Needless to say, I was a little disappointed with my first wine tasting, but I knew that Gary Vaynerchuk could change my mind. It is no secret that I am a big fan of the Thunder Show, Vaynermedia and #CRUSHIT. I’ve seen Gary speak a half a dozen times and he usually brings something interesting to the table. I have seen 100s of episodes of Wine Library TV, but this was the first time I had a chance to drink wine with him as his “Expland Your Palate” session.

We were situated in a conference room at the World Trade Center each with a scoresheet and 8 numbered wines, 1 rose, 3 whites and 4 reds. Gary starts off by greeting us, giving us the Reader’s Digest version of his spiel and then starts to teach us how to taste wine the GaryVee way.

The boomer couple sitting next to me has never heard of Gary. They just bought the tickets because they thought the talk sounded interesting. They are in for a treat. The guy was Austrian. He loaned me a pen. “Schneidermike, you didn’t come prepared? Where’s your iPhone pen?” says Gary. I look sheepishly at my iPhone and Zi8.

After taunting Patriots (and a few Colts fans) he starts off with the aroma. “First, let’s start with the sniffy-sniff. I want you to get your nose as far into the glass as possible.” He urges us all to sniff first, before we swirl the wine. He wants us to experience the wine before and after. He gives me some stink eye for swirling my glass before sniffing. I learn and do not make the same mistake again. “Schneidermike, you wine noob. We have to get you up to speed.” he says. When swirling, you really need to beat the wine up. Swirl it like you mean it. Tasting? That’s “giving it a whirl.”

Pierre Sparr Cremant d’Alsace Brut Rose

Aroma according to me: mountain snowy ai, apple, sharp cheddar
Taste: The taste is strong. It’s a crisp, apple-like flavor.
Color: Rose
Score: Meh
It’s a bubbly. I would drink it again, but I would not ask for it.
Price: $12/bottle

Santorini Assyritko

Aroma according to me: white pepper, burning plastic (Gary says rubber tire), cilantro
Color: White
Taste: The taste is of vinegar and reminded me of paint thinner.
Score: Meh / Gary liked this one.
Price: $12-$15

Domaine Lafond Lirac Blanc

Color: White
Aroma: cleaner, Mr. Clean, greens, I got some kind of tropical fruit (Gary said it was starfruit).
Taste: Pear, vanilla, pepper giving way to a bitterness.
Score: Like
Gary says if you’re tried a Lirac, you’re a wine geek. If you’re tried a Lirac Blanc, you are one of a niche of uber wine geeks.
Price: $17

Vinoptima 2003 Gewurztraminer

Color: White? Golden notes.
Aroma: Big fruit aroma, pear
Taste: This sucker was pure pineapple with a white pepper finish.
Score: Like/Love
This was my favorite wine. Gary says it is great with stinky cheese. It was the New Zealand wine of the year at one point.
Price: $50

Fat Barrel Pinotage

Color: Red
Aroma: very faint, hard to pick up much on the nose.
Taste: Lot of tastes: cigar, tobacco, jerky, bacon, chipotle pepper, smoke, monterey jack cheese
Gary said this was a meh. He felt it was missing its soul. A woman said that most people say that it’s a mistake to pair chocolate with Pinitage. Gary said he would try it, particularly since his episode in Montreal where a woman gave him bacon muffins. He ate 4. Sounded like the taste was really intriguing moreso than an actual he lusted for bacon muffins.
Score: Like

Bedell Cellars First Crush Red

Color: Red
Aroma: bread, yeast
Taste: charcoal, smoke, persimmon
Score: Hate
I did not like this wine. It was extraordinarily bitter. It sucked the moisture out of my mouth and soured my puss. This is a 72% Merlot / Cab Franc blend. It’s from Long Island. I think someone must have put some of the Hudson in this wine.
Price: $15, but I would not pay $5. I think Gary liked this one.

