While many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs were focusing their efforts on technology in the Silicon Valley 1970's, there was one man who had a different idea.

He thought pets were too much trouble and then died, so he thought he would offer people "Pet Rocks."


These rocks came with a 32 page user manual (which apparently had the initial printing tagged onto another client's order so they were not too expensive) and were carefully packaged in straw in a custom pet-like container.


For six months in 1975, these were all the rage and Gary became a millionaire.

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I've watched people get stupid movies made and sell them.  People get stupid music out there and sell it.

What Gary did was find some unique notion that he could identify with and then share it.  His notion was sort of an anti-pet stance something that you can't really talk about without causing trouble.  There was an audience.   What was key was simply that he made the item and packaged it and sold it.

I feel like most of the artists I know (including myself) have a hard time at the point of "Just make the rock."  Once you have your rock, you can sell your rock.  Until then, people don't know how to help you.  There are a lot more ways to sell rocks today than Gary had.

Sometimes people get stuck at the completion of the rock phase.  Sometimes people get stuck after completion with no energy left to market their rock.  If the rock doesn't have a 32 page booklet and a cool professionally labeled container - it's just a rock!   People won't get why it appeals to them.  They won't get your point of view. 

And, it's true, sometimes an idea, a movie, an album, is just not going to find an audience - just not the right time or it's just not good enough to resonate with an audience.  I remember fumbling through my mothers box of odds and ends and finding the "Up Indicator."  This was also created in silicon valley in the 70's.  It was a somewhat polished device which simply had a metal plate mounted on a small wood square dowel which was hinged do another piece of wood and the metal plate had an arrow pointing "up."   Of course, if you knocked it's on it's side, it wouldn't do anything but point sideways.  But the real problem was that there wasn't any resonance for people.  We're people really feeling like they were not sure which way was up?   Not really.  Not like the number of people who were feeling like pets were more trouble than they were worth (or, even more likely - friends who loved pets and were wanting to jibe their friends who did not.)   So resonating does matter.... not all "rocks" are created equal.   If you're not resonating, you move on to the next project...

...But remember that it is most imporantant to actually have a rock, because with no rock, there is nothing to offer anyone...   and once you do have your rock, you must leave some energy to make a nice package so people recognize how special your rock is.    Unless you can provide them with a perspective on what makes your rock unique and why it would resonate with them, it's just a rock.

"The Cosmos is Within Us"

I found this interesting because of how it converts the idea of science into a message through an artistic form.


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

what follows is the information from the youtube video including the lyrics:

MP3 available at http://www.symphonyofscience.com.

"We Are All Connected" was made from sampling Carl Sagan's Cosmos, The History Channel's Universe series, Richard Feynman's 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye's Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking's Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Check out "A Glorious Dawn" by Carl Sagan, another Symphony of Science project!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXG...

And my website for more original music:
http://www.colorpulsemusic.com

Click HQ to watch in better quality.

Enjoy!

John
john@symphonyofscience.com

Lyrics:

[deGrasse Tyson]
We are all connected;
To each other, biologically
To the earth, chemically
To the rest of the universe atomically

[Feynman]
I think nature's imagination
Is so much greater than man's
She's never going to let us relax

[Sagan]
We live in an in-between universe
Where things change all right
But according to patterns, rules,
Or as we call them, laws of nature

[Nye]
I'm this guy standing on a planet
Really I'm just a speck
Compared with a star, the planet is just another speck
To think about all of this
To think about the vast emptiness of space
There's billions and billions of stars
Billions and billions of specks

[Sagan]
The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it
But the way those atoms are put together
The cosmos is also within us
We're made of star stuff
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself

Across the sea of space
The stars are other suns
We have traveled this way before
And there is much to be learned

I find it elevating and exhilarating
To discover that we live in a universe
Which permits the evolution of molecular machines
As intricate and subtle as we

[deGrasse Tyson]
I know that the molecules in my body are traceable
To phenomena in the cosmos
That makes me want to grab people in the street
And say, have you heard this??

(Richard Feynman on hand drums and chanting)

[Feynman]
There's this tremendous mess
Of waves all over in space
Which is the light bouncing around the room
And going from one thing to the other

And it's all really there
But you gotta stop and think about it
About the complexity to really get the pleasure
And it's all really there
The inconceivable nature of nature

I've mentioned that my design company will often do concert screens.  It's an unusual but growing format.  Here is a sample from last night's CMA awards:

In 10 days a different performance for the same song will be on the AMA's and I will try to show a little bit of how these come together including how we use other artists like alivenotdead's own Asia Eng.


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re6n7_h7Qrc

If you've seen my blogs on music from stock charts and other experimental music inspirations, this post will come as no surprise... It's remarkable how melody just needs to find context.


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoT66v4EHg&feature=player_embedded

Sometimes... that's good to keep in mind when you feel as though you or your ideas don't fit in, you might just be looking to find context.