Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast – Lubetkin Media Companies LLC

In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we chat with Shel Israel, author, journalist, and "recovering publicist," whose new book, Lethal Generosity: Contextual Technology and the Competitive Edge, discusses what companies need to do to earn and keep the loyalty of their customers. It completes a trilogy of books that also includes Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers and Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy. Together the three books tell the story of more than a decade of technology-induced changes in the modern workplace. I first met Shel at the New Communications Forum in 2008, and we later reconnected -- by accident -- when we found ourselves in Tel Aviv at the same time in 2011. You can read more about that encounter in my December 2011 "CompuSchmooze" column about the ability of social media to make connections even when people are travelling far from home.

In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with Dr. John R. Patrick, author of a new book, Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities of Healthcare. We also remember Canadian Ambassador Kenneth D. Taylor, who died October 15, with Mark Lijek, one of the six American diplomats hidden by Ambassador Taylor during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. After John R. Patrick’s career at IBM, he took a seat on the board of a teaching hospital. He was surprised to learn how hospitals and physicians lagged at adopting information technology, and appalled at the needless complexity of healthcare delivery processes. Instead of shaking his head and walking away, Patrick took action. The result is a revealing look at the cultural, attitudinal, and technological barriers holding back the United States from achieving a more affordable, accessible, and effective healthcare system. Patrick sees the inability to share personal healthcare information between hospitals, specialists, and primary care doctors as a major problem. He believes increasing collaboration for more effective healthcare is not a technical problem, it is attitudinal. The reliance of the uninsured on expensive emergency care instead of preventive care is not limited by healthcare capabilities, but by the attitude of healthcare policymakers and politicians. Patrick argues we need new attitudes about healthcare to achieve true reform. His vision includes a system focused on patients and uses an accountability oriented, fee for value model. Patrick promotes an attitude that provides incentives for wellness, not sickness. Passing of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor "Kenneth D. Taylor" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Kenneth D. Taylor" href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kenneth_D._Taylor.jpg">Fair use via Wikipedia. Ambassador Taylor, who died in New York October 15 at the age of 81, played a pivotal role in the rescue of six American diplomats who escaped from the US Embassy in Teheran, Iran, when it was overrun by revolutionaries in 1979. Turned away by other Western embassies who feared being overrun as well, the Americans turned to the Canadians, who took them in and hid them from the Revolutionary Guards for six months. Then, the Canadians cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency in an exfiltration plan to bring the Americans out of Iran by having them pose as Canadian documentary filmmakers. The story became the basis for the Ben Affleck movie, "Argo," and in 2012 we spoke with Mark Lijek, a US Foreign Service Officer who was hidden by the Canadians with his wife Cora. Mark wrote his own account of their rescue, which he described in detail in our earlier podcast interview. He returns to the Middle Chamber Books Podcast in this episode to remember Ambassador Taylor.

The Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast returns from a long hiatus. We're going to be producing the Middle Chamber Books podcast on a more regular schedule again, alternating with the Lubetkin on Communications podcast. We expect to broadcast weekly, making a new podcast available Monday mornings around 8am Eastern Time. This is Middle Chamber Books episode #39, and includes some interviews conducted at the recent Collingswood, NJ Book Festival. It's the festival's 13th year, and we spoke with festival founder and organizer Michele Zeldner, and several of the authors who were exhibiting at the festival. In coming episodes, we hope to bring you exclusive interviews with some of the marquee authors who participated in the festival. Here is information about the authors we interviewed: Alice Mohor is the author of Special Days, a collection of poetry for holidays and other special days intended for young children and early childhood educators. Joe Samuel Starnes is the author of Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel. He says it took three tries to get a publisher for his novel. Daniel David Jones and his fishing buddies survived 18.5 hours in the Atlantic Ocean in just life jackets after their boat sank. His account of their rescue is the basis for his book, Promising Forecast: A Miracle Rescue at Sea.

