SiL

We’re ramping up our video efforts at work, and that means more Youtube. We’re calling it the CUNY Channel. A lot of these are lectures, interviews with profs and the like. In our office, we lovingly call this one “Chicken Man.” It is one of my favorites and not only because I shot it along with Young Cheong from Brooklyn College. While we’re giving out credit the video was produced by Cathy Jedruzek and edited by Jonathan Park.

The fact that Metuchen, NJ has a pub might not seem like breaking news, but trust me, it is. Hailey’s Harp and Pub’s newly open door, located at 400 Main Street in Metuchen, NJ, has made many residents very, very happy.

From Metuchenmatters.com:

They’re open with a minimal menu for now but the place looks fabulous and everyone there is as excited as everyone is in town. Amy Brooks will feature a few pieces of original glass art inside the restaurant as well – there are 100 nice community stories surrounding the Pub. The grand opening will be announced for later in the month but be sure to stop by during Saturday’s fair.

I already posted about Indie Music Night, so let me cut to the chase. The next one is October 10, 6pm-9:30pm at the Griggstown Pavilion in Princeton Township (not borough), NJ . Admission is a donation, and baked goods and coffee are $1. From the Indie Music Night Myspace page:

The evening leans towards and eclectic array of singer/songwriters and bands. We tend to get an attentive, well behaved, clean, and “freakishly attentive” audience of 50 or more. They like walks on the beach and red wine. The show is hosted by singer/songwriter Sarah Donner with her sidekick sound man Handsome Joseph McLean. Very casual, rustic, cozy, and Norwegian.

DIRECTIONS to GRIGGSTOWN PAVILION:

From Princeton: Take Rt. 1 North, Take jughandle left onto New Rd. (by Red Roof Inn), Follow New Rd. down a few miles and cross over Rt. 27. This becomes Bunkerhill Rd. Continue a 1.5 miles past golf course and Lutheran Church. Take left onto Washington Ave. The Pavilion is the yellow building set back off the road on the right.

From New Brunswick: Take Rt. 1 South, Take right onto New Rd. and follow directions above.

The Pavilion is next door to 373 Bunkerhill Rd., Princeton, NJ 08540

So my experiment with an online community newspaper for Edison, NJ yielded mixed results. Of the successes, I was able to create a completely aggregated online newspaper. On the not-so-successful side, content is still king and relying purely on aggregation still requires a great deal of effort.

Edison Informer became a victim of a long, long to do list that includes work, raise a baby, learn MySQL (and related geek things) and apply to MLIS programs. To make the aggregation really work, the incoming feeds should be carefully edited (or to use the buzzword du jour, “curated“). This proved to be too labor intensive for this one man band.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here is Jeff Jarvis talking about aggregation in a surprisingly low quality video:

OK, dude, if you are going to interview a “guru,” a don’t use a couple of dirty jackets as a backdrop. A microphone might be nice also.

In the meantime, www.edisoninformer.com redirects here, at least for now. But, true believers, don’t worry about the implications. Silradio.com will live on (for better or for worse).

In my review of Indie Music Night I was a little cheap on the love for Kate Klim, Christopher Morse and Kiernan McMullan..

Kate, Chris, Kiernan, let me make it up to you.

The very cute Kate Klim,

Christopher Morse playing Super Me.

And finally Kiernan McMullan, whom I should add closed out the evening and had more than a few loyal fans in the audience.

kiernan MCMULLAN – Grace and Love from beyond MEASURE productions on Vimeo.

Sarah Donner has a great idea. Find the best in indie acoustic rock, book them in a rustic community space in Princeton, NJ, and charge nothing. Then, as if that isn’t sweet enough, do it again in a month.

I went last Saturday (August 29) for the first time .The out of the way location, a park in the Griggstown area of Princeton, gives no indication of what is in store. You would expect something like this in, say, Park Slope, Brooklyn. But driving down a side street in a bedroom community, I could not help but think I was lost. I saw some parked cars, walked to a little cabin one might expect to find at a sleep-away arts camp and was promptly blown away.

All the acts were fantastic, but the two standouts came early– Amy Campbell and Scott Krokoff.

I’ve been a fan of Krokoff for some time, but had not seen or heard his live act. His CD, A Better Life boasts rich, complex layers and a production quality seldom heard on an indie album. Krokoff live was a different animal. Gone were the backing musicians and the Hammond B-3. But what your were left with is the beautiful stripped-down optimism of an ex-tax attorney who left the rat race to follow his dreams.

Amy Campbell paralleled the event itself, an unexpected pleasant surprise. Her music, and her sexiness, is subtle but captivating. It was captivating enough for me to plunk down $20 for a couple of CDs and that’s saying a lot because I’m a cheap bastard. Heck, I figure if Amy can come all the way from Canadia I could throw down a couple of bucks.

Here’s a less than stellar quality video of the stellar Amy Campbell.

Amy, I’m sorry the video sucks. Hopefully the next time I see you I’ll have an iPhone.

Also rocking this particular evening were Kate Klim, Christopher Morse and Kiernan McMullan.

Sarah Donner, the evening’s hostess, showed off her stuff near the end of the night. Indie Music Night’s rotating line-up of talent is a selling point, but Sarah’s on and off stage charm and happy, energetic set makes a perfect anchor that makes me want to come back month after month.

I must give this one word of warning– the “bathroom” is worse than the one at the old CBGBs. Yes, it is possible, but only because it is an outhouse.

Indie Music Night is located at The Griggstown Pavilion, 373 Bunkerhill Rd (next door to it), Princeton, New Jersey. The next show is 9/26/2009 6:00 PM.

Marketing guru Marta Kagan must have been asked “What the F**K is Social Media?” more than a few times in her career. It prompted her to create her presentation “What the F**k is Social Media?.” It quickly became a viral hit. Mashable reports that Kagan has come out with a part deux, “What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later.”

Here it is, for your social viewing pleasure:

What do your online friends mean to you? For Lisa Wolk, they mean everything. Lisa, one of my 250 or so Facebook “friends” has embarked on what she calls “My Social Network Road Trip.” As she explains on her blog:

Life experience and made-for-TV movies have taught us what “friendship” means. But what does it mean to be an online friend? I’m putting my social networks to the test by letting them plan my cross-country road trip. The places I stop, where I stay, what I eat – will all be decided by my online network of friends.

But apparently even web democracy has its limits. I employed my power as part of her social network and suggested she visit Edison, NJ on the way to her planned first stop in Philadelphia. Her response? “Wish I could – but I am without a car so I’ll be taking the bus to PHL to grab my rental car. ”

Ouch. Dissed and dismissed.

After a small, yet catastrophic incident, we are back. What happened? While working on a new project, I overwrote the entire database for SIL Radio. Thank goodness for automatic backups.