• Tough week in NYC (too much crime and recently hitting too close to home). Trying to stay optimistic but these progressive, deadbeat politicians who care more about criminals than they do law-abiding citizens (especially women) are really getting me down. But enough of that. My rant will not make it one iota better and it’s not what this blog is about.
• Let’s talk about the Super Bowl instead. Great game. Weird ads. Spectacular halftime show — even if it was a “nostalgia play” according to Andrew Schulz and his Flagrant2 crew (#1, 2 and 3 below).
• NFTs are also evolving – becoming more like VIP or membership cards. Kind of gimmicky (#5).
• And if fashion is your thing, make sure you check out the video from my 6397 shopping experience (in the Wrap).

1. [watch] Video

2. [watch]: Best take on Super Bowl Halftime Show: worth 5 minutes of your time!!

The game was great but the halftime show was FIRE!

• The set was fantastic (Compton-themed house party vibe), surrounded by lowriders, 6 major performers, and a live band on set (Anderson.Paak on drums).
• According to DN, when Eminem started “Lose Yourself,” fans stomped their feet so hard the upper levels shook like a 3.0 earthquake.
• And big shout out to Miami designer Lila Nikole who created all the outfits for the halftime show.
• Curious about who Farhi Media polled about the show. They just posted on LinkedIn that only 17% of viewers liked it. I find that hard to believe. As of Thursday (2/17), the performance has over 50 million views on YouTube.

MY ULTIMATE TAKE: It was the most exciting and dynamic halftime show I’ve ever seen. Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant2 crew (decades younger than me), loved it also but rated it a “nostalgia play” since only Kendrick Lamar was on their side of 50!! Another major takeaway for me was how high the bar has now been set for future entertainers, e.g., AZCentral published a list of potential halftime performers for 2023 when the Super Bowl will be in AZ: Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks, Alice Cooper, Rihanna, or Pink Really? That’s all you got, AZ?

3. Andrew Schulz: lots to learn from him about how to create “an energy exchange.” gamechanger!

Great interview with Andrew Schulz on Colin and Samir’s podcast. If you’re in marketing, advertising, or entertainment, check it out. It runs over an hour but I’ve watched it for you. 10 key insights below (but still watch it in its entirety if you get a chance).

1. YouTube has changed comedy monumentally. Back in 2017, when Schulz posted his 16 minute 4.4.1. comedy experience on YouTube, he IMMEDIATELY started selling out comedy clubs around the country (places he had never been to). YouTube took away the risk for fans who didn’t know him yet, like checking Yelp before you book a restaurant.
2. He’s recently added TikTok to his social repertoire (already has 2.2MM subscribers).
3. People are moving from passive to active. Think of it this way: whatever biz you’re in, if you create opportunities for an “energy exchange” with your customers, you’ll be more successful.
4. Algorithms are beautiful. They become your marketing, your billboards. Everything we click on during the day, drives more of THAT to us. The discovery is endless. Make sure you have lots of content online.
5. The biggest algorithm push Schulz got was from being on Joe Rogan. Immediately after that podcast, his TED Talk’s 50K views skyrocketed to 1MM views.
6. He’s also a big believer in video podcasts vs. audio only.
7. The question to ask yourself everyday: How do we evolve the business?
8. Standup and comedy tours have been done the same way forever. How do we make the show feel as dynamic as a concert? INSIGHT: Don’t get precious about tradition – it generally stunts growth!
9. When you get people to aggregate around your brand, they become your community (this applies not only to entertainment but to retail, restaurants, workplaces….).
10. HOW DO YOU SHIFT CULTURE? HOW DO YOU GET MORE EYEBALLS? That’s what attracts the money.

MY TAKE: I’ve been following Schulz since I first discovered him on Rogan back in June 2020 (early in the pandemic). I was impressed by his fearlessness, his humor, and the originality of his thinking. I find that we learn the most when we step out of our comfort zones. Schulz and his crew do that for me on an on-going basis. They take me to wild new territories that I would not normally be exposed to. Highly recommend subscribing to Flagrant2 for their daily 5 minute takes on what’s going on in the world. AND, I’m seeing Schulz at Radio City Music Hall on April 16th!!! Super excited – he puts on an amazing show!

4. Miami Hotels Recovered Faster From The Pandemic Than Any Other City in the World

YES!!!!!

• Per Next Miami, no other major city in the world saw hotel profits recover as fast as Miami during 2021, according to a new report from hotel research firm STR.
• It was the only city to actually see 2021 hotel profits above what they were before the pandemic (gross operating profit 14% higher than it was in 2019).
• Dubai ranked second in the world.
• Tampa ranked second in the U.S. behind Miami.
• San Francisco was the worst performing market.

MY TAKE: Not a surprise given how HOT Miami has been all throughout the pandemic. I tried to book a room this weekend at the Edition to spend a few days with my friends Rodrigo and Elliott. The only room available was $1500 per night. And this is probably not going to go over well with my NY and CA friends but I’m going to say it anyway: Instead of belittling Gov. DeSantis for how he’s run the state, how about figuring out how NY and Calif. can get in on the action. What can we do to get people to want to start businesses here, move here, and vacation here. Even AOC vacationed in Miami!!

5. Miami getting its first NFT-Funded restaurant (altho not selling shares)

• Piyarat Potha Arreeratn (above left with his Canadian biz partner, Simon Librati), known to most as Chef Bee of Oishi Thai, is the chef behind Miami’s first NFT restaurant, Piya.
• Oddly, Piya wants your money but is NOT offering shares of the business. Piya will instead offer NFT owners, members-only experiences and other perks (whatever that means).
• Piya NFTs also won’t require a crypto wallet to purchase. When the NFT launches, customers can simply go to the Piya website and buy it with a credit card. There’s no need to hold or use Ethereum or Bitcoin.
• In the coming weeks, a limited number of tokens will be sold online at piyamiami.com via an auction-style launch, with a goal of raising between $5 to $7 million.
• Other restaurateurs and food companies — including Chipotle and Budweiser — have been experimenting with NFT technology. Looks like NFTs are becoming a promo tool to create marketing campaigns, raise capital, provide members-only experiences for a (supposedly) tech-savvy community.