Juliane Jones, a singer-songwriter who just received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, is our guest on Program #38 of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast. Juliane talks about her specialization in Chinese operatic music, and how she has integrated Chinese lyrics into songs on her new CD, "The Space Between the Telephone Lines." We also hear several tracks from the CD. Buy Juliane's CDs   About Juliane Jones, from her website: Singer-songwriter and ethnomusicologist Juliane Jones finds harmony in what seems like self-identity dissonance. “I occupy a middle space – my world is about intersections,” the New York-based songstress explains. Juliane’s father is Welsh, and her mother is from LA. She has lived internationally in five different places and speaks fluent Chinese and French. She is an ethnomusicologist by profession and an actively gigging musician. Evocatively, Juliane titles her kaleidoscopic, singer-songwriter, English-Chinese hybrid album The Space Between The Telephone Lines. Juliane’s expansive artistry melds genres and inward/outward travelogues. It’s an exquisitely curated showing of diverse identities, spanning the genres of indie, alternative, folk, pop, electronic music, and rock, as it incorporates her experiences from studying music in China and France. Her writing evokes the astute and playful lyrics of Serge Gainsbourg, and the vivid narratives in the French Chanson genre with elements of Canto-pop music, inspired particularly by the Chinese artist Faye Wong. Juliane has been building her artist profile through gigging in NYC’s vibrant singer-songwriter scene and expanding her outreach through gigs nationally and internationally, most notably with intimate gigs in Shanghai. In addition, she’s received exposure through having tracks played on Fairchild Radio and TV broadcast in Canada. A foundational moment in her life’s work timeline occurred while in college in the East Asian Studies Department at the University of Chicago. She was studying the great Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and became inspired by the fact that he integrated Eastern music within one of his operas. It was a revelatory moment: Previously she was a prodigiously talented singer-songwriter with a separate intuitive gift for linguistics and understanding different cultures. This light bulb moment helped her discover the harmony in the space between these worlds. “Ethnomusicology and songwriting are similar in a lot of ways.  Ethnography is really about description, observation, and interpretation.  Songwriting is similar, but in writing songs the author can blend fact with fiction—it’s more flexible,” she says. The Space Between The Telephone Lines uses pop conventions to explore intriguing, contrasting dialogues in music styles, cultures, and love. “The progress and innovations in pop have made it the perfect medium to explore different cultures and genres to create a fresh artistic vocabulary,” Juliane reveals. The album standout, “When You Sleep,” blends elegantly essential classical motifs with sweet folk pop. The accompanying video presents a charmingly quaint snapshot of new love. “That’s about when you get to that point in a relationship when you are so crazy-mad-in-love that you start second-guessing what you have,” Juliane says. The sublime, pastoral pop of “Rhythm & Blues” dissects long distance relationships in a playfully conceptual video and lyric scheme, referencing the Chinese myth of the red string of fate that connects destined lovers. Throughout the album Juliane innovatively explores an East-West cultural exchange. She sings portions of songs in Chinese, boldly challenging herself to keep thematic and melodic continuity within Western pop conventions. Further enriching the East-West artistic dialogue, Juliane covers a song by beloved Canto-pop artist Faye Wong who previously ignited her own cultural exchange with a gorgeous version of the Cranberries “Dreams.”

Zeeshan Zaidi, lead singer and producer of the New York-based indie rock band The Commuters, joins Steve Lubetkin on this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast. From The Commuters' website: Before forming the Commuters in 2010, Canadian-born, Philippines-raised frontman Zeeshan Zaidi (whose parents were born in Pakistan and India) spent many years in the music industry. His early accomplishments included producing and engineering Grammy-nominated artist Ryan Leslie’s first demo, and he subsequently worked in the marketing departments of major labels in New York helping to develop the careers of other versatile artists, including OutKast and Cee Lo Green. During this time, Zaidi was also honing his craft as a singer, songwriter and musician, performing around New York’s open mic circuit. When the time arrived to put his own abilities as a performer front and center, he immediately shared a dozen demos of his songs with childhood friend, New York-based producer and soon-to-be Commuters guitarist Uri Djemal, who was also raised in the Philippines (by parents of Israeli and American descent). The two got to work co-producing Zaidi’s songs at Djemal’s Madpan Studios in Manhattan, where Djemal had produced many well-known artists in New York’s indie-rock scene. Says Zaidi: “Uri’s studio was a few blocks from my apartment and he was telling me for years to come work on my songs there. One day — when I knew it was time — I just walked over and we started.” Soon, they were joined by Djemal’s previous collaborator, Ben Zwerin on bass and Paul Amorese behind the drums, solidifying the current lineup. Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to the RSS feed for Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcasts. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store

With more and more businesses realizing the need to produce their own video documentaries, it's more important than ever to understand the best practices of the television business. In her new e-book, Camera Ready: How to Present Your Best Self and Ideas On Air or Online, Manoush Zomorodi, a former BBC and Reuters journalist, explains how to make your video look its best. In this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with Manoush about her book and about the changing world of video content creation. About Manoush Manoush Zomorodi is a freelance reporter, moderator, and media consultant. You can visit her website here. She hosts New Tech City, a new segment on WNYC, which looks at how New York’s tech boom is changing the way we live. Manoush also works with non-profits like Human Rights Watch and the Council on Foreign Relations on their multimedia strategies. From 1995-2006 Manoush reported and produced for BBC News, with postings in Washington, Berlin, Brussels, and New York.  As a freelance reporter and anchor, she covered business and technology for Reuters Television in New York from 2006-2010. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, NY1 reporter and anchor Josh Robin, and their two kids.   Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to the RSS feed for Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcasts. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store    

