Monthly Archives: June 2009

Commencement Speech “What Is Your Higher Calling?”

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Click below to read my commencement speech to the Bullis School here in the Washington DC area.

Bullis Commencement Speech ’09

I was honored to help this fine school’s senior class celebrate their graduation and hopefully offer them a couple of ideas that will be helpful to them as they mature and grow as world citizens.

I hope you can take a couple of nuggets of knowledge from this speech as well. Thanks for listening.

Quite a Fun Sports and Entertainment Related Weekend

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The Hershey Bears won twice at home this weekend to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the AHL Calder Cup Finals. One more win and the Cup goes back to Hershey. Go Bears! Way to win on Saturday 3-0 and on Sunday 2-1! The team is getting outstanding playoff goaltending. We are very deep in goalie prospects now. That is such a comforting thought, isn’t it ?
 
The Bears play again at home trying to close it out on Tuesday. Click here to read about yesterday’s big win.
 
The Washington Mystics started strong too with a Saturday night win over Connecticut and a big win over Atlanta at home yesterday. We have a lot of depth now; a lot of team speed; and an entire new upbeat and positive attitude. We had a big and enthusiastic crowd yesterday at our season home opener. It was loud and it was appreciative of how we responded to being down big after the first period to coast to an easy win. I am hopeful that our rebuild of the Washington Mystics is as successful as our rebuild of the Washington Capitals. So far so good. Click here to read about the Mystics performance from this weekend. I hope to see you all at a game this season.
 

I Am a Sucker for David Byrne

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I fell in love with everything David Byrne and Talking Heads during the summer of 1977 while I lived in downtown Boston. Talking Heads were always playing in Boston. Many of them were graduates of Rhode Island School of Design so you could bump into them at parties or see them play small clubs in NH, Boston and the Cape. One of the best shows I ever saw was Talking Heads, the B-52′s and Joe Jackson in a small venue at the beach in Salisbury, NH.
 
I just love everything about him. I always thought he was smart, wry, expansive in his musical taste and very elegant, classy and original.
 
He has continued to make very thoughtful music. He has great taste and is a fantastic live performer. We saw him this Saturday night at Wolf Trap. It brought back lots of great memories. His new music is terrific. Listen here for some free streaming music from his new CD. It sounds great!
 
David Byrne is one of my favorite artists. He is relevant today and he and Brian Eno make next generation music that pays homage to his roots and to Talking Heads as well.

It’s Over

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Here is a very funny YouTube video about the death of traditional media. It is funny, poignant and true.
 
As I said in a white paper in 1992 at Redgate Communications - ”Digitize or Die”.
 
Click here to check it out. It is worth your time.

Washington Mystics Season Starts

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I hope you will come join us on Sunday at 4:00 pm for the first home game of the Washington Mystics this season at Verizon Center.
As promised we have retooled the team; new coaching staff; new culture; new GM; new players; and a new attitude.
 
I expect really good results this season. I like what I have seen in practice and at camp. We are younger, faster and bigger, have more depth and have an inner belief that we can be a good team.
 
I am proud of what we have done in the off season and Sheila Johnson and I hope to see you at lots of games this summer.
 
Click here to read a nice piece about our work with local sponsors, too.

Kungfu Brother

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David Carradine will be missed. He was Kungfu brother to a generation. He was at his best in the Kill Bill films. I feel like I grew up with him watching that TV series as a kid.
 
He was too cool for school.
 
In his honor, here is a real life film on Kungfu, its ethos, its culture and true aura. Click here to understand the true meaning of Kungfu. Live and learn on SnagFilms.com.

A Bunch of Hype

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Wow. Sometimes I read statements in the media and have to shake my head.
 
Payments is a space we know something about. Revolution Money is one of the companies I am very excited about. I serve as Chairman. We have a great investment group and a fantastic, experienced management team and sophisticated investors in the space such as Citi and Goldman to name a few.
 

Weekend Viewing “Brotherhood: Life in the FDNY”

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Good firefighters die.
 
This is an amazing film and very moving.  It is filled with heroics and is gritty and true to life. I have several friends from Brooklyn who are firefighters. It is a nail-biting job. They risk their lives to save people and property. They have each other’s backs and they are a true brotherhood. They have no choice.
 
Watch this terrific film this weekend - for free – on SnagFilms.com. Click here.