JACK ZERBY

“The willing endurance of pain is a key factor not only in human dignity, but also in human creativity. It would seem to follow that individuals who spend their lives in the persistent avoidance of pain are not likely to amount to much… The process of achieving their professional level is usually full of pain. Such mastery demands endless practice of technical operations, endless assaults on seemingly ineluctable concepts, humiliation by teachers, anxious and exhausting competition with peers. To gain such mastery, one must face the sting of pertinent criticism, the shock of a thousand minor failures, and the nagging fear of one’s own un-improvable inadequacy. A tiny minority gets through to the top, to memorable excellence or profound understanding. The rest of us stop along the way, perhaps for a temporary rest, perhaps for a period of reassessment. But once we stop, we are unlikely to start up again. Security is suddenly far sweeter than enterprise” - Prof Robert Grudin

This is what drives me every single day.

If our new daughter can make ill beats like this, we will get along just fine. Even if she can’t we will still get along just fine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02dodd.html

Ahh ok, now I get it! 

goodsie:

Today, we are excited to release the Goodsie Developer API, which has comprehensive read support for Products, Order History, Coupons, Pages and most other aspects of the Goodsie system. The API is ideal for use with 3rd-party accounting and shipping systems, or to enable more sophisticated off-site integrations with websites or blogs.

The API is JSON-based and RESTful, uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and allows other applications to access and manipulate resources associated with a Goodsie store over HTTP. Store resources are currently exposed to the GET HTTP method. Future versions of the API will support PUT, POST, and DELETE functionality.

The API is currently available on a free trial basis for a limited time to all Goodsie store owners and partners. To access the API and register for a developer key, please visit http://goodsie.com/developer

This is why Jake is awesome.

This dude is good, no, GREAT…

Ridic…

I have days like these sometimes…haha

Love this clip of Milton Friedman

superamit:

Two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor, who I’d gone to see the day before because I’d been feeling worn out and was losing weight, and wasn’t sure why.

He was brief: “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.”

I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.

—

I have a couple more months of chemo to go, then the next step is a bone marrow transplant. As Jay and Tony describe below, minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help.

A few ways to help:

1. If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.
2. If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event my friends are putting on.
3. If you know any South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka), please point ‘em to the links above. Thank you.

jayparkinsonmd:

My friend Amit Gupta founded my favorite photography site Photojojo. A few weeks ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Amit is one of the nicest, most genuine, most creative people you could ever meet. Prior to founding the awesome Photojojo, he also co-founded Jelly in 2006 in NYC, a coworking community, that’s now spread to 60 cities across the world and helped spark the coworking revolution. It looks like Amit will need a bone marrow transplant quite soon. We can help him with that.

tony b:

Unlike blood transfusions, finding a genetic match for bone marrow that his body will accept is no easy task. The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.

This is where we come in. We’re going to destroy those odds.

How? By finding and registering as many people of South Asian descent as we possibly can.

Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If you’re a match, the donation involves an outpatient procedure. It’s not fun, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.

We are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent to take a test to see if you’re a match. 

You can get a free test by mail, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th for a special party to rally support.

We’ll have test kits on hand at the party, as well as music, booze, and maybe even a photo booth. It will, for the first time, combine a House 2.0-style party with a New Work City-style party, and if you’ve ever been to either, you know they are always something special.

Please spread the word and please do everything you can to help Amit beat leukemia. He’s a superstar.

Much thanks to Tony and pals for organizing this event, and EVERYONE who’s been tweeting and reblogging.

Please help get the word out any way you can. My life quite literally depends on it.

Chill name…cough

Roy Jones is the man at dancing before he knocks you out.

Lionel Richie - Just To Be Close To You

Now this is a jam…

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/09/after-the-hype.html

This article by Fred Wilson is spot on. Every day I wake up and think how I can make our products better. I don’t really care if we have the most users, but I do care if those users love the product. I’ve seen countless examples of companies who care more about hype and popularity than they do about building quality products.

