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New Years Eve Setlist Roundup

January 1st, 2011 | No Comments

Happy New Year!

Here are a smattering of setlists to ring in 2011 from around our musical universe. If you know of a setlists that isn’t
here but should be, please add it to the comments and we’ll add it to the list!

Phish – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
I: Punch You In the Eye, AC/DC Bag, The Moma Dance > Scent of a Mule, Burn that Bridge[1], Weigh, Ocelot[2], Beauty
of My Dreams, Gone, Rock and Roll

II: Wilson > 46 Days, Sand, NICU[2] > Down with Disease > Ghost, You Enjoy Myself -> Manteca -> You Enjoy
Myself[3]

III: Meatstick[4], Auld Lang Syne[5], After Midnight, Backwards Down the Number Line, Piper > Free, Waste, Slave to
the Traffic Light, Grind

Encore: First Tube[2]

[1] Phish debut
[2] with Auld Lang Syne tease
[3] with “crab in my shoe mouth” vocal jam
[4] with mass choreographed dance of multiethnic dancers doing the Meatstick, while Phish flew across the arena
aboard their giant hot dog
[5] a cappella at midnight, with Meatstick singers

Source: Phish.net

Gov’t Mule – Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
I: Mule with Kirk West Introduction, Painted Silver Light, Gameface, Blind Man In The Dark, Bad Little Doggie, No Need
To Suffer, Beautifully Broken, Banks Of The Deep End, Trying Not To Fall, Time To Confess with Get Up, Stand Up
Tease, Thorazine Shuffle

II: Slackjaw Jezebel, Brand New Angel, Steppin’ Lightly, Broke Down On The Brazos, New Years Countdown, Achilles
Last Stand * , Bridge Of Sighs * , Nantucket Sleighride * with Corky Laing, Bad Company * , Yer Blues *

Shakedown Street *, Sugaree with Jon Herington & Bill Evans, Sco-Mule with Jon Herington & Bill Evans, Oye Como Va
Tease & Dance To The Music Lyrics, Afro Blue with Bill Evans & Oz Noy, Norwegian Wood Tease
* First Time Played

Source: mule.net & nokin in the comments

The Disco Biscuits – Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA
I: Mirrors*, Strobelights & Martinis*-> Pimp Blue Rikkis*-> Strobelights & Martinis*-> Orch Theme*-> Portal To An
Empty Head*^.

II: Vassillios-> Little Shimmy In A Conga Line&. Nughuffer%#-> “Biscuits Are Coming Home”-> Helicopters**->
Bernstein & Chasnoff(> Helicopters**.

III: III: Mindless Dribble-> Crickets@%-> House Dog Party Favor!$

E: Hope

*-w/ Johnny Raab
^-w/ Chris Michett
i
&-ending only
%-unfinished
#-with countdown
**-with “Happy New Year” lyrics
@-inverted
!-w/ Barber on Midi for 2nd jam
$-preceded by ‘Story Of The World’ fake-out

Source: Phantasy Bisco

moe. – House of Blues, Boston, MA
I: akimbo > paper dragon, the faker > the road, water, happy hour hero*

II: puebla > lazarus, nebraska*, celebration^, wind it up > george

E: down boy, rebubula

* w/ dirty dozen brass band
^ (kool & the gang) w/ ddbb & moe. children & vinny on vocals

Source: Rick Brownell

Umphrey’s McGee – Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL

I: Nothing Too Fancy > In the Kitchen, Rocker (part II), Nemo, Bright Lights^, new song* > Nothing Too Fancy

II: Wellwishers^^, The Payback$ > Get Up$ > unknown$, Andy’s Last Beer^^, All In Time, Ringo, Demolition Man**^^
> 1348^^

III: Hajimemashite, Sex Laws$$^^ > Auld Lang Syne^^, Partyin’ Peeps, Miss Tinkle’s Overture^^, Higgins, Slacker&,
Booth Love^^ > National Anthem&&^^ . . .

^ with Jeff Coffin on saxophone

* first time played, original
^^ with horns
$ first time played, James Brown; Kris on vocals, Jake on drums, with horns and backup singers
** first time played, The Police
$$ first time played, Beck
& with Cody Dickinson on washboard and guitar, and Brendan on percussion
&& first time played, Radiohead

Source: Phantasy Umphreys

Widespread Panic – Pepsi Arena, Denver, CO
I: Ribs & Whiskey, Don’t Be Denied > Wonderin’, When You Coming Home , Driving Song > Who Do You Belong To?

