First thing tomorrow morning, I’m headed to the Las Vegas to partake in the blogosphere. Mixing in mingling with “thought leaders” (some of this crew are suspect and I want to call shenanigans on them) in the fray that has become our modern digital world of communication.

I’m looking forward to relax in Vegas with hundreds and thousands of others who spend a fair amount of time staring at a screen all day. Say what you will, but this crew are artists in their own right.

This is such a different trip (in look and in feel) from the one to Vegas just a month ago for the New Media Expo. For this weekend I’m traveling with Brent Gudgel from Chronicle Project. He’s an award Winning Director (Crystal Heart Winner at Heartland Film Fest.. and the list goes on) of the film Dear, Francis. It’s a film about the Aids/HIV epidemic in Swaziland and although it was released a few years back Showtime like to air it now and again.

So what would a guy who focuses on connectivity in multi-media and an award winning film director do at BlogWorld??

Have a conversation with the world, of course!

We’re heading to the desert to learn a few things about what’s happening on the web now, how it’s moving and shaping for the future.. but we have a small agenda too. We’re looking to engage bloggers, podcasters and general digital dwellers in a conversation this weekend. That conversation involves trees, rock music, the homeless and your email inbox.

I think the best part of this is that one person can make a difference. Part of the internet to me is like a revolution of ideas – the ability to shout about what matters to you. While some use their blog voices to talk politics or tell you the undying secrets to their love (both of which I’ve been guilty of on occasion) the other thing is to sound off on issues that can change our world. I’m involved with some projects right now that are pretty high quality and I want to tell you (and the BlogWorld crowd) about them. For each of these things I’ve got special “Bloggers Only” info to release prior to the general announcement. I think it’s way cooler to be linked arm and arm with people who take action and I think they should get the inside scoop.

So here it is:

Union Rescue Mission - New website launch. I’ve been working so hard on this site and have been literally on taking breaks to get sleep for the past month. I can’t give you all the details just yet but I can tell you why I’d work so hard on a site. I’ve said it before and Im I’ll say it again – I LOVE the work they do. They are really making a difference in the lives of the tens of thousands of homeless men, women, and children in LA County – and for my money, that’s worth investing in. I’ll be posting a ton more on all the bells and whistles on the site but for now if you’d like to get a feel of the direction they are headed with media – Check out their top rated Podcast itunes.urm.org

Eden Reforestation Project – Chronicle is doing a bunch of work with these guys and you have to see the films they have made for them – they are fantastic! Eden Project is working to help plant trees throughout Africa in an effort to restore the gorgeous climate in Ethiopia.

The Drop – I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk to bloggers about music. It’s my most favorite thing. Finding a new band is like finding a diamond in a coal mine (which I’m not sure if that happens, I think they’d call it a diamond mine but I digress) I’m always interested to hear from graphic designers what’s their latest Muxtape or how they are rocking the Genius function of iTunes. Bring on the Music Mavens! The new site launches in the next week and I’m hoping for a whole new era of this sleeping giant.

Email A to Z – NY Times Bestselling author and like-ability expert, Tim Sanders, launched the Dirty Dozen of Email Etiquette a few months ago. I got to work with him on the Blog portion of the site that is being populated with your stories about email triumphs and tragedies. Also, his latest book came out the week, Saving the World at Work, this book is bringing home the change that’s been happening in the business world for some time, the idea of business plus and he’s got the research to prove it. Plus, check out his new site – this one is a barn burner of innovation

If you’re a blogger and you’d like the inside scoop on some really great multi media content to use as you’d like, leave me a comment, or email me and I’d be happy to send all the info your way. (also, this makes you the envy of your friends, you rescue the maiden from the tower and live a long and happy life – all were same with sugar pill)

Call it social justice, call it tree hugging, call it activism, call it whatever you want – just talk about it.

PS. I’m stopping the “Twitter Sum Up” posts to the site (or at least slowing them down) sorry for the inconvenience.

I’ve been working with Union Rescue Mission (URM) recently. It’s the countries oldest and largest homeless shelter in the country serving over 20,000 meals to the poor and homeless of Skid Row weekly. The homeless community in LA County is at epidemic proportions with numbers ranging from 70-90,000 and URM and the other missions on Skid Row are leading the charge to equip individuals with skills and services to break the cycle. What I’ve been learning over the last few months is that homelessness is a complex issue. The reasons for a man, woman or family on the street are as diverse as the people themselves. One of the staggering statistics is that the average age of someone who is homeless on the streets of America is 9! I’ve had a chance to be at URM a lot more recently and what always strikes me when I come into their facility is that people are fighting for life and death on the streets all around them. It feels like the country gas station on the side of the road after a long journey and you’re almost out of gas. Having just recently traveled through the desert and almost breaking down, I can really appreciate that.

Over the past 6 months Chronicle Project has been working with URM capturing some of the stories of what’s happening at their facility and a glimpse into the lives of their residents. A few weeks back we launched a video podcast of these stories and the iTunes staff selected it as “New and Notable” and since then it’s been in the top 100 of Non-Profit Podcasts on the iTunes Network.

So here’s my encouragement – subscribe to this podcast, especially if the issue of homelessness is important to you. In the coming weeks we’ll be adding a video FAQ hosted by URM’s CEO Andy Bales as well as some seriously great stories about Skid Row’s finest.

Check out Stories from Skid Row and don’t be afraid to share it

I’m starting some work with The Chronicle Project out of LA and with an upcoming project I’m doing music supervision for a series of short films. Chronicle Project got popular with their groundbreaking documentary on the HIV/AIDS situation in Swaziland. After scoring some seriously street cred at the film festivals it was picked up by Showtime.

Still being the relative newbie to L.A. Bands, I’m doing a bit of an open casting call in looking for some music for an upcoming shorts on the homeless situation in LA County. As far as style the big thing is that it’s instrumental. Hip-hop beats to experimental funk – I could use it all. The moods of the shorts varies from hard edged to really emotional.

If you’re band fits this criteria – I’d be very interested to hear your art.

Qualified Musicians will have:
Located in LA or call LA home.
A high quality record of their music.
Instrumental tracks or instrumental versions of current tracks.

Send me an email with a link to you myspace, website or ftp to listen to the tracks.

…out for now..
Dan Portnoy