Continual Vigilance

TheBeep’s own Mike Willaford had the chance to talk to Adam of Fear Before the March of Flames about what has been going on and what might be coming later on down the road. Mike hit up Adam on their way to the Portland, Oregon show and had a little chat.

Adam: “Hello?”

Mike: “Adam? Hey this is Mike from the Beep.Net calling for the interview. How are you doing?”

Adam: “Doing good just driving.”

Mike: “Oh, I didn’t mean to call you wile you were driving…”

Adam: “No I’m not driving, just sitting in the van.”

Mike: (awkward silence because Mike is nervous) “Oh, ok, well I guess let’s just kick this right off… I heard you guys are from Aurora , CO - what’s the scene like up there in Aurora?”

Adam: “Well, in Aurora there really is no scene, but as far as Denver goes it’s awesome! And it’s getting a lot better I think um, like, a lot more kids will come out to our shows and because of that kids who haven’t really heard of other bands in the scene are going to other shows. I think it’s actually getting better every day.”

Mike: “Awesome. Is the band name really in reference to a newspaper headline? Because in your last song it says ‘…waiting in line for hell with you…’ and a lot of references to ‘marching into the flames.’”

Adam: “No, it really is a newspaper headline.”

Mike: “How was playing with Norma Jean?”

Adam: “Awesome, those guys are a totally cool band. Just a blast. Some of the biggest shows we have ever played as a band, which is crazy. We just like to play with those guys and hanging out with those guys. They are just totally, totally amazing guys, so it was a really good time.”

Mike: I kinda have a different question. Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?”

(disconnected)

Adam: “Hey I think we got cut off…”

Mike: “Yea I think we did too, it’s ok though.”

Adam: “What was your last question? Where do we see ourselves…”

Mike: “In 10 years…”

Adam: “6 years?”

Mike: “10 years..”

Adam: “It would be great if we were still doing this band, but who knows, you know? It’s really hard to say professionally where we might be. Maybe still making music or playing guitar: I would like to buy a boat, and be a shark fisherman. I wouldn’t want to actually eat the sharks or kill them. I would just want to hangout with them for awhile.”

Mike: (laughs) “Awesome.”

Adam: “If I’m not making music or in this band I would like to fish for sharks, and hangout with sharks.”

Mike: “Where do you see the hardcore scene headed?”

Adam: “Well that’s hard to say, um, like it’s so different where ever you go. There’s hardcore now that is main-mainstram ****** pop-punk bands that scream and that don’t know much about hardcore, you know? There are bands that used to be hardcore, but are now mainstream hardcore. Then there’s bands that think they are hardcore bands, and bands that get called hardcore but don’t want to be called hardcore. And there’s bands that get called hardcore but aren’t hardcore at all. It’s really, really hard to say, I would like to say I know where it’s but I couldn’t really tell you.”

Mike: “Yea, I know what you mean. In track 3 you said…”

(disconnected)

Adam: “Hey man is that your phone or my phone?”

Mike: “I don’t know whos phone that is.. do you have a bad signal?”

Adam: “No man, I’m in service.”

Mike: “Ok, I’ll go outside and see if that helps (goes outside). Let’s see if this is better. In track 3 you say, “the birds think I’m one of their own, the birds thank God to be alive.” Is there any Christian or religious influences involved?

Adam: “It’s a song that Dave wrote, and it’s kinda like a conversation with the devil.” (silence)

Mike: “Hello, you still there?”

Adam: “Yea, it’s just a song about having a conversation with the devil. Don’t think we are a satanic band or anything…”

Mike: “No, no, no, not at all. There are rumors that you guys are a Christian band because you guys played at Cornerstone and did some touring with Dead Poetic and Norma Jean.”

Adam: “We never played Cornerstone.”

Mike: “Never played Cornerstone?.”

Adam: “No.”

Mike: “A few more questions here. What’s the bands favorite food on tour?”

