Talent Floors Me

I have the best friends in the world. I say this all the time, but in point of fact, it's true. Case in point. This last Sunday evening we got an invitation from Patrick McClenahan to see Keith Urban and Sugerland at Staples Center (where the Lakers Play) here in LA. To be honest, I wasn't all that excited about seeing Keith Urban. I guess I had convinced myself that since he's married to Nicole Kidman, he must not be all that great. (never mind that there is no logic in this conclusion!)

When Sugerland backed out and was replaced by Lady Antebellum I was mildly depressed. I like "L.A." but I love Sugerland. What I wasn't prepared for was the talent and creative vision so apparent in the show.

I played guitar as a kid and I've spent a lot of my non-working hours both on, and back stage. I have a deep appreciation for what it takes to produce a quality, live event. Lady Antebellum was pretty good considering they had stepped in that day, so no lighting package was created, etc. Keith Urban was another story.

He's just flat out a virtuoso guitar player. He makes thing that are incredibly hard look easy. He's got amazing vocal range. He's got an incredible band (four other guitar players and a drummer who can all sing - and he lets them all do long solos during their introductions) and the staging, etc., was creative without taking away from the performances.

I sat there and thought about all that goes into that; the time rehearsing, caring about the details, writing the tunes in some cases and learning them in others, all of that stuff and just thought wow ... talent simply floors me.

For me, the best part of the whole thing was watching these guys perform together. They had a great time and their great time was infectious. What a great night ...

What inspires creativity?

Went last night to Blueman Group here in Las Vegas. Here's a show with three pretty odd looking guys who simply stand and look and dance and drum there way through 90 minutes of high energy creativity. Not a word was spoken, though many are used in the multimedia experience surrounding the stage. But there isn't a moment that could in any respect be called boring ...

It left me wondering ... What inspires this level of creativity. I mean, who sat down and thought, Hey! I know, we'll take three guys, paint their heads blue and have them drum on paint filled drums so the colors spray up in the air?

It's so much fun to sit and breath is in. To understand that there are people who have creative vision and who develop their talents to a level we mere mortals can't possibly hope to attain. I see it in some of my new customers photography. I read it in great books. I see it in paintings and in dance.

There are people who walk by these things and see them an never notice. Even people who sometimes come and sit and watch, and even exposed directly, are simply blinded by indifference. That's sad. Whether good or bad, art touches our soul when we let it and reminds us of the vibrance of life.

Off to the ACMs in Vegas

Recently we were having dinner with our friends Patrick and Karren McClenahan and they invited us to join them at this weekend's Association of Country Music awards. We jumped at the chance, with a quick, YES! So we're leaving in the morning for a quick Vegas round trip that will include BlueMan Group, the awards show, and dinner at SW Steakhouse and Mesa Grill. It's going to be pretty fun.

I told a friend we were going and he said something that got me thinking ... "I didn't even know you liked country music."

In truth, I don't know when I started listening to Country. It's been in the last few years though. When I got to thinking about why I had made the jump from classic rock and R&B which I used to flip back and forth between, I came up with three reasons.

As a musician, I appreciate the melodies, straight ABA - bridge construction of most country songs, and the instrumental balance of the recordings. As a father I appreciate the wholesome nature of most country music, and the wry humor of some of the songs that teeter on the edge. As an adult American male I appreciate the values espoused in country music; love of country, respect for those in uniform, respect for church, seasons of life.

I also appreciate the metamorphosis of country music. I have to admit that I still can't really relate to the classic country sound. Country music went through a big change. Though many resisted, its rise in popularity is the clear outgrowth of that change. There's a life lesson there. Change is good.

Onward.

What's next is what's important

I punched a democrat's name on the Presidential ballot for the first time in 20 years. I'm one of the 12 people who voted for Jimmy Carter in his first run against Reagan. I'm pretty sure this one will turn out differently. Barring any huge surprises, the first African American President will be elected today. I think that's a good thing. I don't think it will change the inter-racial landscape much, but I think it's a good thing.

I have to confess that I wasn't really all that happy about voting for Barrack. In an earlier note I indicated that the reason I was doing so had more to do with the VP candidates than the top name on the ticket, and that is still the case. I remain convinced that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president. If McCain had picked Joe Lieberman I would have voted for him. He didn't, I didn't, that's it. What's next is what's important.

