Hey you! Yeah, you. Will you please enjoy the show?

“Can I ask everyone a favor?” It was this question that started to change the way I view how technology has changed the music industry. As the digital age has taken over it has definitely expanded the exploration of music. Services like Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm, Grooveshark and other online music services have allowed the discovery of new and exciting music once only found in the opening acts or in the underground scenes of city’s around the world.

YouTube has served as the go-to site for artists to post music videos and consumers to post videos of their live experiences at their favorite bands’ concerts. So back to the question. “Can I ask everyone a favor?" said City and Colour frontman Dallas Green as I stood in the crowd with my iPhone raised ready to capture the band’s next song on video to post on my Facebook account for all my friends to see.

“Can everyone put the phones and the cameras down for just this one song?”

It took a while for me to comprehend what Green was trying to tell everyone. It wasn’t until I looked away from the screen of my phone that I realized there were at least 20 people in my general vicinity that had the same great idea that I had. I had been so concerned with documenting my experience at the concert to share with others I completely forgot to stop and enjoy the show for myself.

Fast forward to my latest concert experience. Explosions in the Sky played The Moore Theater and I was more than excited to see the Texas band and their instrumental genius. Their mix of uptempo guitars mixed with the crashing percussion complements each other so perfectly that you quickly forget about the absence of lyrics. I saw the group at last summer’s Capitol Hill Block Party and couldn’t wait to get a second dose.

The show started great but I quickly became distracted by the number of screens I saw lifted in the air in an attempt to capture footage of the concert. These people basically paid money to watch an amazing show through the screen of their mobile phone. It used to be that fans would clamor to the front of the venue for a chance to catch a closer look at the band. What I witnessed was fans clamoring to the front to capture a better picture because the digital zoom on their phone wasn’t the greatest.

My question is, “Why do we do this?” Is the need to share our experience so great that we remove ourselves from an incredible experience? Have our memories become so weak that we need the aid of a recording device to relive these concerts? My guess is none of the photos or videos taken are going to be used for a concert review or on the band’s upcoming live concert video. Seriously, videos taken from phones are horrible. Granted, they’ve gotten better – but you still can’t escape the distorted guitars and the loud pops from the drums.

As we approach concert season I’d like to ask all of you a favor. Please put the phones and the cameras down and enjoy the show. Experience the connection you have with the band through your own eyes, not the screen of your phone. It’s the way concerts were intended to be experienced.

Technorati Tags: YouTube,Faceboook,Spotify,Pandora,Last.fm,Grooveshark,Explosions in the Sky,The Moore Theater,City and Colour,Dallas Green,Capitol Hill Block Party,Technology,Music,Concert,Guitar,Drum,Video

“Don’t Put Me in Coach!” the Book to Help you through Post-March Madness Depression.

Monday marked the end of the NCAA Tournament and now a lot of us have to watch our hard earned cash slip through our hands and into the clutches of our co-workers, friends and family who made superior brackets. Normally I’d be sitting pretty because two of my picks made it to the Final Four.

Normally.

Based on the system drawn up by Noah, there were more points to be gained by going with aggressive picks instead of conservative ones. So today I’ll be coughing up $10 to our Managing Director, Angie. I’m going to throw a public tantrum and say it: It’s just not fair. But how does the saying go? “Hate the player not the game?”

This is what a loser’s bracket looks like

I actually thought my brackets were top notch. Then Missouri threw me for a loop, UNC soon followed. On Saturday I expected OSU to beat Kansas handily, and it looked like they were going to. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite pull their rebounds together and lost in one of the most awkward fashions I’ve ever seen. Even more unfortunately for me, I was watching the game with OSU alumni. While they threw back beers of sadness and shouted expletives, I got to leaf through the book: Don’t Put me in Coach! by Mark Titus, former OSU basketball player. I’d never heard of him, and to be honest I don’t really follow OSU sports. To me, the Buckeyes are the USC of the Big Ten: crazy good every single year and hated by just about everyone.

