Today I’m just passing along a press release I recieved in the morning email about an artist I enjoy very much, Molly Jenson. Listen to some of her music and decide for yourself. http://www.mollyjenson.com/

BULLY! PULPIT RECORDS ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH NETTWERK MUSIC GROUP; ORANGE COUNTY’S MOLLY JENSON IS FIRST TO JOIN THE LABEL ROSTER

HOLLYWOOD, CA- (May 19, 2008) –Bully! Pulpit Records has announced a joint venture partnership with industry veterans Nettwerk Music Group, home to top artists like Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and The Cardigans, and the new imprint is celebrating with its first artist signing, Orange County, CA based singer/songwriter Molly Jenson.

Named after President Teddy Roosevelt’s famous assertion that the presidency was a “bully pulpit,” or a “great place from which to give one’s opinions,” Bully! Pulpit Records is a part of the multi-media web portal, Bullypulpit.com which includes a daily updated news site, talk show, speaker’s bureau and a film and book line.

“We couldn’t have found a better partner for this label than Terry McBride and Nettwerk,” noted Bully Pulpit Records Founder, Mark Joseph. “Terry has a great vision for the future of the music industry. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.”

Joseph, an award-winning record producer, film development executive and author has worked with artists like Lauryn Hill, P.O.D., MxPx, Andrae Crouch, ZZ Top and others and has supervised the international releases of over 70 records including Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle and the rock band Mozart.

“We are pleased to partner with Mark and Bully! Pulpit,” noted Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. “Molly is the first artist Mark brought us and we can’t wait to hear what he’ll bring next.”

Joseph plans to sign both new and veteran artists who he believes have second acts as well as international artists who are looking to impact the U.S. market.

“We’ll do a mix of new artists and a few legacy artists and we’ll be looking for international talent as well,” noted Joseph who grew up in Tokyo and has also worked with a dozen Japanese artists over the last two decades. “We live in a disposable society that throws artists away once they’ve had their one hit. Molly represents the best of a new generation of artists, but we’ll also be bringing back some artists who have still have great music left to make.”

Jenson has garnered significant national media attention from media outlets like NPR, was recently named “Best New Artist” by Teen Vogue Magazine, and as KRGL’s “Artist of the Month.”

Of his label’s name, Joseph noted, “Bully! Pulpit is all about giving each of our artists a platform from which to express themselves and make great art. Molly is not only an amazing musician, but also a great songwriter who has a lot of important things to say and she’s the perfect artist to launch our label with.”

For more information go to: www.bullypulpit.com/records and Nettwerk.com

Pictured left to right: Laura Kobzeff, Bully Pulpit Records, Molly Jenson, Mark Joseph, Bully Pulpit Records. Photo available at: http://bullypulpit.com/pix/mml.jpg

For some of us that are over forty it is easy to forget that all this new technology is more than fun and games. There are some situations where it can be very useful. We didn’t grow up with it all, we still remember playing the original Pong, and though we’re embarrassed to admit it, just the fact that we could turn that little knob and actually make the paddle move up and down the television screen was just beyond belief. We could effect what was happening on our TV, how cool was that?

I recently read a report on CNN’s website about James Karl Buck. On April 10th, he and his translator,  Mohammed Maree were covering an anti-government protest in Mahalla, Egypt, when they were arrested.

Buck thought fast and, using a site called Twitter, was able to post a one word message, “arrested”. Almost instantly his friends and colleagues in both the United States and Egypt knew what had happened. I’m not going to go into all the details but please go read the whole story on CNN.com.

My point in bringing this up, besides admitting that I’m “older”, is the fact that because Buck thought quickly and made use of a technology that he had only been using for a week, people knew what had happened and were able to help get the word out. It provided a safety net in case he and his interpretor were to “fall off the radar screen”.

Those of us that didn’t grow up with all this new technology need to keep in mind just how useful it can be. It might be the difference between a happy ending to a situation and one that could easily turn to tragedy.

The other thing us “older” people remember was a safer world. There were definitely dangerous places but things have changed and the over all safety that we enjoyed is a thing of the past, even in our everyday lives and right here in our own country.

Maybe, as a generation, we should make more of a point of embracing the new tools that surround us and think of more uses for them than just fun and games, and keeping in touch with family members or friends around the world. Those are great uses for them but as James Buck demonstrated, there are much more serious and beneficial ways to utilize them.