COLUMN: Art can take many forms, from painting to sculpture, prints to photography, and music to conceptual performance. It is in that last category that Rachel Rosenthal has distinguished herself. Studying art, theater and dance in Paris and New York in the middle of the last century, her teachers included some of the most celebrated [...]

COLUMN: Some people enjoy serving on juries, or so they say. Forgive me if I don’t believe them, unless these are people with nothing to do and/or who hate their job. For the rest of us, receiving a Summons for Jury Service is enough to ruin a good day. Still, there are considerations of civic [...]

COLUMN: Does the world need another manufacturer of scented candles? Until recently, many of us would have been indifferent about the answer. Then I met Meike Kopp, owner of a company with the interesting name of Manifest Destiny. Now I realize that other scented candles compare to her creations the way a BB gun compares [...]

COLUMN: Michael Levine works in public relations yet has become a highly effective motivational speaker. Allow me to confess to being positively affected by his presentation, which is no small feat when you consider that people often describe me as cynical and sardonic (when they are not waxing poetic about my vast talent and stunning [...]

REVIEW: With the word “Cirque” in their name, some people might be expecting a light and frothy show of tumblers and mimes. Oh would they be wrong. The experience of Cirque Berzerk starts with a dark and brooding atmosphere and then adds hallucinogenic or psychotropic drugs to your bloodstream. Imagine being plucked out of your [...]

COLUMN: Everyone is searching for hopeful economic news and I have some for you. Last night, I attended an unveiling of corporate-sponsored sculpture in staid Woodland Hills, California. Actually, it was a combined art show, modern dance piece, electronic music performance, and happening. Anyone remember happenings? For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a [...]

COLUMN: Several friends asked me a question this week, and with slight variations, it went something like this: “What do you think of that blowhard Rush Limbaugh?” Although for “blowhard” they all used a different word. Donkey orifice. Rooster lollipop. Mom fornicator. My answer was always the same: I hope Rush Limbaugh is the Republican [...]

COLUMN: Back in middle and high school, I got into trouble. Numerous times, in fact. Not so much for physical acts of stupidity and fighting, although those happened on occasion, but because of things I wrote. Now you may be thinking I scrawled on the wall or carved phrases onto desktops. I take great offense [...]

COLUMN: Political campaigns exist on several levels, some high-minded, some in the gutter. What is interesting this year is the emergence of new code words. With innuendo and subterfuge, a shipload of low-road commentary is being slipped into mainstream discourse. What follows is a brief sampling of how below-the-belt smear tactics and race-baiting are being [...]

COLUMN: A feature-length documentary called BOMB IT examines all sides of the graffiti controversy, but it’s clearly on the side of the artists. Scott G is in favor of this viewpoint provided you don’t spray paint his neighborhood. As the director of music videos for Nine Inch Nails and Slayer, director Jon Reiss would be [...]

COLUMN: The Q&A format is a time-honored way to promote dialog and discourse, but as Scott G points out, some questions can lead to answers that start an argument, a brawl, or even a war.

COLUMN: Scott G smiles at the dire headlines bemoaning the evidence of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones in sports; in fact, he comes out in favor of their use.

COLUMN: Scott G has a few questions about idiocy, lunacy, stupidity, chicanery, avarice, greed, pigheadedness, hatred, loathing, insanity and dangerous superstitions. In other words, he’s been reading the news lately.

COLUMN: Forget war, deficits, war profiteering, offshore tax loopholes, mistreatment of veterans, rampant religiosity, governmental stupidity, and everything else going on thanks to BushCo. Scott G discovers he’s supposed to write about nonsense.

COLUMN: The country was nearly bankrupt the last time America put an actor in the White House, but Scott G explores some of the reasons why voters should consider trying it again.

COLUMN: War, war profiteering, immorality, lies, trickery, deceit, insecurity, budget crises, skyrocketing healthcare costs and a whole lot more need to be blamed on somebody, and Scott G is ready to step up and take the heat. Of course, there is plenty of blame to go around.

COLUMN: When the estate tax was re-labeled the “death tax” and the laws to allow corporate pollution were called the “Clear Skies Initiative,” Scott G began to think it was time for honest folks to fight back. With votes, sure, but also with better names.

COLUMN: Like Humpty Dumpty, the morality of Western World seems always about to drop off the wall and shatter into a million pieces. Scott G gathers some information about a fiction-based museum and asks an eyebrow-raising question about religious tax exemptions.

COLUMN: Scott G presents many myth-busting details about the annual Burning Man celebration held the week before Labor Day on the Playa of Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada.

COLUMN: How would you like to serve as Honorary Chairman of something called the Business Advisory Counsel? If you have $500 and a strong stomach, Scott G can tell you who to call.

COLUMN: Scott G talks with the OTHER Dr. Kevorkian and learns a few things about death, grieving and the loss of productivity due to death and grieving. Meet Kriss Kevorkian, former deputy coroner and current Co-Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Bioethics Committee.

COLUMN: Bribery, kickbacks and stealing, oh my! Have you read all the instructions in the IRS code this year? Of course you haven’t. Scott G hasn’t, either, but he found some interesting items about reporting illegal income.

COLUMN: Scott G has been paying attention to the taglines in ads. Somebody needs to, because marketers are making a ton of mistakes in this important area of communication. Taglines often seem to be a cute little part of advertising but can actually be a deft tool of marketing. More appropriately called theme lines, they are supposed to help cement the most important brand attributes into the minds of consumers. When they work, it seems like magic.

COLUMN: Why write a six-word sentence when it’s more fun to use 82 words and a bunch of gobbledygook? Scott G pokes fun at the way some businesses pontificate about themselves online and off.

INTERVIEW: Matt Forger speaks out to Scott G about everything from working with Michael Jackson to producing new artists like Mutant Radio. According to Matt, a pop song is a three minute fix of an emotional drug. We are connected through our humanity, and most successful songs speak to this.

COLUMN: Following the announcement of a patent for the video enhanced gravemarker, Scott G ponders the next phase of cemetery chic. Might there be an iTomb in your future? Hats off and a twenty-one gun salute to television commercial producer Robert Barrows, recent recipient of U.S. Patent 7089495 for an invention called the Video Enhanced Gravemarker (VEG).

COLUMN: Three personal managers of independent artists outline pathways for success in an increasingly competitive marketplace. “An artist’s music must be something I love,” stated Jennifer Yeko of True Talent Management. “It has to be music I want to hear in my personal life as well as when I’m working.”

The numbers are supposed to be big in online marketing, but are they significant in the online marketing of music? Clearly, we need someone with ‘Net experience to set a few things straight. Scott Meldrum is a businessperson and musician with a dry wit and a background in bulk mail. Oops, excuse me, direct response advertising. He’s also the man called on by major labels when they want to brand an artist and reach millions of fans via the Internet.

If you’re young enough, all you know is digital music. Forget about records. Or vinyl. Or eight-tracks. Or even cassettes. To these people, the brouhaha over digital rights management and pay-per-download models seems pretty silly. And the changeover from physical products to sound files isn’t even an issue for them.

Where music meets licensing, there’s money to be made. How much money? “I have synched quite a few thousand songs into productions over the years,” states Peter Jansson of CRC Jianian Co., “and have charged anywhere between US$1.00 and US$250,000 for each one.”

Some ad campaigns don’t work. Like the recent mistake of putting an American Idol winner in a retail automotive ad. Scott G comments on Ford’s chopping of Taylor Hicks.

Copywriters and art directors get much of the attention in the ad world, but Scott G is one creative director who claims it’s the account management function that controls how a campaign soars or collapses.