Our guest in this edition of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast is singer/songwriter Alexandra Inglis. Alex has been performing since she was eight, and she has already appeared at legendary Jersey Shore clubs such as the Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar. She began writing and composing original songs when she was 12. “Thank You”, her debut CD is a ten song CD that showcases her wonderful songwriting capabilities as well as her magnificent voice. Alex has also performed at The Bitter End, The Living Room and Pianos in New York City. She has been a guest on numerous radio stations and her songs are also being featured in regular rotation on many stations as well. She's currently working on her second CD. You can learn more about Alex and her music at her Reverbnation website.   Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to the RSS feed for Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcasts. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store    

In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed and captured the US Embassy in Teheran. Angered by the US Government decision to permit the former Shah of Iran to enter the US for cancer treatment, they held US diplomats hostage for more than a year. Unknown to the revolutionaries, six American embassy staffers in another building on the grounds were able to escape, and made their way into hiding with the help of British, New Zealand, and Canadian diplomats. They ultimately spent more than three months living under the protection of the Canadian embassy, and ultimately left Iran using false Canadian passports. It wasn't until 1997, when the CIA declassified its own involvement in the "exfiltration" of the six Americans, that the world learned about the CIA's elaborate cover story for the diplomats. It involved creating a fake Hollywood film production, and identities for the six Americans as Canadian filmmakers come to Iran to scout for locations to use in the movie. The story was first revealed by Joshua Bearman in Wired magazine in 2007 ("How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran"), and in The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA, a book by Antonio "Tony" Mendez, the CIA agent who orchestrated the exfiltration. It's the topc of Ben Affleck's new blockbuster movie, "Argo." But the real story is just as good as the Hollywood thriller, if not better. In episode #34 of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we interview Mark Lijek, one of the six Americans exfiltrated by Tony Mendez. Mark has written his own memoir of his time in hiding with the Canadians, The Houseguests: A Memoir of Canadian Courage and CIA Sorcery. You can also follow Mark on Twitter, where he is @ArgoMeHome. Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to the RSS feed for Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcasts. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store Update, February 1, 2013: Mark was interviewed on Fox News recently. You can watch that interview here: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com 

In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with bestselling author Jason Jennings, author of The Reinventors: How Extraordinary Companies Pursue Radical Continuous Change, in which he describes the characteristics of successful "reinventors" and offers suggestions for companies that want to achieve breakthrough success through continuous change. You can hear the complete interview in the podcast player below, or download the MP3 file for later listening. Please support our podcast productions by purchasing Jason's book. You can click on the title above, or at the Amazon link below. Read Jason's website here.   Subscribe in a reader Subscribe to the RSS feed for Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcasts.   Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store   JASON JENNINGS Authority on Leadership, Growth and Innovation Jason Jennings is a researcher and one of the most successful and prolific business and leadership authors in the world and his greatest thrill is helping lead individuals and companies to their full economic potential. He began his career as a radio and television reporter and was the youngest radio station group owner in the nation. Later, he founded Jennings-McGlothlin & Company, a consulting firm that became the world's largest media consultancy and his legendary programming and sales strategies are credited with revolutionizing many parts of the broadcasting industry. He traveled the globe in search of the world's fastest companies for his landmark book, It's Not the Big That Eat the Small - It's the Fast That Eat the Slow. Within weeks of its release it hit the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times Bestsellers Lists. Now published in 32 languages, USA TODAY named it one of the top 25 books of the year! Next, he and his research teams identified the world's ten most productive companies for his bestseller Less Is More. That was followed by his book, Think BIG - Act Small, which profiled the only ten companies in the world to have organically grown both revenues and profits by double digits every year for ten consecutive years. Like all his previous books it debuted on all the bestseller charts. His next book, Hit the Ground Running - A Manual for Leaders revealed the tactics and strategies of the ten CEO's who created the greatest amount of economic value between 2000 and 2009. His latest book for his publisher Penguin Putnam, The Reinventors - How Extraordinary Companies Pursue Radical Continuous Change was released on May 10, 2012 and reveals the secrets of those leaders and organizations that have successfully reinvented and transformed themselves. In total, Jennings and his researchers have screened and studied more than 200,000 companies. Along the way he found time to join forces with well known cardiologist Dr. John Kennedy and coauthor the 2010 Health, Mind and Body bestseller, The 15 Minute Heart Cure –The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Fifteen minutes a Day. Critics call his books, "extraordinarily well researched, insightful, crisply written, accessible, intriguing and a vital resource for everyone in business," and USA TODAY calls Jennings one of the three most in-demand business speakers on the planet along with the authors of Good to Great and In Search of Excellence. When not traveling the world on research, in search of adventure, and doing eighty keynote speeches each year, Jennings and his family split their time between the San Francisco bayside community of Tiburon, California and their lodge, Timber Rock Shore on a small lake in Michigan’s northern peninsula where they share the environment with native moose, bear, deer, wolves and soaring eagles.