Clos de Gamot Cahors

Color: Red
Aroma: I forget
Taste: Chocolate, smoke, metal, iron, Gary said hay/barnyard/earth, moss. I also got a fishiness. Gary asked if anyone else got the fishiness. 2 others raised their hands. he attributed it to the saltiness and minerality of the wine. He told me I should try some Alsatian White wines if I like this one. I’ve just learned that some Gerwuztraminers fall into this category so I am stoked!
Score: Meh/Like

Follies Touriga Nacional

Color: Red
Aroma: Wood / Oak
Taste: OAK OAK OAK, acai berry, big wood flavor, cloves
Score: Like, 2nd favorite
Gary was excited that the crowd liked this wine because, not only is it from Portugal–> the price is around
Price: $9

After the Follies Touriga Nacional, a woman in the crowd swore she would only drink French oak and that she did not like the wine because she thought it was American oak. Gary corrected her and told her it was Hungarian oak which she also did not like. She swore up and down that she was tuned for particular type of oak. He swore up and down that he could trick her palate – to the point where he was willing to “bet the house” against her and told her that she had to come and be on the Thunder Show. He said that either way, they would both win because if she was right, they’d go on Good Morning America. If not, at least she would get to be on the show.

All-in-all, not only was a it a great time, I got some great homework. I am off to Marty’s to explore Alsace.

• all posts about Scott Brown
• all about Martha Coakley
• all posts about Scott Brown and Martha Coakley

And through the magic of Social Media Monitoring (thanks @Radian6)…

Both Candidates are Campaigning Hard

Looks Like Brown Has a Slight Edge in Voting

query: voted for Brown (and not Coakley) vs. voted for Coakley (and not Brown)

Brown’s Supporters Are More Passionate

query: Love / Like / Hate / Dislike Brown (and not Coakley) vs. Love / Like / Hate / Dislike Coakley (and not Brown)

It’s going to be interesting to see how this one shakes out. I am voting later today.

Burger Chef

Like Suncheros, many of the brands and products that I recall have been discontinued. Often, they make me feel nostalgic. The other day I randomly recalled Burger Chef. Burger Chef was a 70’s franchise that competed with McDonald’s. Their mascots were Burger Chef and Jeff. They invented the kid’s meal and called it the Funmeal. Their prizes were second to none. As a kid, I remember getting a spooky Halloween record with a count and a Frankenstein’s monsters type. They even had Star Wars posters.

My parents did not take us out for fast food often. I remember Burger Chef as a treat. We would eat at the restaurant and talk about the stuff on the Funmeal box. It was one of the few times I actually got along with my brother.

Burger Chef had some quirky branding issues. They were Burger Chef, but their sandwiches were all spelled Shef. They eventually were sold to Hardee’s. One of their tags lines was Incrediburgible!

Fruitibix

Weetabix cereal used to have a smalled, crunchy, dried fruit infused cousin called Fruitibix. In the UK, these have been relaunched as Weetabix Minis, but they do not seem to have made their way to the US yet. Fruitbix had dried dates and Bananabix was made with pickles. They had a unique flavor. Each piece was round and about the side of a mini-wheat. They had a slight crystal-sugary layer and each piece had at least one dried fruit. They stayed crispy in milk, but were delicious when they absorbed a little milk. Alas, now they’re gone in the US. Apparently they were the masses found them both offensive and dreadful because I could not find a single picture of them in Google images.

Discuss

I kicked off the discussion with two obscure brands, but yours do not have to be. It can be something nostalgic, useful or silly. My kids were watching Ratatouille on a car trip. My favorite scene is the one where Anton Ego, the critic, eats the ratatouille and instantly vividly recalls being a little boy. Thinking about Burger Chef did that for me. (Is that sad?)

What brands and products that have been discontinued do you miss?
Why do you miss them?
Is there an alternative?