But Titus wasn’t the team superstar, he was the benchwarmer. When most people think of a benchwarmer story, they think of Rudy. But instead of aspiring to rise up from the bench to play alongside teammates like Greg Oden and Evan Turner, he embraced his role as the benchwarmer and started a blog, ClubTrillian.com, which documents his life with the Buckeyes from the sidelines and his attempts to push the boundaries of NCAA athlete privileges.

It’s a little surprising to me that Thad Matta and the NCAA didn’t try to shut down the blog once Titus started getting into the personal lives and quirks of his teammates, as well as descriptions of Division 1 athlete luxuries such as the per diem. But to be fair, the NCAA doesn’t really need Titus’ help in looking controversial. The blog is pretty funny and a great way to kill a half hour or so. His Mr. Rainmaker video on YouTube is also pretty cool. Based on the blog’s following from OSU fans and even Big Ten fans, Titus received coverage in the New York Times, ESPN and Bill Simmons’ B.S Report. Eventually Titus wrote the book, and it reads much like the blog. He chronicles elaborate pranks he pulled on Evan “The Villain” Turner, unsuccessful attempts to get Erin Andrews’ attention, and the overall shenanigans that come with being on a Division 1 basketball team. At one point he almost gets into a fight a la Eastern Promises with one of his teammates in the locker room. Don’t put me in Coach! is definitely not for everyone. Keep in mind that you are confined to the point of view of a college male. I won’t get into it, but a decent amount of the book involves him being naked.

Titus effectively rebranded the OSU athlete image. Division 1 athletes often get treated like untouchable and superior beings based on their talent and the way that talent is rewarded. Instead, Titus brings out the more humanizing aspects of his team. Yes, these guys are more talented at basketball than most of us could ever hope to be, but they’re also college guys living away from home for the first time. They have weird quirks, large egos, filthy mouths and even filthier minds. I don’t know about everyone else reading this blog, but I think that describes just about every guy who lived on my floor freshman year.

Mark Titus is probably one of the most celebrated walk-ons since Rudy and he’s become something of a local folk hero. His unique writing style and ability to never take things too seriously allowed OSU fans and haters to get a front row seat to the ups and downs of one of the best college basketball teams in the country. It’s refreshing to see that he completely owns the title of benchwarmer because as we know, “99% of NCAA athletes will be going pro in something other than sports.” Now that Titus has graduated he can be seen as a contributor to Grantland.com and we can only hope his 15 minutes of fame will extend forever.

Stop Messing with my Childhood, Michael Bay!

The internet replied in outrage this week to film producer and director Michael Bay’s plans for an update to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie franchise. Bay, who has signed on to produce the next installment of the ‘90s pop-culture classic, announced earlier his plans to change the lovable turtle characters into…ALIENS?!?! You better believe it.

Now, while I’m sure Michael Bay won’t stray from the look of the four teenage amphibians Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, he will no doubt completely erase what we’ve all come to believe their origin to be. Which, for those of you who need a reminder, happened when the household turtles came into contact with radioactive ooze in the sewers.

Why would Bay erase this one important detail and change everything I know to be true about the Teenage MUTANT Ninja Turtles? Simply put, Bay doesn’t think it’s believable.

From an Entertainment Weekly article:

“When you see this movie, kids are going to believe one day these turtles actually do exist when we are done with this movie,” said Bay as he took the stage to discuss his new vision for the reptilian reboot. “These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable.”

Oh of course! Alien turtles from space are much more believable than the genetically mutated house pets. What was I thinking? It’s no surprise the world’s biggest fans took exception to Bay’s plans. All of us saw what became of the 80s pop-culture classic, Transformers.

The uproar was such that Bay even replied on his personal site:

“Fans need to take a breath and chill. They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of ‘Ninja Turtles’ to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world.”

In addition, Bay also received quite the endorsement from Kevin Eastman, who created the original TMNT comic books. Ultimately, Bay is going to have the final say what this movie looks like and how it plays out. I’ll definitely end up seeing it in the end but please forgive me if I’m skeptical of how it’ll turn out.

With that, I now give you my top 5 list of things Michael Bay could do that would be worse than turtles from space.

