Happy birthday Tanya Davis! (@netchick)

I had been reading Tanya Davis (aka NetChick)’s blog for a long while even before I met her in person. The first time we actually got to hang out was at my very first Third Tuesday, a very popular event she organizes every month in Vancouver that gives the social media/PR community a chance to listen to specialists in various topics asociated with technology, internet marketing, etc. Tanya and I have grown to become very good friends. She is smart, geeky and very sweet. And of course, as you know, Tanya is the culprit that I am such a fan of Rock Band! Her parties are epic and Tanya’s company has always been very good to my soul. On this day, dear Tanya, I hope you have a wonderful birthday, I am hoping you are enjoying the last leg of your Alaskan cruise. I am proud of you as you’ve made some pretty damn important decisions (including your new home acquisition) in the past few months. You’ve grown SO MUCH! All the best and much love.

Music: Sky (Canadian duet)

Long time ago, when I first moved to Canada, I had a chance to listen to a Canadian duet who were playing this amazing music, pop, maybe kind-of-top-40s. Montreal-based Sky were, if you might, my first Canadian music loves. If you’ve listened to my Blip.fm playlist you’ll see that I like pop, happy, dancey songs. Sky was the kind of duet I enjoyed listening to, not only for their music, but also because they made me feel very Canadian. Remember, they emerged right about when I first moved to Canada, so at the time, I was searching for ways to connect to my new home, and Sky’s songs sort of felt very Canadian, for whatever reason.

These two are my absolute favorites – You (with Anastasia as the female counterpart) and Love Song (with James, one of the original two male leads). Both were Canadian # 1 top hits in the charts.

On Blip.fm I found a better sounding version of Love Song, which you can listen to by clicking here.

@PaddlingGeek wants you to join a Twitter Dragonboat team

Kimm sent me an email recently asking whether I’d be interested in joining a DragonBoat team composed of Twitterers. Sadly, I can’t join, but here is a modified version of her tweet (gives the details).

I was curious if you and or anyone you’d know be interested in joining a dragon boat team this summer of all twitters? There is a fundraiser (BC Childrens Hospital Paddle for Kids) at the end of August this year that raises money for the BC Childrens. At this event people don’t have to be a pro at paddling but just have fun. Now we just need 20-24 people interested … there will be a fee to join …. to help pay for attending the event and boat rental. 9 weeks of once a week practices.. a water tweet up??

Let me or Kimm know if you’d be interested in joining. For more information on the BC Childrens Paddle for Kids event you can click on the link.

My recent Social Media Club Victoria talk: “Towards an Action-Focused Agenda for Social Change Using Social Media” (#smcvictoria) @smcvictoria

I mentioned on my blog a few weeks back that Catherine Novak had kindly invited me to speak to the audience at the Social Media Club Victoria’s monthly gathering. I was more than delighted. It was such a great experience. Very good for my soul, provided me a chance to feel renewed and recharged. Thanks to Greg and Pat Aspa who were my kind hosts overnight, and to everyone I met there. I really should come back soon. In the mean time, for those interested in knowing what I spoke about, here is my (Creative Commons licensed – Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative, Share-Alike) slide deck. I don’t have the time to publish a crib of my talk, may do that sometime soon, but not now. Enjoy! Comments always welcome, of course.

Happy birthday, Nadia Nascimento! (@nalei)

Proving that sexy and smart are not in conflict with one another, my friend Nadia Nascimento is one of the sweetest and smartest women in social media out there. We share many things in common. We both are very appreciative of our heritages and background, we are deeply committed to the social media community in Vancouver and all over Canada, and we both thoroughly enjoy creating deep and meaningful connections with friends and people all around town and worldwide. I have really fond memories of one time when I was feeling down (after a Launch Party that we held at Unwined), Nadia approached me and told me “hey Raul you know that I’ll always be there for you, day or night, feel free to call me and let’s just hang out and talk stuff, life”. That gesture made such an impact in my mood that I couldn’t help but smile all the way on the bus ride back home. Nadia, I thoroughly enjoy our friendship and I look forward to seeing you when you get back from Next Media. Much love and happy birthday.

Roger Federer wins French Open 2009

I’m a big tennis fan (and I play tennis myself, though not as competitively as I do volleyball) and I had been following Roger Federer‘s career for a while now. After Pete Sampras’ and Andre Agassi’s retirement, I sort of lost interest in following male tennis players (although Novak Djokovic is really good too). Moreover, with Monica Seles out of the game, tennis has taken a back-burner kind of place in my priorities for the very limited amount of TV I watch. Roger Federer, however, is a great champion and someone who inspires me. He is emotional, fights fiercely and never gives up. Moreover, he did a phenomenal run at the 2009 French Open. With Rafael Nadal (his nemesis) out of the picture, Roger really applied himself. After losing last year’s Wimbledon, I am sure a lot of people wrote Federer off. But he is definitely still a fantastic champion. He reached the same number of Grand Slams won as the greatest of them all, Pete Sampras. And he still has potential to win more. I am SO very happy for Roger having won the French Open. He is truly a deserving champion. It was fantastic to see Roger crying tears of happiness. And the runner up was such a gracious loser, he definitely took things in stride. Admittedly, I also have a soft spot for both Paris and the French Open. I left my heart and soul in Paris and I plan to come back to collect!

