You know, I’ve been thinking lately how fortunate I am to work at such an outstanding company like Sixthman. And I’m here to tell you why. Andy has worked very hard to truly create a family atmosphere. And here in the office, we all believe. Sounds cheesy on paper, right? But it’s true. Here’s a great example. A few weeks back, we had our company retreat. Kelly worked her butt off supplying us with all kinds of goodies. When the retreat ended we packed all the leftover stuff into 2 vans and headed back to Atlanta. We got to the office and everyone got out.

Then, without a word, the entire Sixthman Team started grabbing supplies to bring in. All of us unloaded and it took, like, 2 seconds. No one just walked away. No one just assumed “Kelly will do it”. We all chipped in because here at Sixthman, we’ve got each other’s backs. Like a family would. That means no task is too big, no situation too daunting. Someone here has got you covered. The group load out left such an impression on me that I still think about it and it happened weeks ago. So, as I fearlessly move forward with, say, ticketing, I don’t even have to insert the usual [God help me] associated with such a huge, seemingly overwhelming task. I have help. SIXTHMAN!

-Carla

That’s how I like my tacos.

Have you ever been at a place where they give you free beer, but they stop serving the free food? I have. This is where the dollar taco swoops in to save the day.

I was drunk on free beer, almost embarrassingly so. Seriously, what kind of people give you free beer, and stop serving food? My special gentleman friend collected me and we began making our way down the street in search of the next best thing to free food- cheap food.

We saw the sign shining in the night, a beacon of goodness, its corona almost blinding our darkened eyes. “Dollar tacos” it said, and underneath, “$2 PBR.”

I was in heaven. A full meal, including an ice cold Pabst Blue Ribbon, for $5. These are the things that make me happy- the little things- a simple corn tortilla, filled with meat and salsa. Delicious.

Babs

Listening to “Putting on the Ritz” by Taco

Parenting is like a good workout. It almost kills you while you are in action but you feel so great during the breaks. And you are stronger for it. I am always looking for a language my children will understand while they develop their communication skills and I am proud to say that I discovered a powerful one recently. My son just turned two and my wife and I are prepared for glimpses of the devil in the upcoming months.

In the meantime, I am turning to impromptu dance parties when he and my daughter begin to tire and get cranky. Just before chaos erupts, I turn off the TV, move the living room table and crank dance music. It has a pavlovian effect for both children and what was almost a series of “time outs” becomes one funky scene. Whats the catch? I have to dance too and like any proud man would, I close the blinds and shake a leg. Its not pretty by any means but it is certainly a great workout.

You might like this video of my son, Trane, cutting a rug.

-Andy

Book of the week: “Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley. This will serve as a manual for me as I try to develop as a leader.

It’s Friday. And on Fridays, I like to start my day off with reading something that will renew my energy, and get me thinking creatively, as I feel as though Monday through Thursday has exhausted me. Well, this morning, I read a combination of things that made me wonder what could potentially be a very telling, and destructive, question for thousands of internet dwellers like myself. Is social networking doomed to become like bottled water, or is it a business that is destined to thrive like ice cream flavors?

I know, deep stuff. You might be asking at this point, what in the world I’m talking about. Social networking is an online method of bringing together like-minded people… ultimately through computers, which crash if they spilled on by bottled water, or by melted ice cream. This is true. But what is also true about social networking, is that it’s growing, and expanding, and finding new legs every day.

Here is the challenge. In a world of online craze and dependency, two things can happen with the future of social networks. They can continue to multiply, each with different audiences, with different names, difference attributes, but all ultimately seeking the same result. In this scenario, those who were at first dominating (myspace, facebook), are now just another choice. AKA…Water Bottles. Take your pick on the shelves, they are all just about the same, without a dominating #1 seller. OR, facebook and myspace can continue to be #1 and #2, and can continue to make all emerging social networks obsolete, sharing between them less than 40% of the of market. AKA…Ice cream flavors. No matter what other new flavors are discovered or marketed, vanilla will always be #1.

So, for your Friday, chew on this. How will social networking be molded over the next 5 years? Like bottled water or like ice cream? My guess is as good as yours.

ape

Sixthman and Roller Derby -

As some of you may know, we have a few women in the office who play roller derby. There are 4 of us actually. We all skate for the Atlanta Rollergirls. I get the question a lot as to whether we knew each other through roller derby first, or if we all worked in the same office and together decided to try roller derby.

