Be My Guest

As I'm nearing my 500th post to this blog, it is going to change. For the better I hope.

I don't have the time or oomph to blather on about what I'm thinking anymore. No more philosophical ramblings. Hopefully. I really shouldn't be on about that.

What I should be on about is the music, the art.

I will continue to update you all about what's going on when major things happen, but continuing plot lines in the story of Vinyl Art will mostly be found in my email newsletter, which is free to subscribe to on http://vinylart.info/. And you can find discussions and likable links at http://facebook.com/DanielEdlen. And when minor things happen, I share them at http://twitter.com/vinylart.

So then, what's left for this blog is the art. New pieces. New exhibitions. New commissions. That kind of thing. Better, no?

And, what I'm REALLY excited about is making this blog more communal, more focussed on what I'm here for - the music. I've met and built relationships with some pretty cool people online. Some of them really good writers. Some of them really passionate about music. Some of them interested in what I do. Some of them willing to write guest posts for this blog.

How COOL!

The post prior to this was the 1st in what I hope becomes a series of writings from Zane Ewton, the ever-so-nice fellow who won my contest last year and has since become a close friend. Also, a bunch of others have signed on to do a post for me. I'll introduce them before their posts so don't worry about not knowing why you're reading what you're reading here.

Then, hopefully, comments will abound. The art, the music, will take centerstage. If you'd like to be my guest, please stay with me, and share your story.

Peace.

Thankful: for Tumblr

Before Thanksgiving I shared my thankfulness. Now I'm really excited. I've figured out a way to do even more.

See, as an artist, I'm largely a visual person. So doing "Thankful: for" text updates to Twitter with things during that day that I appreciate is all well and good, but what about taking pictures and sharing those? Or videos or audio even? How do I directly share the full range of creativity of our culture that inspires me?

Enter Tumblr. I'd created a tumblog awhile ago, just getting a feel for how the site works. It's really pretty cool. It's basically like this blog in that it displays in reverse chronological order, has a modifiable template, allows comments and sharing, and is public. The difference is that the primary use of tumblogs is to share small bits, an image, an audio clip, a quote from somewhere else online, and it allows uploading of original content online and from cellphones. I didn't quite know how to take advantage of it though.

Now I do.

I realized that Twitter and Facebook, while extremely popular and very good at sharing small bits, are member-only sites. You have to create an account and profile to access the content. This blog isn't. But this blog is more meant for sharing about my art and life in slightly longer, rambly, daily-ish posts. Tumblr combines the best of the two and can be unrelated to me directly without confusing readers, hopefully.

So, I've started my Thankful: for tumblog.

Peace.

Friends, Family, Fans, Followers, Flickr, Phew!

"Badges! We don't need no stinking badges!" I added the above Flickr Badge to my Facebook fan page today. I was trying to figure out a way to make a widget so that those of you who'd want to would be able to share a mini-slideshow of my work on your site or profile or whatever.

I'm a little famooshed this morning after trying a bunch of new things with my online stuff. Stuff. What else do you call it? Presence? Accounts? Profiles? Social Media?

There's Facebook which has a fan page and my personal account with friends and family. There's Twitter with followers. And there's Flickr with contacts. Each site, each environment requires a different approach. Subtle, but different. All try to do the same thing, engage and connect with music lovers and artsy people, yet...

Flickr is the simplest. Upload images, add tags and description, add to relevant groups. The strange thing is though that I get more random connections there. People just interested in art. A lot of street artists. I only communicate with them there for some reason. News about vinyl art shows usually ends up there first.

On Twitter, it's more about sharing ideas and people and links related to my art, but not my art directly so much. Followers seem to like big news, like being featured on Playboy, but the better updates are the ones that show who I am as an artist. I like architecture, this architect, these buildings. I came up with this saying on my way to lunch today. I like this lyric from this band I really like. There's this other cool guy here who does this neat artwork. That kind of thing. There is the ability to send messages, but users seem mostly to add images as favorites and occasionally leave public comments.

On Facebook, my fan page is solely news in various forms about my art. This is the charity event to which I donated pieces. Here is the video clip in which Mike Love signs my piece of him for DLFTV. This is the show in London to which I've submitted pieces. Those kinds of things. There is the ability to have discussions, but users seem to pay attention to fan pages more as a news feed with feedback.