5 smith westerns – smith westerns

Punk pop genius. This CD is what the Strokes, Hot Hot Heat and White Stripes wish they still could be. This disc is so under-produced, so raw it’s almost as though they just pressed a demo. The bass is WAY too low. The vocal tracks sound like they were recorded via a Telecaster pickup instead of a microphone. But I still cannot stop listening. These guys may not be the most innovative band ever and they certainly are not tailor-made for radio (phew), but their catchy hooks could get Bernard Sumner toe tapping. Be My Girl sounds like a rockabilly horror song. All it is missing is an old pipe organ. Seriously though, this is going to be some punk-rockers wedding song if it has not already been. The Glam Goddess has brilliant “woo-hoos” and the bells and stop-start guitar progressions on Dreams are beautifully executed. I swear the production sounds like they mashed everything into one track, but that’s part of the charm. One thing is certain: If you come away from listening to Girl In Love not truly believing that you’re the “girl in love” there is something wrong with you.

notable (assumed) influences: Buzzcocks, Johnny Cash, Joy Division, the Kinks, the Reverend Horton Heat, the Misfits, the Go Gos

notable tracks

4 phoenix – wolfgang amadeus phoenix

Pure. Delicious. Bubble gum pop. But not the kind that was created in expensive studios with soulless musicians. I imagine Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix being hatched after listening to countless hours of The Lemonheads, The Sneaker Pimps and Herbie Hancock while playing Katamari Damacy. The first three tracks are smoking hot. Lisztomania and 1901 are ultra-catchy dance tracks. Fences kicks the tempo down a notch and bleeds into a ballad-ish interlude: Love Like Sunset Parts I and II. The second half of the album is much like the first with gems like Lasso, Girlfriend (my favorite) and Armistice. There is not a hell of a lot of variation in the instruments and effects so some of the songs sound similar. It is a bit like they were playing with a formula and tweaking it as they went along. This time though it works very well and gives Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix a uniform yet unique sound.

notable (assumed) influences: I can’t put my finger on it for these guys. What do you think?

notable tracks

3 dinosaur jr – farm

Most of you were expecting this to be #1. I know. Farm is special. Farm is brilliant. The problem is that for as good as Farm is, it does not represent Dinosaur Jr’s best work and the top 2 do. Caveats aside, Farm is still spectacular. Kicking off Farm with “Pieces” was smart. It’s a pretty straight forward song. The lyrics and the changes over to the chorus make it interesting and replayable. The guitar work on this song alone makes every other guitarist on this list look like like they just started playing- and it’s not nearly the most impressive on Farm. “I Want You to Know” is typical J Mascis. A rock icon himself, his style reminds me of a more laid-back version of Eddie Vedder. He has the power to add raw emotion by barely showing any. The whiny guitars combined with the na-na-na-na-na-na on “Oceans in the Way” are like a delicious appetizer. “Plans” is where Farm serves up the main course. This is the first track where we get shades of classic Mascis from “The Wagon”, “Sure Not Over You” and “Start Choppin”. The track that initially drew me into Farm was “See You”. The song kicks off with an incredibly intricate high-end guitar solo before Mascis ever even says a word. The riffs on this track are the make it worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as some of their classics, but certainly not at the top of the list. “See You” is Farm’s second best track for my money. The strongest track – in fact – the best song I have heard all year is “I Don’t Want to Go There”. This is Dinosaur Jr at their best. The opening riff kicks your ass and reminds what that Dinosaur Jr are the kings of giant indie guitar. Mascis belts out the lyrics only to practically whisper “I’m Gone” in the chorus. The guitar work on this track (Fender Jazzmaster) gives me goosebumps. It redefines “epic” with a 4.5 minute guitar solo that not only ends the song, but deserves a nomination for the guitar solo hall of fame.

notable influences: Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party

notable tracks

2 neon indian – psychic chasms

I got my hands on leaked tracks from Psychic Chasms before it came out. They blew my mind. This is experimental, but where Smith Westerns and Animal Collective fall short, Neon Indian succeeds. The untamed brilliance is there, but there is some skill in production and there are stories with beginnings, middles and ends. Deadbeat Summer’s snap beats and warbly melodies combined with forced-after-10-packs-of-cigarettes vocals are a perfect combination. Laughing Gas sounds just like what I would bet a balloon full of nitrous feels like. This album is really hard to explain. “If I Knew I’d Tell You” sounds like a bunch of rubber bands and spaceships. “Should Have Taken Acid With You”’s lyrics are ridiculous and hilarious. “Should have taken acid with you. Take our clothes off in the swimming pool.” “Mind Drips” starts off like a Nintendo game and the “oooooohs” and background whatever-the-hell-that is like eating 6 candycane Joe Joe’s. The title track, “Psychic Chasms”, starts out with a sound like icicles dripping into a kettle drum. I don’t know how to explain what is happening here. Just listen for yourself. Buy the damn thing. Neon Indian’s debut is not only epic, it’s going to be a bitch to top.

