Liz Burr

The time has finally come--GRAMMY festivities are in full swing for me and my fellow Community Blogging comrades. My schedule is about to get pretty crazy between now and Sunday night. I just wanted to invite you all to follow me on Twitter as I cover some GRAMMY events (official and unofficial) this weekend. Some events I will attending:

• The GRAMMY Foundation's 12th Annual Entertainment Law Initiative Luncheon featuring Sen. Barbara Boxer as the keynote speaker
• Social Media Rock Star Summit: a panel featuring Jared Leto, David Karp, Kevin Rose, Pete Cashmore moderated by Rick Sanchez at the GRAMMY museum
  
• Rehearsals at the Staples Center
• Pre-telecast Ceremony at the Staples Center
  
• The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards (I'll either be in the audience or backstage!)
• The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards After Party

I'll be at some other events and receptions thrown in between there. I'll definitely be tweeting and blogging, among other things between now and Sunday night. As always, you can follow the official GRAMMY Twitter stream at @TheGRAMMYs for the latest info.

Make sure you watch the GRAMMYs Live on CBS this Sunday, January 31st at 8 PM.

Lastly, check out this list of other GRAMMY Community Bloggers I stole from Fave's blog (love you Fave!):

Community Bloggers

Arjan Writes (Pop)* [Website] [Twitter]
HardRockChick (Rock & Alternative)* [Website] [Twitter]
MissMusicNerd (Classical)* [Website] [Twitter]
SoulBounce (Blog-at-Large)* [Website] [Twitter]
LIz Burr (Blog-at-Large)* [Website] [Twitter]
Dance Blogga (Dance)* [Website] [Twitter]
Folk-Blog (Folk) [Website] [Twitter]
MrFresh (Jazz) [Website] [Twitter]
EJ Flavors (R&B) [Website] [Twitter]
Macedonia (World) [Website] [Twitter]
DarrenKeith (Gospel) [Website] [Twitter]

*will be tweeting from L.A. this weekend

Check out their blogs and twitter streams for more info on what's going on with The GRAMMYs too!

My first piece for GRAMMY.com was posted on Friday! You can read it here: 10 Ways The GRAMMYs Are Taking Over The Social Web. It may or may not sound a bit over-indulgent, but I truly was impressed with all the social and digital initiatives the Recording Academy has produced. I spent an afternoon earlier this month talking with their CMO and VP of Digital as well as a few others, and I was impressed at how much everyone worked as a team to achieve social media and digital zen for this year's awards.

In my previous experience I found that usually a company's digital team is ahead of the social media curve (natch), but when it comes to pushing the social media envelope, they have a difficult time getting other departments on board (content, marketing, fundraising/advancement if it's a nonprofit). That's part of why I left my previous positions--I disliked having to convince someone that social media was an important tool, and most of my conversations started with, "This is Facebook...." instead of "We should do XYZ on Facebook and ABC on Twitter." Most of my time was spent defining Facebook, rather than telling people what to do with Facebook. I didn't have the patience, honey!  Sure, you can build all the tools you want, but you need support from other parts of the organization in order to be creative with the tools you've built. Convincing people to buy in to social media was my most frustrating role as a social media guru.  You can't really push the envelope in social media if the people you work with don't know what it is, and don't want to care (yet they have to sign off on all your projects!).To be fair, perhaps 5 years ago I really was ahead of the curve, but now everyone is finally turning the corner. Sometimes I think going back into the workforce might be less frustrating for me now that most business people at least know that Twitter and Facebook exist, and have some experience with it.

All that to say, I really appreciated how the Recording Academy appeared to be supportive in their social media/digital efforts, particularly because they are a non-profit organization (non-profits have a huge set of obstacles different from for-profit entities), they've improved 1000% over the previous year (even though last year they were on Twitter), and they have managed to overcome the sticky song-and-dance of the entertainment/broadcast world (artist rights and licensing make it extremely difficult to be creative with the content of your social media projects). That's a huge undertaking, and they've done well. I'll be writing more over at GRAMMY.com as well as attending several GRAMMY events this week. My schedule is insane!

