SiliconSurfer

Recently I went to the El Cid Restaurant for the Flamenco Dinner Show. I will admit right now that I have a soft place in my heart for the El Cid, so I had a great time. If you’ve never been there I will tell you it is really a fun experience. It isn’t like they’re the youngest, or best Flamenco dancers ever. But, that’s not the point! People, this is happening in your city! You owe it to yourself to experience this!

First off, it’s not what one would think of as a typical Hollywood show. As you enter off of Sunset Blvd. you wind your way down lots of steps that have been warped over the years (El Cid was built around 1900 and was used to screen “Birth of A Nation” which opened in 1915 and had 12 reels of film!). It feels like you’re going back in time and you catch a whiff of the glory days of 1950s Hollywood. Once you enter the El Cid, you’re in an authentic replica of a 16th century Spanish Tavern, complete withoutdoor gardens and seating, and an indoor stage, armor on the walls, and very dim lighting. It’s great.

You order dinner (filet mingnon, pork tenderloin, Paella, and others, including a vegetarian option) and then the show begins. A singer, a guitar player and two women dancers take the stage. An aura of Gypsy Kings pours off the stage and the show begins.

One of the women who dances has a certain Bride of Frankenstein quality that I suspect inspires a cadre of admirers. They both give great performances and I was reminded again of the physicality of Flamenco. The intimacy of the El Cid really contributes a lot to the overall experience. You’re practically right there on stage with them.
I remember the first time I went, several years ago, I thought the singer was going to keel over right there on the stage, as he closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together. In between belting it out he’d close his eyes, lean back, and be so relaxed I thought he was going to fall askep. But then he’d lean forward and let loose again. He’s got a great voice for Flamenco and he’s looking better a couple years later now than he did then. The guitar player reminds me of Kieth Richard.
I guess what I am getting at is that this isn’t the youth obsessed, perfection obsessed, special effects driven performance one might expect from Hollywood. This is people performing from the heart, performers who are obviously human doing something they obviously have done for a long time and which they clearly love to do. It’s really refreshing, actually.
The Flamenco and Dinner at the El Cid is one of those things that is so totally and completely just “what it is” that it is really trancendental in its just being what it is and not being what it is not. And, I say: Right on.
And, if you dont’ like it you better watch out. With arm strength like they have (you try clapping that hard for that long) I am sure either of the women could give you a spanking till the cows come home, and I should probably just stop right now. But really, these women do not sit at home and obsess about whether their bodies look like Elle. They are themselves and they get up there and perform. They express themselves. As do the musicians, and they love what they’re doing… in my book that’s real beauty.
BTW, this is who El Cid was.

Weird Entertainment Suggestion - Dark Side of the Rainbow, or DSoTR - Yes, it’s worth doing! A number of years ago I foisted this on our Digital Dinner group. We all had some cocktails, cued up Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (DSoTM) CD and started it in synch with The Wizard of Oz. What you do is “watch” the movie but “listen” to Dark Side of the Moon, so Pink Floyd becomes the soundtrack. Mark Pesce, Mark Jeffrey, Josh Crandall and a number of other cyber celebrities did this with me years ago. We all loved it.

Below is one of many websites dedicated to this phenomenon. Click on set-up and don’t read too much beyond how to do it so you don’t ruin it. The quick instructions go like this: queu up Dark Side of the Moon in your CD player by hitting play and then pause immediately. Then, start the Wizard of OZ in your DVD player. Right before the actual movie starts that cool old lion roars three times. Right after the third roar you hit play on the CD player and switch the sound so you’re now listening to Dark Side of the Moon. (We chose the third roar, although some people argue fine points about when to actually hit start.) Sit back, and enjoy the way your brain creates meaning and connection. It really is great. I also believe that this phenomenon is similar to harmonics, or the self similarity of the Universe.
To recap: Yes, I have done it. Yes, you should try it. Yes, if you want to make it a party, that would be a good idea!

http://www.synchronicityarkive.com/dsotr.php
If that doesn’t work, try going to http://google.com
and searching for: DSOTM Wizard of OZ

