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As we close out 2014, that race thing continues to dominate the news.
Didn't we get past all that shit a generation ago?
On this New Year's Eve (which will double as this week's Music Friday post) we offer up one of those '60s moments that said, hell yeah, we are better together.
A black man from Alabama and a white Welsh boy simply killing some songs of the era.
Why can't we be as cool as this?
Here's hoping 2015 is the year we can.
Barring worldwide economic collapse, a pandemic, catastrophic terrorism or the sudden arrival of the Borg...meeting planners surveyed in a recent study seem pretty optimistic about 2015. And, that should be good news for Destination Marketing pros.
According to Destination Hotels' third annual "State of the Meetings Industry" survey of more than 185 meeting planners nationwide, over a third said their 2015 meeting budgets would increase while half said budgets will remain static. There are indications that the witch-hunts of the recession are no longer as feared as they once were after the President infamously chided companies for taking their meetings to Las Vegas. Planners told Destination Hotels that they are more interested in getting back to using spa services and playing golf, thus committing more dollars to on-site social events and recreation in exchange for lower room rates.
Not surprisingly, geographic location and room rate continue to be the most important factors to planners when selecting a host property. But the availability of sufficient bandwidth, wireless connectivity, charging stations and large screen LCD panels are also more important than ever before.
Finally, some good news for secondary and rural destinations: Active, adventure and wellness-focused team building activities ranked high in meeting planners' interests for the New Year.
Here's hoping the surveyed planners are right.
As DMAI's DestinationNext Study attempts to divine the future of Destination Marketing Organizations, our friend (and DMO thought leader) Reyn Bowman recently jumped ahead (he does that a lot) to define the required traits of the NextGen DMO CEO.
And, I believe he couldn't be more accurate in his assessment.
And, I'd love to hear your take.
One last holiday classic on this Music Friday. And, one that mixes one of the most sensational voices of the last century with the technological prowess of the team of Mangini and Pallin.
This is what Ella Fitzgerald may have sounded like today...with an updated version of her classic cover of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve."
Have a great weekend, y'all.
We've been a fan of Natalie Stovall since we caught her live in a sleepy club in Pittsburgh a few years ago. And, stunned that her star has not yet exploded over the land.
We stumbled upon this YouTube offering of a song the other day and thought it perfect for this Christmas Day.
The is Natalie Stovall & the Drive with "Mary, Did You Know."
And, Merry Christmas, y'all.
As I noted yesterday, there are a couple songs released during my years as a Rock Radio programmer that drove me to become a collector of cool Christmas songs. One was yesterday's feature, "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake. The other was a version of "O Holy Night" by Yes frontman Jon Anderson.
I'm such a sucker for the minor chord. And, for almost 30 years, Jon's version has been my "go to" at Christmas.
Until Monday night, when I witnessed the amazing Home Free in concert at Eau Claire's way cool State Theatre.
It was the last night of their Christmas Tour...but they'll be on the road again in the spring (go).
On this Christmas Eve, enjoy Home Free's simply sensational version of "O Holy Night."
And may your evening be filled with love and joy.
The rain has been coming down for hours. This is Wisconsin...the land of a White Christmas. And yet, for those of us in the southern reaches, that's just not going to happen.
Which turns me back to the Christmas song that I think propelled me to collect songs of the Holiday Season as something of a hobby.
I was working Rock Radio when one Greg Lake (of Emerson, Lake & Palmer) rolled out a Christmas song. There was a Greg version. An ELP version. And, other versions.
Today, we go with a perfectly appropriate version with Greg Lake, Ian Anderson and the Chorus of the St. Bride's Church in London.
Love the Chorus...despite the rain.
"Baby it's Cold Outside" has become quite the Holiday Season staple over the past twenty years. It seems like everybody has a version of the song that originally appeared in 1948 in the MGM movie "Neptune's Daughter," performed by Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams.
I don't remember this 2008 version of the "wolf and mouse" duet...but this video of Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews is sexy and cheesy at the same time.
Enjoy...or cringe.
Or both.
Have you caught the media's breathless predictions that a major winter storm could paralyze America next week over the Christmas holiday?
I'm sorry...but, until Frankie says it's gonna happen, I'm not buying it.
But, a White Christmas is always cool. So, for this Music Friday we're going to go with a fairly traditional version of the classic from the Celtic Women.
With a hint of Oz.
Enjoy...
I'm glad that UPS "Loves Logistics," because I certainly don't understand it.
I've been tracking a package that is on its way to Madison for the holidays. It started in Medford OR last Friday and ended up in Roseburg OR that night. UPS apparently took the weekend off and the package began to move again Monday morning at 1:36am as it left Roseburg and showed up a few hours later in Tualatin and a few hours after that in Portland.
On Tuesday, the package traveled from Portland to Hermiston OR...and then off to Spokane WA. It went missing in the tracking system Wednesday...but showed up in Minneapolis this morning.
I can't imagine that the sender spent more than a few dollars for shipping. Yet the number of hands that have touched this package must be extreme.
And, through it all...UPS makes money. Amazing.
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