II: Holden Oversoul, North > Blackout Blues^, Blight > Bust It Big > Jam > Pleas > Mr Soul

III: Disco, Tall Boy, Sharon*, Tongue (Shuffle In A)*%, Imitation Leather Shoes > Love Tractor , Postcard, Pilgrims > Tie
Your Shoes > Jam > End of the Show^^ > Ain’t Life Grand^^

E: Blue Indian, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Action Man

Notes: [JB Acoustic 1st set]
^ w/ G love on harmonica
^^ w/ JB on tiny guitar
* w/ David Bromberg on vocals & guitar

% 1st time played

Source: Phantasy Panic

Sound Tribe Sector 9 – Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO
I: Equinox, Inspire Strikes Back, Really Wut?, Abcees, What is Love?, EHM, When The Dust Settles

II: New New 4 U U, Uptight (Everything’s Alright), +++ COUNTDOWN +++ -> Uptight (Everything’s Alright), F-Word,
Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature, Instantly, Evasive Manuevers, Rent

E: Hi-Key, Oil & Water, Baraka

Source: @sts9

Furthur – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
I: Alligator, Big Bad Blues, Caution, Wharf Rat, Sittin on Top of the World, High on a Mountain, Cumberland Blues

II: Cassidy, Mountain Song, I Know You Rider, The Other One, Let It Grow, Stella Blue, Viola Lee Blues, The Golden
Road

III: We Love You, Sugar Magnolia, The Wheel, Uncle John’s Band, Unbroken Chain, Terrapin, Help on the Way >
Slipnot! > Franklin’s Tower, Truckin

E: One More Saturday Night

Source: tokezilla in the comments

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band – Florida Theater, Jacksonville, FL
Dont Let Me Slide, Midnight in Harlem, Tell Mama, Anyday, Love Has Something Else to Say, Prescence of the Lord,
Leavin’ Trunk, That did It, Standing on the edge of Love, Garveys Ghost, Space Captain, Coming Home, -NEW YEARS-
, Night Time is the Right Time, Bound for Glory

E: Spirit in the Dark-

*** Kebbi Williams on saxophone, Saunders Sermons on trombone, and Maurice Brown on trumpet

Source: KoolKyle in the comments

If you know of a setlists that isn’t here but should be, please add it to the comments and we’ll add it to the list!

Erykah Badu New Album Details

January 22nd, 2010 | No Comments

ERYKAH BADU RELEASES DETAILS FOR NEW AMERYKAH PART II: RETURN OF THE ANKH

Erykah Badu

Soul/R&B queen Erykah Badu has announced details for her forthcoming album New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh, the sequel to 2008′s New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War.

Part II will be released March 30 via Universal Motown, with each of the 11 tracks either produced or co-produced by Badu (full production details included with the track listing below). ?uestlove makes an appearance, lending his drum skills to “Window Seat.”

A twelfth track, titled “Jump in the Air,” will be available as a web only offering, and features Lil’ Wayne and Bilal.

Badu will tour this summer as part of the return of Lilith Fair.

New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh Track Listing

1. 20 Feet Tall (produced by Erykah Badu and 9th Wonder)
2. Window Seat (produced by Erykah Badu and James Poyser, featuring ?uestlove)
3. Agitation (produced by Erykah Badu and Shafiq Husayn of SA-RA Creative Partners)
4. Get Money (produced by Erykah Badu)
5. Don’t Be Long (produced by Erykah Badu and Taarak)
6. Love (produced by Erykah Badu and J Dilla)
7. Umm Hmm (produced by Erykah Badu and Madlib)
8. Fall in Love (produced by Erykah Badu and Karriem Riggins)
9. Incense (Instrumental) (produced by Erykah Badu and Madlib)
10. Out My Mind Just in Time (Part 1) (Undercover Over-Lover) (produced by Erykah Badu)
11. Out My Mind Just in Time (Part 2) (produced by Erykah Badu and Georgia Anne Muldrow)
12. Jump in the Air (ft. Lil Wayne and Bilal) (produced by Erykah Badu, RC Williams and Jahborn)*

* web-only bonus track

Badu tour dates available here.

Fri Playlist: Rainy Day Music

December 11th, 2009 | No Comments

A LITTLE CLOUD WATCHING MUSIC

With gray skies and damp weather rising all over this winter, we’ve put together a few numbers particularly suited to gazing outside through rain streaked windows as the steam rises from your mug and your house pets curl around your ankles.

This week’s Playlist begins with a dreamy gem from the recently reissued Goose Creek Symphony album Head For The Hills, followed by a modern hymn from Seattle’s The Moondoggies from their sensational 2008 debut, Don’t Be A Stranger (JamBase review). Then it’s a vintage blast from Graham Nash‘s solo debut, Songs For Beginners, followed by solo efforts from The Black Crowes‘ Chris and Rich Robinson, which bear Nash’s influence. We conclude with a stone love song classic from dearly departed John Martyn and newfound folk-swoon charmer Daniel Martin Moore.

Keep dry and share your umbrella if you see a fellow human getting drenched.

And check out our Kinks Covers Playlist, with rockin’ good versions of Kinks’ tunes by Oingo Boingo, Big Star, The Fall and more!

Playlist assembled by JamBase Associate Editor Dennis Cook, who’s just sitting here watching the wheels go round & round. He really loves to watch ‘em rollÂ…

New eBook from Lifehack: Back to Basics Productivity

December 7th, 2009 | No Comments

This is an important day for me â€“ after months of preparation, I can finally announce the launch of our new ebook store and our first title, Back to Basics Productivity!

