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How could there be a better place to spend Halloween than a theatre called the DARK ROOM? The Business is ready for the holiday, we have our candy, our costumes and our post victory parade riot gear all set. Come one, come all, and bring the spirits of your ancestors with you. Don’t worry, if you get a case of the SPOOKIES, our guest this week will hold your hand. Claudia Cogan will be joining us on this unholy night. She’s top notch. She's been on Last Comic Standing 7 as a semi-finalist, been nomi nated three times for an Excellence in Comedy in New York (ECNY) award and won the first ever Time Out New York Joke of the Year nod. Claudia is an alum of UCB Theater improv school and played on several house teams. She has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and at clubs and colleges around the country. Come join Claudia and your regulars Sean “Spooky” Keane, Bucky “Puts the SIN in” Sinister, “Maniacal” Mike Drucker and Caitlin “GILLotine” for a night...

Remember Jérôme Kerviel  ?  OK, very excusable if you have forgotten who he is. He was the rogue trader who almost brought Société Générale ( a reputed French bank) to its knees. This happened in 2008. Kerviel was a trader who punted like crazy in the casino, that is euphemistically called financial markets - he was making gigantic bets that involved European stock index futures. The whole thing unraveled, he was fired, Société Générale tottered and ultimately lost € 4.9 bn.   Criminal proceedings were launched against Jérôme Kerviel  and he was sentenced to prison and a fine. He appealed, and, on Friday, lost his appeal. What caught me was the quantum of the fine. He was fined € 4.9 bn, the quantum of the loss that Société Générale incurred.  A fine of € 4.9 bn ???? Kerviel has no money and is unemployed and probably unemployable. How on earth is he expected to pay  € 4.9 bn ?   This is outright crazy. The judges have fallen hook line and sinker ...

The number one thing that holds us back from achieving our goals, from grasping our full potential, is ourselves. Instead of taking action, we wait. We wait for the perceived risks to abate, the circumstances to change, more time to become available to us. We wait for the support of others. We promise we'll leap into action as soon as we have more money, fewer commitments, clearer goals. Nothing happens. Even when opportunity comes knocking. "I'm not quite ready," we reply. Courage This week, Paul and Roger discuss two emails - one from Chris Brogan , the other from AJ Leon . Both highlight the need for you to be courageous. They urge you to take action over finding excuses. Chris and AJ want you to become the whole person you are capable of being. They offer advice. To listen to this week's episode, hit the play button on the embedded player at the top of this post. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes . Help yourself If you'd like to s...

Readers of this blog would be familiar with Ravi Rajagopalan. Ravi is a very dear friend, a brilliant guy, with an incredible array of interests and knowledge. His cover drive might not have the silken grace of a David Gower, but that's the worst you can say of him. As you might have gathered from comments on my previous post, he is a military buff too and he was motivated enough by my take on El Alamein to write a guest post. As you will see, much better content, much better prose and much better pictures than I am ever capable of. So here is the story of Bir Hakeim , as told by Ravi. The River Seine cuts through Paris, dividing the city neatly between the elite and the hoi-polloi.   Northwest of the city lie the salubrious environs of the 16 th Arrondisement. The Passy metro station serves the inhabitants of this quarter, connecting Line 6 from the North to the 15 th Arrondisement across the river   over a double-decker bridge built in 1904. The beautiful wrought-iron col...

Before The Business hits the BIG STAGE at Cobb’s Comedy Club this Saturday night the 27th at 8pm, we wanted to enjoy a night at our Dark Room home with a perfectly delightful guest. In fact, if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting her personally or have just googled the meaning of her name, you know she is a calm and powerful goddess. Shanti Charan is a winner. She won 1st place in the 2011 Rooster T Feather’s Comedy Competition and participated in the 2011 San Francisco International Comedy Competition where she advanced to the semi-finals. Charan was recently awarded SF Weekly’s 2012 Best Stand-Up on the Way Up. SF Weekly says Charan’s writing “is clever and confident beyond her years.” She will join your Business regulars Alex Koll, Sean Keane, Bucky Sinister and Caitlin Gill for an adventure 65 million years in the making*. BYOBurrito and BYO$5. If you want to bring a friend, that’s FREE! Just grab a 2-for-1 coupon here, which is also where you can learn all ...

