Hit me up here or check in with one of my agents.

Represented by:

Umberger Agency – Atlanta
Pastorini Bosby – Houston 

Click here to get VANISHED BEAUTY for iBooks

Today, Pandora lost roughly $120 MILLION in value, dropping 5% in the first hour of trading on Wall Street.  Why, you ask?

Yesterday, the Huffington Post picked up the Pandora/Blake Morgan story that was first broken here on Wordsushi six days ago on May 1. HuffPo picked up on the groundswell and ran with the continuing saga

giving it a huge splash on their Tech homepage as well as a video. And then keeping it on the Tech page where it became a HOT social media item, gaining over 3,000 likes in just about a day. All I can tell you is that people, very influential people in Washington D.C. and in the music biz are buzzing about this Blake Morgan/Tim Westergren exchange, and about Pandora’s hypocrisy… and it looks like Wall Street is beginning to notice, too…

$120 million is a LOT of money to lose in one day. You have to believe that Tim Westergren and the entire Pandora board has to be shitting a brick right now.

There’s more to come…. stay tuned… This story has legs because it’s about the sweatshop-like exploitation of musicians who are being taken advantage of by a company pretending to have their best interest at heart… and now that the truth is being revealed, I have a feeling we’re going to be hearing a lot more about this story in the days and weeks to come…

Excerpted from the book “Tearing Down the Wall” by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

This is where it all begins, amidst the fire and song, the wire and the wood. 

We smash cut to an explosion on a darkened stage, entering this world kicking and screaming. Pyrotechnics fly as the opening salvo of music is catapulted directly upon the faithful and adoring. The band’s thunderous intro is so fierce, as it pounds those opening chords through thousands of amplified watts of sonic power, that it grabs thousands of fans by the throat with an unbreakable grip. The great, throbbing throng, all looking for something to feel, pushes closer to the stage to get something they can never have: a true glimpse at the man.

Why? Behind those eyes, Pink is very much a man sheltering a scared and wounded child within. Tonight, a truly dark night of the soul, will be a journey of self-discovery.

It will not be an easy passage.

In fact, Pink will experience torment enough to strip away his very soul. Will he be strong enough to get it back?

The clues to this rich, deep psychological puzzle begin seventeen seconds earlier, somewhere outside as the sun shines on a field the color of dark summer jade. From afar, they come — a small group of buskers, musical vagabonds really, playing their instruments as if they can summon a spirit from beyond an enormous wall that reaches unnaturally into the sky. Their tune is a pastoral incantation, challenging the unalienable forces of nature to allow them to take their comrade home.

The first seventeen seconds of The Wall are themselves a small puzzle piece. What I came to realize as I closely examined this sonically rich album and all of the gems, clues and Easter eggs hidden inside, was there was zero chance this intro of sorts did not have a viable significance of its own.

The tune, evocative of music from a different era, is in fact a continuation of “Outside the Wall,” the track which closes the final half of this deep narrative. Here, it begins with an abrupt and cryptic spoken sound bite: “We came in…”

These words, the very first uttered by Roger Waters on the album, sound like the tail end of a fractured sentence, the full meaning of which we are not allowed to grasp. Buried low in the mix, they almost seem like the by-product of some impromptu conversation barely caught on mic while the tape was rolling. However, I must question if that could be the case or that the exact wording is unintentional — because one of the things that becomes quite apparent listening to The Wall is that nothing appears in the mix by accident. Every little sound advances the story.

This pastoral tune has a decidedly Word War II era musical sensibility; the melody is carried by a clarinet, an instrument that is all but obsolete in modern music but was extremely prevalent in the type of swing that became popular in dance halls, table top radios and record players of the time. There is significance; World War II plays a large part in this allegorical tale of isolation and madness, which will become evident later in the album.

Finally, the big rock and roll salvo erupts, a grand spectacle, one that mirrors the grand spectacle of birth itself: you enter the world, the stage of life, screaming your lungs out as others watch your every move. Let’s not forget that birth is also the first event of our lives that is not of our own personal choosing.

Musically speaking, the band makes a very interesting choice here: the intro, with those acoustic minstral strains of “Outside the Wall,” is in the key of B major. If you aren’t musically inclined, don’t worry, I’ll simplify for you. Songs in major keys tend to be about happy and positive things while those in minor keys, obviously, sound a bit sadder and moodier. Here, you could categorize the melody played by the clarinet as “hopeful.” This is very much set up by the interval jump taken by the first two notes.

That interval, the distance between the first note and the second in terms of its musical scale, is a perfect 4^th. Before I stray too far from my musical over-simplification, the “perfect 4^th” is a very keystone interval jump used in harmony. Moreover, it’s a very recognizable two-note interval jump. Close your eyes and think of the first two notes in “Here Comes the Bride” or “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” You’ll hear that same perfect 4^th interval.

The reason I’m placing this seemingly innocuous two-note interval under the microscope is because this is an example of a common practice in music and film scoring: using certain sounds and melodic intervals to cue your subconscious mind into understanding what amounts to a sort of pop-cultural emotional shorthand. Music, a true global language, can speak in the abstract to paint a visual picture in your mind. You don’t need lyrics to understand the triumphant evocation of the main title theme from Star Wars, nor would you mistake the sound of Darth Vader’s “Imperial March” for anything other than menacing and foreboding.

One of the things that makes The Wall so fascinating is a very pervasive use of musical elements — interesting sonic nuggets buried in the mix to vividly fill in the story. As you begin to hone in on them, you’ll note how they not only relate to the underlying subconscious narrative elements of Pink’s life and the emotional turmoil he’s going through, but also use abstraction to enhance specific things occurring in the background without pulling you out of the story.

Structurally-speaking, The Wall very much follows a cinematic three-act structure common to film. The very beginning of the first act introduces the protagonist in his natural element. The Wall is no different, as we go from that hopeful B major key into a darker E minor during “In the Flesh?” — a sonic portrayal of a normal moment in Pink’s life. As he is a rock star, that moment naturally occurs on stage during a concert.

As the band kicks in to the very uniform opening of this rock opera, it implies a rhythmic quality akin to a grand march. We hear a parallel with the first auditory salvo simulating the explosive opening of a rock show: bombastic drums playing with almost militaristic precision. The sound of the Hammond organ — its long chords and place in the mix resembling the wailing of human voices – carries a gospel quality, adding to the pseudo-religious vibe. The blaring rock-n-roll pomp-and-circumstance quantized to the nature of the beat implies spectacle.

Here we discover Waters setting up musical motifs in the same way master film music composer John Williams uses leitmotif — signature musical themes for different characters such as the aforementioned “Imperial March.” These motifs are later revisited within the structure and arrangement of other songs in The Wall, bringing us back to the emotional beats Waters has already taught us to feel.

See? Emotional shorthand.

Once Pink begins singing in this triplet rhythm, the kick (bass) drum plays a pattern reminiscent of a heartbeat, very similar to the heartbeat that opens and closes Dark Side of the Moon. This internal rhythm is a perfect match to the lyrics – literally Pink’s own, subconscious thoughts. Whether he is actually singing them to his audience via his in-concert alter ego is less important overall than the realization that these are his true feelings and, without a doubt, demonstrate an obvious level of discontent about his life.

He tells them that they have no idea who he is, that they will never see behind the mask he hides behind. When he sings about them having to claw their way through this disguise, he means he will not give up his true self without a fight. He is very protective and distances himself from those who seek to know him. Perhaps even himself?

Here you are as a rock star, but you’re not happy because you aren’t really you.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times, indeed.

Keep note of this twisted mirror image dichotomy; as we continue through the narrative of The Wall, you’ll see how this Yin/Yang motif continues to play a significant psychological measure in Pink’s life.

The harmonic voices of the background singers bring a somewhat wholesome sound to the mix, imbuing the piece with a completely subversive counterpoint. Listen to the thick, strong major chord harmonies: there’s an element of Beach Boys and a bit of 50’s do-wop. Take away the vocals and you’d probably think it was a happy song. That is why I believe these lyrics live only in Pink’s subconscious rather than being part of the song he’s performing. He’s only delivering this venomous invective to the audience on the inside, where all of his troubles are brewing.