Back to Basics Productivity

The easy way to get more done in less time so you can concentrate on living your life

If you’re looking for down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts advice on how to make your work and your life better organized, less stressful, and more productive, Back to Basics Productivity is for you. Collecting in one place some of Lifehack’s most popular posts â€“ each one expanded and revised â€“ along with two completely new chapters, Back to Basics Productivity walks you through some of the basic concepts in personal productivity and shows you how to apply those concepts to your own life. Whether you’re a productivity beginner looking for a few simple ways to get a grasp on your life or a devoted follower of a personal productivity system (such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, or Neil Fiore’s Now Habit) looking for a refresher and some practical tips, Back to Basics Productivity will help you get â€“ and stay â€“ on top of things.

To celebrate the launch of our ebook store, for the next 7 days Back to Basics Productivity will be available to Lifehack readers for $2 US off the already affordable $8.99 US cover price. Just use the coupon code â€œB2BLAUNCHâ€ (without the quotes) at checkout to receive your discount.

Order Back to Basics Productivity now from our bookstore. A free preview chapter is available.

More ebooks coming soon!

Back to Basics Productivity is only the first of an ongoing series of ebooks to be released throughout the coming year. Future titles will cover personal finance, careers, entrepreneurship, technology, and of course personal productivity.

Beginning next year, we will also begin accepting submissions for new titles; if youâ€™re a writer, keep an eye out for our guidelines, early next year.

Become an affiliate

If you have a website and want to promote Stepcaseâ€™s growing selection of ebooks, be sure to join our affiliate program (login or join E-junkie and this link will add you to our affilaite program). Youâ€™ll receive a 30% commission for each ebook sold through your affiliate link. Our affiliate program is administered through E-junkie, which independently tracks sales so you can easily keep tabs on the sales you generate.

To join the affiliate program, simply sign up through E-junkie and use the unique affiliate link they provide you to direct your readers to our products.

Review our books

If youâ€™d like to receive a copy of Back to Basics Productivity for review on your website or in print, please contact us using our contact form. Be sure to select â€œPress and Mediaâ€ from the Subject dropdown so your message can be directed to the proper recipients. We will be happy to consider your request!

Into the futureâ€¦

I canâ€™t tell you how excited I am about this. Lifehack has long provided some of the best tips and advice about productivity, technology, finances, small business management and entrepreneurship, work-life balance, and much more. Publishing our own ebooks will allow us to dive further into these topics than we ever could in the space of a blog post.

We look forward to sharing the adventure with you!

Order Back to Basics Productivity now from our bookstore.

Dustin M. Wax is a freelance writer and project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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Widespread Panic | 11.13 | Oakland

November 17th, 2009 | No Comments

Word by: Kayceman | Images by: Josh Miller

Widespread Panic :: 11.13.09 :: Fox Theater :: Oakland, CA

Widespread Panic :: 11.13 :: Oakland

It had been over two years since perennial road warriors Widespread Panic played a non-festival show in the Bay Area. Shacking up at the gorgeous Fox Theater in Oakland, CA for a three-night run, it was the second show on Friday the 13th that stuck out as special. There was nothing wrong with Thursday or Saturday’s shows, other than being perhaps a bit flat, but Friday’s concert was a reminder of why this band has one of the most dedicated fan bases in all of music and it was a prime example of why these fans continue to drop it all and chase Panic around the country. During the band’s peak, somewhere between 1997 and 2002, shows like this popped up frequently, and for many seasoned touring vets, Friday’s show was one of the better since band co-founder Michael Houser passed away.

Clocking in at around an hour and a half, the lengthy first set featured Bob Dylan (“Solid Rock”), Tom Waits (“Goin’ Out West”), Neil Young (“Don’t Be Denied”), and Jerry Joseph (“Light Is Like Water”). The tone was set immediately with Jimmy Herring‘s ominous guitar bleeding the dark notes to first song “Junior” and before long it was Jojo Hermann‘s dirty Clavinet that pushed the song into surprisingly funky terrain. Hermann would prove to be the catalyst throughout the night, leaning on his keys, tempting a Friday the 13th “Superstition” (which never surfaced) and creating spacey interludes so that the momentum rarely slowed.

John Bell :: 11.13 :: Oakland

During old school instrumental “Happy,” Herring was channeling vintage Garcia as he pulled notes from the sky and showed incredible control of his warm tone. Frontman John Bell grabbed hold of the crowd during “Pigeons,” belting out some of the most poignant lyrics in rock: “We’ve all been waiting/ Wondering, will we ever know the truth/ What it’s like washing windows when you know there are pigeons on the roof.” The world is a harsh, unforgiving place and we all know it. We wake up and struggle to find a moment of peace, we wash the windows of our life only to turn around and find shit caked all over them once again. But we push on. We clean up and fight another day. It’s all we can do.

Another old gem, “Walkin’” was a revelation. Taking the loping tempo and twisting the notes until they were unrecognizable, Panic landed in one of the night’s longest and most impressive jams that may have been influenced by the recent tour with the Allman Brothers. With bassist Dave Schools working overtime to keep the wheels glued on, Herring and Hermann were free to fly loose and light, dancing around one another, dipping into fast-paced duels and spacious feather-weight cascades.