My first experience with this was working at Vimeo. We didn’t rely on Techrunch posts to build the userbase; we focused solely on building the best product we possibly could. We didn’t focus on the competition, we built what we thought was right for Vimeo.

So here’s to pouring every ounce of energy and emotion into building value, not hype.

Nothing like puttin this jam on at the end of the day.

Makes me wanna put on my Zubaz’s and watch some Saved by the bell.

caseydonahue:

atencio:

danieldanielblog:

We directed this commercial!  Thanks to everyone in London for being awesome and nailing it.  

Jesus. This makes me want to step my game up, and I love that feeling.

I don’t understand how some people (Specifically Daniels) can produce incredible work over and over AND OVER again. Miss one for crying out loud!

streeter:

collegehumor:

Hey!! This happened!! Congrats Sarah!!

And congrats to SNL for hiring one of the finest young comedy writers in the business. 

Congrats Sarah!!

This kinda blew my mind…

Matter changes simply by being observed?

Conceptual packaging from Los Angeles based designed Marco Manansala.

Just found this at my parents house, no big deal.

Photography is a foundational element of the Flavors experience. Our fullscreen media galleries and customizable grid displays were designed to showcase high-resolution images in stunning visual fashion. And so, we are pleased to be announcing support for 500px, a photography community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs.

If you’re a photographer, 500px is your connection to a whole world of people passionate about images. It’s the place for you to upload your work and create a beautiful portfolio, interact with a talented and dedicated community, vote on photos, and have your work reviewed in return.

To celebrate the 500px and Flavors integration, we will each be giving away 10 premium account upgrades! To win, tweet a link of your Flavors site connected with 500px to @flavorsme.

Have you ever wondered who’s checking out your Flavors site?

Premium Flavors users can add Lijit analytics in the external statistics area to gather even more details about their visitors and site performance, including data on pageviews, referring sites and searches, and geography — valuable information that can help you shape your Flavors site to better take advantage of incoming traffic.

These details and more can be accessed via the Lijit analytics dashboard.

Upgrade today to access stats, premium layouts, the option to use a custom domain name (i.e. mysite.com), a contact form, custom content, a favicon and more! For a limited time, new premium users will receive a second free upgrade to share.

Today we are pleased to announce the release of a major update to Flavors, including the introduction of an innovative new way to share and view content from more than 30 services around the web: Social Streams.

Social Streams

With Social Streams, users can now easily follow their favorite Flavors sites and experience photos, videos, blog posts, check-ins and more in one consistent and beautiful viewing experience.

We’ve even updated our music player for an elegant listening experience, whether via HypeMachine, Tumblr, SoundCloud, 8tracks or Bandcamp.

Only want to see photos from work friends? Simply filter the view to display content from selected sources (i.e. Flickr, Instagram and Picasa) and users (i.e. your awesome colleagues). The Social Stream reloads to display only the content you’ve selected.

If you’d like to turn off an update type from a specific site (perhaps your uncle’s hourly tweets), services can be controlled on a site-by-site basis. Go to the Following menu and disable specific services within a site’s settings to hide those updates in your Social Stream view.

Community

Our Directory has a new name: Community. No longer just a space to showcase Flavors sites, it’s also a hub for discovering and following sites in the Social Stream. Hover over the site you like, and click on the “+” to follow their updates. You can also click on the follow button in a Flavors site’s footer.

New Layouts and Display Options

We’ve revamped our layout system to make way for new layouts and features, such as gorgeous gallery and full-screen display options that make high-resolution images and video shine. Premium users can now choose from 17 beautiful layouts — twice our previous offering.

The new Display menu in the Design Panel provides granular control over the number of content columns that display for each service, creating a richer, more customized look.

Logos and Portraits

Logo support was a much-requested feature, and has now arrived. Logos can now be used in addition to or instead of background images to easily brand your site. We’ve added a Portrait option, too, which displays beside your updates in the Social Stream.

