Too much choice can paralyze. Send a tired person into Borders for a half hour and he will scan a bunch of stuff, feel fatigued and overwhelmed, and walk out with nothing except a newspaper and the vague urge to return later.

Dr. Barry Schwartz, in his exceptional TED presentation, explains the paradox of choice (also, the title of his book on this subject). His warns that too much choice:

1. Creates paralysis, which is the decision not to buy any CD out of the thousands for sale, and

2. Destroys satisfaction, because a choice however perfect, suffers if compared against too many alternatives.

Dr. Schwartz’s ideas further illustrate how too much choice destroys satisfaction:

1. Regret and anticipated regret: this CD is good, but I know there was a better one that I didn’t buy.

2. Opportunity cost: maybe what I really wanted was a book.

3. Escalating expectations: with so many choices, I’m sure one must be awesome.

4. Self blame: since I picked a CD that was only good, I made a mistake and could have picked a better one.

In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs actually addresses the issue of choice. To quote:

Here’s a theory for you to disregard completely. Music, you know true music, not just Rock & Roll, chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone listening to your head phones, with the vast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It’s a place apart from the vast, benign laugh of America.

In aggregate, the contents of a near-by Borders is Lester Bang’s vast, benign laugh of America. A person is lost there. A fan, someone for whom the music has been chosen, is apart from that consequence of too much choice, that laughing vastness.

How can an author or musician change his relationship with that person walking into Borders?

Dennis Hope, the new band manager for Stillwater, recognizes the answer when he agrees (“truly, respectfully”) with Russell Hammond’s statement, “it’s not about the money, it’s about music and turning people on.”

Turning people on. Creating relationships. Or to again quote Seth Godin, “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.”

How? Drip on people. How? Web sites are extraordinary tools for this interplay of permission and dripping. Readers choose to go to a web site. They volunteer, and should be rewarded. Seth coaxes out minor permission and then nurtures that slim focus to a broader relationship.

On Seth’s web site, he creates timely commentary and fresh thinking. He’ll point out other interesting work. It’s a place where he and his readers recognize a mutual interest. He turns web surfers into audience members.

And when he has a new book, he can explain its value calmly and succinctly without distraction, without the presence of alternatives. He has eliminated the paradox of choice. Instead he can say, “there are four reasons my book is great, would you like to buy it?”

That question is a yes/no question. It is simple choice without the explicit challenges that Dr. Schwartz details above. That is a powerful change. It’s good for the audience. It’s good for the author.

———
Comments on Almost Famous:

When Lester Bangs and William Miller first talk, they are walking up a hill. Because, well, William has a hill to climb, yet.

Lester Bangs describes the record labels constant efforts to glorify rock stars as the “Industry of Cool.” Doesn’t walking into Borders or browsing Amazon feel kind of like going to Coolapalooza?

———
This concludes Part 6 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann
Feather Boas, Yeah!
Enter A New Manager: Seth Godin

The Halo Effect is one part branding, two parts permission seeking, and many parts authenticity. The Halo Effect is the means of brightening your presence in the minds of your audience so that when you have something you want them to buy, they are maximally disposed to purchase. It’s what Merlin Mann does so well. We’ll talk more about Merlin later.

Instead, one more scene from Almost Famous:

Dick Roswell, Band Manager: Well, it seems the rumors were true, the record company has sent a big time manager here to try to talk you into replacing me. His name is Dennis Hope. I know you’ve all heard of him. He’s got all the big bands. And he’s outside right now, and he wants 5 minutes with you. And I, well, I think we’ve got to do this.

Russell Hammond: Well send him in.

Jeff Bebe: Yeah. Bring him in. We’ll send him out on a rail.

Seth Godin is the Dennis Hope of my story. He has a great body of work that provides significant insight into how an artist leverage the web. Seth Gogin is my replacement. I was just the old friend and hack band manager.

The Dennis Hope scene continues:

Russell Hammond: We already have a manager. [Thanks for the support]

Dennis Hope: Respectfully. We all have our roots. I believe in bands holding on to their roots. Those roots need to be augmented. Your manager here, needs a manager. [Unfortunately, I do]

Seth Godin wrote the book, Permission Marketing. Its subtitle is, “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.” Doesn’t that sound exactly what a band or an author should do? I will quote the book for this piece. Please do me and Seth the courtesy of buying it. Here is the link on Seth’s website.

As if requested, he updated his blog with a summary of Permission Marketing. A quote:

Permission is like dating. You don’t start by asking for the sale at first impression. You earn the right, over time, bit by bit.