On being myself

A few posts ago, my dear friend Erika Rathje asked me how do I answer to anybody who asks what I write about. I’ve always been honest in saying that I write about myself. That’s exactly what my blog is about.

I’ve been writing on this canvass for almost 3 and a bit years. I have exposed some of my most intimate thoughts. I have built a community of people around my beliefs. I have shared what I believe in. I am exactly the same person in real life, there is no “brand” or “image” around it.

This is who I am. Sensitive, smart, geeky, but more than anything, I am someone (as my Dad very wisely said) whose capacity to think is only surpassed by his capacity to love.

I am brilliant, I know that. I am talented, I am hot and I am sweet. I just need to move to the next step. Here is a toast to that next step, whatever it may be.

Volunteers needed for Car-Free Festival (@CarFreeYVR)

Via my friend J. Karen Parker, I learned that the organizing committee of Car Free Festival Vancouver (full disclosure – Karen is on the committe) is in search of awesome volunteers. From the email of one of the organizers to Karen, here is what they need. Please consider helping out.

Please take a minute to check in with your friends, family, coworkers, yoga buddies, dental hygienists, neighbours and coffee barristas about them doing a 2-hour shift for us. I really, really need barricaders for 4-6 and especially 6-8, always hard shifts to fill.

This request is for the Denman Street area, but I am well aware that since the festival has expanded on Main from 12th Avenue to King Edward, they’ll need people too. If you are willing to help (in either the Denman Street or Main Street areas), please drop a comment or contact me via my contact form and I’ll inform the organizers. Thanks!

Thanks!

7 Questions with Mojave

One of Vancouver’s best indie bands, and a favorite in our fair city, Mojave is definitely a musical force to be reckoned with. Having recently launched their second album (you can read from my friend Pat Zaph about that) and already being interviewed by my friend Rebecca for one of the best online magazines, E! Online, I can tell you that Mojave is already on their way to superstardom. I love their music and I’m a big fan. More importantly, they are a very positive force in the local Vancouver music and environmental community.

I asked Paul and LJ to answer my 7 Questions series and here are their responses.

1. I am a big fan of eco-minded folks, but you guys really have taken it to heart. You are vegan, and you have made the ecology and environment an integral part of your lives. How did you guys start with this and how has this influenced your music?

Well, we are not separate from nature, regardless of how we’’ve built our society or how we sometimes think our lives are disconnected from the planet. We don’’t live outside the system; we are part of the system of nature. Every living thing that exists on earth is part of nature -– including humans. So nature is no more a resource than slaves were hundreds of years ago. We should not be allowed to own it, to use it recklessly or to treat it without respect. The earth has rights, like all of us, so it deserves fair and just treatment, and should be inhabited in a way that isn’’t harmful or detrimental. Once we realized this, we started changing all aspects our lives to be more conscious about the impact every decision has – and involve that consciousness in every band decision (touring, CD packaging, etc).

As far as how it influences our music, not every song is about hugging trees or dismantling car companies (although we sometimes speak more about environmentalism on stage). It’s more subtle than that – and typically the lyrics we write speak about change and being thoughtful in a more general sense.
– Paul

2. Social media brought us together (and hat tips to Miss604 for introducing us too!). You maintain your online presence not only tweeting about your music, but also engaging with folks on their own blogs and twitter, and so on. How do you think this has impacted how broadly your music is disseminated?

The music industry is changing, and while most big labels thing it’s a bad thing – I love it. Being an impossible to reach “rockstar” just won’t cut it anymore, and bands that are really doing well are doing so because they actually engage their fans in one-to-one conversation.

The way i approach twitter is that it’s not for me to promote my band with, it’s more for me to talk to people – and I happen to be a band. So while I definitely promote our shows and albums, most of the time I’m just chatting with folks about everyday things that interest me.

From that approach, I really think our band has been well received in the social media community – because we are accessable, talkative and completely interested in two-way conversation. There are so many bands that just use things like twitter and myspace to tell their audience their marketing message, and I just think people tune that sort of thing out.
– Paul

3. I’m definitely not a music writer, but I love music. If you had to explain it to me in sort-of-mainstream comparison with groups/singers, whom would you say are the main influences of your music and sounds?