Mobile Optimization

Overall mobile performance has improved in the new version. What’s more, Premium Flavors users can enable our sleek new mobile layout, which includes font and background customizations for a smoother experience on iPhones and Androids.

Fonts For Everyone

Free accounts no longer have a restricted selection of fonts — in fact, we’ve added more. We now offer 222 fonts to all users, free or Premium, and we’ve made them available for content, too.

New Services: Songkick and Goodsie

Flavors now supports tour date service Songkick, so you can share the shows you’ve seen and scheduled, and Goodsie, an easy-to-use hosted e-commerce platform, built by the team behind Flavors.

Goodsie integration allows you to share your shop’s inventory, directing visitors to the storefront for checkout. Goodsie is free for the first 30 days and just $15 per month afterward. Give it a try!

More

A redesigned navigation bar, shadow effects, Google+ and LinkedIn sharing options, premium support for Lijit stats, link target options and even more are all part of the update.

Get Started!

To experience the new Flavors and get started with Social Streams, sign up at flavors.me or log in to your account.

Existing users will be prompted to update to the new version in order to log in and edit their site. Note that your layout may be modified in the new version, so some design tweaks may be needed to maintain your old look.

If you have any questions or issues, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team at support @ flavors.me

Steve Jobs had an incredible influence on creatives and businesspeople, including the HiiDef team. Here, we reflect on his work and his drive, which was both relentless and contagious, inspiring us and others to produce well-considered products while always keeping an eye on what’s next.

Not too long ago, Michael Dell suggested Apple shut down and return what little money it had left to shareholders. Steve Jobs proceeded to engineer the greatest re-emergence in business history, culminating with Apple being crowned the most valuable company on the planet. Steve Jobs was the truest of visionaries and innovators, an inspiration to us all.

- Jonathan Marcus, HiiDef Co-Founder & CEO

For those of us battling every day to establish ourselves as entrepreneurs, Mr. Jobs was an inspiration because he was steadfast in his beliefs and vision. Mr. Jobs knew what he wanted to achieve, and worked tirelessly to make it happen.

His values of form, beauty and simplicity being just as important as function has always guided my own work. Making software that performs a task is one thing, but making software that works seamlessly and is easily understandable is a true art.

I will always credit Steve Jobs for instilling those values in me with his products.

- Sean Jackson, HiiDef Developer & Designer

I remember my first trip to the Genius Bar fondly. I found it amazing that such a large company, with such diverse and complex products, could offer such personalized one-on-one support. By elevating customer support team members to “genius” status, Jobs highlighted the value and importance of user experience and customer service, inspiring me to provide personalized attention to users, ensuring they have an overall positive experience.

Jobs said it best: “It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

- Tatiana Peisach, HiiDef Customer Support

Steve made the world respect design.

- Jack Zerby, HiiDef Co-Founder & Lead Designer

You’ve probably caught actor and comedian Kirk Zipfel in primetime television spots, sporting a meat poncho in a commercial for Degree or donning a pair of women’s skinny jeans in a spot for Miller Lite. His work also extends beyond 30-second slots, ranging from songwriting to creating and starring in an original web series and performing standup in California. Here he took some time to talk with us about his career and his Flavors site.

Flavors: Have you always been a performer? And which came first for you, music or jokes?

Kirk Zipfel: I’ve been acting since I was a kid, doing theater, improv and sketch, but only got into standup in my twenties. The music had always been something I just did for fun. Standup was a work thing, a path towards a goal on TV. I never thought of myself as a songwriter, mostly because I believed my “real” songs sucked. I thought, “Any serious song has already been done 1000 times over, and probably better than I can do it. Just look at Nick Drake, and he pulled the plug 40 years ago!” But what if I wrote comedy songs that were funny and well performed? That put me in a more distinct category, which is what you want as a performer; something everyone else can’t do. 

F: Who influences your comedy style?

