The Voice of Germany: Two Weeks After
It’s been two weeks now since my departure from the casting show “The Voice Of Germany”, and a lot has gone through my mind in that time. I’ve gone through many different stages of dealing with the situation: denial, sadness, anger, depression, and acceptance, all finally helping me come to the conclusion that maybe it wasn’t meant to be after all. Strangely, it was this conclusion that lead me recently to revisit one of those stages: the anger stage. Here’s why. I’ve been trying to break into the German music scene since 1989. The main reason I came back to Germany was to persue my dream of being in the music business and becoming a star. I have done everything one could possibly do to break into the business. I’ve...
Weekend Recap: Operation Wildfire
This turned out to be an extremely eventful week, not only because of the long-awaited release of my new album, but also because I learned a lesson on just how powerful (and intimidating) social networking can really be, and how difficult it is to “sell” yourself online. I’ve always been fascinated by how people use social networks to get attention and build awareness. Although I’ve been part of the “social web” since 2006 (when I created my first MySpace profile), I never really “got” social networking; especially the concept of taking something viral. As a musician, I understood that I needed the Web nowadays to make a name for myself, but I never understood how, nor did I realize how much time and effort went into making that possible....
2009: What I Learned, What’s Ahead in 2010
2009 was an interesting year in many ways, especially in the worlds of politics and entertainment (my two favorite subjects). We witnessed the passing of entertainment legends like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze and Les Paul; the resurgence of Jay-Z and dance music; the rise of Lady Gaga and the fall of Tiger Woods; iPhone, Facebook and Twitter mania; the rise of the internet as a primary news source coinciding with the rapid decline of newspapers and print publications. America witnessed it’s first year with a black president, followed by an unprecedented effort to discredit, demean and delegitimize him from the political right-wing. Revolution in Iran, pirates in Somalia, diplomacy at work in North Korea, a global recession and an escalation...
Smartphones: 21st century Tamagotschis?
If I ever needed proof that the smartphone is quickly becoming the 21st century’s version of the Tamagotchi (those widely popular and extremely annoying “digital pets” from the 90′s), I found it on Saturday while waiting to catch my train back home. On a beautiful, warm, bright Saturday morning, I was shocked and intrigued by just how many people I witnessed (myself included) hunched over, faces buried in the tiny screens occupying the palms of their hands. Based on my very unscientific observations, it’s quite easy to tell which type of current smartphone people are using: - If they’re hunched over while flicking with their left or right index finger in different directions, or sporadically rocking from side to side or forwards and...