I am too busy to keep up with myself, but I thought I would drop a line to tell you all about an exciting opportunity that I have been keeping under wraps: I am a GRAMMY.com Community Blogger for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards! For the last few months (while in LA) I have been visiting with the fine folks over at the Recording Academy, learning about the digital campaigns they have planned for this year's GRAMMY awards. The Recording Academy has tapped a handful of awesome music bloggers to write about their subject of expertise for GRAMMY.com. While I am not a music blogger (though I blog about music occasionally), I have been designated as a Blogger At Large, which means I will be covering the larger topics of social media, digital strategy and new media as they apply to the GRAMMYs.

Sooo....what does all of this mean, exactly? Well, I'll be contributing original content to GRAMMY.com, and I'll be attending and covering select GRAMMY events, especially the ceremony on Sunday, January 31. I have to say I am both honored and excited about this opportunity! Not only do I get a chance to nerd out on all the digital stuff the Recording Academy has going on, but I will finally get to meet some of my favorite music bloggers, who are also apart of the Community Blogging program. It's a 2-for-1!

Anyway, expect to see a few posts here about the GRAMMYs, and be on the lookout for my original pieces on the GRAMMY.com Blogs section. I'll be back in LA on Saturday prepping and getting ready to be in full-swing GRAMMY mode. If you'll be going to any GRAMMY events, give me a heads up so we can connect!

I know it's been a while since I last blogged, especially regularly. Most of that has to do with my bright idea that I would wait for the new Movable Type 5 to be released so I could have an excuse to migrate my blog to a new directory (which I did) and set up a new installation of MT. My old installation appeared to be moving pretty slow, and I just wasn't happy with everything. Anyway, pardon my dust. I did some mod_rewrites of my old URLs, so hopefully everything should be in order. I still have some things to add to the site, but I will fix those later today.

As for me, I literally spent two months in LA (mid Nov - mid Jan) because I was hiding from the weather. I cannot stress how much I do not like snow. I've been back in NYC for a week now, and so far we are in the extremely warm (for winter) temps of the mid-40s. Break out the tank tops and shorts. Never one to stick around for possible snow happenings, I am on my way back to LA this weekend for some fun in the sun, medical appointments, and hopefully a week or so in San Francisco with one of my best girlfriends from college. Yes, running your own business online affords you the comfort of last minute, flexible (and cheap) flying, as well as the opportunity to work from anywhere with an internet connection.

I have some exciting things coming up, which I will be writing about later on this week (or later today). More, soon...

I've been quiet on the blogging front because so much is going on, yet nothing is going on. All at the same time.

I've been in LA since mid-November, and have no plans to return to NYC until January. I know. Who does that? All that precious rent money in Manhattan going to keeping my messy bedroom warm. I told ya'll I hate cold weather. The good thing is my friends seem to be using my apartment while I'm out. Living in Manhattan means most people want to come stay with you (or at your place in your absence) due to your location to the City. I'm always opening my home to my friends when I can (as does my roommate). Somebody might as well enjoy the fruits of my labor if I can't.

Can I tell you how happy I am to be in LA? I see the sun everyday at home! The Target stores are all neat and fully stocked! There's no long ridiculous line at Whole Foods! I can drive anywhere I need to at a moment's notice! I have a car to fill up with all my shopping bounty! I'm wearing flipflops in December! I don't have to buy a whole new wardrobe just to get through 4 months of life! I'm pondering why it is I moved from this place. I miss it. Sigh.

You know what I noticed? Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" is somewhat meaningless when  you're not in NY. When it comes on the radio in LA, I am not excited. I am not pumped. I am not loving NY. I am loving my flipflops in December! But in NY, this song is the best walking-through-the-city soundtrack. It's the best song to sing to in the club. I feel like I've bought into the hype I always knew existed: New York is the greatest to only those who live there. I suppose New Yorkers have to stay positive when the sun hides behind skyscrapers, and the  City doesn't have the convenience of fully-stocked, neat Target stores nearby. 

As another year closes, I am yet again reevaluating the meaning of life, and what it is I'm doing with myself (my year-end emo state of mind). I do this throughout the year, but the end of the year and the holidays forces me to really inspect everything. I'm sure I will come up with something interesting to do in 2010!