Production-wise, the slapback echo on Pink’s voice is not only symbolic of the large hall in which he performs, but also of the repetition of this forced performance, night after night, an unsatisfying repetition, ad nauseum, when the passion for this audience is gone.

Consider, for a moment, the lyric “Space cadet glow…” Here you have the beaming faces of the stoned or of the “sheeple” in the audience, whose own lack of intelligence makes them the prime followers of any cult of personality. These are people who need to be told what to do, how to think, how to act — whose very allegiance gives them a sense of meaning and purpose in lives that would otherwise be full of fear and uncertainty. They are empty vessels, often lied to and taken advantage of for the purpose of fulfilling someone else’s agenda.

In an interesting use of foreshadowing, “In The Flesh?” gives us a very deep, brilliant first look into the character of Pink and illuminates the cracks in his foundation (without revealing too much!) that will require him to change as all good protagonists must. Before we know it, we’re at the crescendo of this “performance;” the low end mechanical rumbling begins, and you can almost sense these sheeple being steamrolled by some giant machine. They are just grist for some massive mill. After all, man reduced to faceless fodder is a theme that recurs throughout The Wall.

This mechanical rumbling evolves into the rising propeller pitch of a dive-bomber closing in on its target. We follow a synthetic whistle of its falling ordinance, but instead of an explosion we are greeted with the sound of a wailing baby.

From the war machine’s cry of death comes the cry of life anew.

Because this is where…”We came in…” This is where it all begins, entering this world kicking and screaming.

Read more about the influences, themes, lyrics, music and production in THE WALL. Pick up a copy of my book, TEARING DOWN THE WALL today. 

Kindle	Nook	iBooks	Kobo	Paperback

Pandora Founder Tim Westergren gets Pwned by ECR Music Group CEO Blake Morgan. Robyn Gardner case solved in “Vanished Beauty,” and the glory of the Heil PR-40.

wordsushi.com

Please share!

Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora has apparently been trying to get indie musicians to drink the Pandora Kool Aid. My good friend and ECR Music Group CEO, Blake Morgan (pictured) , received Tim’s “personal” email to join up. True to form, Blake saw right through the smokey haze of Westergren’s bullshit and called him on it. His response back to Tim was so on the money, I had to repost the whole conversation here.

On May 1, 2013, at 1:15 AM, Tim Westergren wrote:

Dear Blake,

I hope you don’t mind this unsolicited email. I realize Ed on our team has already tried reaching out, but I thought I’d give it one last shot.

Hopefully you received the earlier email along with the attached artist deck that gives a preview of the product direction we’re considering at Pandora to help working musicians build their audiences.

Over this past month we’ve had over a 1000 conversations with independent musicians on Pandora. It’s been a very productive, and encouraging dialogue. One thing is crystal clear, there are large numbers of musicians who have not been part of the mainstream that have the talent and commitment to break through. And internet radio could be the difference.

We received a ton of feedback on the artist deck, and ideas for the future. We’re consolidating all that feedback and will be circulating a summary shortly. The input will most definitely impact the direction of our product development. Our goal is to make something truly useful – not just interesting or cosmetic.  Something that can materially impact the ability of artists to make a living. So stay tuned for that.

The letter of support which we also included in our earlier email has also taken on a life of its own. We’re approaching 500 signatures! As we suspected, there is a huge appetite among working musicians to be heard, and to begin participating in shaping the future of the music industry.  The response has been so enthusiastic that we have decided to expand the campaign more broadly. If you’re curious to learn more, or think you’d like to somehow participate, we’d welcome you.  We really think there’s an opportunity here to change the course of the industry in a direction that will be far more inclusive and empowering for independent musicians.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Tim

Tim Westergren
Founder, Pandora

To which, Blake responded:

To: Tim Westergren <tim@pandora.com>

Cc: Ed Rivadavia <erivadavia@pandora.com>

Subject: Re: Pandora

Hi Tim,

I have to be blunt and honest in my reply.

I like Pandora, and have supported it. However, this approach and idea that Pandora is intimately interested in the success of independent artists rings quite hollow––especially from a policy standpoint––when it’s put next to the reality of the so-called Internet Radio Fairness Act.

I was terribly disappointed to find your company working hand in hand with someone as unscrupulous as the reality-deprived representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on this bill. This is a congressman who aside from voting against economic stimulus packages and voting NO on banking regulations, also denies evolution (I’m not kidding) and global climate change, while insisting that President Obama is not an American citizen. Certainly not the sharpest––or most reasonable––tack in the box.

Representatives Watt and Conyers have gone so far as to re-name this bill humorously as the Paycheck Reduction Act.

The AFL-CIO, NAACP, Americans for Tax Reform, the American Conservative Union, SoundExchange, and others all oppose this bill, and the supposition that Pandora should pay less to artists and songwriters in order to accomplish higher profitability.

So again, Tim, I support Pandora and would like to believe that you and your company have artists’ best interests at heart. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to stomach this idea based on policy, and reality.

best,

B

 

 

Robyn Gardner and Tina Watson, were they victims of the perfect murder? Watch this brand new video promo for VANISHED BEAUTY, then pick up a copy of the book and discover the shocking details of what actually happened to these two women.

 Yes, that’s my voice over on the promo. 

Fatal Sunset: Vanished Beauty

A new true crime mystery thriller by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

VANISHED BEAUTY is an investigative look at the tragic fates of both Robyn Gardner and Tina Watson including the controversial new theories about what really happened on those fateful trips. Fully examine for yourself society’s reaction to these shocking cases allegedly involving human trafficking, kidnapping, insurance scams, fraud and deceit, then decide: when a vacation tragedy turns into suspicions of murder, just who is to blame?

To celebrate the release of my non-fiction thriller VANISHED BEAUTY, and to give a special thanks to my awesome fans, one lucky person on my mailing list will win a $50 Amazon Gift Card. I’ll be picking a winner on May 6th!

If you’re already on my mailing list, you’re already entered to win! If you’re not sure, sign up with your email address. It takes 30 seconds to enter!

Sign up here: http://bit.ly/11n8heU

As I gear up for the release of my non-fiction thriller VANISHED BEAUTY in a couple of weeks, I’ve decided to give away the audiobook for my demon hunter novel, THE CHURCH OF INFINITY for free over at Spookshow.TV. Previously published as just “INFINITY”, the newly rebranded THE CHURCH OF INFINITY is the first volume in the complete INFINITY SAGA.

All 13 parts of THE CHURCH OF INFINITY audiobook will be available to download starting on Thursday, April 11, with serialized episodes also being made available to stream directly from the site each week!

As part of the rebranding, I’ve rolled both Infinity books, THE CHURCH OF INFINITY and INFINITY RISING into one volume, INFINITY (The Complete Saga). So if you like what you hear, you can get the complete saga collection as an audiobook or an eBook.

Duh. 

The good news is that these days, you don’t need 75K words to make a book. There is no prejudice against a thin book spine when it comes to e-books. 

One of my most successful titles was my Bin Laden book which clocked in at about 12K words total. It proved to me that you can succeed with a short book, but just know that you may face trouble charging a lot for a short book. You may be limited by how much people will be willing to spend on something they can read in an hour or two. 

Now writing a book is one thing. Everyone has their own way of doing it. 

However, in order for your book to be market-worthy, you’re going to need the holy trinity… Rewriting, Editing and Proofreading. There are very few people who can create a first draft that is publishing-ready. It’s the kind of thing that takes not only skill, but a great deal of experience. Trust me, your written work will only get better through rewriting. 

It should also go without saying that you NEED others to read your work before it gets published. Writing is lonely work that often takes place in a vacuum. You need objective and honest feedback in order to make your book shine. 

Unfortunately, my recommendation is that you do not trust the opinions of family and close friends. They may not be completely honest assessors of your ability to succeed. They may not want to see you get hurt. They may have an agenda. They may like you just where you are.

Find a writer’s group near you or online. If you have someone who will be straight up with you, you are already ahead of the game. 