One of the key drivers of permission marketing, in addition to the scarcity of attention, is the extraordinarily low cost of dripping to people who want to hear from you. RSS and email and other techniques mean you don’t have to worry about stamps or network ad buys every time you have something to say. Home delivery is the milkman’s revenge… it’s the essence of permission.

Seth Godin is Dennis Hope, and he has chartered a plane.

———
Some points on Almost Famous.

Jeff Bebe is the frontman of Stillwater, and therefore the frontman for Rock & Roll. He greets Dennis Hope by remaining prone on the couch. He won’t even sit up. Dennis gives his awesome permission seeking, “respectfully” speech, a stirring affirmation of the power of professional management. By the end, Jeff Bebe has fully sat up. He expresses complete agreement with Dennis Hope even if it means abandoning Dolores, their bus - the home and soul of the band.

Dennis Hope gets them to abandon Dolores, which is brilliant:

dolorous |ˈdōlərəs|
adjective poetic/literary
feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress.

———
This concludes Part 5 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann
Feather Boas, Yeah!

In Almost Famous, the clairvoyant Estrella Strarr says:

Don’t worry William, I’ve seen the future and this all works out reasonably well.

That’s the plan for my story. It will work out reasonably well. Leave it up to professionals, as they say.

Moments before Estrella predicted the future, William is trying for the first time to write his Rolling Stone article on Stillwater. Penny Lane can’t yet allow that, and interrupts him to pee.

At that moment, William isn’t ready for journalism, and he hasn’t graduated to manhood either. Part of the problem is soon solved: he is deflowered. It has to be done.

Sapphire: Any other city in the world and you’d still be a virgin.

William Miller: Oh God. Oh God! I have never written anything more than a few pages in my whole life.

Animae like Penny Lane are tricky beasts, and almost never do the thing themselves. This scene was a particularly brilliant touch and it’s billiance had nothing to do with three ladies dancing around with feather boas in their skivvies. Honest.

In Almost Famous, William Miller is more interested in remaining a Stillwater fanboy - such an awesome Peter Pan, never age image - than in becoming a real man. He hasn’t yet made any genuine effort to write anything. The enticement to grow up has to be epic. He would rather run away, like his sister and his father before that (who ran away by dying).

—
The story of the Halo Effect and the value of the web start emphatically with enticement. Enticement is a necessary tool in building or changing a relationship. Enticement is a request for permission. Enticement is the dark, mysterious Merlin Mann’s speciality.

Apple sells iPods and iPhones for full price. Those products cast a Halo Effect on the whole Macintosh computer line. They helped drive surging sales. Nothing free, or cut rate was involved.

Most potent enticements are different than freebies, or give-aways, or propositions. It’s easy to write, “give stuff away.” That’s the lazy way.

The Halo Effect is about seeking permission, about earning the right for a relationship at a different level. Asking someone to spend $15 and several hours reading a book is a lot of permission seeking.

Some lament the decline of books. Other forms are more efficient: they provide more reward and seek less permission. The inefficiency of books might account for some of the challenges faced by book authors. Web authors gather and use permission differently, and arguably more efficiently.

———
Below, I introduced Russell Hammond and Merlin Mann. Now I need to introduce the writer. I write for executives. When I pitch business, I will suggest to a potential client, “bring me a copy of the written work of one of your competitors. Either another company or someone who you’re competing against for the big promotion.”

Most bring me an internal memo and slide deck from a rival.

I do two things to that. I rework it so that it sparkles. I also tear it apart savagely. Most clients sign me up once I point out that I will only work for one executive per firm.

I use the contempt raygun of death. It’s the opposite of Merlin’s Halo.

———
Remember, Merlin Mann is Emily Rugburn.

According to unnamed associates, Merlin wants a twitter-duel - a 30-minute joust of wit against any self-styled, old-media pundit. That would be enticing.

———
Some points on Almost Famous:

Penny Lane takes William Miller’s pen early in their first scene when William is trying to get past the bouncer. Cameron Crowe wrote about a similar event in his life for Rolling Stone.

Since Penny has William’s pen (in all those entrendrelogical ways), he cannot write until he is released back into the real world.

Penny Lane carries a tool box / tackle box as a purse or perhaps a chest for the pen. When the prince finally kisses her, she falls to the floor near dead. So we can rule out that this is a faerie tale.

