Bringing in the New Year with The Bangles

Last night, we welcomed in the New Year with the Bangles (and 3000+ others) at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

While the crowd warmed up slowly, the band didn't.
The girls opened with "Hazy Shade of Winter" - my personal favorite Bangles song - and "Manic Monday".

They then rocked through a tight 75 minute set full of hits.

After a pause for the New Year's countdown, we got to "Walk Like an Egyptian". A little light prodding from the audience then brought Susanna (pictured in this shot I took last night), Vickie, and Debbie back out for "Eternal Flame" to end the show.

The Bangles were, I have to say, excellent. They had a lot of energy. The rhythm was tight. And the harmonies were, well, Bangle-esque. I mean, you can only compare the Bangles harmonies to the Bangles... right?

When I was putting together a band a few years ago, I made of list of the 'perfect parts' - sort of a Frankenband if you will. Near the top of the list was 'Bangle-esque Harmonies'.

Back to last night, though: We received two free bottles of champagne - which was probably one too many - but we walked them off with a journey to Waikiki Denny's.

A tropical downpour opened up while we were eating, making the walk look like a bad decision. Fortunately, it stopped just as we stepped out of the restaurant (with Denny's, I use that term loosely - the less said about the bacon and sausage there, the better).

We then had a nice walk up the beach and were back to our room at 3am.

It was a great night and a memorable way to kick off the new year.

Hope you all had a great night!

One Must Tear Off One's Own Head..

It's a doll revolution...

Elvis Costello + The Bangles is a good thing.
I'm rocking to "Doll Revolution" right now.

We're heading over to Honolulu right after Christmas to celebrate the New Year with Susanna and the Peterson Sisters - a little Manic Monday and Walking like an Egyptian while we avoid the Hazy Shade of Winter in Waikiki at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort.

Really, I can't think of three bands that would be more fun (emphasis on the word fun) to ring out the old year with...

*image courtesy of www.thebangles.com

From Cabo: Authenticity in Action at the Salad Bar

The Thanksgiving Salad Bar at the Hilton Cabo San Lucas

One of the best books that I read this year was Authenticity.

It's filled with excellent examples and useful models.

What was perhaps most striking to me, however, is the 'rightness' of their observation that we all desire authenticity. The opening of the book, a trip through a grocery store, is dead-on.

I find myself noticing this 'authenticity-jones' when it occurs in me, and boy did it occur last night.

We had a Thanksgiving buffet at the Hilton Cabo San Lucas (I should get a free room, considering how many times I've mentioned the hotel). The buffet was outstanding, but one feature really stood out - the salad bar.

I'm not a really big salad eater, but this salad bar stopped me in my tracks.

"Holy crap", I think were my exact words. I grabbed Angie and said, "You've got to see this. It's the most incredible salad bar I've ever seen!".

The interesting point is that it wasn't the largest I've ever seen, or the biggest variety I've ever seen. It didn't necessarily have my favorite salad makings.

Instead, it was the most authentic salad bar I've ever seen.

Look at the photo above. Click on it to see it in full size. You'll notice:

• The servers are dressed like farmer/grocers
• The greens are all in 'original' form - full leaves, full vegetables
• The farmer/grocers hand-cut your salad to order with scissors, in real-time

This was as close as you can get to an 'off-the-vine' salad without entering a garden.

If you cannot take your customers to the source, how can you (like the Hilton) bring the source (or the illusion of the source) to your customers?
Pick one of your offerings and ask these questions:

1. What does my offering look like at its source?
2. What does my offering look like when I serve it?
3. What is the (authenticity) gap?
4. Is the gap good? Some things - perhaps sausage - shouldn't be seen in 'authentic' state.
5. How can you close the authenticity gap?

Note to Interior Designers

I believe that design communicates.
And that good communication should be designed.
I created the phrase DesignComm to cover both these beliefs.

Here's a lesson in DesignComm.
Design doesn't just communicate by how it looks.
Just like words represent only a fraction of communication, visuals only represent a fraction of design.

Case in point - The Hilton Cabo San Lucas Resort.
Our room is beautiful, it really is.

I love the colors. The room looks Mexican.
A pet peeve of mine is hotel rooms that are of 'International' design. I don't know what that means, except "no place on earth really looks like this".
I should be able to wake up and, without leaving the bed, tell you what country I'm in.
The Hilton succeeds at this.

Now the bad news. Cabo is a hot, humid, seaside environment.
And our room is filled with fabric.
Look at the photo above... 6 pillows and a ton of cushions. There are more pillows on the bed and there are fabric curtains.

What does this mean? Must and mildew.
The room smells like my grandmothers closet. We have to open the patio doors, which freshens the room, but brings in more sea breezes to continue the cycle of humidity.

Now, I'm not an interior designer, but even I wouldn't load a seaside villa with fabric.
Why do they do it? Because they don't have to live in it?

How about some blinds? And taking away 9/10 of the pillows?

If design communicates, then this room communicates, "We weren't thinking when we designed this!".

From Cabo: Releasing Sea Turtles

Yes, I'm holding a big-eyed baby sea turtle...

This is one of the baby leatherback turtles that we released this morning.
In 2000, we watched a turtle lay eggs in South Africa. Eight years later, we're able to complete the cycle. The rangers brought 60 hatchlings down to the beach, and a group of us got to hold and then release them.

A few thoughts:

• Sense of Direction - This is so important in work and life. Not all species or individuals have it (I know a lot of folks with none), but the first turtle I released sure has it.
  As I held this guy in the palm of my hand, he always knew exactly where the ocean was. Whatever direction I faced, he would turn and start moving towards the ocean - like the needle on a compass always points north. Pretty remarkable.
• Persistence - Watching these little guys waddle through the sand, exerting huge efforts only to get tossed backward by the waves, was tough.
  Most of the turtles got tossed back three or four times. Others had it worse. Often, they ended up on their backs, straining to flip over. Those of us watching would cheer each turtle that finally made it through the surf, its' head popping up in the sea beyond.
• A Little Help from my Friends - As we got down to the final two or three turtles, it became obvious that some of these were clearly weaker than the others. Eventually, all (some with a little human help) made it to the water. They may not last long, but they all have a chance. You never know what they'll do with it.

A great morning...

Triple Your Spanish Vocabulary! Guaranteed or your Money Back!

We fly today to Cabo San Lucas (pictured to the right) for a little RnR at the Hilton Los Cabos Resort.

I love the collision of desert and ocean that occurs in Baja, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Ceviche, chorizos, chipotle, and chiquitas!

Time to start rolling my r's...

Speaking of which, I can triple the average Spanish vocabulary in one easy step.

I learned this in Mexico in 1991.

We were in Loreto, watching a parade of some type.

It looked like an election, so I asked an older Mexican man who was standing next to me.

Me: "Election?"

Him: "No comprende"

Me: "ELECTION?"

Him: "No comprende"

Me: "E... LEC...TION?"

Him: (shakes his head)

Finally, the proverbial light bulb appears above my head.

Me: "Eleccion?"

Him: as if discovering a dog could talk, "Si! Si! Eleccion!"

I realized that if I took every english word that ends with '-tion' and turned it to '-cion', I was now a master of Spanish.

I could go to the estacion and have a conversacion with the populacion of Mexico!!!

Viva '-cion'!