Editing and proofreading are also jobs that are too important to be done by you, not so much because you may not be qualified to do it, but because you may not be qualified to do it objectively. It’s your book, you’re too close to it. You need to find and editor and/or a proofreader for your work before it goes out into the world. 

This is actually one of the most difficult tasks in the process and in many cases, the one that will carry the highest expense. Editing and proofreading are such important jobs that you should really hire someone to do it. Thanks to the e-publishing boom, there are lots of vendors offering these services to writers just like you and I. 

When it comes time to find a editor, ask around. If you have friends who have self-published, there’s a good chance they may know someone. Sometimes people are protective of their editors, not wanting them to get too popular lest they raise their rates and lose their availability. I have an editor I like a lot. He’s someone I’ve known for about 20 years so I trust him with my work and I trust him to be honest with me. 

If you really get stuck, I may give you his contact info, but just know he doesn’t work for free. 

Looking for an editor or proofreader can be as easy as an Internet search. You can also find freelance editors at sites like ODesk.com where freelancers hang their shingle looking for gigs. On these sites, you can often put your job up for bids and the editors who have registered have also taken various aptitude tests and their scores are visible on their profiles. 

Whatever you do, try as hard as you can to put your best foot forward. An audience will be your most honest critic. If your book is bad or good, they will let you know. 

EMPTY SPACES – From “The Wall” by Pink Floyd.

The ghostly wisps of airport terminal ambience and faces from the past fade; the journey now reaches at its next destination. Our arrival point now pulsates with a mechanical rhythm conveying the essence an assembly line of some sort. The synth and guitar play a subdued, darker, much more sinister version of “In the Flesh.” 

In many regards, this industrial throbbing percussion in “Empty Spaces” makes the song feel like a blood cousin to “Welcome to the Machine” from the band’s smash album Wish You Were Here. Even lyrics from “Welcome to the Machine” seem to echo from the same DNA of disillusionment found throughout The Wall. 

What did you dream? It’s alright. We told you what to dream.

The musical separation from the living, breathing, organic sound of the finger-picked acoustic nylon-string guitar of “Goodbye Blue Sky” to this synth-driven conveyor belt heightens the sense that we have been torn from the innocence of Pink’s youth. There is no more free pass from obligation that childhood often affords us. Now, as a young adult, Pink is faced with the obligations of manhood.

Primarily those which come with romantic entanglements.

Is this some sort of Brave New World for Pink? Is this a world filled with the Futurist’s embrace of technology that separates us from our loved ones and, more dangerously, ourselves?

Narratively-speaking, Pink now remembers himself as a young adult. The years have not been kind. Throughout his upbringing, his unstable relationship with his own place in the world has deeply affected his ability to connect with others and form true relationships.

Is he now paying dearly for it, because inside of his soul he now feels these “Empty Spaces?”

As a work that deals with the erosion of sanity and its effects upon relationships, The Wall contains surprisingly few overt references to Syd Barrett, the founding member whose LSD addiction fried his brain and forced him out of the band. Perhaps Roger felt he had excised Syd’s spirit with Wish You Were Here’s infamous ode to Syd, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” 

That being said, there are moments in The Wall that feel like we are being visited briefly by the ghost of Syd’s presence in the band and in Roger’s life. Remember, Syd was Pink Floyd’s original lead singer and songwriter; it was only after Syd’s mental breakdown and subsequent curb-kicking that Roger began his brilliant career as a songwriter. In this case, however, it’s not so much a visit from Syd’s ghost as an embodiment of the man but instead as a form of cautionary tale.

“Empty Spaces” is a song about failed communication.

What shall we use to fill the empty spaces where we used to talk?

Of all the clichéd audio trickery allegedly found in rock record audio production of the era, backmasking was not a Pink Floyd hallmark. This practice of searching for backwards messages, intentionally inserted into recorded music in order to deliver a subliminal message, really didn’t hit the mainstream until 1969 when a caller at a Detroit rock radio station convinced disc jockey Russ Gibb to play The Beatles’ “Revolution 9” in reverse. Therein, explained the caller, were clues to prove the rumors of Paul McCartney’s death were indeed true. When played backwards, the phrase “Number nine” became obvious — to some people — as “turn me on dead man.” When other listeners tried this sonic experiment on their turntables at home, the station’s switchboards lit up. According to them, the mix also contained buried, backwards recordings of a car crash and the voice of someone screaming, “Let me out!”

Record companies and artists scoffed, citing the phenomenon of “phonetic reversal,” wherein a word sounds like another word when reversed. This did not deter some rabid backmasking hunters from convincing themselves that these subliminal messages were not only subversive in nature, but also boldly satanic.

Possibly one of the greatest examples of backmasking paranoia stems from claims that one of the most famous rock songs ever recorded, “Stairway to Heaven,“ is filled with backwards praise of the devil himself.

Right after the bridge of “Stairway” Robert Plant sings:

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now

It’s just a spring clean for the May queen

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There’s still time to change the road you’re on

Without getting too analytical about the lyrics within the context of the song, “Stairway to Heaven” is really about a spirit quest of sorts, harkening back to legendary pursuits like King Arthur’s grail quest or Homer’s Iliad.

The mythical quality of the song’s narrative also lends itself to shades of Paganism. The reference to the May Queen invokes an ancient ritual in which a virgin clad in white was chosen to lead a parade for May Day in celebration of spring. After being crowned with flowers though, a sinister fate awaits our lovely May Queen — for in this pagan ritual, she becomes the victim of human sacrifice.

Also quite undeniable is the allusion that the two paths and the choice to change one’s road refers to the spiritual destination that awaits at the end of this long journey.

That being said, it’s probably not that ridiculous to understand why some self-appointed backmasking detectives believe that when this section of the song is played in reverse, you clearly hear is:

Oh, here’s to my sweet Satan

The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan

He will give those with him 666

There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan

Before you give yourself severe ocular strain from rolling your eyes too hard, take a listen for yourself. (It probably helps to be really high when you do.) Most likely you will find these supposed backwards lyrics to be the product of overactive imaginations belonging to those who strive to find something hidden where nothing exists.

What makes this all very interesting is that “Empty Spaces,” a song about failed communication, actually does contain its own backmasking!

Essentially a joke of Roger Waters’ own creation, it contains a certain poignancy that helps give this song a very deep meaning within the context of Pink Floyd’s history and the tragic story of Syd Barrett.

Beginning at approximately 1:12 into the song there is an obviously unhidden garbled audio element in the mix. Played backwards you can clearly hear what is being said.

“Hello looker,” Roger Waters begins. “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink in care of the Funny Farm, Chalfont…”

Then cutting him off before he can deliver the entire address you hear recording engineer James Guthrie call out, “Roger! Carolyne’s on the phone!”

To which Roger replies, “Okay.”

Considering that original Floyd singer Syd Barrett had been institutionalized in a mental hospital, it’s easy to see how this could refer to him, though not as lovingly as in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

The “Carolyne” in question is no doubt Carolyne Waters, Roger’s second wife. In the past, Waters has publicly stated that if it had not been for Carolyne’s insistence on communication between them, he would have ended up as crazy as Pink.

Or perhaps Syd.

It’s worth mentioning that the use of Roger’s real wife’s name is the first time we are removed from The Wall’s fictional universe by something directly from the real world. However, that may be precisely the point. In order to illustrate the many layers in The Wall and to momentarily remind us that it’s a metaphor, he uses Carolyne as a grounding point to give us the right perspective and see the work for what it is.

Things get really interesting in “Young Lust.” I invite you to check out “Tearing Down The Wall” if you want to know more about the hidden meanings, messages and the incredible way the audio in The Wall was shaped to tell its own story-within-the-story. 

That’s why I’m happy to tell you about MINDPRODUCT, my new digital magazine for Flipboard. Thought-provoking and evocative, Mindproduct will not be your father’s mag.

What Flipboard has done with their latest update allows me to showcase content I’ve created and curated in a digital magazine format that is accessible for iPhone, iPad and Android. You can get and read Mindproduct on your smartphone or tablet anywhere and I know a lot of you are already users.

