Some recent musical faves

Kaki King - Incredible musician. Plays an Ovation guitar (like me) but with BOTH hands on the fretboard (unlike me). Incredible. Follow the link and listing to "Carmine St." You'll be amazed that it's only one person playing ... live!



Nickel Creek - Acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin, and sometimes an upright bass. An incredibly talented trio that melds bluegrass, English folk, acoustic pop and even a little blues music into an instantly recognizable sound. Check out "Smoothie Song".



Béla Fleck and the Flecktones - Fusion banjo at its best! Complete with oboe, bassoon, steel drums, a percussionist named Future Man, and a guy that plays two saxophones at one time. Follow the link and listen to disk 1/track 1 and disk 2/track 2.



Trio Mediaeval - Three German women singing songs from waaaaaaay back when. Amazing haromonies. So incredibly peaceful.

(Sorry, no decent video found for Trio Mediaeval.)

Maybe not your run-of-the-mill type stuff, but I certainly enjoy it. Maybe you will, too!

The Cartoon Bank

Came across a fun website today. It's called The Cartoon Bank and it's chocked full of New Yorker magazine cartoons, cover prints and gifts. Those one-panel funnies almost always make me laugh and it was especially fun looking back at the panels they published decades' prior. In the 1920's, for example, topics included such crises as confusing broccoli with spinach, Ivory soap NOT floating, and a conversation between trapeze artists - one falling and the other one saying, "Oop-sorry."

In the 70's, the cartoons focused more on lawyers, statistics (Man watching tv; newscaster saying, "Meaningless statistics are up one-point-five percent this month over last month."), and music on hold (Secretary with telephone in one hand and trumpet in the other asking caller “Would you like to hear some music while you hold?”).

Fun stuff! Worth a look.

Give me a B-R-E-A-K!

I found it particularly curious that Marci Mcdonald ("Give me a C-O-A-C-H!" February 16th, US News & World Report) chose to use my company, GottaGettaCoach!, Inc., as an example of what's wrong with the coaching profession. Not that there isn't room for improvement in any field, but I would have thought she would have at least checked her so-called-facts a little more than not-at-all. So please allow me to set the record straight.

GottaGettaCoach! is not a coaching school. We do not disperse "assorted bona fides for prices ranging from $29.95 to $1,795 a course." And notwithstanding the writer's implications, my fees do not "range from $250 an hour to $17,000 a day." I also am one of the "1,100 of the International Coach Federation's 7,000 members [who] have qualified for ICF certification." (I am credentialed as a certified executive coach by The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches and a certified graduate of the Coaches Training Institute, as well.) The only thing Ms. Mcdonald did get right about my company is that GottaGettaCoach.com is one of the more "lively titles" out there!

I can only assume that the author found my site on the Internet by using search words like "executive coach," "management coaching," or "life coach." But even the most cursory look at my website reveals her conclusions inaccurate and unfounded. "Others are advised to check out degree claims and references with care," she writes. I, for one, would have been far better served if she had followed her own advice.

So I wrote US News & World Report to tell them so.

Practice Random Acts of Kindness

Here ye, Here ye. February 9th through 15th is Random Acts of Kindness Week.

From The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation newsletter:

"It's the month for offering and opening Valentines! Just knowing that someone cares is a delight, isn’t it? Random Acts of Kindness Week includes Valentine’s Day for a reason. It’s a reminder to us all that every person is unique and worthy of respect and care ... Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 9-15) is a time to celebrate one another."

So make a point to do your share. Practice Random Acts of Kindness early and aoften this week. It'll be good for you; it'll be good for the world.

Finally, A Day We Can Call "Linear"

Yes, that's right. February, 3, 2004, or put another way, 2-3-4.

It's nice to know that with all the priorities whirling around, circling back on each other, and getting all tangled up, today offers a little comfort as an absolutely straight line of a day.

So decide where you are ... and where you want to get to ... and crank up the engine to full-speed-forward.

Today is YOUR day and you get to make the MOST of it.

-----Category: _fun