March 2004

Matt is boycotting Lockergnome because they are taking a step back to the mid-1990s with the HTML code on the Lockergnome.com website, foregoing standards such as CSS for layout. I always got the impression that Lockergnome’s content was intended for tech hobbyists — not so much for people who work for a living in the tech and online worlds. (And I’m mostly a tinkerer myself when it comes to my own website projects.) It seems like they have a responsibility to do the right thing to set a good example.

And speaking of Matt, I finally get to meet him at South by Southwest’s Interactive Festival this weekend. My plane gets in late on Saturday so I miss all the evening festivities Friday night and the first day of the conference on Saturday. But spending 3 1/2 days in Austin is a lot better than the zero I spent there last year.

A favorite poem by a favorite poet.

“if strangers meet” - ee cummings

if strangers meet
life begins-
not poor not rich
(only aware)
kind neither
nor cruel
(only complete)
i not not you
not possible;
only truthful
-truthfully,once
if strangers(who
deep our most are
selves)touch:
forever

(and so to dark)

(I found this poem on a friend’s Live Journal.)

Linda Hogan, “The Lost Girls”

I don’t remember when
the girl of myself turned her back
and walked away, that girl
whose thin arms
once held this body
and refused to work too hard
or listen in school,
said the hell then
and turned,
that dark child,
that laugher and weeper
without shame, who turned
and skipped away.

And that other one
gone from me
and me
not even starting to knot
in vein or joint,
that curving girl
I loved to love with,
who danced away
the leather of red high heels
and thin legs, dancing like stopping
would mean the end of the world
and it does.

[click to continue...]

Mike Yesenosky sent a little dispatch to Boston pals earlier today about the Magnetic Fields (he’s their sound guy) show coming up in Boston on May 22nd at the Berklee Performance Center. For two weeks, discounted tickets are available at Musictoday.com. Mike wrote: “Musictoday is a company that was formed by the Dave Matthews Band to combat Ticketmaster and their high service charges. Now lots of artists use it to save their fans from being ripped off. But in this case, they can only sell through Musictoday for 2 weeks, starting today.”

If a lot of people buy tickets in the next two weeks they may add another show.

Discounted tickets are on sale at www.magneticfields.musictoday.com. (Registration required.) After March 19th, tickets will be available through Ticketron and the Berklee Performance Center’s box office.

The monthly Ryze Boston networking mixer that I help organize is coming up this Tuesday, March 9th at Caveau. I love that place. It’s part of Marche Movenpick inside the Prudential Center. They’ve got a big fireplace towards the middle of the room, good food and an all-around great atmosphere. Andrew Kraft the organizer for Ryze NYC is going to be in town and will lead a 10-minute talk about getting the most out of Ryze (online and at in-person events). The event runs 6-9pm. There’s a discounted rate ($12/$15) for Ryze members. Regular Ryze membership is free. You can also show up at the door and pay $20. Along with an assortment of hors’deuves there will be a few drink specials, too.

I’ve never been a fan of events that call themselves “business networking” events since the atmosphere can be so artificial. Fortunately the Ryze Boston events have been great. There are over 400 people on the network and each event (we’ve had three so far) has been an interesting mix of humans from all sorts of backgrounds and industries. There’s a “networking game” to help facilitate conversations that seems to go over well. It’s essentially just an excuse to go up to someone and talk to them. Sometimes that can be helpful when you’re in a room full of strangers.

For more info visit the RSVP page at http://bostonevent.ryze.com or let me know if you have any questions.

Dave Winer writes that John Kerry may have raised $1M from his website in one day: “This is apparently a record, at its peak the Dean campaign didn’t raise so much in one day.

Dean raised (at the time) record amounts of money online when he was competing amongst nine candidates and he wasn’t winning any of the primaries or caucuses either. I would hope that now that all of the attention is on Kerry as the Democratic nominee that he’d be able to raise more than Dean.

Freezepop, a Boston computer-pop band, are featured in the March issue of Wired Magazine talking about their DIY approach to making an album, getting the word out, distribution, touring, etc. They’ve got a CD release party coming up on March 27th upstairs at the Middle East in Central Square, Cambridge. Doors open at 9pm, $9 , 21+.

BloggerCon II registration opened up today for the one-day event on Saturday, April 17th. The event will be held in Pound Hall at Harvard Law School 8am - 5pm. There’s a party that night, too.

How about a gathering the night before on Friday, hosted by Boston webloggers?