K: When comedy broke away from the one-liners and rim shots of the 60’s and became something much more personal and self-referential was when it became great. Guys like (what a surprise) Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor led the way, followed by the precision silliness of Steve Martin (banjo master), the perfect deadpan of Stephen Wright, the primal rage of Bill Hicks, and on to the unfiltered honesty of Louis CK. Love them or not, Tenacious D single-handedly created the melodically-complex demon acoustic comedy rock genre. Those are all pretty safe choices from any “best of comedy” blog. These days some of my favorite comedians are Theo Von, Anthony Jeselnik and the thrash/Mormon rage of Tartar Control.

F: We loved your role in the Miller Lite commercial. How long did it take you to get into those skinny jeans?

K: They were women’s size 27s. I did the pliers-zipper thing on my back just to get them on. I don’t want to brag, but my ass looked fierce in them, until it turned blue from low circulation. 

F: What are your plans for the coming year? Can we be on the lookout for you in other TV spots?

K: The Degree spot with Bear Grylls is now running again for football season. Commercials are a fickle provider. Hard to say what you’ll be doing more than a week in advance. 

F: Where can people see you perform?

K: I’ll be at the Irvine Improv on the 27th, and doing a 30-minute set at the fantastic Room 5 in Hollywood on Oct. 27th. Check out my Flavors page at kirkzipfel.com to see what’s happening.

F: What made you chose Flavors to showcase your work?

K: I’m not one to pay someone for something I can do myself (also known as cheapness), hence the 1984 IROC (minus the transmission) decomposing in my driveway. I chose Flavors because of the extreme ease of use. I had been looking for an easy-to-manage platform and within an hour I was up and shining on the intermetsk.

Our customer support team will be off on Monday for Labor Day. Enjoy the long weekend, Americans! While we’re out, have fun browsing the Directory. Here are a few favorites that we’ve recently featured on Twitter:

Oliver Blank, composer

Aline Calixto, samba singer

DaVinci, hip hop artist

Devereau Chumrau, actress

Shanee Pink, musician

Startup Weekend Shanghai - English Edition

The LA’s Best Coffee iPhone, iPad and Android app is featured in LA Weekly. Check out their Flavors-powered site to learn more and grab the app.

Java addicts outside of the Los Angeles area can get their fix, too, thanks to other apps by Blue Crow Media: San Francisco’s Best Coffee, New York’s Best Coffee and London’s Best Coffee, all with sites powered by Flavors.

If we just greeted you in your language, you can help us translate Flavors!

We’re looking for volunteers who can lend a hand with Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish translations, to add to our ever-growing list of supported languages.

Email support @ flavors.me with your details if you’re interested. We’ll send you a special thanks for your time when you’re done!

Customer support will be closed on Monday, July 4, in honor of U.S. Independence Day. In the meantime, enjoy these photos from around the Flavors community:

Matt Dunn

Hoon Park

Ryan Ressler

Theresa dela Cruz

Bryce Seifert

Charls Jiménez

Sara Swezy

Rebecca Koenig

Happy Fourth!

A long-requested option for the Flickr service is here! Now you can narrow down displayed photos to specific sets under Content > Manage (click the pencil icon and select “Photos” if it isn’t already checked, then select sets).

This also allows visitors to navigate to specific sets from a handy dropdown.

Enjoying Flickr sets? Let us know at @flavorsme or help.flavors.me!

LA-based band Dengue Fever, which artfully combines Cambodian pop with psychedelic rock, was recently featured on PBS Arts’ “SOUND TRACKS Presents: Quick Hits.” Watch them perform “Gendjer Gendjer” for PBS below and check out their Flavors-powered site, denguefevermusic.com.

Watch the full episode. See more Sound Tracks.

“Flavors ♥ Music” featuring “Mirror” by Kordan

Our team will be off duty during the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 30. General questions, suggestions and reports of minor issues sent to our support email address and posted in the forum will likely not receive a response until Tuesday, May 31.

In the meantime, enjoy reading interviews with featured users, such as Curt Smith, here on the blog, and finding inspiration in the Directory!