Best of all, I can do it in a way that is easy to use, simple to navigate and is constantly evolving. All you have to do is subscribe once and you’ll be receiving all new Mindproduct content as it happens. 

I have some really cool ideas in mind for Mindproduct, and along with my own stuff I will be featuring work by amazing artists that you may or may not have heard of before. In the first pages of Mindproduct, you’ll see Blake Morgan’s new music video for his single, “Water, Water, Everywhere” from his upcoming album, Diamonds in the Dark. Coming soon will be some very funny stuff from my pal Brian Dunn that I know you’ll really dig. I think it will be a lot of fun to watch the evolution of this digital magazine as it happens.

Did I mention that it’s FREE?

So? What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE to get your FREE Mindproduct digital magazine for Flipboard. And if you don’t have Flipboard installed on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you can get that for free, too! Android app on Google Play - iOS app for iPhone and iPad

DIARY OF A MADMAN is serial killer thriller that is not for the faint of heart. One listen and you’ll understand why. Filled with graphic violence and sex, it’s a tale of darkness and horror that may not only keep you awake at night, but also force you to look at your co-workers in a very different light.

Also, check out the wonderful narration on the Diary of a Madman trailer by the late, great Don LaFontaine.

Get the DIARY OF A MADMAN audiobook:

Audible / Amazon / iTunes

or get it for

Kindle / Nook / iBooks / Kobo / Paperback

YOUR MISSION – from the book “Go Forth and Kick Some Ass” by the Rev. MYN. 

Beware the Boogeyman for he is real.

Not flesh and blood, for flesh and blood can be stopped with a silver bullet or a stake to the heart; the Boogeyman is as real as any monster you can imagine and believe me, twice as dangerous.

No matter how far you run, he can catch you.

No matter where you hide, he can find you.

The Boogeyman lives in the shadows of your mind, in the dark crevices of your consciousness waiting to spring out and kill your happiness. Kill it dead. Slice its beating heart out and show it to your face as your terrifying scream is locked in your throat with no escape.

And the Boogeyman does this by way of its two greatest spells that it will attempt to cast upon you like some kind of evil wizard in the night.

Fear and Doubt.

You know the Boogeyman. You have met him. You have felt the touch of his icy fingers against your skin and watched the gooseflesh raise upon your arms in tiny bumps.

The Boogeyman is your mortal enemy. If you let him get close he will keep you from that which you desire most:

Success. Happiness. Contentment.

If you let the Boogeyman control your actions, he will take over your life and treat you like a puppet on a string. He will destroy everything you’ve worked to create. He will strangle your hopes and dreams.

Fear and Doubt. Doubt and Fear.

Those two things will derail you from your path and once the Boogeyman hits you with one of these debilitating emotions, it’s not long before the other will breed inside of you like a blackened evil seed full of poison.

Fear and Doubt are the most powerful forces that can keep you from finding success. Alone or together they can paralyze you.

Close your eyes. Imagine the following:

Red wire. Green wire. Timer counting down.

You gonna cut one or just watch the clock run down to zero?

Can you even imagine having to make a decision like that? Red wire. Green wire.

Let’s just hope you’re not colorblind; this will be pretty difficult, as it is.

Pick the one you think is right. Say a small prayer that you have chosen correctly. Use your cutters. Do it fast.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that chances are good you won’t be faced with anything quite literally as harrowing as disarming a bomb. Although, and this is just my opinion, if you happen to be using this book as part of training yourself on explosive ordinance disposal you may want to consider reading faster.

Since the path to success is often fraught with chaos, you can never account for every possible variable. Because shit happens, you evaluate your best mental snapshot of the situation, weigh it against your goals and then take your next step with full commitment.

Do you hesitate? Do you falter under pressure to succeed?

Perhaps the effects of your past still weigh heavily upon you. So much so that it hampers your ability to make progress.

Repeat after me: I am my own worst enemy.

I do things to sabotage myself.

Sometimes I even realize I’m doing it and I still can’t stop myself from monkey-wrenching the whole damn thing.

That’s right, monkey wrenching: the act of screwing yourself out of what you have worked so hard for.

We have somehow conditioned ourselves to accept that we can, might, and will cause the gears of our own progress to come grinding to a halt because that’s just who we are.

That’s how we are wired.

One day I gazed at the face looking back at me in the mirror and asked it a couple of tough questions.

Hey Face, 

How hard should it be to find a life I can truly be passionate about? 

If happiness isn’t going to find me, how will I find it?

Face had no answer. So I sat and I thought.

Understand that I had realized early enough in life that happiness is tied hand-in-hand with self-worth, and by that I don’t mean what you have in your bank account. By self-worth I mean how you feel inside about the progress of your life, and the trajectory in which it is headed.

My happiness rises and falls with the successes I have–in work, in love, and at play.

As I looked at Face in the mirror, I wondered which Face would be staring back at me in the years to come and I realized whatever I was going to do with my life, I just truly wanted to be successful at it.

Face agreed with me, even if he was just along for the ride.

Success breeds confidence.

Success breeds opportunity.

Success breeds more success.

And above all, success breeds happiness and some of the deepest satisfaction you can ever know. It is just that simple.

That being said, don’t ever mistake simple for easy. The only thing in life I ever had that was easy required a penicillin shot afterwards.

Look, if all you want out of life is fame and fortune then you should just go wait in line to buy a lottery ticket or get on a reality TV show; basically just punch your one-way ticket to the magical land of Dipshitville. Just because you think you should have success doesn’t mean it will come to you. Success, for the most part, requires effort and I have to tell you that a lousy work ethic along with a sense of entitlement is not life’s perfecta, my friend.

To find success in this world, you have to be willing to accept an uphill climb. You have to want it.

First, take a deep breath. Now second, really and truly ask yourself, “Do I want it? Do I want to enjoy the rewards that success can and will bring emotionally, and more than likely, financially?”

If you answered “no,” you’re too fucking stupid to read this book.

If you answered “yes,” I’m not going to drench you in bullshit platitudes like, “You just made the first step of the biggest journey of your life.” Hell no. This isn’t about “trust circles” and “wish penguins” or any of that sappy New Age crap.

There is no mystical healing crystal ball that will envelop you in a shining glow and make your life easier and everything go your way.

Trust me. I would know. If there were I would have bought the damn thing already.

If you answered, “Yes, I want it,” I want you to understand there is indeed a road ahead and it may not be all smooth sailing.

Remember, there is no easy money.

Sure, you may hear about tech workers making millions off “stock options” and wish you were so lucky. Well guess what? You are that lucky. You already have stock options in yourself.

It’s called, sweat equity, and it generally means the more work you put into your chosen passion, the greater the reward will be when those efforts finally pay off.

And what I wish to do by giving you these keystones for personal growth is make the road ahead much easier to navigate and that sweat equity much more valuable.

So go ahead and ask yourself, “Why not me?”

Though I won’t pretend this book contains a secret formula to riches, I have a feeling that by the time you finish reading this from cover to cover you’ll be on your way to never having to ask yourself that question again.

Today, when I look at the mirror, Face is much older and has its share of battle scars, but I can tell you Face is happy. Face is satisfied.

I want you to be able to look in the mirror and see yourself as a being of infinite potential. I want you to be excited about the future and taking control of your destiny. This book is for those of you out there who wish to be doing or getting something you want, but are stymied from achieving it simply out of fear.

For years I allowed myself to be held back from my true potential; the forward march of my own progress stopped cold. There were things I wanted to do with my life but were afraid to.

Inside the confines of my barricades were my nest and a certain level of safety.

Outside lived a monster. I knew his name.

The Boogeyman.

Nobody is going to save you.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there is no cavalry. No knight in shining armor who will come and rescue you from this life that seems like it could be so much more.

Should be so much more.

Am I wrong?

I know you have been waiting.

That, I again hate to say, has been part of the problem why there is a divide between where it is in life you wish to be and where you are right now.

You are not where you want to be.

You have been waiting for the problems and the shortfalls in your life to be taken care of by someone else; the person who will by way of job, relationship or circumstance will turn your life around.

