L A Z E R O W . COM

ERICA MASLOW, PERSONAL STYLIST

Many of my regular readers know Renny Maslow. Renny is one of my best friends. We connected my freshman year at Northwestern, bonding over asian food of all varieties and Allman Bros, Miles Davis and Phish music. In addition to being one of this world's best commercial directors, he is a great guy.

Renny and I share another trait -- we both married women who are much cooler, attractive and smarter than we are. Yes, we "married up" in most of the key categories. So it should come as no surprise that Renny's wife, Erica, is launching a really cool business.

Erica has been in the fashion industry for 10 years. She's been a fashion expert much longer. She's always the best dressed, the best put together. And she always has fabulous coats, purses, shoes and bags.

Erica has decided to follow her passion, and make her eye for style available to others, for a fee!  She will come to your closet. Inventory your clothes and accessories. And help you define and improve your style. If there's any doubt about how good she is, please check out this before and after picture of her first client, Renny:

 

Erica is a wonderful person (she is Cole's godmother). She is a ton of fun. And I have no doubt she will be a huge success. The most successful entrepreneurs I know do what they love to do, and success, money and a life free of "the man" follows. Erica is no exception.

Contact her today to update your style!!! It will be a day, and a few dollars, well spent. I have included her launch email below.

Dear Friends and Family -

I am OFFICIALLY OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!!

As some of you may or may not know, I recently left Macy's Merchandising Group to start my own business.  I am now a personal stylist.  What does this mean?  I will tell you below!

Wardrobe Overhaul - I know..  how many times have you looked through your closet and said to yourself "I have nothing to wear!"  The questions is, do you have the RIGHT clothes for your body, your skin tone, your size, your LIFESTYLE?  I will come into your closet, review it thoroughly, organize it and determine which pieces should and should not stay.....  and most importantly, what's missing.  So, ultimately, I make room for new clothes that will fit you better in all aspects.  (I will even take your old clothes and donate them to charity!)

Styling - This service is no longer reserved just for celebrities and photo shoots.  Do you have a lot of clothes but don't know the best way to put them together?  Do you need help shopping for a big event, a new job, a vacation or just the new season?  We will meet and shop together for whatever your needs are!

Sourcing - When I'm out in the stores, I will be looking for that specific item or items that you still need or want.  Or, does your partner need a gift for your upcoming anniversary?  Send him/her my way!  I will find that specific item in no time.

I shop with and for both men and women.  I work predominately in New York and Los Angeles.  But, I travel everywhere-- domestically and abroad -- looking for those special items, wardrobe accessories and perfect outfits!

I am incredibly excited to be giving the knowledge and passing on my passion for fashion to you.  Thanks for your support in spreading the word.

Let the shopping begin!

xoxo,

Erica

Striking Thoughts

My good friend and one of Vivian's godfathers, Seth Meyers, is quoted by Maureen Dowd in today's New York Times. (You can actually read it for free now since the Times' goofy paid content experiment was killed recently.) The topic is the much-publicized Writers Guild strike.

In addition to being one of the funniest people I know, Seth is one of the smartest. So it should come as no surprise that Seth's comments, as reported by Dowd today, are both hilarious and strikingly true (excuse the pun).

Seth explains that he doesn't hate the studio heads:

I am a fan of studios and what I like most about them is this: They know how to make money. That’s why studios and writers are such a perfect fit. Without studios we’d be back where comedy writers were 100 years ago — in some backwoods farmhouse shouting jokes at each other in a makeshift ring, while drunken audiences throw nickels at our feet.

Without the studios and producers, Seth and the other Writers Guild members wouldn't make money. Seth could probably put together distribution deals, sell ads and run a media property. But 99.9% of the WGA members could not.

And on the flip side, TV written by the studio heads would be a crap sandwich.

The issue at hand is how money made from digital, new media distribution (i.e. internet) is shared. The writers currently get nothing. They want just a sliver. For a complete overview of their position, check out this video:

Seth and the WGA's position is the right one. They should get a piece of the new pie. But the strike is a difficult way to get what they want. 

