Jazz Sensation Liane Carroll is an ‘L.A. Virgin’ No More February 14, 2011

Up until a week ago, my only exposure to live jazz music was what I remember when I spent a few days in New Orleans during spring break in college. Translation: I don’t remember much. So I was one lucky girl to spend an evening at Hollywood’s Catalina Jazz Club last Tuesday night when they welcomed one of the world’s premiere jazz singers – London’s Liane Carroll.

“What struck me most was the abundance of energy emanating from this woman….”

An “L.A. virgin,” she called herself, this her first time playing in the City of Angels. “That was two songs together,” Liane said of her first number, “I forgot how to stop!”

I expected it to be heavy on the horns but most of the songs Liane sang were accompanied by her piano, her husband Roger Carey on bass, and Jason Lee Bruns on drums (whose company, Panout Music Group, produced the show). The flugelhorn did come into play toward the end of the evening when Jason Gamer took the stage.

What surprised me most about the show was not the brilliance of Liane Carroll’s voice; I expected that, and she delivered. What struck me most was the abundance of energy emanating from this woman, and her contagious, playful banter in between numbers – such an easy familiarity with the audience, telling jokes and sharing stories.

My favorite story is the one Liane told of her trip by train through Ireland with her daughter. That’s when she wrote “Dublin Sunrise” (aka “Dublin Morning“) – a love song dedicated to her husband Roger Carey. It’s such a beautiful ballad, and a particularly memorable performance watching the songwriter sing it to her muse as he plays alongside her onstage.

“Catalina delivers on ambiance and intimacy….”

Before the night was over, Liane remarked how much she loved the venue. Though it’s hidden away in a non-descript building you’d never expect to find a jazz club, the Catalina delivers on ambiance and intimacy. It’s a supper club too with quite a lengthy menu, though as a vegan it would be nice to see more veg-friendly fare. That said, the Greek Plate (minus the feta cheese) and the spicy Cajun fries hit the spot.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEW

Overall, Liane Carroll has done a fine job of creating a social media presence. Her website is elegant and easy to navigate. And though I would recommend posting more frequently (on a daily basis), Liane has respectable followings on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. The biggest room for improvement would be adding a blog to her website. It’s what most of us look for in a website these days, not only for up-to-date info but for the personality of a person or company that most often isn’t communicated through regular website content. And if Liane has her own YouTube page, I couldn’t find it. Though a number of people have video of her posted on YouTube, Liane needs her own channel to serve as a central hub for posting all of her video performances and as a means of pointing people to her website.

Catalina Jazz Club (aka Catalina Bar & Grill) has a respectable following on Facebook but beyond that could improve greatly on its social media presence. Not only does the website need a blog, but the site itself could use an overhaul to give it a more contemporary, professional look. I couldn’t find a Twitter page on Catalina or its own YouTube channel. They do have a Yelp page with more than 50 reviews, the majority of which are positive, but like any company Catalina would do well to respond to customers who leave negative feedback.

WHAT’S NEXT

Liane Carroll has a new CD coming out this summer. It’s called “Up and Down,” appropriately enough, as it features what Liane calls 7 “up” songs and 7 “down.” For more on Liane Carroll, go to LianeCarroll.com.

Catalina Jazz Club features live jazz acts on a regular basis. For dates and details, check out CatalinaJazzClub.com.

Last but not least, check out the HawaiiPerformingArtsFestival.org. It’s the Festival’s Artistic Director Val Underwood who we have to thank for bringing Liane to Los Angeles. No doubt we can expect to see similarly inspiring performances at this summer’s festival June 24-July 15, 2011.

With gratitude,

Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant

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The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.

Social Media and the Tipping Point (Part 3 of 3): The Power of Context January 18, 2011

In applying The Tipping Point to social media, we’ve covered the power of one message (the Stickiness Factor) or one person (the Law of the Few) to “tip” your campaign toward epidemic “viral” proportions. But the third and final agent of change (the Power of Context) referenced in Malcolm Gladwell’s book is all about community:

“If you want to bring about a fundamental change in people’s belief and behavior, a change that persists and serves as an example to others, you need to create a community around them, where those new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured.”

