..|.|.|.. The Elevator Club » Performance

..|.|.|.. Stock and Flow

mike — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:54:21 +0000

Stochastic and I are going to be at Cielo on Friday night to catch Nick Warren’s set (get tickets here). Nick has been doing this a long time and I’m looking forward to checking out his vibe. When he’s not DJing he’s also half of Way Out West. Stochastic was playing me a remix from their new album that’s terrific:

Way Out West – Future Perfect [Henry Saiz Remix]

(I encourage you to listen while you read the rest of this blog post…)

Manon sent me an article by Robin Sloan on snarkmarket.com that really hit home. It’s about creative and professional output:

There are two kinds of quantities in the world. Stock is a static value: money in the bank, or trees in the forest. Flow is a rate of change: fifteen dollars an hour, or three-thousand toothpicks a day. Easy. Too easy.

But I actually think stock and flow is the master metaphor for media today. Here’s what I mean:

Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people that you exist.

Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.

I keep thinking about Robin’s point, and it’s a powerful way to think about what and how we create. I’m a DJ, so it’s important for me to record and post new mixes on a regular basis. I’m producing a track, and I’ll publish that too when it’s ready. In the meantime, however, it’s important for me to tweet and keep writing blog posts in order to stay connected with my audience.

Robin continues:

You can tell that I want you to stop and think about stock here. I feel like we all got really good at flow, really fast. But flow is ephemeral. Stock sticks around. Stock is capital. Stock is protein.

And the real magic trick in 2010 is to put them both together. To keep the ball bouncing with your flow—to maintain that open channel of communication—while you work on some kick-ass stock in the background. Sacrifice neither. It’s the hybrid strategy.

I think that flow has a benefit to me as an artist as well, and Robin doesn’t mention this. My flow allows me to bring my thoughts to the surface and examine them. Once brought to light, my ideas are available to me to refine over time. And then they feed into my creative work. So I’m able to make my stock stronger, better, richer, and more full because of my flow.

I had another thought yesterday about how it’s much easier to be an artist now: you have inexpensive, powerful tools at your disposal and it’s easier than ever to connect with your audience. I’ll save that for another post, though.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

..|.|.|.. American Idol

mike — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:22:59 +0000

I have a weakness. A secret love. It’s called American Idol tryouts. I get a bit bored later in the season when they get into the serious singing, but the tryouts are some of the most entertaining television I’ve seen.

There are some terrific performers who show up. Then there are the truly awful “singers”, some of whom dress in costume. There are also people in-between, some of whom behave strangely. Idol does a great job of mixing it up, keeping the edits tight and the show moving.

Here are some highlights from the past few shows:

Larry Platt singing the song he wrote: Pants on the Ground
This is a reel from Miami, make sure to watch the guy split his pants.

(Yes, I’ve chosen a pants theme for this blog post).

Check it out next Tuesday and Wednesday nights on Fox.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

..|.|.|.. Bebe Buell

mike — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:48:12 +0000

Manon and her brother designed the EPK (that stands for “Electronic Press Kit”) for a musician named Bebe Buell. Wikipedia describes her as

…an American fashion model and singer, and Playboy magazine’s November 1974 Playmate of the Month. She is also known for dating and marrying rock musicians.

Sounds like a fun life! She’s performing tonight at Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel and I plan to be there. You can check out what she sounds like on her site.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…

..|.|.|.. Deep Dish

mike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:14:47 +0000

I used to go hear Deep Dish at Crobar all the time. Almost as much as I used to go hear Sasha & Digweed at Twilo. Deep Dish always rocked the house. My friend Ross said it best one morning as we were heading home, “Big beats, Mike, big beats.”

One night we were standing in the VIP box and Gordon nudged me and told me to look to my right. Guess who was standing next to me? Sharam. Dubfire was on the decks and Sharam had wandered into the crowd to hear the set. So I started talking to him. He claimed that they also did anonymous underground hop hop parties. Go figure.

Anyway, Sharam and Dubfire started to drift apart and eventually only one of them would come spin. Crobar wasn’t doing so well either and it finally closed. Too bad, so sad.

Fast forward to tomorrow night, when my friend Niki McNally will be opening for Sharam at Love here in NYC. I haven’t been to Love yet, but I hear that the sound system is amazing and they’ve got the right attitude. I will be there. I recommend that you come too.

You can buy tickets here.

- mike
elevatorclub.com

…:: step inside ::… listen…