I applaud the commitment of all the strikers (Seth, for one, stood outside for hours a day all week carrying one of those picket signs. He was dwarfed by one of those giant blow up dolls. Unfortunately, it wasn't that giant rat we've all grown to love!) But the issue is this: how much pain can the strike really inflict on the media owners? While Seth and the others go unpaid, the studios run repeats, plan reality shows and continue to sell ads and cash checks. The only way to inflict serious pain would be to strike for more than a year. But at that point, the pain to the writers would be unbearable.

One interesting mental exercise. Think about your own business. What if your key employees went on strike?

So take the internet busienss. What if software engineers unionized? What if, instead of salary and equity, they wanted residuals for all their work in all formats and media? A strike would be devastating as we don't have reruns and reality shows to run web sites.

For everyone involved in the WGA strike, I hope some sort of compromise is reached. It's nice having Seth spend more time as commissioner of our fantasy league writing amazing previews, updates and recaps. And the kids love his new-found time to play Monopoly and the memory game with them. But we'd all rather have Seth and the other writers working, making money and creating awesome content to make the world a funnier place.

Redskins at Hill Country

One of the benefits of owning your own restaurant is that you can pick what's on the TVs. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Marc showed the Skins game today on the main projection TV at Hill Country. The DC crew -- plus wives (Kass, Chloe, Kristin), kids (Ava, Myles, Cole, Austin) and parents/grandparents (Epsteins) -- got together to watch the Skins beat the Dolphins.

Hill Country is a great place to watch the game. The BBQ is awesome, as you all know already. There are TVs everywhere (upstairs and downstairs bar and downstairs stage). And Marc makes BBQ wings in the smokers that are out of this world. The ones with sauce are great. The plain ones are even better.

I plan to spend many Sundays and Monday nights there this NFL season. Please join me.

New Blogger Alert: Life According to Kevin

Leadville 100 finisher Kevin Kane has launched a blog. I expect great things out of this one. Kevin is a great guy who I have known forever. Kass and I actually "met" at his wedding 1996. He is a wonderful father and husband (I have been told by the Runt) and has a wicked sense of humor. While his posts will revolve around the intersection of kicking people out of apartments, his 3 daughters (he's been nice enough to reserve one for Myles) and biking, biking and more biking, I'd encourage him to share all things Kaner. Welcome to the blogosphere Kevin! (One warning ... Kevin has a wicked temper. He punched me in the face once. So watch what you say in your comments on the blog.)

Housecleaning from Turks and Caicos

A few random items to get off my chest from Turks and Caicos:

Saturday came and went. And so did my fantasy football draft. The godfathers were in Cleveland. Matty, Pickles, Santo and I called in. It was my first draft from the beach. Here's my team for the 2007 Cleveland Rocks fantasy football league:

T Romo	A	QB
R Bush	A	RB
W McGahee	A	RB
M Clayton	A	WR
T Owens	A	WR
J Shockey	A	TE
R Gould	A	K
D Ravens	A	DST
A Smith	RS	QB
D Rhodes	RS	RB
L White	RS	RB
R Droughns	RS	RB
C Johnson	RS	WR
T Williamson	RS	WR

In unrelated news, my Gonzales prediction came through.

Lastly, big shout out to Steve and Barbara Pyles. They have saved our trip to Turks and Caicos? How, you may ask? In a total random act of kindness, they gave me a brand new iHome2Go a few months ago. They knew I love music. The device lets me play my iPod in water, on the beach, etc. So we've been rocking out all trip to Phish, Kass' workout mix, my Rock The F*** Out mix, the BEPs, Avril (Myles loves Skater Boi but HATES Girlfriend) and more. Thanks again!

Technology & People

Great technology brings people together. I truly believe that and I've been living it since 1994, when I started U-Wire. Back then, the idea was simple. Why should college media run standard AP stories? We should get together, share our stories and run stuff in our papers from other campus media outlets. Well, the rest is history. I graduated, grew U-Wire by signing up 800 campus papers (thanks Beckwith and Kelly Bare and everyone who helped!) and U-Wire is now owned by CBS.

