What do Motley Crew, George Brett and Rush Limbaugh all have in common? All three were fans of a classic rock band that was the first American band to sign with Virgin Records. (think Bay City Roller days). The band was from Kansas City. Their first album was produced in London by Gus Dudgeon--Elton Johns' producer. They opened for Robin Trower, Heart, Cheap Trick, Journey, Jefferson Starship, etc. They played the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Square Garden and witnessed the rumbles of Mt. St. Helen going off a hundred miles away while recording their second album. Their name was Shooting Star. My brother Ron Verlin was the bass player. He and the lead guitar player, Van McClain started the band. The band actually started conceptually in 1963 when my brother went up the street looking for friends in our new neighborhood. He rang the doorbell at Van's house--asking if their was anyone to play with that lived there. Van and his brother Craig became my brother and my best...

  In one word: Seamless   seam·less ˈsēmlis/ adjective 1 . (of a fabric or surface) smooth and without seams or obvious joins. "seamless stockings" Let me preface this post by admitting upfront a couple of things: I'm not a geek in the true sense of the word. I came from a rock n roll background (more on this in another post)--and worked with classical,  smooth jazz and newstalk radio stations for thirty-two years. I was the audio-visual guy in junior high--delivering projectors, tape recorders to classrooms, etc--so I've always had an interest in "gadgets". My first one was an Archer walkie-talkie and my second was a Science Fair crystal radio set. I then had a Science Fair weather station. I'm not employed by or paid by Apple, Samsung, Google, etc or any tech company, blog or magazine.  I'm just offering a semi-tech guy's opinion of how Apple & Samsung stand up to each other after having owned ...

When I started in radio sales..I'd go through days of not knowing if I'd make a sale, an appointment, etc. Those were the day's the my sales manager would tell me to go  write a commercial to play as a "spec ad" for a prospect. He knew that if I could engage my creative side--I would refocus my thoughts and feel productive to keep me from getting down. He was right. And if I had a particularly creative idea--I would get excited and energized. That taught me a great lesson throughout my career--when down--think creatively.  More importantly--do something creative--writing, painting, singing, etc.  And it doesn't have to be complicated. There are simple ways to make your day! Check out some neat ones Kevin Daum came up with from Inc. magazine: Here are 10 suggestions on how to make your day! Sometimes people get in a rut. The hours drag on, boredom making you feel like you are slogging through mud. Don't let the offic...

"In the twinkling of an eye, Nebuchadnezzar became a raving maniac. With wild shrieks he rushed from the room and down the staircase as the crown of gold toppled from his head. Across the tiled floor of the throne room he raced, tearing from his body his regal robes and scattering them as he went. Through the doors and down the corridors he ran bellowing like a wounded bull while the palace retainers stood by in consternation. Nebuchadnezzar,  the proud and dignified monarch of the greatest empires of ancient times, was running down the street of his capital city, stripped, stark naked" — Campbell, Donald K., Daniel: DecoderBooks, 1979, p. 51. It's a sad commentary today when we see publicly elected officials, businesspersons, sports stars, Hollywood stars all put on a public display of Arrogance 101. In their fifteen seconds of fame--it's all or nothing as self-absorbed individuals seem unaffected by their behaviors. The latest to draw attention is Rob Ford--To...

Throughout my career in radio advertising--particularly in the first decade, I would notice a phenomena among many new businesses I prospected. I would usually meet with them after a call came in wanting radio advertising rates. They were typically excited to be launching a new retail business and things were usually buzzing with a spouse moving things, etc. They would ask me about my radio station, what businesses were advertising with us, their successes, etc. I would put together a proposal  and "spec" radio ad (which usually they would like), then we'd talk about when they would like to start. Unfortunately, in most cases--they would want to think about it and have me follow up next week or two. Invariably, I would see a newspaper ad over the weekend of their grand opening, etc. Several weeks later--when I'd get back with them, they would tell me that they wanted to wait, see how their newspaper was doing, had to spend the money on a yellow page ad,...

Like most people--I've always enjoyed reading about managers who talk the talk and walk the walk.  Men and women who have the resume to demand respect--and one of the most respected CEO's is none other than Jack Welch (GE's former CEO). With todays conflux and focus on Big Data managing and how to best evaluate employees, Mr. Welch has a great piece about the balance of using numbers and qualities to judge performance. While he doesn't like the term, rank and yank  with year end evaluations taking place--he offers some insight into how best use what numbers such as quota's, etc in a total evaluation profile. Here's Jack's own words from an Opinion piece in todays' Wall Street Journal: Every now and again—like just this week, for instance, with the announcement that  Microsoft   MSFT  -0.12%  will be changing its performance-appraisal system—some news event unleashes a fresh round of debate about the management practice dubbed ...

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU THROW OUT FROM YOUR OFFICE!  He was the "rock star" of the Depression-era. America's Public Enemy #1 that helped promote the image of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. He was a robber, murderer--who idolized Jesse James. He robbed from the "wealthy" to big to fail banks that were hurting the little guy. One half hour before he was shot--he signed an autograph for a young girl who thought he was a dashing Hollywood movie star as he was leaving the Biograph theatre in Chicago. The little girl was attending the Biograph's feature "Manhattan Melodramea" and didn't know who he was--but assumed he was someone famous. The little girl was Francis Ethel Gumm--better known as Judy Garland. The above pics are the original Kansas City Star that I found in my grandfather's family Bible--dating from 1895 (see pic below--along with grandfather and mother's pic circa 1938).   Also discovered, we're two stock c...