Open Recordings
by Alex G Weiser
Salvador was brought up in Spain, a country colored by the legends of Hannibal, El Greco, and Cervantes. I was brought up in Ohio, a region steeped in the tradition of Coxey’s Army, the Anti-Saloon League and William Howard Taft. It is only natural that the weather in little Salvador’s soul should have been stirred by stranger winds and enveloped in more fantastic mists than the weather in my own soul.
Reassurance for my Kelly’s soul:
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard new music from Fiona Apple. Luckily, the wait is almost over. In a recent tweet, Epic Records chairman and CEO L.A. Reid announced that the followup to her 2005 album Extraordinary Machine will be released sometime in early 2012.
It seems that Epic is at least partly responsible for the large hiatus. At a concert in Los Angeles in November, Apple admitted to her fans that she couldn’t remember how to play her new songs because they had been done for a year.
To read more about the new Fiona Apple album, visit RollingStone.com.
—Ben Murray
For my dear Kelly:
When Nabokov finally saw Lolita at a private screening, he declared in the published version of his film script that Kubrick was “a great director, and that his Lolita was a first-rate film with magnificent actors,” even though much of his version of the script had gone unused. In fact, Nabokov concluded that “infinite fidelity may be the author’s ideal but can prove the producer’s ruin.”
Evolved Language: Dumb
I’ve been contemplating the evolution of words—rather—of the definitions of words.
Everything changes its meaning over time, and words are most definitely not exceptional in that regard.
As I pondered the best way to articulate the interviewer’s art of asking the questions that are obvious, silly, or “dumb” to many, in order to add to the listener’s knowledge without alienating them, the word “dumb” struck me.
I do not like the word dumb, and this is why.
Dictionary.Com defines “dumb” as:
dumb [duhm] adjective,-er, -est, verb
adjective
1. lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted
2. lacking the power of speech (often offensive when applied to humans): A dumb animal
3. temporarily unable to speak: dumb with astonishment.
4. refraining from any or much speech; silent.
5. made, done, etc., without speech.
If you follow the definitions in descending order, as such:
dumb [duhm] adjective,-er, -est, verb
adjective
5. made, done, etc., without speech.
4. refraining from any or much speech; silent.
3. temporarily unable to speak: dumb with astonishment.
2. lacking the power of speech (often offensive when applied to humans): A dumb animal
1. lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted
You’ll notice that dating back to before 1000 AD the word has been defined by an inability to speak. Definition two offers the word’s place in modern social etiquette, and definition one displays how we have coped with its offensiveness: by making definition two an appropriate and concrete definition! But now, you can’t say it directly to or about a person who cannot speak. You can, however, refer to a truly dull-witted individual as dumb, even though it is rooted in a stereotype.
Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on with me.
WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE
- 8/1979: Born. Grew up in CT, built a killer eraser collection, fell in love with computers.
- Left college to start a company. Fell hard. Fled to India for 3 months.
- Started 2nd company. Learned to be an adult. Fell in love with NYC.
- Moved to SF, discovered burritos & some of my fave people on Earth.
- 9/2011: Got diagnosed with Leukemia!
- Cried. Went through 3 cycles of chemo. Hurt. Thought hard about what I want out of life. Grew up a second time.
TODAY
… After over 100 drives organized by friends, family, and strangers, celebrity call-outs, a bazillion reblogs (7000+!), tweets, and Facebook posts, press, fundraising and international drives organized by tireless friends, and a couple painful false starts, I’ve got a 10/10 matched donor!
You all literally helped save my life. (And the lives of many others.)
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Tomorrow, I’ll be admitted to Dana Farber in Boston for 4-5 weeks.
First I’ll get a second Hickman line to allow direct access to my heart (for meds and for nutrients if I’m not able to eat). Over the next week, the docs blast my body with a stiff chemo cocktail to try and eradicate all traces of cancer cells. In the process, the immune system I was born with, and my body’s ability to make blood, are destroyed.
Next Friday, I get my donor’s stem cells by IV. I start on immunosuppressants to prevent my body from rejecting them (I’ll be on them for 12-18 months). For these weeks I’ve no immune system, so I’m severely vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. My hospital room and hallway become my world.
Meanwhile, the stem cells make their way to my bone marrow and, with some luck, start producing platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. At this point, my blood type changes to the blood type of my donor. And my blood will now have my donor’s DNA, not my own.
This is science fiction stuff. I can hardly believe it’s even possible, and there’s lots of chances for things to go wrong. It’s frightening.