If the set ended there it would have been a great first set, but then emerged one of the most emotional songs in the band’s repertoire, Neil Young’s “Don’t Be Denied.” With strong parallels to Panic’s history, as JB sang, “Pretty soon I met a friend who played guitar,” the Fox erupted. One look at the capacity crowd and it was clear many were feeling it. Tears were forming, arms were wrapped around shoulders, and if you stared long enough, maybe you could still see Mikey Houser sitting up there on the stage.

Clearly this had to be the end of the set. “Don’t Be Denied” is generally a first, last or encore song. Wrong again. Out comes Jerry Joseph for a blistering “Light Is Like Water.” They’ve previously only played the song eight times and it had been over a year since it last showed up. A meaty middle section featured a three guitar attack with Herring, JB and Joseph winding around each other, and then Schools and JB doing back-up harmony for the Reverend Jerry Joseph in a raucous church revival moment as he screamed, “Whatever gets you through the night!” It was a big way to end a massive first set that left many out of breath with eyes glassed over.

Ortiz & Schools :: 11.13 :: Oakland

When they came back out with “Tie Your Shoes” > “Blight” > “All Time Low” > “Blight” it was clear that Panic was not letting up on this evening. Set two never stopped and never slowed down. Every song bled into the next and they turned the Fox into a sweaty soup of gyrating bodies and flailing limbs.

“Tie Your Shoes” was played at a frantic pace with notes folding over one another and everyone somehow staying off each other’s toes. “Blight” was slow and dark, allowing fans the rare chance to hear Schools sing lead. With a heavy delay on his vocals, Schools was improvising about “green shoots popping up everywhere,” and when JB sang back-up, Schools followed by blurting out “spooky” before they did some of the finest vocal harmonizing of the run. The fact that they went out of “Blight” and back into it for a brief moment after “All Time Low” sent the hardcore fans reeling.

Set two found Dave Schools out front, and when he dropped the bombs to signal The Meters‘ “Just Kissed My Baby” (which hadn’t been played since 2006) the dance party went into overdrive. Fully equipped with the JB “Night People” rap, Jimmy Herring’s fire-starter lead and percussionist Wally Ingram adding color, things opened wide during this section.

Herring & Hermann :: 11.13 :: Oakland

One could wax poetic about every song played: the strong “C. Brown;” the heavenly, delicate jam out of “Wonderin’;” the slow, methodical, long “Porch Song” that erupted at the end, reminding fans of the late ’90s; and the “Love Tractor” that closed the set. But it was “Arleen” > “Red Hot Mama” that turned a great show into the stuff of legend.

The dirty disco funk of “Arleen” came on hot and heavy and sent backs breaking and knees popping. Everyone – band and fans alike – were fully lubricated at this point and there was no looking back. It didn’t matter if this was your 150th Panic show or your first; everyone felt it and it appeared that all had given themselves over to the groove. Jojo was hammering the Clav, locked-in deep with Schools, and JB was loose, adlibbing about the neighbor girl (“her face look good but her body not ready”) and tossing in a brief moment of “Junior,” adding to the story he’s been crafting for decades. It all built to a mean crescendo with that little neighbor girl’s daddy coming out with his gun locked and loaded as the band fell in step, turning out the final jam before Schools teased Sugar Hill Gang‘s “Rappers Delight” with a bit of “Hotel motel Holiday Inn.”

At this point all bets were off, and when they blasted into Parliament/Funkadelic‘s “Red Hot Mama” it was a blur of funky keys, growling guitars, heavy bass, and grinding ass funk. For this writer, “Arleen” > “Red Hot Mama” (and the entire second set for that matter) was as good as anything he’s seen all year.

John Bell :: 11.13 :: Oakland

“We’re glad we came to work tonight,” declared JB before the encore. It was a big show felt just as much by the band as the fans, and when they closed with JB on mandolin for a tender “End Of The Show” it was the perfect way to send us off into the night, feeling just a bit lighter than when we walked in.

There’s transcendence in these songs. Dancing with eyes closed and screaming along with old friends you rarely see and new ones you’ve yet to make, there’s community here. There’s a shared experience that stretches far beyond the concert hall. Widespread Panic is a true blue workingman’s rock & roll band. They aren’t singing of fantastical places or imaginary moments, this is salt of the earth stuff and as Americans we need it more than ever. Life is hard right now and we’re carrying a lot weight. People are losing jobs, houses, and lives, and many aren’t sure how they’re gonna pull through. A rock concert might not save us from tomorrow, but it sure feels nice to let it all slide off our shoulders and roll down our backs, even if it’s just for three hours on a Friday night.

Widespread Panic :: 11.13 :: Fox Theatre :: Oakland, CA

Set I: Junior, Solid Rock, Happy > Goin’ Out West, Big Wooly Mammoth, Pigeons, Crazy, Walkin’ (For Your Love) > Don’t Be Denied, Light Is Like Water*

Set II: Tie Your Shoes > Blight > All Time Low > Blight > Just Kissed My Baby**, C. Brown** > Wondering > Porch Song > Arleen > Red Hot Mama > Love Tractor

E: End Of The Show
* with Jerry Joseph on guitar/vocals

** with Wally Ingram on percussion

You can stream and/or download this show for free now at panicstream.com.

