Until then, I just finished John Lennon’s final interview in Rolling Stone. Buy the magazine and read it. Here’s a link to some audio of the interview that gave me chills.

Choice blip.fm cuts below

Beautiful Boy

Watching the Wheels

Happy Christmas

Working Class Hero

To peace, love and understanding. RIP JWL…And happy holidays everybody in my corner. To a 2011 that brings happiness and good fortune to the people with big hearts.
ME

OK…seriously…6 months since my last blog post?@?@?@? I’m surprised this thing even works anymore. Cause-based marketing keeps you hopping…that’s for sure.

But to be honest..the previous Grampa post just took a lot outta me. I looked at it every time I tried to write and didn’t have anything else nearly as relevant or heartfelt to really add after that.

That is until someone mentioned the book “The Secret.” I’d be lying if I said I read it, but I’ve gotten enough book reports from key advisers to get the central premise. You attract how you act. If you are a force for change and get white-hot pissed when people don’t follow, you attract a like-minded crew of malcontents and beehive bashers. So “The Secret” for me was to retire “Pessimism” and Evolve.

Evolved Thinking isn’t so much a measure of my evolution from troglodyte to upright warrior  to compassionate cogitator to Bubbly Brad Garrett as it is celebrating others for smelling the roses through the hot mess of sewer sludge all around us.

One thing I’ve tried to do during my busiest of moments is at least stay plugged in through Twitter, Google Buzz, Facebook and other key blogs to remain current.

Speaking of which, good God, can someone help a brother out on incorporating my Twitter feed into this blog through a sidebar! I’ve uploaded and downloaded Twitter plugins to the point of Supreme Twitdom and can’t for the life of me figure out how to make my Tweets  flow into my blog. HELP!

I hope the next 9 months of 2010 brings a little clarity and priority to my life and yours.

One point of clarity, priority and purpose so far has been my work on a new social media monitoring and content creation start-up EVolution Communications Group and two non-profits — Wish Upon A Wedding Portland and  Special Olympics Oregon. It’s been a whirlwind tour, but I remain fascinated by people who make  organizations move, raise money, cultivate legions of loyal consumers and  catalyze indefatigable volunteers or unsung (unpaid) helpers.

Whether it’s ensuing that a deserving couple gets their dying wish,  a uniquely able athlete gets the chance to compete and apply lessons to everyday life, or a corporation looking to build equity in doing the right thing and then using a content monitoring and creation practice to support it — I’m all in. Suffice it to say…I’ve found something that inspires me to get up in the morning, work harder than I ever have before, and still want to come back for more.

Where ever you are in life,  rest assured getting involved in something bigger than yourself and the day-to-day grind will sustain you and turn you from pessimist to at least a reluctant optimist.

Until then…here’s a person and a few organizations that through their big hearts, big brains or both that have blown me away.

1. Chris Brogan — An early supporter of my work at Special Olympics Oregon, Chris continues to impress me personally by wearing his heart on his sleeve. This recent post on not fitting in a box of someone else’s creation, but building one of your own reinvigorated me at just the right time.
2. Wish Upon a Wedding – Fulfilling someone’s dying wish to be together — or potentially empowering a miraculous recovery through the healing touch of love is a cause that tugs at the heartstrings. See it in action.
3. Clothes Off Our Backs — This great nonprofit gets celebrities to literally give the shirts (and pants, and dresses, et al) off their backs for a rotating list of charities each year. Purely awesome concept.
4. Mercy Corps — Anybody notice how this Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit raised bucketloads of money for relief in Haiti and hit the ground  in-country ready to help?  If you didn’t it’s because they’re not self-promoters. They’re doers. What an amazing group. Help them in anyway you can.

I’m watching, learning and will abscond with every great thing you are doing–giving you full credit, of course.

To an optimistic 2010 from here on out — from a newly invigorated,  rapidly evolving thinker and retired Cockeyed Pessimist.

Mark

Every once in a while I bump into something or someone who just speaks the truth or hits the Hallelujah point for me.

This month, that person was Renny Gleeson, the digital marketing guru at Wieden & Kennedy. His parallel of present-day marketing and advertising following into the bumbling footsteps of the music industry struck a life-affirming power chord in me.

You’ll also appreciate his insight on digital being only one shiny element in a dynamic marketing mix, and not a singular answer to budget slash, here: For me, this dude just gets it. And I hear he’s a big proponent and avid user of the F-bomb…double bonus!

A few years ago, at an event at Marylhurst University, I asked Dan Wieden about  the then-emerging social media and interactive marketing push. I was curious  what a company so entrenched as a marketing innovator and cultural bellwether was  doing to foster relationships and communities online with clients and end consumers. He sheepishly dipped his head, smiled and admitted that he and W+K were lagging in that area and said that needed to change. It appears that with Renny there now things have changed and will continue to do so, quite rapidly, I suspect. Thankfully, however, they left the door open a little for the rest of us.

<MOMENT OF GRATUITOUS SELF-PROMOTION TO MAKE A POINT>That little cat nap, in my humble opinion, helped spawn a unique niche in marketing that my colleagues at Babcock & Jenkins and a select few others have been all too glad to fill. I’ll let you read more about what we/I do, but I’ve found that marketers focused on lead generation and helping clients nurture current customers don’t appear nearly as beaten down by the economic downturn. Don’t get me wrong, I still bite my nails on occasion, but I sleep a little easier knowing that I have a hand in  uniting print & Web storytelling with  real-time campaign performance analytics to help clients land customers and cultivate relationships that turn into revenue.

HaaaaHaaaHaaa Crappy economy, nagging backache and  a recent head cold aside, I have laughed a lot recently and thought I’d share. I’m a big fan of the political hair-parter and often, the more snarky the better, but this recent  exchange between Sen. Richard Shelby (Alabama-R), and Lawrence Summers of the National Economic Council was snark-free, apt and beautifully understated. Leading Republicans warned Sunday that the Obama administration’s $800 billion-plus economic stimulus effort will lead to what one called a “financial disaster.” “Everybody on the street in America understands that,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. “This is not the right road to go. We’ll pay dearly.” But Lawrence Summers, the head of the administration’s National Economic Council, said Republicans have lost their credibility on the issue. “Those who presided over the last eight years — the eight years that brought us to the point where we inherit trillions of dollars of deficit, an economy that’s collapsing more rapidly than at any time in the last 50 years — don’t seem to me in a strong position to lecture about the lessons of history.” Classic!

On an even more somber note, I have had more friends and former colleagues than I have fingers and toes reach out to tell me recently that they’ve become yet another layoff statistic. I am keeping my eyes open for all of you and will publish your names, contact info and desired positions in this blog if you think it would help. Just let me know. Until then, keep your spirits up with these two entries: One from The Onion that might hit pretty close to home. I’m calling it: Office Space 2.0, the Recession Years. Hey Man, You Got A Second So I Can Fire You? Another is a video to laugh about the plight of Jemaine and Bret. If it gets this bad for you, call me.

Meanwhile, Asteroids, Van Halen-style can and will  dull the pain.

Hell Yea! I am lucky enough to have a music-driven workplace and an addiction to http://blip.fm. Here are a few bands that are floating my boat right now that you should check out: Bon Iver — Skinny Love N.A.S.A — Whachadoin The Foals — Olympic Airways The Jam — Move on Up Blitzen Trapper — Furr Bonus Cut: The Kills — Tape Song So….live the lessons in this blog until we meet again. Ponder. Laugh. Jam. Adios! ME, aka, Ev, aka T.C.P.