That’s the best thing about music – you don’t have to know anything about it to appreciate it (and it’s completely universal)! For LJ and I, our musical backgrounds are hard rock and heavy metal, so our influences are still bands like that – KillSwitch Engage, Vanna, Deftones, Tool… but we really listen to a bit in every genre. Lately we’ve been listening to a lot of City & Colour, Bon Iver, Calexico, Iron & Wine, Sigur Ros.

I would say though that our music and sound is more influenced by emotion than music. That’s really what i like about writing – if you’re feeling a certain way, writing a song, lyrics, a guitar riff, etc, can help purge that emotion and help you deal with it.
– Paul

4. You shared with us your creative process on Twitter, even during Earth Hour Canada (something I found super-awesome). How does engaging your fans with your music work during the writing/editing process? Does it influence the final result?

Engaging our fans for the entire process was basically AWESOME. We’ve had so many positive comments about it, and it was genuinely fun to do. The only impact on the final result is that (I hope) it makes people more stoked to see what the final result is, since they’ve been part of the journey with us the whole way.

Most of the time in the studio, one person is recording something, and the rest of the band is waiting – so in the “waiting” time, it’s easy to snap a few photos, update twitter, or write a blog post.
– Paul

5. I had a chance to listen to “Your Silence Betrays Me”, and I fell in love with it. The lyrics are rather empowering – what is the inspiration behind it?

I usually write the lyrics but for this album Paul contributed quite a bit. It was nice because for some of the songs the messages shared two points of few to the same situation, and ‘Your Silence Betrays You’ was one of those.

The song is about how easy it is to talk about how you wish things were different but people don’t always make any effort in being part of the change. It’s not about sitting around, waiting and praying for things to be different -nothing happens until you have the courage to make it happen.
– LJ

6. If you had to pick your favorite song from Crow’s Funeral, which one would be?

The song ‘Crows Funeral’ means the most to be emotionally. There are always times when we question ourselves and sometimes our insecurity gets the best of us and we want to give up. This was a song about one of those moments in my life. Plus I got to play banjo on it:) That was a lot of fun!
– LJ

7. Where are you headed next? Tell me a bit about your next shows (and by the way I loved the bit in Spanish in “Save Me”)

Thank you! ‘Save Me’ is always such a fun song to play live. Learning to speak Spanish is one of my goals in life. It’s such a beautiful language. We’ve got a ton of shows coming up this year, this month we’ve got one at The Cellar is not to be missed…we have a little surprise… – 8pm at The Cellar on June 24th.

– LJ

So there you have it! Head over to The Cellar on June 24th for their next gig… I *might*, I just *might* be able to pull something fun for my readers!

LunchBox, the official caterers of Mental Health Camp #mhc09

This post is a follow up of Mental Health Camp, but it wasn’t until recently that LunchBox had launched their website. So, that’s why it’s so late here. Thanks to Darren Barefoot, we were able to meet up with the BC Mental Health Foundation Executive Director, Dee Dee Sung, to discuss the possibility of sponsorship for lunch. For both Isabella and myself, it was very important to provide lunch at Mental Health Camp.

Sharing a meal is such a bonding experience, and we knew that people would be tired if we didn’t have a break (and their glucose level would drop to dangerous levels without food). So we searched around for the best catering company in town. We wanted someone who sourced local ingredients, who might potentially employed sustainable practices and a small local entrepreneurial shop. After a recommendation of Bradley Schende (M2O) we settled on LunchBox.

When I contacted LunchBox about catering to our event and informed them that we had a certain limit to the budget we were able to spend, they were very generous to sponsor the remainder through a generous discount. This gift was very substantive and we were extremely grateful that combined the generous support of the BCMHF and LunchBox, we were able to provide a free, delicious and nutritious lunch to every participant at Mental Health Camp.

I wanted to thank again the BC Mental Health Foundation for sponsoring lunch, and to LunchBox for so generously giving us a great discount that allowed us to cover food costs with the support of BCMHF. From the feedback we received at MHC’09, 56% of the participants absolutely loved it, and 22% liked it a lot, so with over a 75% rate of ‘Excellent’ I would feel strongly about recommending LunchBox if you have any local catering needs. They were also extremely well located for our needs as their office and small restaurant is located right on Railtown (across from the offices of Invoke Media).

What are your weekend plans?