Since 2002, I've been posting pictures of my immediate family -- first Kass and me, then Myles and now friends, family and more. I always lived far from the rest of my family and most of my close friends. So technology was the only way to really stay touch without touching traditional communication devices (phone, USPS, etc.).

So I started blogging about a week ago. (I'm hooked. I admit it. I have always loved to write. My brain works in strange ways.) In one of the first posts, I mention in passing my campaign to rule Landon's 8th Grade and how I opted out of the presidential campaign to let Jon Slotkin win. Well, a week later, Jon reads the post and we're now back in touch after years of falling out of touch.

Great technology brings people together and breaks across geographic and other barriers. I can't talk about it just yet. But I have a killer business that I'm about to launch that is founded on these principles. My partners are super smart (much smarter than me) and great people who I really look forward to working with. I'm hoping to be able to announce it next month.

Until then, start a blog, sign up for Twitter, open a Facebook or LinkedIn account and start using technology to connect to others. You'll get a kick out of it.

Thanks for getting in touch Jon!

The Awesomes

I was really fired up earlier this summer when Seth told me about a new animated series he's developing for the Sci Fi Channel called The Awesomes. Despite what he was telling me, I just assumed it was going to morph to be about his awesome group of college buddies. But now that it's been announced, I see that my hopes to play the voice of Crazy Legs Lazershow are shattered.

But like all things, what's bad for me is great for America. Sci Fi announced Seth's new show Sunday. It's being billed as SuperFriends meets The Office.  It's a really clever idea about a team of past-their-prime superheroes looking to get back onto the justice enforcement A-List. As the announcement states, formed in the 1940's, the team has gone through a revolving roster of the world's top heroes, gradually losing popularity as other, cooler superhero teams come into favor. The Awesomes, funded by a long-standing U.S. Government contract, may be forced to disband when the current administration requests bids from other teams. Can this motley crew of has-been heroes reclaim their glory days?

Congrats Seth! I'm sure America will follow you up the cable channel ladder. Why NBC didn't bite on this blows me away. This is a perfect multiplatform, licensing play. The Sci Fi Channel is lucky to have you on board.

Enough of Seth. Back to me. While I didn't make the cut for this show, Seth has promised that I'll be cast in animated form in his next series, The Averages. I'll play a slightly overweight, and getting more so by the day, father of 3 and husband of 1, whose dream was to be the drummer for a rock band only to find himself starting internet companies that help people waste time when they're supposed to be working.

Speaking of which, back to work ...

A Lesson in Business and Barbeque

I’m a wimp. I admit it. I didn’t follow my gut. I listened to conventional wisdom. And I chickened out.

I’ve heard it my whole life -- don’t invest in restaurants. Worst business in the world. Everyone steals from you. 9 out of 10 close within the first year. Only shmucks invest in restaurants.

So when one of my best friends, Marc Glosserman, gave me the opportunity to invest in his new restaurant, I pushed back. I didn’t say no outright. I wanted to be supportive and deep down I knew Marc was going to be successful. So I invested, but I didn’t take the full position I would normally take in a company I thought was going to succeed.

My rationale was solid, or so it seems:

• I have a young and growing family I need to support.

• I’ve been fortunate to have a few wins. But I haven’t done well enough to throw a hundred grand at every deal I think is going to work.

• No matter how you look at it, restaurants are risky.

Nonetheless, I didn’t listen to my gut and I should have. I wasn’t investing in a restaurant. I was investing in Marc. And I knew that he’d bust his ass, pour his life into his business and make it work. And making it work he has done.

In early June, an hour and a half after Marc’s wife Kristen went into labor with their first child, aptly named Austin, Marc opened Hill Country. The restaurant, located on 26^th between Broadway and 26^th, is Atkins heaven in the middle of the Big Apple. Since opening, New Yorkers have lined up for the best brisket, beef ribs, pork chops, prime rib and other Texas meat delicacies in the city.

