Dustin Drorbaugh's Blog

Enigma 8 Music Wishlist - How I Would Fix Enigma

2011-07-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering... "What Is Enigma?"

Enigma is a musical project founded in Germany by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. Cretu is both the composer and the producer of the project. His former wife Sandra often provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Jens Gad co-arranged and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums. Peter Cornelius also contributed to Enigma during the 1990s.

In December 1990, after eight months of preparation, Cretu released Enigma's debut album, "MCMXC a.D.", which received over 60 platinum-level sales awards worldwide,
and topped the charts in 41 countries, becoming the most successful Virgin records act of those times. Although from the late 1970s onward, Michael Cretu already had his own music career on his hands and apart from some collaboration efforts with several other musicians, the album was Cretu's first commercial success through the single "Sadeness (Part I)," which juxtaposed Gregorian chants and sexual overtones over a dance beat that was highly peculiar to the ears of the public at that time.

Before the album was released, Cretu was cautious of the response towards the upcoming album, decided to forgo mentioning his and most of the personnel's real name and credited himself as Curly M.C., while the album sleeve contained little information about the background of the project, furthering the mystery about the creators of the album and leading to speculation whether Enigma was a band, a person or a group.

Enigma means "mystery" and when the album debuted no one knew who the people were behind the album. Their true identities were not exposed until a crop of lawsuits surfaced regarding samples used on the albums "MCMXC a.D." and "The Cross of Changes".

Enigma's music is best described as "mood" music although most people today regard this style of music as "New Age". If you're looking for music that is calming, thought provoking, peaceful, reflective, spiritual, stylish, maybe a little sensual, and definitely enigmatic laid on bed of electronic sounding club and dance beats- Enigma is worth a listen. Enigma's success is no fluke event. Cretu has stated that he wanted to blend mainstream pop music with ethnic / worldly tones and that he knew the result, if successful, would prove that music is language of the world.

Worldwide statistics for Enigma’s debut album, its equally popular preceding single, the Gregorian chant-driven ‘Sadeness (Part One)’, plus subsequent albums The Cross Of Changes (1993), Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (1996), and The Screen Behind The Mirror (2000), are truly staggering: more than 50 number one chart positions and 85 platinum awards! 100 million album sales down the line (and counting), is it any wonder that Enigma is the most successful German pop music project ever?

Enigma's first two studio albums also led to the creation and popularity of bands and musical groups that follow similar styles. MCMXC a.D. was named as one of the most important and influential album of mainstream New Age music. The album not only popularized the "Enigmatic" music style but also introduced some technical changes in music production. With MCMXC a.D., Michael Cretu developed the technical features and intentions of sampling. Though samples were in use long before, Cretu built his own music around whole sequences of previously recorded parts.

Enigma and Deep Forest are also to be considered by many to have brought the tribal chant genre to the ears of the public and are responsible for the term "new age" in the mainstream public's consciousness circa 1990 and beyond.

Delerium's "Karma" album and Jen's Gad's "Achillea" and "Enigmatic Obsession" albums also reference the work of Engima.

1 "MCMXC a.D."

I was introduced to the sounds of Enigma nearly two decades ago (in 1990) when my mother first brought home the album "MCMXC a.D.", put the CD into our living room stereo surround-sound system and BLASTED the album through our entire house.

I remember my mom would play the album over and over and I fell in love with the album the moment I first heard it. I had never heard Gregorian chanting, or a Frenchwoman seductively whispering before. There was something magical about that piece of music; something relaxing, yet stimulating. At the ripe age of 11, I had never heard anything like it before but I was definitely captivated by it as was the rest of the world.

Aside from loving the singles "Principles Of Lust", " Mea Culpa" and "Sadeness", I'm also crazy about "Callas Went Away" and "Knocking On Forbidden Doors". I like the birds in the background on "Callas Went Away". You can hear horses walking, its a slower song, yet it still retains sensuality and mystery and the beat is hypnotic... and when the synth plays
parts of "Sadeness" you'll instantly see why I love this song.

"Knocking On Forbidden Doors" is very mysterious and makes full advantage of stereo sound fading in and out from left-to-right. The instruments are so creatively used that it actually sounds like they are "knocking" on doors. Laid over a highly addictive beat, the Gregorian chants appear half-way through the song and it slows down, then picks back up; you don't know what to expect... then "knock knock knock" ... to me this is one of the best songs on the album!

Music video for the hit single "Sadeness (Part 1)" from the album "MCMXC a.D."

2 "THE CROSS OF CHANGES"

In 1993, Cretu was given an offer by producers to compose the full soundtrack of the motion picture Sliver, but he was unable to accept the offer due to his unique style of
music production and the amount of time it takes to create an album didn't line up with the production of the motion picture.

Instead, he came up with "Carly's Song" ("Age of Loneliness" in the album and video releases) and "Carly's Loneliness," which were used in the movie and credited in the motion picture soundtrack as well.

By the time Enigma's second album was released my mother had moved on. She
played NuShooz, Technotronic, Fleetwood Mac... and I had moved on too... to Weird Al
and Paula Abdul. My mother was also responsible for my introduction to Paula Abdul
which is a story for another day.

I remember in 1993 Taco Bell ran a promotion giving away a compilation CD titled "Do Something" and it was available in a variety of genres for free with any food purchase. One of the songs on the compilation was "The Return to Innocence", which I had no idea at the time was by Enigma.

I remember being disappointed that my local Taco Bell location had run out of supplies so I never did get a copy of "Do Something", but I always remembered "The Return to Innocence" and after hearing the song on the radio I eventually put two and two together and knew who was responsible for it.

Music video for the hit single "Return to Innocence" from "The Cross of Changes"

I had the MCMXC a.D. album on cassette tape but aside from it, that was the end of the Enigma experience for me until 1998. I had moved out of state to live with my Father in another part of the country and I only owned E1 on cassette as a kid. I eventually moved back home with my mother and moved out on my own in 1998. After successfully getting established and setup on my own I set out to start my own music collections... and of course that involved reconnecting with Enigma.

My favorite song on the album is "The Eyes Of Truth" which is 7:15 in length and really allows you to absorb yourself in the music. The song featured samples of Mongolian Folk Music plus the classic Enigma flute and dance beats. In 1999, the song was popularized from its artistic use in the worldwide trailer for the motion picture "The Matrix".

I believe the common theme of "The Cross of Changes" is evolution.

3 "LE ROI EST MORT, VIVE LE ROI!"

In 1998 Enigma's third album "Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!" had already been released for two years, but I went to a local store a bought a copy after previously buying E1 and E2 on CD for my collection as well. (Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! is French for "The King is dead. Long live the King.")

I'll admit it... E3 was not my favorite Enigma album at the time which probably comes as a shock to most hardcore fans who often refer to E3 as the defining moment in Enigma history. I'm not a fan who thinks he has to like everything an artist records simply because I'm a fan of the artist. I like the story in the album, embracing "The Child" in us. The music flows beautifully but I initially didn't "get it" and songs like "T.N.T. For The Brain" and "Beyond The Invisible" were way beyond me. It is a refreshing album to listen to, and is completely different from E1 and E2.

The album grew on me and I enjoy listening to it immensely now. It took me many years to embrace and understand E3 since it was such a departure from the first album, but now that I understand the creative masterpiece that it is, possibly because my ear for music has changed- I do understand why the album is loved so dearly by Enigma fans; I also understand why the album wasn't a commercial success. The songs were not broad enough in appear for the mass commercial market at that time; and the singles were not radio-friendly enough for mainstream media.

My favorite songs on the album are "Shadows In Silence" and "Almost Full Moon". I also like "The Roundabout" and "Why!". "Morphing Thru Time" is actually a pretty cool song too and Cretu sings in this track as well. The b-side to the "Beyond the Invisible" single called "Light of Your Smile" is an incredible song as well. Perfect for reflection.

Two singles were released from the album: "Beyond the Invisible" and "T.N.T. for the Brain". A planned third single, "The Roundabout" was scrapped at the last minute for unclear reasons, even though a remix had already been created by DJ Quicksilver which still remains unreleased.

Music video for "Beyond the Invisible"

This album continued Enigma's trend, giving it a slightly more modern, futuristic sound by combining the elements of Enigma's first album, MCMXC a.D., and their second album, The Cross of Changes. Michael Cretu, producer of the project, considered Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! to be the child of the previous two albums, with the first being the father and the second being the mother, as indicated by the 19-second track, "Third of its Kind".

Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! was nominated in the 1998 Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album and Johann Zambryski's album art design earned him a nomination for Best Recording Package. That's one thing Enigma is well known for- the artwork and packaging is always the best quality, although none has matched the three dimensional album cover from Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!

4 "THE SCREEN BEHIND THE MIRROR"

I fell in love with Enigma all over again in 2000 when "The Screen Behind The Mirror" (E4) was released. The single "Gravity of Love" had massive commercial appeal, the music video that was filmed to promote the single was excellent and the remixes were excellent. Pure "new age" pop perfection. The album was crafted with the same care, in my opinion, as the first Enigma album. I think that's why E4 resonates so well with me.

The second single "Push The Limits" was also an amazing track with amazing remixes, although the music video fell short of my expectations, the music has always been what's most important to me. Everyone interprets the visuals of Enigma's sound differently; but Thomas Job's vision on the video for "Gravity of Love" was 100% right on. 100%!

"The Screen Behind The Mirror" is a perfect album in every way the first Enigma album was perfect. The album contained a meaningful story deeply woven in, the album used new and familiar sounds, it has the right amount of vocals, samples and world sounds. Parts of the album are upbeat and fast, parts are slower and cause you to reflect before picking back up again. The artwork was also incredible. Eleven years later E4 still sounds current, bold, fresh. Sampling Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" on "Gravity of Love" was pure genius... and that summarizes E4 to me- a flash of genius.

As I listened to the Enigma albums over the years, as a child, a young adult and now as an adult the one thing that always mystified me was that most, not all, but most of the music on the Enigma albums were created by one man- Michael Cretu. "How does one man pull all of these beautiful sounds out of his head and create these masterpieces by himself?" That is one question that has plagued me for years. Listen to these albums with that in the back of your mind and you too will be amazed at the talent that this man possesses. We tend to take music for granted. Most albums have a dozen or more people who have contributed to its production- and on Enigma's albums its usually less than three or four people with the bulk of the work performed by Cretu himself.

I genuinely have a hard time picking songs I like on E4 since I love them all and together they are a masterpiece. If you were to remove any one song from E4 the album wouldn't be the same. The only other album I feel that way about is E1.

In addition to "Push The Limits" and "Gravity of Love", my other favorites are "Smell Of Desire", "Traces (Light & Weight)", "The Screen Behind The Mirror", "Endless Quest" and "Between Mind & Heart"... and seriously you should listen to "Camera Obscura" which has Cretu singing an upbeat anthem with a choir joining him adding further tension to the track... its an amazing listen!!!

The lyrics on "The Screen Behind The Mirror" album make sense and help the album come full circle. The last time I heard Enigma lyrics this well thought-out was on the very first Enigma album. Take a look at the lyrics to the two singles from the album:

Gravity Of Love

o Fortuna, velut Luna
o Fortuna, velut Luna

Turn around and smell what you don't see
Close your eyes … it is so clear

Here's the mirror, behind there is a screen
On both ways you can get in

Don't think twice before you listen to your heart
Follow the trace for a new start

What you need and everything you'll feel
Is just a question of the deal

In the eye of storm you'll see a lonely dove
The experience of survival holds the key to the gravity of love

o Fortuna, velut Luna

The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.
The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom.

Try to think about it…
That's the chance to live your life and discover what it is
What's the gravity of love

o Fortuna, velut Luna

Look around, just people, can you hear their voice
Find the one who'll guide you to the limits of your choice

But if you're in the eye of storm, just think of the lonely dove
The experience of survival is the key to the gravity of love.

o Fortuna, velut Luna
o Fortuna, velut Luna
o Fortuna…

Push The Limits

Basic instincts, social life
Paradoxes side by side.

Don't submit to stupid rules
Be yourself and not a fool.

Don't accept average habits
Open your heart and push the limits.

Open your heart and push the limits.
Open your heart and push the limits.

One of the things I really like about E4 is that the lyrics are necessary but secondary to the music. The lyrics were well thought-out and planned, very intentional- but they don't overpower the music. The music is the forefront of "The Screen Behind The Mirror" album, and if I had to introduce someone to Enigma who had never heard any of the albums before- I would definitely recommend E1 and E4.

L.S.D., L.S.D. REMIXES

In October of 2001 Enigma celebrated the first four albums of Michael Cretu's musical project with Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits, greatest hits album. I believe this release coincided with the renewal of Cretu's contract extension with Virgin/EMI to produce an additional four albums beginning in 2003 with Voyageur.

Most record labels decide to renew their artists contracts (or drop them from their roster) after a Greatest Hits compilation is released. I seem to remember there was a huge management shake up at Virgin/EMI and one of the Executives there happened to be a fan of Cretu / Enigma and he's the one responsible for extending Enigma's contract before he (the Executive) officially left Virgin/EMI. I can't remember his name, but I'd like to say "thank you".

A remix album titled "Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection" and the standard LSD package contained most of Enigma's singles and songs from 1990 to 2001.

The remix album takes 3 songs from the first album, MCMXC a.D., 4 songs from The Cross of Changes, 4 songs from Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!, 5 songs from The Screen Behind the Mirror, and featured a new single "Turn Around" and an intro titled "The Landing".

A light show was held at the Munich Planetarium in conjunction of the release of the compilation albums. It was mentioned that other Planetarium's from around the world might also hold light shows to the sounds of Enigma, but this never materialized.

TURN AROUND (SINGLE)

I still remember when "Turn Around" was released to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Enigma. The song was included on the "Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits" album accompanied by a longer remix on "Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection".

As a standalone single, "Turn Around" takes some of the best elements of the previous Enigma hits and blends them with electronica club beats.

Michael Cretu's voice is digitally altered to sound like a robot, and there is a woman quietly whispering the names of past Enigma song titles... the combination worked well and the extended remix was even more thrilling. A video was also filmed to compliment the Greatest Hits release.

After how successful I thought "The Screen Behind The Mirror" was, what a masterpiece that album turned out to be, "Turn Around" was like the icing on the cake for me and made me anticipate E5 that much more.

5 "VOYAGEUR"

In 2003 Enigma released "Voyageur" their fifth album. E5 was a departure from standard Enigma fare. The intro Enigma sound was cut short, and the signature shakuhachi flutes, Gregorian chants and tribal chants found on earlier albums were all but gone. As a fan it pains me to say this but E5 sounded like Cretu "phoned in" his performance since the "Voyageur" album contains no real storyline and the second half of the album is all over the place with no real direction. Additionally, with the exception of the first single also called "Voyageur" (which I love), the wrong singles were used to promote the album which contributed to the albums lackluster success.

Songs like "Total Eclipse Of The Moon" have no business on the album and offer no Enigma-ish contribution aside from pathetic lyrics and Cretu singing. The first five songs all fit a common sound theme, but once you get to "Total Eclipse Of The Moon" (aside from the brilliant song which is titled "Look Of Today", this voyage begins to drift off into the sunset never to return.

Music video for the single "Voyageur" from the Enigma album titled "Voyageur".

The singles released were "Voyageur", "Following the Sun" and "Boum-Boum". I really like "Boum-Boum" and think its a great song and I really appreciate what MC was doing on this song and I too thought it would be a good third single; however it almost didn't become a single after the massive "Following the Sun" flop. I remember there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the release of the single and whether or not it was actually going to happen or not. Ultimately, Nebula Music released the single with Virgin Records which also contains the music video. In my opinion the video has absolutely nothing to do with the song, which was a disappointment because its such a good song.

I remember after the single for "Voyageur" was released an Enigma Fan Site, or Enigma's management had asked the fans to vote on what the next single off of "Voyageur" should be. The fans have had an affection for Ruth-Ann Boyle since E4 and elected to vote for song "Following the Sun". In my opinion this is the worst song on the album and I ALWAYS skip it. For me "The Piano" is the last song on the album, not "Following the Sun". The fans don't always know what is commercially appealing, and voted for what they loved (as to be expected) instead of what was actually going to commercially translate into more business for the record label, and Enigma.

I would have released "The Look of Today" as a single in place of "Following the Sun", and here's why. It's Enigma with a Euro/electro/club sound to it. Michael's voice sounds mysterious and you can't stop listening. It's a new sound mixed with a familiar one and it works.

You know it's a hit when you can hear an endless stream of remixes to the song in the back of your mind... remixes that would have sold well on a CD/digital single release and helped bring Enigma back into the minds of mainstream conscience.

This song would have surely charted well on the Club charts and would have been played in clubs thereby exposing Enigma to a whole new generation of young people who have never heard of Enigma translating into new record sales. It was broad enough to also be played on mainstream radio. I think the lyrics are also thought-provoking and catchy.

The Look Of Today

I'll show you inside and you will see,
feel what just money can bring. Can you see?

