My good friend Dave ‘Click’ Cox hipped me to these cats. They’re from Toronto. Keys N Krates.

They created a holiday jam- it’s catching on and buzzing. In fact before I let you see that here’s something else– ‘All Night Long’ at Livestock Blockparty in Vancouver.

They have a W.Coast Canadian tour lined up and a few dates in NY including the Urb Magazine Holiday party on Monday at 205 Club. Going to be bananas….

December 29th at SOB’s w/ Questlove.

Jan 31st- Crooked Disco Party at Public Assembly.

They’re blowing up. KeysNKrates

So there’s a new awards show  coming up in honor of the best Twitterers. I love tweeting.     It’s called  Shorty Awards.

It’s founded and created for bloggers/writers of short content.  The best  short content and the winners are::::::::

It’s interesting because we’re all content providers in this day and age and in the social media space.  Whether it’s a comment on facebook, tags on blogs or chat room participation, posting really anywhere creates content….So many folks have blogs now.    I almost wish I started The Bloom Blog 3 years ago but I still feel ahead of the curve and coming up in the game because I’ve been doing email blasts and building a viable network since 1996.  That’s when I first starting doing email blasts-   I’ve done over 2500 email blasts- wow just did the math!!!

Of course there are tweets out there who have done 10,000 updates but these are 120 characters or less- very different from my several paragraphs that  takes me 4 hours on average to create news blasts…..

I’ve done over 200 updates on Twitter and have over 500 followers and I’m following 52….I’m off to a great start considering I’ve been active on Twitter about 2 months….

So these Shorty Awards are Brilliant!!!    Of course the competition is fierce as everyone can possibly be up for it as long as they’re online ranting somewhere or posting…..So how do you stand out and apart from the rest????

The Best Producers of Short Content…..You can nominate anyone in any of their categories and nominations must all be received by December 31st.

The Black Tie Awards show will be held in some prestigious cool NY venue end of January…

Shorty Awards are produced by Sawhorse Media.

In fact-  I’ve been nominated- I have a long way to go in terms of collecting a list as some folks have well over 300 votes…Hey-  I’d like to aspire to winning one next year!

Please vote for me though- I’d really appreciate it.    Fiona Bloom

What can I say……I love being a TWEET.    You can find more info on Shorty or follow Shorty Awards.

These come a little randomnly but always look forward to….Dred Scott-  Here’s his post.

my dad died last summer.  not a big shocker - he was 89 and had
advanced alzheimer’s.  while i was not sad for the loss (he had been
lost to me for at least a couple of years), as time passed i came to
reflect on the idea of passing on and the concept of  cycles and how
they repeat themselves over and over.  and to think about him and our
relationship.  it can be a small feeling to think of yourself as alone
or insignificant.  i have been very lucky in that regard (most
regards, actually).  and i have my family to thank for my sense of
self.  and selves.  so here are a few anecdotes about growing up with
my dad.

my earliest memory is of the spanking i got for directly disobeying
dad and riding along with tom on his paper route early one morning.
my brother knew i would get in trouble but i suspect he thought he
could get finished sooner dragging me behind him in the wagon as i
kneeled there and chucked the papers up toward the stoops.  it was
snowing heavily and most of the papers wound up buried in the front
yard or in a bush.  i wasn’t much of a shot but earlier tom had
encouraged me by telling me to be my own man and to not be afraid of
what the old man might do to me.  besides if i practiced, my aim would
improve and we could vie for the championship of the free world land
speed paper route record.  i was five.  when dad was finished spanking
me he told me not to listen to tom.

about the same time i have a memory of looking out mom and dad’s
second story bedroom window on to the street below and seeing the
silhouette of dad walking away in the pre dawn light clad in his
raincoat and fedora.

when i was 13, dad was fixing a bike i had been trying to fix but had
made more irrepairable in the process.  as he was trying to loosen a
bolt under the seat the wrench slipped and he smashed his knuckles on
the frame. shouted at me,
‘why did you have to fuck with the fucking thing in the first place?’

dad used to take me fishing in the trout streams of rural missouri.  i
know now he figured that it might be something we could do together.
so we got into it.  learning to tie our own flies.  getting polaroid
sunglasses to see the fish better.  trying waders but deciding
together it was more fun hiking along the bank looking for cool spots
than standing waste deep in the freezing river.  the best part was
taking our fish to the lodge where they would prepare it for you.  dad
would have a scotch before dinner and i would have a shirley temple.

(more…)

Yes indeed- this is the first of many I’m sure hot holiday mix cd’s from one of my business partners.   A design firm I work with.  7One8. They pimp out profile pages, create fresh html templates, email blast designs, websites and blogs.  In fact-  they designed the layout for The Bloom Blog. You like?     I have also sent a ton of business to them.  I refer so many companies/brands to them and so far everyone’s happy…So for this holiday season they decided to give thanks and acknowledging their clients by creating a fun and groovy mix.  One of my artists is on it.  Dirty Fuzz

It’s an eclectic mix of Rock and Club/Hip Hop and dance tracks.  Everyone from Game Rebellion, Jaiden, Dirty Elegance, Marc Villa and more-  Intrigued yet?

