Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Josie Cotton

There's just something about the girl-group sound of the '60s and the beginning of summer...they just go together. Martha & the Vandellas, Ronnie Spector & the Ronettes, The Angels and a bunch of others helped define the early days of rock n roll.

Twenty years later. Josie Cotton channeled that sound on a great album called Convertible Music. Outside of the station I was programming, it didn't get a lot of radio action. But, the LP was (and is) a magical homage to those early days of chick-fueled rock.

On this Music Friday, we kick off the Summer of 2015 with Josie Cotton and "He Could Be the One."

The Hubris of "The Party"

Here in Wisconsin, it's time for political Party leadership and faithful to gather to decide who will lead them into battle in the upcoming election cycles. You too?

One of our primary Party's leaders is considered by many insiders to be an abject failure and is facing some serious challengers in next week's annual convention. And, as expected, the challengers are beginning to turn on one another to gain a foothold.

One of the candidates to lead their Party is being chastised by some of her peers because she just recently joined the Party. She hasn't paid years of dues and doesn't have the cred of those that have been dutifully paying their dues for decades.

Which might matter to the Party-faithful boomers in the room...but doesn't mean shit to the audience the Party needs to be targeting. That would be the generation that believes paying dues is stupid and no more qualifies you for consideration for leadership than having walked a 5K.

She says she didn't know that paying dues to the Party was a prerequisite...and while Party lifers chortle at the thought, it's certainly possible. Who told this volunteer that she wasn't qualified to pass lit or do doors over the past few elections unless she wrote a check to the Holy Party? I've offered to help candidates lots of times and have NEVER been asked to join a Party.

Which is why the local Party system is on the verge of collapse (or, at the least, irrelevance). Too many old schoolers that don't understand how and why today's new recruits volunteer to be activists and how the next generation of voters thinks, moves and acts.

Illinois Fights Back

As we shared last week, Illinois' Tourism Industry is not taking the Governor's ham-handed reductions to the State's Tourism Promotion budget laying down.

A series of messages that can be shared across social media and e-mail communication have been developed and tie ludicrous budget cuts to things that one would never consider doing in Illinois. Like cutting down trees in a National Forest, taking hot dogs off the menu at an iconic hot dog restaurant (click image to view) or taking Harry Caray's glasses away (sacrilege...and our fave).

When we talk about telling a better story...this is what we mean.

Fact Checking that Misses the Point

The Presidential Beauty Pageant has only just begun and the whoppers are already flying.

Case in point: Senator Ted Cruz recently claimed that Americans spend $500 billion a year on complying with this country's inane tax code. PolitiFact.com quickly corrected squire Cruz, finding that the best estimates place compliance at $172 billion. And, good on them for crying out "pants on fire."

But, isn't the real story here that Americans are forced to squander billions of their earnings to satisfy an out-of-touch government's rules. That we collectively piss away a billion dollars is onerous...but $172 billion? That's simply insane.

Like I've said before, I'd be happy to pay (somewhat) higher taxes if they'd just send me a friggin' bill.

Home

As we prepare to "celebrate" Memorial Day Weekend, we should all take a moment to reassess.

It is not a celebratory day. That would be the 4th of July.

It's a day (a weekend) that at some moment we should raise a glass and a prayer to those that made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation and our way of life.

And, on this Music Friday, we can't help but echo Dierks Bentley as he sings, "I wonder what they'd think if they could see us now."

Hey America? It's time to reclaim our greatness from the assholes in Washington.

If not for ourselves...for those that made our amazing life possible.

This weekend...it's "Home."

The Case for Complete Content Calendaring

It's why consumers come to Destination Marketing Organizations' websites and mobile platforms. Not just for content...but the interpretation of that content.

If there are 25 things to do in your community today, I'd kind of like to know which are a big deal and which are just OK (hey, I might actually go for an OK, if it's an affinity). But, if a national performer is playing your town, I'd probably expect that to be in the top, say, three. At least.

Otherwise, the list is just a list. And Google can do that.

I'm not sure what criteria the person behind the Charlottesville VA Chamber of Commerce Calendar of Events is using...but it didn't recognize an appearance by one of the top comedians in the country as something that ought to be near the top of that day's list.

And, when that person is Lewis Black...it wasn't going to go well.

This rant from his show last weekend is extremely NSFW...but it's something that every person charged with calendaring should watch.

Twice. 

Who Owns Your Data?

When a major corporation declares bankruptcy, the courts attempt to sell anything with value in a valiant attempt to pay the company's creditors something to ease the pain. But, what happens when the most valuable asset that remains is a treasure trove of consumer data that was collected with the express promise that it would not be sold to a third party?

Radio Shack likely would have kept that promise...if it were still alive. And now, both Apple and AT&T are asking a Delaware bankruptcy court to block a proposed sale of the Shack's database to a company for $26 million. 

Something to ponder this week: who owns your database?

Thinking Outside the Deficit

Illinois is a hot mess.

Facing a budget crisis of monumental proportions, the new Governor has the budget hatchet greased up and ready to fly. And, of course, the budget for tourism promotion and development is a delectable target.

Never mind that successful tourism marketing adds more tax revenue to a State's bottom line than virtually anything else it does, Tourism budgets are always a target because Joe and Jill Public don't understand the math. But, isn't that why we elect people that we assume to be the smart ones in the room? Not to follow the mindless horde...but to lead?

The Illinois Tourism industry is stepping into the fray with a great campaign called "Think Outside the Deficit." And, we'll be bringing you news from the front as one of the largest (and most successful) tourism budgets in the nation hangs in the balance.

When Facts Aren't

Fascinating story from the Wall Street Journal that uncovers that Federal "research" indicating that Americans spent more on eating out than groceries is bullshit.

Like anything the Federal Government does, they use ham handed formulas to make decisions that impact us all. In this case, they suggest that Americans spend more on prepared food by using NAICS codes that identify revenues in grocery stores and restaurants.

What it doesn't identify is food purchases from stores like Wal-Mart (the world's largest seller of groceries) because its NAICS code is different.

So, yeah...we're still spending more in grocery stores than restaurants. But...that it's close enough for a Federal Government study to get it wrong says a lot.

Joey Alexander

There are keyboard players that are much more accomplished. Indeed, my personal favorite has scored a rock-steam punk ballet (which is coming back this fall to the Overture Center) and has written acres of songs that often wash over me when I hit shuffle on my iTunes collection as we watch the sunset signal a farewell to another day.

But, there is something about an 11-year old prodigy that captures everyone's attention. Most are playing off memory. In other words, they have practiced the shit out of a song and play it flawlessly. And, good on them.

In the intriguing case of Joey Alexander, I watch a musician whose fingers seem to go where his mind is free to imagine chords that were never before tried in a classic that so many of us love.

One of this avowed rocker's favorite songs in the world is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (I know, I know).

And, on this Music Friday, I've never heard it move like this version by Joey Alexander.