———
This concludes Part 4 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann

Penny Lane / Lady Goodman (a name that proves my Jung point) / Emily Rugburn is anima. She is the essential missing part of William Miller, Writer. In the movie, he incorporates her. She then dies away, as she has to (first, she tries suicide, then she flies to Morocco, which might as well be Nirvana).

After our hero’s transformation, he writes the killer Rolling Stone article. The scene at Rolling Stone Magazine:

Ben Fong-Torres: “‘I’m flying high over Tupelo Mississippi with America’s hottest band, and we’re all about to die…’ Mmmmmm.”

Unnamed Editor: “Mmmmmmm. Dark. Lively.”

Ben Fong-Torres: “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It gets better. Did this really happen?”

In my story, Merlin Mann is the embodiment of animus.

If there is something for sale, and Merlin starts talking about it, he will evoke a person’s inner fanboy. He doesn’t have a halo. He is the Halo. All Halo Merlin Mann.

Every artist would benefit from having a favorably disposed Merlin Mann as a side kick. He is a wizard after all. Since these characters are in short supply, they need to be created.

Also, Merlin Mann will be busy with a great book. Actually, he is in search of his own William Miller so a great book can be written. That’s another story.

———
Some points on Almost Famous:

The power of the anima is clear. Immediately after William Miller declares “I love her,” the plane engines restart. The band, and truly all of Rock & Roll, is saved.

William Miller’s sister - Anita - tells us very early on that the kids call William a ‘narc.’ At the end, what is he, but a narc? He writes a saw-all, kiss and tell story about Stillwater. He was an agent of truth. Almost Famous is a movie about art. Even though William is the movie’s hero, the movie isn’t about him.

Peter Travers review of Almost Famous.
———
This concludes Part 3 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn

Russell Hammond taught us what we need to know. Merlin Mann will write a book. I am going to blog the details past some typical point of relevance.

Last post, I introduced Russell Hammond with his iconic quote, “to begin with, everything!” This post, I introduce Merlin Mann. Actually, he probably needs no introduction - see 43folders.com.

What he needs is a context. The context, in this case, is provided by Elaine Miller, William Miller’s mother in Almost Famous. To quote her:

In Carl Jung’s opinion, we all have a sixth sense. Intuition. When you meet someone you suddenly feel like you can’t live without them. This could be the memory of a past love from the collective unconscious. Or it could be just hormones.

I’m sorry. I can’t concentrate. Rock stars have kidnapped my son.

If I were some over-involved English Lit major, I would use that quote as justification for 5,000 words on Almost Famous: A Jungian Hero’s Journey With Oedipal Overtones, At Least The Part Where The Hero Kills His Father. I’ll leave it to others to fill in those blanks.

Almost Famous is a movie about art. Merlin Mann is a character in my story. The two are rather connected. Merlin Mann is Emily Rugburn.

———
Comments on Almost Famous:

Immediately after meeting Penny Lane, William Miller channels Merlin Mann:

Russell Hammond: “We play for the fans, not the critics.”

Then Russell gives William Miller a snarky, bye-bye wave.

William Miller: “Russell, Jeff, Ed, Larry. I really love your band. I think the song Feverdog is a big step forward for you guys. And you guys producing it yourselves instead of Glen Johns, that was the right thing to do. And Russell. Russell. That guitar sound is incindiary. Incendiary.”

Almost Famous could be both about the collective unconscious and hormones.
———
This concludes Part 2 of,

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

[and make really stupid typos along the way]

What is the Halo Effect? A shining circle of light? A mandorla? Doesn’t ‘mandorla’ sound like a problem that the pharmaceutical companies are working on now that they have licked ED?

What is the Halo Effect?

I’m not going to answer that yet. Instead, I’m going to talk about Almost Famous. The ending dialog is exceptionally important:

William Miller: “We are going to do this one more time.”

He turns on his tape recorder, expecting to hear the truth, and asks, “So Russell, what do you love about music?”

Russell Hammond stops leaning back. He gets up. Turns the chair around. Sits back down, and leans forward into the microphone.

Russell Hammond: “To begin with, everything!”

At that point, everyone in the audience is wildly interested in Russell Hammond. If he were to come out with a double live album a week later, it would be high on the Billboard charts with a bullet.

There is something to be learned here.

———
A couple of observations. The final line is “to begin with, everything.” So the movie ends with a beginning. Well, except the bit about Morocco. Tangerine by Led Zeppelin never sounds better than after that statement.

———
Thus concludes Part 1 of,

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.