To say the least, the 140 Characters Conference was fun. I got to lead the Music panel and I was fortunate enough to convince Ariel Hyatt, Amanda Palmer, and Ted Cohen to join me. I’m so glad Jeff Pulver invited me to moderate this panel, I never thought I’d get all three names at the top of my list to sit at the table. I felt like a little fish in a very big pond, given that they’ve all dealt with major labels and real established acts in the past and I’m still working my ass off just to bring you all some tunes on a monthly basis. Still, I think each of us managed to provide some insight into the real-time web that your average corporate marketing type wouldn’t really have seen.

Honestly, though, what makes social media events like this fun aren’t really the events. It’s the socializing. Getting to talk about indie music promotion with Ariel is always a highlight. Hearing stories of touring with Van Halen and Prince and the like from Ted Cohen never gets old. And Amanda Palmer? Yeah, she’s as groovy as I anticipated. Busiest woman I’ve ever seen, though, she’s literally the CEO of her own company just like me. Her business is significantly larger, though, so I can see why she needs caffeine. What we talked about on stage mirrored what was happening backstage: Talk to people online, Don’t just promote shit, actually converse. If you’re not interacting with your fans as a human being, you’re not interacting with your fans.

And speaking of interacting with your fans, the most unexpected surprise for me was meeting Derrick, one of my VIP’s, for the first time. He’d been a VIP member since day one, but I never thought I’d actually get to meet him. Why? He lives in frickin’ Singapore. Right now he’s in the Boston area, though, and was attending the 140 Characters conference. I don’t think he knew I was going to be there, but I’m damn glad he showed up. I don’t know if many of you know how cool it feels to meet someone who’s a big supporter even though you’ve never seen them and never played a show in their country. It takes a real fan to take part in something like Matthew Ebel dot net without knowing if you’ll ever actually get to SEE the artist you’re supporting, so I considered it a stone-cold honor to bump into Derrick.

The dinner afterwards sealed the day perfectly. NY Times best-selling author Julien Smith sponsored this indie rocker’s meal that night, and man am I grateful. I got to spend the final hours of the day talking with friends like CC Chapman, Chris Penn, Chel Pixie (who organized the dinner), Jeffrey Sass and his aspiring-rock-star son, and more. These kind of people create a notable change in conversation every time I’m around them. I’m usually among folks who create or manage technology- networking, storage, programming, etc. -but the people I ate dinner with are a different kind of cutting edge. They don’t make the tools, they use them in ways nobody else imagines. It’s refreshing to hear from people who are paving new roads using the toys that my other friends are crafting. It’s a hell of a perspective and I’m thankful for the opportunity to see all sides of the picture.

So here’s to the con-goers at 140 Characters. I hope to see you all next year!

Plans for backpacking over the Independence Day Weekend were thunderstormed out, but pockets of outdoor-friendly weather popped up here and there. Aaron and I went biking in lieu of hiking and took a few photos in the process…
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Also had a relaxing, pyrotastic and marhmallowriffic afternoon hanging out with C.C. Chapman, Chris Penn, Chel Pixie, Cass, Kim, and of course Roxie and Abe. And others! It was marvelous, exactly what I needed. Thanks, C.C., for opening your house (and a few beers). I’ve never eaten a bacon blanket before.

Hmm… I should probably be documenting stuff that’s happened up here in [tag]Rhode Island[/tag]. Sorry I’ve been a bit lax, there’s been a lot going on!

Our first week of shows were rather nice. The two days before the 4th were P to the A to the CKED. By 3pm both days it was a solid mass of meat, [tag]bikinis[/tag], and [tag]beer[/tag] undulating before the band shell. The two days after… were a bit sparse. Cooler weather rolled in and left us with a small but appreciative crowd (meaning high energy, low tips).

You should see how people rock out to [tag]Sweet Caroline[/tag] by [tag]Neil Diamond[/tag], though. It’s off the hook.

I’ll get some visuals soon, and kudos to [tag]Chris Penn[/tag] for lending us a video camera, too. Hopefully it’ll arrive on the island today.

Update: Oh yeah… if you want to check out a LONG conversation Kevin and I had about [tag]musicians rights[/tag] in the [tag]new media[/tag] world, catch the video here:
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I’m finally back from vacation and got tagged by [tag]Chris Penn[/tag] at the [tag]Financial Aid Podcast[/tag] to pick 5 [tag]podsafe songs[/tag] that’d make great [tag]music videos[/tag].

Okay, I’ll recuse my own songs except for one… filling the list with my own stuff would be exceptionally lame. However, I think one in particular would make a hell of a good video. If you had the patience to film it.

Anyhoo, here’s the list in no particular order:

• [tag]Latté Days & Porter Nights[/tag] by [tag]Matthew Ebel[/tag]
• [tag]She Walks By[/tag] by [tag]Mike Errico[/tag]
• [tag]Superhot Lady Cop[/tag] by [tag]Beau Hall[/tag]
• [tag]Sound Scientist[/tag] by [tag]bill[/tag]
• [tag]Hey Hey Sister[/tag] by [tag]Laura Clapp[/tag]

[tag]Stress[/tag] by [tag]Jim’s Big Ego[/tag] doesn’t count since it’s already got a killer music video. See for yourself.

Anyway, I’m not in the habit of “tagging” other people ’cause I normally abhor that kind of practice, but I definitely encourage you to put up your own list on your own blog. Let’s see whom you’d like to put on YouTube.

[tags]Blog Tag[/tags]