Then, also on Facebook, my personal account is, well, more personal. Still about my art but mostly family and old friends and new ones I've made online. The updates are rarer there, as I figure most other stuff besides news about Abbey Grace is too mundane. I do go back and forth in comments more though, with multiple people joining in briefly.

And that's been the most complex part, figuring out where the conversation works the best. Since email seems to be fading, for whatever reason, and is being replaced by all these social sites, where do you find it the easiest to participate in discussions? The most comfortable?

No, really. I'm asking you. Where?

Peace.

Facebook Fans And Google Maps

Thanks to Barb at http://laylasclassicrock.blogspot.com/ I now have a fan page on Facebook. She made me an admin so I can edit and post, as well. I've got 35 fans there already! Pretty cool. I've uploaded my interview video to compliment the examples Barb uploaded. I also linked this blog, providing another way to keep up with my posts, and to comment.

That's the important part, the commenting. The coolest potential I see for the Facebook fan page is as a forum. Sure I'll post updates and news, but I'm not going to stream my tweets or push blog posts. I want it to be a place where you who like Facebook and feel more comfortable sharing there, share! I unmoderated comments on this blog hoping more people would comment and maybe get discussions going, but like Twitter, most posts remain me sharing with you. That's ok, but I want there to be somewhere you share too, and with each other.

I also created a Google Map at http://tinyurl.com/VAowners showing the states where people have bought my Vinyl Art, 20 so far! If you have a Google account, you can comment there as well. Hopefully some people who own pieces will say howdy and maybe share stories about the piece and update us on anything they want.

As I've said before, I want one use of my art to be as a way to gather again, to share our passion for music and celebrate our culture. In today's online world, more and more, music is only an MP3 on an iPod, infinitely shareable yes, but with no artifact, nothing to hold onto. A fancy word people use is "totem", something to grab and to share, providing a sense of community, of shared experience. My wife's collection of concert tickets are her totems.

So I hope you'll join in. Don't be shy. Talk about anything that fits in with music, art, culture, memory, and Life. It's all good. Let my work be your totem. See you on Facebook?

Peace.

Shut Up And Paint

The Travel Channel's "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain is powerfully inspiring artistically for me. For all the gaunt New Yorker's pithy narrating and brash wordifications with his companions, you can feel the passion for the food. For life.

Last night the NYC episode ran in which he meets up with the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods" guy, Andrew Zimmern. Zimmern's quip that the motto for Bourdain's aptly-titled show should be "shut up and eat" struck me. The best moments on the show are when he's taking first bites of heaven from around the world, the quieted awe of authentic food and culture.

I need to let the art speak.

I so want everybody to know about what I do that I'm not doing it enough. I've gotten some awesome albums to use recently. I'm gonna use'em. I'll talk about'em, but not as much hopefully. Hopefully I'll find a better balance between doing the art and promoting.

I'd love help promoting. I just can't pay for it yet. Free things are good, expensive time-wise, but feasible at the moment. Twitter is helping along with Facebook and Flickr. I need like a celebrity endorsement. I did just paint Iggy. Maybe Bourdain would want one. I'd trade him for it. Anybody know him? Or know somebody who knows somebody whose brother works on the show's crew?

Peace.

Who Needs High School Reunions?

Facebook is a perpetual asynchronous reunion of one's entire past. A comprehensive, free, controllable environment to reconnect at levels ranging from a nod of recognition to full-fledged rekindling of friendships. Some people sign up, set up a bare-bones profile and find a bunch of old classmates using the Friend Finder. Then they never log in again. Some go nuts with all the bells and whistles provided to find new networks of people and to share with those you already know the depths of your interests and hobbies.

Some, like me, have used it primarily as part of my online presence as it relates to Daniel Edlen, the artist. The thing I've found odd is how because I used to go to school with someone, it usually somehow biases the reconnected relationship. They still are who they are, which is cool to see, but it is funny how it makes it easier or harder to share what I'm up to now.

This James Taylor is a Hanukkah gift from the father of a friend of one of my old classmates to my classmate's father. The friend's father knew of me because my classmate had shared my video with others on Facebook. Pretty cool.

A neat thing is how all of this interconnects. So if you are on Facebook, you can become a fan of this blog, or add me as a friend! I won't bite.

Peace.

SOLD - James Taylor 11/10/08