Godspell, Boot Camp and More

After a long week on the east coast, I thought I’d share a few thoughts about some goings-on.

First, hey, go see Godspell on Broadway!  I had never seen the show, which shocked those in attendance with me, although the music was familiar.  It’s pretty much a rock (ish) mash-up of the Gospel of Matthew (with a little Luke thrown in for good measure), cool songs and an amazing young cast of actors.  It’s a simple, but not plain, staging, with just the right amount of props, effects, and whizziness to keep the interest level high.  If you were raised in church, there’s almost no way you won’t like this show, and Hunter Parrish (who is Silas on Weeds) does a really engaging Jesus.  If you weren’t raised in church (or perhaps in a different kind of church), you’ll like it anyway because the message is universal.  Also, at intermission, there’s wine on the stage that the audience is invited to come and share.  No communion wafers, though.

Again, I’d like to congratulate Ken Davenport for an amazing job putting this together.  I saw him in the lobby afterward, hiding under a “Godspell” baseball cap, but when we talked, I could see that he was beaming.  There’s a tremendous energy and appeal to this show that I think give it a real shot of being a big winner.

Next up, Philly, I love ya’.  I took a rainy train trip out to the City of Brotherly Love to spend some time talking to ABC 6.  Here’s the piece that ran today.  Smartly, they left the video of me talking on the cutting room floor and talked about the site.  Also, it’s a bit of a public service piece because everyone should know about Count Spatula at IHOP.

In other news, I can’t talk about it yet, but I am co-organizing a TEDx event somewhere, sometime in the not too distant future.  I’m very excited about this and will say more in early November (aka, next week) so start looking forward to that. Or just forget about it until I mention it later.  Either way.
Last but certainly not least, I joined Seth Godin, Damian Bazadona, Thomas Cott and others as a presenter at the Digital Marketing Boot Camp for the Arts.  Erik Gensler of Capacity Interactive did a tremendous job putting the thing together, along with Karen and the others from his team.  It was a terrific crowd, not too big, not too small, and very focused, in a great space, the Baryshnikov Center on 37th.  I talked about Social Media, and if the feedback on the talk I gave is good, I might polish it up and do it again.  I’m continuously surprised as how much thirst there is for knowledge about social media and how much mystery continues to surround it for people.  The whole point of my talk is that social media is NOT mysterious and shouldn’t be treated as though it is.  Perhaps more on that later.I spent some time with Beth Ellard, the GM of Daily Candy, and from what I can tell of what’s coming up, they’re going in a very, very interesting direction.  Keep an eye on that! It’s the first time we had met, and she’s both charming and super smart, and I love her observations about the marketplace.

Erik was kind enough to pass along this photo of me on stage, standing in front of a giant image of Kung Fu Panda.  Yes, there’s a tie in to social media.