February 17, 2009

15 Albums... My list.

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.


1. KISS - Dynasty (First KISS album, I always wanted to be Gene Simmons)

2. Metallica - Master of Puppets ("Frayed Ends of Sanity" is one of the best songs ever)

3. Billy Joel - Glass Houses ("You May Be Right" was a sort of theme song)

4. David Garza - Eyes Wide Open (One of the few musicians my sister turned me onto. He's sctuallyon the cover of INsite (insiteaustin.com) this month... "Fallen Angel" is the perfect love song.)

5. Darrell Scott - Aloha From Nashville (Amazing singer-songwriter who sings with more feeling than most I've heard)

6. Ruthie Foster - Runaway Soul (In 2002 I was covering the Old Settlers Music Festival and her producer, Lloyd Maines, told me she recorded the vocal tracks on this stellar album in one take. I didn't quite believe him..until I saw her live. Wow.)

7. Los Lobos - Just Another Band From East LA (The 2-CD set that everyone should have.)

8. Suicidal Tendencies - The Art of Rebellion ("I Wasn't Meant To Feel This/ Asleep At The Wheel" is awesome.)

9. Mark Chesnutt - Too Cold At Home (This was the album that made me start appreciating country music. "Brother Jukebox" is probably my favorite on an album of gold)

10. Terri Hendrix - Wilory Farm (It's been a pleasure to have known of Terri most of her career, and this is one amazing album.)

11. Styx - Kilroy was Here (I had this on tape as a kid, I wore out the first side.)

12. Guy Forsyth - Love Songs: For and Against (I placed this CD in my player and didn't take it out for about a year. "Heart Shaped Hole" is a monster.)

13. John Prine - Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings (In college a friend introduced me to this one. I had only heard "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody" before... but when I heard this one my whole image shifted)

14. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (Opened my little anglo suburbanite mind to a whole different world)

15. Edwin McCain - Honor Among Thieves (Between "Solitude,"Jesters, Dreamers, and Thieves" and "3 A.M." this is one is more amazing each time I hear it.

There are quite a few more I could cite (Vallejo, Willie Nelson,Bay City Rollers, Ozzy, Walt Wilkins, Slayer, Oak Ridge Boys, Terror, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Green Day, George Carlin, Alligator Records, Van Morrison, Jonny Lang).. but these give a good representation... Yes, I'm a goofball.

February 10, 2009

Secret Formulas of Advertising Seminar



INsite Magazine will be hosting a FREE event for Austin area business owners on March 3, 2009 at Wizard Academy. This is a seminar that will be emphasizing the Secret Formulas of Advertising. To RSVP please e-mail ads@insiteaustin.com.


Come spend the day with bestselling author Roy H. Williams and learn the secrets of what it takes to develop successful ads. You will also have the opportunity to meet with INsite magazine to discuss publication information, distribution and possibly formulate a relationship for longterm advertisement exposure.

Everyone who registers will get a Secret Formulas of the Wizard Of Ads book for free as a gift. Please make arrangements for a representative from INsite to meet so you can have the book and read it before the event.

Again, this is a free seminar for business owners with no obligations whatsoever. Lunch will be provided. If you are interested please do not hesitate to email us at ads@insiteaustin.com so that we can send you all the pertinent information. Thank you.

Flyer below:

Secret Formulas Advertising Workshop

February 6, 2009

Now Booking - Plum Creek Music Festival - May 3, 2009


The 2009 Plum Creek Music Festival will be held on May 3, 2009 @ the Plum Creek neighborhood in Kyle, Texas.

The festival coincides with the 10th annual Front Porch Days celebration.

See photos from the 2008 Festival here.

We're looking for a killer line-up this year. And, we're going the way of Americana/Country music as well. The plus side, is... it's a paying gig. The down side is.. it doesn't pay much at all.

Knowing that, if you'd like to spend 45 minutes to an hour on a Sunday afternoon in May in Kyle, Texas playing in front of hundreds of folks, please let Sean Claes know - seanclaes@seanclaes.com. He's booking the event. There is no deadline.. but we'll post the final line-up as soon as it's solidified.

As I understand it, there are 8 slots to fill... 2 stages, 4 bands each stage. Music starts at 1:00 and it over by 6:00.

Kyle does indeed rock.

EDIT: You will only be considered if you e-mail Plum Creek Music Festival's organizer, Sean Claes at seanclaes@seanclaes.com




February 5, 2009

Free Breakfast @ Chick-Fil-A - Feb 9-14

Eat More Chicken… for FREE!
Austin-area Chick-fil-A restaurants give away free breakfast items for a week

WHAT:
Twelve Chick-fil-A® restaurants in the Austin area will give away complimentary breakfast entrees from Feb. 9 - 14. To provide customers with a sampling of all of the restaurants’ breakfast choices, the free menu item will vary day to day.

