got plenty of "happy birthdays!" On my way out, Governor Patrick asked me, "you don't plan on leaving us?" (referring to the state) and to which I replied, "certainly not, I was born and raised in MA and plan on staying..." The truth is, I do plan on staying in state and I'm really starting to dig Boston, especially because of the many new friends and connections I've made there in the last few months.

After the tech-filled morning, we made our way down to Providence. We checked out some local art at a few galleries, notably the Providence Art Club, a few antique shops looking for decor for my new (but 1870's) place, and explored a few neighborhoods. We also, for the first time, checked out the Rhode Island State Capitol building, designed by McKim, Mead and White. Two state houses in one day, not bad. We visit this city often (one of my favorite small capitals) and try to capture something new each time.

After the adventures, for my birthday celebration/dinner, Elizabeth took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Capriccio. It's the basement of an old marvelous, mansard-roof-having, bank building on the edge of the financial district near the river. Check this place out if you're ever in Providence.

Back in town

I couldn't find the time to write about the Budapest adventures, but to wrap it all up... it was an amazing experience and probably one of my favorite cities (it tops the list along with Gdansk). Back to reality, the New Year has started off nicely for my company Ten Minute Media with many new projects in the works. I'm excited to see how this year will move forward for my company, community and country with the new leadership.

Last Saturday, was Gasoline Alley's holiday party in Springfield, MA. The event brought people from all over the region, Boston, New York and even as far south as Virginia. I met a lot of great socially and environmentally conscious business hustlers, such as the people behind Generation Sustain up in Shelburne Falls (town that is home to Bill Cosby), Kopali Organics and Earth Advertising from New York City. Although there was a nasty snow storm in play, a hundred or so people filled the transformed, post-industrial entrepreneurial oasis with energy and stimulating conversation.