I am lucky to live in one of the prettiest cities in the world. Vancouver’s weather may be rainy 80-90% of the year, but when it’s sunny, it’s sunny! Right now I think I’m even willing to say that I’m up for a tiny bit of rain to cool us off! At any rate, tomorrow is LatinCouver’s launch party and Sunday I am going to a BBQ organized by The Lazy Gourmet (a restaurant that uses OceanWise-approved fish). Then, Sunday evening I have my usual and traditional JT time. But I think I’m going to have to work all weekend regardless. What I plan to do is not to allow myself to be double or triple-booked again. Some of my good friends are going on holiday this week and that’s kind of fun. Others are already on holiday, and overall, it looks like people are having a good time.

Now, on to YOU… what are YOU doing this weekend?

Sins of the City Tour (Vancouver Police Centennial Museum)

I’m always lucky to be blessed with amazing friends, and Chris Mathieson (the Executive Director of the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum) is one of them. We had talked about me possibly attending a Tweetup “Sins of the City Tour”, where a group of people from the local Twittersphere would be roaming the streets of Vancouver and listening to historical musings of our fair city’s criminal past.

I knew I was overbooked with work, but Chris (always a gentleman and always having my back) ensured that I scored a spot in this most amazing walking tour. Many of my local friends, including the good folks from Mojave, Gus and Russ, Corinna and Adam, Stacie and John, my always adored Emme Rogers, Tris, the very knowledgeable Lorraine, Dale McGladdery, Ian Alexander Martin, Jon Jennings, and many other good tweeps were there.

For me, historical tours of the city of Vancouver are always a highlight. Last year, when my friend Rebecca and I did National Digital Media Day, we roamed the streets of several municipalities. Rebecca very patiently shared many historical tidbits of Surrey and other areas of Vancouver (she writes a well-known series of blog posts on Vancouver history). So, I’m always fascinated when history is recounted in front of me. Chris is extremely knowledgeable and he really showed his expertise. It was also kind of neat to see someone whom I consider a good friend of mine in a working environment. I guess that’s kind of what my friends who attend my academic presentations feel when they see one of my talks. While I am not a very frequent visitor of the Downtown East Side, I am always fascinated and puzzled by the stories that are embedded in the walls, on the streets and in each building.

– Why did the women of the trade migrate from San Francisco to Vancouver?
– Why did the high-end brothels end up locating themselves on Alexander Street?
– Why has Japantown all but disappeared?

I am an inquisitive guy and I will have to take another Sins of the City tour so that my curiousity be satisfied. In the mean time, I would just like to invite you to participate in this most wonderful experience.

You should also know that the Vancouver Police Museum is a self-funded and self-running organization. Therefore, please consider donating to keep this amazing project running. I know that it will be hard for JT and me to score a visit to the Vancouver Police Museum unless we meet earlier on Sundays, but I just learned the great news that the Museum will be open from 9am to 5pm on Sundays too! Learn more about the Vancouver Police Museum here.

I took some video of Chris speaking about the history of the women’s sex trade in the Downtown East Side (sorry for the “mmmmhmmm” that you can hear from me, but Flip cameras have a way of absorbing the noise from the person holding the camera).

Meetup of Meetups (Vancouver), Summer Edition

Last December, Tanya, Steve and Shane got together to organize a large party (the Meetup of Meetups) combining the audiences of each one of their individual meetups (Third Tuesday, Sales Performance and Real Estate Tech), and I supported their idea given that I’m the organizer of Vancouver Bloggers Meetup (although at the time, I was on my way to Calgary for Christmas holidays). This time around, I’m lucky enough to actually be here in Vancouver for the Summer Edition of the Meetup of Meetups, and both my very good friend Minna (Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup) as well as Gwynn (WordPress Meetup) are also including their own groups. And quite obviously, I’m including my own group (Vancouver Bloggers Meetup). I’m very glad to announce that we are expecting about 400 people to participate. Should be a lot of fun, so mark June 23rd on your calendars at 6:00pm at Ceilis Irish Pub (downtown, near Smithe and Granville)! You can RSVP in any of the 7 Meetups’ websites (but please only RSVP once and say NO in each of the other ones)

Reason # 421 why I love The Network Hub!

I have always received the strongest of supports from my friends at The Network Hub (especially from Minna and John Van). I am not shy in admitting that I *love* The Network Hub. Ever since I participated in my very first event here (a Third Tuesday for whom they very generously sponsored the space) I have been always welcome at The Hub. In December of 2008, I joined the awesome community of The Network Hub and I have had a fantastic time ever since. I am surrounded by great entrepreneurs and while we are all working, we always find a minute to chat about everything from technology to the latest restaurants we’ve been to.

