Bob Dylan news item- and about a zillion people I know

Bob Dylan news item- and about a zillion people I know



I know a lot of people.  This is going out as an e-mail to a few
zillion of you.  It will also appear, as you can see, right here on
my blog [1].



                   
               
              



Versions might be a little different, if you happen to read it here and via an e-mail. 

Reading one of the broadcasting trades today I saw this item, and
realized immediately that there were maybe a gwazillion people in my
e-mail address book who would be interested in seeing this news of musical note.  Some more
interested than others, but many, in general. 



It also made me
think of people with whom I've lost touch who would enjoy reading it as
well.  One of them,. my boyhood buddy Gary, surely would know about it,
as he always knew everything there was to know about Dylan.  Back when we were high school teenagers Gary
referred to Dylan as Bob; it was a though they knew each other.  Later
on in life Gary became a part of the Grateful Dead family, so it stands
to reason that he probably did meet up with Dylan, and would from then
on forward continue to call him Bob. 



A self-fulfilling prophecy,
perhaps.


I know people from my high school days, college years, place I've
lived, fields I've worked in, bands I played in, radio stations I
consulted, friends from various other places and times.  These
days from lists and groups and
blogs and all sorts of social/network interactions.  There are
people
from the Radio Biz, the Music Biz, Telecom, The Connectivity
world,  the Research world,
Advertising, all kinds of tech-related or educational pursuits,
Baseball friends, Rotisserie League friends, some people (particularly
dear to me) from the internet caveman days of Compu$serve.  And,
of course, my Pop Culture buddies, who range far and wide in interests
and geography.

And then there are friends of friends, aka FOAFs.


What amazed me in thinking about this was how many would probably be
interested in knowing about some news re Bob Dylan, and being able to
hear his latest work.  Some people, media types (oh, yeah, them too, I
know a zillion of 'em.  Really!), would know about Dylan's show on XM
Satellite Radio.  Yet despite the media hoopla that the Dylan (or, to my boyhood pal Gary, Bob) on
XM show inspired, there are
still a ton more people not aware of or even remotely attuned to XM or
anywhere near the info loop that would have them knowing that Dylan
does a
weekly satellite radio program.

Media people sometimes forget that regular folk don't read everything
media-related.  Or that they didn't log on to the gossip/celebrity news sites, buy the paper,  or turn on their TV
the day or two that any major story happened to run.

So here's what I saw while reading one of the radio trades online this morning:

AOL RADIO will begin carrying BOB DYLANís weekly XM show "THEME
TIME RADIO HOUR" on WEDNESDAY (8/30). Listeners can catch 18 "THEME
TIME" shows back-to-back as part of XMís weekend-long marathon, which
will be simulcast on AOL RADIO beginning FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, at 6p
(ET). AOL will also simulcast XMís world premiere of BOB DYLANís new
album, "Modern Times," today and tomorrow, and stream the album on
demand all week as part of AOL MUSICís Full CD Listening Party.

Aha, I thought, news to share with  . . . and then came more names than I could count!



I'm sending this out to a peta-tera-gillion people I know.  Some
of
you
are old friends. Others are acquaintances, from business or social
events or whatever.  Perhaps we went to a Yankee game (or some
other major or minor league contest) together, as I traveled the
country working on radio stations or other research or marketing
projects.  You could be a podcasting client, and we mix, produce,
consult the content, or just  get your RSS feed submitted.


Maybe we've met, maybe we've e-mailed, maybe we
are on a common Google or Yahoo Group, or an e-list or two. Could be we
traded business cards sometime
and by a memory of age, face, guesstimate of age and something (or
things) else, it seemed to me you would want to know this
information.  Perhaps we both attended a seminar or trade show, or
maybe you're one of the people I met at a Talmud Study class [2]
or while taking courses to learn more about the tech side of web
development.  Or, egad, maybe we met at or worked on some
political thing.  That's a sore subject over the last 6 years.



One of the many joys of the net is being able to send out a message
like this. Or to post this on the blog and hope it reaches many of you,
and via RSS [3] or via referrals [4] or links [5] of some sort [6], it gets out to
others and word spreads. 



Some might call this viral marketing, or
word-of-mouth marketing.  As an old radio guy who concocted and
conducted buzz campaigns over a 30+ year span, I can tell you that this
is neither buzz nor marketing nor any of that. 

It is much simpler and less tactical or strategic.  This is
communicating and using available tools to spread something perhaps of
interest to a whole slew of people.


It is also a way of keeping in touch and making use of the web.  If
you're a Dylan fan, and that clipping comes as news to you, then voila,
it is a fait accomplit.  If not, it is a way to keep in touch, say hi,
and to send regards. 

Music and Baseball are constants in my life, as are what some might
call Communication Arts.  So life must be good, right?

To wit:

• A little over 4 weeks left to the regular season and the Yankees
  have a 6.5 game lead in the AL East. 
  
• There's an easy way to hear some
  new Dylan, and via e-mail and the blog this message went out.  What
  could be nicer?  Wait!  Don't answer that - the season isn't over yet,
  and we don't want to jinx (aka kaynahorah) [7] (aka kein ein horeh [8]) the Bronx Bombers (if you
  believe in any of that superstition stuff)
• The midterm elections draw nearer and nearer, as does, we hope, a return to sanity.

There you have it: some news of note, an update, and a mass
communication designed to say hi, keep you informed on Dylan, and to
spread the good word about those First Place AL East NY Yankees.



Communicating -- a good thing, eh?  I think so, yes. 



And this blog post?  Its all over now, Baby Blue.  Positively
(4th Street)!  It will wend its way across the information
highway, and probably Highway 61, too.