EVERYONE is starting to get vaccinated and it feels so good!

• As of Monday, March 8, more than 90.3 million vaccine doses had been administered in the United States. More than 58.8 million people have received one dose, and nearly 30.6 million have received two. It’s creating a new sense of hopefulness. (Source: Patch)
• But there are two issues that are devastating the country that nobody seems capable of handling or even wanting to make a priority (see #10 below). The boom times that we all sense are in the offing will not happen if these two major problems aren’t addressed and resolved ASAP.

And on that note, scroll down for this week’s Top 10.

1. 24-hour Vax-A-Thon brings ’80s fun to drive-thru event

Staff and volunteers in Austin, TX pulled out their windbreaker tracksuits and grabbed their shaggy wigs and leg warmers to bring some ’80s fun to Family Hospital Systems’ drive-thru vaccination event. Source: KVUE/ABC)

“This is Austin, baby. This is the way people should look when you come to get a vaccine.”

Judy Brenstein, one of the 7,000 people who got a first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday morning (3/7)

2. “Cave Syndrome”

“A lot of people are scared to death of going out. It is like an epidemic that people are staying in their own houses and they have every excuse and they will hardly even let you go over.”

Dr. Arthur Bregman, Miami-based Psychiatrist who coined the term “Cave Syndrome” (Source: NBC Miami)

Nicole Russell, a patient of Dr. Bregman’s, has this to say. 

• The 37-year-old mother says she was a normal, functioning adult before COVID-19, but she became debilitated while being trapped at home during the quarantine. 
• Russell says she recognized the issue and is getting her life back on track. “There is light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of people are afraid to admit that they are having these problems. We humans were made to socialize with other people.”
• Dr. Bregman says 90% of his patients, especially those with pre-existing conditions like anxiety suffer from cave syndrome which is really agoraphobia.

3. post-pandemic dreams: vivid, like being in a movie.

And I’m not the only one having these dreams. Per Scientific American, the pandemic is unprecedented as a dream “event.” Worth a read (link here).

The two dreams I had recently (which I was able to recall) had an upbeat “pandemic rebound” vibe. What struck me about them was how VIVID they were, like streaming a movie in my sleep.

1. In my first dream, I was at a really fabulous restaurant and none of us had to wear masks! It was awesome and I remember waking up being cognizant of how remarkable it was to go out and be among strangers in a post-mask world.
2. In my second dream, I was in a meeting with Tim Cook of Apple (crazy, right?) and he was querying me about something I had written in the blog. He was very curious about it and wanted further information. However, for the life of me, I cannot recall the details. I’m now keeping a notepad by my bed to write down specifics of any additional dreams.

4. “The Featured Snippet” – A Top Marketing Trend for 2021?

Many thanks to Ron Earley, entrepreneur, “Sales God,” and co-founder of Heavy Marketing LLC for putting this on my radar (his pic below – looking very “heavy marketing”).

What is The featured snippet

• It’s one of 3 Marketing Trends he identifies for the coming year. All 3 are worth a read but the “featured snippet” I find particularly intriguing. (Source: Influencive)
• The featured snippet is an innovative concept where Google provides a user with a snippet of information from a selected page to answer their question. Unfortunately, this innovation means that there will be fewer click-throughs to pages, and a potential customer will be gone before they even leave the Google search page.
• Of this new trend, Earley says, “The featured snippet is a blessing in disguise, use the challenge of aiming to be chosen by Google for the snippet, to inspire you to create snappier content.” THIS IS GREAT ADVICE!
• Snippets were first introduced in 2014 and re-introduced in 2018.

5. TikTok becomes the tech-savvy real estate agent’s Best sales tool

• Claudia Degteva, a GZB listing manager in NYC (pic above, left) has been closing deals mostly from TikTok since August. Her colleague Abigail Dorsey (pic right above) said she gets “enough engagement from TikTok to work full-time.”
• In Chicago, Michael Scavo, founder of ChiPads, is averaging 15 to 20 leases per month from TikTok. (Dylan Haria, a 22-year-old financial analyst, found his apartment through Scavo’s TikTok account and adds: “I honestly had no idea TikTok could even be used for that.”

• StreetEasy is on the TikTok bandwagon as well. But their account focuses on high-end sales listings, not rentals, e.g., the $9.2 million Pfizer Mansion in Brooklyn.

Kudos to TikTok. They are making inroads into every nook and cranny of our lives, from cooking to home decor to hospitality and now real estate. (Source: ABC7)

6. Clubhouse getting monetized.

Mayhem on Clubhouse last week

I stumbled across two rooms filled with Clubhouse power users. They were not happy with the new Clubhouse updates which undercut them by making it easier for any and all members to start clubs. Complaints chiefly centered around how an overabundance of new clubs would dilute existing clubs and destroy the equity they had built with followers etc.

There were also LOTS of questions about monetization. Here are the 4 issues/topics raised most often:

1. How much are sponsored moderators getting paid? Some claimed it was anywhere from $300 to $6500/hr.
2. Brands are starting to reserve their names, e.g., Amazon had been claimed as of that Friday. Not clear, however, if it was THE Amazon. There is apparently little regulation around name squatting.
3. Brands starting their own clubs/rooms on CH, frequently with well-known celebs, e.g., Paris Hilton.
4. Consultancies being created to specifically represent Clubhouse influencers and to match them with brands. Also to create CH events. The two firms mentioned most often were Audio Collective and Rembrandt Flores’ agentC. I predict we’ll see hundreds of audio-influencer consulting collectives formed within the next few months.