You’ve been waiting for a hero to save you from the dismal fate of an unhappy existence.

A lifetime wishing you were someone else.

Stop waiting. Life is capable of being a lot more than just a string of disappointments.

The only person who can save you is you.

I knew that if I ever wanted to achieve the things in life I desired most I would have to leave the confines of my nest and face my demons.

It would take:

COURAGE.

CHARACTER.

PERSEVERANCE.

and FOCUS.

But as I learned, these superpowers needed to defeat the forces that held me back were already inside me.

They are inside you, too. You just need to find them.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is one of great importance:

Find your superpowers.

Be the hero of your own life story.

You can do it. Just turn the page.

*****

Pick up a copy of GO FORTH AND KICK SOME ASS

“Life is tough and this book reminds you of that, but it also reminds you that YOU are tougher than anything life can throw at you. Mark has taken years of experience and boiled it down to an inspiring, humorous and dead on serious look at what you need to do to be successful in life. It isn’t as difficult as you might believe.”

- C.C. CHAPMAN – New Media trailblazer and bestselling author of “Content Rules”

KINDLE

NOOK

IBOOKS

PAPERBACK

This book is for anyone who has ever suffered from the crippling self doubt that comes from feeling like your life is stuck in a rut.

Ordained minister, Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, a.k.a. “The Rev. MYN” will take you though some simple steps how to power yourself out of that rut and get back on track.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: ”I wrote this book to tell you that no matter how futile it seems, there’s always a path out of the woods. Now, I’m not here to show you some kind of new-agey slight-of-hand that will magically change your life. I’m going to simply explain to you the thought process I used in order to get the ball rolling and keep it rolling. A wise man once told me that the hardest thing in the world is getting from zero to one mile an hour. Let me show you how I did it so that I could begin living the life I wanted to live. I’ll be honest with you, this book isn’t for everybody. But if you’re ready to stop feeling down about where you are in life and start moving toward achieving your goals, big and small, and if you are willing to make an investment in yourself, I want you to give this book a try.”

GO FORTH AND KICK SOME ASS will not only show you the mental tools you need in your arsenal but how to best acquire them and use them to your advantage. Because, believe me when I say this, you can absolutely be the hero of your own life story. You just have to want it.

VANISHED BEAUTY will drop on April 23rd and will be available for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks and in Paperback.

I am rebranding my urban fantasy action-thriller INFINITY so that I can give you the first part of the saga for FREE. Coming in MAY 2013. Stay tuned for more details…

My father, Barry Nemcoff (1925-2008) lived a very interesting and eventful life. In this short documentary, he tells  it in his own voice. From fleeing China as a boy in 1938, serving in the US Navy during World War II, his years as a US Information officer and his distinguished decades in broadcast news, Barry talks about his life, family, career and loves.

Also included are some great anecdotes about his time serving in Pakistan for the U.S. Government, essentially as a propaganda officer. These are just a couple of the stories from DACCA DAZE. It might have been the other side of the moon. In 1960, Dhaka (then known as ‘Dacca’), East Pakistan (now known as Bangladesh) was, for all practical purposes, almost that far removed from the consciousness of the American people. Geographically, it was certainly on the other side of the world globe from American cities like Chicago or Philadelphia, for example. In the late ’50s and early ’60s, any news emanating from that part of the world was considered pretty far out.

Amidst the political intrigue and social upheaval that was further complicated by the Cold War in the early sixties, Barry Nemcoff, a former news reporter from Philadelphia, arrived in Dacca, East Pakistan with his wife and infant children in tow on an assignment with the U. S. Information Agency. The purpose of the agency’s work: To tell America’s story, spread its technical and scientific know-how, and contribute to the development of a nation.

What follows are the recollections of one ordinary American citizen who spent two years on the subcontinent, literally plucked out of American society and thrust, almost overnight, into a strange culture whose language and way of life was as esoteric to him and his family as anything coming out of fiction.

One of the few Hollywood people I know who is not a dick is Phillip Rhee, the writer, creator and sometimes director of the cult-classic “Best of the Best” movies that always seem to be on cable somewhere. Phillip’s a friend, a really good guy, and he and I have collaborated on developing many script projects over the years.

There was even a period of time in what feels like my previous life that all I was writing were scripts on assignment from Phillip’s production company. As I’ve previously written about in the foreword for my last-hitman-standing thriller “Number One with a Bullet,” we had optioned that script to some bigwig and yada, yada, yada… Thing is, along with his other endeavors and businesses, he was putting all of these projects into play and continued to even as I fell face-first into new media and that whole Sirius/podcasting/TV part of my life and then into publishing, etc.

So what does this all mean? No clue at this point and I’m not going to speculate publicly, because this news and a buck fifty will get you bus fare. I have a signed contract that covers the work I’ve done, its future disposition, etc… and I know what it says. Now, we wait.

So, stay tuned. If anything should come of this at all, I’ll let you know. As the late, greatl Don LaFontaine would have said: In a world where tons of scripts get developed, this is one of them… 

If your heart is set on seeing your name on the cover of a book published by a traditional publisher, then go after it with everything you have. Chase it like a dog after a pork chop.

Just realize that today, self-publishing success has become an opportunity to gain the attention of traditional publishers. It’s the new way to fight the crowded bottleneck of all those millions of others out there trying to do the same exact thing. Success in any field doesn’t go unnoticed for too long.

Of course, traditional publishing isn’t without its pitfalls. As an industry facing a great deal of uncertainty, traditional publishers have tightened the reins. New contracts can include provisions that mean less control of your work, and worst-case-scenario, even loss of your copyright regardless of whether or not your book even comes out. Feeling frisky about an education into the horrors faced by writers under contract to publishers? Go visit ThePassiveVoice.com, a site run by a lawyer who has worked in the publishing industry for decades. Often, he highlights the egregious things found in the publishing agreements sent to him by writers under contract. One thing is clear. Publishing is an industry facing drastic shrinkage, where sometimes the most creative work done by the publishers involves dreaming up inventive new ways to upend the writer by the ankles and shake until more money falls out from their pockets.

Regardless, with a publisher behind your book you may even be forced to wait 12 to 18 months to be released. In some cases, books are never released for whatever reason… even after the contracts are signed. This is the pure definition of literary blue balls.

Plus, to make things even more difficult for the writer to make a living doing what they do best, uh, writing…the contract you affix your John Hancock to may prohibit you from, uh, writing anything else. At the very least, you will be under embargo against competing against yourself.

All in exchange for an advance and the hope there will be more royalty checks coming.

How big of an advance? Well, it seems the days of windfall advances to new writers is past history. Today, advances for new writers now average in the mid-five figures and are shrinking faster than Luke Skywalker’s junk after a cold dip in a Degoabah swamp. Now, I realize that a few thousand bucks may represent a life-changing sum of money for some, but it seems a paltry sum to sign away nearly all control of something you devoted so much of yourself to create.

You also have to take into account that your advance is recoupable against future royalties. That means the 8 to 10 percent royalty per unit sold they’ve given you in that contract has to earn back every penny of that advance money before you see another dime. That is if you even get an advance. Some publishers have started to move away from handing out any upfront dough and are instead basing their deals on royalties alone.

In a way, it’s almost like religion. It’ll work out better for you if you have faith there’s a reward at the end.

Yes, dear writer, the deck is stacked against you. However, those awful publishers put up the financial risk and you signed the contract allowing them to do whatever they want.

A deal with a major publisher can open doors for you. Maybe even lead to bigger opportunities. The sad truth is that because publishers release so much content every month, not every one of their books will succeed and not every writer under contract will make a living. Some writers succeed with major publishers and go on to have those careers the rest of us drool over. Most however, do not. That’s the way it has always been.

Can you make a living self-publishing? Yes.

Be your own boss. Write what you want to write. Be on your own schedule. Just remember… if you don’t sell books, you don’t make money.

How much can you make through self publishing your own books?