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki

You’re going to have to deal with money for the rest of your life, even if you’re really rich. After all, you want to keep it if you got it and get it if you don’t! So, don’t wait, just read this book now. After looking at it for too long, I finally, finally pulled Rich Dad, Poor Dad off the shelf. That’s what I mean about inspiration plugging up one’s nostrils sometimes. It was sitting on the shelf I look at every morning, at exactly eye level, and I just “didn’t have time” to read it. I am getting very clear on the fact that the stuff I don’t want to deal with is precisely the stuff I ought to deal with. And, the things that challenge me, scare me, or threaten me the most are the hardest things to even see. It’s like they’re wearing next gen. camouflage. If money is a challenge to you this book is a must read. I stayed up way past my bedtime, caught up in reading it. It’s inpirational. It is a fast, fun, really interesting read. He rambles and repeats himself a lot, but it works because it makes you feel like he’s talking to you, right out of the pages. I actually felt like he cares. I believe he’s sincerely trying to help people out of what he calls the “Rat Race.”

The things he repeats are important concepts, too. There are a lot of things he talks about in this book that you “already know.” However, by putting this particular group of things you “already know” in this particular arrangement and by including a few things you might not have known Robert Kyosaki really hands you some powerful ammunition for the game of life. The younger you are the happier you’ll be to know this stuff now, if you apply it. “I don’t work for money!” Rich Dad says quite often, “Money works for me!” He also takes issue with a lot of the “conventional wisdom” about assets and liabilities saying that, as traditionally figured, people’s “net worth” is often “worth less” than they think. Is your home really an asset?

As a final note, when I talked with my friend Paul, who read Rich Dad, Poor Dad about six months before I did. He said, “It really works! When I read it my financial life was a mess. But, these days I’m putting money away, I know where I stand, money is showing up unexpectedly.” It reprogrammed his subconscious. “It’s not like it makes you a millionaire overnight, but it gets you ready, which makes all the difference.” I can say now, years after having read this book that it has had a major, beneficial impact on my finances, as well.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is one of my recommended Life Matters books. It’s someday morning. Here’s a round tuit. The sooner you read it the happier you’ll be.

Zero 7, Sia, Jose Gonzales, Herbet and Gotan Project at the Hollywood Bowl.

Wow. I thought I liked Zero7 before. And, I didn’t even realize who Sia was before. But, tonight in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl Zero7 and Sia just put in a performance like one rarely gets to experience. Just goosebumps amazing.
Sia told us that this was the biggest audience she’d played to before, and maybe I made it up, but it seemed like there was some aspect of real courage to her performance tonight, not like you’d know it from watching. But, it seemed like it took something for her to be as open, and real, and utterly there as she was tonight, and it was inspiring. Sia has something very special going on.
Jose Gonzales was excellent, too. Zero7 gets such kudos for creating the context and environment for such an amazing gouping of talent along with them.
Sia. Wow. There is just something about her delivery that is humbling. Some aspect of what she offerts is really tapping into that place genius comes from. She’s channeling something uplifting and inspiring.
Herbert, Jose Gonzalez, Sia, Zero 7, Sia, and Gotan Project were great.
Gotan Project
Zero 7
José González
Sia
Herbert

Here is a nice write up of the show.
(I’M JUST SAYIN’): Zero 7 At the Hollywood Bowl

And here are some excellent videos to give you a feel for Zero 7. Sia is so cute. (I actually waited in line to get her autograph, which I never do, but now I can’t say that, can I?) Here is a link to some live footage. Each one starts with the introduction of the band, but then they’re different songs. This gives you a pretty good feel for the show. Oh, this was so good. These three links are to the Hollywood Bowl show, live, on YouTube.

You’re My Flame (very fun)

Awesome Jam! (I dont’ know the name)

Destiny (one of my favorites)

And here are some more good links to other songs on YouTube:

Here is Sommersault.

And, this is a perfect example of why I love this song, and this singer, and this band so much.

Pageant of the Bizarre [live].

Oh, man, I just love this one. AWESOME.Watch it all the way through and then let’s talk about being exuberant. I love watching Sia because it is so obvious how good it feels to be able to have that voice, that joy, that full expression flow out of you. No wonder she does that cute stuff with her hands. I would love to talk with her some time. And Kudos to the guys from Zero 7. They create such a great opportunity for people with such great voices, like Sia and Jose Gonzalez. I really admire them. It’s like the best business advice I ever got: B people hire C people to make themselves look better. A people hire A+ people ’cause they aren’t afraid to learn and they want to succeed! Go Henry & Sam! And, thanks!