That's the look,
that's the look,
that's the look of today.

You have a problem I could help,
buy it and be yourself.
Cause you know, that's the look, that's the look, that's the look of today.

That's the look,
that's the look,
that's the look.

So many trends just fade away
Before you can wear it, it's passé. Can you see?

That's the look,
that's the look,
that's the look of today.

You are so stylish, you are so vain,
sometimes I think you have no brain.
But you know, that's the look,
that's the look, that's the look of today.

I think part of the problem is after the management shakeup at Virgin/EMI, I don't think the new crew put in place to promote the album knew how to properly promote Enigma or New Age music. I also don't think that Michael Cretu's lack of promotion helped any either so Virgin/EMI probably assumed since Cretu who is the artist- isn't going to promote, why should we?

HELLO & WELCOME (SINGLE) / 15 YEARS AFTER (BOX SET)

In 2005 Virgin Records released a "15 Years After" box-set containing 8 discs, 5 of them original studio albums created from 1990 to 2003, 2 DVDs and a bonus CD of Enigma's songs covered by Rollo Armstrong. The remixes by Rollo were a complete disappointment. They don't sound anything like Enigma. I'm not even sure what they are. A waste. They sucked even more because this is Enigma we're talking about; the name is synonymous with QUALITY and the remixes are absolute shit. I've never been so disappointed with a bonus CD before in my life as I was with the Rollo remixes. If it weren't for Cretu's real-life signature on the package and the inclusion of the song "Hello and Welcome" I would have demanded a refund.

For the fans, the notable reason for buying the boxset was that Michael Cretu personally visited the EMI factory in Uden, Netherlands to sign a thousand copies of the box set. The thousand signed copies had Cretu's initials ("MC") signed with a silver marker. I proudly have one of these in my collection.

The thing that most excited me about the "15 Years After" box-set was that it contained the highly-sought after, unreleased standalone single called "Hello & Welcome". To me, "Hello & Welcome" was going to be the BIG COMEBACK song for Enigma.

"Hello & Welcome" was intended to be the walk-in music for the German boxer, Felix Sturm of whom Cretu is a big fan. The single was to tie-in with Sturm's fight with Maselino Masoe for the WBA Championship title. But due to an injury that Sturm picked up just weeks before the fight, the single's release date was pushed further back until the day before Sturm's rescheduled match.

An incredible video was filmed to promote the song, however Virgin seemed to lose interest in promoting the song after Sturm was injured and the single had to initially be postponed. The single includes the music video and two similar remixes, "Thunderstorm Mix" and the "After The Storm Mix".

"Hello & Welcome" is one of my all-time favorite Enigma songs. I have to admit, I was a little taken back when it was announced that (E6) "A Posteriori" was space-oriented when "Hello and Welcome" was so perfect and would have fit better in a different musically styled Enigma album.

Music video for the single "Hello & Welcome"

6. A POSTERIORI

In 2006 Enigma released "A Posteriori" (E6) which focused on the collision of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies and had more of a space-like theme throughout the entire album. While not as misguided as the "Voyageur" album, its sound still did not resonate in my mind as a proper Enigma album. There was hardly any worldly influence or charm from the first album, and I prefer Enigma to blend cultural sounds with earthly sounds, not sounds from outer space.

E6 is cohesive and is worth listening to, although the "A Posteriori Private Lounge Remix" album is just as imaginative, if not more so than the "A Posteriori" album. You'll definitely want to listen to "The Alchemist [The Alchemist's Vision by Ralf Hildenbeutel]" remix off the Private Lounge album. There were no music videos to promote the album, and no physical single releases.

I remember seeing "Hello and Welcome" on the tracklist when E6 was first announced, and I thought to myself "how is that song going to fit into a space-theme?" It turns out that Cretu used the "After The Storm Mix" of "Hello and Welcome" on the "A Posteriori" album.

I was disappointed that "Goodbye Milky Way" wasn't released as a single on the album. Its one of the most original sounding and uses some unfamiliar sounds that resonate well. The lyrics are great and the music is simple and perfect. It was originally going to be the first single from "A Posteriori" but a month after the single was announced, it's release on CD and other formats was cancelled, except for digital download.

7. SEVEN LIVES MANY FACES

In 2008 Enigma released "Seven Lives Many Faces". The first glimpse I had of E7 was a 60 second promo video on YouTube which was a little misleading... the video contains a sample of the track "La Puerta del Cielo" but omits Margarita Roig's vocals. Watch the video and then listen to the preview of the "La Puerta del Cielo".

Keep in mind this snippet was released before E7 and before "La Puerta del Cielo" was made available in its entirety. I was hoping the song would have gone more in the direction of the promo video since I really like that section of the La Puerta del Cielo (just my opinion); however I am just as pleased with the song the way it is on the album, but the actual musical instrumentation on that song is so amazing, I wish there was an extended version of it that had more of the instrumentation on it.

Margarita Roig did an OUTSTANDING JOB with the vocals. I was very surprised... and inspired. When I first heard her *with* the music I was blown away. A true compliment.

The first 2 singles on the album are "Seven Lives" and "La Puerta del Cielo." They were both released together as a double A-side CD single and the videos for each song use recycled scenes from previous Enigma videos: "Push the Limits" for "Seven lives" and "Age of Loneliness" for "La Puerta del Cielo". A third and final single was released digitally for "The Same Parents" with the music video taken from the DVD release that accompanied the album.

When your record label releases a double-A side as your lead single it's a pretty good indication that your label has no interest in promoting your album. Why would a record label release your two best songs on the same CD? They have no clue how to promote Enigma, or have given up, or don't care. I think Cretu knows Virgin/EMI has started to lose interest in Enigma which is why so much effort has cropped up recently (i.e. The Social Song, see below) to try and generate some new interest in the project.

E7 is really good. It's still not quite E1 or E4 in my book but its pretty close. There's no real storyline in "Seven Lives Many Faces" but the cultural influences are back. At first I didn't understand the dog panting in the song "Seven Lives" and it annoyed me but after so many times listening to the song it doesn't bother me so much anymore.

I was so impressed with "Seven Lives" and "La Puerta del Cielo" that I bought 5 copies of "Seven Lives Many Faces" when it was officially released and obviously kept one for myself and gave the others to friends and family- including my mother who introduced me to Enigma back in 1990. When I told her I was writing an article about Engima she mentioned how she really liked the album "Seven Lives Many Faces" and said she thought it was as good as if not better than E1.

Music video for the Enigma single "Seven Lives" from the album "Seven Lives Many Faces"

The opening song "Encounters" is one of the more amazing openings to an Enigma album. "Seven Lives" is a strong lead single... very hard hitting. "Touchness" is a nice reflection of " Sadeness" from the first Enigma album... I just wish it were longer than 3 minutes. I think that is one of the key ingredients of success on the first album which has been underutilized on every Enigma album since: the songs are long enough on the first album that you can totally get into it before the track is over... it doesn't start, climax and end in 3 minutes time... on E1 the first track, although divided into 3 sections is 11 minutes long and fades from song to song to song seamlessly. I thought "Touchness" was such a good song that it deserved to be a little longer. Other tracks on the album could have been omitted to pull this off while still keeping with the common theme of the album.

"The Same Parents" was great the first couple of times I listened to it but now I skip it. I like the premise of the track- "in the beginning we all had the same parents- we're all brothers and sisters- so why do we fight and go to war with each other?" I think the vocals on the song are rather annoying and out of place which is why I skip it even though I like what the song stands for and the instrumentation on the song is also great. I'm not sure what I would change about it... but the concept of the song is a good one and again I must emphasize that the instrumentation on the song is great. I also think it's neat that Michael allowed his son/s to help voice a part on the song.

"Fata Morgana (Instrumental)" could almost be a sister or cousin of "Touchness" but this song has a surprise element of hip-hop beats infused with a woman whispering "take me now" with a guitar playing... its one of the standout tracks on the album.

A lot of the fans didn't like the lyrics in "Distorted Love". Lyrics such as "Touch me... I'll be your daddy. Smell me... I'll be your mommy" just didn't make sense to them; and I think the song is genius. I mean, after all, isn't that what Enigma is about? Mystery... things that don't make sense? Fans that don't get the song are took it too literal, and as long as you do that you'll never be able to make sense of it.

"Je t'aime Till My Dying Day" is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful love song. You'll definitely want to play this one at a wedding, or if you're having a romantic evening at home with a loved one, it's a perfect fit.

After listening to "Seven Lives Many Faces" several times now, you can tell that a lot of experimentation was blended together to make an album without telling a real story. The essence of a story is there; it's trying. I think the message of the album is "love".

To me, part of the success of the first album (E1) was the story; a story of love, religion, confliction; you can almost hear how delicately they crafted the story on the first album; whether intentional or unintentional there's only 7 tracks, two of which are 10+ minutes each. The longest track on "Seven Lives Many Faces" is "The Same Parents" at 5:20. This isn't to say that the album is bad because it has multiple short tracks, or that the attention to detail wasn't there, but E5 and E7 don't flow as well as E1, E2, E3 and E4.

The real star of the album "Seven Lives Many Faces" is Margarita Roig who steals the show on the song "La Puerta del Cielo", which is a song that's so good, I wish had been just a little longer. She also sings on the song "Between Generations" which is about a woman who wants to marry her daughter to an older man, but her daughter is already in love with a younger man. So the song addresses this dispute in Margarita Roig's Catalan dialect which only people over 60 are proficient in. It's a great song to listen to on E7.

PLATINUM COLLECTION

Enigma's "The Platinum Collection" was released in 2009 as a three-disc box set. The first CD contains most popular Enigma tracks from the previous years, the second CD is an album of remixes from the songs on the first disc, and the third CD contains never released before tracks and outtakes composed and produced by Michael Cretu. The artwork is recycled from the "Enigma: 15 Years After" boxset.

The first disc features the three singles from E5, none from E6 and the two singles from E7. Disc 2, the remix collection features two remixes from E5 and one from E6 and none from E7. As a fan who's sick and tired of Virgin/EMI continually releasing / recycling the same old remixes with each "new" release the third disc featuring unreleased gems on The Platinum Collection is a breath of fresh air.

The unfinished / unreleased tracks on disc 3 provide the listener with an idea and an understanding of the creative process behind Engima's songs.

As a fan and collector, this disc alone was worth the price of the boxset. I hope that future releases will include new, original content instead of the same old songs and remixes that have been released over and over again from years past.

MMX - THE SOCIAL SONG (SINGLE)

"MMX - The Social Song" is a single Enigma released on December 15th 2010 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the musical project.

In October 2010 Michael Cretu invited the fans to record themselves and vote for a vocalist to create the song via the internet.

Latvian Fox Lima's "Fei Mea" was the most voted and became the lead vocal for the social song. The three runners up, J. Spring from Spain, Mark Joshua from Brazil and Rasa Serra from Lithuania provided the backing vocals to the song.

Fans from all over the world were involved in voting on the production of the song and its final mix as well as designing its cover and creating the official video. Cretu released the song to the fans as a free download at www.enigmasocialsong.com with a promise of more interactive projects in the future.

"MMX" is the first song created for and by the fans via internet.

As I've said before, Enigma's "in-between" singles ("Turn Around", "Hello and Welcome") always blow me away and have become two of my favorites. When Michael Cretu first announced this "Social Experiment" I was delighted, and as it would turn out, once again not disappointed. I think the song is beautiful, and stays true to the very spirit of Enigma. This proved Michael's theory correct: music is a true worldwide language.

I think it was a brave idea of Cretu's to allow the fans to participate, which is obviously why other producers have never tried such a feat. I also think that, with the very realistic possibility that E8 may be the last of Enigma's commercial albums for a while unless Virgin/EMI re-signs with Cretu, the "Social Song" was an innovative publicity stunt to try and attract new interest in Enigma... which according to the Social Song website it did:

■ According to NextBigSound.com the Enigma Social Song experiment reached more than 100,000 new fans on various Social Networks to date.

■ Almost 50,000 people liked Enigma’s new Facebook page (starting from zero), from which more than 36,000 visit Enigma's Facebook page monthly.

■ Enigma has more than 380,000 views of those videos that have been submitted to their YouTube channel.

■ You listened more than 75,000 times to Enigma audio files on SoundCloud. Obviously, the final “MMX (The Social Song)” is the most streamed one.

■ Enigma’s YouTube channel has reached #1 of the most viewed YouTube channels in the category Music in Spain.

■ Google Analytics shows that close to 120,000 people from more than 150 countries have visited the landing page www.EnigmaSocialSong.com so far. More than 3,300 comments on posts have been approved.

■ Over 11,000 are following Enigma on iTunes Ping (starting from zero).

■ Close to 1,000,000 people viewed Enigma's MySpace channel.

■ And last, but not least Enigma's Social Song experiment has close to 10,000 “Social Song” downloads so far.

* The numbers stated above refer to the period of the event only (10/10 – 03/11) and do not measure any so-called soft facts (e.g. engagement).

I think it would be neat if Enigma produced an entire album this way, however if this was the only experiment, or if there will be more to come in the future, I am looking forward to it with excitement just the same.

I'm saddened that the Social Song didn't occur leading up to or during the release of E8 because all of the publicity and new fans and interest from The Social Song would have been helpful in promoting the forthcoming Enigma album.

Music video for MMX The Social Song (This official video was created by the fans)

FORTHCOMING ALBUM: E8 / THE FUTURE OF "ENIGMA"

I believe E8 will be the last Enigma album for an extended period of time. No one really knows for sure if it is going to be last album, but I have personal doubts because:

Enigma's first chapter ended with the fourth album so the second probably will end with the eighth. After E8 is released its possible another Greatest Hits package will be released. This is usually when record companies will resign an artist or drop them from their roster. If that happens, Cretu can try to negotiate with other labels or opt to release Enigma albums independently or retire the project entirely.

My E8 Wishlist

In my own dream world, my ultimate wishlist for Enigma's 8th album... would see all of the original collaborators on E1 help Michael Cretu develop and produce tracks for E8. I'm talking the "mother of all collaborations" to include Michael Cretu, David Fairstein, Frank Peterson, Sandra, Jens Gad, Peter Cornelius, Louisa Stanley, Ruth-Ann Boyle and Andru Donalds.

Could you imagine how incredible the album would be with all of these people working together? That would be a fine way to wrap up the Enigma project, or at least bring it full circle. I mean seriously, bury the hatchet with Frank Peterson and get back together - for the sake of music - for the fans.

E1 had loads of sexual overtones, French speaking, Gregorian chanting, church references, bells, sounds from centuries long ago... BRING IT ALL BACK! I'm not saying you have to repeat yourself- but surely you can create something new out of something old. That's what sold well. That's what the people wanted to hear. Go back to the original samples, the original files you worked on back in 1989 / 1990 when you first put together "MCMXC a.D.". The potential contract renewal / extension (with another 1 to 4 Enigma albums) is at stake!

If you want to go in a different direction, yet stay relevant, a good storyline could be the apocalypse, doomsday, prophecies, the coming of the Lord, Nostradamus, tribulation, the end of the world, revelation and fear- all of course tie in with the church and sexuality is still prevalent in today's culture if not now more than ever before. 2012 coincidentally, (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar. Maybe 2012 will be a lucky year for Enigma.

All I'm saying is go back to the original sample collections, take another listen for E8. Fan's aren't asking for an exact copy of E1 again... but whatever you did on E1 worked and since Enigma could truly use another massive worldwide hit again, I don't think this is a bad idea; it's not a bad place to start.

Sampling is and has been a large part of what contributed to Enigma's success in the first place... get back to sampling. Some of the songs that sounds the most interesting make use of samples.

Enigma revolutionized "New Age" music. Think about it. The word "New Age" music. Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson ushered in a new age- a new era of world music. The world needs another Enigma album to remind us, to reunite us as one in the world, during these ever increasing turbulent times.

Ethnic Chants, the Falling Star Effect, the Moaning and Breaths, Chimes, Church Organ, Ambient Noises (Rain, Thunder, Ocean, Horses), Nervous Hi-Hats, Snares, Choirs, Reversed Beats, Reversed Vocals, French Whispering, Sudden Crossfades- they're all part of the Enigma formula- what makes Enigma, well... Enigma.

Why Enigma's Latest Music Is Not So Popular and How I Would "Fix" Enigma

The point of Enigma, hence the name of the project, is that it was supposed to be shrouded with secrecy; and over the years that has eroded. To a point, we've come to know what to expect, and there's no mystery. I've already mentioned past "mysteries" (Margarita Roig, sampling Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana", playing music and vocals in reverse) that pleasantly surprised me... I think we need more surprises.

Michael Cretu took the wrong direction when he said that he wants to be original and make every album unique and ''original'' (E5/6/7), but what he did is, completely moved away from Enigma's original feeling and uniqueness of it's sound. That's where the main problem lies. MC wanted to be original and made a mistake. He already was original with his sound, he only should try to compose it better with today's sounds, not completely change the direction and feeling of his synths and melodies.