The folks at The Network Hub have been some of my strongest supporters and I’m always delighted to sing their praises to anyone who can hear me (and well, if you follow me on Twitter or my blog, there’s A LOT of people who listen to what I say, for which I am ABSOLUTELY GRATEFUL). So you may ask yourself – why Reason # 421 you love The Network Hub, Raul? Well, earlier this past month, I found out that they had been interviewed on the most recent issue of Get Connected Magazine (look at pages 21-22). My good friend Minna explained the concept behind The Network Hub as a shared office space, and the reasons why TNH is MUCH more than *just* a bunch of entrepreneurs thrown together. Through the Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup, their constant interaction with each one of the entrepreneurs who have their offices and desks here and a number of other collaborative opportunities, The Network Hub offers a launching pad from where emerging entrepreneurs can initiate activities within an incubator-like environment with like-minded individuals.

Kudos and congratulations to The Network Hub! And, on behalf of the many of my peers whom you’ve generously sponsored for space for their events (including WordCamp, Third Tuesdays, etc.) thank you, thank you, thank you!

Canadian Environment Week (May 31st to June 6th, 2009)

You have every right to ask why someone whose PhD is in Environmental Studies, who eats, sleeps, breathes and thinks all the time about issues of pollution control, water quality, urban sustainability and transnational environmental movements has not written about Canadian Environment Week at all. I plead guilty on all accounts. I have been SO busy with other stuff that I’ve neglected my blog (hence why you’re getting a barrage of blog posts in the same day). That, and usually Thursday is the best day for traffic on my blog, and I want to give Canadian Environment Week good exposure.

World Environment Day is June 5th, a day I have usually celebrated, but given my current state of affairs (entirely overwhelmed) I don’t think I’m going to do much. I am always amazed at the energy of folks who organize events on a routine basis. I’m over-exposed to events, and over-exhausted. But to me, environment is a key issue. I have dedicated the better part of the last 15 years of my life to studying (and practising) ways to minimize the impacts that humans have on our environment. I would strongly recommend you to read the Environment Canada website which is chock-full of suggestions. I am also taking this opportunity to remind you that June 6th is World Environment Day.

What do you plan to do to celebrate World Environment Day? I’m thinking of organizing a contest, so I’ll ask around for sponsors

VanChangeCamp – June 20th, 2009

Everyone who knows me *even a little bit* will tell you that I’ve volunteered countless hours for the local community, not only the Vancouver tech/social media/PR but also the “social media for social change” subset of the larger community. When the discussions on the possibility of organizing a Vancouver ChangeCamp started to emerge on our most beloved social network (Twitter), I jumped at the possibility of participating in the organizing committee. After all, I’ve done extensive research on public policy and citizen participation in environmental policy, and I’ve presented several times on the topic of how to apply social media to questions of sustainability, public policy and social change, in general. I participated in a few meetings, heck – I even liveblogged the first one and another one in the early stages.

However, as you can imagine, there’s only so much time I can volunteer and there’s only one Raul. And there’s about a gazillion things I have to do, amongst research, teaching, consulting and finding more work. Plus, if you need a reminder, I co-organized Mental Health Camp with the amazing Isabella Mori. So quite obviously, my participation in the VanChangeCamp organizing committee has declined substantially (for various reasons in adition to my being busy, but those reasons are only known to a couple of people in the organizing committee and a couple of close friends of mine).

Nevertheless, I recently saw a call for help from Reilly (one of the main organizers) asking to spread the word, and since I’m still participating with some tasks in VanChangeCamp, I figured it would be a good idea for me to blog about the fact that VanChangeCamp is actually happening. There is a number of amazing folks who are involved in some way or another (all of them in a volunteer, non-paid manner) to bring this event to fruition, and they should be commended. Having co-organized a full Camp on my own, and contributed to the organization of BarCamp 2008, I full well know how tough it is on everyone who is involved (just ask Isabella or myself – we were absolutely exhausted by the time MHC was over).

So, this post is just a reminder that Vancouver’s first ever ChangeCamp is coming to you on June 20th, 2009. After VanChangeCamp, there will be a party organized by the folks behind the Media Democracy Day and Save Our Net campaigns. You can register for VanChangeCamp through EventBrite, and learn more on their blog.

I had pitched a session for the structured, conference-type portion of VanChangeCamp, but it didn’t get chosen as part of the ‘spine’ of the conference, and I’m not 100% sure I want to pitch it in the unstructured portion (BarCamp style). If there’s enough interest (i.e. if enough of my readers who will be participating in VanChangeCamp drop a comment here saying they’d be interested in hearing me speak about the topic) I might actually end up pitching my talk.

For those of you interested in what I was planning to present at VanChangeCamp, here is the abstract:

Session Title: Harnessing Social Media Tools to Mobilize and Engage Citizens in Climate Change Adaptive Strategies

Description of the session:
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use a variety of strategies to galvanize public opinion and increase pressure on governments and industry to minimize pollution. My scholarly research has shown that NGOs have more effectively engaged citizens when (a) the issue is related to environment and public health and (b) there is ample room for information dissemination and a strong public awareness campaign. Climate change has become one of the most relevant environmental issues of the past few years. However, it appears as though BC residents are more concerned with mitigative measures rather than adaptive strategies. I am puzzled by why this would happen. I am wondering if one of the elements that is missing is a strong social media campaign on the part of the BC government to raise awareness and educate citizens about potential strategies to adapt to climate change.