Widespread Panic is on tour now; dates available here.

Continue reading for more pics of Widespread Panic at The Fox in Oakland…

Images by: Casey Flanigan

JamBase | Liberated
Go See Live Music!

Back to School: Keep an Academic Reading Journal

August 27th, 2009 | No Comments

Keep an Academic Reading Journal

Aside from partying, the thing you’re probably going to do most in college is read. Assuming you’re at all serious about your education, you’ll read so much that words will come out your ears. Unfortunately, much of what you read will also go pouring out your ears, or so it will seem looking back.

One of the best habits you can develop in college — or even in high school, if you have the discipline — is to keep an academic reading journal. This is more or less what it sounds like: a journal recording everything you read, with an added layer of academic analysis. The idea is, you record what you read, key ideas and quotes from the text, and your own reflections on the work, allowing you to fairly accurately recreate your initial reading at a later date, pershaps a much later date.

Why do this? There are several reasons. First, because if you’re smart, you’ll use material from one class as source material for research papers in later classes, and it’s better to have that material at hand rather than having to re-read the book. Second, because you will often come across the same material, or material bythe same author, later in your education, and can go back and review your initial impressions. And third, because while much of what you’re being asked to read now mightnot seem fairly relevant, you’ll be surprised, 10, 20, or more years down the line what you find yourself wishing you could remember of some book or article you read as a sophomore.

Creating the Academic Reading Journal

An academic reading journal doesn’tÂ have to be anything fancy — in theory, a composition book or notepad will suffice, provided it’s durable enough to last many years. Even better, a hardbound diary or Moleskine-style journal will give you plenty of space in a durable format. If you’re technologically inclined, a personal wiki, word processor file, or even database can be used on your PC. When I was doing my dissertation research (which requires you to read literally everything in your research area) I kept a reading journal in an Access database, synced to a database program on my Palm PDA. The point is, you’ll have to figure out the medium that’s most comfortable for you, comfortable enough that you’ll use it consistently.

There is no standard for what an academic reading journal entry should look like, but I recommend capturing the following pieces of information:

A full bibliographic citation. Use whatever style is prevalent in your field, or whatever you know best: MLA, APA, or anything else. It doesn’t matter, so long as you make sure to get all the pieces ofÂ information you’ll need to produce a bibliography in any style necessary.
A short synopsis of the book or article. This can be copied from the back cover text or abstract, or just sketched out in your own words.
Quotes from your reading. Copy out any quotes you would otherwise highlightor underline — anything you think captures some essential point in the text. You don’t have to do this as you read, if you prefer to read with a highlighter or underliner — copy them out when you’re done, in that case. Make sure you get the page number(s).
A personal response to your reading. 200 or so words capturing your impression of what you’ve read. Why is it important (or not important)? Whatis the author trying to say? Who was influenced by it, or influenced it?Have a look at my post How to Read Like a Scholar for more advice on academic reading.
Questions raised by the text. Challenge your reading material! Think of a set of questionsthe material leaves unanswered, or that undermine the conclusions reached. These questions might eventually form the basis of a research project or larger critique.
Any other notes, thoughts, arguments, or feelings about what you’ve read.

When I started keeping a reading journal using a Moleskine a couple years ago, Iprinted out a template that I kept in the back pocket to remind me of what I should include in my entries.

One last thing

While non-fiction is my bread-and-butter, and thus this post might have seemed to lean more towards academic material, don’t hesitate to include fiction and poetry among the books in your reading journal. The truths in fiction are often — maybe even usually — more true than the truths in non-fiction. Shakespeare’s truths trump Einstein’s over and over — after all, we’ve revised our understanding of relativity, but Hamlet will forevermore have been poisoned and killed in the Great Hall at Elsinore.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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The Era of the Unintentional Entrepreneur: An Interview with Kevin Reeth of Outright.com (Part 2)

August 21st, 2009 | No Comments

The Era of the Unintentional Entrepreneur

In Part 1 of this interview, Kevin Reeth (Co-founder and CEO of Outright.com) and I discussed some of the challenges and benefits of entrepreneurship and the emergence of a new breed of â€œunintentional entrepreneursâ€ â€“ people who, because of the economic downturn, find themselves exploring the possibility of going freelance, starting their own business, or hiring out as a consultant. In part 2, we discuss some of the technological tools that make entrepreneurship â€“ unintentional or otherwise â€“ a viable option right now.

Kevin Reeth (KR): One of the good things about the timing now is that it has never been cheaper or easier to start a company from the logistics and marketing perspective. The ability to get your name out there, to get a web presence, to get online, to get people to be able to find you, has never been greater. If you just know the basics, you can use technology to better manage your time, better manage your processes, and then get paid and deal with the money. Open Source software, websites like ours [Outright.com], all this new technology has made it a lot easier.

Dustin Wax (DW): What are some of the most effective and promising tools that are out there for entrepreneurs?

KR: We’re big fans of social networks for self-employed people, because what it basically does is kind formalize those informal relationships. And you can get it down without worrying about curstomer relationship software and all that stuff. Of all of them, I think for professionals LinkedIn is the leading candidate.