Shonda Rhimes, on TV and instant internet culture (emphasis mine):

TVGuide.com: Let's talk about TV coverage on the Internet. What do you think about this instant feedback culture? Does it influence you?
Rhimes: I think for a long time we'd really try to stay here in the bubble. ... It's only really lately and with the advent of Twitter that I've actually been paying a little more attention to what's written. But to stay creative, you can't get too emotionally involved in people saying they love something and you can't get too emotionally involved in people saying they hate something.

I think Rhimes' assessment is interesting. I often wonder if  celebrities active on Twitter get bruised egos due to the hurtful things said to them via Twitter mentions, and if that affects their creativity. In my own (extremely!) minute micro-celebrity I find that both the cheers and jeers throw me off sometimes, shutting down my motivation to create. Feedback is great, but sometimes internet feedback takes on a life of its own and begins to influence and drive the creative process if you let it get out of control. My version of 'staying in a bubble' entails shutting down shop completely.

Maybe I should look into a different model. 

I've been writing for the web as a blogger since before it was called blogging, and yet....I don't blog regularly. In fact, I stopped blogging regularly before blogging was the new black. 

I had a long post written about my thoughts on blogging, and how I came to be the way I am. But then it got complicated. I almost saved it as a draft.

I know better.

I have 17 drafts already saved on my blog. Saving an entry as a draft is its kiss of death.

So I am going to publish this entry, because I am through with drafting and not publishing.

There's always tomorrow.

It's not often I read anything said by Robert Scoble and agree with everything he has said 100%. I find I disagree with him more often than not, but usually that's somewhere in the Twittersphere or Friendfeed-ersphere. Either way, he's spot on with his post, The worst things startups do.

If you don't know who Scoble is, one thing you should know about him is that he talks to a lot of startups. Everytime I turn around he's talking to a startup CEO, CTO, visiting their offices, reviewing their products, etc. I have known Scoble to do this for years now. Anyway, from what I know as a consultant to startups, my academic training, and my observation of the industry over the last several years, Scoble's list is accurate. Literally every item on this list are rampant symptoms among dysfunctional startups. So. If you plan on launching a startup, or you have one and you're wondering why you've spent thousands of dollars and nobody is interested in your product, please review Scoble's list and make adjustments immediately. Your livelihood (and any good employees you've managed to lure in) are at stake.

It's been a rough couple of months.

I'm not sure where the time went, but I have allowed myself to enter a time warp working on a few projects, and in between I find time to do some traveling. Some might think I travel or vacation too much, but I truly do earn these vacations. Work hard, play hard--one of the great things I learned in undergrad (though there was little "playing" being done on my part while at MIT).

Anyway, I interrupt this time warp to say I am both excited and afraid to visit Chicago this week. Excited because I get to see my chapter sorors and celebrate birthdays and see my summer friends in Chicago. Best of all--I get to peel my behind off of my couch. (I still need to work on procuring some office furniture!). Of course, this means I will be planted on my line sister's couch this week, but any couch is better than mine. 

I am afraid of Chicago because of the cold.  As it is, your girl is having a hard time coping with the weather in Manhattan. I can't figure out if it's hot or cold on any given day, what degree of coldness it is and what to wear to accommodate the level of frío. I am always over or under-dressed for the temperature. I am not used to wearing layers and carrying around clothing too hot to wear because I might need to put it back on later in the day. It's ridiculous, all this thinking that goes into wardrobe! In LA, I choose my wardrobe by looking at the sky: if it's clear skies, then it's warm outside; if cloudy, then it's cold outside. See how simple that is?  I am thinking about boycotting the East Coast for the month of November.

Looking up flights to LA as we speak. I'll take the L on rent if I have to! 

Pray that Chicago takes it easy on me this week.

GuySpeak.com, a new website by WeTV, launched this week and my BFF Panama Jackson is one of its featured writers. P's character, or persona, is the "Girls' BFF," which is funny to me because that's exactly what he's been to me for the past several years. You can read his bio and archive on GuySpeak over here. If you've been keeping up, you know P from our blog VerySmartBrothas, or his throwback blog Jackson G Tickle.

I'm so proud of P for landing himself a writing gig on the web. It seems like it was just yesterday he was a hilarious stranger leaving silly comments on my lil ole blog. That was back in 2004, and he has grown so much since then.

Yes, I am proud. But I am more interested in making him work for the money, so go ask him your relationship-themed questions, stat!