Thanks, and happy weekend!

Upgraded Flavors users have a new option under Custom Content: Maps!

The new Google Maps integration provides an easy way for businesses, festivals and site-specific projects to share their location with visitors. To create a map, head to Content > Add > Custom > Maps. Enter an address or place name, and click “Find.” When your map appears, drag the image to customize its look, give it a title, and Save. Your new map will now be displayed as an item next to services in your navigation.

Check out how these Flavors users are displaying maps on their sites:

Bistro Pacific restaurant

Basta Boutique

Porto.Come food festival

659 Bergen Street condominiums

Working for Gear geocaching adventure

To take advantage of maps and other premium features, such as a custom domain name, click on the pink “Upgrade” button in your Flavors account to subscribe for just $20 per year.

Curt Smith, co-founder of seminal pop band Tears for Fears, has an exciting year ahead, with a range of projects including a tour and the re-release of Mayfield. The artist recently took time out to talk to Flavors about his plans and inspirations, why he uses Flavors, and the importance of staying engaged online.

Flavors: What is the biggest change you’ve seen in the music industry since the start of your career 30 years ago?

Curt Smith: The biggest change is clearly the internet. The ability for consumers to download music, and the movement away from physical product, has been a game-changer. In addition, it’s brought about the (welcome) downfall of the major labels. Today there are few, if any, barriers to entry, no gatekeepers to keep you from getting your product into the marketplace. The issues now are twofold, 1) how artists will get fairly compensated for internet streams and digital sales, that’s obviously still working itself out, and 2) getting your product heard when there are an infinite number of distribution channels and nearly as many artists all striving for the consumer’s ear.

F: This summer will see the re-release of your long out-of-print album Mayfield. What was the impetus for making it available again now?

C: Happily, fans have been asking for it, so I just decided it was time. The company that originally released it in the late 90s doesn’t exist anymore. (So if any copies ARE still in the marketplace, nary a penny of the sales price comes to me.) It’s an album I’m proud of and I’m happy to make available once again. I’m also doing a bonus track for it, a re-recording of the song “Trees” from the album. Musician Janice Whaley, who recently completed a solo project re-recording the entire Smiths catalog, has laid down the “instrumental” portion of the song, and I recorded a new lead vocal. We’re just finishing the mixing and mastering now. For those fans who bought the original version of the album, never fear: the bonus song will also be available to buy as a digital single, so you won’t have to buy the album all over again just to get the new track! I wouldn’t do that to people.

F: “The Social Media Project” series of collaborations made via internet contacts is an intriguing project that has resulted in some lovely songs already. Can you tell us a bit about where you are with it now?

C: Thank you! I really enjoyed working both Zoë Keating and Melissa Kaplan (who I have yet to meet) on the first two tracks. Right now I’m looking for my next collaborator; I may do a tune with Janice Whaley. The joy of this project is that I’m doing it on my own time, as I’m inspired and meet a collaborator who seems right for a given song. I’m not on a deadline and will keep releasing singles as and when they’re ready.

All Is Love (featuring Zoë Keating) by curtsmith

F: What has been the most surprising or delightful result of your live music web series, Stripped Down Live, so far?

C: The best part was being inspired by the talent and creativity of the artists we had on the show. Whether they were rising stars like The Daylights, Nightmare & The Cat or Fitz & The Tantrums, or brilliant veterans like Matthew Sweet, Peter Himmelman or Gary Jules, there was an incredible energy in the studio when they performed. Especially in the heavily post-produced music scene we have today, having people in studio with the chops and fearlessness to play and sing absolutely live was a delight.

One highlight in particular was doing “Mad World” with Gary Jules. We had never done that before - ever! The YouTube video of our duet has been viewed nearly 100,000 times now, so I’m guessing it resonated with the fans as well. Another highlight came not on the show itself but as a result of an episode: The Daylights asked me to play bass on their song “Weapons” at their two most recent Los Angeles gigs. I was quite honored and had a great time doing it.

