Free. Jazz. (or, Sidney & her man Clovis)

May I suggest that you set aside an hour before clicking through to listen to Jason Moran's amazing (and free!) "Live: Time On The Quilts Of Gee's Bend" Suite?

From the NPR website:

Jason Moran, composer and piano
Alicia Hall Moran, vocals
Bill Frisell, guitar
Tarus Mateen, bass
Nasheet Waits, drums

"Disruption is overrated."

"'Disruption is overrated,' [Stone] said. 'If you tell good stories, the platforms are sort of beside the point. We made the most analog thing you can think of, a play at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, and it worked out as well as anything we have ever done.'"

-Matt Stone, quoted by David Carr today in the NewYork Times.

"Good morning Baltimore! Every day's like an open door."

"My ma tells me no 
   but my feet tell me go!"

-from "Hairspray"'s opening song "Good Morning Baltimore!"


Tickets are still available for "Hairspray in Concert" narrated by Mr. John Waters with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Meyerhoff Hall, Baltimore, tonight and tomorrow night, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees. Saw the world premier last night at Strathmore; laughed so hard I cried. And how often does that happen at the symphony?


From the BSO website:

Jack Everly, conductor
John Waters, narrator (BSO debut)
Micky Dolenz, Wilbur Turnblad
Beth Leavel, Velma von Tussle
Paul Vogt, Edna Turnblad
Featuring:
Marissa Perry as "Tracy Turnblad"
Julie Kavanagh as "Penny Pingleton"
Nick Adams as "Link Larkin"
Rhiannon Hansen as "Amber von Tussle"
NaTasha Williams as "Motormouth Maybelle"
Marcus Terell as "Seaweed J. Stubbs"
Bret Shuford as "Corny Collins"
Alix Korey as "Female Authority Figure"
Chris Briante as "Male Authority Figure"
Also with: The Divas of Song (Natalie Renee, Nikki Stephenson, and Melissa VanPelt) as "The Dynamites."

Benefits of Building a Narrative Organization

Increasingly, I am working with both for- and non-profit organizations to build narrative organizations. In a narrative organization, brand identity is clear and appealing; audiences are quickly and sustainably engaged; leaders appreciate and strategically share stories; and knowledge is easily gathered and shared. The Stanford Social Innovation Review just published my essay on the benefits of building a narrative organization.

Mark Trail, gunshot victim.

Mark Trail has been shot. While we will continue to monitor the situation, we take comfort from the popular-entertainment convention that titular characters are never killed. For instance, in the old Batman TV series, when some villain had Batman dangling by a rope over a vat of deadly acid, what would happen if he fell in -- would the show then be renamed "Mourning Becomes Robin"?

____

[With apologies to Eugene O'Neill.]

On reductionism.

The Narrative Organization

Within an organization, story can be a useful tool for:

• Leadership
• Knowledge Sharing
• Advocacy
• Fundraising
• Sales
• Change Initiatives
• Branding
• Project Evaluation
• Product Introduction
• Values Transmission
• Conquering Complexity
• Communicating Vision
• Understanding History

This list is by no means exhaustive.