Definitely get on Google and use Gmail and Google Calendars. It’s free, it’s awesome,Â and you can tie it to your own domain name using Google Apps for Your Domain. Phenomenal toolset, and it’s completely free.

And we strongly recommend that people take advantage of free online tools to get a web presence. Get a blog on Wordpress or Typepad or Blogger. If you want something a little more expensive, get a domain. Go to GoDaddy, get a domain, get cheap hosting, and get something very basic website up.

We also recommend Craigslist. It’s a great business tool! If you have to buy anything, do not pay retail. See if it’s on Craigslist first. Companies are started and fail all the time. And theyâ€™ve bought the things you need and they’re going to want to sell that stuff. You can find a lot of stuff in great condition. Also, you can use Craigslist to promote your services for free or very little.

And then of course, once you do start making a little bit of money and Uncle Sam wants their piece, then we strongly recommend people take a look at Outright.com.

DW: I think the real interesting thing right now is the way that data is being shared between different applications, like from Freshbooks to Outright. Once that stuff starts being really integrated, when you can put your LinkedIn contacts for instance into your CRM program or whatever, that’s going to be pretty interesting.

KR: I think you hit the nail right on the head, and that’s exactly where we’re trying to take this. You see it with The Small Business Web, a site that was put together with the folks at Freshbooks and Shoeboxed and BatchBook and MailChimp. One of the greatest things that has happened in the last few years with the web is, in addition to open source software, the open movement around data flow. You see this with Facebook andÂ the number of developers they can get building on top of it, you see it with Twitter. Most of the success of Twitter is all the people who’ve built stuff on top of it to extend it in really new and creative ways. Making the data open and available basically creates the opportunity for the broader population to innovate on it and it creates little micro-industries. It’s a massive development and I think we are at the very beginning stages of this.

In Part 3 of this interview, Kevin and I will discuss the program at Unintentional Entrepreneur and how theyâ€™re working to provide knowledge and support to small business owners, solopreneurs, and freelancers. Be sure to check back Monday!

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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Whatâ€™s Your Territory?

August 11th, 2009 | No Comments

What's Your Territory?

I’m pretty shy. You wouldn’t know it to watch me â€“ Iâ€™ve learned how to handle most of the superficial stuff that makes up day-to-day interactions – but deep inside I’m pretty scared of talking to strangers or making a spectacle of myself.

But when I walk into my classroom, I’m completely at ease. I’ve never experienced more than a secondâ€™s hesitation in front of my students. At the beginning of every semester I walk into my classroom, look at the 33 strangers looking back at me â€“ none of whom have any particular desire to be there, and wouldnâ€™t if my class didnâ€™t fulfill a requirement â€“ walk straight to my lectern, and start talking. â€œHi, my name is Dustin, this is Womenâ€™s Studies 113, and Iâ€™ll be your professor. Letâ€™s get started."

Easy as pie. I donâ€™t stutter, I don’t "um" and "uhhâ€. I don’t fumble around for words. I don’t have any of the nervous tics that I have whenever I approach strangers outside of the classroom.

Why is that?

The reason is simple: I own my classroom. It’s my territory. Not literally, of course, but figuratively â€“ these students are coming to me in my space, and within that space I am totally confident.

What makes it mine is not the space itself â€“ the classrooms Iâ€™m assigned change from semester to semester anyway. No, itâ€™s what I bring with me into those spaces, the claim Iâ€™ve staked out with my years of education and hard work, the expertise Iâ€™ve demonstrated in my academic work and my publications, and the dues Iâ€™ve paid in my previous classrooms. Standing in front of a class full of students, Iâ€™m home.

We all have a territory.

Everyone has at least one place where they are totally in charge, where by dint of their competence, their familiarity, or their hard work they can assert themselves more strongly than anywhere else. Most of us have more than one. It might be a physical space â€“ the store you work in, your office, your workshop. Or it might be a field of endeavor â€“ a hobby, a business specialty, an academic discipline.

My territories are my classroom, writing, my own websites, and anthropology. Within the folds of any of those â€œplacesâ€, Iâ€™m at home â€“ I can make a mark.

Thatâ€™s not to say these spaces donâ€™t pose any challenges. They do; in fact, it may be by dint of those challenges that we earn our sense of belonging in them. Every class, I have to work out how to present the material at hand, adjusting my approach to suit the attitudes of the students in my class. Students ask difficult questions, and I have to come up with answers â€“ or at least reasonable ways of addressing the questions.

In writing, too, I am constantly looking for an adequate way to express what Iâ€™m thinking, and reviewing the shortcomings of earlier works hoping to improve my future ones. My more journalistic writing is always a challenge, as I usually have no knowledge of a topic beyond what everyone knows, and have to work out how to become an expert in the short time before my deadline.

Each of my websites presents a range of challenges, from producing enough content to promoting them adequately. Likewise, my academic specialty presents challenges ranging from thinking up interesting new research angles to keeping up with the latest literature.

In a sense, then, the territory is not defined by having overcome its challenges but by the challenges themselves, and our willingness to face those challenges, to wrestle them into submission and make them reveal their mysteries, so we can move on to the next challenge better-prepared than we were before.