In the second Jewish Sacred Aging seminar podcast, we offer Rabbi Address' recent workshop, "Three Program Ideas for Congregations and Baby Boomers," presented this month at the regional Shabbaton of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Address' workshop is based on his newest book, Seekers of Meaning. (Click on the book's title to purchase.) We have cross-posted this podcast to the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast in our Middle Chamber Book Store. Rabbi Richard F. Address is the senior rabbi at Congregation M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ. He was called to the congregation after 33 years with the Union for Reform Judaism, where he most recently served as the specialist and congregation consultant for the North American Reform movement in the program areas of Caring Community and Family Concerns. His work has been based on the belief that a congregation, to be a true “caring community”, must be founded on a theology of sacred relationships. A major part of Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on Sacred Aging. This project has been responsible for creating awareness and resources for congregations on the implication of the emerging longevity revolution with growing emphasis on the aging of the baby boom generation. This aging revolution has begun to impact all aspects of Jewish communal and congregational life. Rabbi Address was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) inCincinnati (1972) and served congregations in California before joining the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1978. He directed the Union’s Pennsylvania Council from 1978 through 2000. In 1997 he founded the Department of Jewish Family Concerns and went full time in New York in January of 2001. Rabbi Address received a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in 1998 and his Doctor of Ministry from HUC-JIR in 1999. He also received his honorary Doctorate from HUC-JIR in 1997. Visit www.jewishsacredaging.com for future episodes in this podcast series. Subscribe to the RSS feed for the Jewish Sacred Aging podcast. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store.

Jewish Sacred Aging presents its first seminar podcast, featuring a workshop conducted by Rabbi Address at M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ on "The Art of Care-Giving." This program is part of the synagogue's Health and Wellness Initiative, which is based on the care-giving chapter in Rabbi Address's newest book, Seekers of Meaning. (Click on the book's title to purchase.) We have cross-posted this podcast to the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast in our Middle Chamber Book Store. Rabbi Richard F. Address is the senior rabbi at Congregation M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ. He was called to the congregation after 33 years with the Union for Reform Judaism, where he most recently served as the specialist and congregation consultant for the North American Reform movement in the program areas of Caring Community and Family Concerns. His work has been based on the belief that a congregation, to be a true “caring community”, must be founded on a theology of sacred relationships. A major part of Address’s work has been in the development and implementation of the project on Sacred Aging. This project has been responsible for creating awareness and resources for congregations on the implication of the emerging longevity revolution with growing emphasis on the aging of the baby boom generation. This aging revolution has begun to impact all aspects of Jewish communal and congregational life. Rabbi Address was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) inCincinnati (1972) and served congregations in California before joining the staff of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1978. He directed the Union’s Pennsylvania Council from 1978 through 2000. In 1997 he founded the Department of Jewish Family Concerns and went full time in New York in January of 2001. Rabbi Address received a Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in 1998 and his Doctor of Ministry from HUC-JIR in 1999. He also received his honorary Doctorate from HUC-JIR in 1997. Visit www.jewishsacredaging.com for future episodes in this podcast series.   Subscribe to the RSS feed for the Jewish Sacred Aging podcast. Subscribe to these podcasts in the Apple iTunes Music Store.

In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with marketing expert Dick Martin about his most recent book, Secrets of the Marketing Masters - What the Best Marketers Do – and Why It Works. Because the topic area, corporate branding and marketing, overlaps with our interests in public relations and communications, we're crossposting this podcast to the Lubetkin on Communications blog too. In the book, Martin, a former AT&T public relations executive, explores the best advice of a variety of marketing gurus from headhunters and ad agency heads to academics, consultants, and the masters themselves. You can hear the complete interview in this podcast player, and you can purchase Martin's book at the link below. Read Dick Martin's blog here.  

In this episode of the Middle Chamber Books and Music Podcast, we speak with Michael Kesler, Ph.D., author of Shards of War: Fleeing To & From Uzbekistan, his memoir of the harrowing experience he and his sister Luba encountered as Jewish teenagers fleeing the Ukraine ahead of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. After the war, they returned to their hometown of Dubno and found all 8,000 Jews, including their parents and relatives, in mass graves, and their home taken over by Ukrainians. Blinded by glaucoma in 2006, Michael edited and published his late wife Regina's memoir, GRIT: A Pediatrician's Odyssey From a Soviet Camp to Harvard, and is currently at work on a novel about a family's struggle with cancer.