First of all, and I hate to be the one to say this, but stylistic world music has now become more of a niche market. Radio Stations simply do not play or give Enigma's style of music a chance on mainstream top 40 radio anymore- at least not in the United States (and let's leave the politics of the U.S. aside please, because a lot of the music I listen to is from Europe).

Unless the Enigma project receives full support from not only the record label but also radio stations who reach the mainstream record-buying/downloading public, there's a slim chance of E8 becoming a global success.

The press release for E1 states the album was completed in 8 months time (with David Fairstein and Frank Peterson). Cretu's agreement with Virgin/EMI states 2-3 years between albums by contract, and we all know that Enigma needs another worldwide hit but I can't help but wonder if, in two/three years time (especially on the last 3 albums), maybe there's too much time in between releases for second-guessing and doubt, which is why the albums have less focus? Or maybe Michael hurried through them? Or neither? Spend a year and create just to create- not with the goal of making hits. That's what happened with E1... it took 8 months and Cretu didn't know what to expect so he released the album as Curly M.C. not expecting the album to take off like it did.

I know from studying the music business for two decades that three-years in-between album releases is suicide in the music industry. Think about it: the average shelf life of a pop-star at best is 5 years. In 5 years time a pop star will release 2-3 full albums and a Greatest Hits package and that's generally the last you every hear from them.

(Remember Paula Abdul or The Spice Girls). Paula Abdul waited 3 years in-between her massive "Spellbound" album in 1992 and by the time she released "Head Over Heels" in 1995 her audience had moved on. Sure, there are exceptions; but this is how its worked in the Industry for years and years. The same has happened for Janet Jackson. She waited three years between "The Velvet Rope" in 1997 and "All for You" in 2001 and "All for You" didn't chart as well as her previous album. So she waits another three years and releases "Damita Jo" in 2004 and struggles even further. Did you know she's released an additional two albums since? Probably not unless you're a Janet fan since they didn't get any promotion.

What I'm saying is... three years is A LONG TIME and the general public has forgotten about Enigma. Lack of radio airplay had contributed to this. So has lack of other promotion such as touring. Most artists try to make an album release a huge EVENT with weeks and months of TV and radio promo, and a world tour.

We get a press release that Enigma's releasing an album, maybe a lackluster music video and that's it. How is that going to sell records... especially to a public who's forgotten who you are? The fans in 1990 are all grown up now with families of their own. This isn't a bad thing- there are generations and generations of people the entire world over who have never been exposed to Enigma.

Now is the BEST TIME to release a new album if all sides can commit to proper promotion and publicity. I'm just not sure that Virgin/EMI knows how to properly promote New Age music and the Enigma brand, and based on their track record with the last 3 albums... I'm not sure that they care either.

Enigma needs a groundbreaking / breakthrough new single with a kick-ass music video and club friendly remixes by some of the top DJ's and remixers (Oakenfold, BT, Kaskade, ATB). Michael Cretu and Virgin/EMI need to commit to promote E8 with every ounce of marketing muscle they have. They also need the support of mainstream radio, clubs and DJs. It wouldn't hurt to have the lead single tied in with the soundtrack of a summer-blockbuster (theme song to the new 2012/2013 Bond film maybe?) Maybe another Social Song experiment tied to MTV/VH1 aimed at teen/young adults would help break Enigma into a new age demographic while still appealing to its fan base. After all, these kids have no idea what Enigma is; they're only being fed Rap and R&B tunes.

P.S. - I really enjoy b-sides, bonus tracks, 2 disc sets... throw in a juicy bonus for your loyal fans and get them talking... get them excited... and they'll promote with word of mouth for free. (Also, I'm bummed there weren't any remixes from E7!!!)

I know in past interviews Cretu has said he's opposed to doing collaborations with big name celebrities; however I think now is the best time to reconsider this. First, it will add something new to the project for the Enigma fans. Second, you have an instant built-in fan base from whomever you choose to work with which will help boost sales and promotion. I'm not suggesting Madonna- but if you used Madonna in one of your productions (as an example), she comes with a guarantee of a certain level of promotion by default based on who she is, and by default X number of fans will buy the album/single just because Madonna contributed on it. I want to state again that I am NOT suggesting Madonna as a potential collaborator on an Enigma album. Maybe the collaboration should be a secret; that would add to the fun / mystery for Enigma fans and the fans of whomever was chosen for a collaboration. Perhaps it could be revealed for the first time in ... concert. More details on this below in a moment.

I do think it would be interesting to collaborate with Kylie Minogue, Kristy Thirsk, Sarah McLachlan or the lesser-known Monalisa Young who could provide some awesome background vocals for the project. Or... for the new age fan, what would an Enigma-Enya collaboration sound like? Maybe an Enigma/Deep Forest/Enigma collaboration? That would surprise the hell out of fans. It could work, and reinvigorate the brand... just please... less of Andru Donalds and Ruth-Ann's vocals.

The release of E8 should also come with an announcement of the first Enigma world tour. Everyone who's been involved with the project, who wants to be involved should be involved. Cretu, Ruth Ann, Angel X, Andru Donalds, Sandra- should all be there singing live. The show could be in a theatre-like style with ethnic dancing, monks, and so on. It would be neat to include the key social song participants and bring them out on the road too. You'd only have to play major markets - Germany, Paris, Spain, UK, Los Angeles, New York, but this would really help publicize the new album and garner the attention of new fans, and old and spark a new interest in Enigma. And yes, I would enjoy a complimentary pair of tickets and a chance to shake Mr. Cretu's hand for the suggestion.

Overall, I think that poor radio promotion, lack of touring, poor music videos and selecting the wrong singles, along with a lack of mystery and misguided albums have all contributed to the downfall of Enigma over the last three albums.

Let me ask you something...

When was the last time you heard Enigma in a movie, television show, or movie trailer? When was the last time you thought to yourself "Wow (song name here) would have been perfect for (name TV show/movie here)... ??? Enigma's publishing company needs to be actively pursuing licensees, not just sitting and waiting for people to come to them. If M.C.'s publishing company was more aggressive in seeking movie trailers, soundtracks and TV shows that featured his Enigma songs, this would help boost an interest in Enigma! But this hasn't been happening. At least not that I've experienced lately in the US.

Trailer for "The Matrix" movie (Enigma's "Eyes of the Truth" makes an appearance at the end)

Delerium's album "Karma" is proof that "new age" music is alive and well. The duo's collaboration with Sarah McLachlan, on the song "Silence", became the band's biggest hit single 10 years after their formation.

The song was such a hit for Delerium they released it again as a remixed compilation disc in 2004 and the song was remixed again in 2006, 2008 and 2009- providing fans with new takes on a song they love so dearly. Enigma continues to release the same old recycled remixes over and over and over again. I'll be the first to admit it... Enigma was the one and only "New Age" artist I ever had listened to (aside from Enya's "Orinoco Flow" / "Caribbean Blue" singles. "Silence" is proof that New Age music can become popular once more.

Delerium's "Silence" featuring Sarah McLachlan from the album "Karma"

Will Mr. Cretu be able to create something BIG for Enigma once more?

Yes, I with no doubt in my mind believe that Enigma can fuse and blend amazing, intriguing cultural beats into a relevant worldwide hit album once again... but it will take the right single, released at the right time, with the right promotion to succeed.

Whether the stars will realign and allow this magical combination to create a second globally successful hit phenomenon, and whether that single will ever see the light of day is indeed an Enigma of it's own.

(Special thanks to Wikipedia for helping me with my research for this article, which I had been wanting to write for several years now.)

http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com

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Can You Out Dance Kylie?

2011-03-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com
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Is WikiLeaks A Free Speech Issue?

2011-03-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

There is no such thing as FREE SPEECH with sensitive U.S. Government information... nor should there be.

The problem is the Government is too big and has lost control of itself and its sensitive data. Ever heard the saying "Loose Lips Sink Battle Ships"? Well, I hate to say it, but our country is a sinking battle ship.

The media is notorious for stretching the meaning of "free speech" and we don't need 24/7 continuous coverage of the war. Let the men and women in the military and the people we elected do their jobs!

I think we need to make an example out of people that leak "sensitive" information that can put our country in harms way. I think WikiLeaks has its place... and it serves a purpose and I think it's great that they provide that medium as a way for non-threatening information to come forward.

I do think that people such as Bradley Manning should be held accountable for their irresponsible actions. When you are in the military it is your job to protect your country not to expose it's secrets to its enemies and the world. I think he should serve a life sentence for betraying his country. If the United States of America fails to persecute Bradley Manning, then be prepared- leaks will continue, and this country will become even more vulnerable to attacks.

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/
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Parent Review of West Linn Community Preschool and Tuition

2011-03-06T00:37:00.000-08:00

West Linn Community Preschool (WLCP) was established in 1977 by teacher Cathy Vause as a parent cooperative preschool for children ages 3 to 5 years old. Between the 2 classes offered the school enrolls around 30 children per school year at maximum capacity.

The preschool was set up to be completely “hands off” for the teacher, and completely managed and funded by the parents of children attending the preschool. The school is setup so the teacher "teaches" 2-3 hours a day, while the parents get stuck hassling with fundraising, calling local businesses asking for donations, running the day to day operations and so on.

Cooperative preschools provide parents with the opportunity to be intimately involved in their child’s first school experience. Parents gain a better understanding of their children's individuality through observing them with other children the same age and can use the classroom experience to strengthen their own parenting skills. Additionally, parents have the opportunity to interact and associate with other parents who share their interests in the welfare of children and the community. You could arrange a play date with other children in your area, take your child to story-time at the library or take your child to the park and the experience would be very similar to attending WLCP only a little cheaper and less time consuming.

At first, attending West Linn Community Preschool might seem like a great idea.

We liked the classroom, the activities the children participated in during the school day, and the location is also a bonus. Plus, since the preschool leases the basement of Bolton Elementary School it appears as a legitimate preschool to prospective parents.

Unfortunately, West Linn Community Preschool isn’t up front about the exact details involved in their requirements because they need to enroll children to help fund the school. If you choose to have your child attend West Linn Community Preschool, you need to be aware of the many time consuming demands and expectations the preschool places on its parents.

Each family belonging to WLCP is responsible for and expected to do the following:

Parent help in the class (approx. twice per month). This means you are required to go to the school and help out in the classroom twice a month. While it sounds innocent, when you get there you’re provided a list of chores that need to be done before, during and after school. You’re expected to be there at least a half hour before school, and must stay at least a half hour after school. In addition to the child attending the school, if you have a younger child, such as one that breastfeeds you’ll likely find that it’s not very welcome at the school and it will need to be restrained (worn at all times) for the duration of the school day while you are expected to help out in the classroom or stuck with a babysitter as you are required to have both hands free.

Parents are expected to attend at least five (or more) two-hour evening “general meetings” during the school year to discuss fundraising, the schools budget, events happening in the school and so on. Attending these meetings is a requirement. After attending such meetings, and receiving follow up email messages summarizing the meetings, I can tell you that 5 meetings a year is overkill, especially if you don’t have readily access to a babysitter. The school provides child care during the meeting- for an extra fee. Nothing said at the meetings couldn’t have been said faster and more to the point in an email message. For a preschool – preschool, (not college) that my child attends 2 hours a day TWICE a week – Five 2-hour evening meetings a year is overkill. Evenings are precious time for working families to spend with their children.

Parents of West Linn Community Preschool are required to participate in all fundraisers and are expected and required to meet minimum fundraising goals or pay the difference out of their own pocket. Even if you join the preschool a month after the school-year started like my family did, and the school had already begun their first fundraiser of the year two weeks prior, you’re still expected to meet the minimum fundraising goal. In this case, the school sells Christmas Wreaths each year. Parents are required to sell $350 in Christmas Wreaths throughout the months of September and October – way before the general public is even thinking about Christmas. The wreaths are as cheap as $10 – meaning you would have to sell at least 35 individually at this price to meet your minimum goal.

You’re also expected to sell at least $75 in tickets to the Peter Rabbit Breakfast and Carnival (PRB) the school holds each year. The event dates back to the spring of 1977, when parents organized the first Peter Rabbit Breakfast. The funds raised from this event were used to open the doors to WLCP that September. This event still supports the preschool and remains a community favorite for families and young children. The revenue from this event primarily fund the teacher’s salary (Teacher Cathy Vause is the only permanent fixture in the school- the only paid employee and is the registered agent of the school with the State of Oregon.)

If WLCP fails to generate enough revenue during the school year from your monthly tuition fees, enrollment fees, and various fundraisers held throughout the year, the school will require parents to participate in mandatory last-minute fundraisers at the end of the school year.

And since we’re on the topic of money, to enroll your child in the preschool you are required to pay the following fees up front:

Enrollment Fees (per child)

Background Check Fees (per parent)
First and Last Month's Tuition - Up Front (per child)

It gets even better.

Keep in mind, your child will only attend the school two or three days a week. My 3 year old attended 2 days a week – for 2 hours each day. Not even a full half-day. However West Linn Community Preschool expects you to serve on a committee or on the Board of Directors. Yes, every parent of a child attending the school is expected to hold a “job” in the school. So if you’re a busy parent, this school may not be a good fit for you.

Jobs vary from serving on the board as President, to managing the school’s Newsletter, or being the Admissions Director, to Decorations for the Peter Rabbit Breakfast and Carnival fundraiser, there's a whole list of positions for you to choose from; unless you enroll late- then your stuck.

Aubrie Poppleton, the parent in charge of admissions when we became involved in the preschool didn’t fully explain what the commitment and requirements were and how overly involved and high maintenance the school would actually be for struggling, busy parents BEFORE we enrolled. The requirements were paraphrased and made to sound a lot less intrusive than they were in reality.

My wife and I didn’t mind helping out at the school- parent help days are fine with us. We enjoy being able to participate with our daughter in class. A little fundraising is understandable but we questioned having a “class job” for a preschool that our daughter only attends 2 hours a day for 2 days a week – if that.

When we joined the school we were told the “Newsletter / Website” job was available; and since I do both tasks during the day at my full-time job, that "job" at the school didn’t seem like a problem, so we agreed to enroll. Aubrie informed us 2 weeks later that the Newsletter / Website “position” had been given to someone else. We were told that we had to help out at the Peter Rabbit Breakfast assisting with decorations instead since that was the only "job" left.

At first, decorations sounds like an easy, non-time consuming task, and we would be the “assistants” to the person in charge of decorations- that’s what we were told when Aubrie tried selling us on the idea of helping with “decorations”. So we agreed. We had no other choice really since we were not offered any other "jobs".

What Aubrie failed to mention was that there would be 3 months of prep-work involved, countless meetings that take up countless hours of our time (not to mention having to find a babysitter), taking time off from work the day before the event, the time involved in setting up the event, running the event, and tearing everything down after the event, and returning items back to their owners and nursery. There was no mention of getting donations from businesses or a thick binder of instructions to follow.

Now you can see how my wife and I felt misled and deceived by West Linn Community Preschool. And we are not the only ones. The mother who was in charge of “decorations” dropped out of the school because she works at a law firm and didn’t have time to handle the commitments and expectations of the event. Initially she was just going to take her son out of the preschool for March and part of April because she did not have time to participate in the requirements for the Peter Rabbit Breakfast Fundraiser. She works at a law firm and as you can imagine there's little time for much else. Her husband brings their son to and from school the two days of the week they have school, and Audrey (the parent in charge of the event) verbally assaulted him in front of other parents at the preschool during a confrontation about his wife's non-participation in the fundraiser. That is why that family left the school.

When the mother in charge of “decorations” for the Peter Rabbit Breakfast dropped out, my wife was put in charge of it since we were the "assistants" and it was simply too overwhelming for her; she has an infant to look after in addition to our 3 year old. The prospect of having to spend the next 3 months working on the outline in the binder, taking care of our 2 kids, taking care of me, and studying for her GED test at the same time caused her (and our household) a lot of unnecessary anxiety. That's not what we signed up for.

The Peter Rabbit Breakfast should be coordinated and run by families who have children in the 4’s class (who were previously in the 3’s class) and have already experienced the event. That would make the coordination of the event much smoother as families would already know what to expect instead of going into the event blind.

I understand the Peter Rabbit Breakfast is an annual flagship fundraising and community event for West Linn Community Preschool, but asking the local community to donate a free carnival every year to cover the teacher’s salary and also expecting, requiring and demanding the parents that fund the school get 100% donations for the carnival in the first place is a bit lofty in my opinion.

Just to touch on the “donations” topic for a moment. Every year, new parents who join the school who get stuck with (or volunteer) to help with the Peter Rabbit Breakfast fundraiser unknowingly get the task of calling dozens of local businesses to ask for donations for EVERYTHING from photo paper and printer ink, to flowers, table cloths, silverware, prizes for raffles, silent auction prizes, etc.

As a parent in charge of decorations we were supposed to contact local businesses to try to get donations for our decorations job. And next year a new parent will get stuck doing the same thing. Isn’t this confusing for the businesses involved in donating? Not to mention a hassle for the businesses getting hit-up every year for freebies, and a hassle for the poor parent stuck asking.

