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Special appearances include Tim Haran and Dan Macuga from Usana Health Sciences.

Usana Health Sciences 2010 International Convention Video Blog #1

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I liked some Depeche Mode, Siousxie, and my favorite, Tears for Fears. Before TFF got superstar status with “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, they released this delightfully painful album called “The Hurting.” I loved the introspection of that first disc as much as I loved the radio-friendly hits of “Songs from the Big Chair.” (Though as a kid, I couldn’t hit the bottom notes in “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”)

So, some 25 years later, low and behold, founders Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are touring, and they’re at the 9:30 club in DC, on a Monday night in August.  I didn’t want to miss this show. I figured two decades of waiting was plenty…and this show was worth the wait.

What You Expected. TFF did a great job of mixing up the songs in the set.  They played a great balance of songs from the first two albums, plus the big follow-up, “The Seeds of Love.” They played about half of their most recent CD, 2004′s “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending.” They played all the big hits, and the crowd sang every word. The only song they played off of a non-Curt disc was the one you’d expect, “Break it Down Again” (from the CD “Elemental”).

What You Hoped For. The best from the band’s founders. Curt is intense on stage and his crystal clear vocals match his stage presence. He’s very in the moment, delivering the sensitivity of “Seven of Sundays”, or the anti-industrial venom of “Mad World” with equal precision. Roland is very aloof and whimsical on stage, working the crowd very well. He crushed on songs like “Sowing the Seeds of Love” and “Head Over Heels.” The pair performed great, in two different, complimentary styles. The backup band was solid, mixing blues guitar, jazz drums, and synth EVERYTHING (like the sax line in “Memories Fade”) to fill out the band’s wildly complicated composition.

What Blindsided You. Two words: Michael Wainwright. Not only did this cat open for Tears for Fears with just his voice and a guitar, but he hopped on stage and sang half the set with TFF. One of the night’s highlights was watching Wainwright belt out Oleta Adams’ soulful lines in “Woman in Chains.” I kid you not. This guy is a vocal cannon. Roland has the broadest range. Curt has the most signature vocal delivery, and Wainwright tops it off perfectly.

I had the great privilege of chatting with Curt’s wife, Frances, since we were stage left right by the monitor guy. Curt’s family was along for the trip (he is an American citizen), and apparently learned a lot about American history while they were here. I made her a promise that my cover band would play some TFF in the near future. The other great generational thing is that I had two tickets, and my DAD came with me! What a fantastic way to start the week.

If there’s a band coming to town you want to see, and your friends want to bail, Don’t!  Find someone willing to go. Who knows? If you don’t, it might cost you 25 years.

All the best,

nK

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I had the fortune of being included in the latest round of “Where’s Rev3?” over on the What’s up Usana blog, since I took some shots of me with the product at the American Cancer Society Walk for Life and the soccer match between the Philadelphia Union and Manchester United (which was awesome, btw.) Being featured in someone else’s blog made me think of a few promo tricks I’ve learned in the last year that may help you with your business.

Blogs

It’s good to have a blog. It’s good to tell people about your blog on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. One thing I learned from my buddy, Joe Konrath (author of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels novels and more), is how to correctly blog with others, and vice versa. Taking what he learned from physically traveling to a million places on a book promo tour, Joe took it virtual. He visited 30 different guest blogs in 30 different days. His tips were delivered to 30 new audiences, and the blog hosts had the privilege of a well-known, successful author driving traffic to their blogs. The results were incredible! Find someone who has been successful in your field and invite them to blog to your audience. You’ll be amazed at the results you can have! (David Delevante and I will be doing some of this at the 2010 Usana Convention at the end of August.)

The Phone

Obviously setting up your voicemail greeting to represent your business is a good idea. Your phone can be a distraction, or it can be a conversation starter.  Use a picture for your background.  I use the Rev3 logo:

The other fun Rev3 thing  I use is the song, as my ring tone. That way when the phone rings, instead of my friends going “is that you or me?”, they ask “what the heck is THAT?”  (They used to ask “what the heck is Rev3″ but they all know by now.)

The Rest

Good old stand-by promo methods are popular, largely because they’re effective. Many Usana associates have car door magnets, window clings, bumper stickers, logo shirts (don’t hit the gym without one!) and other fun items like laptop skins, baseball caps, and even dog tags.  What are a few things you use to promote your business that we might not know about?