Make sure to visit each day to sample a variety of complimentary Chick-fil-A breakfast offerings:

Monday, Feb. 9:
Chick-fil-A® Chicken Biscuit – a breakfast portion of Chick-fil-A’s famous boneless breast of chicken, seasoned to perfection, hand-breaded, pressure-cooked in trans fat free peanut oil and served on a freshly baked buttermilk biscuit

· Tuesday, Feb. 10:
Chick-fil-A Chick-n-MinisTM (three-count) – bite-sized Chick-fil-A Nuggets nestled in warm, mouth-watering mini-yeast rolls

· Wednesday, Feb. 11:
Sausage Biscuit – a tasty, pork sausage patty served on a delicious made from scratch biscuit

· Thursday, Feb. 12:
Chick-fil-A® Chicken Biscuit

· Friday, Feb. 13:
Chick-fil-A Chick-n-MinisTM (three-count)

· Saturday, Feb. 14:
Sausage Biscuit

No purchase necessary; limit one free item per customer per day.

WHEN:
Feb. 9 – 14

Breakfast hours only: 6:30 – 10:30 a.m.


WHERE:
Participating Austin-area Chick-fil-A locations:



Chick-fil-A at I-35/Slaughter
161 West Slaughter Lane
Austin, TX 78748
(512) 282-4200

Chick-fil-A at I-35/Ben White FSU
500 East Ben White Boulevard
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 707-8119

Chick-fil-A at South Mopac at US Hwy 290 West
5033-D US 290 West
Austin, TX 78735
(512) 358-9125

Chick-fil-A at Barton Creek Square Mall
2901 Capital of Texas Highway
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 327-3699

Chick-fil-A at Village at Westlake
701 S. Capital of Texas Highway
West Lake Hills, TX 78746
(512) 329-9171

Chick-fil-A at Bee Cave
3600 South FM 620 Road
Bee Cave, TX 78738
(512) 263-5300

Chick-fil-A at Lakeline Mall
11200 Lakeline Mall Drive
Cedar Park, TX 78613
(512) 250-5323

Chick-fil-A at Cedar Park
1325 E Whitestone Boulevard
Cedar Park, TX 78613
(512) 260-9777


Chick-fil-A at Braker Lane
10901 Research Boulevard
Austin, TX 78759
(512) 343-1989

Chick-fil-A at North Mopac & Parmer Lane
12501 North Mopac Expressway
Austin, TX 78727
(512) 977-0747

Chick-fil-A at I-35/Parmer Lane
12901 I-35 North Service Road
Austin, TX 78753
(512) 990-2424

Chick-fil-A at Round Rock
110 Louis Henna Boulevard
Round Rock, TX 78664
(512) 218-4884

February 2, 2009

Best/Worst Super Bowl Ads - My opinion.

*throws his hat into the ring*
Everyone else is doing it... so why don't I?

Here it is. I actually watched the GAME this year and it was a damn good game. Me being a HUGE Steelers fan made it that much better... so I missed a lot of the ads. BUT... thanks to the computer... I can see them all here: http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/. You can too.

Here's my favorite ad, my favorite "it won't sell a thing" ad, my favorite "this may actually sell something" ad, and my least favorite.
I'm ruling out the movie ads... although I know a few folks wet their pants (or dropped a "captain's log") when they learned that Star Trek is going to come out with a new movie... anyhow... I'm going to concentrate on folks peddling services.

My Favorite Ad - E-Trade Babies
"Take... these broken wings!" Nice. Not sure if this is going to do anything... because I'm still totally unsure what E-Trade does other than, well..."trade electronically"... but I'm digging the entertainment.


Favorite "Won't Sell A Thing" Ad - Teleflora
Yeah... I'm not going to pick up flowers.. at all.. this year. Sorry Teleflora. Love the ad though. You probably should have attacked a different Valentine's Day gift... not the one you're peddling.


Favorite "It's gonna work" ad - DENNY'S
Free Grand Slam? Meet you at Denny's.




My least favorite: TIE - Doritos "Bus" and Bridgestone "Moon Dancers"
I'm all about Doritos, but this ad is just plain dumb. Dumb ditty ditty dumb. Dumber than the stupid "MC Hammer is selling his Gold" ad... for sure.


OK.. this ad says to me... Buy Bridgestone if you want to have your tires stolen. How much you want to bet someone is going to make some foolish "illegal aliens stealing tires" comment?