Tag Archives: managing

The Big Lie

A note to start.  This is the third time I’m rewriting this piece.  The first draft was written after watching a news piece on the phone hacking by the News of the World criminals in London.  After calming down and rereading it, I thought that the numerous obscenities that spewed as I wrote it should be deleted.  Please don’t take that as a lack of passion on the subject.  This third time is after a night’s sleep and a little more thought.

You’ve probably heard about the hacking scandal going on in England.  No, this one isn’t about terrorists trying to steal defense secrets nor criminals going after bank accounts.  It’s “reporters” from a Murdoch-owned paper hacking into the voice mails of celebrities and others.  In the most notorious incident of late, these morons deleted voice mails of a murder victim as the box filled up so they could try to get more material.  This gave false hope to the young girl’s family that she might still be alive and who knows what it did to the investigation as they deleted evidence.  The report on this evening’s news had News Corp promising a “full investigation” and that’s what has me so exorcised at the moment since it’s a huge business point in my mind. Continue reading

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Filed under Huh?, Reality checks

Monitors

Public address

Image by John Wardell (Netinho) via Flickr

One of the weird experiences of playing loud rock music is that of not being able to hear.  No, I don’t mean the dulled hearing that many of us ex-musicians are experiencing later in our lives.  What I’m talking about is standing 5 feet away from someone who is singing their lungs out and watching their lips move without hearing any of it.  Watch how most bands set up – the amplifiers are behind the musicians but the PA system speakers – the ones from which the vocals emanate – are in front of the band, closer to the audience.  This is why there are also usually monitors of some sort.

You’ve seen them, maybe without knowing what they were: the boxes in front of the band that face backwards.  Today, of course, those might be prompters that show the singers the lyrics (at one point I would have attributed that need to drugs and alcohol; now it’s usually age) since most musicians seem to wear ear monitors that let the singer hear whatever mix helps them stay on time and in tune.  Good business lesson too! Continue reading

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Filed under Helpful Hints

Forgive And Remember

We all make mistakes.  Some of them are relatively minor and are great learning experiences.  Others are heinous and offensive and reflect bad judgement as well as bad character.  No, I’m not writing with a guilty conscience this morning.  I am writing, however, after having seen a couple of announcements in the last few days which got me thinking about forgiveness.

“Forgive and forget” is a grand idea.  Every major religion talks to the topic and giving forgiveness is, in fact, mandatory in Judaism once someone apologizes and makes amends.  I expect it’s thought of in a similar manner in other faiths.   And while “forgiveness” is an admirable quality, I’m not sure “forgetting” is in that context.  But let’s see what you think. Continue reading

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Filed under Thinking Aloud