Most people think the presidential election is the most important thing occurring today. It's not. The senatorial election is much more important. If the democratic party gets to 60 seats in the senate they can overrule the filibuster. With their majority in the house under Pelosy and 60 seats in the senate there would remain no viable checks against the democratic parties will. That's the republican party's fault.

In the last election the republican party missed a golden opportunity to begin to reconcile the gaps over the nation's issues. Instead of reaching across the aisle to create bonds and work together they publicly gloated. The deep rift this created became the unifying force the democrats needed to field a unified vote. It was foolish and short sighted and I am embarrassed by the party's leadership. They should be embarrassed today.

What's next is what's important. Will Barrack and Nancy be able to do what they promised? Will they field a national healthcare plan? Will they repair the US economy? Will they bring home the troops? For all of us, I hope so. To be sure, we'll see an interesting test of an opposite economic ideal. Bill Clinton railed against trickle down economics, but left the engine in place that drove it. This administration will do no such thing. Who knows, maybe that's a good thing. Like I said, it'll be interesting.

What's next is what's important ...

Shut Up and Lead

I was having lunch today and (as usual) listening more to the conversation behind me than the one I was in. I know - it's a bad habit - I'm working on it - yada, yada ....

Anyway, there were three guys sitting behind me talking about the economy. 'The stock market has lost 2 Trillion dollars in value in the last week and a half...'No banks are ever going to lend money again. 'The recession is going to last for years,' etc. By the time they asked for the check I was ready to pay their bill for them so they could just pack up their bags and march off to doomsday.

I'm probably the dumbest guy you ever met, but I don't think that's the right way to see all of this. Yes, the market is way down and that's bad. Yes, there is going to be a worldwide economic slowdown. Yes, some fortunes have been lost. I feel especially badly for people who's retirement was all in high growth stocks. Acknowledging all that, I still think there is another way to see this.

There is little question that the financial markets worldwide have been an overly efficient value-creating engine for the last several years. So much so that the value they created clearly outran the worth of the underlying companies. What we're seeing is first the acknowledgement of that and then the decrease of the markets associated with a loss of confidence in the system. It can be described with lots more words, but that's really the essence of it all.

What this means to me is that for the people with the guts to quit complaining and lead there is a massive opportunity looming. In the last several major market adjustments, going back to the depression, leaders who saw, grasped and drove opportunity created enormous wealth by getting ahead of the crowd during rebuilding. The funny thing is, I don't think that takes all that much luck or skill. I think most of these people simply chose to look for stuff to fix instead of dwelling on what was broken.

For all of us, the timing of the current market situation creates an opportunity, if we choose to see it in a different light. It's an opportunity to shut up and lead. To step up and cast a vision and give the people around us a cause for hope and to drive that energy into organizations that shine because in a time of pain and darkness they exhibit light.

To be sure, the path isn't easy. We have to be smart about the paths we take. The good news is, we are smart! We simply have to decide that we are going to focus on solutions instead of problems; on ups instead of downs. We have to take that message to the people we lead and we have to overcome the noise by showing people a way out. While the rest of the world sits around their own old town Pasadena lunch table dithering away the days with gloom and doom we'll be gathering momentum. By the time they look up, we'll be on our way. By the time they rally, we'll be gone.

I had a call today with an investor. I'm raising $5MM to get n54 moving. The guy I was talking to was in New York, in the financial center - the center of the maelstrom. He was interested in the technologies and I could tell he was intrigued, but I could also tell that he was a little troubled. We got to the end of the call and I said, "what's on your mind?" He said, 'look, I'll be honest, I think you guys have a good idea here and I think there is an opportunity. I'm just not sure what the economy means." I said, "Hey, here's the way I see it. For the companies that get their dollars now and get moving there will be an enormous opportunity. After 9/11 there were a few companies that got going fast and those companies were all big winners because the markets got everyone else distracted while they were blazing ahead. I want to do the same thing." There was a pause. He said, "that's a good way to see it and you're right."

I'm no genius and I'm not saying this to blow my horn. I'm saying it because this was a hardened investor in the middle of the market. He had every reason not to hear what I was saying. If I'd said nothing our conversations would have been over. I just took a different view and he listened. In a way I handed him a lifeline. We can all do that and if we do, we may start to crack the iced over stratosphere of potential ... At least that's the way I see it.

Onward!

Turn out the lights ... the party's over

Well, I guess, barring any major changes in direction between now and the election, I've made a decision.

