Issue 380 - Mon 21st Aug 2006

Hi,
I hope all is well where you are.

Today I want to mention my latest site.
As usual it's on the silly side, but it makes me smile.

First though, I want to quickly mention a point which is lingering from a couple of weeks ago, about not trying to please people all the time.

As usual, the TV schedule is awash with talent shows, and one has caught my eye in particular.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Lord Lloyd Webber to be more precise, is one of musical theatre's biggest successes, all over the world.
He has often taken risks, and like to use unknowns to launch his shows.
He is producing an upcoming version of The Sound of Music, so instead of doing the usual industry trawl for an unknown to play Maria, he's got on the talent show bandwagon, with a show called 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'

Nifty title.

As usual it's the public which will have the final choice, and with a 12 week run, it's great publicity for the show.
Andrew is notorious for doing everything himself, and this was in clear evidence during the first auditions.
The people he had asked to do the original auditions had left out 4 girls that he liked, so he just decided to include them in the next stage anyway!
It just goes to show that although those 4 had not impressed the initial 3 judges, they *had* impressed Lloyd Webber.
As it turned out they were later eliminated, but it's a good point about trying to please everybody.

I've done auditions where I knew I was good for the part, but didn't get it after what I knew was a good audition.

Did I worry about why not?
No, because if I had changed something to try and get the part, I could have failed on something else.
All I could do was make sure I doing the best I could, and move on to the next one, because believe it or not, there are plenty of 'Great Gordino' shaped holes in the entertainment biz!

You have to set your own parameters.

Ok, my new site.
To celebrate me passing 40, I wrote a song, called 'Rock & Roll Town.'
It's about, er, a town, where rock & roll rules.

Rockers often have a reputation as being offensive and closed minded, but in fact rockers are usually some of the most open minded people you can meet.
Sure, you get plenty of buffoons, but generally they are a good bunch.

After I'd written the song, I decided it called for a website, and an idea to match.
The idea is to get as many bands as possible to record the song.
Then rock fans can become a 'citizen' of the rock & roll town by buying one of the many versions, or mercandise, maybe a tshirt.
So I can monetize the site a couple of ways, the bands should like it, and rock fans should like it.

See, it's a silly idea isn't it?
I like it though, and there are 2 places to see the project.
The first is the myspace site, which is a great site for networking, particularly in music:
http://www.myspace.com/rocknrolltown

Then there's the main site:
http://www.rocknrolltown.com

See if it makes you smile, 'cos that's the idea!

Ok, that's it for today - are your self-set parameters the best for you?

Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com