Possibly the best-known examples of DIY self-publishing success are John Locke and Amanda Hocking. Both were making six figures, monthly, on their self published books. That’s right, hundreds of thousands of dollars a month! Look it up. Both eventually signed big deals with major publishers. Google the term: “self-publishing success” and you’ll find the latest person to use their self-publishing efforts as an audition to land a major book deal — because a writer with an audience and the know-how to make it happen on their own is a much more attractive proposition for a risk-adverse industry. 

The good news is that you don’t have to be today’s buzzed-about indie author to make a decent living at this. Because e-books are being sold today in mind-blowing numbers, you can stay under the radar and still move enough units each month to make a living. It takes luck and perseverance and a growing catalog of content.

Me? I’ve had my own indie publishing imprint since 2005, and have been doing this full time for the last two years. I can tell you it’s thrilling to be able to write what you want, how you want and sell it to book buyers without a middleman screwing everything up or putting their hands in your pocket.

If you could do anything in the world, anything at all, what would it be? Personally, I’d want to do exactly what I’m doing now. The only difference is that it would be from a desk with a view of the beach.  

*****

I’m a full time writer, publisher and digital content creator. I’ve been marking the 8th anniversary of the launch of my indie imprint, Glenneyre Press by sharing some of what I’ve learned about about digital publishing. 

Just files and royalties.

One of the major ways you succeed in the modern age of content distribution is through disintermediation—taking out the middleman. By having the ability to go right to the customer via a distribution network like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, I not only keep more control over my products, but also pocket more profit.

Truth is there is no ceiling on how much you can make. You are only limited by your potential.

How cool would it be to make enough to pay for a family vacation? Or make your car payment every month? Ask any writer. There is no sweeter money than a royalty check for your book sales.

Before we go too far down this yellow brick road, let’s be clear with one thing when it comes to self-publishing. You need to know it will be a labor of love at first.

The hardest thing in the world is going from zero to one mile per hour. Making regular money doing anything creative requires a certain amount of momentum. If you are starting from scratch, i.e., you have never published a book, or anything else, and you have never created anything for the internet and don’t currently have a following or audience, you really do have your work cut out for you for sure.

You can’t go into this with the expectation that you are going to publish your first book to the Kindle and the money will start pouring in. It takes time and effort to build a successful publishing platform.

Let’s set some expectations. What are your lofty goals? If you want to make a living, you have to start somewhere.

How about selling 100 copies of your book to begin with?

That would be a “win” in indie publishing. What else would be a win? Remember victories are relative.

• A win is any time you can look at a positive outcome from your efforts that in some way moves the needle, no matter what that needle is.
• A win is releasing your first book
• A win is selling the first copy of your first book.
• A win is hitting any bestseller chart for the first time
• A win is hitting #1 on any bestseller chart anywhere.

You want to make money doing this, right? Remember, a few books a day adds up. If you can put yourself in a position where each book sale will net you 2 bucks in profit, then what happens if you sell 5 copies a day, every day for a whole month?

What if you could sell 5 on Amazon. 1 on BN, 2 in the iBookstore, 1 on Kobo… all of a sudden, that’s 9 or 10 books a day…

$20 a day, 30 days = $600

You can build on that momentum and hopefully turn 5 copies a day into 7 and then 10 and then 20, 30, 50 and more. That’s how you make money self-publishing. You may not recoup your investment in a book for a while. It may take months or longer, but once you can go into the black, it’s all profit from there.

Just from uploading some files. That’s the beauty of self-publishing.

March 2013 marks the 8th anniversary of the launch of my indie publishing imprint, Glenneyre Press, an indie publishing imprint I started in 2005 with zero experience and lots of preconceived notions… which were wrong. Since 2011, it has been my full time gig. 

I also wanted to begin posting some of the new voices I’m working on and random demo stuff, so a new blog dedicated completely to voiceover, and voice over work seemed to be the right answer.

So, pop on over to my new VO site and definitely check out my new character voice compilation below and let me know what you think!

And of course, if you need a voice over let me know… of if you know someone who does or books VO gigs, definitely send ‘em my way.

Jeffrey Umberger is a tenacious agent with an amazing roster of talent and now I’m super stoked to say… he’s now representing me for Voice Overs! He’s been sending me a steady stream of really fun auditions and I’m having a blast doing them. Looking forward to kicking some ass with my new awesome agent!

Check out my post over at social media/branding blog SocialDays.com about the power of “social” video and “produced” video and how they are both elements of a strong content strategy. Big thanks to social video pioneer Steve Garfield and to dm Works founder Ken Fleischer for their video contributions to the article.

Smart brands realize they don’t just have customers anymore, they also have audiences. What you say is still as important as how you say it. However, in our ever-expanding universe of social engagement, you can’t just rely on all the same old channels and still expect exponential results.

Read the rest of: SJQ Guest Post: The State of Video – Win the War for Attention with Video by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

“The book is absolutely fantastic. For me, the best written to date among those dedicated to the study of a Pink Floyd album…” 

Hey, you gotta love that. An amazing review of “Tearing Down The Wall” in the latest issue (#80) of

Us And Them Pink Floyd Fanzine. It’s a German site, published in Italian… so rev up your Google Translate and give it a rip.

This was a nice surprise. #2 on Amazon UK’s bestseller list for Popular Culture, right behind some 50 Shades-influenced tome on light bondage. LOL.

Welcome friends of the Doctor from Floydpodcast.com!

Please Subscribe!

Five years ago, I realized Amazon had bestseller lists, which was cool enough, but then when I realized I was on them, that was the coolest. This week, I am very happy to celebrate half a decade on those lists and my greatest achievement as a publisher so far.

Back on January 8, 2008, I was a bit surprised to realize that my crazy little book of Hollywood assistant stories, “Where’s My F*cking Latte” had been sitting on a pair of bestseller lists on Amazon. Five years later, it’s still there near the top having spent nearly all of 2011 and part of 2012 at #1.

In the last five years, “Where’s My F*cking Latte” has withstood competition from all the major publishers and a list of celebrity authors that rivals the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Even the ones that take the top spot for a while fade away, but Latte still remains near the top. I can tell you that in the time that I have been watching these charts no other indie book has come close to the success that Latte has had.

WMFL has definitely paved the way for my other bestselling books and I can report that my other big non-fiction books, “The Killing of Osama Bin Laden”, “Fatal Sunset” and “Tearing Down The Wall” have all been their respective bestseller lists every week since their release. Writing and publishing this book helped me launch my imprint and has helped define its success in the 8 years Glenneyre Press has been in existence. Latte definitely changed my life for the better and I’m thrilled to celebrate 5 amazing years.

Here’s to the next 5!

Get it FREE for iBooks - http://bit.ly/SyCl5P

Or read it FREE online at Scribd - http://www.scribd.com/doc/116898039/Wordsushi-Volume-1

Don’t tell Mike. I broke into his place while he was away in Florida for the holidays and recorded an episode of UC Radio. Check it out as I spin some amazing tunes you just won’t hear anywhere else and talk the talk and otherwise spray all over the UC Radio hydrant.

Download the mp3 here.

Complete shownotes for show

UC Radio “PLUS” iPhone app - now IOS 5 Compliant, iPhone wallpapers, Twitter and Facebook contacts and feeds

UC Radio Android App

Tunes

• Hide Another Mistake - The 88
• Stoned part 1 - Lewis Taylor
• Nothing, Oh Nothing - Satisfaction
• Are You Ready for it - The Holograms
• City of the Sun - Kevin Gilbert
• Sometimes I Think I’m Richard Nixon – Dan Marcus
• When - Ben Vaughn

Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff - http://wordsushi.com

“Tearing Down The Wall: The Contemporary Guide to Decoding Pink Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time” - Get it Now!

New Godaddy Discount Coupons:
Great Deals Right Here…

Please help support UC Radio by using the following sponsors discount coupons at this link:

Sam Ash Music Equipment
Eastbay and Footlocker Sports Equipment – Use Discount Coupon AFEBUC2N and save 15%
eMusic
Ice.com
Budget Rent a Car
Mozy online storage and computer backup

Check out the main UC Radio site
Look here for more info and details on all of the UC Radio discount coupons.