It wasn't easy. As I referenced in my earlier notes I actually like both of these guys. That's a pretty major departure from the last few elections where I didn't like anyone. They're both straight shooters - or as straight as our screwed up system allows them to be. As hard as they've tried to disagree, they actually agree on more of the core issues. As different as they are, they're a lot the same. They just come at the world from two completely different places. Under different circumstances, I have a feeling they might have liked each other.

My vote won't count for much. I'm a registered republican in a democrat dominated region. When I go to the polling place on primary election days I don't have to wait in line, so there's an upside. I call myself a Lincoln republican. I guess I kind of take pride in that. In knowing what that means.

The truth though, is that I'm not sure Abe would recognize this republican party. Lincoln didn't exactly feel that the best way to ensure wealth, fairness and happiness was to leave everything up to the people. That's a misnomer. He felt that the best and most efficient way to govern was local. He wanted less power at the federal level and more power at the local level. He was neither terribly religious, nor terribly conservative. The plays he attended were usually pretty bawdy for the time. He loved to laugh and he was slow to condemn, even when he vehemently disagreed with an other's position. He freed the slaves, but he extended a free hand of reconciliation to the South. If he'd lived a lot of things would have been easier for folks below the Mason/Dixon line.

I think either John McCain or Barack Obama could make a good President. My democrat friends will sniff and look down their noses at me for that. McCain has made a career of being honorably centrist. His best friend in the senate is a democrat. He looks upon the Bush administration with real disdain. He would govern in a different way. I don't know if Obama is experienced enough to be President. Some of his statements seem very, uh, 'hopeful.' That said, he's damn smart and he's clearly a leader.

I think Joe Biden and Sarah Palin are also both good people. I hate Biden's politics. He is everything I've always opposed about the democratic party. Backed into a corner he attacks the person rather than the idea. He's done it for years and it's a part of his character. I think he was a horrible choice for Barack. Sarah Palin seems pretty straight forward. I believe her when she says she wants to work for reform. Like McCain, she's bucked the party line when she thought it was wrong. People scoff at her taking on big oil, but they shouldn't. In an oil state that took real courage.

In the end though, unless I get even more worried about a liberal landslide, I'll likely end up voting for Obama. I like his hopeful ideals. I like what his election would mean to black America and to the world. I don't vehemently disagree with most of his positions. None of these is the reason why I'd vote for him though. I'd vote for him because if John McCain dies Sarah Palin would be President, and she's not qualified. I may hate what Joe Biden stands for politically, but there is no question that he would be a capable standin in the event of a tragedy in the oval office. I admit that I worry about congress and a massive unprotected overreaction in the event of a landslide. I'm tired of being characterized as foolish by the mass of new democrats and their tide of change. I may end up voting for their man, but I do it with less enthusiasm because of the people who will also punch that ticket. That might be something to work on ...

An Interesting Couple of Months

Well how about that? Polling data out this morning indicates that John McCain and Barrack Obama have entered a statistical dead heat headed into the last two months of the campaign. Frankly I never thought that would happen.

I think two things are driving that. One, the recent conventions create a last man out dynamic that influences the polls. I doubt very much that the electorate represents the same numbers. (That's another way of saying I think the poll is wrong - but I think it may be directionally correct. The other piece is clearly the impact of the Vice Presidential candidates.

In a campaign where both candidates are competing on a platform of change, it is harder to accept Joe Biden as a VP candidate than it is to accept John McCain as a President. I honestly can't figure out why Barrack picked Biden. To me it was a horrible choice and it may cost him the election. As much as I hate Hillary, I would rather have seen him choose her. (I think he would have won in a landslide). Biden represents the old guard and has been the democrat's partisan pitbull in congress for years. McCain on the other hand has a history of reaching across the aisle to do the right thing by the electorate. They're the two old white guys. I like McCain more.

That's not to say that my mind is made up. It won't be until the debates. I would like to see a lot more substance from both sides. Obama's speech actually contained more substance than McCain's which was a surprise. Unlike most republicans, I'm not sure I'm such a huge Pallin fan. I think she did an outstanding job at the convention, but there are things about her that I don't like so much. The fact that her family is clearly experiencing some issues is high on that list, and that would be true whether she was a man or a woman.

All of this said, at the moment for me McCain is leading, but by a slim margin and that based more on his record than anything else. There was something about his "stand up America" call at the end of his speech that was really exciting. It didn't come with the emotional X factors that Obama delivered, and those are important, but it came from a man who has fought in congress for an awfully long time for what he believes in, whether his party liked it or not, and that's got to mean something.

JC