I think West Linn Community Preschool should consider finding reliable corporate sponsors who want a steady annual tax-write off each year instead of sticking some “new” parent every year in charge of having to establish new connections calling same businesses every year pestering them for donations (and it's confusing for businesses who have to validate because its new parents calling each year, and how do new businesses know this is legitimate? There’s a lot of fraud nowadays. Anyone can make a letter or place a phone call). Are people who donate going to call the school to follow up for the sake of legitimacy? They’re doing WLCP a favor, not the other way around.

If West Linn Community Preschool had a steady arsenal of corporate sponsors they could buy things they use every year for the Peter Rabbit Breakfast (such as the Rabbit costume, camera, printer, photo paper, decorations) and not need to hassle so much with donations. Some of the companies I talked with don’t mind donating every year and the school never has to worry about being able to count on them, but even they mentioned they don’t need letters sent every year, etc.

In fact, when asked if you would help with "decorations" for the event I think its safe to say that you would assume since its an event West Linn Community Preschool holds annually, that they would have a lot of the supplies for it; sadly they do not. The school doesn't even have any storage and relies solely on past and present families to store school items at their personal homes for the event. The school doesn’t even own the Rabbit costume which it uses every year for the event and I find that extremely irresponsible especially when you can find costumes online for under $75 on sale.

Another set of parents we’ve talked with involved in the fundraiser mentioned that they felt the expectations for the Peter Rabbit Breakfast are too much. They may not enroll their child next year because of this.

There is no “buy out” option.

I would have been willing to pay more tuition money each month for much less hassle but the school doesn’t even have that option. It *should* be an option. The school demands that you as the parent participate in a "job", all required fundraising goals and meetings or simply not have your child attend.

The concept of “school” is “education” yet the fundraising aspect has taken over and overwhelmed a lot of people. It's obvious the focus isn't on "education" or concessions would have been made to keep both my family and the other family that dropped out - instead the children have to suffer and the remaining families at the school are forced to do participate in even more fundraisers since the number of families and revenue decreased.

West Linn Community Preschool isn’t teaching your child how to count or write her ABC's.

Thanks to my wife and I my 3 year old already knows her numbers and letters and wants to learn how to write… but the only stimulation she’s getting at WLCP is interaction with other kids… and painting which she already does at home... at the cost of $92 a month tuition (and tuition is increasing in fall 2011) + all of the fundraising, hassles, meetings and so on.

In addition to all of this, since every parent has a "job", they at times over communicate and you find yourself spammed to death. In 5 months time I counted over 59 received email messages. It just adds to the confusion since you have 25 people running the "preschool" instead of one or two dedicated people.

With the increasing bad economy, I had suggested that now might be a good time to renegotiate the lease on the classroom the preschool rents from Bolton Elementary to save some money. The school district needs WLCP in that classroom paying them rent every month just as much as WLCP needs their classroom. The "board" members I suggested this to showed no enthusiasm for this idea even though rent accounts for a larger portion of the schools expenses. It's a "popularity contest" with these people.

The preschool couldn't even manage to get my daughter's t-shirt ordered properly. When orders for the shirts were being placed, someone had called and left a message on my wife's phone. I called the school immediately after the message was left and spoke with someone- advised them my daughter wanted a pink shirt. Whoever it was I spoke with said it was a good thing I called when I did because they were just about to place the order. That’s the last I ever heard about it until four or five month's later when I remembered again and asked my wife what became of my daughters shirt from the preschool.

My wife didn't know and asked teacher Cathy Vause who informed her that a woman in the school office of Bolton Elementary swears to Teacher Cathy that she gave it to US, but how could she have given it to us if we have never even seen her before and neither one of us have even seen a pink t-shirt from the school? All of the other kids received their shirts, except mine. Then Nixie Krusee, the "President" of WLCP says she and her "friends" remember giving it to my daughter- yet my wife and I have never seen it and why would we have brought it up and made an issue out of it if we had? Seriously folks.

After much discussion my wife and I decided to talk to Teacher Cathy Vause about these issues to find out where she stood and to see if she could offer us a compromise. We really don't care for the "power hungry socialite parents" running the school and since this is Cathy Vause's preschool and she is the only paid employee and should have a vested interest in it, I thought I should discuss these issues with her. I found it difficult to believe a teacher of her caliber would allow a child to leave the school over this and removing our child from the preschool was not our first option.

I called the school on Thursday, February 17th to speak with the teacher but no one answered the phone so I left a message. Since I never received a callback, I emailed the teacher instead nearly a week later.

I promptly received a reply email back from Cathy stating our concerns were "out of the realm of her responsibility". Cathy is the only paid employee of the preschool's- the only permanent fixture through the years, and she chose to blow us off and make our concerns another parents problem instead; not to mention our concerns were then forwarded on to 4 or 5 other parents in the school.

So Cathy forwarded our message to the preschool's "president", Nixie Krusee who writes me stating that "West Linn Community Preschool, does not conduct business, as expressed via email. I welcome you to come into school and meet face-to-face with me, Teacher Cathy, and the Executive Board of WLCP to help solve any of your concerns and answer questions."

In fact one of the reasons we decided to talk to Cathy instead of the school's volunteer President was because the parents running the preschool act like they are in highschool and everything is a "popularity contest" amongst parents on the "board" and Aubrie and Nixie in general come across as a little too "serious and power hungry" concerning their "positions" in the preschool- and we honestly do not feel comfortable dealing with them.

Instead of politely just answering our questions, Cathy had to get Nixie, Aubrie, and several other parents involved in what was to be a very simple, straightforward discussion concerning our involvement with the Peter Rabbit Breakfast Fundraiser.

The preschool operations run by the parents are extremely over thought. It’s a preschool, not the board of a company on the NYSE. I understand the formalities of running a non-profit, but it seems like the preschool parents take everything way too seriously. A class president, a treasurer, all of the “meetings”… it’s a 2 days a week for 2 hours a day preschool people.

I replied to Cathy's email and told her I felt that since it was her school, it was her responsibility to deal with our concerns and informed her we wanted a refund for May's mandatory up-front tuition, and that we would be withdrawing our daughter from the preschool.

A week and a half later we received 2 letters in the mail from Nixie Krusee with some answers to our questions after we pulled our daughter out of the school.

She went on to state that May's mandatory up-front tuition would not be refunded. However, this was not discussed before we enrolled in the preschool. We never signed any documents stating we would not be entitled to a refund for May's up-front tuition cost until AFTER we were enrolled and then handed the WLCP handbook. If they won't refund me I'm half-tempted to return my daughter back to the preschool for the month of May since "May's tuition is applicable to May only."

Nixie and Cathy both accused my wife and I of lying about my daughter receiving her pink school t-shirt. The t-shirts were handed out months ago and they both clearly remember our daughter wearing the shirt? Give me a break. When I get home from work each night my wife and daughter show me everything she brings home from preschool and I never saw a shirt- which is why I brought it up in the first place. My wife said when the shirts arrived she assumed ours didn't that day because we had called back late when the order was being placed. Our daughter was the only one in the class who didn't have one.

She also defended the "responsibilities" expected of us by the school stating that everything was "fully outlined" when our family joined the school. Outlined yes, fully no. She states that the PBR decorations job was "fully discussed" with me and my wife "several times" although I have barely had any contact with Nixie and Aubrie or anyone else at the school, and what little contact I have had with those two individuals and a few of the parents in charge of the "Peter Rabbit Breakfast" it was most certainly not "fully discussed" to the extent that we would be required to start working on it 2-3 months in advance and required to call around town to obtain donations so the school could hold a carnival for free.

No one mentioned we would be required to read and execute this thick binder of instructions.

Nixie goes on to say that "It is remembered by our VP (Aubrie Poppleton) last fall that it was very clearly stated the benefits and drawbacks to having a Peter Rabbit job". It was stated that every family would be responsible for setup and clean up and 3 family shifts the day of the Peter Rabbit Breakfast, and we did agree to that and had no problems helping with that.

However I also clearly remember that Aubrie stated that the Newsletter/Website position was filled and all that was left was helping out with decorations at the Peter Rabbit Breakfast. We had no other choice. As previously mentioned, we were not told about the binder, the 3 months of preparation (obtaining donations, etc) either... and technically we were just supposed to be "decorations assistants".

She goes on to state that "The decorations job was never meant for a two family team. One family has always in 35 years fulfilled its responsibilities." So then, how did my family end up as "decorations assistants"?

She also states that the decorations job in all aspects could be completed over a weekend of work and then helping with the actual event. Take a look at the photos below for real proof- you'll see the binder clearly stated "January/February", "Early March", "Later March", "One Week Before" and so on... so obviously there is more required than just a weekends worth of work. She's the "President" of WLCP and has no idea what she is talking about.

In addition she says that the WLCP board took over the "hardest part" of the job - "picture taking" as if we asked them to take that over for us. They told us they were going to handle that portion of the event for us since the other parent in charge of decorations had dropped out. In her letter Nixie is trying to undermine my intelligence as if we can't handle taking digital pictures. I have 75GB of digital photos (48,000 photographs) I've taken since 1997- yet I'm not capable of taking pictures. Give me a break.

I touched on this earlier- how the preschool doesn’t even own the Rabbit costume which it uses every year for their event. I said I find that extremely irresponsible especially when you can find costumes online for under $75 on sale. Nixie states that "buying a bunny costume will never be in the school's budget". But during the 2009 - 2010 reporting period the school reported total revenue of $58,871.00 to the Oregon Department of Justice, but they can't afford a $75 rabbit costume they would use every year? Again- give me a break.

Nixie also states that "all schools that are fundraising sell wreaths when we do" thereby acknowledging that "West Linn High School, Boy Scouts" and so on are competition for the preschool. The school is close-minded and not open to any ideas of improving, partially because the Teacher has been there since 1977 and she seems resistant to change, but maybe its time to find something else a little more original and timely to sell instead?

The letter we received goes on to state that WLCP will "never have a buy-out option" (again, close minded) Just because you have a buy-out option does not necessarily mean that parents don't want to be involved. But when my child attends only twice a week for 2 1/2 hours (you couldn't watch a full movie at home in that time when you factor in driving to and from the preschool), verses what they EXPECT and REQUIRE from parents, a buy-out option would be a good way for the preschool to earn extra income and would allow busy parents like myself the ability to NOT be so tied down by the school. Lower fundraising goals and not having to attend the General Meetings and maybe 1 parent help day instead of 2 per month would be worth an extra $50-$100 a month- while still allowing parents to be involved. We never said anything about "not having to work or help" at the preschool.

What's unfortunate is Nixie and Aubrie made attempts to "gang up" on my wife and I when we initially enrolled and questioned some of the preschool's practices having never been involved with a co-op school before. Instead of being friendly and simply answering our questions politely we were always being told that they wanted to talk in "face to face" in person (I guess "he said - she said" is how they prefer to do business). They didn't like that my wife and I asked so many questions and questioned how certain aspects of the operation were being run and probably felt a little threatened or intimidated by us for not going along with things unquestioned. And Teacher Cathy Vause was not assertive in discussing our concerns, choosing to pass them on to Nixie instead. The private email message I sent wasn't between Nixie and us, it was concerns addressed to the Teacher.

Since Teacher Cathy couldn't be a responsible, respectable adult and talk to her student's parents who had questions about the operations of the school she founded, the school that employs her as the only individual on payroll, we removed our child from the school... and that's what's unfortunate. Our daughter had to suffer because of it; and the fact that WLCP, Cathy Vause and Nixie Krusee deem this an acceptable way to do business is also unfortunate. Especially when we took the first step to gain clarification and ask questions about issues that were valid concerns for our family. Nixie was always challenging having to answer our questions by email.

If you take time to carefully review the preschool's website, at least as I'm writing this article, you’ll find that barely any of the facts I've discussed herein appear on the schools web site, and the information given to you when you enroll barely touches on the exact details of their requirements which is misleading and deceptive.

Had we received all of the facts up front, we could have made a better decision regarding whether WLCP was a valid option for us.

But we didn't. I at least wanted to be open and honest with the Teacher and she could have cared less.

The bottom line is - West Linn Community Preschool expects more from its parents than it is able to gives back to parents and their children in return. With all of the money the school expects parents to pay, the fundraising, the meetings, the school job, the requirements, the demands, the furlough days, all for a 3 year old to attend "preschool" 2 days a week for 2 hour days, it doesn't make sense to attend this school. Its more work than its worth... you could take your kid to a playground, story-time at the library, etc. and have the same experience with less hassles and at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/html/news.php?Parent-Review-of-West-Linn-Community-Preschool-WLCP-15

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What's Next For Kylie Minogue?

2010-12-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

THE FUTURE… WHATS NEXT FOR KYLIE AFTER APHRODITE?

After Kylie’s 2011 Aphrodite Les Follies Tour wraps up and the Aphrodite chapter comes to a clos, what’s next for Ms. Minogue? I’m here with my wishlist. First, I would like to see a Live “Aphrodite Tour” album and DVD package ala “Fever2002” and “X2008” Tours. Then I would like to see Kylie release 4 unique albums…

Kylie Minogue: Duets
The first album I would like is a “Duets” album featuring new and old duets (she already is off to a good start having recorded duets with Keith Washington, Taio Cruz, Robbie Williams, Jason Donovan, Pet Shop Boys and Nick Cave over the years.)

Christmas with Kylie
I would like to see Kylie release a Christmas / Holiday album. Kylie’s recorded two festive tracks- “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” for Band Aid and an amazing Marilyn Monroe-ish remake of Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby”. Many artists put out a holiday album, and in Kylie’s career she’s yet to put one out… I think Christmas 2011 is a good time to finally do this.

I’d love to add a full Kylie Christmas album to my holiday music collection. It's an easy sell for Kylie since people are fond of holiday albums.

The Kylie Minogue Jazz LP
On Kylie’s DVD documentary “White Diamond” Kylie recorded several Jazz tracks including a remake of “Diamonds (Are a Girls Best Friend”), a track called “Try Your Wings, "I'm Hip", "You Are There", and a previously unheard 2002 Madonna penned track given to Minogue (by co-writer Rick Nowels) titled, "Alone Again", is also featured on the to the documentary. “I Put A Spell On You” a track which remains unreleased.

A Jazz album would display a more grown-up sound to reflect how Kylie’s sound has matured. Kylie has mentioned in interviews that ‘An acoustic album or performance would be fun.’ So this idea might not be too far off.

Kylie was on the brink of recording a cover album of songs by the late US jazz singer Blossom Dearie, who died last year. ‘There are so many things floating around. I wanted to do a Kylie Sings Blossom album and I actually met Blossom Dearie just before she died,’ she told Attitude magazine. ‘We had to track her down, I wanted her to play piano or have something to do with it,’ Minogue said of the failed plans. ‘I started recording her songs. A couple ended up on the White Diamond soundtrack because they sounded great,’ she said.

Kylie Minogue: Unreleased / B-Sides
Hundreds of unreleased, rare and b-side tracks have been recorded over the years and have yet to see the light of day such as "I'm Just Here For The Music", "White Diamond (Radio Edit)", "Boombox", "Ruffle My Feathers", "Flower", and so on.

Occasionally, a track leaks online and fans rejoice but why not pick out a dozen or more tracks that have already been recorded and release them as a package for fans to enjoy? The tracks are not making money for anyone when they are just sitting on the shelf… and since they are demos, and unreleased tracks it could be issued in a limited release just for the fans- possibly at a higher retail price point?

These tracks are begging to be released! Between B-sides and Unreleased Tracks, Kylie Minogue has the probability of another INSTANT HIT ALBUM (think “Fever” all over again) just sitting on the shelves inside Parlophone. Those tracks are the makings of an INCREDIBLE Kylie album!

So now we anxiously await information about Kylie's 2011 US Tour and can't wait to see what Kylie has in store for 2011 and beyond. We'll have to revist this post in a year or two and see if any of my predictions / wishes came true.

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/
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Kylie Minogue - Better Than Today

2010-11-22T09:35:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with Kylie Minogue's "Better Than Today" the moment Kylie debuted it on her North American Tour - and I was extremely disappointed it was not the lead single. Everyone at the shows loved it - and the choreography was spectacular. Mind you, the version performed at the show and the single version on the Aphrodite album are different and Stuart Price totally jacked up Nerina's and Andy's original production... it's still a quality track overall and should have an easier time hitting the top 10 spot on the charts.

The official music video is out now! Directed by Kylie herself with the help of her touring crew... I think the video does the song justice... and I'm thrilled about the microphone stand dancing, and the pink wigs on the shoulders of the dancers!

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Kylie Minogue Sings "Better Than Today" On X Factor 2010- Full

2010-11-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

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Enigma Social Song

2010-10-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

Enigma Social Song

My main man Michael Cretu - the man behind Enigma is giving his fans a chance to collaborate with him on a song... check it out.

http://www.enigmasocialsong.com/

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Corporations of America: Why Should I Do Business With You?

