Wanted : endless time and money

www.Iamthemedia.com just launched today and I am very happy to have watched a few things unfold come to light and then it is done... Paul makes things happen. So i watched closely and became member #4.

I have only recently begun to listen to Paul Colligans podcasts on the reccomondation of Rob Walsh, whom i bumped into at the IN-OUT( PNME story #1 ). After i got back to my hotel room i connected to the internet and downloaded about 4 of Pauls podcasts and decided upon listening to the episode with Mignon Fogarty, GrammarGirl.

I went to the expo because of her story, and how it inspired me to consider possibilites of promoting myself, and others through a fun and creative channel. I had an idea for an existing client of mine but there were more questions than I could find answers to. In my mind my big sales pitch i could envision me saying "GrammarGirl", then i go to wikipedia and type in her name, then the iTunes music directory, etc... then ask my client if they want that kind of recognition? ah ha! ... the big sale ? Prolly not. More than likely just more questions about implementation, search engines, strategy, etc. my head hurt.

I had heard Mignon speak to other podcasters about her show, and had seen her interviewed before. But the questions i wanted answered, nobody was asking. Just fluff questions IMO. So i had to fly to California to get the answers from whomever, i had no intentions of thinking i would ever meet her.

That first night at PNME i heard the podcast, Paul Colligan talking with Mignon. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the questions flowed from Paul and how happy she was to answer them. Literally, in my hotel room i was blown away by the information she revealed and additional information she happily offered about profitable podcasting. I sat there and shook my head with disbelief, it was just that good, period, and clear and to the point. Paul makes interviewing sound easy.

It seems that nobody had ever been bothered to even ask her about how she made it work and the fact that she had actually been trying for a few years to make a profitable podcast and she wasn't just doing it for the hell of it!

That was it. I was hooked. and then the next day at the Podcast Academy i met Paul Colligan, he gave this great talk about who is the media, RSS and boxes that automatically download content, even for people that hate Apple, there is something for them. He introduced a box that blinks when there is new unwatched media on it. and i think the rest of it was a bit of a blur... blinking box, new media, transparency.

I had a eureka moment without the shovel to the back of the head. I tried to speak with him at the end and i sensed that he knew i was a greenhorn, sipping his soda, "hey kid, talk to you outside" he said to me.

Well the next thing i knew i was at the warm up party and this cute girl with a big smile comes up to me and says hello. It's GrammarGirl ! I am once again blown away by the coincidences, chances and opportunities that have just occured. It was only last night i was listening to a great interview by these two great people and now today i had just met both and could talk to them in person easily. I decided that i had to ask her about her interview with Paul and tell her what a great interview it was. Yes, she told me, nobody had bothered to go into the detail that Paul did.

Things happen, there are possibilites out there if you take a chance and let them happen. If you open the door of opportunity, and greet new information with open arms chances are you've just increased your potential to become a better person and to achieve greater things. I certainly feel like i have pushed my boundaries a bit more and my circle of comfort has become bigger. My sense of adventure is tweaked and i am signed up for podcamp boston, and VON.

Back to my "I am the Media" story.

I started to follow a bunch of folks on twitter, added a few to facebook, read what Chris Brogan was reading, Evo Terra, Greg Cangialosi, Kris Smith, GrammarGirl, Paul Colligan, Susan Bratton, Pistachio, Mobasoft, and others.. Started to visit the sites they were reccomending to look at for social network potential, Shelfari, goodreads, posting on Gregs blog, Pauls, Evo, and reading others. I love this stuff, i honeslty don't want to work, just read everything i can get my hands on.

So I am somewhat surrounded by people who are making things happen in the web world, it is exciting to me. A welcome change from being around the corporate and broadcast world. And i know when these folks say they are going to do something they do it. When Paul asked us about some input for his own plans I know who is going to follow, who is going to be there, where the site will go and its incredible potential by the simple fact that Paul has a huge network of the industries best and brightest and most motivated media aware people around.

I have no product to sell, I am not looking for editing work from these people, I am looking for positive inspiration and i am getting it from all these people. I don't know where tomorrow will take me. All i know is that I am hungry for information and communication. I know there is something great happening right now and we are all witnessing it, and we are all a part of it.

When i was a kid i played the piano, and the trombone. I always liked swing music and jazz. It wasn't until i was about 13 that I started to play Jazz, and listen to Count Basie and Oscar Peterson and others. At the age of 16 i was going to Oscar Peterson concerts, my hair standing on end listening to Oscar at the height of his game. When i was 20 i met him, he kicked me to one side of the piano and showed me a few things.

That same year i met Stevie Wonder and hung with him for hours, October 1986.. i heard amazing stories.

In university and at home I had read about the start of bebop, mowtown, studied ethnomusicology, and stared in amazment at the black and white textbook photos, my old jazz record album pictures of these players hanging out together, wearing suits, having casual fun. My all time favorite photo is from Count Basie Jam #2. Clarke Terry, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Al Grey, Joe Pass, and count basie with a cigar, and you know they are going out later skirt chasing. They got that look, and the music is them finishing each others solos, continuing the sentences. You know they hang out!

And the same first night in Ontario PNME, I heard Rob Walsh talk to Quincy Jones about the 'old days' and often even today i wished i was around to wittness this music and the everyday musicians that helped it along, driving in seatbeltless cars across the country germinating their own musical experiences in each place, each bar, with new people, fresh faces.

I missed those days of excitement and simplicity. i can only read about it now. Or hear a few old-timers talk about it.

I know with certainty that social network developers, media trend watchers, twitter junkies, and the like are all part of a seatbeltless instant s.networks, spreading the new "jazz" phenomena of conectedness.

Iamthemedia is something that is going to transform me, educate me and teach me how to blog, communicate, and hopefully earn a bit of a living in a new way. I know this will work even though i do not know all the details yet.

Endless time : to read everything and keep up to date on broadcast and video on the web.
Endless money : so i don't have to worry about the endless amounts of time i am spending reading about technology, and just plain fun on social networks.

Note to self : a blog like this might be better as an audio podcast.