notable influenceshousehold appliances, workshops, saws

notable tracks

1 grizzly bear – veckatimest

PURE GENIUS. Southern Point, Two Weeks, Fine For Now, Cheerleader, While You Wait for the Others. This is not pop, it’s Grizzly Bear. I guess they want to prove that music soothes the savage beast as there is nothing brutal about their precision on Veckatimest. It never comes close to trotting so do not expect to “rock out” with Veckatimest. You are on a slow ride through uncharted, yet gorgeously unfolding territory. Speaking of territory, Veckatimest is named for Veckatimest Island in Gosnold, MA.

notable influences: Edward Droste says he loves Liz Phair and Nine Inch Nails.

notable tracks (sorry no lala)

There you have it! My 2009 top 10 albums. I would like to apologize to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart for being left out of the consideration set. Although I know their album was highly acclaimed, I simply did not get my ears on it this year. If you liked this recap, please consider sharing it on Facebook, Twizzler and tattooing the URL over your eyebrows. Maybe just paint it really big on the side of your house or dormitory. That would be truly sophomoric and appreciated.

10 cymbals eat guitars – why there are mountains

If members of the Pixies smashed into (the) Pavement in an epic auto accident, the result would be Cymbals Eat Guitars. They may have also borrowed a bit of fellow Northeast band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s epic feel. They are not afraid to get raspy or use feedback. Their lyrics on this record are not nearly as intelligent as Stephen Malkmus or Frank Black’s, but that’s probably due to injuries sustained in the accident. That said, they are not afraid to spew forth raw passion. This is the Staten Island group’s first effort which is probably part of the reason why it sounds so raw.
notable influences: Pixies, Pavement, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

notable tracks

9 Passion Pit – Manners

Innovative electro-indiepop always has a way of finding its way into my playlist. These guys have Berklee School of Music ties and delicious hooks and dance beats. Expect to shake your booty when you listen to these Cambridge, MA based lads. Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat come to mind, but they list Blur, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Incubus and Blink 182 as their influences which is surprising to me as it is so dance oriented. These guys think they are punks. That makes me chuckle.

notable influences: Jimmy Somerville? New Order? Blink 182

notable tracks

8 Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

This album could have easily been called “Soundtrack for a Road Trip”. It is mostly easy going and filled with understated power that never truly is paid-off. This is part of the genius of the band as they always leave the listener wanting more. Popular Songs is the result of throwing The Beach Boys, Raveonettes, Belle and Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens into a blender. Luckily no one was hurt and we got the raw energy of “Here to Fall”, epic, open air back roads country feel of “By Two’s” and playfully delicious “If It’s True”. There is also a deliciously dissonant instrumental jam called “And the Glitter is Gone” that would make all but the Jesus and Mary Chain blush.

notable influences: Beach rock, Sufjan Stevens, Belle and Sebastian, the Jesus and Mary Chain

notable tracks

7 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

There are points of this record that are SO amazing and points that make me scratch my head. This is probably what brought them down to 7. I mean, Summertime Clothes has the most amazing crunchy drum beat and ethereal keyboards and the best chorus they could come up with was “I want to walk around with you.” My Girls is absolutely brilliant. The introduction sets the stage and takes its time doing so. The vocals come in, deliciously elongated and counter to the established tempo which both kick up as the song progresses. The layering is brilliant and the nonchalant attitude hooked me on this track. I find Daily Routine almost un-listenable with the electronic laser-white-noise crap. Overall this CD is highly experimental and is not for everyone, but if you are looking for something that will take you a while to get your head around and will challenge your senses, this is your album. In other words, this album has a code to crack. It can be done, but it takes some effort. It is worth the effort. Tame the wildebeest! Till field of massive boulders! Listen to Animal Collective!