MY TAKE ON THE FUTURE OF CLUBHOUSE: As much as I am a super fan, I doubt I will still be raving about CH 12 months from now. Why? Because as CH evolves and becomes more mainstream with sponsored moderators, people who I love to listen to, like Bill Maris (founder of Google Ventures and Section 32), will most likely spend less time on the platform. People like him will be getting back to the office and traveling for business. Ultimately, they’ll have less time to dedicate to CH. Bottom Line: Once the platform is populated with mainstream “influencers” and reality TV stars, it will be less attractive to geeks and nerds and all these other fabulously interesting people who currently share their knowledge on the platform.

7. Fashion is rebounding: people are done with sweatpants!

Anybody else noticing this? I’m seeing more young men and women looking very groovy these days. Much more color, style and fun! Photos below all taken around town: from Chinatown to uptown to midtown.

8. Big shout out to Joe Santos (co-founder Brooklyn Gin) and Dante (best cocktails in the world!)

• Have been a big fan of Brooklyn Gin ever since Joe and Emil Jättne launched the brand back in 2010.
• And the cocktails at Dante are next level! Highly recommend the Negroni Bianco along with the hanky-panky and the aviation (all made with Brooklyn Gin).
• Definitely went over over my 2 cocktail limit on Tuesday! But so worth it!

But that’s not all.

• Brooklyn Gin also just launched Gin & Soda cocktails to-go.
• Available in NYC, NJ, and FL.
• A soda cocktail is not normally my thing but these are excellent. Flavorful but not sweet. Nothing tastes fake about the flavors. I was VERY pleasantly surprised.
• My favorite is the lime and soda. Beautiful packaging as well. Excellent choice for the summer.

9. Hotels get creative: 30-night stays to ‘test drive’ a community or state

Last week I wrote about how the Freehand Club (#4) allows you to travel around the country and for $2499 stay at any of their 4 hotels over the course of a month. The Miraval Austin takes this concept to another level (as they should with an $18,500 price tag!). It’s a particularly great idea for a market like Texas which recorded over 1,000 new people, per day moving there in 2020. Additionally, 154 companies relocated or expanded in the Austin area, creating 21,864 jobs at the same time.

“Austin is probably the hottest destination in the States right now. We know that a lot of people are wanting to move here. As these companies are moving into Texas, there is going to be a need for people to stay somewhere before they find their permanent home in Austin.”

Anthony Duggan, VP/General Manager Miraval Austin

10. Ending on a bummer: Crime and homelessness are way up!

Growing more rampant, by the day, throughout the country and yet, not a single mayor or government official seems to consider it a priority. In NYC, for example, Eric Adams who is running for mayor has announced that his BIG IDEA for the city is to offer doulas to all first-time mothers. That’s nice but I’m sure most NYers would prefer him to focus on a solution for the 97% jump in shootings and 45% increase in murders. We haven’t seen crime like this in 14 years

And it’s not just in NYC.

• I track 11 cities (big and small) and crime and homelessness is up in all of them.

Major crimes include:

• Shootings, carjackings, assaults, armed robberies, commercial break-ins, home invasions, catalytic converter thefts (this is huge!)
• Nashville has even developed a homicide tracker interactive map!

Homelessness, likewise, worse than ever, fueled by “The homeless industrial complex” e.g., Bronx Parent Housing Network

• In NYC, where 30% of hotels have been converted to shelters to protect the homeless from COVID, the city is paying $200+ per night and yet all day long from 8am until 10pm at night, the homeless congregate in large groups, without masks, sharing drinks and joints. How is this protecting anyone? Additionally, in NYC, many of the homeless are mentally ill and violent (generally victimizing each other – 3 murders last week).

And on that sorry note, it’s a wrap

But I do have two things to add that are a bit more upbeat.

First, an update on NFT art that I have been writing about for a couple of months. Yesterday (Thursday), the Beeple NFT auction closed at $69 million. Per the NYT, the price was a new high for an artwork that exists only digitally, beating auction records for physical paintings by museum-valorized greats like J.M.W. Turner, Georges Seurat and Francisco Goya.

So who are these crypto-rich early collectors? ArtNews just wrote an informative piece on the subject:

…. the first major collector was Tim Kang, founder of Cue Music and an investor in cryptocurrency. Kang had broken all previous records by buying Beeple’s “MF Collection” for $777,777.77 on Nifty Gateway in December of 2020. This sale launched Beeple from a niche artist working on the digital fringe to a force to reckoned with.

The 28 year-old Kang bought his first house about three months ago. All those empty white walls had Kang considering buying art for the first time, but that was before he discovered NFTs. A heavy investor in Ethereum back in 2016, Kang was intrigued by the NFTs, which are minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Once he bought his first piece by the well-known crypto-artist Pak, he never looked back. His purchase of Pak’s “Moebius Knot” for 77 Ethereum, or $42,720, was the biggest sale ever made on SuperRare at the time. After that sale, Kang found himself a part of a burgeoning community of NFT artists and collectors. Soon after, Beeple reached out to Kang on Twitter. 

Art News (link to entire article here)

Second, an art story from the opposite end of the spectrum, I highly recommend (if you’re in NYC), checking out the MET’s re-opened British Galleries – so amazing, along with that whole wing of the museum. The tea pots are among my favorites!

And with that, I’m back in a happier frame of mind.

The next few days are also shaping up to super fun-filled. Lots of get-togethers with friends with great lunches and dinners. And almost everyone I know has now had at least one round of the vaccine so that’s very positive news.

And with that, it really is a wrap. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Stay safe and stay well.