If for some reason - and I don’t know why you would - you RSS Feed this blog - check it - because I’ve moved my site to its own hosting. So if you link to www.scottstead.com, great - you’re fine.
If you link to scottstead.wordpress.com - tough luck - please remap yourself - and hey I wrote a new blog post about my journeys in blogging and social media.
Check it out.
Cheers,
Scott
So, I ‘ve realized that I haven’t made any progress on the blogging front. The fact of the matter is that I haven’t made progress on much of anything I’ve set out to do this year - aside from work, work, hit the bar after work, and try and make some new friends (half of which I’ve made at said bar). I’ve taken Halloween and the two following days off of work and I truly hope to get some things accomplished. Item number 1: Get all of the tech junk I’ve accumulated over the years out of my room, up and working, and on e-bay. I keep putting off buying a nice camera for lack of spare funds - but it’s time. Goodbye multitude of spare computers and parts. Farewell oh plethora of repaired LCD televisions (they’re really nice but seriously who needs 5 seventeen inch LCD tv’s). See ya later barage of random guitar pedals and processors. Mr. Crate amplifier that has blown circuitry…I’d love to fix you, but the truth is I’d rather give you to someone who has the time and buy a new one. I’ll have you know that you’re all contributing to the future of, well, me…my new pressing hobby (making video for the web, writing, and just generally engulfing myself in Media Making). It’s been a good run - but it’s about time you fella’s (and ladies - the LCD’s are too cute to be boys) had a better home, one where you’re used to the fullness of your abilities. Cheers.
Aside from selling and buying stuff - like a good consumer should, I need to go sign up at the Washington Sports Club. After having lost 80 lbs. my junior year of college and getting down to 175lbs., blowing out my knee a year before I moved here, and then working constantly and otherwise sitting on my ass - I’ve subsequently gained 20-30lbs of that mass back. It bothers me. I don’t feel healthy. My smoking has gone through the roof with the vast amount of stress that moving to D.C. and working my pants off to try and save some cash to pay off loans and maybe get a down payment on a house (that’s a big MAYBE). So yeah. Quit smoking. Work out. Get healthy. Feel better. Work on movies, videos, blogging, writing, reading, movie reviewing and all of the things this blog is supposed to be about.
Learn. Teach. Post. Always be moving forward. That’s my new credo.
So wish me luck and a Happy Halloween to all.
Cheers,
Scott Stead (Idea Machine…hopefully this will be a more productive winter than last.)
I truly hope you enjoy my first vlog. This was shot with a tiny SD camera from a company called Supacam. It was a huge pain to get everything into Final Cut and rendered out - but it was a demo from work. The music is the Halo Benders, “Virginia Reel Around the Fountain”…because I know Doug Martsch would totally be down with this. Regardless, I hope to post many more of these in the future. Thanks for checking it out.
It all started in November 2006. The midterm elections were in full force: debates, interviews, propoganda, candidates shaking hands and kissing babies, mudslinging-dirt-digging-campaign-adds, and, of course, network news coverage of all-of-it. I was fortunate enough to be privy to CNN’s election coverage at a local DC watering hole, the Cafe Tryst in Adams Morgan. We planned, we prepped, we set up, we tore down…and somewhere in the middle we invited bloggers from all over the country to come hang out, sit down and share their perspective of the election coverage for the duration of the evening.
There was something about it. The interactivity. The culture. The climate. The sense of community that was created. Watching people respond to every little event that occurred that night, right down to our incredible IT staff handling some last minute “who decided to share their internet connection and drag our band width down” issues. People were hanging out and drinking coffee, chatting in semi-circles, sitting side-by-side and broadcasting the event in their own words to the masses right along side their Mass Media counterparts that invited them out for the event. I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to run home, jump on my PC and partake in the conception of ideas, the paying witness to, and the new community of digital denizens shouting from the roof(lap)tops. I wanted to be a blogger.
Knowing what you want to do and knowing how to do it are two different things all together. It wasn’t a week later that I noticed a posting on DC’ist about a new group getting together in the district called DC Media Makers. Live in DC. Check. Media. Love it. Maker. Ahhh, there’s the catch. That’s what I want to do. Not sure how to swing it. So I went, and met, and checked it out. I made some connections. And I’ve been digging in ever since. So were this a how-to, which I’m pretty sure it’s not — I’d recommend joining a group like this because it seriously helps to a) foster your creativity b) hone your skills and c) just makes you DO IT.