2010-07-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

by Dustin Drorbaugh

I’m really starting to get sick of listening to big corporations complain about profit loss when they have no one to blame for it but themselves. The Post Office keeps raising rates to justify lost revenue, the phone companies are losing millions of dollars as customers ditch their landlines for wireless technology, the music business nearly went out of business… and the one thing all of these businesses who were huge industry leaders for many years, have in common is over time they’ve all persuaded customers to do business elsewhere.

Telephone Companies
Over the years, the telephone companies have taken advantage of customers. Monopolies, poor customer service, outrageous charges for long distance, customer hassles, nickel and diming customers for services such as voicemail and caller ID, expensive monthly telephone bills and who understands all of those extra taxes they tack on? No wonder people have been quick to adapt mobile technology. The telephone companies are reporting record losses after years of massive profits… why? People don’t want to do business with them and find more value in owning a cell phone. The Internet opened up new possibilities with IP-based telephone service. People have been searching for solutions to the problems the phone companies have created… and now it’s too little too late for the Telco’s to pull themselves out of the mess they’re in. They’re on a sinking ship and it’s a matter of time before this technology is obsolete and landline telephone companies are a thing of the past.

The Post Office
If you raise your rates, will customers flock to your business, or run away? I know the Post Office is run by the government; that said, it’s still run like a business. I understand the Post Office has lost a lot of business with the mass commercialization of email, but the post office has its place. I think that instead of continually raising rates on first class postage, they should lower them- or at least offer an incentive like “$.25 cent postage day”. What’s the incentive for me to mail a letter to Grandma when I can send her an email for free? Why mail my payment when I can pay my bills online? If the post office lowered rates, more people would use their service again. The mail carrier stops by your house/business regardless of how much mail they have to deliver. Post office made it even harder and confusing for its customer by pricing items not only by weight but also by shape. The bread and butter of the Post Office’s business is direct mail sent by businesses; but the Post Office has put many direct mail companies out of business by continually raising business-class rates; causing businesses who once solicited for business by mail to seek out alternative methods. By raising rates it’s only going to drive more people to… look for alternatives (common theme here) and then eventually Saturday Delivery will be eliminated and over time the service will have to be privatized; thereby eliminating the need for the Post Office; especially when UPS and FedEx can deliver packages.

The Recording Industry / Music Business
When was the last time you visited a store that specialized in selling only music… you know: CDs, cassette tape, vinyl records? You’ve probably noticed that music stores are few and far between. Tower Records- closed. Virgin Mega Stores- closed. Total revenue from U.S. music sales and licensing plunged to $6.3 billion in 2009, according to Forrester Research. In 1999, that revenue figure topped $14.6 billion. Why is that? Illegal downloads? Um, maybe but not likely. Two reasons: the music recorded and released by the industry over the last decade has sucked compared to music in the 90’s. It’s not exciting. Good songs don’t get airplay. MTV isn’t playing um MUSIC anymore. Rap and R&B isn’t exactly selling as well… and there’s no place to go to buy music anymore. Concerts make more money than albums. The industry is broken, like our government, and no one wants to step up and fix it. Shops closed because they were charging too much for compact discs and the Industry made deals with the big box stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy) which made it harder for specialty stores to stay in business. The kicker is, now the big box stores call the shots and determine which albums are sold in their stores- and they drastically cut how much available shelf-space that music has in their stores. I went to my local Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Fred Meyer and Target stores the week Kylie Minogue’s “Aphrodite” album was released in the United States. I’ve seen her last 3 albums in their stores… but even with the big promotional push by Astralwerks (Minogue’s US label) I’ve yet to see one copy of her new album in Oregon stores. This has been a problem for years… and has been a leading factor in people downloading tracks online for free. They can’t find the album/song in store, or the store wants too much money. How can you expect to stay in business like that? I can go on and on about this, but will stop here as one day I want to devote an entire article on the downfall of the music business/recording industry.

Wireless Industry’s Exclusivity Agreements
It’s no secret that wireless providers sign exclusivity agreements preventing customers from taking their phones to another network. How does this benefit the customer? It doesn’t. It benefits the company, the provider. Prime example of how big companies think they can crap all over the little guy. Is it any wonder the government just passed legislation making it legal to “jailbreak” your phone? Even the guys in Congress dislike having their phone locked to a provider. You can take your phone number with you when you switch providers, why can’t you take your phone too?

When you’re a large corporation, you’re too big to care about the “little people” (aka your paying customers) because you have such a large company to run, it’s simply impossible to maintain the quality aspect. You can’t adequately handle customer concerns and immediately implement changes without running everything through the Board of Directors, and a dozen or so Executive suits… it’s like the Government – you take a good idea, run it through a hundred people and the final result ends up being completely different from the original idea, not for the better. Big companies are typically so profit driven, that’s the only thing they can seem to focus on and they ultimately lose control of their business, which results in lost profits. Even so, a lot of big companies don't feel they have to care or pay attention because they're so big... "they know better" than we do.

Here are a few real-world examples.

UPS charges its customers an extra $3.00 for “Signature Confirmation” service when their driver delivers a package to you. The problem with that service is, their drivers have been caught on more than one occasion signing the package for the customer, instead of actually having the customer sign for the package, leaving the package at the customers doorstep, and continuing on with their route. I had a customer videotape a driver doing this. The problem is, I paid the extra $3.00 to have the customer sign for the package- so I can prove to the bank (should a chargeback occur) that the customer actually received the package. UPS loses money by having to credit me back, having to investigate it, spend employee time (and subsequently lost money) because of it.

I don’t mean to pick on UPS, but here’s another one. We ship a package out to our customers. Once the customer receives the package we sent them, the shipment has been fulfilled and UPS charges our account for delivery. That would mean, if the customer called UPS and asked them to ship the package back to us, UPS is supposed to charge the customer since it’s a new shipment right? In the 10 years I’ve been working at my company, we’ve never voluntarily paid for a customer to ship their package back to us… but UPS allows their clients customers (without consent) to ship packages back on their account. What this means is, UPS's drivers make my corportation pay for our customers packages that they want to return to us, without our permission because they dont bill the customer for a new shipment. But we catch it every time, and UPS loses money by having to credit me back, having to investigate it, spend employee time (and subsequently lost money) because of it. Add up all of the lost time and money on my end and UPS’s over the years; and multiply it by how many other people have the same problem and you can see how something like this adds up to big losses.

Effectively, if you’re too big - you lose control of your business. If a customer called in and said our on- hold music was too low, I can go to the PBX device and immediately turn up the volume. Can you do that at UPS, Verizon, or at the Post Office? Most likely not.

Companies like Verizon [now Frontier Communications] (the telephone carrier, not the wireless provider) have run me in circles trying to get help. Every time I call them for a change on my account the order is handled incorrectly and takes a week to get corrected. I’m transferred to 5 people before I get the right person, and how frustrating it is explaining yourself 5 times. One time, we sat on hold the entire day. In 8 hours time, no one picked up… we left the phone on, on speakerphone and no one ever answered. Its no wonder they’re slowly going out of business. If they weren’t the only option in our area I would go elsewhere as I’m sure countless others would too.

Another problem with large corporations is that they typically don’t care about their employees. You’re worth $10 an hour (maybe more if you’re lucky) and can barely afford food for your family and rent. You’re expected to work the rat race every day with little gratification for your sacrifice. Supervisors meddle in drama and make life hard for their subordinates. Screw your retirement. Forget benefits. Companies now have a “its only about us” mentality and if you don’t agree with it, there’s a hundred other people they can replace you with- so they don’t care.

If more companies cared, employees would stay longer. If employees stayed longer, companies would save time and money recruiting and training new employees. If employees were happy they would work harder. I think all companies should have an incentive program and pay for performance in addition to an hourly or salary wage. Employees would effectively work more in the company’s best interest and in the customer’s best interest if there was more of an incentive to do so.

I really like the premise of Undercover Boss on CBS. There’s a concept that makes sense… having the CEO of a company pose as a regular employee at their company to get an inside look at the day to day business operations. We should implement the same procedure in our own government.

The problem is the Post Office, Phone Companies, and everyone else complaining… they’re too big, they lost focus and more importantly: they stopped paying attention to customers’ needs, trends and so on. As soon as you think you’re too big to listen to the little guy- its game over for your company. Customers are not as stupid as company’s may think they are.

I’m not against big companies, don’t get me wrong. I think there is a right way and a wrong way to be a large company. I think big companies need to take better care of their employees and their customers. Offer a fair price for your product or service and good Customer Service and you have a winning combination. Stop outsourcing.

Being a profit-driven company is the main goal, but never lose sight of the fact your employees are the face of your company, and your customers are the reason you are in business. If you start making cuts to either one it’s a recipe for disaster.

Kylie Minogue “Aphrodite” Full Album Review

2010-06-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Kylie Minogue “Aphrodite” Album Review

Date: Wed, Jun 30th, 2010

Before we begin, I know the hardcore Kylie fans will love everything she does and will defend any criticism; and Kylie skeptics may not like anything she does. I’m a Kylie realist and consider all of the angles: positive and negative… artistic, commercial, fan reception and so on.

I’m well versed on Kylie’s career and am judgmental because I am a fan who cares about Kylie’s longevity commercially… I really like some things she’s done, and at times she’s made some serious mistakes (“Body Language”) and I am going to be honest about all sides of the equation… so please read this article with an open mind.

“Aphrodite” is Kylie Minogue’s first studio album in three years, since her 2007 release, "X". This is Kylie’s 11th studio album. Parlophone announced the release of the album on April 20th 2010 along with a short snippet of the lead single "All the Lovers" on Minogue's web-site. "All the Lovers" was released worldwide at the end of June 2010.

ALL THE LOVERS
Kylie wrote the song with Kish Mauve aka Jim Elliot who was also responsible for the lead single off her last album “2 Hearts” which was a remake (why that song?) and wasn’t exactly the powerhouse track I was hoping for. It too had trouble charting well, but managed to chart higher than “All The Lovers” has in several countries.

Kylie’s progressively working towards getting her music’s commercial appeal back on track. Her “Fever” album in 2001 was a massive success worldwide, then “Body Language” in 2003 was a massive flop. The preceding album “X” in 2007 was a step in the right direction toward redeeming herself, although “Wow” was the only real radio-friendly, club friendly single.

And now, enter “Aphrodite”.

The music video for “All the Lovers” premiered via Yahoo! Music on June 1st 2010 and begins with a flash mob of people kissing while taking their clothes off in an empty street. They gather on the middle in their white underwear, where Minogue appears surrounded by doves, wearing a white cobweb-style t-shirt over a bra and knickers, with matching white thigh high boots. The flash mob becomes bigger as the video continues. During the song's bridge, a white horse gallops between couples kissing. The buildings are surrounded by floating marshmallows as well as a giant inflatable elephant.

Overall the video wasn’t very impressive as Minogue was capable of much better- especially when you compare this video to other videos and lead singles such as “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” and “Spinning Around”. Albeit the track is better than “Slow”, I still like the single “2 Hearts” from her last album better than “All The Lovers”.

The single starts out by posing a question for the listener… “Dance. It’s all I wanna do. So won’t you dance?” With pleasure, Kylie. Except it’s not entirely clear that “All the Lovers”, is actually a full-on dance track, musically speaking. Despite Minogue’s enticing lyrical invitations to get down, the song’s sound is less in line with the urgent robo-rhythms of her 2007 fan-hit “Speakerphone” (which was not released as a single) than with the earnest dreampop of 2004′s “I Believe in You,” right down to their copycat basslines. I'm not saying it’s a bad song. I’m just saying it's not as 'catchy' as its ancestors.

The Kylie faithful will tell you that "All The Lovers" is a grower and will get a boost with the release of the physical single (in stores the week of June 27th) but I doubt it. The song has fallen out of the top 20 on iTunes and has stalled on radio in most markets despite hitting No. 1 on the U.K. radio airplay chart after four weeks. I never heard it played on radio once in the US but then again Kylie’s not very well known in that market.

On June 22nd, "All The Lovers" debuted at #14 in Australia this week, becoming the second lowest charting lead single of Kylie's career. In fact, only "Some Kind Of Bliss" performed worse (landing at #27 in 1997) and that was released at the absolute nadir of her popularity. It's a bit depressing but hardly unexpected.

The highest "All The Lovers" has charted worldwide is the #4 position... which isn't bad- but it’s disappointing considering that there were better single choices on the album. I think everyone was expecting a massive hit… and I don’t think that “All the Lovers” is going to deliver.

As pretty and dreamy and perfect as it is, "All The Lovers" is too subtle and not very radio friendly; it’s too slow in parts, the remixes are too few and too bland. The video didn’t help matters.

While the track is a hit with Kylie’s fans she really needed to come back with a dance floor anthem that appealed to the half a million or so people that spent $20 on "Fever".

Fortunately, every other song on "Aphrodite" sounds more instant and radio friendly than the lead single. I honestly have a good feeling about this album and think it has the potential to be absolutely massive. Kylie HQ (Kylie, Parlophone, Terry Blamey) needs to be a bit smarter about single choices and music videos to make sure they are tailoring them for different markets. Particularly when it comes to the clubs and radio.

GET OUTTA MY WAY
The first real indication of where Aphrodite is headed, “Get Outta My Way” has been announced as the 2nd single to debut in September. "Get Outta My Way" is a feisty song that was originally written by Lucas Secon, Cutfather and Damon Sharpe. In an interview with HitQuarters, Secon described the track as "sexy electro disco with some very clever lyrics and some real catchy melodies." He couldn’t be more right. The track is poised to take over the summer's dance floors and will reaffirm Kylie’s crown as the princess of pop once more. “Get Outta My Way” stands to do much better on radio (and has a better chance in the US market then “All the Lovers”). It should have been the lead single.

If the encompassing music video for “Get Outta My Way” is dance-oriented like the “Spinning Around” video with edgy/futuristic style of the “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” video (but not comparable to the video for “Wow”) the music video could only but help increase sales and commercial appeal of “Aphrodite”. It definitely has a chance to create awareness… and would redeem Kylie’s music career in the markets that snubbed Kylie of at least a top 20 hit with “All the Lovers” … “Get Outta My Way” should have no problem grabbing the top spot because it works in the way Love At First Sight did. It's got a big pulsating beat, verses that build and a punchy throw-some-shapes chorus. Don’t wait until the end of summer in September to release this one… get that song on the radio now and heat up everyone’s summer on the dance floor.

PUT YOUR HANDS UP
This song starts out slowly building on the message that “all we need is love in this life” … then the track immediately kicks it into high-gear as Kylie instructs the listener for the remainder of the song to “Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)”. All of the verses slow down, then the chorus and bridge pick back up and you’re dancing again.

It’s a real club-ready dance track and the remixes for this one have unlimited potential. This is a real crowd pleaser. An instant, memorable Kylie track- this song definitely has the potential to be a third single.

CLOSER
“Closer” is the most haunting track on the album. In my opinion it’s completely forgettable, a filler song aimed straight at the dance floor, and a relentless reminder that when Kylie can’t really be bothered to come up with a decent tune at least she can dance. It’s not dreadful; it’s just not the inspired, edgy pop we’ve come to expect from Kylie. The bonus track "Mighty Rivers" would have been a better suited here instead.

The backbone of this Stuart Price track, written with Zoot Woman collaborator Beatrice Hatherley has an ornate orchestral prog rock backdrop. It has an “Impossible Princess-era” vibe with Kylie breathing all over it. I’m not sure if I like or dislike this track.

EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
“Everything Is Beautiful” is well, very beautiful. It’s probably the closest the album comes to a ballad in the traditional sense although its still dance floor ready. One of the two tracks that didn’t require any involvement from Stuart Price, Kylie’s vocals are very strong and the production is absolutely stellar.

It’s a rare Kylie gem. The song was co written by Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane and you can very easily hear Keane recording this track if Kylie had passed on it…

APHRODITE
The album’s title track “Aphrodite” is the real showstopper. Janet Jackson had “Rhythm Nation” and Kylie Minogue has given us “Aphrodite”, a kick ass marching band sounding dance track. You can’t help but sing along- the song is easy to learn… and if you’re not on your feet dancing to this track within the first 15 seconds then you’re clearly beyond help.

A killer dance anthem for Kylie- she asks the listener “Can you feel me in stereo?” And, yes we can. The choruses “I’m fierce and I’m feeling mighty, I’m a golden girl- I’m an Aphrodite” are the lyrics and sound we’ve been wanting from Kylie for nearly a decade. Essentially it’s the real comeback track we were hoping for on “X” back in 2007.

If this track is not released in Europe as a single with proper promotion and a mind-blowing music video then Kylie needs to switch to a new label. Americans wouldn’t understand this song since they have no history with Kylie or her music career, but the rest of the world- put on your dancing shoes and prepare yourself for… “Aphrodite”. I guarantee you this is a defining track that will follow Kylie for the rest of her career. It’s that good.