You already do this in your social media communities - building relationships with a group of people who share your interests, background and/or goals. The right message, shared by the right person, within this community speaks to the Power of Context.

The Broken Windows Theory

Based on studies of the rise and fall of crime epidemics, Gladwell points to the Power of Context as it relates to the Broken Windows theory:

“If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge…. Broken Windows theory and the Power of Context are one in the same. They are both based on the premise that an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering with the smallest of details of the immediate environment.”

In the case of social media, the “immediate environment” is your Facebook page, Twitter page, or any other social media presence. But instead of broken windows, we’re talking incomplete profiles, links that don’t work, and the most recent posts dated weeks or months prior. Clearly, these are signs whoever’s in charge doesn’t care, or doesn’t know what they’re doing. Either way, social media accounts with “broken windows” attract only negative attention from members of the community who respect the space and take the time to nurture it.

The Magic Number 150

Based on extensive research of primates (humans included) in social situations, British anthropologist Robin Dunbar concludes:

“The figure of 150 seems to represent the maxinum number of individuals with whom we can have a genuinely social relationship, the kind of relationship that goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us. Putting it another way, it’s the number of people you would not feel enbarrassed about joining uninvited for a drink if you happened to bump into them in a bar.”

So instead of focusing on building your numbers, what you should be focusing on is building genuine relationships with the friends or followers you’ve got.

In many social media mindsets, 150 friends on Facebook may seem sparse, and 150 followers on Twitter downright embarrassing. But what if you engaged with all 150 of them on a regular basis? So they not only know who you are, but they know what you think, what you care about and what you do.

You’re much more likely to make an impression on 150 people who feel they really know you than 5,000 people for whom you’re just another name or face in the Facebook news stream or Twitter feed. This is not to say you should avoid building your friend or follower numbers, only that you should focus on a top 150 (or so) with whom you engage on a regular basis. Just choose them wisely: people whose ideas you are genuinely attracted to AND who fall into the influential Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen categories referenced in Part I of this series, The Law of the Few.

“Environmental Tipping Points are things we can change,” writes Gladwell.

To that end, keep current on your social media accounts and take the time to actively engage with a select group of people. So every time you share ideas, news, products or services, it will be within the context of a welcoming environment (i.e., page), frequented by as many as 150 people anxious to quickly and passionately support their friend.

Read Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part 1 of 3): The Law of the Few

Read Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part 2 of 3): The Stickiness Factor

With gratitude,

Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant

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The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.

Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part 2 of 3): The Stickiness Factor January 14, 2011

If the Law of the Few determines who is sharing your social media content, the Stickiness Factor determines why. You could have the attention of every key influencer in the social media world, but if your message isn’t memorable and/or important, the Mavens, Connectors and Salesmen (referenced in Part 1 of this series) won’t have any inclination to share it.

“The specific quality that a message needs to be successful,” writes Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, “is the quality of ‘stickiness.’ Is the message — or the food, or the movie, or the product — memorable? Is it so memorable, in fact, that it can create change, that it can spur someone to action?”

So how do you do it? How do you create a blog post, Facebook update, tweet or YouTube video intriguing enough to attract attention, and substantial enough to evoke a response?

Again, it’s the Law of Attraction.

If your messaging is saturated with sales pitches, all you’re going to attract is negative attention. In the social media world, people are looking to find and share thoughts and information that inspires change in their life. Yes, products and services have the power to change lives, but it’s your job to “package” your messaging in quality content, not thinly-veiled promotions that prove you care little about genuine engagement.

State your intention in terms of what you want to accomplish with social media. Yes, you may want to build your business, but get to the heart of the matter. How do your products and services help people?