The goal of the session is to:
Showcase a number of social media tools, as well as educate governments (and academics) on how to harness the power of social networking sites to disseminate rigorous research findings on adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The session would be also intended as a brainstorming discussion on best practices on the use of social media to raise awareness in climate change policy.

Seven questions with The Hush Now (@thehushnow)

Social media is magic, sometimes. I’ve discovered wonderful people, made new great friends, even found project opportunities. One of the first (and most amazing) bands I discovered on Twitter was my friends from Mojave (who recently launched their most recent album at Cafe Deux Soleils). Two other wonderful bands I’ve met on Twitter – Collective Soul and The Hush Now (a Boston-based indie rock quintet, as described in their Wikipedia page) found its way into my iPod’s playlist through one of the many social networking sites, Blip.fm.

I fell in love with their song “Pining” (you can download all of The Hush Now’s release CD tunes by clicking here), and was delighted to find that they named a song “Vancouver”. Given that I fell very much in love with their music, I thought it’d be a good idea to interview them on my blog. Despite our repeated efforts to manage to do the interview online (via Skype or podcast) we finally settled on doing a written Q&A. Here for your reading pleasure, The Hush Now…

1. Where does name The Hush Now come from?

I was just trying to find a name that would fit the style of music. I had a lot of bad names I thought of and then The Hush Now fell into place. I liked the imagery it invoked, a mother quieting a child, the murmur of a crowd as something important is about to happen. There’s a sense of peace but expectation. I’d like to say it was from the Jimi Hendrix tune, but that would be a lie.

2. You have been using Twitter quite effectively. How do you find it in terms of keeping in touch and having conversations with your fans?

I love twitter. I’m a bit of a recluse…I hate talking on the phone (hence why our interview probably didn’t happen as planned). But I love texting. I love the efficiency of it. Saying as much as possible in the least amount of text. Twittering is like being able to text your closest 500 friends. I’ve also met some wonderful folks through twitter. I hope it doesn’t get abused and locked down under mountains of spam, because it really is a great social experiment. BTW, my iphone is broken so I haven’t twittered in a bit. Bummed.

3. Most music bands tend to have a MySpace page (you do too). Have you explored other social networking sites? I know that some of your songs are in Blip.fm, as I have blipped them myself!

Today as a band, you have to manage so many social media pages. In the old days, you could just have a website, but that just doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s actually an incredible amount of work for a DIY outfit to make sure all the social media outlets are fresh and up to date. There are some tools that allow you to push to all, but not all. If there is a developer out there, figure out a way to consolidate fans from all sites into a single “sortable” list so bands can let folks know when they’re in town for a show. This would be HUGE.

4. You put one of your albums entirely for download. Do you have concerns in regards to copyright issues? How do you think it will affect your future?

Well, the copyright is always protected because the songs have been registered. The face of the music business is changing (obviously). People really don’t want to pay for music anymore I think. I know I don’t. What I’m trying to foster is to involve people so that maybe they’ll consider coming to a live show. By doing this, you give a band a fighting chance to make a living with music again (if they’re willing to tour). Who knows. At the end of the day, I want people to hear our music. We’ve had over 50,000 downloads to date. If we were selling the album, maybe we would have sold 100 (not including friends and family who are always eager to help out). Right now, we’re unknown, so the goal is to get the word out and try to figure out a new path best we can. Maybe I’ll fuck it up, but it won’t be from not trying. Ha

5. When will we see you in Vancouver (Canada)?

Actually, we’ll be in Seattle on 18 June for a show at El Corazon if anybody wants to make the trip down? Maybe we can make Vancouver our next time out west???

6. Speaking of our fair city, I noticed one of your songs (and one of my personal favorites) is named Vancouver. What was the inspiration for this song?

Yes, I used to play in a band called Cerulean. We were on tour for about 4 months which ran through Thanksgiving. I was living in my car at the time, so instead of heading back to LA for the break, I bought a ticket to Vancouver and holed up in Chinatown for about a week with a guitar. I’d bounce around the city but I always had to make my way through the drug addicts in chinatown. Maybe I was a bit sheltered, but I had never seen anything like it. No teeth, eating ice cream, shooting up between the toes, hookers with falling fishnet stockings, the rows of drinking houses. It was really amazing. I’m not judging, but I was definitely in awe of the spectacle. So I had this idea that if I could choreograph a dance for all these folk out in the streets, that would be soooo awesome (hence the line “we could be beautiful, bending turning if we tried”) Funny thing, I never felt afraid while I was there. It was like an odd disney land ride of sorts. I did see a picasso exhibit while I was there too.