AFTER THE TRANSPLANT
Recovery to a new state of “normal” takes about a year, but there’s a few storm clouds hovering:
- My immune system is new, like a baby’s. I’m prone to getting sick.
- Just as with any organ transplant, there’s a chance of rejection. Except in this case, it’s my blood that’s the foreign body, and it touches every organ. They call it graft-vs-host-disease and it can cause health issues and organ complications for the rest of my life.
- Successful transplant or not, Leukemia can relapse. Stubborn mofo.
Overall, 75% of AML transplant patients survive year one, 50% make it through year five. My odds are a little better since I’m young.
THE GREAT NEWS
I’ve got a long road ahead. But I’ve got a donor & amazing family & friends. A few months ago I didn’t have many options. Today I have a plan.
I am alive. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thank you.
Butler/Till
I’d like to share some information about my new employer, Butler/Till.
- Website: http://butlertill.com/home.shtml
- Blog, Media Mosaic: http://www.butlertill.com/mediamosaic/
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ButlerTill
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButlerTill
- LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/company/151624?trk=pp_icon
Happy New Years Eve!
I listened to this Tiny Desk with Foster the People months ago, and I thought it was just alright, maybe because “Pumped up Kicks” was so popular at the time. I gave it another listen recently and had a different opinion: these guys are more than a pop band. I look forward to their second album when it comes out.
(Source: NPR)
B-Corporation = Benefit Corporation.
B-Corps are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
B-Lab founder Jay Coen Gilbert describes it as, “A new corporate form to give entrepreneurs and investors another choice of the type of institution they want to create. We have an opportunity here and now to seize this opportunity to build a new sector of the economy that marries the power of business with the purpose of civil society.”
Essentially, B-Labs seeks to rewrite corporate law so corporations are allowed to do good. Currently, corporations exist to maximize shareholder value exclusively. So, if corporate leaders make a decision that affects the bottom line, but benefits the environment, they can be sued for not placing the shareholders’ value first.
How do we use business as a tool for social change?
Legal standards B-Corps meet: “They are legally obligated, through a change to their corporate documents, to consider the impact of their decisions not only to their shareholders, but also on their workforce, their community, their suppliers, their consumers, and the environment.”
How can we tell the difference between a good company and good marketing?
“Today everybody claims to be green, responsible, and sustainable, and when everybody claims to be the same thing, those words mean less and less.”
B-Corps are subject to standards to ensure they do what they claim to do. They meet performance standards that vary based on industry, and touch on the company’s employment practices, supplier practices, community engagement, and environmental practices.
Coen Gilbert advises: “We as consumers use certifications like we look for brands. Certifications are backed up not just by marketing, but by a rigorous third party vetted audit process. You need rating to do this.” In order to qualify for B-Corporation status, a company must score a total of 80 out of 200 on the overall scale. “The rating system helps us tell the difference between those who are actually making a difference, and those that are just telling a story.”
Near the end of the speech, he recognizes the following people’s works as evidence that it is an appropriate time readdress how we solve the world’s most challenging problems:
- Bill Gates: Creative Capitalism (40 min vid)
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus: Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
(Amazon)
- Thomas Friedman: Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America
(Amazon)
Learn more about B-Corps in the Esquire Charles P. Pierce Politics Blog, part I and II.
Stop in Savannah 2 on Flickr.
I planned a pit-stop in Savannah, so I wandered around the city for about an hour. What a beautiful spring day it was!
Democritus said, “If you would be happy, limit your activities to a few.” This adds to the happiness of doing a few things the satisfaction of having done them well. Most of what we say and do is unnecessary anyway; subtract all that lot, and look at the time and contentment you’ll gain. On each occasion, therefore, a man should ask himself, “Do I really need to say or do this?” In this way, he will remove not only unnecessary actions, but also the superfluous ideas that inspire needless acts.
“Morning’s best, because you’re barely awake, and kind of close to the subconscious.”
-Sam Beam, Iron and Wine, on writing music
(Source: NPR)
Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam (by Rob Whitworth)
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Pigpen theatre company:
“PigPen creates atmospheric theatrical fables with a unique blend of shadow puppetry, group movement, live music, and clever lighting effects. Formed at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 2008, PigPen has toured nationally and became the first company in history to win the top honor for a play at the New York City International Fringe Festival two years in a row, in 2010 and 2011.”
Their Kickstarter earnings will fund recording their full album.