Adam: “Favorite food? It kinda varies for each member but we are all fans Chilis. We just ate there an hour ago. They have black bean burger that I really enjoy. The waitress wasn’t so good today, she put bleu cheese all over my ****. It made me real mad. Sometimes we like to find a good Mediterranean place to eat. Have you ever been to Perkins?”

Mike: “Yea.. Perkins is really good”

Adam: “Yea.. They have a good selection there..”

Mike: “What’s the funniest thing that has happened so far on tour?”

Adam: ‘Funniest thing that has happened on tour” (thinking) Let me think, (talking to other people) - Lots of funny stuff happened, but uh… One time we were at a strip club, we don’t always go to strip clubs but it was kind of a crazy night, and Mike our bass man got called up on stage and he rode around stage by a stripper. That was pretty funny.

Mike: (laughing) “That’s hilarious. That’s all we have for you. Thanks for doing the interview. Be sure to check out TheBeep.Net”

Adam: “Definitely. Thank you.”

Questions? Comments? Email info@thebeep.net - www.thebeep.net

Mike Willaford

Writer for www.thebeep.net

mike@thebeep.net

As a scientist I attend several international conferences every
year to give talks, show posters, and exchange ideas with my
colleagues. Many of the talks have time limits of 7 minutes with
3 minutes for questions. Have you ever sat down and timed
yourself to see what you can say in 7 minutes? Its not much, let
me tell you.

Even from a discipline that prides itself on sticking to
simplicity, a 7 minute talk is a challenge. It forces you to say
quickly and in as few words as possible your premise and
findings.

This is not so different from advertising on the internet. Wait a
minute you say, you are trying to relate internet marketing to
doing scientific research? Well, classified ads for instance
require a short but catchy headline (your premise) and a few
sentences describing benefits (or findings). There simply is not
enough room to discuss anything in a classified ad.

Sales copy is different. You have much more room for discussion.
Does this mean you should run off on some literary commentary?
No. To keep readers attention you must still remain focused to
your initial premise. The big difference is benefit elaboration.
Space now exists to list benefit after benefit by delivering one
scenario after another to prove your premise.

Now think about the things just stated:

(1) remain focused to premise,
(2) list benefits, and
(3) prove premise.

This is essentially identical to what we do in a scientific talk.
Is online marketing scientific? In some ways, yes. One must
research and brainstorm ideas to form the premise and benefit
list. Sales copy is then drafted with these research results and
one other underlying condition: getting to the point quickly and
staying highly focused to it throughout the copy.

I have come across many web sites with sales copy that extends
over more than 5 pages. It hops from one idea to the next without
remaining focused. I personally am lost in their premise after
page 2. There is no doubt that your copy should be compelling but
stick to the point. Don’t go overboard with your benefits list. A
well laid out list of benefits will succeed at grabbing the
readers interest. If it’s too long, people will simply click away
to another site. Do you really need a benefits list longer than 5
or 6 key items?

If your product is that good that it takes 15 to 20 items to
describe all of the benefits, you need to take special care to
capture them all and the readers attention. I suggest dispersing
several within the body of the copy. Don’t itemize each.
Carefully draft your copy with some of the benefits included. If
this proves too hard then simply use only the most important. You
can weed out the ones that aren’t necessary by going back and
thinking in detail about your target audience. See if you can
sort your benefits into different groups based on the people who
would make the most use of each benefit. Then write several
different pages of sales copy and advertise each to its
respective group.

Remember that the point to all of this is to capture a readers
attention and drive home the sale. Success will be very hard if
you make your readers work hard to understand and see your point.
Do yourself and your readers a favor by getting to and sticking
to the point.

About the Author

About the Author:

Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of
e-Kinetic.com, a site devoted to providing resources for small
budget home businesses.Subscribe to his free E-Zine on
home business resources at mailto:e-kinetic@GetResponse.com or by
visiting his Home Based Web
Business Resources and Tips site.