What it all comes down to is having a passion, pursuing it, and making connections. Through meeting people “in the know and how” I’ve followed advice, and links that lead me to more advice and more links that have generally filled my brain and bookmarks tab beyond capacity. I’ve toyed with Jott, Twitter, MindMeister, Protopage, Jaiku, del.icio.us, JumpCut, Avacast, UStream, and other toys/sites. I’ve visited the blogs and vlogs of Steve Garfield, Jay Dedman, Jonny Goldstein, Jill Foster, Andy Carvin, Carl Weaver, Chris Brogan, Rupert Howe, Bryper, Mark Cuban, Ze Frank, Rocketboom, JetSet, TechCrunch, Galacticast, Blogotheque, TVNewser, FishbowlDC, Wonkette, Lost Remote, Huffington Post and a host of others (this could literally go on forever).
So right now I’m absorbing and retooling. Thinking and writing off the blog - which I hope to translate at some point to blog worthy postings and eventually video blogs. I’ve got some ideas I’m kicking around that I’d like to see come to fruition and hopefully with a little luck, a lot of motivation, and a push from my muse I’ll be rolling in no time.
My goals as of current are to: a)write a meaningful posting a week b)buy a dvcam so i can get rolling with the video end of things and c) develop my own thematic content and or style.
So friends, wish me luck and keep on blogging on your own - YOU all are my inspiration.
Cheers,
scottstead
so here i sit - watching the VT story unfold. i’m watching the coverage on CNN. i’m watching my newly acquired twitters popping up in my IM. Andy Carvin (npr) and Jim Long (nbc) firing away new information every couple of minutes. cnn i-report has been playing video from Jamal Albarghouti a VT Student (now i-reporter) all morning. they keep reporting that it’s had over 120,000 hits since they first threw it up on the web. i’m watching this from so many angles. i need to at some point after the fact throw up a timeline of how i took all of this in. jim reported 30 deaths an hour ago. now we’re looking at 32 or more. talk of the nation has a rolling blog pointing to CollegeMedia.com which “includes a timeline of events on the campus, and a graphic that shows the shootings locations.” so i’m not sure what to take away from all of this - except that i’ve got so many ways of taking it all that it’s almost overwhelming. i’m on the inside-looking out, and at the sametime on the outside looking in. the power is in our hands to report from anywhere - this is the new media - and once i throw it all together - i feel like i might be able to come to some kind of truth about the whole thing. more late…i’ve more reading/watching to do.
What do you want me to say? After speaking with the girl that answered the phone at the Black Cat circa 20 after 5 – after 25 minutes of attacking ticket bastards website in total anticipation with a bad case of the jitters, I was disheartened to the tune of – “nope it sold out in under 4 minutes”… So much for the D-plans resounding chorus of “you are invited – for all times”. And by all means I was invited, however it appears that my inability to speedily type in those damn mystic hieroglyphs that are supposed to translate into a random string of numbers and letters to allow me to purchase tickets to said show left me invited to hang out outside the black cat and hope that an extra ticket lands in my lap. I was however – at the end of the convo with the lovely lady on the other end of the line left with a gleam of hope in that she said “Well we are most likely going to have a second show.” So fingers crossed – lets see if I (just like you) snag tickets for another great show from the band I last saw in 2003 in Pittsburgh just before the breakup. There’s a life of possibilities.
Update:
As if prayers were answered with such expedience, the Post (employer of D-Plans frontman Travis Morrison) report that in fact there is going to be a second show. Set the date folks - April 27th. The date we’re all waiting for (the milisecond tickets go on sale) is still up in the air however. Best luck in round two.
Photo Courtesy Flickr User Coldbrains
8:00pm It was a cold, cold night - well below freezing. I roll down Constitution and start shooting up streets in the 20’s for the Kennedy Center looking for parking. Much to my chagrin I end up on 19th and E. Starbucks? Nah. It’s not that cold. Four blocks later my hands are made of stone; I’ve got my scarf wrapped around my face and forehead at this point. Jane call’s. “I’m almost there boo…fingers…freezing…gotta go.” At this pointing I’m thinking it wasn’t half as cold waiting for the tickets as it was walking to the actual performance.