For instance, my intention with Fluttering Ivy Media is:

To inspire people to apply the Law of Attraction to their social media experience so that we can all manifest together an abundance of mutually beneficial:

• Connections
• Knowledge
• Community
• Opportunity
• Wealth

Instead of sales pitches offering my social media consulting services, I create content that people can use to improve their lives whether they utilize my services or not. I make it memorable and/or important with my unique take on social media as it relates to the Law of Attraction. If and when my readers decide to hire a third-party for social media help, chances are good I may come to mind.

As David Meerman Scott so bluntly states in The World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories, nobody cares about your products or services but you. What people do care about is information that helps them improve their lives, or experiences that inspire them to think and act differently, laugh, even cry. These should be your goals with every post you make.

Read Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part  1 of 3): The Law of the Few

Coming Soon: Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part  3 of 3): The Power of Context

With gratitude,

Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant

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The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.

Social Media and The Tipping Point (Part 1 of 3): The Law of the Few January 10, 2011

Before the first YouTube video went “viral,” Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. It’s about the kind of infectious behavior that spreads ideas, information and content - social epidemics ranging from the success of contemporary ad campaigns to Paul Revere’s historic ride through the countryide spreading the word, ”The British are coming.”

Though I didn’t read The Tipping Point with social media in mind, and the book  by no means references it, the relevance is unmistakable. Based on his analysis of a number of case studies, Gladwell discovered three “agents of change” that can mean the difference between an idea or product that gets lost in the shuffle, and one that “tips” to epidemic proportions.

In this Part I of III posts on social media and The Tipping Point. Let’s look at the first agent of change, The Law of the Few.

We talk a lot in social media about the importance of connecting with social ”influencers” – those key people who influence masses of others, or at least those in a specific area or niche. In context of The Tipping Point, these social media influencers fall into three categories:

• Mavens, who collect and share information, not as a means of persuasion, but education.
• Connectors, who bring people together; if you’re linked to a connector, you’re one step away from having your foot in many worlds.
• Salesmen, who find an idea, cause or product they believe in and spread the word, determined to convince everyone else of its worth.

You should have no trouble identifying these influencers in your Twitter stream, Facebook news feed and other social media sites. The key is engagement with those whose interests reflect your own. It’s the Law of Attraction in action: Follow, friend and engage with mavens, connectors and salesmen whose information, connections and ideas you are attracted to. Be consistent sharing and comenting on their content and, ultimately, they will take notice of you - someone whose information, connections and ideas mirror their own.

Of course, you fall into one of these categories too, depending on your habits in the social media world. If you love to share news stories, you’re a maven. If you love to introduce friends to other friends, you’re a connector. If you love to tell everyone about the latest, greatest new product you’re trying, you’re a salesman. Maybe you’re a combination of two, or even all three. Whichever way you lean, take your natural inclination up a notch and be the most consistent, considerate maven, connector and/or salesman you know how to be – the kind who others recognize as a key influencer whose attention they want and need.

Parts II and III Coming Soon: The Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context

With gratitude,

Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant

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The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.

The Spirit of Change at the Famed Bodhi Tree Bookstore December 21, 2010

West Hollywood's Bodhi Tree Bookstore was founded in 1970 by aerospace engineers Phil Thompson and Stan Madson.

It was over 20 years ago that my mom handed me a copy of Shirley MacLaine’s Out On a Limb. I was in a real funk then, mad at the world, the prime targets my parents who had moved me the summer before my sophomore year in high school. Though I probably didn’t believe her at the time, I’ll never forget what my mom said of the book because it turned out to be so true:

“Maybe it will help you look at life differently and things as they are now won’t seem so bad.”

In fact, Out On a Limb was my first exposure to metaphysics and forever changed the way I perceive my connection to a higher power.

Flash forward to February of 2010 when I moved to Los Angeles. In my newbie studies of L.A. Weekly, I read an article about the closing of the famed Bodhi Tree Bookstore on Melrose in West Hollywood. It struck a cord with me, though for reasons I didn’t understand. I kept the article as a reminder to visit before it was too late.