“In a way, it’s a manifesto for understanding that you’re as messed up as everyone else and learning how to get your shit together,” I said. He replied that he had only listened to “The Wall” once and didn’t understand it. I’ve spoken to people who say that whenever they listen to “The Wall,” it depresses them.

That’s exactly the kind of album it is supposed to be. This isn’t the trifling kind of music they make today, where everything is about a beat and everyone’s trying to be way too cool at the nightclub. ”The Wall” confuses you and depresses you because it turns a twisted mirror on you. It touches something in your soul that you don’t even understand because the connections to these very human and primal fears of abandonment, despair and depression are so raw.

That’s why I wrote this book. For years, I’ve been analyzing “The Wall” and taking note of how it utilizes so many different nearly subliminal tricks to create an impression on the listener. Once I began to piece it together and saw it all in context, it completely recalibrated my understanding of how creative masterpieces are constructed and the depth of thought that goes into them.

On the surface, “The Wall” may seem just like a story about a rock star who takes drugs and goes mad. That’s just the facade to draw you in. The real story is buried underneath and, like life, is made up of many layers. What it all means when you really look at it, will blow your mind.

Pick up a copy of TEARING DOWN THE WALL today:

Check out this FREE PREVIEW of “Tearing Down The Wall: The Contemporary Guide to Decoding Pink Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time”

eBooks make great gifts this holiday season or any time of year. Giving eBooks for the Kindle, Nook and Kobo as gifts is fast, affordable and easy. Let me  show you how it’s done.

Want free eBooks? Join the Wordsushi Review Squad and I’ll happily gift you a review copy of any of my eBooks. Get a book, leave a review. It’s just that easy!

Reviews are incredibly important for authors. Today, every product on the Internet needs social proof in order to thrive and survive. As an indie author/publisher, every sale counts and reviews matter a lot.

Join the Wordsushi Review Squad. I’m not going to tell you what to write in your review, just say whatever you want. All I ask is if you get a free book that you leave a review.

Let me know which book of mine you’d like to read for free. Just CLICK HERE.

Call it a digital magazine. Call it another crazy MYN mindproduct! Wordsushi (Volume 1) is packed, PACKED, with content. 101 pages of content enhanced with audio and video. Articles, rants, fiction, humor and more. Plus 33 pages of MAUI CONFIDENTIAL, my “best of” Hawaii’s own Valley Isle! Best of all, it’s totally FREE! 

Wordsushi (Volume 1) is available for iBooks (167mb download): 

http://bit.ly/SyCl5P

Or for any tablet, smartphone or your desktop as a PDF (100mb download) at the Issuu Newsstand: 

http://bit.ly/UGnQyE

or you can snag the PDF directly from my site:

http://wordsushi.com/magazine/Wordsushi-Volume-1.pdf

http://amzn.to/T6CwXN

Plus, what do you think about his idea of doing the same for “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”? Hmmm?

Or click here to download the mp3. 

Fire up BitTorrent or your favorite torrent client. I’ve released a preview copy of TEARING DOWN THE WALL with sample chapters as a torrent which you can find at:

http://kat.ph/pink-floyd-book-tearing-down-the-wall-preview-pdf-t6836265.html
or
https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7845966

You can also download the PDF directly right here: http://bit.ly/RSx9ta

THE WALL – Immersion Box Set: (About $110) The complete artistic experience.  Lavishly packaged in a sturdy 29cm square box, the sets contain remastered, previously unreleased and audio-visual material, plus much additional content – reproduced memorabilia, brand new graphics, art prints, collectors’ items, lavish booklets and more.

DISCS 1&2 – CDs 1&2 The Wall digitally remastered by James Guthrie, 2011. DISCS 3&4 – CDs 3&4 The Wall album demos (previously unreleased) DISCS 5&6 – CDs 5&6 Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall Live (digitally remastered in 2011 by James Guthrie) DISC 7 – DVD, AUDIO VISUAL Another Brick In The Wall pt2 promotional video – restored in 2011, Behind The Wall documentary, Gerald Scarfe Interview,  Short filmed extract of Earls Court concert featuring animation, 44 page 27cm x 27cm booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson, Exclusive photo book, 27cm x 27cm Exclusive Storm Thorgerson Art Print, 5 x Collectors’ Cards featuring art and comments by Storm Thorgerson, Replica of The Wall Tour Ticket, Replica of The Wall Backstage Pass, Scarf, Prints/Cards of Mark Fisher’s stage drawings, 3 x white marbles with design of bricks, 9 x Coasters (unique to this box) featuring early Storm Thorgerson design sketches, 4-8 page credits booklet. That’s a lot of Pink Floyd stuff in one big package. You should also check out the DARK SIDE OF THE MOON – Immersion Box Set and of course the WISH YOU WERE HERE – Immersion Box Set as well. 

If you’re looking for something a bit less expensive, but still really cool. Check out the Dark Side of the Moon Experience Version. For a fraction of the price you get expanded versions of the classic album in a Digipak bonus disc format.  Included are the original remastered album, a disc of additional material and an expanded CD booklet, so you’re getting the same two discs as the Immersion set containing the James Guthrie remaster of the album on disc one along with an beautifully sounding performance of DSOM performed live in concert back in 1974 on the other (About $21). And yes, also available is THE WALL – Experience Version (which includes bonus demo versions of the album) and WISH YOU WERE HERE – Experience Version. There are lots of other Pink Floyd Albums to choose from, but you can find all 14 original Studio albums painstakingly digitally remastered by James Guthrie (co-producer of The Wall), and are reissued with newly crafted packaging and booklets created by the band’s long-time artwork collaborator Storm Thorgerson in the Pink Floyd Discovery Box Set. (About $170). 16 total CD’s! 

Conceived by French director Adrian Maben as “an anti-Woodstock film,” Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was shot in October 1971 in a vacant, 2,000-year-old amphitheater–a venue chosen to accentuate the grandeur and spaciousness of the band’s Meddle-era music. This disc contains a new, 90-minute director’s cut as well as the original 60-minute concert film, whose production and effects feel inescapably dated. Maben’s cut goes to great lengths to lend the film a more contemporary feel, but it’s the earlier version that makes this disc such a gem, being more focused on the music and more wholistic in vision. The anamorphic, 16:9 director’s cut interweaves the Pompeii performances with fascinating but distracting interviews and music snippets filmed later (mostly during the recording of Dark Side of the Moon). The movie was originally prepared in a 4:3 aspect ratio, however, and the widescreen version crops perfectly framed images like the nine-square mosaic of drummer Nick Mason in “One of These Days.” The original offers plenty of closeups of fingers on frets and keys, with shots that are often luxuriously long in duration. And the picture quality from Pompeii is revelatory: outstandingly sharp and clear, rich in subtle grades of light and color. (about $20). 

What about some cool wall art? Pink Floyd Posters make an interesting addition to any room’s drab decor. Posters, in general are pretty inexpensive ($3 to $8) and in an age where CD covers and mp3 thumbnails don’t really do justice, a nice 24×36″ blowup does the trick.

How about a set of 6 Pink Floyd Album Cover Shot Glasses (about $21) to bring a little PF magic to your home bar? 

 Or this cool set of Pink Floyd Wooden Drink Coasters (about $10) for your next social gathering?

One of the things I do whenever I go on vacation is bring back a coffee mug, that way I when I drink my morning cup of joe, I get reminded of the things I love every day. Here’s a chance to show off your love of Pink Floyd around the office with this Dark Side of the Moon Ceramic Mug (about $10).

For that guitarist who is looking to capture that Pink Floyd feel and sound, there is the Fender Custom Shop David Gilmour Signature model (about $4,300)

But if over four grand is out of range, you can still get up close and personal with David’s famous black strat with the book, Pink Floyd – The Black Strat: A History of David Gilmour’s Black Fender Stratocaster – Revised and Updated 3rd Edition. (about $22) The Black Strat book tells the official chronological story of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s favourite legendary Black Stratocaster from 1970 to the present. Written by Phil Taylor – David’s personal guitar technician and the band’s chief backline tech since 1974 – the only person to know Pink Floyd’s equipment better than the band themselves. 