We should not forget. We are a generation that, thankfully, has not seen war. But the baser instincts of man are never very far from the surface. Even in our lifetimes we have seen horrors - Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Congo. But thankfully, nothing on the scale of World War II. Mankind should never forget the horrors of war. This week is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein , one of the turning points of World War II. El Alamein was a dot in the Egyptian desert. Today it is a beach resort, then, it was in the middle of nowhere. But on the unforgiving desert sands was fought one of the most important wars of World War II. The Afrika Corps of Field Marshal Rommel was winning everything in its path. All through Europe, and elsewhere, the Germans and Italians were winning everything and the Allied Forces couldn't seem to do a thing about it. But at El Alamein, the tide was turned. Montgomery's forces defeated Rommel and the Germans were pushed back, and from...

Ideas - we all have them. Some are fantastic, some less so. Most are never acted on. In his latest email, Chris Brogan gives you seven steps to help you pick those ideas that are good for you and implement them. Paul and Roger discuss their own experiences of implementing ideas. During the podcast, you'll hear occasional interference from someone's smartphone. Our apologies. The person responsible ( Paul Roger) has been spoken to. Our news The podcast is available in iTunes now, making it easier to subscribe to. If you listen to us on your Blackberry, we have you covered too. We've been accepted into the Blackberry catalogue. Even better is that the cafe at the Blackrock Castle Observatory has given us our own table beside a fire. You can't imagine a more welcoming place, nor a better "studio" to record in. The Business Jazz players   Business Jazz is a collaboration. You, our listener, are the most important person. Next is Chris Brogan. 

If you’d like t...

The Business likes things big. Big guests, big theatres, big ol birthday parties. Big gets bigger when you do all the big things together. That’s why we are bringing big guests to a big theatre to have a big ol birthday party!!!!! Big! Our guests know all about big. Jamie and Sis DeWolf produce Tourettes Without Regrets, a showcase of the best cutting edge underground talent with the longest running freestyle battle and the largest slam on the West Coast. The fight club of underground art, SF Guardian named Tourettes the “Best in the Bay” in 2012. They are both guests we’ve wanted on The Business for some time, but when we heard that their birthdays are just days apart and fast approaching, we knew what had to be done. BIG BIRTHDAY SHOW.   This one is TOO BIG to hold at our home office at the Dark Room. Come join your Business regulars Alex Koll, Sean Keane, Bucky Sinister, Chris Thayer, Caitlin Gill and Mike Drucker at Cobb's Comedy Club, which should be A...

He’s the Cesar of our salad, he’s our iceberg breaker, he’s all heart and has very little E.coli, The Business welcomes the founder and host of The Romane Event, Paco Romane! Paco Romane, is an award-winning stand up comedian (voted “Best Comedian” in the San Francisco Weekly and San Francisco Bay Guardian), and actor. He has established himself as one of the funniest new comedians on the comedy scene and his energetic, self-deprecating comedic style is a hit with audiences across the country. He is also a long time company member of Killing My obster, the Bay Area’s premier Sketch Comedy group. He uses his work with Killing My Lobster to create routines and characters that are inventive, funny, spontaneous, and utterly unique. The Haight-Ashbury said "Paco Romane is a genius when it comes to developing characters. After last week’s burrito frenzy, super stuffed with guests , we take it easy this week go with just fresh, filling Romane. Business regulars Sean...

There is economic cataclysm going on in Iran. What guns and rhetoric have failed to do might be achieved by grubby old economics - the downfall of the nut cases who have been ruling Iran for sometime. The Iranian rial has plunged into free fall. It declined by 25% in one week in October against the US dollar. Since the beginning of 2011 it has fallen by 70+%. It was some 10,000 rial to the US $ in 2011. Its now around 30,000 rials to the US $. The rial is now virtually worthless. Inflation by official estimates is some 25%, in reality more like 70%. There is economic chaos. Why is this important ? You only have to look towards  the street protests that have sprung up in Iran to see how this is affecting everybody in Iran - the rich, the poor, and yes, even the mullahs. But, wait a minute. Iran is oil rich, right ? It should be rolling around in wealth. And yet, the country  is in deep crisis and the population is suffering.  Why ? If ever there was an example of how a rot...

Email newsletters can be great things, full of useful information that can help you achieve your goals. They can also be horrible pieces of writing aimed solely at your wallet rather than you. In his own latest email missive, Chris Brogan discusses the right way to do things.