MY TAKE: Meh! Seems like a gimmick, NFT-light?

6. Have you tried Birria yet? it’s having a major moment from coast-to-coast

• NYC: Spotted the above super-cute Viva Birrio takeout spot on the LES at 153 Ludlow and then learned from the owner (Marcus Tirado) that there will be an opening on March 11.
• TEXAS: Per Austin CultureMap, family-owned Buda food truck Tejas Birria will have its grand opening on February 18th in Austin, just in time for SXSW. Chef Alex Hernandez’s menu features a ton of birria-forward dishes, from tacos and quesadillas to a meat-tastic dish dubbed the “pizzadilla,” as well as birria ramen, flautas, and even unadulterated birria by the pound.
• CALIF: West Hollywood’s UNCOOL just opened and is serving a very delicious-looking quesabirria burger (see below).

MY TAKE: Birria is here to stay. As of late last year, TikTok videos featuring the term “birria tacos” were viewed nearly 500 million times and featured in 135,214 Instagram posts. The term also reached an annual Google search volume of 11.2 million. BOOM!!!

7. Big shout-out to Francisco Carbajal, owner of Filoso Barber Brand. Inspiring story!!

• Filoso Barber Brand has now become the first Latino-owned business to create a barber blade in the country, putting Latinos at the top of the barber industry.
• And it all came about when Chicano and Vegas native Francisco Carbajal had to stop cutting hair because of the pandemic.
• So what did he do? Per ktnv, he started posting video tutorials and tips on YouTube and soon realized there was a shortage of barber tools and products, specifically within the Latino community. He teamed up with an entrepreneur from Mexico and together they created the Filoso Barber Brand.

MY TAKE: Expect to see much more of this as the Hispanic population grows, e.g., in Vegas, the Hispanic population grew by 23% over the past decade. And despite limited access to capital, two out of every four businesses that have opened in Las Vegas over the past five years have been Hispanic businesses. Also worth noting the role of social media in creating these success stories.

8. New Job alert: Intimacy Coordinators for stage and screen!

• Intimacy coordinators have been in demand since 2018 when the #MeToo movement first rattled the entertainment world.
• The job is to establish physical and psychological boundaries and maintain a safe and communicative environment, from pre-production to finish.
• Training and certification is offered by, among others, Theatrical Intimacy Educators (TIE) and Intimacy Coordinators of Color.
• Per Pittsburgh Magazine, the industry is also recognizing the need for a diverse pool of people, relatable to the performers e.g., Pittsburgh-based intimacy coordinator Tomé Cousin led an online forum titled “Black Men and Theatrical Intimacy.”
• HBO’s “The Deuce” was the first time a series employed an intimacy coordinator. HBO later announced that all of its shows would use an intimacy coordinator, and the Screen Actors Guild followed with guidelines requiring a coordinator for the filming of sex scenes.
• Many former FIGHT instructors are entering the field, transitioning their expertise in staged violence as a foundation for staged intimacy.

MY TAKE: I am very curious as to how movies and plays will look and feel 10 years down the road. The trend to “safe spaces” reflects the culture so the product should be more relevant. Most likely it’s the wild ones, like Marlon Brando or Chloe Sevigny, who would feel hampered by these new rules and regulations. But maybe not. But it is odd that the more we get into “safety” mode, the more dangerous life is becoming.

9. Fentanyl overdoses: VEgas Vs. NYC.

• Fentanyl which is cheaper than heroin but 50 times more potent, is now the leading cause of death for people between 18 and 45. That’s more than COVID, car accidents, suicide and cancer.
• Per KTNV, Nevadans dying from overdoses is up 37% between March 2020 and March 2021.
• Which is why Vegas opened the Gallus Detox Center. Addicts who come to detox, work with registered nurses, behavioral health techs, and physicians to get clean. From what I gather, they are not supplied drugs or allowed to use their own on site.
• NYC, on the other hand, sanctions drug use. Addicts are encouraged to come in and shoot up (clean needles are provided) and they are invited to bring in their drug of choice whether fentanyl or crack. If they overdose, the staff is there to revive them. Nothing about detox (because, again, if you follow the money, consumption sites make their $$$$ by keeping people addicted).

MY TAKE: You all know how I feel about this. Sanctioning drug use is STUPID!!

10. Quote(s) of the week

Do your job – whatever it is – well, because how you do anything is how you do everything.”

Ryan Holiday, Author

Working on this one below. It will help me if I can adopt more of this attitude.

“A lot of our unhappiness comes from comparing things from the past to the present. Don’t do it.”

Naval Ravikant, Indian-American entrepreneur and investor (and a man of many great quotes!)

And that’s a wrap for this week, my friends.

But I do have an update on my shopping excursion at Stella Ischii’s 6397 (199 Mulberry Street). I happily splurged on two items (see video below).

And with that, it is indeed a wrap. I have a jam-packed Saturday and Sunday and a VERY BUSY week ahead. Everything from birding and bald-eagle watching with NY Park Rangers (and my friend Jourdan) to another dim sum feast to the opening of DAISO at Industry City. I will also have an update on the movie my friend David M. was shooting this week (it’s with one of my all-time favorite hotties). I’ve been told I have to keep it all hush-hush for now. But hopefully can write something about it soon. Look for it next Friday!