ILLUSION
Written by Kylie Minogue and Stuart Price (the album’s Executive Producer), is about doubting a lover's sincerity, with lines such as "Like the headlines of a magazine, are you what you seem?" it's powered by a ping pong keyboard melody over super moody synths. This isn’t a real “get out there and dance” track but Kylie’s vocals are strong and the track holds up well on its own with catchy lyrics and a hip beat. It deserves to be on the album for its creativity and originality than dance appeal.

BETTER THAN TODAY
When initial sessions for the album began in April 2009, Minogue was paired with U.K. singer/songwriter Nerina Pallot. Among the first fruits was "Better Than Today." Excited by the live instrumentation feel and all too aware that Minogue's previous album, 2007's "X" (Capitol), had suffered from a serious case of too many chefs, Parlophone decided natural and grown-up could be the way to go.

"Better than Today", was performed by Minogue on her North American “For You, For Me” concert tour prior to the completion of sessions for Aphrodite. The track received rave reviews from fans and Kylie even released a “Dance Tutorial” to compliment the song on her YouTube channel.

Originally written and recorded by singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot on her album “Buckminster Fuller” released in 2009, Kylie’s version of “Better Than Today” is a kitschy retro line-dancing number with walk-down-the-high-street-and-feel-empowered "use it/lose it" chorus.

First off, this is the ONE track I was most looking forward to hearing on “Aphrodite”. After hearing Kylie perform it live in Las Vegas last year, I instantly fell in love with it and its bad-ass incredible catchy intro, clever lyrics and chorus and mind-blowing instrumentation… the track’s sounds struck me as something Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters or Calvin Harris might have cooked up for Kylie. After hearing it I kept thinking to myself “now THIS is the track that could FINALLY get Kylie some attention in the US!”

Unfortunately, now that I’ve heard the version that made the final cut on Kylie’s album I’m a little disappointed. I’m happy Kylie’s version has finally seen the light of day, but Stuart Price totally jacked up this perfectly good song. Here’s how.

The new instrumentation that Stuart programmed in, especially the beginning section sounds duller, weaker and flat. It doesn’t sound as exciting as it used to. (The version performed live and the studio version Minogue dances to in her dance tutorial on YouTube also sound stronger.) Plus, by having Kylie re-record her vocals with a cheap microphone in “Dolly Parton fashion” (no offense Dolly- I still love you)... is the most noticeable on this track and further diminishes what made the song so darn attractive in the first place… at times it seems as if Kylie isn’t close enough to the microphone- her vocals on this new version are not as strong as the original studio version.

It’s not supposed to sound like a live recording… it’s a studio album, and that’s the sound I was hoping for. It's just not as tight sounding or hip as it was. The new “Dolly Parton” test isn’t near as apparent on the rest of “Aphrodite” and that’s the way it should have also been on “Better Than Today”. Although I’m sure it would still fair well as a single, it’s the one track on the album that Stuart should have left alone.

TOO MUCH
Co writer Jake Shears called “Too Much” a '90s track and called it the worst on the album, which does it a disservice. The beginning leading up to the chorus is just a little slow but once this song heats up 45 seconds in- it’s on fire. It’s a perfect representation of why we like Kylie’s music. It’s upbeat, predicable fun, catchy and pure pop magic. The bouncy disco-electric beats and sounds from the piano’s keyboard add an addictive groove. With lyrics such as “first you got me hot, next its cobra ice” anyone looking for a good upbeat song to dance to won’t be able to refuse “Too Much”. It holds its own as the only other track on the album lacking Stuart Price’s involvement. (Sorry, I’m still hacked off about “Better Than Today”.) I think this track would also make a great single in Europe.

CUPID BOY
This heavily layered song is a slave to more conventional pop dance sounds. No doubt it will be a massive hit with Kylie’s hardcore fan base and the gay community. This song is a fierce dance number with catchy lyrics and an amazing use of instruments. It’s also one of the longest running tracks on “Aphrodite”.

LOOKING FOR AN ANGEL
Another track written by Kylie and Stuart Price, it’s not bad but next to “Closer” it’s the only other track on the album that, if it has been left off, I wouldn’t have minded. It features those famously breathy vocals, and a climax of soaring, tangled synths and a predictable chorus. In subtle ways it reminds me of Madonna's “Ray Of Light” with it's airy, violin powered Euro dance.

CAN'T BEAT THE FEELING
A big “end of the night” anthem with a Daft Punk-style disco vibe. If you took a rest during “Looking For An Angel” this one will get you back on your feet. This song is definitely single material and if the “we’ve got an energy” parts were removed or re-edited, could make for a powerhouse track on US radio airwaves. The electro-organ adds a new dimension to the sound, the lyrics are fun, upbeat and irresistible. It’s definitely one of the stand-out tracks on the album. Generally you wouldn’t expect much from the last track on an album, but Kylie saved one of the best for last.

The problem with “Aphrodite” is that it contains so many tracks that have the potential to be used as radio-friendly singles… I’m amazed that “All the Lovers” was picked as the album’s lead single since its one of the more lackluster tracks on the album. My picks for singles would be “Get Outta My Way”, “Put Your Hands Up”, “Better Than Today”, “Can’t Beat The Feeling” and “Aphrodite”.

As a first, EMI is releasing “Aphrodite” in the United States during the same week-long worldwide release cycle. Normally, Kylie fans in America have to wait several months later for her albums to release in the States or import her album from other territories.

A direct, concise album that’s bothered about getting you on a dance floor, “Aphrodite” aims at making sure you have a good time and wants to keep you there for the next 12 tracks. The album’s producer, Stuart Price succeeded at creating a house party feel for the record- with each track building on the last, at which largely “Aphrodite” succeeds.

“Aphrodite” is the true successor to Kylie’s “FEVER” album. It’s back-to-basics Kylie. It's a cohesive, precisely thought out record that slots in more as a progression from “Light Years” and “Fever” than “Body Language” and "X". The latter two - while having classic Kylie moments - suffered from a lack of direction or in X's case, too many.

“Aphrodite” Tracklisting

1. All The Lovers
2. Get Outta My Way
3. Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)
4. Closer
5. Everything Is Beautiful
6. Aphrodite
7. Illusion
8. Better Than Today
9. Too Much
10. Cupid Boy
11. Looking For An Angel
12. Can’t Beat The Feeling

Production Credits

ALL THE LOVERS
Written by Jim Elliot & Mima Stilwell
Produced by Jim Eliot
Additional production and mix by Stuart Price

GET OUTTA MY WAY
Written by Cutfather: Lucas Secon, Damon Sharpe, Peter Wallevik, Daniel Davidsen & Mitch Hansen
Produced by Cutfather, Peter Wallevik & Daniel Davidsen?. Co-produced by Damon Sharpe, Lucas Secon & Stuart Price

PUT YOUR HANDS UP (IF YOU FEEL LOVE)
Written by Fin Dow-Smith, The Nervo Girls
Produced by Starsmith. Co-produced by Stuart Price. Additional vocal production by Nervo.
Mixed by Starsmith and Stuart Price

CLOSER
Written by Stuart Price & Beatrice Hatherley
Produced & mixed by Stuart Price

EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
Written by Fraser T Smith & Tim Rice-Oxley (“Keane”)
Produced and mixed by Fraser T Smith

APHRODITE
Written & produced by Nerina Pallot & Andy Chatterley
Additional production and mix by Stuart Price

ILLUSION
Written by Kylie Minogue & Stuart Price
Produced & mixed by Stuart Price

BETTER THAN TODAY
Written & produced by Nerina Pallot & Andy Chatterley
Additional production and mix by Stuart Price

TOO MUCH
Written by Kylie Minogue, Calvin Harris & Jake Shears
Produced and mixed by Calvin Harris.

CUPID BOY
Written by Sebastian Ingrosso (“Swedish House Mafia”), Magnus Lidehall, Nick Clow & Luciana Caporaso
Produced & mixed by Stuart Price & Sebastian Ingrosso & Magnus

LOOKING FOR AN ANGEL
Written by Kylie Minogue & Stuart Price
Produced & mixed by Stuart Price

CAN’T BEAT THE FEELING
Written by Hannah Robinson, Pascal Gabriel, Borge Fjordheim, Matt Prime & Richard X
Produced by Stuart Price, Pascal Gabriel & Borge Fjordheim.
Mixed by Stuart Price

Sources:

http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4679&Itemid=9

http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4814&Itemid=9

http://popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4801&Itemid=9

http://www.billboard.com/news/kylie-minogue-special-k-1004099137.story#/news/kylie-minogue-special-k-1004099137.story

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dustindd

The Problem With The Walt Disney Company

2010-03-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Date: Mon, Sep 28th, 2009

By Dustin Drorbaugh

First and foremost, I am a big fan of the Walt Disney Company and regularly follow what the company is doing. I have taken numerous vacations to the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. I think that the Walt Disney Company as a whole is entirely too large, and once that happens to almost any company, it seems like it becomes even harder for the organization to maintain the quality and control that smaller businesses enjoy. I bring you a few examples:

We initially were unable to even book our trip in the first place. I was unable to book my vacation online at any given time the entire length of the business day as Walt Disney's Vacation Booking web site was offline the entire day for "maintenance". So, naturally I did what any normal person who was excited to book their vacation would do. I called the telephone number to book my vacation over the phone since I was unable to do so online... and then I learn that The Walt Disney World Resort's telephone booking system is directly tied into the online booking system which meant their call center couldn't book my vacation either. How is it that a billion dollar a year corporation that has to answer to its stockholders can get away with doing business like this? They're not taking hundered of dollars from people- they're taking thousands of dollars from people for Disney Vacations and their web site is offline, and their phone system is unable to book because the web site is down.

Security Stopped Us From Taking Photos of the Characters In Public
One of the things that REALLY infuriated me during my last Disney vacation happened at the Animal Kingdom as we were walking down towards Camp Minnie-Mickey. We saw a line of kids waiting to have their picture taken with Lilo and Stitch. Well, I'm the type of person who rather than wait in line, decided to snap a photo of the characters while they were with other kids and continue with our day. We've done this dozens of times on this and previous Disney vacations. However this time a man in security named George was standing near Lilo and Stitch said that we can’t take pictures of the characters unless we’re in line because "he’s had complaints from parents about people taking pictures of other people’s children." First off, I paid good money to visit the park to take pictures of the characters. The DIsney brand is based on the characters... Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, they're all characters, they're all household names. Second, I can’t begin to tell you how many other family’s photos we (and yes, our daughter) most likely appear in during our stay on property. Third, there’s a disclaimer at the entrance of the park which states by entering the park you agree and understand you’re going to be filmed, photographed etc. It’s a fact that thousands of people visit the parks each day and no matter who you are, you’re probably going to appear in other peoples photos while you’re at Disney World. I did not appreciate being told this and opted not to create a huge scene; but taking a picture of the characters regardless of who was with them wasn’t an issue on our last two vacations.

Muppets M.I.A.
I don’t understand why puppet characters “Ooh & Ahh” appear on Playhouse Disney instead of The Muppets. Disney bought The Muppets for a handsome sum in February of 2004 and the only fan base they have right now is that ages 30 years + since most kids have no clue who The Muppets are… this statement was also uttered by a couple looking at Muppet merchandise for one of their relatives back home. They passed on buying a Muppet doll because they didn’t know if their nephew even knew who the Muppets are. You’re producing a new Muppet movie “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made” which you expect to do well at the box office, but your prime target audience today doesn’t even have a clue who the Muppets are. Except for two episodes of “Studio DC Live” which was a rather shameless promotion for The Muppets and Disney Channel stars, The Muppets are barely even being exploited on The Disney Channel- a “major profit driver” for the company and prime target audience for The Muppets. The Muppets or Muppet Babies characters should be a part of Playhouse Disney. The Muppet Babies aired for 6 years in the mid-to-late 80’s, won 4 Emmy Awards and ran well in syndication. I understand licensing issues with the music used in the original Muppet Babies series which has prevented the series from receiving a DVD release thus far, but I can’t think of a better way to market The Muppet brand than by introducing The Muppet characters to 2-6 year olds during this block of valuable programming on The Disney Channel. Those kids are your future customers and it seems like, for five years now The Walt Disney Company has been ignoring an opportunity to actively promote this incredible franchise to a new fan base through regular programming on The Disney Channel. In 2007 when we visited I requested to have a photo taken with Sweetums and was respectfully declined. I then asked to have a picture taken with Kermit the Frog and I was told that was not possible as Disney was more interested in promoting the Toy Story characters instead. When I asked to have a picture with Sweetums the foreign cast member said “Sorry” and said only if I had a VIP card. It doesn’t cost the company any money- it’s just a costume and it would have made me happy since I’ve been asking since my very first visit. Also this time when we visited the Muppet Vision attraction cast members said “Flash Photography Is Not Permitted” however when we visited in 2007 a cast member told me that no photography of any kind is permitted- so which is it? It would be nice if everyone could keep things consistent. Its annoying… especially since its my favorite attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and one of the only reasons we go there.

Muppet Merchandise
Also disappointing - there was hardly any merchandise available for sale at the MuppetVision location at Disney’s California Adventure when we visited in 2006, and a poor selection every time we have visited Walt Disney World in 2006, 2007 and 2009. When we visited in 2006 for the first time I was expecting to leave with a truckload of merchandise and instead left with none. The “scrap booking” store in Downtown Disney has a t-shirt making section where you can design your own Disney t-shirts, which doesn’t even have the Muppet characters as an option in the computer. That would generate more revenue for you and adding images of the characters costs you nothing. I recently visited the Disney Consumer Products web site where Disney has all of its properties listed for licensing- all of the major properties are exploited there; Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, Winnie The Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, even properties the company has acquired such as Baby Einstein appear on the Disney Consumer Products web site- but there’s no mention of The Muppets anywhere. How are prospective licensees supposed to license The Muppets from The Walt Disney Company if the company isn’t even promoting or making it easy for such clientele to know you own the property? While at the STAGE 1 CO. STORE my wife and I met two people who also thought the selection of Muppet merchandise was pathetic. There were no t-shirts available in toddler or child sizes. No music or computer CDs. No calendars. I couldn’t even find the Muppet Vision playset which was sold for years and instead had to settle for a disgusting Star Wars / Muppets tie-in play set for my daughter. (sorry Star Wars fans). It’s very disappointing to me. I want my daughter to have the same adoration for the Muppets as she grows up; currently there isn’t much out there for either of us. Even if we wanted to, there’s hardly any merchandise to buy. We were at Disney World during the D23 expo and I heard there is going to be more merchandise available soon, but who knows. I haven't seen much thus far.

An Idea With Character
One idea that would be hugely popular among your guests would be to hold a “character day” in one selected theme park, thereby allowing your guests to get pictures with those hard-to-find characters like Captain Hook, Roger Rabbit, Uncle Scrooge, Robin Hood, and Pete from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You could have twenty characters alternating all day long; so you could see twenty in the morning and in the afternoon have twenty more to meet. Disney has so many characters and only promotes the same old, tired characters… we’ve seen the Toy Story, “Fab Five”, “Princess” characters over and over… on this trip we saw Marie from The Aristocats but far from that it was the same characters from our last three trips. This idea wouldn’t cost your company any more money (depending on how many characters you made available)… would keep it interesting for repeat visitors. I brought this idea to the attention of the Walt Disney Company and they wrote back with a lame legal canned-response: "While we appreciate your taking the time to write to us concerning your experience, some of your comments regarding ideas for the Muppets and a Character Day could be considered in the nature of unsolicited ideas or suggestions. Unfortunately, in today’s world, our company must be careful regarding unsolicited ideas and/or suggestions. Our company has a long established policy that does not allow us to review any ideas, suggestions or creative materials not specifically solicited by us. The intention of this policy is to avoid any misunderstandings that may occur when projects or products are created internally that might be similar to submissions made to us from outside the company. For that reason, we will be unable to retain any copies of your email. This is not meant to offend you in any way; it is simply our company policy not to retain copies of correspondence that contain what could be considered unsolicited ideas." It is disappointing though, because the idea is a good one and would draw large crowds and make a lot of extra money for the Disney Company.

Outdated Characters/Attractions In Park
The characters at the Play n’ Dine at Hollywood and Vine breakfast aren’t even on television any longer (JoJo’s Circus) and aren’t even on the Disney Channel web site anymore. It hasnt been on the Disney Channel since 2005... thats two years before my daughter was born; but you'll find Jojo at Playhouse Disney's Play n' Dine at Hollywood in Vine. In the waiting queue for Playhouse Disney Live the video that plays has the Doodlebops dancing around- again not even on Disney Channel web site and I haven’t seen them on Playhouse Disney on TV in a while. I’ve heard rumors that the various units of the Walt Disney Company have a hard time playing well together, and this seems to be yet another example. I will elaborate on this in future articles. It takes Disney way too long to integrate rides from hit movies into the parks. Toy Story came out in 1995 with a sequel in 1999 and it took almost 10 years (and buying Pixar) before a Toy Story attraction appeared in one of the parks. I’m glad it will stay relevant with (finally) the release of Toy Story 3.