You do want to hear more- of course you do……Can’t blame you…… You’ll love…..Happy Holidays from 7One8….

Listen Here:

So Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR and I were talking about that this morning… We were meeting up this morning brainstorming on a fabulous event we’re producing for President’s Day- Feb 16th… Stay tuned……..So yeah– wondering why it’s just a handful of publicists taking advantage of the social media space…..Most don’t blog, a lot aren’t even on Facebook or not active and only a handful on Twitter. Not to mention- Friend Feed, Fast Company, Imeem, a channel on YouTube, Flickr and tons of others…..So we’re publicists but we need to treat ourselves as brands too and since the world of traditional media- print publications, TV and terrestrial radio is diminishing everyday or should I say- Social Media is growing bigger and more meaningful by the hour….Ok- so true- we don’t know where it will be in 12 months but in these next few months– might as well get as active as possible- build the brand- make it more powerful- help your clients/projects get more visibility in this space as it’s already been proven that artists/people can get TV shows, Production deals, Book deals, brand endorsements- You name it!

Let’s PAY MORE ATTENTION!!!

I had been looking forward to this panel discussion on Social Media for many weeks now - it finally happened this past Tuesday, December 9th at Tribeca Cinemas- produced by Media Bistro.

An esteemed group of panelists discussed Social Media- Here now and in the future. Why be in this space, should we be? Where is it going the next 2 years- Will there be life after Social Media- something else that’s hot and buzzing! Is Branding dead? Who said that….

So—– Saul Colt from Fresh Books, Jeff Howe from Wired, Tony Hsieh of Zappo’s, Lynn Johnson of Fast Company, Thor Muller of GetSatisfaction, and Craig Newmark of Craigslist were the speakers and the discussion was moderated by Keith O’Brien of PRWeek.

There was definitely some valuable insight being shared and some of us were enlightened and others merely entertained by some of the humorous commentary.

Firstly- The best title anyone could ever want. Head of Magic….The coolest panelist or at least the one I got to know the most- Saul Colt is Head of Magic. Wow… I’d also never heard of Freshbooks until that night and was very impressed with his knowledge and passion for giving the customer above and beyond special treatment. Freshbooks cares…I like that. I’m going to look into Freshbooks for my business. Oh and he loves puppets!

Ok- so second- did you know that Zappo’s trains all their employees on Twitter. That’s pretty remarkable. Employees learn their way around Twitter and the applications as part of the Zappo’s training program. Tony Hsieh also mentioned Company Culture which is a buzz word for me as I haven’t heard a CEO use it in that context. He too is very caring about the customer and will go to extremes to please them and they spend a lot of time with their employees- caring about their welfare and interests too….Zappo’s gets a big thumbs up!

(more…)

So it’s not everyday that an artist that’s endorsed by Pharrell Williams signed to Star Trak, works with Neptunes, featured on Common’s new single-  well yes- it’s not everyday– Chester French made a video for me.  Well, I requested it- rather than do a regular interview via phone or email I decided or let me give Jessica from Giant Step credit too- we said let’s make it a VLOG special for The Bloom Effect. I came up with some pretty rad questions- I think…..By the sounds of it and the results of the video- they enjoyed my questions too.

Check it out- let me know what you think…. Oh they have a hot EP  called ‘She Loves Everybody’.   Just looking at their myspace music player- over 5,000 plays today!  Not bad mate!

I guess I just missed their tour……Someone please tell me when they’re in NY next or again!   I know they had a secret show I heard about back in the Summer at The Box.

Who is Chester French?  2 Harvard School Grads changing up the Pop game with their eclectic sensibilities and keen noble writing abilities…Delightful!

REMIX YOURSELF!!
Jazzy Peach Recording Artist April Hill has launched ‘THE SEARCH’ REMIX CONTEST-

Soul/R&B artist April Hill is gaining momentum and the buzz continues to grow as well as the critical acclaim for her debut ‘ Love 360’. Her first single ‘Wanna Be Free’ climbed up the radio charts and knocked people off their programming seats.

Jazzy Peach has called out for all Producers and DJ’s to submit a funky sexy and HOT Remix of her new single ‘ The Search’. There have been over 150 submissions so far and there are still more to come….The deadline for submissions has been extended to Dec 31st due to technical issues on the server receiving the tracks and this also gives more time to any creative types with any writers block! If there is some problem uploading still please email to contest@aprilhill.com

In the first round, entries will be considered by an esteemed panel of judges.

Kevin Harewood- Edclectic Entertainment
Marlon Saunders- Black Honey Records
Shawn Lucas- Gaviamst Publishing
April Hill - Recording Artist
Fiona Bloom - The Bloom Effect

The Best 3 Remixes will be posted on April Hill for a final vote by April’s fans around the world.

Cash Prize: $1,000

Deadline for submission: December 15th, 2008

Winner chosen: Feb 15th, 2009

To sign up– Log on to April Hill.