7. I’m personally a fan of Pining. It evokes sounds that bring some tough memories for me. However, the song in itself is beautiful. What was the inspiration behind it? What kind of sounds/artists influenced you in that particular song?

Well, pining for somebody I’ve found can be such a destructive force. My twenties were pretty much a stalemate because I was stuck on somebody. The thing I came to realize though is I was actually pining for the idea of something that didn’t exist. All those imaginary wanderings and what if’s of the perfect love. It didn’t exist. It never existed. And it was incredibly painful. The imagery of the song actually harkens back to Christmas on Long Island. Christmas lights adorning houses. Snow with a frozen crust that crunches as you walk. The desolate cold you feel outside while you long for the warmth you imagine exists in the houses you pass. The song is very much 10cc too, you know that song “I’m not in love” it’s so beautiful. Working with Dave Newton, I just said to him, I want this song to sound like 10cc and he smiled and went to work. Pining, Ashes and Roleplay are my favorites on the album.

As Noel mentions in the Q&A, they will have a show in Seattle on June 18th if anybody can make the trek down (sadly, I can’t). If you like to be in touch with The Hush Now, they are on Twitter and you can become a fan on Facebook as well.

[EDIT – Patrol Magazine compares The Hush Now to Death Cab by Cutie – I love them both!]

Dirty for Swain

Through my friends of Giant Ant Media. I learned about their project “Dirty for Swain”. A campaign designed to highlight the excellent activist work of Christopher Swain, and his latest project: swimming 1,000 miles from Marblehead, Massachussets to Washington, D.C. The water quality conditions that he will have to endure are (from what I can read in the website) pretty bad, but the overall goal is to raise awareness of how much pollution we are releasing into our aquatic environment

I think this is a very worthy cause, and amongst the efforts to raise awareness, they are asking the question “what will you do for @swimwithswain” on Twitter. It’s a way of letting Swain know that he’s not alone in his quest to clean up rivers and polluted water bodies. So, go to the Dirty for Swain website and let him know what you’ll do to keep him motivated in his worthy project!

National Hunger Awareness Day (June 2nd, 2009)

I wrote last year about National Hunger Awareness Day, and I was just reminded by my friend Kulpreet Singh about it. I am a firm believer that even in the worst economic times, food banks are the charities that need our support the most. My friend Rebecca has been a long time supporter of the Vancouver and Surrey Food Banks as well, even organizing several events that have either raised funds or collected food for these worthy organizations. I also learned from Anita Webster about an event that Campbell Soup is putting together tomorrow, on NHAD ’09 at Pacific Centre. You can read more here.

How can you help on National Hunger Awareness Day? Their website offers many suggestions. You can donate, speak, talk, advocate, spread the word. But more importantly, you should learn more about the extent to which hunger is still prevalent in Canada. Learn more from the Food Banks website.

LatinCouver launch party on June 6th, 2009

My friend Jose Uzcategui has been helping with the consolidation of a portal and community for the Latin American community in Vancouver (LatinCouver). From their Facebook page:

Latincouver is an organization that brings together Latin Americans and Latinophiles living in Vancouver to strengthen and celebrate the richness of our cultures. At the same time, we act as a much-needed bridge between Vancouver’s rapidly growing Latin American communities and other groups in the multicultural landscape of our city.

Recently I learned that their launch party takes place on June 6th, 2009. It should be a fantastic party. As someone who carries Latin American blood in his veins (and who loves to dance salsa, merengue, tango and rumba as well), I am a big supporter of anything that can promote Latin American community-building. Moreover, in the many years I’ve lived in Vancouver I have rarely connected with the latino community so I should start doing it now 🙂

More information on ticket sales and stuff can be found on their site. The event takes place at the Hellenic Community Centre (4500 Arbutus, close to 29th and Arbutus) and starts at 6:30pm. Tickets are $ 20 in advance and $ 25 at the door, and suggested dress code is white. Should be lots of fun!

The LOUD Awards 2009 Edition

Recent months have been particularly tough for the LGBT community, not only in Vancouver but also worldwide. Gay-bashings in the Davie Street area (including one that affected a close friend of mine), the refusal of Vancouver City Hall to allow the Odyssey Night Club relocate in the Denman Street area and the passing (and confirmation) of Proposition 8 in California have been temporary setbacks.