Defining your territories.

Where are you strongest? Where do you feel most comfortable facing whatever challenges are thrown at you? Itâ€™s worth thinking about, because staking out these spaces is an important step towards building up our commitment to do battle.

Just as important, though: where donâ€™t you feel strong? Where do you feel out of sorts, fraudulent, constantly on the verge of being exposed for the wretch you secretly know you are? Iâ€™ve got news for you â€“ feeling that way doesnâ€™t mean youâ€™re out of place, and it doesnâ€™t mean you really are a fraud. What it means is that youâ€™ve staked out the boundaries of your territory but you havenâ€™t made it your own, you havenâ€™t thrown yourself into the fray with everything youâ€™ve got.

Whatâ€™s keeping you from truly owning your territory? What barriers stand between you and the throne? Answer these questions and youâ€™ll be well on your way to taking your rightful place at the heart of your territory â€“ or in front of the class.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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Productive Magazine #3 Now Out!

August 10th, 2009 | No Comments

productive-magazine-3 The new issue of Productive Magazine is out, featuring an interview with Canadian Coach of the Year Michael Bungay-Steiner, author of Find Your Great Work. The other stories in this issue include:

Alex Fayle, “The Number One Spot Is for Losers”
Art Carden, Review of Making It All Work
Laura Stack, “I Spend Waaaay Too Much Time On…”
James Mallinson, “The 5 Big Reasons Why You Fall Off the Productivity Wagon”
Alex Shalman, “11 Practical Ways to Jump Out of a Lazy Rut”
Mike Vardy, “The Vacationary”
Thomas Groel, “10 Signs You Are in the GTD Trap”

As always, Productive Magazine is available for download absolutely free, though you can also order printed paper versions at the website. If you have any topics you’d like to see covered, please contact me and I’ll see what I can do!

Note: Productive Magazine is not affiliated with Lifehack in any way, besides through me. I am an editor of Productive Magazine and sometimes a contributor.

Dustin M. Wax is the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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A Place of Oneâ€™s (Workâ€™s) Own

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments

A Place of One's (Work's) Own

Iâ€™m moving this month, and one of the things Iâ€™m looking for in a new apartment, even though I live alone, is a second bedroom where I can put up an office. My current place is a small 1-bedroom, and while there is a little computer â€œnookâ€ in one corner of the living room, itâ€™s just not working for me.

Iâ€™d noticed my productivity falling off soon after I moved in, but having just gone through a break-up, I assumed it was just normal post-relationship trauma and that it would bounce back once I got back on my feet.

It hasnâ€™t.

For a long time I told myself I was just unusually busy, but thatâ€™s not it â€“ my workload hasnâ€™t increased. It wasnâ€™t until the last few weeks that Iâ€™ve realized: I felt busier than usual because I wasnâ€™t getting as much done. Where I used to be on schedule, or even ahead, with most of my work, Iâ€™ve been rushing to finish things at the last minute, which has kept me perpetually on the cusp of being behind, and occasionally good and fully late.

One of the biggest factors in all this is not having a clearly defined workspace. My apartment is simply too small â€“ Iâ€™ve been here 10 months and Iâ€™ve still got a wall of boxes that I havenâ€™t been able to unpack! But the worst part is that Iâ€™ve ended up using the same small space to eat, work, and relax in. And thatâ€™s simply no good.

Hereâ€™s the thing: when you live and work in the same place, both living and working suffer. When youâ€™re just trying to relax â€“ say, by watching a movie or reading on the couch â€“ your work-life is still there. And when youâ€™re trying to get some work done, your daily life is all around you â€“ the stack of magazines under the coffee table, the TV, the stereo, the book youâ€™re reading draped over the sofa arm.

We get conditioned by certain places. Sitting down in an upright chair at a desk primes us to work; sinking into a sofa tells the body that itâ€™s time to relax. When we mix the two â€“ Iâ€™ve been working on the sofa a lot with my laptop â€“ the signals get crossed, and the mind tries to go in two ways at once.

So, for instance, last month I taught an evening class four nights a week at the community college. Iâ€™d get home at around 9:30 or 10:00 pm and pick up my book or switch on the TV. But every night, this little knot of tension would rise up in my chest, this anxious feeling that I was forgetting something, that I was slacking off. In the daytime, when I was actually working, Iâ€™d keep getting drowsy, or my mind would wander, or Iâ€™d be tempted to check the TV â€“ you know, just to see.

This isnâ€™t a quirk of my personality. Well, not just a quirk of my personality. Psychologists have found consistently that environmental cues can trigger certain states of mind in us, making us work harder or move more slowly.

In a study at Stanford, for instance, a group of subjects was primed with objects related to business and office life (like boardroom tables and briefcases) while a control group was primed with neutral objects (kites, toothbrushes). Tests performed after the priming showed that those whose minds had been directed towards business became more competitive and less cooperative than those whose priming was not business-oriented.

In practical terms, that means that just seeing the accoutrements of business life can make us more competitive â€“ which is good, since usually when weâ€™re around such objects weâ€™re in the business world where we need to be more competitive.

