Spent the day in Rockefeller Center.

First we met Seth Godin at Maison du Chocolat.  It was fascinating to hear him riff on music education, Felice’s world.  He lamented teachers married to excellence, performance of material that most people were not enamored of.  He boiled it down to a sense of mastery.  That by learning how to play an instrument, a child experienced a sense of accomplishment.  That’s the message of music education, not exposing people to the classics or some extrapolation about IQ improvement.  That’s Seth’s gift, the ability to execute an insightful surgical strike, right to the heart of the matter.

Are people ready for it?

Excellent question.  Seth told the story of Dean Kamen, creator of the Segway, amongst other inventions.  Dean started a robot competition, because he wanted to teach kids how to invent.  At first he tried to work through the established channels, then he just did it himself.  The way bands do it today.

Equally fascinating was hearing Seth’s history.  He’s invested his 10,000 hours in the marketing world.  And that brings me back to Gladwell.  I asked Gladwell…  What if you put in 10,000 hours in one area, were you fucked if you wanted to switch directions?  Malcolm said you got credit.  And Seth said that winning in one area taught you how to be confident and win in another.  But what fascinated me most was that Malcolm said those who put in 10,000 hours were self-selecting.

In other words, are you lazy or dedicated?  If you expect it to come to you on a silver platter, good luck.  If, like John Mayer, you’re willing to take a year off from school to practice the guitar (and have parents, in the case of Mayer, both teachers, who approve of this!), you’re on the road.  If you’re styling yourself in front of mirrors and entering singing competitions…  You show hunger, you show desire, but you don’t evidence any work.

There are no easy solutions.  Seth was formulating marketing ideas before he was a teenager.  He only truly reaped the rewards of his investment in the past ten years.  The same way Gladwell was a reporter for "The Washington Post" for a decade before he went to "The New Yorker" and wrote "The Tipping Point".  You’ve got to pay your dues.  And you’ve got to be willing to break rules, think outside of the box.  As Gladwell said last night, those in power, the Goliaths, have an investment in keeping you down.  If you want to triumph, you’ve got to work hard and do it a different way, which may be even more valid.

High on the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, we bid adieu to Seth and flew upstairs to the legendary Studio 8-H.  Otherwise known as the home of "Saturday Night Live".

Daniel Glass had received a phone call only weeks before.  Could his band Phoenix appear on April 4th?

A Parisian band, whose lead guitarist is the father of Sofia Coppola’s child, Phoenix started off behind Air, had a major label deal, but didn’t break through. They’re starting over again with Daniel.

Who heard their music and flipped, and when a song leaked to the Net, didn’t freak out, but went for the ride.  To the point where KCRW was airing their tracks and SNL called.

But there was one big problem.  VISAS!  The usual suspects said it couldn’t happen.  But it’s all in who you know.  Eventually, Daniel got hooked up with an attorney in D.C., who guaranteed the band could make it for the gig.  And delivered.  Funny how in the wake of 9/11 we’re so afraid of the wrong people getting in, that almost no one can get in.

The band’s dressing room was next to that of the host, Seth Rogen.  Although we rubbed shoulders, I didn’t bother to introduce myself, he doesn’t know me. And he seemed so serious!  Dressed in a suit.

But when he came out to do promos with Fred Armisen and the band he was wearing his jeans and tennis shoes…  It was amazing.  First, he’s now skinny. Second, he’s got that chortling laugh.  Third, he turned it on for the camera.  They’re b.s.’ing, and then a take begins.  He adds the comic sauce…  He’s not just reading the lines, he’s making them come alive!

The band ran through their two numbers on the famous Grand Central set.  With the list of train stops on the way to New Haven in the background.  This was the one photo I needed.  I’ve seen that listing of "Fairfield" for decades and thought of home.

And there’s a vibe, and it’s fun.  You realize if kids could come, they’d be inspired.  To be not only performers, but cameramen, sound people…  Imagine spending your whole life putting on a show!

And on the walls are signed photos from every host.  Some living, some dead.  When I saw Madeline Kahn’s picture, I gulped.  The show lives on, long after the people who made it.

And leaning on a large piece of furniture, I noticed the sign saying not to spill anything, for it was the desk for "Weekend Update".  I lifted the cover, and there it was!

It’s not quite like it used to be.  Now everybody has access to the public, via YouTube.  But in the seventies, it was a ritual.  You got home early on Saturday night to watch.  Not only Aykroyd and Belushi, but the bands.

Phoenix gave it their all.  You knew it would come alive with an audience.  That’s where music truly lives.  At the hall.  Maybe it’s less about P2P theft and more about getting back to our roots.  Music is something that penetrates you, that you feel.  It’s a communal ritual.  Sometimes just between you and the artist, but live you can see them, you can look into their eyes, that bond in your bedroom suddenly comes to life.

Cool day.