notable influences: hallucinogens?

notable tracks

6 Built to Spill – There is No Enemy

More of the same from Built to Spill, but that is a good thing. This album has a couple of tracks like “Hindsight” and “Pat” that jump out and grab you, tantalize you but they are merely warmups for the really good stuff. Good Ol’ Boredom has a delicious hook, thoughtful lyrics and simple sounds, but complex layers that make you want to come back and listen to it over and over. Speaking of which, Planting Seeds opens with some of the most ear-catching, chunky, indie guitar goodness I’ve heard this year. That said, the song’s so-called end leaves you thinking “what? really?” and you have to listen to it again to figure out if it really was the end or if it just faded out. The chorus on this track is an underachiever’s dream: “We can make it if we try, but if we don’t it’s gonna still be all right.” Things Fall Apart has an epic jam in the middle (including a trumpet) that seems to have been placed into the track reluctantly, yet it works. Even better though is the middle of “Life’s a Dream” which reminds you not only what a piece of garbage you are, it puts the exclamation point on it with addictively “simple” guitar discipline. By the way, the aforementioned two tracks could be mashed together beautifully by an aspiring re-mixer. The combination of blah vocals, understated guitars and overall “meh” attitude work brilliantly on There Is Not Enemy. I still have it in my heavy rotation.

notable influences: Pavement, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr

notable tracks

For the Top 5 are click here

I was wicked excited as it gave me a couple of things that I have been wanting: The ability to stream live and to do video without jail-breaking my phone. I downloaded it, logged in as BelchingMonkey and began to stream. I clicked on go live, I got one viewer and when I was finished, I selected the option to not save the video.

Luckily, I talked to Gregory Ng yesterday. I told him I downloaded the application and he said “Yeah, I saw your videos. You have 4 on the site”.

Three were videos that I did told the application not to save. The fourth was a video that I took last night, but did not even mean to take. I clicked on the app and it started recording on its own. It also HORRIFIED me when I saw this at the end of the video:

So the moral of the story here is that you can use the ustream.tv iPhone app, but be prepared for it to potentially stream your activity after you shut down the application. You could end up giving away your email addresses unwittingly or worse, allowing people a window into your personal or business email accounts.

I hope we hear a response from ustream.tv soon and plan to be very vocal about this until we hear from them. I happen to think their technology is amazing, but that they have been irresponsible in putting extremely buggy software into play. I am all for constant-beta, but these seem like problems that should be sorted out in alpha code.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, the crowd has a really good idea about what you do during a given day. iPhone and Android’s onboard GPS has given way to location based social networks like BrightKite, Foursquare and Gowalla, which allow you to tell your friends where you are and how often you go there. Location based applications are the next frontier, and in fact are predicted to be next year’s big thing, offering unlimited possibility for communication by geography and, of course, advertising.

My last two sessions at SXSW 2009 featured players in location based social networking. I remember being fascinated by how they approached it primarily because Gregory Ng and I concepted our own in 2007 (prior owning an iPhone and iPhone’s “reliable” GPS).

Applications

Each of the location based apps have the ability to figure out where a person is located. The user “checks in” to locations, signifying their arrival. In addition, the user is able to send messages to let people know what they are doing.

BrightKite allows you to post a status update and a picture.

Foursquare gives you points for creating and “checking in” to a location. It also has has a leaderboard to see how you rank against your friends and your city.

Gowalla’s check-ins are similar in that you can post a note, but the app also has quirky little items that you find and leave for others. For instance, I currently have an espresso, a silk robe and a tour bus in my inventory. I am never going to drop that tour bus. That is awesome. You can either exchange items for items left by others, or drop an item to become a “Founder” of a spot. I cannot say that I fully understand the purpose, although Gowalla says that they use the items as proxies for how important a particular place is.

Each application relies on the users to create locations at spots and rewards them for doing so.

Integrations

Each of the services works with Twitter and Facebook, allowing you to connect with friends from those networks and to post notifications. Some might call this oversharing (particularly if you are friends with people on Twitter, Facebook and the Location based network).