F: What are you most looking forward to working on this year?

C: Everything! I hope to do another track or two for the Social Media Project. Right now I’m working with my writing partner Charlton Pettus on the score for a feature film. In June, I’m going to Italy with my family to celebrate my 50th birthday. This fall, I’m doing a Tears For Fears tour of the West Coast, Mexico and South America. I hope to do some more TV work, both in front of the camera - I would love to do another live music show - and on soundtrack. And in between things, I hope to play a few more solo shows in Los Angeles.

F: What has been inspiring you lately?

C: Interestingly enough, and I wouldn’t have thought this would happen, playing live. I’ve been doing a residency at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks (which runs through June 1). As part of the show, I’ve been playing a work-in-progress song called “Beautiful Failure.” Doing the song live has actually helped me figure out how I want to record it, and I don’t think it would have come out the same if I’d gone straight into studio without performing it. So I guess you could say that playing live has been inspiring in and of itself.

F: Why did you chose to make a personal site on Flavors?

C: My manager and I work together to make sure I’m represented online where I should be, and Flavors.me is something she recommended to me fairly soon after it launched. Much as my own official website does, it aggregates my feeds from a number of the most popular sites and services. We’re able to customize it with my branding, and (perhaps most important) it looks quite professional without requiring a huge time investment to set up or to maintain.

F: As a speaker on social media, what advice would you give to those trying to make a name for themselves online?

C: I’m presuming you mean other musicians? My advice is that social media isn’t set it and forget it. You need to use it regularly. Luckily, smartphones make that pretty easy to do. I can update Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, even my own website right from my iPhone, so there’s no excuse not to do so. You need to engage and be engaging, not just make pronouncements. Above all: always do it yourself. Your followers can tell in a second if it’s not really you doing the updates, and once you lose the audience’s trust and credibility it’s difficult to get it back.

More from Curt Smith on: Flavors | iTunes | Amazon

It’s not always easy to find the best of the best in a growing sea of music blogs. Enter The Hype Machine, a music discovery engine that makes finding new tunes and MP3 blogs easy. Check through popular songs, browse the blog directory, love and follow your new favorites, and more.

Hype Machine is now available in our growing selection of services, allowing you to share your listening history, loved songs, and favorite MP3 blogs through your Flavors site.

To share your profile, head to Content > Add in the design panel and click on Hype Machine. After authorizing, go to Content > Manage and click on the pencil icon to narrow down your preferences to Loved Songs, History and Favorite Blogs.

Not a member of The Hype Machine yet? Sign up for free at hypem.com to start discovering and collecting the best tracks from around the web.

Check out these great examples of Hype Machine integration in action:

Alexandre Humeau

Selysette-Sarina Sanchez

Smoking Sound

Luiza Pimenta

Calley Hirsch

New York, NY May 2nd, 2011: HiiDef, the creators of Flavors.me, announced today the launch of Goodsie, the easiest way to set up a branded shop online. Retailers of all kinds, from eBay power sellers to artisans in handmade goods marketplaces or indie bands, need their own branded storefront to connect directly with their customers and drive brand awareness.
 
“While there are hundreds of e-commerce options available, they’re still too complex for most retailers to use themselves. You shouldn’t need to learn to code or pay thousands of dollars to sell handmade t-shirts online. Online retail should be easy.” said Jonathan Marcus, Founder and CEO of Goodsie.

Based on the same design system as Flavors.me, Goodsie features a real-time design interface, structured product filtering, real-time analytics, seamless integration with payment gateways such as Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments and much more. Goodsie costs $15 per month after a 30-day free trial.

Hundreds of retailers are now using Goodsie to run their business such as BoomCase, Cool Hunting, Zara Terez, MilkMade Ice Cream, and Skrillex.

Viral video helped OK Go rise to international stardom. Solid pop rock songs and innovative resistance to traditional models have kept them in the spotlight. The band recently took a few minutes to talk to us about their latest projects, and offer a bit advice to others in the Flavors community.