1. Teenage Mutant Ballerina Turtles
2. The mentor Splinter is actually the discovering NASA scientist played by Jeff Goldblum
3. In an attempt to motivate kids to eat right the turtles take to eating fruits and vegetables rather than pizza
4. The absence of villain Krang (This would seem to be a lock for an alien-based turtle movie)
5. Reporter April O’Neil as played by Lindsay Lohan in an attempt to revive her acting career

How say you? Are you looking forward to this Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles? How do you think he could royally screw this film up?

GeekWire Summit

GeekWire, a Seattle-based technology publication celebrated its one year anniversary with a half-day summit in downtown Seattle. The lineup of speakers included pioneer Ray Ozzie and Hulu technology chief Richard Tom, plus panels featuring executives and engineers from Facebook, T-Mobile USA, Rhapsody, Swype, Z2Live and more.

The portion of the summit that stood out for me was the keynote with Hulu CTO, Richard Tom. Tom touched on Hulu’s engineering culture and how it enables the company to stay competitive – a story that I believe is under told. The technology platform provides a user experience that has led the way in making Hulu a heavy hitter in online advertising and content distribution.

Tom said the company empowers its developers by giving them the opportunity to investigate and trial different technology stacks, in the end, giving way to innovation at break neck speeds. “In our world, we look at it [Hulu] being a customer company that is really focused on technology,” Tom said during his keynote.

In line with this idea, Ray Ozzie, former Microsoft software chief, advised developers and startups to look past being a solution provider. He believes it’s more important to adapt to an industry and refine what exists rather than trying to be ‘different.’ Ozzie and others communicated the importance of developers being technology generalists who can utilize several platforms and languages to innovate. Ozzie described it best when he said, “there are lots of components that are out there, and weaving them together is the magic.”

Our increasingly mobile lives and the current struggle with device integration were constant themes. Developers face a huge time suck coding for different platform and carriers are often defined by the devises they offer. This is one reason why T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman said in a panel discussion that the way carriers subsidize devices is hurting the industry. I agree that most of us, me included, get short sighted by new and discounted devices that stunts potential all around.

Hulu led consumers to a place where they could see value at a macro level, from time and cost savings to the overall entertainment experience. I hope more companies adopt Hulu’s empowerment model, empowering both the developer and the audience.

Check out tweets from the event with #gwsummit and @fizzpoptweet. Also, I have to give a shout out to GeekWire’s chief business office, Rebecca Lovell, for throwing another seriously fun event.

Images by Karen Ducey.

#SXSWi: What is it and Why Are we Here?

As I start my week at South by Southwest I wanted to share some background on Porter Novelli's involvement and activities.

We're the Agency of Record for the Interactive portion of the festival, which gathers digital, social, PR and advertising folks to look at emerging technologies. Twitter debuted there back in 2007 and Foursquare was all the rage a couple of years afterwards.

In this AOR capacity, our Austin office helps publicize the event and make sure the conference is positioned correctly with media and influencers.

This year we're hosting a happy hour event at the Belmont hotel for clients and prospects on Saturday night. At it, I hope to connect with contacts at some of the companies the Seattle office is interested in, including Square, PopCap Games, Razer, Black Rapid, HP, T-Mobile and Hulu. 

The other part of Porter Novelli's SXSW engagement is to cover the event. Through our corporate blog and Twitter feed (@porternovelli) we'll be sharing our insights on panels and key themes of the week.

We'll also prepare a daily digest that we share with clients. It's a way to show our thought leadership and add value for clients who are interested in the subject matter, but aren't able to attend. We've even hired a hip-hop MC to provide a "WrapUp." Here's the first one.

And finally, our fearless leader Gary Stockman is moderating the Council of PR Firm’s “More Smart, Less Stupid:  PR for Better Business” panel. 

Matt Ashworth is the head of the Seattle Technology practice, where he provides business-to-business and product PR counsel to Hewlett Packard, T-Mobile, Hitachi and others. Follow Matt on Twitter at @ashmatty.