The answer is the first. I started at Sixthman after tour managing the Rock Bus in 2006. As we grew we needed another person in the call center and I referred my league mate, Elle Beaux (aka Barbara), who has since moved into marketing here at Sixthman. After that we picked up Spazz Attaque (aka Joy) and May Q Beg (aka May) in the call center. We have 3 of Atlanta Rollergirls 4 home teams represented in the office.I think at first, the rest of Sixthman didn’t know quite what to think of our extra curricular personas. It was fuel for many jokes of course, but even though roller derby is the fastest growing sport in the US, a lot of people still envision the version that started in the 1930’s during the Great Depression.

The recent resurgence has brought a different version of roller derby to light. We wear elbow, wrist and knee pads as well as helmets. We practice 4-5 times a week, 2 hours at a time. We work with a speed skating coach. We follow rules (lots of them) which include no fighting, tripping, using hands or arms below the elbows, no elbowing and no hitting on the back. We usually have around 8 refs for every game tracking points and penalties.

To learn about the scoring and how the game is played, check out this

In the last year, Sixthman has caught derby fever. We now always have at least a few Sixthman folks at every bout (that’s what the games are called) cheering us on. Everyone in the office has requested to have their own roller derby names, which many now do (in varying degrees of office appropriateness) and we’re working on the others. But I knew we had really won them over last year when Andy was introducing me to a business associate. He didn’t say “This is Laura, she works in Operations,” or even

“This is Laura, she is the crazy person who tries to keep up with Red”. He said

“This is Laura, she plays roller derby.”

There are more than 200 leagues around the country today. I’ll bet your hometown has one too.

Support your local Rollergirls!
Hugs & Bruises,
Machu Beatchu (aka Laura)

Elle Beaux (Barbara) & Machu Beatchu (Laura) in the 2007 season – Photo by Frank Mullen www.matteblack.com

Tom Petty said it best.

I hate waiting, and yet I know that waiting makes everything that much better. Come on, what’s Christmas Morning without the sleepless night of anticipation on Christmas Eve? Three years ago, Christmas came early: I bought two general admission tickets to see U2 play at Phillips Arena here in Atlanta. At the time I was still at college in Nashville, so I had to wake up at 9AM (way too early for college standards), eight months before the show, to snag the tickets through Ticketmaster. Over the next eight months as I scoured message boards, watched DVDs of previous concerts, and listened to every live bootlege I could find, I became addicted. The more I watched and listened, the more I needed to watch and listen. I simply couldn’t get enough.

Once November finally came around, I drove down from Nashville and met my sister Emily at Phillips. Even though we were 18 hours ahead of schedule, people had already begun to line up to get into the venue first. Knowing this might be the only time we might ever get to see U2, we parked ourselves outside the arena and “slept” on the sidewalk. Em managed to get a few hours of sleep, but I couldn’t sit still: the anticipation and nerves – plus the fact that it was SNOWING – kept my eyes open and heart racing.

Hands numb, faces wind-burned, and legs wobbly from exhaustion, we finally entered the arena to find a spot in the front row (Yes, I took that picture) for the greatest moment of my life; author’s note to future wife and first born child: you have big shoes to fill. After the Edge played the final few notes of “Bad” during the third encore, I knew that it was the eight months of waiting and eighteen hours of sidewalk-sitting that made this concert so special. Had I won the tickets earlier that day and wandered into the arena thirty minutes before the show, I wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of appreciation and excitement.

Because I didn’t start working for Sixthman until December of 2007, I wasn’t involved the creation, onsale, and upkeep of each of our 2008 events. Once hired, I had enough time to sit down at my desk, meet everybody in the company, and then immediately get whisked away to the Caribbean for five cruises in six weeks. I know, what terrible luck. Now as I sit here at my desk building websites, emailing pre-sale tokens, and scouring message boards, it feels like U2 all over again. This time however, instead of one band and one concert, it’s dozens of bands and hundreds of concerts, on five cruises over twenty five nights at sea.

Eight months to go.

-Steve

Book of the Week: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I read this book back in 2nd grade, and completely forgot about it until finding it a few weeks back. A great story that showcases the power of imagination. We’re all kids at heart, right? You’ll finish it in one sitting.

Some say I am not content unless I am in the middle of chaos and I cant make much of a case to argue against that theory.

However, I might have conquered my appetite for disarray after last week’s Rock Fore Dough Benefit Concert we produced in Augusta, GA during the Master’s Golf Tournament. The concert featured performances by Hootie and the Blowfish, Colbie Callat, Josh Kelley, and John Krueger. We arrived the day before the event to set up and I was there ready and willing to jump into the last minute chaotic scramble of pulling off such an event, but it never developed. Hour after hour, I sat there watching as everyone put the final touches on the venue and other logistical details. Finally, I just started asking anyone if I could help because I was bored out of my mind.