Flavors: We, being nerds, loved Damien’s participation in NPR’s April Fool’s coverage of the “slow internet” movement, and the accompanying anthem, “Love Me Longtime.” Have you since heard feedback from people who didn’t quite get the joke?

OK Go:: Apparently, quite a few fans really loved the song. We have gotten requests as to where they can download the track, so we actually made it the b-side to our recent single, “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard.” NPR ran a nice post the Monday after April Fool’s Day noting listeners’ reactions to the piece. Some people definitely didn’t realize it was a joke.

F: “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard” was written as the theme for Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which you appear in as well. What aspect of that project resonated with you the most?

O: In a lot of cases, OK Go has to get funding for our projects through outside corporate sponsorships. In this movie, Morgan shows that process, and that’s really what the movie is all about. It is a remarkable coincidence and a perfect fit for OK Go to be involved.

F: Fans are already speculating about the song’s upcoming music video. Can you give us some hints about what to look forward to?

O: Honestly, we don’t know yet what the video will be about, or even if there will be one. We did just finish shooting a video though, in Connecticut, and we think the fans are really going to love it.

F: As possibly the most media-savvy band on the planet, what advice would you give to readers who are starting to create and aggregate an online presence with Flavors?

O: Honestly, I’d say just let it be representative of yourself. It seems like a great platform for bringing together all the various online aspects of your personality.

Check out OK Go’s Flavors site (and sweet animated GIF background) at Flavors.me/OKGo. Also be sure to download “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard” and grab their 2010 release, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, at your local record store today in honor of Record Store Day!

The Cassettes, also known as The Cassettes Musical Explorers Society, was partly formed as a diversion from frontman Shelby Cinca’s other projects, which include punk group Frodus and electronic solo project Triobelisk. Shelby took some time out for the group’s US tour to tell us how it feels to be back on the road after time abroad.

Flavors: The Cassettes are defined as “Mystic Country/Steampunk” on Wikipedia. What do those terms mean to you?

Shelby Cinca: We tend to skirt genres between folk, rock, country, avant-garde and even krautrock. We never felt like a traditional alt-country/indie band, so we thought Mystic Country/Steampunk fit our music. Mystic Country since we have mythological/mystical lyrical elements and some Americana twang to our sound. Steampunk for us is a tip of the hat to the literary genre and our allegiance to punk since we all come from a Washington, D.C. DIY punk background, with bands such as Fugazi influencing our ethic. We also like railroads and rhythms of steam technology that we like to incorporate into our music.

F: Your current tour is titled The Return of The Cassettes. Do you have a different perspective on the group and playing live since being away in Sweden?

S: Yes, it’s the age-old wisdom of “you don’t know that you are missing until you don’t have it.” I appreciate playing music live and the opportunities in America because even though there are many institutionalized venues due to LiveNation, etc… there are a ton of DIY show opportunities everywhere, which is lacking in Sweden. Venues in Sweden can feel a bit stuffy with mandatory coat-checks and bad attitudes. Overall, though, I really missed the dynamic, the creativity and the struggle with a group of old close friends.

F: How has the tour been so far?

S: It’s been great! It feels like time hasn’t really passed when we all got in the same room again. Playing live in unique venues such as a the Irma Freedman Center for Imagination in Pittsburgh for the closing of the Geek Art & Green Technology Festival has been great along with our show at The Anachronism steampunk event in NYC. I have always enjoyed the unique shows that The Cassettes have always been able to play. What makes playing even more exciting for us is what we are bringing creatively to our set because of our explorations since our pause in Dec. 2008. I have written many songs for different projects and Stephen (accordion, banjo, moog, vocals) has been fronting his own band The(e) Torches and has honed his banjo and songwriting skills during that time so there is a renewed vitality and chemistry. Oh, and not to mention me becoming a board-game nerd whilst in Sweden, so Stephen and I have had Race For The Galaxy gaming sessions at 7am in the van driving to a show for some of the most epic morning-daze gaming experiences. I love it! We’re also excited to be playing more shows at the end of this month throughout the Washington, D.C. area and Virginia.