Dining Plan Disaster
Disney recently made changes to their dining plan which has angered many customers. Towards the end of our vacation my wife became ill and I would take our two-year old daughter to the Pop Century food court to help me bring breakfast back to my wife. My wife just wanted cereal (on this particular day) which is considered a snack. I ordered a bacon croissant sandwich, and since the staff saw my daughter I had them get her a kid’s meal in place of my wife’s adult meal and asked to have them deduct that as an adult meal just to keep it simple since I knew we would have a few quick service days left over; but the cashier gave me grief about using the adult quick service for a child’s meal. In addition I brought a bowl of grapes, a pastry a 16 oz milk and a 16 oz orange juice to the cashier. The cashier explained that the milk needed to be a small carton not the 16 oz container. On a previous day I had brought my wife cereal with a 16 oz milk and it wasn’t a problem. Apparently there’s no dessert option with breakfast so I was told to put the pastry back. I was told to put the grapes back too as they didn’t qualify either. The cashier told me to get apples or an orange or something else. So my daughter and I went back through the maze of people in a rush to get their food, put back the pastry, put back the grapes, found the smaller milk and this time selected two containers of apples with caramel to keep it simple. I went back to the cashier who chuckles and says the apples with caramel (no packaged fruit) are not a part of the plan at breakfast… okay listen… I’m not going back for a third time with a two year old child to get this right because Disney’s made it such a hassle to get it right in the first place… it wasn’t this difficult on the last two visits; so I asked the cashier to have someone come and help me which was another problem but irrelevant now. So now we have: * Cereal, * Small Milk, * Bacon Croissant Sandwich, * 16 oz Orange Juice and * Kids Pancake Breakfast for my daughter. The woman supervisor that finally came to help me says we have two quick service entrees and a snack, and I think (I don’t remember now) she took the two packages of apples with caramel back but its irrelevant, I may have just said fine and had them deducted as snack items; regardless but as you can see it was a hassle and took nearly an hour from the time we left the room till the time I arrived back, and now of course – my food was cold.

Improperly Cooked Food/Unclean Facilities
My wife said that many of the women’s bathrooms were a disaster. At Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe the tables were filthy and my wife had to wipe ours off herself. She also had chicken feathers sticking out of her cooked chicken from the same restaurant. She picked at and ate some of the chicken, and I brought it to the counter to show the staff that genuinely seemed uninterested; offered us a replacement or a packaged small cake which we didn’t need since we had already eaten.

My wife also complained about her pizza dough being uncooked a couple times which is most likely because the staff are trying to shove them through the oven too fast in order to keep up with the demand. Anyone who has read anything about Walt Disney knows he was a neat-freak and would not have stood for this. After spending several thousand dollars for a vacation at the "happiest place on earth" I would expect to A) not have to pick chicken feathers from my food B) and not have to worry about my food being over or undercooked soley because Disney's employees can't keep up with the customer demand.

Dining Dilemma
The dining reservation system when checking in at a Disney restaurant is inefficient. As you can see in my photo, I snapped a clear photo of tons of available seating, and here tons of people are stuck waiting outside to be seated. Why? Plenty of seats. See the pictures below for proof.

Inefficient Transportation System
If you estimate the average guest spends (at least) one hour each day traveling to and from their hotel and resort parks on the complimentary bus system that Disney provides- (let's do the math) we stayed a total of ten days, that’s at least ten hours of lost vacation time or about one day out of our already expensive vacation. After dealing with the Disney Transportation System on our first two visits, I decided it made more sense to rent a car so we could go to and leave the parks on our timetable. Otherwise, that would have been 3 days of vacation wasted - one flying to Florida, one flying home and one on property just riding around in a Disney bus.

The Parking Problem
Parking at all Disney parks is a real hassle as I'm sure you can imagine. First, we always visit off-season because we don't like dealing with the crowds during the summer/winter months. We rented a car so we could walk to the gate of each park; not to have to wait for bus system or take a tram. Parking at The Magic Kingdom was the worst… it’s nowhere NEAR the Magic Kingdom and after dealing with the parking hassle the only way to get to the park is to take a monorail or a ferry boat (or spend hours on a Disney bus); which sounds simple but of course with our luck on this particular day, it wasn’t. On our day visiting the Magic Kingdom, we waited almost an hour for the monorail to arrive after learning there were technical difficulties; and we couldn’t get a straight answer from any of the WDW staff on the arrival time of the next monorail. One of Disney's employees said the wait would be another minute or two, another said 20 minutes– we were already on the podium and by this time all new visitors approaching the monorail dock were being diverted to take the ferry boats to the park. On another visit one of the parking attendants rudely told my pregnant wife that she could “get of the car and wait” (in the 90 degree heat in the middle of the parking lot no less) for me to park in the first spot all the way at the end of the parking lot after I had pulled down my window and requested a closer parking spot when clearly there was a lot closer parking available to the tram. No accomodations whatsoever. When walking to catch the tram I asked one of the employees for the name of the attendant that we had the confrontation with and he said he was new and didn’t know and proceeded to ask another older-lady attendant who tried covering for her fellow worker by saying they couldn’t give out that information to us (despite the fact all employees wear name badges.) In addition, one of the trams to the Magic Kingdom didn’t even wait for everyone to get on in the parking lot –they just left even though more parents with infants and small children were trying to get on, and a whole cart was open with no one sitting in it. The staff told everyone trying to get on to stop boarding to wait for next tram which was nowhere in sight.

In Closing
It is my belief that the Walt Disney Company company is too large to effectively handle concerns even when guests are ON PROPERTY; the company employs Executive Correspondents in the Reservations Center who field complaints and compliments all day long, but how does that trickle down the line and to upper management who actually dictate changes within the organization? They most likely keep track of everything in a database and when problem X has so many number of complaints then the company actually looks into the issue. Its probably as pointless as UPS trying to figure out who or what damaged a package on its journey clear across the country… you guys are too big and when that happens, to a degree, you lose control of your company. I run a small software business and I can immediately make changes to better the situations for my customers. I don’t believe the Walt Disney Company is capable of saying that anymore. Everything has to be run through the legal department and picked to death by a hundred managers before anything actually happens. Don't get me wrong. We paid good money to enjoy a nice, quality, um "magical" vacation. We're not troublemakers. I'm just pointing out how the "magic" was lost when the company grew too large. I'll post another article soon about the Walt Disney Company that hilights this and other problems within the company in greater detail.

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/
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Healthcare In America

2010-03-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

By Dustin Drorbaugh http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/

There's been a lot of talk lately about healthcare reform. It seems that everyone has an opinion on the issue, so I thought I would voice mine.

First, I'm in agreement that the government should offer some type of healthcare option that all legal residents should have access to at an affordable rate. No one should have to go bankrupt because they were in the hospital. By going bankrupt the taxpayers end up paying the bill anyway. There should be an alternative to the over-priced medical insurance options currently on the marketplace.

How does an average family of four, on one salary pay $400+ a month for medical insurance, plus medical bills up to $2,500 a year or more to meet a deductible? What does that family get out of it if they're all healthy? Nadda. Zip. Zero. Nothing. And let’s not even talk about people who are over 60. If you're over 60 you're not insured in the eyes of medical insurance providers... or if you are, you'll pay through the nose. Try a $1000 monthly premium- and that’s for the minimum. How is this fair? How it is that our government has allowed these companies to legally scam and take advantage of us?

In addition, the education system should make sure that they educate high school students and make them aware of their insurance options. I have a friend who became a victim when a drunk driver hit and her friend her while they were waiting for a cab to pick them up outside a local bar. The driver, in his early 20's (a trust fund baby) was uninsured, and my friend also in her early 20's has no medical insurance. I don’t personally recall ever being told about the dangers of not having health insurance in high school, and I highly doubt anyone ever told her. Now she's stuck paying for her medical bills, and with 7 surgeries and she's still in the hospital (3 months now) and may never walk again, we're talking hundreds upon thousands, maybe even millions of dollars with how outrageous the healthcare rates are.

It is my firm belief that the insurance companies should not be "for profit" companies with shareholders. They should all be "non-profit" organizations with a 100% focus on the best interests of their customers, instead of the interests of fat-cat executives at the top of the company and under-writers who decide who is worthy of coverage and who isn't. Without the ultimate focus on profit, the customer wins.

Medical Insurance and the entire Healthcare Industry is a legal scam in my opinion, and you'd be hard pressed to find other middle-class workers who disagree. Where else on planet earth do you obtain services with absolutely no idea how much they cost until weeks, if not months after the services were rendered? $100 for a 20 minute doctor’s appointment for a follow-up appointment? How about $400 for 15 minutes in the ER for a doctor to prescribe Tylenol. These are real-life examples. It's entirely unfair, insured or not.

No one tells you how much that doctor’s visit, Band-Aid, surgery or anything else is going to cost up-front. Even Walgreens Pharmacy is in on the act... $80 for an optional earache prescription covered by insurance that's regularly $170)... and surprise, you don't even know the cost until you go to pick up the prescription after it's been filled. Physicians should be required to post their prices; every other business has to and they should too.

Here's another scam indicator. Let's say you went to the doctor’s office and you don't have insurance. You are mailed a bill. But take a closer look at that bill. There's a discount for uninsured patients. Now I'm not complaining about a discount, but my thoughts are this... insurance companies claim they charge higher premiums to offset fraud, but there's a significant difference in how much money uninsured patients are paying verses insurance companies which tells me that the hospitals are clearly taking advantage of insurance companies, and yea, insurance companies are allowing them to do it.

Everyone in Canada complains about their healthcare system. OK great. Maybe their system isn’t the best but there has to be a better way. The United States should be able to come up with a better way and implement that. Have we lost our innovation factor? What has happened to this country? It used to be the greatest country in the world; but we're losing our footing as a country with each passing day.

Our politicians bickering back and forth have caused the focus on actually providing Americans with affordable, honest healthcare is the last thing any of these people are thinking about. They are so out of touch, and many are sleeping with the insurance companies and have their own agendas. WE THE PEOPLE need to pay more attention to the people we are electing. It's our fault for electing them, and it’s their fault for not doing the right thing for the people they represent.

The way I understand it, under the new healthcare plan:

The $938 billion health care bill is to be paid by a combination of tax hikes on the wealthy and cuts in Medicare. (While I think if you make more you should pay more, I don't think its entirely fair to make the wealthy pay more than their fair share. I think things that contribute to bad health such as junk food, cigarettes and so on should also be taxed more).
The bill will expand coverage to 23 million Americans, but many of the provisions -- with the exception of prescription drug coverage for older Americans and children who have been denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions -- are not expected to go into effect until 2014.
Insurance companies would be barred from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions. Effective when the bill is signed, they will also be prevented from placing lifetime caps on policies, or from dropping a patient's insurance if he or she gets sick.
Insurance companies would be required to cover preventive services, which include such medical procedures as vaccines that are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By 2014, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to adult patients with pre-existing medical conditions or charging them more because of these conditions.
The health care bill allows parents to keep their children on their insurance plan until the age of 26. (Which would have been nice for my friend who was a victim in a car accident.)
Individuals with incomes of $200,000 or higher, and families with combined incomes of $250,000, will be subject to a new 3.8 percent "Medicare Tax." They will also be taxed now on unearned income, including dividends, interest and capital gains.
There will also be a new tax on high-cost insurance plans, called the "Cadillac tax," which employers will have to pay. Insurance plans with a premium of $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families would be subject to a 40 percent tax. Many say such high-value, generous insurance packages that include luxuries such as no co-payments and deductibles are responsible for increasing costs in the industry, but many labor union members and teachers negotiate such plans in exchange for lower pay.
Companies in the medical industry will also be subject to higher taxes, including insurers, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. (Although I would be willing to bet almost anything that this never happens since these industries fork over loads of cash to our politicians and they have full-time lobbyists whose job is to remind Washington of the company's best interests).
By 2014, most Americans would be required to have health insurance or pay a fine, with the exception of low-income Americans. Small businesses, high-risk patients and the uninsured would have the option of shopping for coverage in health insurance exchanges, a marketplace in which people could shop for and compare insurance plans. (I think it is unconstitutional to require someone to buy something. The government, according to the Constitution, can't make you buy an iPhone; so how can they require you to buy health insurance? How do they plan on enforcing this?)
Employers would also be required to provide coverage to their workers, or pay a fine of $2,000 per worker. Companies with fewer than 50 employees, however, are exempt from this rule.

Now, I don't know about you, but I've never heard of an entitlement program sponsored by the government actually saving money, so I'm not sure how the President or anyone else can claim that's going to happen by passing this law.

By passing this new healthcare reform legislation is the government helping me? I’m not counting on it. The government only helps the poor and they help the rich, and everyone in-between along with me gets to pay for it.

I doubt I'm getting anything out of this. If anything, it will just cost us more in taxes.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/health-care-bill-obama-sign-bill-tuesday/story?id=10169801

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/
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Why I Will Never Buy Another Sony Computer

2010-03-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Why I Will Never Buy Another Sony Computer
Date: Tue, Dec 15th, 2009

Why I Will Never Buy Another Sony Computer

By Dustin Drorbaugh http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com

I've been a huge fan of the SONY brand for many years. I've owned the SONY Walkman, SONY Digital Cameras, SONY Computers... you name it. In fact, my last 3 desktop PC's were SONY computers, and I insisted that I work on a SONY computer at my office.

Recently I've noticed a couple things about about the SONY brand, more specifically the SONY Corporation's way of doing business that I don't agree with which has prompted me to decide not to do business with them.

For example:

1. "It isn't profitable enough" for SONY to continue manufacturing Desktop PC's because of how cheap hardware has become in recent years. This has led SONY to use laptop motherboards in their current desktop configurations. Basically what this means is, if you've bought a SONY Desktop PC recently, it's not really a desktop PC by definition... its a laptop dressed up to look like its a desktop.

2. Have you tried upgrading a SONY computer to the latest version of Windows? When Windows Vista was released in 2006 I wanted to upgrade my laptop and couldn't ever get a straight answer from SONY whether drivers would be made for my laptop when I decided to upgrade. They never did make Vista drivers available but I upgraded anyway.

Enter 2009... Windows 7 is released. My current SONY PC has a 2.80GHz with 2GB RAM ... plenty of computing power for Windows 7. Everything installs just fine except for the SONY MPEG Realtime Encoder board- a driver that SONY isn't updating to work on Windows 7 so now all of my multimedia features such as recording TV (for use with Media Center) features that worked originally with my PC ... now are completely useless.

Now I'm completely understanding that since my desktop was older drivers wouldnt be available and aside from the SONY MPEG Realtime Encoder board driver, everything works fine.

What really ticks me off is - my boss bought a SONY Laptop close to a year ago, and once again SONY is not going to provide driver support - FOR A PURCHASE MADE LESS THAN A YEAR AGO. The main benefit of this is if SONY doesn't provide drivers the poor helpless uninformed customer (who doesn't know any better, which is most computer consumers) is forced to pay a geek in a white coat to hassle with the upgrade or as SONY would prefer - go out a buy a brand new computer... which is COMPLETELY WRONG... and it's this poor business strategy that has prompted me to decide:

I will no longer buy SONY computers, be it laptops, desktops, etc... and I no longer recommend them to my friends, family, co-workers and business associates.

When I buy a computer and a new operating system is released, I want to know that my computers drivers will be supported within a realistic timeframe, and yea, I think a year (or less) is more than reasonable.

It's good business to provide compatible drivers for your products. SONY and every other PC vendor out there had more than a year's warning that Windows 7 was on the way (I tested the beta for almost a year myself, so if I was able to get my hands on it that long and play with it - SONY surely had enough time to get their drivers ready).

http://www.dustindrorbaugh.com/html/news.php?Why-I-Will-Never-Buy-Another-Sony-Computer-5

H&M and Wal-Mart destroy and trash unsold goods

2010-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

H&M and Wal-Mart destroy and trash unsold goods
Date: Thu, Jan 7th, 2010

By Joanna Douglas, Shine Staff

Cynthia Magnus holds up unworn, destroyed clothing she found in the garbage.
Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/New York Times

This week the New York Times reported a disheartening story about two of the largest retail chains. You see, instead of taking unsold items to sample sales or donating them to people in need, H&M and Wal-Mart have been throwing them out in giant trash bags. And in the case that someone may stumble on these bags and try to keep or re-sell the items, these companies have gone ahead and slashed up garments, cut off the sleeves of coats, and sliced holes in shoes so they are unwearable.

This unsettling discovery was made by graduate student Cynthia Magnus outside the back entrance of H&M on 35th street in New York City. Just a few doors down, she also found hundreds of Wal-Mart tagged items with holes made in them that were dumped by a contractor. On December 7, she spotted 20 bags of clothing outside of H&M including, "gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks, cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor, men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.”

