Bacon’s posted an interesting article this month on how to handle a media interview. This can be a daunting thing for someone new to interviews. No one is more of an expert than you will be when it comes to talking about your work or organization, but not everyone feels comfortable talking to the press right away, and if you’re new to it, you may not know how to handle a tough question or how to steer the interview in the direction you’d like.

Two key points from the article:
1) Understand that you’re “being interviewed for a bigger purpose: perspective and a broader view… find a way to speak about the bigger picture regarding the issue or the event; as an expert, an observer or a participant.” Providing real expertise and relevance to the broader view gives you a better chance of not being cut out of the final piece.

2) “Remember the ‘mass’ in mass media by making a message as accessible as possible to the greatest number of people without jargon, slang or ‘inside language.’” This is particularly appropriate for many of the performers, musicians, and artists we work with. It’s easy to launch into references that have been swimming around in your head as you created your work, but don’t assume the press - and the public - will know anything about the obscure playwright or the dominant 7th chord you just have to talk about. Don’t forget to help people catch up. There IS a difference between dumbing yourself down for an interview and considering the audience. I’m a firm believer in sticking with your style and principals, but if you can draw people into your world rather than close the door with too much “inside language,” you’ll find a stronger response to your press coverage.
Read Media Tips for Preparing the Novice here.

As some of you know, we’ve been volunteering with Girls Rock Philly, the organization working to bring the only rock camp for girls to Philly this summer. We’ll be holding our second fundraising event, Cold Rock The Auction Block, on Friday, April 6^th at 6:00 p.m. at F.U.E.L., located at 249 Arch Street (at 3^rd Street). It’s free and all ages! This is going to be a killer event with a slew of amazing items in a silent auction, plus music from Rarebirds, Amy Pickard, Allison Polans & Friends, Monarch (members of Relay & Aquila Rose), and DJs Dana Bitetti and Jill Carius.

Don’t miss your chance to snatch up some of these cool items (and help a great cause while you’re at it!): The Police sold-out concert at Citizens Bank Park; VIP tickets to a taping of The Colbert Report; Phillies tickets; tickets to Pig Iron Theatre Company’s newest production, Chekhov Lizardbrain; signed copies ofCinderella’s Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground by music journalist Maria Raha; an autographed Cat Power CD; an exclusive sneak preview performance for an audience of three of Kate Watson-Wallace’s newest site-specific work, Car; a gift basket of fine wines; gift certificates from Ultra Salon; and a speech and language evaluation for a child.

We hope to see you all there!

I grew up in Philadelphia and remember going to The Rosenbach Museum & Library (one of Canary’s newest clients) many, many moons ago on a school trip. To my young eyes, the building itself was sort of magical - the museum is housed in a historic old house in the Rittenhouse district. After reading up on the museum’s current collection, I’ll definitely have to take another look-see. For all of you literary types, the Rosenbach is home to one of the nation’s great collections of rare books and manuscripts and also serves as a research center and library. Somehow, the museum got their hands on some pretty cool personal items belonging to Nathaniel Hawthorne including his copy of Moby Dick (I wonder if he marked any specific passages…) They also have James Joyce’s original manuscript for Ulysses and even Melville’s bookcase.

For the imaginative visual types, the museum boasts a selection of John Tenniel’s original illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Look-Glass. I always found Tenniel’s drawings to be very intricate and full of wonderment. I’m really looking forward to seeing those in the flesh. Also on the illustration side, are over 10,000 drawings and manuscripts by Maurice Sendak. I remember reading his books as a child and loving the drawings. In the Night Kitchen was my favorite and of course, everyone loves Where the Wild Things Are. If you were ever wondering where the wild things actually are, now you know – they’re at the Rosenbach! Now that Canary is working with the museum, I’ll definitely have to check out more of their extensive collection. Oh, and just so you’re in the know, it’s not RosenBACH like the composer but RosenBACK, like well your back.

The official Chekhov Lizardbrain website is now up and running at www.LizardbrainThePlay.com.  Learn more about Pig Iron Theatre Company’s newest production, and take the “brain quiz” to find out what kind of brain you are.  (I’m human brained, but with some serious dog brain tendancies.)  You can also post your results on Pig Iron’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/pitc.

I’m heading off to Austin this Friday for SXSW Interactive. Megan will be staying behind to keep us in business, so I’ll be messing with Texas solo. So if you see a dude drunk with freedom… that won’t be me. I’m more likely to lose my confidence without my better half. I’m going to try to be as sociable as possible but all this coding has gotten me out of practice. I’ll have to draw on all my former rock god powers to be the charming extrovert I need to be.

I’m going to hit up as many coding, entrepreneurial, and design sessions as I can, and hit all the parties I can worm my way into. So if you see this guy come on over and say hi.

Lately, Anton Chekhov, the Russian dramatist and doctor famed for his masterful short stories, seems to be popping up all over Philadelphia. Both Villanova University and Arcadia University recently did productions of Chekhov’s play, Three Sisters. Now Pig Iron Theatre Company, the latest addition to Canary’s roster, is gearing up to present the world premiere of their new work, CHEKHOV LIZARDBRAIN, in late March. The play, which draws from the work of Paul D. MacLean (the mind behind the triune brain theory) and Chekhov’s Three Sisters, is a comic mash-up of neuroscience and surrealism. Sounds like the thinking man’s comedy, no?

I remember reading a Chekhov short in a Russian Cinema course a few years ago, but I’ve never read his work extensively. It’s looking like I’ll have to join the Chekhov bandwagon before I get left in the literary dust. Yesterday, I was paging through a January edition of Time Magazine and came across Lev Grossman’s review of J. Peder Zane’s The Top 10, which is basically the ultimate reading list guide created by some of the greatest living authors around. Zane asked the likes of Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Michael Chabon and over 100 other celebrated writers to weigh in on their favorites. Time Magazine printed the “all-time, ultimate Top Top 10 list” derived from the lists of all the writers combined and guess who showed up at #9? Anton Chekhov of course, with The Stories of Anton Chekhov. Looks like I’ll have to add him to my reading list for sure. Perhaps he’ll even sneak into my Top 10.