Starting to Buy into this whole Independent thing

So I’m starting to buy into this whole independent thing. To be fair, I’ve been on the cusp of some breakthroughs for artists/companies/etc “selling out.” It’s been fun. I bought my first Dashboard Confessional CD back with The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (was that 2001?). I’ve even been a fan of and followed Jon McLaughlin since October 2004; if you haven’t seen it yet, he’s been hot on iTunes for the past three weeks. Hehehe – this is a good statistic: Jon has 8 of my 25 songs most-listened-to in my iTunes (and the minimum barrier is 82 complete plays … and counting). He’s awesome. His “A Song You Might Hear in a Wedding” is my most-listened-to song and has a good 20-play barrier to being surpassed by a song from Wicked.

I have to half-heartedly confess, in spite of both those instances, I’m a big-store consumer. (For a while I used Barnes & Noble’s web store for book orders, but once they discontinued my credit card relationship with MBNA (and hence my benefits minimized), I gradually switched over to Amazon because of the ease-of-use.) In an everyday parallel: why repeatedly pay $1.50 or even $1.75 for a 20oz bottled soft drink at the University’s Food Service vendor (I’m convinced it’s Sodexho … probably) when I can get a 24-pack of 24oz bottles for $7.98? Most often I taper my consumption so it’s a combination of the two.

Ok, enough of my UofC-inspired confession. This afternoon I had a fun, unexpected moment. In the midst of my work stress and post-class pondering was a comment-aside that caught me: “hold on, I have to love this for a second.”

The comment came when I was put on hold in a telephone call. I was ordering a camera part and the supplier had to transfer me to his knowledgeable colleague. Once I reached ‘said colleague,’ he picked up the phone and told me to “hold on, I have to love this for a second.” A comment like that, even with a substantive delay, deserves laughter rather than ire.

Moishe, the knowledgeable colleague, then began to describe to me what was happening. His graphic designer was giving him a proof for a quarter-page advertisement for a magazine highlighting an online community he supports. That same community is one I’m now a part of (it feels so good to say that) and am learning from this summer. “This ad looks so cool, I wish you could see it.” At this point in the conversation I hadn’t said a word. After his uncensored elation, he took my order and repeatedly said how happy he was that things “just seemed to keep working out”. HE KEPT STEALING MY LINE!!!

This is my third interaction with Moishe each interaction has been so professional. He’s a salesperson in a camera outfitter in Ohio. How did I get connected with him? The most amazing blog I’ve ever been a part of! http://www.strobist.com This is more extensive than most books and shows why I’m addicted to Web 2.0 movements. Even with all of Gmail’s “bells and whistles,” Strobist is cooler because it has a dedicated author and an interactive community behind it. It offers advice for how to use off-camera flash techniques for photography. In regrettably simple words: it helps make my photos look less like crap.

I’m starting to buy into this whole independent thing. Strobist is notorious for teaching how to take discarded cardboard cereal boxes and turn them into light-shaping tools. It’s about being cheap … and practical. There’s a mis-identification of (? misnomer doesn’t work here, but I’m meaning: “gross error in attributing”) institutions with effective communications. (I can give you a long list of institutions who suck at sharing their message(s)). It’s also an error to ascribe effective communicators with the label “poster child” or “in-crowd.” Hmmm … these distinctions weren’t as clear as I’d hoped: realize that the efficacy of communication does not have a “tight-knit” correlation of being under-girded by top-down systems — for example: even though Strobist has the structures of flickr and Blogger, if it doesn’t have its users, its communication sucks. With all of my frustration with “systems” and institutions, Strobist is a nice remedy for showing new possibilities. And comments like Moishe’s are the biggest motivators. The excitement is contagious!