The event went off without a hitch and, as useless as I felt for not being able to make an impact, I was beaming with pride that the Sixthman team did such a fantastic job of seamlessly making it all happen.

This was our fourth year of doing the event and we were able to raise $150,000 for The First Tee of Augusta.

Great Job everyone…
BOOK OF THE WEEK: Plain Talk by Ken Iverson….is a first hand look into
modern day leadership and the secret to unlocking the potential of people.

Lately, at Sixthman, we have been really trying to dig in to who we are as a brand. After thinking and thinking, we all agreed there is one thing that really defines Sixthman, and that’s how we blur all the traditional lines between artist and fan. We “Tear Down The Walls”! Its become a mantra of sorts, and we use it often.

If you know me at all, you know I love me some Flashdance. In a bad way. In a way that makes me want to re-enact scenes from it every chance I get. While visiting a friend in Nashville, I needed a fix, so while searching iTunes for Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” (why she does not own this already I’ll never know), I came across something amazing: a Sixthman Theme Song. I haven’t run this by ANYone else yet, but I think it is pretty safe to say it’s official.

Enjoy!

Listen to the Sixthman Theme Song

My Book of the Week: The Dip. This Seth Godin character knows what he is talking about. Its actually pretty annoying how smart he is about business, and how to be good at it. This book is about quitting, of all things, and is very inspiring!

A few days after returning home from our long voyage at sea, a few friends convinced me to go to a concert with them in Atlanta. I have always had the philosophy that there is no harm in seeing every band at least once. Plus after being a part of team that had just finished working on five back to back festivals it seemed like it was my turn to just stand still and enjoy the music.

So just a few days after returning even though I was still rocking side to side and exhausted, I headed to the Masquerade to see Bang Camaro. I learned very quickly that they are a rock band that is like no other. Now you have to be wondering what could be so different about this rock band. Well let me tell you it is the mere fact that this rock band has anywhere from 16 to 30 people performing with them at their live shows. Don’t believe me then check out this video http://www.bangcamaro.com/video2.asp They even allow people sign up on their website to be a member of the choir when they are on tour. I had a rockin time at their show and just thought it was hilarious that you could not even tell where the choir ended and the audience started.

Well two months later with the memory of the crowed stage and good times at the Bang Camaro show, I found out that Bang Camaro is going to be joining us on The Simple Man Cruise 2009. So I am here to give all you Skynyrd fans and Sixthman friends a recommendation to check these guys out onboard! Also just a heads up that they are scaling back the band and only bring 16 members along so maybe if you are lucky you can become a member of Bang Camaro!!

- Jana

Book of the Week: Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/books/review/Zacharek-t.html I just order this book last week and I am really looking forward to starting it tonight!!

Hi everybody.

My name is Jill McAllister (Jill Mac here in the Sixthman offices) and I am a blog virgin. I am not gonna lie to you. Quite frankly, this whole process removes me so completely from my comfort zone that I am quite literally on the verge of an anxiety attack.Why does the thought of blogging freak me out so much?

I don’t know. I mean I didn’t get a cell phone until after the millennium or even use the text messaging feature on my phone until about a year and a half ago. Getting me to check my email when I am not at work is like pulling teeth and even the mere mention of a blackberry makes the hair on my arms stand on end.There is just something about this world in which anybody can reach you, anywhere at anytime that gives me the heebies just a little bit. And trust me I get all kinds of flack for it. I have been called “old lady” and “technophobe” more times that I care to count, but I just like to think of myself as old fashioned and quite frankly I kind of like it that I am.

It’s also one of the reasons that I love this job. Think about it….isn’t it awesome that for a few days or one week out of your life our company takes you somewhere that you can literally cut off all the concerns of the outside world and just revel in music and friendship for awhile? To me that’s like a little paradise at sea and I love that we bring it to so many people. We give people a chance to slow down, put away all the technology and cares that inundate their daily lives and make their own rules, in their own time. So if blogging and keeping a close eye on my emails is what it takes to make this experience possible for you guys I will throw myself headlong into my fears, put my big girl panties on and make it happen people. I will make it happen. Just don’t text me cause I might faint.

Now…just out of curiosity….does anybody have a rotary phone I could use?

Jill Mac

Book of the Week: Water for Elephants. I have wanted to read this book for almost a year now, but could never get down to it. It’s really great and…speaking of old fashioned…a great escape into what feels like another era.