All the best,
nK

PS: If you’re a Usana associate, you don’t want to miss the recent LifeMasters CD with some great Rev3 promo ideas! The Revtini…heck yeah!

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The catch is, I’ve never messed with video blogging before…BUT…it’s 2010 and it should be a piece of cake. So, I shot a short test video using my webcam. You can check it out at the link below or click on the pic to download it.

TheBigTestVideoBlog

I’d love recommendations on which video editing software works best for you.  I’m sure several of you have experience and opinions, and I’d love to hear it!

All the best,

nK

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With the decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too many Americans know the remorse of losing a loved one in the wages of war. Yellow ribbons, or their magnetic substitutes are visible on front porches, store fronts, cars, trucks and minivans all over the place. A lot of blood has been shed to defend our freedom…

…but not all of it was on foreign soil.

This week marks the second anniversary of a good man, right here on American soil. Deputy Sheriff Dennis Compton of Colleton County, South Carolina, was shot in cold blood while answering what should have been a routine domestic violence call.  Deputy Compton had only served sixteen months on the job before his murder in 2008.

Deputy Compton is survived by his wife and four children, along with a loving mother and devoted family members. He was a devoted father, a good man, and a family man.

I knew him some 14 years before his death, when he wasn’t Deputy Anybody, just a fun-loving, laid back guitarist who enjoyed music and all the goofiness that comes with playing in rock bands in your 20′s.

Dennis and his friend, Jimmy Brown, joined me and my writing partner, guitarist Danny Martelino, along with drummer Ryan Link, to form a hair band called Soul Shaker. We played a ton of shows over a three year period in the 90′s and recorded an eight-song CD that was never released except to friends and family.

I’d be lying if I said Dennis and I spoke often during the time between Soul Shaker and his death. The mid-to-late 90′s predated social networks, and there were no MySpace, FaceBook or Twitters around back then to make messaging an instant thing.  We lost touch, and I hate to admit I heard about his passing third-hand, long after he was already gone.  I wish I’d made a better effort to keep in touch.

Dennis is represented on his Officer Down Memorial Page HERE. He was a good guy, and his passing is a reminder that not all heroes die so far away from home.  I wish his family the best during this difficult time, and I send my thoughts out to all the families who have lost a hero…at home, or abroad.

One love,

nK

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We are a country that loves to multi-task. We email while we’re on the phone. We eat while we watch TV. We text while we drive. (OK, I didn’t say they were all healthy practices.)

I wrote a while back about the best time to do cardio.  Now, I’m going to write on how to multi-task an exercise program with another interest.  If the last post was the when, this one might be part of the “how”.

Ask yourself this.  Have you ever skipped a cardio session because it was too routine, or too boring? How many of us haven’t used that excuse? It’s a good one, with a lot of mileage. Instead, let’s look at the flip side to the question.  How do you marry up something you enjoy with an exercise routine you come to enjoy?  Let me provide an example.

Cycling, by itself, can be a tiresome ordeal. Running on a treadmill with no set destination, or on the same road you’ve run a hundred times, can be boring.  So, let’s talk about a way to make exercise into something unique and exciting.

In order to change up my cardio routine, I recently took up cycling. (In the past I’ve been more of a runner or skater.) However, hitting the same path over and over again quickly lost my interest.  I decided to take the mash-up, multitasking approach toward my cycling.  I married it up with my new hobby, geocaching.

If you haven’t heard of it, geocaching is a sort of GPS hide-and-seek.  You track down caches that contain materials, and you can check in, sign a log, or even take an object and leave an object from a cache.  It’s a treasure hunting exercise that is great solo, or with the whole family. Here in the Manassas, Virginia area, we’re blessed with a number of caches, plus Bull Run Bicycles; a kick-ass shop to help keep our cycles in shape.

I hate failing to find a cache or making it back to base on a long cycling run.  So, I keep my body rolling and my legs pumping with a natural energy boost from Usana Health Science’s Rev3.  Tea extract, natural caffeine and Stevia; all I need to make it through the trip back once I find my buried treasure.

(Note: some caches are tucked away and may require long pants and sleeves.  There are also micro-caches which provide a handheld mechanism to log in and prove you discovered the hidden treasures, without trumping through the woods.)

Geocaching and cycling are a natural mash-up for exercise and a fun hobby.  Tell me how you handle your cardio routine and keep it interesting.  Our readers are dying to hear!

Till next time….All the best!  “Love life, and live it to its fullest.”

nK

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