We recently spoke with Erica Levin, a realtor with SVR sponsor Paragon Real Estate Group, about her work, her non-profit involvement, and Paragon’s commitment to community service.
SVR: Tell us about your job as a realtor.
Erica: My work allows me to be a therapist, financial adviser, designer, concierge, and overall life helper and confidant. I love that my clients really engage with me and that I am able to help them in so many ways—it is wonderfully rewarding work!
SVR: Besides your work at Paragon, you are very active in your community. Tell us more.
Erica: Yes! Sometimes I wish I could clone myself to get it all done! I sit on the board of directors of Mission Graduates. We work with kids in the public schools providing tutoring, after-school programs, pregnancy prevention counseling, and a vital program called College Connect that provides stewardship in getting kids to college. I also co-founded Inner Mission Community Association. IMCA is a group made up of residents and business owners in the inner Mission. We work on issues that are of concern to our members and coordinate to work with our supervisor, the mayor’s office, the police, and other agencies to address many issues in our neighborhood.
SVR: What inspired you become involved in these organizations?
Erica: I value engaging with the community where I live. I cannot see a problem or concern and not try to do something to address it. I believe that kids are the key to our future, and these days they need a lot of support. Knowing your neighbors makes communities safer, and having a sense of community provides people a sense of place. I feel grateful to be in a position to work with so many committed people and to learn so much and offer what I know as a resource.
SVR: What advice would you give to people who want to help?
Erica: Just get started! There are so many ways to engage, whether it is mentoring a young person, spending time at your kid’s school or volunteering at a food bank, or sweeping the street in front of your house. We each have a gift to give, and I have found that just doing something and applying the time and attention is a great way to begin.
SVR: Why do feel it’s important to keep music education in the schools?
Erica: I loved music class as a kid. I gravitated toward the creative arts and learned so much about discipline and follow-through from the creative process. Kids need the arts, and music is a great way to express oneself. It troubles me that in our time, music has to be fought for in the public schools.
SVR: Paragon Real Estate is also very involved in the local community. Can you tell me more about that?
Erica: Paragon places a great importance on community involvement. We have a community fund that each agent can elect to contribute to and Paragon will match the contribution 50/50. We participate yearly in Habitat for Humanity, and gave away $35,500 in 2007 and $25,100 so far in 2008.
A native of Chicago, Erica Levin went to the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California and fell in love with the west coast. Erica has a B.A. in psychology and studio art and an M.A. in marriage family child counseling as well as art therapy. After nine successful years as a prop and wardrobe stylist on national ad campaigns, annual reports, and television commercials, she followed her personal passion into a full-time real estate career. Erica lives and works in San Francisco.
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
The Minks: Marie started the band after taking up drums and getting hooked. She recruited Jen from a Blue Bear School of Music band workshop they were in together; Jen kidnapped Linda away from her peaceful band-less life; and Cherie and Kristina had no idea what they were in for when they answered our ad for fresh Minks.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
The Minks: The band started in Marie’s basement and might have been a Who cover band, except that Keith Moon was a bit out of her range.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
The Minks: We are seeking a cruise-ship gig, a prom gig, a Google holiday party gig, and a national Ikea tour (we’ve heard they do barbecues in the summer). And we want to open for Ray Davies next time he comes here. We love you, Ray!
SVR: What’s your day job?
The Minks: The Minks include a PR maven, a web wizard(ess), a writing professor, a biologist (and possible evil genius, we’re not sure but we have our suspicions), and a hotel biz executive.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
The Minks: Cherie: Musicians, like other artists, can contribute to teams in the workplace by keeping a keen eye on innovation and creativity and we can knock out a little Hotel California at office parties.
SVR: Why is music education important?
The Minks: So children today can rock the world tomorrow. Kids participating in music benefit from better self-discipline and higher learning. Music can help with language, math skills, creativity, problem solving, and general intellectual development.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
The Minks: Linda: Piano lessons were a required part of my upbringing, and I always loved everything about music.