Foursquare has recently also announced an API that is will make it even more appealing to the community.

The secret to extension of social applications is the ability to integrate it into a grander scheme. With integration with Twitter and Facebook already functional, the API combined with its game-like addictiveness will give it an advantage over all other LBSNs. BrightKite also has an API, but adoption has been much slower because people simply do not have a lot of incentive to use the platform even though it is probably the best in terms of geo-location. BrightKite needs to evolve and add incentives for use in order to stand up against its competitors and survive.

Advertising Features

Foursquare appears to be the leader in advertising and monetization. I’ve started to see some “nearby special” bannerettes pop up when I am about to check in to a place. Foursquare allows locations to give special deals to mayors. A mayor is the person who has checked into a place the most. This creates a little bit of competition between loyal customers. There’s a great opportunity to generate social buzz and loyalty by being an early adopter.

Who Wins?

The winner is the one who makes money. There are a couple of ways for an organization to do so. One is to be acquired by another organization who is interested in your compelling technology. The other way is to actually have a business model that makes money. Obviously it is desirable to have both going for you. The winner will also have a very compelling API which will allow them to scale and proliferate rapidly. FourSquare’s looks to be based largely on Twitter’s which has been wildly successful. Foursquare has already begun selling ads that are based on where a person is physically. I have noticed ads when I go to check into a place. They say something like Deal Nearby and offer you a click path to that location with an easy back to your original location. Brightkite has some banner ads that display after you check in to a location. I have not noticed similar features on Gowalla yet.

Behavioral Data and Analytics

The real win here is that location data can be linked to conversations on both the application’s platform and on associated Twitter (and soon perhaps Facebook) streams. You can get a clear picture of how a person behaves by where they go, how often they go there, where their friends go, how often they meet their friends and what they talk about when they are there – or after they go there. An analytics offering segmented by demographics and interests would be very valuable to marketers. They would also pay to see analysis of popular places so that they know where to place their ads.

We know where they go and we know what they’re thinking.

Now we just need to get them to buy something.

Given the amount of information we have, I am sure we can find something appropriate to sell.

Please support our efforts to cure cancer. http://bit.ly/bostonbeatcancer

You may have noticed people walking around with additional (or in my case bigger and stranger) facial hair. These people are not trying to get in touch with their inner Joe Namath, they are involved in the fight against cancer. During the month of November, many of us have decided to band together and battle against men’s cancer. November is Movember.

The quick and dirty legend is that a group of guys were sitting together enjoying a few pints. Half were talking about giving back to the community and the other half were saying you know, I could grow a better Mo (moustache) than you can. You got your chocolate in my peanut butter and your peanut butter is in my chocolate. Wham. Movember is born.

Everyone Has a MOtivation

Everyone has their MOtivations. On the fun side, people style their Mo after someone ridiculous or famous. At the end is a gala where you dress up as your MOtivation.

We also have personal motivations. This year I learned that my uncle has stage 4 cancer throughout most of his body. It’s in his lungs, brain and spine among other places. He started with a melanoma on his neck and they thought they were able to take it all out. Unfortunately, it spread. I am fighting to improve treatments for others in a hope that we can keep them from suffering the way my uncle has and is.

Please consider donation of ANY amount. $1 $5 $10 $1000 $5000 $10000. If your company has a corporate giving program, I would love to talk to them. I will perform spectacle, create video or exchange time for donations. Want me to shave my head or go Brazilian? I’ll do it for $10K corporate donation. Be creative. Those of you who know me know that I am willing to do / eat just about anything for a laugh or just to create fun content to prove a point.

Team Boston

This year, we’ve assembled a group of marketers and social medialites in Boston to battle the forces of Team Austin. It’s billed as a competition, but it’s really a group of like minded souls who want to help bring attention to the need to destroy testicular and prostate cancer.

We started by shaving down to nothing

Mr Movember

And we’ve all been shaving a little less than usual in an effort to raise money to fight this horrible disease. For the record, here are the team members and their Movember Space pages. You can donate to any of them and it supports Team Boston and cancer research.