"Give them pleasure, the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare."

"...suspense is essentially an emotional process. You can only get the suspense element going by giving the audience information."

Alfred Hitchcock

What's missing today, in too many cases...showmanship. On the screens, out of the speakers. While some have the business part almost right, too few are making investments to get the show right. Show business. Not one or the other, but one and the other, each being equally important.

Frank Capra: "Without an audience, a film is something in a can, something incomplete, like an unread book. It just lies there, dead. Do not underestimate the power and the ability and the intelligence of an audience. A thousand pairs of eyes and ears seem to react to stimuli much faster and smarter than any one pair of eyes and ears. This is what it's all about - the people-to-people communication, from the people on the screen to the people in the audience. And only you can involve an audience with people. You can't involve them with gimmicks, with sunsets, with handheld cameras, or zoom shots. But give them some person they can worry about, and you've got them."

Exactly why Idol works: "...give them some person they can worry about."(or care about, or cheer for, or love to hate)

Wil.i.am: “I hate to say it, they just have to abandon the plastic disc; it doesn’t mean anything anymore, it’s all just straight to computers. They need to open the format, and really make money off mp3s and not see it as a threat. They’re trying to hold on for dear life. We have to redefine what it is we’re selling [listeners]. Yesterday’s model just isn’t working anymore.” The BeP player and producer is in the studio with Michael Jackson and says the KoP's next release may be online, direct to the public. More from Staci at paidContent here. paidContent also covers the ongoing DRM mess at MidemNet here. Thanks Staci!

Nobody does it better: Tom Peters tells it like it really is, again and again and..."Quite simply, the old command and control styles and idea of dispassionate, order-barking "architect" or "conductor" of an orderly, hierarchical enterprise is dead, kaput—outta here." and again. Bravo Tom! Inspiring, as always. Read Tom's post here. Scobleizer encounters and reviews Tom Peters here.

Congrats & Cheers: Lee Arnold works behind the scenes and very effectively. Just heard that one of Lee's radio clients was not only up in every daypart and demo but as well the new fall numbers bested a significant double digit market lead, 18-34. Lee doesn't just win, he dominates (and he gets it, understands show business). Bravo Lee!