Besides sponsoring Silicon Valley Rocks, Kaboodle is a key participant in local TechCrunch, Blogher and TiE events. As one of the early pioneers of social shopping, Kaboodle believes in fostering innovation. A testament to that is Kaboodle’s CEO and co-founder, Manish Chandra, who generously mentors other entrepreneurs. Chandra is an alumnus of the Young Entrepreneur’s Association. He is also an active charter member of TiE and chairs the TiE Special Interest Group on Internet and New Media.
“With budget cuts in California and the elimination of special interest programs throughout our school system, Silicon Valley Rocks! allows us to give back to the community and not only encourage but also stimulate our youth’s interest in the music and the arts,” says Chandra.
Kaboodle has a rocker of its own: while most employees are “more adept at playing Rock Band instruments than real ones,” resident Kaboodler mightyj is the talented bass player of the slow-core, super-mellow band Coastal. Since forming in 1999, Coastal has performed everywhere from L.A. to England. “Whether we’re grooving to Coastal tunes or any other musician’s, music is extremely important to us. In fact, some of our favorite products we feature on Kaboodle.com are musically inspired or themed,” says Chandra.
Kaboodle is a strong supporter of music as part of any child’s complete education and advocates for the arts as a way to increase overall achievement, citing studies that consistently show students who participate in arts programs display significant increases in self-esteem and cognitive skills.
About Kaboodle
Kaboodle is the largest and fastest-growing online social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products. At the heart of Kaboodle is its engaged community of passionate shoppers—nearly 11 million strong! Kaboodle offers a forum for people to connect and inspire each other through shared advice, product feedback and suggestions, and the ability to create and join groups. Members have wish lists, styleboards, polls and other cool widgets at their fingertips, all of which they can use to express their own unique style.
Band Members: Matthew “Ted” Edwards, Ping Chu, Kate Weeks, Jon Brooder, Bryan Cain
Tech Industry Affiliation: Drummer Ping Chu is the Software Developer for Flixster.com.
Bobbie Gentry
Saturday
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
The Music Lovers: Ted started the group in 2003 and we signed with Detroit indie label Le Grand Magistery in 2004. We’ve released 2 albums and an EP on LGM, and our third record “Masculine Feminine” is out in January in the U.S. (though already released in Italy and Japan). We’ve played extensively here and on the east coast (and Italy and the U.K.) and our records have garnered great praise in magazines such as The Word, Mojo, Rolling Stone.com, Exclaim, All Music Guide, etc.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
The Music Lovers: Jacques Brel, The Go-Betweens, Dusty Springfield, John Cassavetes, Memphis soul, Smiths B-sides.
SVR: What inspired you to make music together?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I can do nothing but make music. I have been singing since I was a child and writing songs almost as long. “Together”? A strange magnetic pull.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I want to make the most beautiful and romantic music that we are capable of, and in doing so, I want to continue to move people, more people all the time. Being in The Music Lovers is a volition, a calling. I just want people to “get it,” and many do. I’m unsure that there is a “music industry” anymore, and frankly I don’t particularly care.
SVR: What’s your day job?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I am an occupational therapist who works with people with autism. Ping is the tech chap.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
The Music Lovers: Ted: Ping is very rational… I think this comes from his tech work. I, on the other hand, am not particularly rational, though I am patient—ha!
SVR: Why is music education important?
The Music Lovers: It opens portals that nothing else can… it is the “great release.” All children should have the opportunity to live in this world.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
The Music Lovers: Ted: My parents—a house full of show-tunes, Glen Campbell, hymns, Sinatra, big bands, country, Irish songs, etc. I bought a 2-pound guitar from a boot-repair shop and taught myself to play. Having parents who were both fine singers helped. No formal education whatsoever, just a will…
Band Members: Kevin Maney, John Given, Bill Coats, Andy Stack
Tech Industry Affiliations: Kevin writes about tech for Conde Nast Portfolio magazine; John is legal counsel for Digidesign; Bill is managing partner at White & Case in Palo Alto; Andy co-founded Oortle and other tech start-ups.
Privacy
Found It On Google
Wouldn’t Want to Be (Bill Gates)
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: We first met through email introductions in the fall of 2007, and formed the house band for a jam party Kevin hosted in October 2007. After playing together for the night, we all liked each other enough to want to do it again. We next met up in April 2008 to record our first EP, titled “Privacy.”