8:15pm Holy hell, fingers red and achy. Find Jane in the hall of nations, along with some Target reps - a hell of a lot of champagne (free) and some free playing cards with photos from the previous Millennium Stage performances. Pretty cool - and I can always use a deck of cards. Aviva arrives shortly thereafter, after some confusion as to which side was the hall of states vs nations. And where am I dragged to? Target hell (or heaven) - depending on your perspective. Upstairs (while not widely known to everyone downstairs apparently) there was a room lit up red like the fires of hell - temptations at every turn - chocolate fountains, pretzels (for the dipping), chocolate cookies, cake, Rice Krispies treats, and all sorts of loose white chocolate covered pretzels, m&m’s, liquorice, Swedish fish, etc. So yeah, filled a waffle cone (the girl filled her pockets) and we ran…
8:40pm So it’s time to figure out who the lucky recipient of the “Golden Ticket,” as it was referred to the rest of the night, would be. I took a stretch down the sidewalk from hall to hall looking for a cold, lonely person wanting a ticket oh-so-badly and to no-avail. It looked as though security took care of ticket panderers. I walked back down the sidewalk - sucked-back a cigarette before I freeze to death and headed for the big screen areas in the mob/mass of people sitting and awaiting the beginning of a show they waited (most likely) outside in the cold for a week earlier. In a mousy sort of way, as not to create a mob, I assert that I have a ticket, “Does anyone need a ticket, I’ve got an extra here.” Most everyone there was in 2’s or 3’s and couldn’t seem to seperate from their significant other/s. Aviva points out someone hiding out directly behind me, jaw dropped to the ground, sitting in a stupor at the idea that there’s a ticket just hanging out in front of him, waiting to be given away. I turn. I ask him if he’d like it. He asks me, “Why are you giving me this.” I said it was extra - he smiled HUGELY and ran (not a fast walk, he ran) to get in. Shit balls! The lights are flashing and now I realize why he’s running - we dash. Down the center, to the left…and yeah. Amazing seats. And I get a pat on the back and another smile (the guy grinned the whole show) from the benefactor of our altruism. (At no point did I consider selling the tix for an exorbitant price on Craig’s List. There’s just way too much bad karma around it.)
…so here’s t he question that lingers in my mind. So we got lucky and got some tickets. It was utter chaos even at 8am and people were wandering up with coffee - no way to tell who had/hadn’t been there and the line started to form. I wasn’t about to try and figure out who was who - I just hung out - didn’t move and I GOT tickets. Standing and listening to the mob talking about how they were deciding who had/hadn’t been waiting all night by whether their hair was washed or not was amusing. I’m seriously wondering at this point if the people ALL the way at the end of the line have done the math or if its more of a ‘how scene am i’ thing. The question stands: is there some kind of unspoken-die-hard-requirement of get there 26 hours pre-ticket-give-away to ensure tickets if you’re a “fan”. Regardless - I don’t have the time or energy to be a part of that - there’s no place reserved in my brain for empathy for music elitists (those that got the tickets and bitched about people that hadn’t camped, nor those that didn’t get tickets and flamed all over dc’ist and craigslist about (a) not getting tickets or (b) people that waited, got them, and then tried to sell them for exorbitant prices (subquestion, how much is your time worth? if i waited 24 hours, hell, if i waited 2 hours for tickets in the freezing cold, my time might be worth $300 bucks too) - anyway I came, I waited, I gots me some tickets. Oh yeah. (Note: In response to my own commentary here I will say that I do believe that scalping the tickets does oppose everything that the free concert series stands for - but still - not everyone shares the same set of values. To each his/her own. ’nuff said.
So - as far as I can compile, from memory and a compendium of friends memories this is the setlist as follows:
1. concerning the UFO sighting…
2. detroit, lift up your weary head!
3. casimir pulaski day
4. counting song
5. sleeping bear, sault st marie (first live performance)
6. chicago
7. the predatory wasp of the pallisades
8. seven swans
9. majesty snow bird (unreleased)
I don’t want to try and wax musical-officianado on this so I’m going to put it simply. His intricate rhythms, the softness of his voice, the magnificence of the orchestra, the delicate twinkling of the celesta, the pounding of the bass, the drums playing against and with sufjan, at-times-out-there time signatures made for a mix I doubt I’ll get to see again. It was a very unique experience, truly, from the dynamics that the Millenium Stage opera house creates, to the simple fact that I’ll probably never see Sufjan in a tie again. All in all - I’d do it again - and no number of swans could stop me. Thank you Kennedy Center, and thank you Sufjan.
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