Priming can have all sorts of odd effects. It can make young people move more slowly (after unscrambling sentences containing words like â€œFloridaâ€, â€œwrinkledâ€, and â€œgrayâ€); it can make people more likely to clean up after themselves (in a room scented with cleaning fluid); it can even make us smarter (students asked to picture themselves as a professor scored higher on a cognitive tests than students asked to picture themselves as a soccer hooligan)!

So what cues are priming me when I sit down to work in the same space where I relax, or vice versa? My pencil cup and laser printer might be telling me â€œitâ€™s workinâ€™ time!â€ while my cozy blanket and TiVo remote suggest â€œitâ€™s playtime!â€.

Itâ€™s clearly important to keep these spaces â€“ and their signals â€“ better-defined. If I were moving in today, I think I would have divided the room up into a clear relaxing area and working area. Instead, Iâ€™ll be moving soon, and my first priority is a clear working area, a second bedroom thatâ€™s â€œwork onlyâ€ so I can â€œgo to workâ€ in the morning and have some sense of separation from the rest of my life â€“ and when Iâ€™m done, a place I can leave and â€œcome homeâ€ from.

By the way, as a single guy, I often eat dinner on my sofa as well. Which may be why Iâ€™m always hungry when Iâ€™m workingâ€¦

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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GTD Refresh, Part 6: Decisiveness

July 16th, 2009 | No Comments

Decisiveness

For the last several months, Iâ€™ve been slowly rebuilding a more-or-less by-the-book GTD system. Iâ€™ve done elements of GTD for years, but things over the last year have gotten too complicated and my hope is that implementing the whole GTD system as close to Allenâ€™s vision as possible will help me balance two quite different careers with the rest of my life.

I had intended my next â€œGTD Refreshâ€ post to be about reachingâ€Inbox Zeroâ€. Allen advocates keeping an empty email inbox for the same reason he advocates processing your physical inbox down to empty every day â€“ if your inbox isnâ€™t a place where you trust yourself to get the information you need and is instead simply a place to store things that could very well be important, youâ€™ll never be able to relax and trust your entire system. Everything in your inbox represents a potential task or project that you are not doing â€“ and you donâ€™t even know what it is.

Well, by that thinking, Iâ€™ve got maybe a thousand things I should be working on, because thatâ€™s how many emails were in my inbox last week. After a few hours clearing out unread newsletters, there are still nearly 700 emails in my inbox. Clearly, thatâ€™s not good.

Well, Iâ€™m working on it, and Iâ€™ll report back when the job is done. In the meantime, though, Iâ€™ve realized something else important, and itâ€™s that realization I intend to share with you today: the importance of decisiveness.

Decisiveness is what â€œInbox Zeroâ€ is really about, after all. An empty inbox can be an assurance that you donâ€™t have unrecognized work you should be working on, but more than that, itâ€™s a sign that youâ€™ve defined that work and decided what to do about it. Every message that sits in my inbox, then, is a little piece of undefinition.

Defining your work is at the core of the GTD method. Whether the work comes in the form of an email, a project on your someday/maybe list, a conversation with a friend, or a random observation when you walk into your house at night, identifying something as a thing to do, and committing yourself to the doing of it is key.

NOT the Decider :-(

Decision-making, as it happens, is really hard. Our brains just arenâ€™t well-suited to the task. For example, while weâ€™re quite good at deciding between a clearly good option and a clearly bad status quo, weâ€™re quite bad at deciding between two clearly good options and a clearly bad status quo â€“ often remaining in the bad status quo in order to avoid having to choose.

Similarly, when confronted with two things that are both clearly good but difficult to compare, and a third thing that is like one of the first two but clearly inferior, we almost always choose the superior thing thatâ€™s like the inferior one. Somehow, the inferior thing makes itâ€™s superior look superior not just to the one like it but to the thing unlike it. (Let me clear that up: consider a new Porsche, a new Lexus, and a somewhat battered used Porsche. Weâ€™ll almost always choose the new Porsche, even if the Lexus might serve our needs better.)

If itâ€™s hard to decide between clearly defined options, how much harder is it to decide what to do when the options arenâ€™t defined at all? And if we often settle for what we already have to avoid having to choose between two better options, how much easier must it be to settle when there are none?

Thatâ€™s why defining the work is important, and thatâ€™s why an empty inbox is important â€“ because the only way to get there is to force yourself to define the work and decide what to do about it for every email that crosses your virtual transom. And if you can do that for email, you can do it no matter how the work comes to you. And if you can do that, then youâ€™ll be as productive as a Very Productive Person indeed.

As for me, my backlog of emails suggests that Iâ€™m not much of a decision-maker, and thatâ€™s got me worried. Since I doubt I can do the 0-to-60 transformation to Master Decider, Iâ€™m going to try to keep one simple resolution: from now on, I make a decision about every email. That should serve me well when I finally get my inbox down to zero, but Iâ€™m not going to wait until I get there.

Hopefully, this small change will help make me more decisive in other areas, which should make a big difference as I refresh my GTD system and further commit to a more productive, stress-free life.

Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.

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