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: Everybody’s interests seem to run the spectrum of rock music. Kevin’s songwriting is heavily influenced by The Clash, The Beatles, Warren Zevon, and creative roots-rock bands like The Blasters.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: We want a top 10 hit, an appearance on Letterman, and license to quit our day jobs and strike it rich playing music. Short of that, we’d like to play a gig at Google and get the free gourmet lunch.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: Getting music skills into kids’ brains early makes all the difference later on. Back in grade school, I learned the trumpet and got pretty good at it. By my teens, I gave up the trumpet, but just knowing the basics of how music works helped me pick up guitar and songwriting later on.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch in your brain?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: I actually have a weird story. After the trumpet, I did learn guitar, but thought I was terrible at it and mostly only played for myself through all of my adult years. Didn’t think I could sing or write songs. And then a couple decades later, my friend Mark Holmes, a singer-songwriter, started getting me to play with him—just the two of us in a basement or on a back porch. He showed me that I did have something to offer, and once I felt like it was OK to let music come out of me, the fire got lit.
Ladies, have you always wanted to rock out but were too afraid to try? Wish no further. Ladies Rock Camp, is taking applications for 2009. The camps fill up fast, so don’t wait to apply. Don’t take my word for it - even Oprah and the Huffington Post touted its awesome-ness.
As written about before and just recently by our good friends at BlogHer, Ladies Rock Camp is a four-day rock immersion program designed for women ages 18 and over. Recent college grads mix with rocker mamas and grandmamas. It’s a fundraiser for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls.
Here’s the deal:
Cost is $375 (includes meals, instrument training, and even a self-defense workshop)
Learn drums, bass, keyboards, vocals, or guitar, or just improve your skills
Form a band, write an original song, and perform it four days later at the LRC Showcase
Have a great time with staff, volunteers, and women from around the US (and beyond)
And of course, there’s the infamous Saturday night Karaoke party at the Rock Camp and the party bus to Portland’s late night spots.
Do not hesitate. Sign up now. I’ll be there rockin’ the bass guitar.
Band Members: Don Clark, Paul Bergevin, Tom Waldrop, George Alfs
Tech Industry Affiliations: Don works for the Wall Street Journal. Paul, George, and Tom work for Intel.
Friend of the Devil
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Spin Control: All of us have been in various bands since the last century. We’ve played together at various events, but this benefit, and the cause that it supports, is of interest to all of us, so we decided to join forces formally for this.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Spin Control: We are all over 29+, so we tend to like a range of groups that have been around for a while, anything from John Coltrane to Grateful Dead to Beatles.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Spin Control: A few of us have played together off and on, casually, for some years, and played similar benefit gigs in the past involving journalists and PR types—such as Kevin Maney’s yearly benefit. In the current form, we played together this summer for the first time, and when this benefit came up we jumped at it.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Spin Control: To successfully get enough songs together to do this gig
SVR: What’s your day job?
Spin Control: Don is a tech reporter for the Wall Street Journal. The rest of us work for Intel PR. Paul runs the PR group.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
Spin Control: For the Intel PR guys, having music in common is wonderful; it gives us a chance to talk about something beyond microprocessors. For Don, it gives him something to think about besides what these guys tell him.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Spin Control: George: I have a son and daughter who attended public school. The music programs have been wonderful; we contribute extra on our property taxes to ensure a continued arts program. We think anyone interested should have access to a great music program. Don: The PTA at my kids’ public school helped add music programs that otherwise would not have been available; not all kids are so lucky. Paul: My middle son Charlie is a tenor in the classical choir in his high school, an internationally recognized choral group. This program in his public high school aims for genuine excellence, and is supported by the community. Tom: I’ve been around long enough to remember when Prop. 13 gutted the music programs in public schools, lots of friends lost their jobs as school music teachers, and kids often had to go 100% private instruction for music—which many couldn’t afford. I believe music should be a critical part of education.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
Spin Control: Rock and Roll! George: I didn’t have access to a great music program as a kid, but my parents bought me guitar lessons and I loved it. Don: I had a pretty inspirational choral teacher in junior high school, and loved hearing the high school band play. But great 60s rock, aided by private guitar teachers, was my biggest spark. Tom: My mother took me to the symphony when I was in grade school, and we had a piano and good recordings at home. It was 60s rock that set the course, though.
