The End of an Era

This weekend marked the end of an era. Oh sure, Michael Jackson died and that's really too bad. Although I was aware of Michael Jackson throughout my childhood, I didn't really get into him until my senior year in high school. That's when JEB brought in the MJ HIStory album to play while we were announcing for women's lacrosse games. I recall thinking, "OMG, this music is amazing--what a fool I've been not to have enjoyed it for the previous 18 years of my life!"

Yes, the King of Pop has died. And the King of Rock n' Roll has been dead for 30 years. How many more "King of"s will there be before we have to search for new regal titles. The Emperor of Rap? The Arch Duke of Hip Hop? The Sultans of Swing--wait, that's already taken. I also wonder if references to body parts of musical genres are related to those genres' regality. For example, when Huey Lewis sings that "the heart of rock n' roll is still beatin'," is he arguing that Elvis is still alive?

No matter, this is not the end of the era to which this blog post refers. In fact, I am referring to the fact that finally, after almost six months of daily reading, I have finished the IMD MBA Class of 2008 Yearbook! What a labor of love! It is amazing that such a small group of my classmates were able to put together such a high-quality product with such little time and so many distractions (ICP, job search, etc.). It's an outstanding example of crowd-sourcing and of leadership. I've always held that the test of true leadership is when your followers don't have to do what you say. You can't fire them or penalize their salaries. In this case the Yearbook Committee was able to assemble hundreds of articles and pictures through sheer determination and creating a coherent vision that the rest of us bought into. Bravo!

And speaking of the Yearbook Committee, I visited one of its members (everyone's favorite German Engineer) this weekend in Cham, just outside of Zug. He and his wife and 8-month-old son have really set up a good life for themselves out there. We went for a walk along Lake Zug and dined al fresco with fresh pasta and homemade sauce. La dolce vita!

The real treat of course was getting to know their son, who was in utero during my first group with the German Engineer and who arrived during my ICP with him. Their son was very well behaved and showed his father's curiosity combined with his mother's kind expressions. I spend so much of my life focusing on what's wrong (with Poken's business processes, with the world's energy consumption, etc.) that it's just really heart warming to see that, in some parts of the world, good people are starting families and living good lives. Note that I don't mean to imply that they live glutonous lives--quite the contrary given that they focus on recycling and buying local produce--simply good lives. Many thanks to this burgeoning family for being great hosts and I hope all continues to go well for them in an era that does not end!

A Country Kinda Week

I've moved through "G" and "H" in my music collection. This has brought with it a high concentration of country music: Garth Brooks, George Strait, Hank Williams, Sr., and Hank Williams, Jr. Although I'm not a HUGE fan of country, it reminds me of Texas and that is comforting. 

I'm onto Huey Lewis and the News now. Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humour. In '87, Huey released Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

The Poken team is working all weekend on a new user interface. We owe our users something prettier, cleaner, and more intuitive than what they are using now. It's a major undertaking and we are behind schedule, but by God they shall have it!

Early 80s

My American popular musical Odyssey has arrived in the early 80s and I couldn't be more pleased. Why? Two words: Air Supply. I still remember how vehemently I disagreed with my mom as she tried to convince me that they were two male vocalists. I listened to their songs over and over again--how was at least one of them not a woman?? Anne Murray had at least two octaves of lower range on them. I was pretty young at the time and I guess I had a lot to learn about women . . . some things never change!

Around the house I was left to my own musical devices, listening to tapes I had made of records on my dad's juke box (a lot of Elvis, Beatles, Platters, and other Oldies). It was on road trips where Mom exposed me to more contemporary music. I still fondly remember stretching out in the back seat of our car and listening to Air Supply, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Dan Fogelberg, Neil Diamond, and Lionel Richie for hours at a time until we reached our destination. As you can tell, Mom was a fan of the soft rock. However, our musical selection was dependent on our destination. Whenever we were headed to the beach, it was Jimmy Buffett all the way!

I've made it through 1982 so far and following are the early 80s highlights (and lowlights) for me, in roughly chronological order:

The emergence of Air Supply
The emergence of Blondie
Way too much Olivia Newton-John
Michael Jackson goes solo and is on the cusp of truly breaking out
Kenny Loggins's solo career finally achieves success
Kenny Rogers hits his stride
The emergence of Billy Joel
The Rolling Stones just keep on rolling
Lionel Richie goes solo
Sheena Easton briefly captivates the nation
So does Christopher Cross
So does Toto
So does the Alan Parsons Project
So does Men At Work
All of the Beatles continue to produce solo hits--until John Lennon's assassination
Eric Clapton kicks his heroine habit and ramps up his productivity
Barry Manilow just won't go away
Neither will ELO
The emergence of Pat Benetar
The emergence of The Cars
The emergence of Journey
The emergence of the Police - not a big fan
Lots of movie theme hits, e.g. Eye of the Tiger, 9-to-5, For Your Eyes Only

Actually, if there is one early 80s emerging band that is more nostalgically important to me than Air Supply, it is Huey Lewis & The News. The first tape of popular music I ever bought was their 1986 album, Fore! In 1982 they had just entered the scene with Do You Believe in Love (and, to a lesser extent, Workin' for a Livin') and were poised to dominate with their subsequent Sports and Fore! albums.

It's warming up a little outisde and the snow is turning to rain. I'm off to wade through it toward the gym before what will surely be a wonderful weekend in Lugano.