In the early 70's, a neighbor gave the bookstore owners a Bodhi tree seedling. They planted it out back and today it stands at leas two stories high.

This Christmas season while on the hunt for a novelty store that would have gifts for just about anyone on my list, my neighbor suggested the Bodhi Tree, which I’d still had yet to visit.

I recalled the article said they’d be closing this year, giving me just a few more days. In fact, I fully expected to see an empty, locked storefront when I arrived.

On the contrary, what I found at the Bodhi Tree was a warm, welcoming space bustling with the Christmas spirit.

I found eight of my gifts there, way beyond my wildest gift-giving dreams.

I was initially suspicious of the genuinely friendly, helpful staff the likes of which are almost impossible to find these days.

I was transfixed by the charm of the place, from the hardwood floors to the complimentary herbal tea.

It was heartwarming to hear just about every person in the checkout line asking if it’s true: Is the Bodhi Tree really closing? And all of us relieved to hear the bookstore would be around into the New Year – a bittersweet, shortlived reprieve. That’s when the lease runs out, the current owners retire, and all are hopeful someone equally passionate comes along to give the Bodhi Tree a second life.

The Bodhi tree is significant as it is the type of tree Gautama sat under to achieve the state of grace that made him Buddha.

Still, I didn’t understand what had lent this quaint little bookstore national attention. Then I started my research of the Bodhi Tree for this blog post and discovered the following revelation on their website:

On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1983, actress Shirley MacLaine wandered into the Bodhi Tree Bookstore and embarked on a journey that changed her life, the life of the bookstore and the spiritual life of mainstream America.

She described her first and subsequent visits to the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in her book Out on a Limb, in which she revealed her study and exploration of reincarnation, trance channeling and other metaphysical matters.

From the publication of that book, and the television series that followed, spirituality went mainstream and the Bodhi Tree Bookstore became widely known.

Clearly I’d forgotten Shirley MacLaine’s mention of the Bodhi Tree in her book. Knowing I occupied the same space where she embarked on the spiritual journey that so inspired me, I’m in awe and anxious to visit again in the New Year. Out On a Limb changed my life and, for that, I ultimately have the Bodhi Tree Bookstore to thank.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA REVIEW

For a couple of self-proclaimed “old-school booksellers” owners Stan Madson and Phil Thompson have done a fine job of ushering the Bodhi Tree into the new age of social media.

The trunk of the Bodhi tree is far bigger than you could wrap your arms around. In fact, you'd probably need three people to join hands around it.

They have an impressive presence on both Facebook and Twitter, not so much for the quantity of their followers (though it respectable) but for the quality of updates they share: informative, personable and frequent. They also have an impressive presence on Yelp with over a hundred near-perfect reviews.

My initial inclination was to brainstorm an aggressive social media campaign that might help “save” the Bodhi Tree. Sales have been falling for 15 years, with more than half of the spiritual books sold in the U.S. today through Amazon.com. As reported by L.A. Weekly, owner Stan Madson “believes that to continue, the store needs vitality, new energy and vision…. Perhaps a wealthy philosopher-entrepreneur will come in to buy the store and keep it going.”

So for now I’ll take a cue from owner Phil Thompson’s reaction to the Bodhi Tree’s uncertain future – a sentiment that my own mother could have shared with me 20-some-odd years ago with equal effect:

“In our best Buddhist sense, we try to incoporate the idea that things always change.”

Read the complete history of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore and, by all means, visit while you can at 8585 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.

Bodhi Tree owner Phil Thompson has suggested that under new ownership the Bodhi tree will be chopped down. Let's hope the new owners recognize the beauty (and inherently lucrative nature) of the tree and keep the Bodhi around.

With gratitude,

Meredith Simonds, Social Media Reviewer, Blogger and Consultant

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The social media suggestions in this post are general and brief. To see what a comprehensive review entails, check out my Social Media Services.