Want to win a FREE ticket to Silicon Valley Rocks! and an unlocked Nokia N95 8GB phone (value $600)? Send us your best party photo taken on your mobilephone by Friday, November 21. Winners will be confirmed on Friday, November 28. Five lucky winners will get exclusive rights to cover and capture Silicon Valley’s rockers from a fan’s perspective.
How to enter:
Send your picture to photos [at] svrocks [dot] com
Include your name, your company name, email address and phone number
Also add in any details about where the picture was taken etc.
We’re not uptight, but try to keep the images clean (you know, music education, kids? etc.)
If you are a winner, we will contact you after November 28 and give you details then.
Please note:
Nokia N95s only work with AT&T and T-Mobile services.
Band Members: Chuck Fishman, Neal Landauer, Jason Fifield—and too many others to mention. fONKSQUISh features members of P-Funk, and jazz legends like Byard Lancaster, Prince Lasha, as well as new school producers like G Koop and DJ Zeph.
Tech Industry Affiliation: Chuck is Manager of Media and Entertainment at Cisco.
Calling Me Back (with DJ Zeph and Michael Hampton [P-Funk])
Dippin’ Chicken (Team Facelift cover)
It’s Okay to Love (Germantown Dub, featuring Byard Lancaster)
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Chuck: I toured with George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic (P-Funk All Stars) for a few years in the late nineties. During this period, I teamed up with P-Funk’s Billy Bass and a motley cast of musicians to create the first solo album for “Chuck Da Fonk Fishman.” I realized that my musical vision revolved around a larger cast of musicians than just my own songs and material. I moved to Denver in 1997 and founded fONKSQUISh. So the unit has been around for more than 10 years now, and has been based out of Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Really the key members of the band are spread about the country. When we play live we typically feature 6-8 members, and our recorded sound is lush with a diversity of instruments.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Chuck: I would say anything with a dance component to it. I was raised on new wave, which eventually led me to listening to funk music full time. For example, I was listening to Thomas Dolby in 1986, who was collaborating with George Clinton at the time. That was my first exposure to George Clinton and P-Funk, via new wave. And I am a huge Duran Duran fan. What does this all mean for the music we make? I am not sure—I look at my Last.fm top plays and it’s all jumbled with indie hip-hop artists, jazz legends, new wave, IDM, chillout, electro, R&B funk—I listen to all kinds of music and I hope it’s reflecting in the music of fONKSQUISh. A lot of the members of fONKSQUISh bring their own perspective as well—I mean we were just working with Prince Lasha, a member of the legendary John Coltrane Quartet; he is of course going to bring a different jazz sound to fONKSQUISh.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Chuck: 1997. I just wanted to have a funk band and somehow I’ve kept it going all these years.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Chuck: We want to keep making music, especially with the funk and jazz legends who keep contributing to the collective that is fONKSQUISh. We also want to find the freshest producers and remixers / DJs to work with, and the most current talents out there to join the effort. All of that vision takes money&mcash;cash to pay out talented musicians, and funds for studio time and completion of the tracks. At the end of the day, we want to keep making records way into the future. We are already now three years into our next collection of songs titled “Useless Education”—recording began in 2005. Really it all comes down to having the funds to match the production schedule we have mapped out for the record. That’s why our work dribbles out via EPs, digital singles, and through social networks just bit by bit in the meantime before we can assemble the full collection. All I want for fONKSQUISh is to have a small boutique label with a roster of similar artists to help our marketing efforts and to feel like we have a home.
Live fONKSQUISh shows happen all over the place—Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London and Paris. We want to also have the ability to continue to expose our music to live audiences around the world.
SVR: What’s your day job?
