Originally recorded on December 29, 2009 in Sid’s studio, Sid and Dave quickly cover their Christmas presents, and then settle into a long discussion with guest (and good friend) Elise MacDonald, a music teacher who inadvertently started the alternative live music “listening room” STUDIO 99 in the heart of downtown Nashua. Topics range from the genesis of Elise’s business, the challenges facing the local music enthusiast, how creative collaborations start, and many other topics of shared mirth. Though the focus is somewhat regional, the experiences we share are probably applicable to many other mid-sized towns outside major cultural city centers. Links to some of the topics we mention are available on the podcast home page.

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People, Places, Things mentioned in the podcast:

• Don Ho, famous Ukulele player
• Raytek MiniTemp Laser Sight Instant Read Thermometer
• Scribblenauts game for the Nintendo DS
• The Studio 99 Website, the live music / “listening room” venue started by guest Elise MacDonald.
• High Mowing School (Waldorf school)
• The infamous Apple Jacket. Bonus: Sara’s bang-laden pageboy!
• Bryan Thomas, drummer/associate director of Studio 99

Originally recorded on December 6, 2009 in Sid’s studio, we cover a number of local artist endeavors. On the camera side of things: our local camera store closes, using professional equipment rentals (which are surprisingly affordable), fancy lenses. On the design side: Dave talks about his new “transparent design company” project, the mentality of starting from scratch and the comparatively smaller needs of starter web clients. In local artist news, we talk about “The Button Factory Artist Studios” in Portsmouth, NH. We chat about artist Heidi Brunnell’s “Narcoleptic Owls”; Alen Yen, Japanese robot toy enthusiast, learning to make and manufacture his own robot toys; Vanessa Leigh, model and actress; The work of Bryan Thomas and Elise MacDonald in making local music “listening room” Studio 99 an important part of our local music scene.

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Stuff we talked about in the podcast

• CameraLand – Nashua’s local camera shop is closing down.
• Glass and Gear – Professional photographic and entertainment equipment rental in Amherst, NH.
• Agenceum – Dave’s “transparent design company startup”.
• Sid’s blog post on Websites solutions he has used in the past.
• The Button Factory Art Studios in Portsmouth, NH.
  picture 1 . 2 . 3.
• Heidi Brunell – Creator of Narcoleptic Owls and Amputee Rabbits. Picture 1 . 2
• Alen Yen (of ToyboxDX) is creating his own character Nekobot Robot Toys as 2GB Flash Drives.
• Vanessa Leigh
• Studio 99 Nashua listening room for musicians and performers, local music scene.

Local artists Sara Prindiville and Mike Weinstein sit in as we do a quick 15-minute recap of what we are up to in the neighborhood. Also: an enthusiastic review of The Sausage King of Nashua’s Bacon and Blue Cheese Hotdog. Recorded November 6, 2009.

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Links to stuff we mentioned in the podcast:

• Bacon and Blue Cheese Hot Dog – As shown on Sid’s twitpic account, available at The Sausage King of Nashua
• Mike Weinstein’s digital artwork samples: Dino : Tree
• Sara Prindiville’s prototype bookmark
• Sid’s Photo Shoot (note: railroad yard didn’t work out) – on YouTube and Flickr

In our second podcast, Sid relates how his fourth “Portable Portrait” workshop went well despite the rain. Dave describes how he started selling his Emergent Task Planner pads through Amazon Fulfillment, and discusses cost issues. Sid summarizes an afternoon shoot for a local skeptic, which becomes a discussion over the difficulty of pricing services such that the consumer can understand them. Finally, Sid tries to convince a skeptical Dave that “Brotherhood of the Wolf” is an awesome movie.

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After the umpteenth animated discussion about how to make this “creativity” thing work, my buddy Sid Ceaser and I decided to do a podcast. So this afternoon, we pointed microphones at each other and chewed the fat. Our initial conversation covers, loosely, creativity and business. The session kicks off with Sid’s story about photographing Ben Slavin, whom Sid met at the Strobist meetup, prior to Ben’s motorcycle ride to the tip of South America, and from there we get into a general discussion about what drives creative things we do, balaninge between the need to do art versus the necessity of commercializing it, and finding what you want to say and what you love to do, and having the guts to follow through.

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