But don’t fret (pun intended) you can still get your hands on that David Gilmour custom tone with EMG DG20 David Gilmour Wired Pickguard, which is the same custom wired setup David Gilmour has on his red strat. (about $300). 

If you ever wondered what happened to original Pink Floyd singer and songwriter, Syd Barrett after he was kicked out of the band, check out his solo album, The Madcap Laughs. This import CD is a piece of Floyd-related music history that not all fans know about so it makes an awesome gift especially for fans of early Pink Floyd. Recorded mostly right before and after Syd was institutionalized in a mental hospital, The Madcap Laughs even include cameos by Roger Waters and David Gilmour who were recruited by the producers in desperation to help their friend Syd finish the album. Syd fans will also appreciate these other Syd Barret albums. 

Finally, when trying to find the perfect gift for that Pink Floyd fan in your life, you could never, ever go wrong with a pair of tickets to see Roger Waters – The Wall Live in concert. (varies, but expensive) Now that he’s bringing The Wall back to stadiums around the E.U. in the summer of 2013, here’s what may be the last chance to see this amazing rock spectacle. Trust me, I saw this show in L.A. and it blew my mind. Best. Concert. Ever!

Three really great interviews I did for the release of TEARING DOWN THE WALL came out on the same day the book launched. I wanted to share them with you because they’re all very entertaining.

Here’s a podcast interview I did with J.C. Hutchins. Being a very talented writer himself, it was cool to get into some of how the things I found impacted the narrative behind what’s going on in The Wall. 

http://jchutchins.net/site/2012/11/14/podcast-interview-with-mark-yoshimoto-nemcoff-author-of-tearing-down-the-wall/

C.C. Chapman takes a break from his busy schedule to grill me on what TEARING DOWN THE WALL is all about along with being an indie author in this new age of publishing.

http://blog.mymusic.com/tearing-down-the-wall-an-interview-with-mark-yoshimoto-nemcoff/

And last, but certainly not least. Here I am rocking the radio live with Crash Davis over at KFAB during evening drive.

http://www.kfab.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=CrashDavis&selected_podcast=20121114180001_Mark_Yosimoto_Nemcoff__1352949174_2234.mp3

Tearing Down The Wall is available at:

We had a tremendous launch for TEARING DOWN THE WALL yesterday, hitting #1 in Popular Culture here in the U.S. and Germany and #2 in the U.K. as well as tearing up some other big Amazon charts like Music and Art and a number of others. Also getting to #1 in Hot New Releases was pretty great, too. One look at the current Pop Culture chart and you’ll see books written by Pete Townshend of “The Who”, Neil Young, Keith Richards, Don Felder from “The Eagles”, Motley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, John Taylor from Duran Duran and Batman/Inception/3rd Rock actor Joseph Gordon Levitt just in the top 20! So to make it to the top of this list is really cool for me, and still being at #1 the morning after just kicks ass.

So a massive THANK YOU to all of you Pink Floyd Fans, Rock fans and those of you who support this thing that I do.

Tearing Down The Wall 

I’m really excited to announce TEARING DOWN THE WALL: The Contemporary Guide to Decoding Pink Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time the latest MYN MindProduct. This is a must-read not just for any Pink Floyd fan, but songwriters and storytellers as well. Once you see how far down the rabbit hole THE WALL goes, it’ll blow your freakin’ mind.

PRAISE FOR TEARING DOWN THE WALL
“Smart, sharp, insightful and profound…” 
- Blake Morgan, President ECR Music Group
“The most complete study of any album I’ve ever read… absolutely forensic!” 
- Mike Yusi (UC RADIO)
“The definitive book on Pink Floyd’s The Wall. A masterpiece!”
- Amazon reviewer Dennis Waller

Think you know what this iconic album is all about? What if I told you it went deeper than you ever imagined?

TEARING DOWN THE WALL is available NOW for:

• Kindle 
• Nook 
• iBooks 
• Kobo 
• and in Paperback! 

Once you’ve picked up a copy, please leave a review as this will help others buy the book.

PINK FLOYD – THE WALL

Full Album - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBv5MDhLwj4

CD 1:

In The Flesh? (0:00) http://youtu.be/Yo7HCOc4V04
The Thin Ice (3:20) http://youtu.be/zMJDmE3KWW8
Another Brick In The Wall (Part I) (5:57) http://youtu.be/kwpDAdksnmA
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (9:09) http://youtu.be/5SD0SwaSyLg
Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) (11:00) http://youtu.be/8bhlyOkZq9E
Mother (14:59) http://youtu.be/qXj8xB1yukc
Goodbye Blue Sky (20:34) http://youtu.be/isfQtbWbr7M
Empty Spaces (23:21) http://youtu.be/8Z2_u8ZxCsQ
Young Lust (25:29) http://youtu.be/I9J3LE4Ii-8
One Of My Turns (28:59) http://youtu.be/dcUvsbjrxrg
Don’t Leave Me Now (32:36) http://youtu.be/ZNguUlSfFK8
Another Brick In The Wall (Part III) (36:52) http://youtu.be/ghoVrDgZYhk
Goodbye Cruel World (38:04) http://youtu.be/1WoMVBEiYe0

CD 2:

Hey You (39:21) http://youtu.be/KWoV3pj8NmM
Is There Anybody Out There? (44:01) http://youtu.be/rBsv8ebJAQk
Nobody Home (46:43) http://youtu.be/LhYI2MBsYyg
Vera (50:06) http://youtu.be/u7dr1mfjmi8
Bring The Boys Back Home (51:39) http://youtu.be/mtvqwCZJn_A
Comfortably Numb (53:06) http://youtu.be/ao-RYcFmsTw
The Show Must Go On (59:28) http://youtu.be/YjA96xLkcbQ
In The Flesh (1:01:05) http://youtu.be/1tdv0oy3aSA
Run Like Hell (1:05:21) http://youtu.be/gNCLIoq80rg
Waiting For The Worms (1:09:45) http://youtu.be/2XsGgGx1y-A
Stop (1:13:42) http://youtu.be/th6idcsjgMA
The Trial (1:14:13) http://youtu.be/HFMU8i25YTc
Outside The Wall (1:19:32) http://youtu.be/MSw2RlZJxFo

Now, if you want to know what it all REALLY means, you’ll have to pick up a copy of my book: “TEARING DOWN THE WALL: A Contemporary Guide to Decoding Pink Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time” (coming Nov. 14th)

I’m looking for at least 100 dedicated music fans to help me make a real dent in Amazon’s music category for books and get “Tearing Down The Wall: A Contemporary Guide to Decoding PInk Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time” rolling on Wed. November 14th – $2.99 for Kindle! $8.99 paperback!

Tell me you’re in! Join the Facebook event today!

LINK TO FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/488278034546378/

Excited to announce that my next non-fiction magnum opus, “TEARING DOWN THE WALL: The Contemporary Guide to Decoding Pink Floyd – The Wall One Brick at a Time” will launch next Wednesday, November 14th in eBook and Paperback. THE WALL is one of the greatest albums of all time and when you really delve into what it’s all about, what every nuance and note really means in the narrative of the story, it’s really mind-blowing.

Stay tuned for more details and links!

I don’t know about you, but I am sick of seeing real estate agents slap their ugly mugs on every bus bench in town. Sheesh!

Something new… a rant on video! Enjoy!

From “Porn Vs Chicken” now only 99 cents on Amazon! http://amzn.to/NU2RUX

Listen to Jesus. Maybe it’s the wine but he knows what he’s talking about…

Get your copy of “Porn Vs. Chicken” today!

http://amzn.to/NU2RUX

A magazine! Here’s a sneak peek at the first cover of WORDSUSHI VOL 1. I’m planning to release this as a free downloadable enhanced magazine that will contain not just text but audio, video, photos and more. Instead of distributing my new media content via podcast, I will be making it available through this publication from my company, Glenneyre Press.

I’m starting to put together the content now and with a little luck you’ll see this drop sometime in November. More info to come… Leave a comment with any ideas or suggestions if you wish.