Positive developments, including the recent May 17th International Day Against Homophobia, have continued to occur. The Vancouver LGBT community has not allowed any temporary setbacks to deter them and have continued to move forward, most recently with the recent gala for the LOUD Awards. The LOUD Foundation is a charitably branch of the the Gay and Lesbian Business Association (GLBA) and its mission is to help support the scholarly endeavours of students who show leadership in the LGBT community. The LOUD Awards Gala was superbly organized by and skillfully crafted by Marc Smith (Amuse Consulting), and it was a fantastic celebration of the hard-work of four wonderful students who have demontrated promise in the local LGBT community.

The LOUD Awards Gala took place last Thursday May 28th, 2009 at the Stanley Park Pavilion. This event was also a fundraiser for the leadership and mentorship programs that are supported by the GLBA. Featuring the wonderful Ms. Kim Kuzma, a talented performer and hosted by Tyler Wozny, it was a delightful evening. I was exhausted even before I had agreed to attend (since it clashed with another event I was supposed to be part of, the launch of League of Kickass Business People in Vancouver), but in the end, I am very glad I attended. Thanks also to Blair Smith for introducing me to a few people, that made it easier for me to mingle (although I bumped into a few familiar faces, it was nicer to have people there to ease the introductions). And for the gin and tonic (yes, my favorite drink!).

I also had a chance to talk with Doug Craig, the Marketing and Administrative Executive at the GLBA and indicated that they needed to get on Twitter. Perhaps I should give them a quick workshop on how to use Twitter to spread their message, eh? 😉 I do look forward to attending a few more events organized within the GLBT community in Vancouver.

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup May 2009 – another success story

I’ve been doing this Vancouver Bloggers Meetup Organizer job for a year now, a task that my dearest Isabella Mori bequeathed on me and that I have grown to cherish. I am really excited that the momentum seems to be picking up. When I went around the table I found at the very least 40% of the participants of this meetup were new. I was really happy to see that there was a mix of seasoned and newbie bloggers.

The format for this meetup changed a bit from being a socializing experience only to including a panel discussion by Lorraine Murphy, Shane Gibson and myself, with Colleen Coplick as the moderator. I think the response from the audience was excellent, and everyone seemed engaged and interested in the conversation.

I don’t think I’ll do panels for every single Vancouver Bloggers Meetup, but I do think we’ll have another few panels in the next few months. I’d be interested in hearing from my fellow bloggers what they thought about the format and the content (as well as the new location, the St. Regis Hotel).

More importantly, I wanted to highlight that this was the last VBM for my friend Cathy Browne, who has become a very important part of the Vancouver blogging scene, and who will be in Ottawa for a few months. We look forward to your return, Cathy!

Thanks Greg and Pat Aspa for your hospitality in Vancouver Island

I had a wonderful time on Vancouver Island, not only because I had a chance to attend the meetings I was planning on, but also because I got a chance to spend a couple of days with Greg and Pat Aspa (from Aspa Photo), whom I also met through Twitter. Their kind hospitality and warmth made an absolute difference between having to stay at a hotel/bed-and-breakfast/hostel and staying with them.

Greg and Pat invited me for dinner and took me everywhere, including picking me up from the ferry and taking me back. We did a little tour of Sidney by the Sea (by foot) and around the Greater Victoria (including Mile Zero, which I had been wanting to see for the longest time). Even my cell phone went into roaming mode! We really weren’t in international (US) waters but your cell goes into roaming when you’re close to Mile Zero. Very cool, I have to say.

Thanks so much Greg and Pat for your kindness, warmth and hospitality, and I’ll see you guys very soon! Hugs and lots of positive vibes from Vancouver.

Where’s the Money in Media? Liveblog

I had mentioned before that Kate Milberry, Steve Anderson and Rodger Levesque are good friends of mine, and you all know that I’m always a sucker for helping my friends, so when they mentioned they were doing the “Where is the Money in Media?” event, I thought I should help out. I had already written a blog post about the event, but since they are also promoting media democracy and in the spirit of contributing to the larger community, I decided to further help them by providing a digital record of the talk with a liveblog.

Charlie Smith (The Georgia Straight)

Linda Solomon (The Vancouver Observer)

Upcoming seminar: “Cyber Security and Your Business: How to Protect Your Customers from Online Threats”

My good friend Jonathon Narvey invited me to a Better Business Bureau event where Vaclav Vincalek, the President of PCIS will be speaking on “Cyber Security and Your Business: How to Protect Your Customers from Online Threats”. This event promises to be a very good one (although given my commitments, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it).

The link to the registration page is here. A brief summary of what Vaclav will be discussing in the seminar can be found here.

The presentation will include an overview of the following issues:

* How and why cyber criminals target your business

* The consequences of a web security breach

* How effective network security, web security and identity management tools and practices can protect your business assets and your customers’ privacy