One of the strangest moments in my undergraduate education came during the first
few weeks of freshman year. By that time school was in full swing, essays were
being assigned and grades were being handed out. It felt like “university”. Jonathan
screwed it all up. His essay on Waiting for Godot was so remarkably bad we had
public readings of it and most of the “pop quotes” of the time came from it.

“More out there thoughts”
“The play was written in two acts the same reason the bible is written in two acts”

In the end, it was Jon who was laughing. He ended up getting either a B+ or an A
on the assignment, both humiliating the more grammatically inclined and everyone
who ever took a cheap shot at him. The following is his essay in its entirety.

Did I Get It?

By Jonathan ___

Did I get it? Well, I actually don’t know, and by not knowing, I guess I didn’t, but at
the same time. I did pick up many aspects of it, I understood what Vladimir and
Estragon were going through, I understood their existence. At the same time, I
pondered many of the things that I took as “hints” towards the real meaning of the
play. I though that the play was written in two acts for the same reason that the
Bible is written in the New and Old Testament. I thought that the reasons that
people could not remember past in the second act had something to do with the
coming of Jesus in a sense, that now these people were saved and they needed
worry anymore, that they were now fine to go into heaven, because they could now
die and were fine, and that in the first act they were not saved and could not kill
themselves. That was just a thought, which did not make any sense in my head
after reading further and further into the second act. Perhaps you can see what my
mind was thinking at one point, or maybe I was just totally lost. I also saw Pozzo as
a snake, like in the creation “story”. I saw him tempting Vladimir and Estragon, and
maybe Lucky was someone that was his slave and could only think with the hat
because the hat was what could save Lucky, maybe that hat was more then the
reader first thinks it is. As far as liking Godot, I must say he does annoy me, and he
is never their for the characters, but then, if Godot, is actually God, maybe he was
there all along, but Vladimir and Estragon were blind to see him. As I type this,
more and more thoughts begin to creep into my head, more “out-there” thoughts
that may have some basis. I keep on thinking about the sudden blindness of Pozzo
and the dumbness of Lucky. I don’t get it, is it because they are being punished for
their ways? I also think that about what I think of God. I am Christian, but like most
rational people, doubt. I wonder if God does have “meanness” as a quality, or is it
something else that my human mind cannot comprehend? Is God(ot) really beating
the boys brother? Why Goat’s and Sheep? I know a song by a band called Cake
entitled “Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell”. Maybe that has something to do
with it, or maybe something to do with something. I am now more confused then
ever, but then again, is that not what a good book is supposed to do to you?

How this essay did so well is beyond me. My guess is that the kid was dating the
T.A. It’s the only explanation. Anyway, cheers to Mr. Jon A__ who managed to
shatter my faith in the Canadian education system.

http://www.lonelycanuck.com

I hate to admit this, but I rarely get an original idea. That’s bad for a writer.

However, I’ve got lots of paperback friends who help me sound smarter. They’re the seven reference texts I keep on top of my desk. Here they are, and why each one means so much to me.

1. Dictionary - And old teacher once told me, “If you don’t know the meaning, look it up.” Sound advice. My desk copy is “Webster’s New World Dictionary.”

2. Thesaurus - I’m always looking for a different way to say things, and this text helps me a lot. It’s called “Roget’s College Thesaurus.”

3. Idiom reference - People often use a common idiom or cliché’ to clarify what they say. I keep the “Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms” next to my keyboard.

4. Dictionary of synonyms - The one I use is “The Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary of Synonyms.”

5. Encyclopedia - To quickly find details on historical figures or products, I consult a great single volume paperback called “The New American Desk Encyclopedia.”

6. Quotations - A quote from an expert can add impact to a speech or report. The book I use is “The International Thesaurus of Quotations” by Rhoda Thomas Tripp.

7. Idea generator - Well, this sounds self-serving, but I often use my own book to give me ideas for first paragraphs, transitional sentences, and conclusions. That book is “Words That Stick” by Rix Quinn.

Rix Quinn writes a weekly syndicated humor column, and develops writing workshops for schools, colleges, and business groups. His book “Words That Stick” is available from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580085768/qid/