The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle

You’ve heard about this book for long enough, just get it now. I got the CDs so I could listen to them in the car (much more uplifting that the news) and I am very glad I did. Eckart has a soft German accent and I have heard that he can hold a room awestruck with his mere presence. All I can say is that listening to him read his book was a gift I am very glad I gave myself. There is so much to say about it that I will, instead, tell you about a huge philosophical question it answered for me.

I have struggled with the question: “Does the end justify the means?” For example, the old cliche: would murdering Hitler when he was a baby be justified? Well, let’s look at it. Eckart points out that there is never really anything but now. The past is gone and the future will never actually get here, because the moment it does it will be now, and then it will be the past. The only place that we ever get to exist is in the now. However, our brains are able to remember the past and imagine the future and that is how our brains derive their importance. But, those are not the places we can actually live. We derive our best happiness when we focus on being in the moment, being present where we are, when we are. The now is the most precious gift we have, yet so often we squander the now by reliving the past, or worrying about the future.

So, if the past and future will never actually exist, the end cannot possibly justify the means. Look at the Communist Revolution in Russia. Millions and millions of people were killed in order to bring forth the beautiful vision that communism is on paper. The big problem is that the lovely future could never materialize in a now that was willing to kill the very people it was intending to liberate. When we sacrifice our now we sacrifice the only worthwhile thing we actually have.

There are a bunch of gems for you to find in this book. Get it now.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Years later this book is still blowing my mind. I felt like a genius just reading it! I slowed down near the end because I didn’t want it to end. There really isn’t a way to explain this book and do it justice. It is phenomenally interesting and utterly astounding. It attempts to answer the question: why did human history turn out the way it did? Why didn’t the Aztecs come conquer Europe, or the Incas invade China? The answer will definitely surprise you. The breadth of the view, the depth of Jared Diamond’s knowledge and the lucid and engaging examples and stories he uses make you feel smart just reading the book. It is not a difficult read. However, it stretches your usual outlook so much that it makes you feel smarter for absorbing the knowledge. It shifts your paradigm and the way you see the world will be irrevocably altered. This is a totally enjoyable read and very worthy subject matter, too.

Soon after reading GGS I had a chance to see Jared Diamond speak. I was definitely not disappointed! I even stood in line to get a signed book, not a typical John thing to do. Jared is the real deal: a classic “absent minded professor” type. Completely brilliant in his area and completely oblivious to unimportant stuff like clothing style and a mussed up hairdo. It was truly exhilirating to just listen to him speak. I also got a chance to ask him a question during which I told him I felt like a genius while merely reading his book and talking about it at cocktail parties. That elicited a big round of “me too!” laughter from the audience.

One of the main points he talked about, which I found truly amazing once he’d pointed it out, is that environmental degradation and political chaos go hand in hand in the world. If you were to ask a completely non politically-savvy ecologist where the world hot spots of environmental degradation are he’d say Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Zaire, Iraq and so on. Then, if you were to ask a completely ecologically unaware politician (uh…) where the world’s political hotspots are he’d say Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Zaire, Iraq, and so on.

Coincidence? I think not.

Here is a quote and a link to an article from 1995, which anticipates the book upon which he was then working, about Easter Island and other failed societies, called Collapse.

“In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?”

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/042.html Again, tend your garden.

Guns Germs and Steel is one of my recommended Life Matters books. It’s someday morning. Here’s a round tuit. The sooner you read it the happier you’ll be and the richer your perspective on things will be.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
I was definitely avoiding what is arguably an unfortunately titled book. I hated the thought of “winning friends and influencing people,” I mean, you know, said like that! Jeez!
However, now that I have “read” the book - I listened to this one on CD, too and I have to say I love listening to CD books now. Yet ANOTHER thing that I thought I hated. Surprise John! I have decided to give it a subtitle: or, How to Live Powerfully and Well Among People. I think that sounds more like the book to which I listened. Another bonus of the CD is that the guy who reads it is the perfect, amazing, wonderful “authority figure” voice. You’ll recognize his voice as being very similar to the guy who did the bawdy Internet sound file about the entemology of the F word which everyone sent each other a few years ago. His voice is perfect, once you stop laughing.