 As an aside, you’ll have noticed the new logo for the podcast. Designed by Paul on a beach. Literally. The first draft was carved out in the sand.

 The second draft was crafted in Paul’s Moleskine. The third on Roger’s computer, and given the seal of approval over a gin and tonic.

 A work in progress Business Jazz is a collaboration. 

If you’d like to subscribe to Chris Brogan’s email, you can do so by going here: ChrisBrogan.com . You’ll get a great insight into doing business the modern way - the human way.

 This programme is produced and wrangled into shape by Mark Cotton. Connect with him via his About.me page . He's a great musician too. Just listen to this: Just Fontaine boo .

 We record the show...

Welcome to episode two of the BusinessJazz podcast, or as Paul would say: the second pilot. We’re making progress. This week we have an intro. We also have a producer. Our producer is Mark Cotton , and he is so much more than that. He is a sound engineer, sounding board, musician, “stunt guitarist” (we haven’t asked), composer, wrangler, adviser and all-round solid human being. We don’t know where or how to start thanking Mark, whom serendipity placed in our path. Please check him out on his About.me page . On twitter he’s @mcfontaine. We also have to say a big thank you to Sarah Langston , Mark’s partner, who has stepped in to record an intro while our voice artist recovers from an ill-fated encounter with some food. (Get well Jane). Sarah recorded our current voiceover with grace and elegance at short notice. You can find her on Twitter under the handle @misspheric. Sarah and Mark bring the band of people associated with the production of this podcast to five, not counting ourselves....

What ?? You don't know what Gangnam Style is ? It is the K-Pop (Korean Pop) sensation that has taken the world by storm. It  is No 2 on the UK and US pop charts, watched on You Tube some 400 million times . Everybody , it seems, wants to prance like a horse . Even the West Indies team, on winning the T20 World Cup, gave an energetic rendition of Gangnam Style (note the absence of the word cricket in this sentence !). Well, if you haven't heard of the original before, you can add to the 400m+ views by watching it here - beware, you have to practice prancing like a horse while doing so. This blogger is seriously musically challenged and has no qualifications to write a music post - that being the domain of experts like Suja .  Or like another esteemed reader of this blog who runs his own radio station . Instead he shall demonstrate his "hipness" by linking economics to Gangnam Style ! HTC (a Taiwanese company) just declared its quarter's results announcing a 80% ...

The San Francisco Comedy and Burrito Festival is NOW! We plan to spend the weekend celebrating our two favorite things to indulge in late at night in the dark, COMEDY AND BURRITOS. This week, The Business has wrapped up some of the best guests of the fest into a super warm, spicy, delicious comedy experience.   From Seattle, Wash., Barbara Holm has performed at the San Francisco Sketchfest, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot Arts festival, and the Women in Comedy Festival in Boston. Her comedy has been described as clever, unique, idiosyncratic, and exuberant. Seattle City Arts Magazine called her a “comedy wizard.” The Bay Area’s Spinning Platters says, “She’s noted for her wit, one-liners and off-center humor.” Seattle Stranger newspaper described her as an “adorable wunderkind” and Barbara describes herself as “running away from this question to hide under the desk right now.” Andy Haynes was raised on salmon and caffeine, in the shadows of Mt. Rain...

I am getting tempted to write political posts, despite all my resolutions to stay away from that area. The culprit is my good friend Sriram who continuously tempts me in that direction with incisive writing in his excellent blog. We then debate and counter debate on email !! So made a guest post there - taking the crazy liberty of  writing a letter to the President of the United States !

Though The Business does not endorse any criminal act, we definitely endorse badass stories about robbing banks. The truly thrilling part about Joe Loya’s story is his own transformation, but along the way… he robs banks. ROBS BANKS. I mean, we’ve all thought about it if we get into a bank line too soon after seeing Point Break, but this guy DID IT. A BUNCH. It’s a pleasure to welcome him to The Business. Joe’s essays and book reviews have been published in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, UTNE Reader, Washington Post and other national newspapers and magazines. In 2002 he wrote and performed his one-man show, The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell, at the Thick House in San Francisco. He has appeared on CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, FOX’s O’Relly Factor, and other TV shows to comment on cultural events. In 2007 the documentary Protagonist featured the story of his radical life change. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir The Man Who Outgrew...