The New York Times points out that one-third of the city's population is poor, which makes this behavior not only wasteful and sad, but downright irresponsible. Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Melissa Hill, acted surprised that these items were found, claiming they typically donate all unworn merchandise to charity. When reporters went around the corner from H&M to a collections drop-off for charity organization New York Cares, spokesperson Colleen Farrell said, “We’d be glad to take unworn coats, and companies often send them to us."

After several days of no response from H&M, the company made a statement today, promising to stop destroying the garments at the midtown Manhattan location. They said they will donate the items to charity. H&M spokeswoman Nicole Christie said, "It will not happen again," and that the company would make sure none of the other locations would do so either. Hopefully that's the final word.

Dustin's comment: I worked at Rite Aide years ago but when I worked there they too would throw all unsold merchandise in a compactor instead of dontating it to charity.

http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com

Sears Scrambles For A Lifeline

2010-03-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Sears Scrambles Online for a Lifeline
Date: Tue, Jan 19th, 2010

By Miguel Bustillo and Geoffrey A. Fowler / From the Wall Street Journal

Dustin's commentary is featured below the article.

Five years after hedge-fund billionaire Edward S. Lampert brashly merged Sears and Kmart, the storied merchants keep shrinking.

So on the fourth floor of its grand Chicago flagship that epitomizes the 20th-century approach to shopping, a team of 180 e-commerce whizzes is searching for fresh ways to sell Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools in an age of iPhone apps and Twitter.

The group—a brain trust that includes veterans from Web stalwarts such as Amazon and Orbitz—is giving a digital makeover to Sears, the 124-year old merchant that rose to prominence on the strength of its eclectic mail-order catalog.

Over the past 12 months, Sears Holdings Corp. has launched a flurry of Web sites and mobile-phone applications in an attempt to stretch sales beyond the physical borders of its aging stores. The strategy, dubbed "Shop Your Way," is to market millions of items virtually, as well as in retail outlets, while offering various delivery and pick-up options. As the main Sears Web site now boasts: "Buy online, then go to the store and get your item within five minutes."

Among other things, Sears is testing a concept called MyGofer that consists of converting an entire Kmart into a pickup-only site for Internet orders, replete with a drive-through. Over the holidays, Sears managed to boost revenues with a new take on an old sales lure: online layaway.

Like most companies trying to exploit the Internet, the once-mighty Sears isn't exactly treading new territory. What it is attempting is a fast game of catch-up to stay relevant in the brutal retail sphere. "We have taken the good ideas out there and evolved them," says Imran Jooma, the company's senior vice president of e-commerce. "We are trying to create an assortment online that is almost limitless."

When Mr. Lampert combined Sears and Kmart into one company, he promised that the sum of the new entity would eventually be worth more than its parts. That hasn't happened, as mass merchants such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have continued to wrest away market share. Sears's revenues fell 7.8% last year to $46.8 billion; its same-store sales have dropped off every year since the merger.

Management, meanwhile, has been in flux. Mr. Lampert—who holds the title of chairman and controls the majority of Sears's shares through his ESL Investments Inc. and its related funds— has no chief executive in place. Kmart veteran W. Bruce Johnson has served as interim CEO since Aylwin Lewis was forced out in 2008. Mr. Lampert, who doesn't like to fly, rides herd over most major decisions from his offices in Connecticut, according to current and former executives.
Jim Barr, hired away from Microsoft Corp. in 2008 for the job of online president, left the company late last year. Mr. Barr declined to discuss his departure, as did the company. Mr. Lampert and Mr. Johnson both declined to be interviewed.

In light of the turmoil, Sears's 2.0 venture is now among the most closely watched in the industry. The outcome, say analysts, could also be a matter of life or death for the Hoffman Estates, Ill., company.

"When I walk through Sears, I feel I have to hold my nose sometimes. But if I know they have the lowest price because I researched it online, I will go, and others will too," says Love Goel, the head of retail private-equity firm GVG Capital Group. "The question is whether there is time to grow the online business while the knife on the stores is falling."

Sears executives say that the online business has increased by double digits in the past two years. It notched an estimated $2.7 billion in 2008, about 6% of total company sales—more than Wal-Mart's $1.7 billion, according to trade publication Internet Retailer. During the critical 2009 shopping month of November, unique visitors to Sears.com and Kmart.com grew by 22% and 42% respectively, according to Compete Inc.

Most traditional merchants, including Sears, first launched their e-commerce efforts about a decade ago. But many initially managed online and offline branches as separate channels competing for the same customers, including Kmart, which operated a side venture called Bluelight.com.

The emphasis has shifted under Mr. Lampert. Known for ruminating over every expense, he is loath to pour money into Sears's crumbling stores, say people familiar with his thinking. He is far more bullish on Web ventures, with their small capital requirements and vast potential audiences. While e-commerce represents between 5% and 7% of U.S. retail today, many in the industry believe the figure might grow to be as high as 20%.

"If they can do this right, it may save the company," says Maggie Gilliam, president of the retail consulting firm Gilliam & Co. "There is a sea change happening in retail right now and it is not clear what stores are going to look like in 10 years, so why spend money now? It may make sense for some companies, like Wal-Mart, as a defensive posture, but that is not the position Sears is in."

On a recent morning at the flagship Sears in downtown Chicago, the youthful, caffeine-fueled team of e-commerce designers and engineers was abuzz. Among their latest projects: mobile applications that tap into smart-phone global-positioning systems and offer customers merchandise based on their location: Yankees sweat shirts in New York, Dodgers caps in Los Angeles.

To test their phone creations, the engineers descend into the department store with handsets and grab customers in the aisles. To obtain feedback on Web sites, workers take shoppers upstairs to a small laboratory that resembles a recording studio.

Inside, testers sit across a plate-glass window from the subjects and speak to them via microphone while a camera watches their eyes wander the computer screen. A recent quiz gauges shopper reaction to a new application that lets people check out shoes from every angle.

"We are not batting a thousand. There are failed apps," says Tom Emmons, a former programmer for the Orbitz.com travel site who spearheads Sears's mobile e-commerce team. "But we are being asked to take risks, and we're taking them...If you look at the demographics of our shoppers and iPhone apps, there doesn't appear to be a lot of overlap. But people use this stuff."

To Mr. Emmons's surprise, Sears customers are buying things like lawn tractors on their iPhones as well as electronics and clothes, suggesting a potential audience broader than foreseen.
Sears has also been tapping into the power of social-networking sites as a way to drive sales and win customer loyalty. With the help of industry veterans at a Chicago company called Viewpoints Network, in the spring it launched sites called MySears.com and MyKmart.com. Combined, the sites now have 400,000 registered users.

Members can sign into the sites with their Facebook accounts to ask questions about products and review them. Company employees monitor the conversations to stay abreast of complaints and customer-service problems.

"You can quantify the value of the insights customers bring," says Viewpoints CEO Matt Moog. "If consumers are rating products very low consistently, that would trigger the merchandise person to talk to the manufacturer—and reduce returns."

The appeal of e-tailing is ultimately about scale. Amazon.com Inc., the largest online retailer, has managed to post record revenue in recent quarters, owing to a growing customer base and the efficiency of not having any physical stores.

To that end, Sears took a page from Amazon and eBay Inc. by creating the Sears Marketplace. Ramped up last July, the Marketplace lists items from other sellers on its Web pages in exchange for a cut of sales. For every purchase made through one of its new retail partners, Sears collects a commission of 7% to 20%. Thanks to the partnership, Sears said last week that its total online merchandise assortment now tops 10 million items. Other retailers, including Wal-Mart, are building similar marketplaces.

Despite its seeming advantages, the marketplace concept carries its own set of potential risks.

Jack Sheng is the CEO of eForCity Corp. which sells millions of electronics accessories through its own Web site as well as eBay and Amazon's marketplaces. As these online forums expand, he worries about oversaturation, and how Sears and others might emphasize competitors' offerings over his. "If we simply throw all the products at all marketplaces, will it dilute our own direct channels or will it bring in incremental sales, which we love?"

The marketplace is one of several ideas borrowed from e-commerce thought leaders. A new iPhone app, called Sears Personal Shopper, allows customers to photograph a passerby's shoes or other objects of desire and dispatch images to workers who can track them down for sale. Amazon launched a similar app in 2008.

The MyGofer concept is also a bit of a retread. As early as the 1960s, Service Merchandise allowed customers to browse items from catalogs and collect their items at pickup sites much in the same way. Wal-Mart is currently testing its own drive-through for online orders in Mount Prospect, Ill.—less than an hour from Sears's first pilot in Joliet, Ill.

MyGofer, though, is as much a rebranding effort as a sales tool. Moms in sport-utility vehicles pull up to kiosks to swipe their credit cards then wait while workers resembling hamburger-stand carhops bring out the goods they ordered earlier online. There's not a mention of Sears or Kmart in sight. Most of the old retail space has been converted into a warehouse. Hardly anyone steps inside.

Some retail experts have reacted with skepticism. Mara Devitt, a partner at Chicago based consulting firm McMillan Doolittle, thinks it is wise for Sears to try selling under new marquee names. But she tried MyGofer twice and left disappointed after finding the drive-through terminal broken. The MyGofer Web site was also replete with "rookie" mistakes, she said, such as failing to tell shoppers how much they were saving with promotions.

Still, efforts such as MyGofer represent a potential endgame for Sears, which confronts the big hurdle of transforming its real-estate holdings in second-tier malls and downtowns throughout the U.S.

Retail analysts estimate that Sears is operating at least 400 money-losing stores that it cannot afford to close because the short-term costs would exceed the savings.

To help spread the word about MyGofer, workers known as "guides" have been dropping by day-care centers and community events in hopes of building an organic following. But as employees stood outside the bright green MyGofer facade in Joliet recently, beckoning passersby, some people seemed confused.

"I didn't even know what it was until someone told me," said Megan Diaz, who headed for a Target store instead. Asked whether she would ever consider the newest incarnation of Sears, the 21-year-old student at Joliet Junior College replied, "I don't really shop at those stores."

Source:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108611/sears-scrambles-online-for-a-lifeline

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Dustin's Commentary http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com

I don't feel that bad for Sears and the current state that their business is in. I have a close relative who worked at Sears part-time as a cashier. I also have another family member who worked at Wal-Mart as a cashier part-time.

The relative who worked at Wal-Mart part-time earned approximately $8.49 an hour and was only responsible for tending to the cash register. As far as experience goes, Wal-Mart is this person’s very first and only job.

The relative who works at Sears as a cashier earns only $7.90 per hour. This person has previous cashiering and retail experience and at Sears is responsible for not only cashiering but also for folding clothes and preparing the store for closing. This person has more responsibility, has more experience and earns less than the employee who has no experience working at Walmart who is only responsible for cashiering.

As you are already aware, Wal-Mart doesn’t have a very good reputation for treating its employees well and is regarded as a lower class retailer by many people. Sears has a reputation for being regarded as a very classy place to shop and the consumer who shops at Sears is usually not the same as the consumer who shops at Wal-Mart for this reason.

I asked Sears by written letter why their company requires their employees to do more yet pays its employees less than Wal-Mart especially when one would expect Wal-Mart to operate in that manner, not Sears. I never heard back from Sears concerning that matter.

In my opinion the corporate suites ran out good management, they encourage high employee turnover which costs the company money and they pay less than WalMart. Lets not forget to mention that Sears prices are on the high side. This said, the company has no one to blame but themselves- and if they actually took better care of their employees, offered reasonable prices and ran better sales the company would be in better shape.

Sears should have been doing more to promote their business online in the first place, rather than waiting until they hit rock bottom and then deciding to do something about it... this is what happens when employees have no personal interest in the company's success or failure; and when corporations are too big to adequately and reasonably control.

Study Says 2 Sodas Per Week Raises Pancreatic Cancer Risk; Beverage Industry Says Study Is Flawed

2010-03-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

Date: Mon, Feb 8th, 2010

By Dustin Drorbaugh http://www.DustinDrorbaugh.com

I was reading this article on WebMD about Pancreatic Cancer being linked to soda-pop type beverages and it really got me thinking... when is enough evidence actually "enough" evidence to prove that soda actually DOES cause pancreatic cancer? Of course the beverage industry is ALWAYS going to say the study is flawed. When ISNT it a flaw? When IS IT a FACT? This is true of anything I suppose- they still can't figure out if global warming is fact or fiction; although I'm sure anyone with common sense can figure that one out.

The beverage industry is going to try to do everything in their power to make you believe that the doctors don't know what their talking about in order to ... SELL more product. It's time each industry step up to the plate and take responsibility for the products they sell and their ill-willed side-effects, not just their selling points.

No one is safe. The government should be watching out for the safety of your health by regulating these types of things to prevent an industry from flat-out lying to you to make a sale; and yes you the consumer should be smarter about the food you shove in your face... but it all boils down to this:

If there was enough hard-core, solid, non-disputable evidence that soda was linked to Pancreatic Cancer would the beverage industry ever go along with it? Or would they fight it tooth and nail? Say it does, then they could take steps and come out with new (even better) beverages that don't cause Pancreatic Cancer. I'm betting that since they have an agenda - they'd probably shill out millions of dollars to keep you thinking that soda is harmless so you'll keep buying it.

This leads to another question... the government wants your tax dollars right? So wouldn't the government have a vested interest in keeping you alive longer so you can pay them more in taxes? I would think this would be the case but they overlook a lot... they allow these types of things to go on; thereby killing hundreds, thousands and over the years millions of taxpayers.

I just want to know the truth...

Here's the article:

Study Says 2 Sodas Per Week Raises Pancreatic Cancer Risk; Beverage Industry Says Study Is Flawed

By Kathleen Doheny, WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Feb. 8, 2010 -- Drinking as little as two soft drinks a week appears to nearly double the risk of getting pancreatic cancer, according to a new study.

''People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk -- or nearly twice the risk -- of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks," says study lead author Noel T. Mueller, MPH, a research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. The study is published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The beverage industry took strong exception to the study, calling it flawed and pointing to other research that has found no association between soda consumption and pancreatic cancer.

Cancer of the pancreas was diagnosed in about 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2009, according to American Cancer Society estimates, and about 35,240 deaths from the disease were expected. The pancreas lies behind the stomach. It makes hormones such as insulin to balance sugar in the blood and produces juices with enzymes to help break down fats and protein in foods.

Sodas and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Study Details
Previous studies have produced mixed conclusions about whether consumption of soft drinks boosts the risk of pancreatic cancer.

So Mueller and his colleagues evaluated 60,524 men and women enrolled in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, begun in 1993, for up to 14 years, looking at their diet and whether they got cancer.

They asked all participants about food intake, including sodas and juices. Mueller says the researchers didn't ask specifically about diet soda consumption, but that most of the soda drunk was regular or sweetened.

In Singapore at that time, Mueller says, there was very little intake of diet soda.

"We followed the participants for 14 plus years, keeping track of different cancers," he tells WebMD.

They found 140 cases of pancreatic cancer and looked back to see if there was an association with sodas or juices.

Sodas and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: Study Results
The researchers divided the consumption of sodas and juices into three categories: none, less than two servings a week, or two or more servings a week.

Those who drank two or more a week -- the average number was five -- had the 87% increased risk, Mueller tells WebMD.

No link was found between juices and pancreatic cancer risk.

Why the link with sugary sodas? Mueller says they are not certain. "What we believe is the sugar in the soft drinks is increasing the insulin level in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth. That increase in insulin is what may be leading to the development of the cancer."

His team adjusted for other risk factors, such as advancing age, smoking, diabetes, and body mass index. The risk for pancreatic cancer rises with age.

Sodas and Pancreatic Cancer: Industry and Other Views
The beverage industry protested the results. ''The study has a lot of weaknesses in it," Richard Adamson, PhD, scientific consultant for the American Beverage Association in Washington, D.C., tells WebMD.

One example, he says, are the small numbers of pancreatic cancer cases. He points out that of the 140 cases, 110 of those people did not drink sodas, while 12 had less than two servings a week, and 18 had two or more servings a week.

''It has a small number of pancreatic cancer cases compared to the population studied," he tells WebMD.

Other studies have found no link, he tells WebMD.

In a statement attributed to Adamson, the American Beverage Association points to a 2008 study finding no such link. It also takes exception to the focus on soft drinks rather than overall dietary patterns.

''You can be a healthy person and enjoy soft drinks," the statement reads.

Susan Mayne, PhD, associate director of the Yale Cancer Center and professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, called the study results ''intriguing" in a statement but cautioned that the study finding was based on a relatively small number of cases and does not prove cause and effect. She is an editorial board member of the journal. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Even though the new study has limitations, the findings do echo those of previous studies, says Laurence N. Kolonel, MD, PhD, a researcher at the Cancer Research Center and professor of public health at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. With his colleagues, he evaluated the association between added sugars in the diet and pancreatic cancer risk, publishing the findings in 2007. “In our study, we found a positive association between high intake of fructose and pancreatic cancer,” he tells WebMD. “Since high-fructose corn syrup is the main sweetener in non-diet soft drinks, our findings and those of the present study are quite consistent.”

Source: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/news/20100208/pancreatic-cancer-linked-sodas