If you want to give yourself a totally amazing leg up on your life then get this book immediately and read it like you mean it. Dale Carnegie shares such wonderfully illustrative stories from his amazing trove of experiences that you can’t help but be moved and inspired to deal better with the people. If I could enforce it I would decree that everyone who works with me or for me would read this book. I will also assure you that anyone who wants to succeed in their endeavors will find it to be time well spent.

The nice, unexpected bonus is that the language of the book, and the stories that are told, are so recognizably from a very different era in the past that I found it quite comforting to listen to the book. The Principles the book extolls are, however, timeless and every bit as important, or more so, today!

Bottom line: If you never have to deal with people then don’t worry about reading this book. If, however, you ever interact with others then this book is a must read. Further, if you read this book you will gain an advantage over your peers in business who haven’t read it, that is almost unfair.

Guess what!

I jumped!
Well, I was pushed, kinda. Two miles up! 10,500 feet high over Rhode Island! I guess I could see the whole state, right? It was clear (a tad hazy, but it didn’t matter), warm, sunny, and fantastic. What a day to skydive!

I was in Boston to speak at the ISC Symposium there on Saturday. It turned out that a group of students were going skydiving the next day. They asked if I wanted to join them the day after the conference and I figured I had been talking about it long enough, time to do it. So I said ok, they made reservations and we all hoped the news was wrong about the thunderstorms coming in that week.

As you can guess, the thunderstorms didn’t materialize and, after staying up until 4:30 am the phone rang at 9:00. It was Jacquelyn, my good friend at Harvard, the organizer (the perpetual organizer!). She and Matt and Travis, two very cool friends of hers from Harvard, were on their way. Aaghh. Thank heavens, for whatever reason, the wine and Scorpion bowls of the night before had only grazed me a little. I didn’t have a hangover, but I was definitely sleep deprived. It was probably a good thing. Long story short, we got to the Boston-Providence Skydiving Center (http://www.skydivetoday.com) and they showed us a video, shot in the 1980’s, with a man wearing a nearly impossibly long beard. It looked fake, but it wasn’t. It was so funny we almost couldn’t pay attention to the video, until we heard: experimental, not FAA approved, exceptional test jump. Youch. It made things sound kinda scary, but we just initialled everything. The video ended, the pages and pages of release forms were initialled, and we got a quick lesson (when we go out tandem grab your chest straps, lean your head back on my shoulder and arch your back. Then, once we’re falling, I’ll tap you on the shoulder. At that point hold your hands out like this (stick ‘em up position) and we’ll steer ourselves for a little free-fall fun. Then I’ll pull the ripcord and we’ll float down to earth.) Yeah, and we’ll try to land on our butts so we don’t break our legs. What?

I am sitting right by the door. The plexiglass very flimsy looking, sliding door on the side of the airplane. It is definitely the place to sit. Shall we say, it heightens the experience! I look out and watch the ground slowly fall away as we rise higher and higher. I think about how it is a lot like your typical airplane ride, except the engines are louder and the wind blows into the plane, given the flimsy door. I am sitting on the floor right next to the flimsy door and I am contemplating that the only way down allowed by any concept of honor is right out that flimsy door! The plane bumps around and yaws in the winds as we ride higher and higher. People in the plane get noticeably more and more excited. “Have a good jump!” “Have a good jump!” People are exchanging earnest looks and the realization shows in everyones’ eyes that, no matter how safe this is supposed to be, what we’re all about to do is totally crazy. It makes me feel almost nauseous. Or is it looking out the flimsy door? Or the bouncing of the tiny craft? Who knows, maybe it is the Scorpion bowls. I am retreating internally. I feel that tough guy instinct keeping my mouth closed as I want to just blabber and blabber. I set my jaw and try to look nonchalant, knowing that I must look fairly stressed.