F: Your various music projects are quite diverse. What do you do to get “in the zone” for writing and performing these songs versus some of your other styles?

S: I guess it depends on the mood and the necessity. Usually I just go with the flow and feel like writing songs for The Cassettes or space-techno beats for Triobelisk for whatever random reason — an idea floating around in my head, a piece of art I see or even a great passage in a book. But if I am going to really get in the zone to consciously write for a specific project. it’s all about getting into character. So if I am writing for The Cassettes I do like to wear what I would wear on stage, drink some tea, write music while it’s daytime and sing while it’s nighttime.

F: Do you tend to have a specific audience or type of audience member in mind?

S: Not really. Like-minded people, perhaps. Dreamers, music nerds, board game geeks, escapists, inventors, coders, baristas, motorcycle racers, librarians, bakers… humans of all kinds!

F: What’s next for The Cassettes this year?

S: We have a new 7” that just came out, which was recorded by flinging files over the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a concept 7” loosely about an adventurer returning back from his journeys to unknown lands. We were able to get some great colors for the vinyl too, such as Dijon Mustard and Steam, plus the record has a lock-groove on the b-side so it loops on a pertinent part. The record also comes with a digital download and a nice old-timey postcard.

We also have more shows planned — hopefully another Steampunk event put on by promoter extraordinaire Jeff Mach later this year, and then a recording session for a new album on Stephen Guidry’s family farm in Louisiana, which we’ve been planning for many years.

F: Why did you choose to use Flavors for the band’s site?

S: We found ourselves heavily scattered all over the web throughout the years, with accounts and content on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm… you name it! So Flavors made our scatter-brained web presence organized by putting it in one place with a clean interface and easy content management. Without it, I think we’d be a bunch of messages in bottles floating aimlessly about in the ocean of information.

Passionate acoustic musician Paul Thomas Saunders just finished his latest EP, Lilac & Wisteria. Check out our Q&A with him below, and stay tuned to his website for updates on its release!

Flavors: The brief synopsis of your upcoming EP states “Inspired by Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman.’” Could you tell us a bit more about that?

Paul Thomas Saunders: The title of the EP is taken directly from the play, a short line in the opening act: “This time of year it was lilac and wisteria.” It’s quite a pivotal moment as it’s the first time the protagonist, Willy Loman, digresses about his past. It’s a colourful memory, but it’s sad as you realise slowly that it was probably never how he remembered it.

I think I’m a bit of a nostalgist too, and it can be a healthy thing, but you get to an age where you are no longer commended for being a dreamer. The EP is about how I remembered the past when I couldn’t sleep as a teenager, and how I remember it now.

Dementia, Depression, Psychosis, Blues by paulthomassaunders

F: Your music seems to be influenced by North American folk singers. It was a bit of a surprise to learn you’re from England. Do you have British influences as well?

P: Anything produced by Joe Meek is interesting to listen to, the mixes sound alive. I’ve always been a big Shadows fan, too. He’s not British, but i’ve been listening to a lot of Vangelis again recently. Perhaps his trademark synthesised trumpets will find a happy home in my next releases.

F: What’s in store for you later this year?

P: Well, the E.P is finished and we’ll be announcing its release date soon. I’m writing another E.P at the moment, and perhaps a single will come out of that. Apart from that, I’m keen on doing some more live videos. We have a few ready to release with the E.P., which the great folks at The Blind Club did for us. And some touring to cement all of that together, I hope.

F: Are you a book lover? What have you been reading lately?

P: I’m quite bookish. The last book I read was Kafka on the Shore, which my manager gave me. I’d recommend it. And I’ve just started Post Office by Bukowski.

F: Why did you choose Flavors for your official website?

P: It seemed to let us do everything we needed it too. I’m glad artist websites are making a resurgence.