If you’re going to be slick, be slick like Michael Jackson.  If you’re going to keep it real, keep it real like Black Flag.  There’s an art to the heights of studio trickery.  It’s easy to just push buttons and spin knobs, though.  And there’s an art to playing well live (in time, in tune, and with inspiration).

Like a lot of other things in life: avoid mediocrity; go big or go home.  You’ll anger some people, but you’ll make some fans (and friends) willing to follow you through the rest of your big decisions.

If you’re only willing to bid $19 to buy a $20 bill at this auction, you’re not doing charity, you’re bargain hunting. There’s nothing wrong with bargain hunting, it’s fun, but it’s not philanthropy. I think bargain hunting for a good cause is just fine, but wouldn’t it be great if the event could raise far more money and change the way people view the organization?

This is not the easy path. It is much easier to sell your public on bargains than it is to sell them on generosity. The good news is that once you get over the hump, it scales. Bargains scale downward… better bargains are lower-priced bargains, which means you scale to zero. Philanthropy scales upward… better overpaying is more overpaying. A public auction is always a public competition. The challenge is to create social approval for what would otherwise be bad auction skills! Enlist a few stooges in the audience in advance, then start by auctioning off that $20 bill. When it goes for $45 and the winner gets an ovation, you’ve set a tone.

The goal of a non-profit seeking money needs to be to create an environment in which the community congratulates itself on overpaying.

That’s a very tall order. I’m not entirely sure I dig the subterfuge Seth encourages (I’m sure tongue’s at least lightly placed in cheek on that one), but the task of creating that kind of culture is difficult with or without it.

I’ll be playing twice for a local non-profit this week.

The Wengerd|VanVoorst Duo will be playing at the Volvo Mayfaire by the Lake kickoff party tonight in front of the Lakeland Library.

and the Matthew Wengerd Trio will be playing tomorrow at 11:00 am.

It’s not much, but it’s my kind of philanthropy. I get to help and be noticed and, let’s face it, without that combination, most forms of philanthropy would not exist.

Calling in required entering a code received after registering.  Because of an Animal Control truck on the side of the Interstate, I was running late and had to call from my cell. Kudos to the organizers for not blocking second-point access (even though they warned against it) so I didn’t have to miss anything. We lost Seth twice, at about 15 and 45 minutes in; he quickly dialed back in.

Blow are my notes. With Meatball Sundae in one hand, my Lamy FP in the other (thanks, JetPens!), and my Moleskine on the table, I wrote (sometimes furiously) as much as I could. Seth primarily outlined most of the 14 trends listed in his book. In the interest of time, he skipped a couple. He saved the end for questions and, as you see in the notes, mentioned Kate‘s Squidoo lens, which Shannon Butcher recently wrote about in her blog. Small world, huh?

I’d like to share these notes, which may make no sense to readers. If you haven’t, read Seth’s book(s). Whatever it is you do, there’s a good chance the world is changing around you and Seth’s ideas seem to point the way forward. As a musician, I believe New Media is the inevitable future (or the present for those ahead of the curve), not the boogey man in the closet.