But, now we’re above 10,000 feet and the spotter signals me to lift the flimsy door. I help him fling it open and now the wind is howling and he’s looking out and signaling Matt, the South African guy who’s strapped to my back (and in charge of the little unit that signals the pilot where to go) with these left, right, more, more, left, right signals. Then… OK. And I ask the guy behind me one more time if I am definitely, absolutely attached to him since he’s got the parachute. He assures me that I am. The cameraman, Crazy Billy, who’s going to take pictures and video of me is crouching. He is getting me even more adrenalined out with his looks and mad grins and little high fives. Tension in my body is definitely mounting. I can tell my eyes are a little bugged and the spotter guy all of a sudden jams on his helmet and boom! he’s gone. Things go into high gear. Wow, Holy shit. Oh man, oh man, ohmanohmanohman… I am breathing pretty deep and fast and trying not to look like I feel inside. Billy is out on the side of the plane. Clinging and looking at me with this utterly lunatic grin, he bugs his eyes. He’s wearing his helmet with a Nikon 35 MM on the top and a video camera mounted on the side. Matt is urging me to pivot on my butt and get my feet to the right and out the side door. I am sitting with my mid thighs on the edge of the door and the rest of my legs are hanging out in the wind two miles up and I am hyper-ventilating and swearing I will pay attention to the WHOLE thing. Matt says, “Are ya ready?” and I am grabbing my chest straps so I won’t bury my fingernails into the thin metal skin of the plane in a primal attempt to save my life as this lunatic on my back is pushing me closer and closer to the edge and oblivion and I realize I can’t look down and keep it together so I put my head back like I’m supposed to and he says ready, set, go.

And we fall off the edge of existence as I know it and start to go faster and faster and my physical body knows that something is definitely wrong with this feeling and I am forcing my eyes farther open than they have ever been while I breathe in longer and deeper than I ever thought possible in an attempt not to scream both of my entire lungs out as my heart hits the back of my teeth. I do not blink. I do not want to miss a second of this and the lakes glisten and flash like mirrors below me and I am somehow falling from two miles up and it feels like I am howling a scream, but I am so terrified I am still breathing in like a horrified gasp. And I feel the tap. And my hands shoot up to the classic “stick ‘em up” position and I look in front of me and there is Billy not two feet away with his crazy look and he’s encouraging me to make faces and scream and DAMN DO I! I scream and holler and can’t do it any justice and we move our hands a little and spin around and I am looking all around and watching Billy fall right there with me and all of a sudden I feel a little something and then I realize now is the time the chute has to open and for an agonizing moment I hang there while I wait to feel if this time the chute is going to work. It is an agonizing moment made a little more bearable by the fact that I felt the resistance of something going out of the pack, at least. Will it work though? And all of a sudden the leg straps start to tighten and then my full weight is hanging from a billowing parachute and I take the deepest most relieved breath of my whole life, maybe, and I think to myself, “oh. GOOD. The chute opened… Oh, good!”

And now the conscious fun starts! Matt asks me how I am and I barely manage not to scream FINE! I hear the quiver in my voice and he says, “Wanna have some fun?” and I scream yeah! So he hands me the controls and then helps me get the feel of turning left, and turning right, and stalling out and then he says, “Alright now, let’s spin, give the left one a real good tug!” So I do, and he helps and all of a sudden we’re spinning around and horizontal to the ground! Then we stop that direction and do it the other direction. Then we do it a couple more times and start to angle in on the landing zone. The wind has picked up, though. We’re coming in over some trees and it looks good as we head for the grass landing spot. Then a big gust lifts us from 200 feet to 300 feet and all of a sudden it looks like we’re going to land in the trees. Matt is giving me instructions and we’re trying to go forward again and avoid the trees, but beyond the trees is a big section of 2 foot deep swamp and beyond that is some very wet grass. We’re drifting in and finally we’re past the trees and trying to avoid the swamp and all of a sudden we’re very close to the wet grass and Matt says, “Pull!” and we stall up and land pretty nicely in the mud and wet grass. As we’re putting feet to the ground, though, another gust blows up from our right and just whips the chute over and Matt and I land on our right shoulders and get dragged through the mud for a ways. We’re both laughing, and so is everyone else. Finally, Matt gets me free and gets the chute and I look up and think about how far we just fell and how fast that whole thing was and I feel really warm and fuzzy. I realize for a moment the dance between fragile and tough that life really is and I am so glad I did that! I look at everyone and even the most experienced among them are grinning like crazy folks. Roller-coasters just won’t be the same, I guess! I am going to do this again.