Dr. Neil Hair

Genius! I cant believe I'm saying it. Prince is a genius. He is giving away his music in the UK with a CD of greatest hits in this weekends Sunday Mail. Crazy you think. Dig a little deeper to understand his motive. For quite some time now the pint sized demigod has learned his lesson of over 25 years in the business by controlling the earnings finally, from his concerts and rescuing himself from bankruptcy. He makes much more money from these then he ever did the actual take home royalties of his music. So, one in the eye for the industry that annoyed him so much that he stopped recording and using his name in the 90's. What's the deal? He realizes that there is only so much to be earned from his old songs - let's face it - most of us normal folk who aren't impressed with the likes of Paris Hilton's music own them already. So, instead he's pushing free music with all of the free advertising that goes with it in publicizing his concerts where he charges up to 100 GBP a ticket (about $200) in prior years - or (if you buy his new album) - 31.21 GBP right now. The reaction from the music industry? As reactionary as usual, one representative even had the cheek to say, "it is an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career." Yes, all those wonderful people that forced the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as to dump his name, his recording companies, and his music.

It is all about the personal brand - and Prince in my humble opinion is doing a great job of managing that - by being firmly in control of it.

Not sure if you’ve come across this but I nearly died laughing when I came across it. Initially designed as an internal employee only video - they were kinds enough to release it on youtube. About time Kodak, and just in the nick of time by all accounts.

So, it has finally begun. Tesco has announced that it will open a new store in the US every two and a half days starting in the cities of Vegas, LA, Phoenix and San Diago. Before long I can see Tesco's machine heading our way and not a moment too soon in my humble opinion. There is an extremely healthy state of competition in the UK between 7 big retailers in this field. The result is an excellent consumer offering. Here we have three options as I see them, Wegmans, Topps and Walmart. By adding additional competition we might start to see the range of foods available the rest of the western world increasingly takes for granted. Im not sour, I like what's currently on offer, but choice is always a good thing as a hungry consumer. Even the smallest grocery shop in the UK has a deli bar twice the size of anything you'll find in Pitsford or Henrietta. It always amuses me that the perception of Britain is that its food offering is poor (this usually comes from those who havent yet visited the UK or have only stayed in London where you wont ever get a real impression of the country in what some have lauded the capital city of the world). I'm just hoping that Tesco will bring with it the British Banger so I can have a decent Sunday breakfast.

I learnt today of the death of a former student that I taught from the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2001 whilst at RIT. Salmi Campillo died of a heart attack following a tug of war game at Lancaster University in the UK July 3rd 2006 whilst sitting a masters in finance course. Salmi was a wonderful student, had a great sense of humor and produced first class work throughout my class. She also refused to call me anything other than 'teacher' - even after she graduated. Rest in peace Salmi. You're missed.