And the press has noticed. Hill Country was named the top BBQ joint in the country by the Wall Street Journal, featured on CBS Sunday Morning and received glowing reviews from the NY Post and NY Times and the blogosphere.

Most importantly, Hill Country is cash flow positive on an operating basis in its first month. Not many other businesses can say that. People need to eat, and they’re showing up daily at Hill Country to feast.

So the takeaway is simple. Listen to your gut. It’s usually right (unless you have flawed gut reactions … then don’t listen to it!). Invest in people, not business. Great people will create great businesses. Marginal people will create mediocre businesses. Idiots will get slaughtered. I don’t care what type of business. And eat at Hill Country. It is the single best restaurant to hit New York City this year. I know I’m biased. But if you don’t like it, I’ll pay for your meal.

Congrats Marc! You nailed it and you should be extremely proud of yourself!

P.S. My favorites – moist brisket (get marbled, not lean), beef shoulder, beef and pork ribs, cucumber salad, green beans and the PB&J cupcake

Red Bird

Myles and I took a little adventure yesterday afternoon. The impetus was to pick up contact sheets and negatives of portraits Renny took of Vivian. But as is the case so often, the adventure spun in a whole new direction.

We headed via subway to Duggals at 23rd and 6th. We were walking on 23rd and ran into Dave Linn and his wife, Jen. Dave is a friend from NU. Great guy. (The strange thing here is that I didn't connect with Dave for the first 17 months that I have lived in NYC but just connected via email last week and then ran into him the following weekend. Strange.) Anyway, he was walking to the Madison Square BBQ Festival across the street. I had forgotton about the festival. Hill Country, Marc Glosserman's amazing tribue to Texas BBQ and music, had a booth.

So Myles and I decided to hit the festival after Duggals. We briefly watched a blues band on the main stage and then walked toward the BBQ pits to see if we could find Marc. On our way, Myles noticed this bright red bird that is pictured above. (I walked right by.) He was mesmerized. He tried to touch it but the owner said it might bite. I incidentally told birdman the same about Myles. The birdman didn't believe me as Myles was wearing his favorite Phish tshirt.

Marc was not at the Hill Country stand. He was a few blocks away at the restaurant. So Myles and I walked to the restaurant. We walked in. I told Myles this was Marc's place. His reaction? "Are they going to have video games." Marc and Michael G were there getting ready for night #2 (opening night was a huge success and Kass and I went back Saturday night and it was packed. We hung out with Marc and Kristen, their families and friends. Great band. David Byrne, former head man of Talking Heads, showed up at around 10:30 pm, which was super cool. David runs a great blog that can be found here).

Anyway, this is why I love living in NYC. Spending time with Kass and the kids. Running into friends on the street every day. BBQ. Random bands I have never heard of but rock.  Wandering  knowing its the adventure that matters and not where we're going. Meeting random people, and birds, with the added danger that they may just bite (or eat) my kids.

October Smorgasbord

Ton of events this past week. Please excuse the smorgasbord post.

Kass and I spent the weekend in New York celebrating our anniversary. Given the rocky history of marriage in today's society in general (and both our families in particular), we're thankful for each year we have together. We also have promised to spend our anniversary day together no matter what day of the week Oct. 23 happens to fall on. The weather was dreary, but the food and fun was plentiful. We spent Friday night with Julie and Sharie. On Saturday night we met up with Marc, Renny, Erica and Kristin.

This past Friday we attended the Harbor School Halloween parade. The kids were really cute. They all made their own costumes (Myles' class made cats). Grammy Sheila, Nan Nan Nancy and Grandma Tina joined Kass, Leslie and me to watch Myles, Anabel and the rest of the kids strut their stuff.

Saturday. 11:30 a.m. The 4th Annual Lazerow Halloween Bash. Kass went overboard once again. The decorations were amazing. The house was filled with spiders large and small, bats, balloons, pumpkins and more. She also made her now famous chili. Amazing. I grilled all beef kosher dogs. Andrew shocked everyone with his costume. Best grandparent costume went to Nan Nan and Pops. Food was so good that John returned for dinner for another chili dog and to watch Northwestern lose to Michigan.