Chuck: I currently examine the digital media industry for Cisco and manage company relationships with media and entertainment partners. For the past 12 years, I’ve been creating and producing new radio ventures for Clear Channel, Bloomberg, CNET Networks, and Dow Jones. At CNET, with Brian Cooley, I helped build CNET Radio, the first all technology news radio network. From 2002 to 2006, I headed up the Wall Street Journal’s long form radio programming ventures. I created two shows, The Wall Street Journal This Morning and The Wall Street Journal This Weekend, and in four years time I grew distribution of the programs from only two terrestrial radio stations to 220 plus stations, airtimes on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, and 100,000 monthly podcast downloads without marketing support. As a radio producer, my love of the intersection of entertainment, technology, and business was reflected in my programs.
I’ve been a member of the digital music networking group Pho since 1999, and I continue to remain engaged and excited by everything that is going on with digital music and media. I participate as a member of the IAB Digital Video Committee, the IAB UGC and Social Networking Committee, and at the Entertainment Technology Center at USC.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
Chuck: Since day one with fONKSQUISh, I’ve utilized online platforms to promote our music and connect with fans. Over the years, the time I’ve spent on mp3.com, MySpace, Facebook, and a myriad of other online communities and forums promoting the music—well, it has informed and expanded my knowledge of the digital media marketplace—the industry I work directly in. I can relate my knowledge of digital media and music business models, social media marketing tools, and the user experience on such platforms directly to the online creative efforts I’ve put toward fONKSQUISh.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Chuck: Learning how to play an instrument well offers a student the ability to practice discipline. That’s what I think of first off. But there is the enjoyment of playing—and I want every child to have the ability to enjoy that. I hope that music education also includes exposure to the business elements of the music industry as well. I’m still learning myself—I spend many hours with these older talented musicians. I call it “people digging.” We are currently losing our greatest generation of R&B and jazz musicians—just this year: Levi Stubbs, Isaac Hayes, Buddy Miles, Pervis Jackson, Jerry Wexler, Norman Whitfield—just to name a few. It’s time for the younger generation of musicians to go out and “people dig” the great musicians in their neighborhoods and get the knowledge before these musicians pass on.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
Chuck: I’m not sure. I certainly could say that it was a healthy dose of MTV, and UK music magazines like NME and The Face, that got me engaged. I also lived in downtown Philadelphia, so there were plenty of record stores to stop by on the way home from school. So I would say I spent almost a half-hour in a record store every day after school.
“Giving back to the community has always been a cornerstone of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which is why one of our five core values is to have a connection and responsibility to our community,” says Linda Palermo, Joie de Vivre Chief Revenue Officer.
“We wanted to be a part of Silicon Valley Rocks since we are deeply ingrained in the Silicon Valley community. Our Silicon Valley hotels include the Wild Palms and Domain in Sunnyvale, the Avante in Mountain View, the Moorpark in San Jose, and the Hotel Los Gatos. Not too far south, we also launched the Dream Inn on the beach in Santa Cruz this year and are re-opening the Ventana Inn and Spa in Big Sur this November.”
Joie de Vivre has always been very involved in the communities in which its hotels are located. Hotels are given an annual goal of how much money they should donate throughout the year to local causes. Connecting to the community is so important to Joie de Vivre that hotel general managers are evaluated on this donation metric, along with employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
Ocean Beach Clean Up
In 2007 alone, Joie de Vivre hotels donated a total of over $1.3 million to local organizations in the form of gift certificates, cash donations, in-kind donations, and events. Joie de Vivre continues to take a grassroots approach to philanthropy, staying true to its entrepreneurial roots, rallying behind causes and organizations that inspire its employees. Because of that, the company is able to help organizations who may not receive much attention or support from the broader community. Supported causes in 2007 were primarily in the areas of arts and culture, education, and family and community.
Joie de Vivre will also have several hotel packages for the Silicon Valley Rocks! silent auction. Stay tuned for more info!
About Joie de Vivre Hospitality
Based in San Francisco, Joie de Vivre Hospitality is a creative collection of lifestyle businesses. As California’s largest boutique hotel collection, Joie de Vivre encompasses other hospitality businesses such as restaurants and spas. Celebrating more than 20 years of creating dreams, Joie de Vivre Hospitality is expanding its California presence in Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale, Huntington Beach and beyond.
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