GoodBuyGuys Blog

I got a call this morning from a stage designer who had been asked to finish temporary stage with a “Marley” floor. We don’t sell portable dance floors, but we do score well with Google Search for the term “Marley floor tape” so he gave us a call. I tried to help him out and then did a little digging to try to find out why he was unable to come up with any info on this flooring product.

“Marley” has become the generic name for portable vinyl flooring, even though there are lots other companies that make similar products. Almost any stage manager or lighting designer will refer to the “Marley” when talking about a stage surface to dance on.

It took me a while to come up with any info on “Marley” but I eventually was able to learn that Marley was a German manufacturer who has been out of business for at least 20 years. Even though there are probably very few genuine Marley floors still in use, their brand name is still the generic term for portable vinyl dance floors. Today’s versions of this dancing surface works much better than Marley’s product but none of the current manufacturers have been able to change the term used when talking about dance floors.

I guess we will continue to call our dance floor tape “Marley Tape” as long as this is the term the dance industry uses. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands , Dance Floor Tape and “value added” customer service.

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My first job in the entertainment industry was as a stagehand, helping produce concerts at UNC, my alma mater. I was hooked after my first show.

One of my earliest experiences was working on an Alice Cooper show. Building a gallows, and then watching one of the best known rock stars of the day (remember “School’s Out “) “hang” himself was pretty heady stuff for an 18 year old in 1970.

Who would have thought that 37 years later Cooper would have become a dedicated Christian and a key player making a real difference in the lives of troubled teenagers. Cooper and Chuck Savale have begun the Solid Rock Foundation, a not-for-profit Christian-based sactuary for kids in Phoenix, AZ.

As part of the process for raising over $7 millions dollors for the Foundation, Cooper is involved in producing concerts as as a fund rasing effort. In addition to supporting their capital campaign, the concerts provide an opportunity to teach real world job skills to kids who might well go on to work in the entertainment industry.

I have written before about the lack of interest among young people in pursuing career opportunites in concert production. It is an industry that is graying quickly and it’s good to see such noble efforts to create a new source for technicians.

This effort has garnered lots of support from major equipment manufacturers and local Arizona venues. They will help equip the Foundation’s center to be built on donated land at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Solid Rock Foundation, click here.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.

I’ve written a couple of posts about counterfeit batteries. They continue to be a big problem for legitimate battery sellers.

Prosoundnews.com has an article today about a new counterfeit issue that the pro sound and audio visual production community needs to know about. Counterfeit Shure Microphones. The popular line of Shure Beta mics is apparently a new target for Asian counterfeit manufacturers. Anybody who purchases mics from small, unknown online dealers or any source they have no background on is at risk of being taken.

If you’re not particularly concerned about an industry giant like Shure losing sales or revenue, you might want to reconsider. If you buy a counterfiet mic, you may be a loser as well.

You may save some money on the purchase price, but there are several ways that your savings could evaporate in a hurry:

Use of substandard materials-Shure makes some of the most durable mics in the business. Counterfeiters do not.

Mics that do not perform up to spec-When miking a stage, you count on specs like “polar pattern” to get the best sound quality. It does not matter what you do if the mic doesn’t match the specs that Shure intended.

No warranty- You may not find out that you have a counterfeit mic until you return it to Shure for warranty repair. Don’t expect them to fix something they didn’t sell.

Not sure of the reliability of your dealer? Use this Shure Dealer Locator.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Look to us first to meet your microphone accessory and battery needs.

When your business is primarily distribution of products, it can be difficult to add easily perceived value to what you sell. I grew up in the printing business where a publisher was able to apply ink to paper and create something of much greater value than either of the two raw materials. In the case of our family business, it was greeting cards-adding a clever idea and high quality art is what added real value to ink on paper.

When the basis of your business model is taking items out of a large box and putting them into a series of smaller boxes, it is a real challenge to add additional worth that the customer will value.

We’re always on the lookout for how others do it.

A recent online purchase of a pair of shoes for my daughter led me to a pretty incredible experience with an online retailer called “Zappos“. Their motto: “We are a service company that happens to sell.”

It is hard to imagine a product more challenging for online sales than shoes. Not only does every manufacturer have a different idea of what a size 7 is (or any other size for that matter) but the selection of shoes is incredibly subjective. Not only do you care what the shoe looks like on the page, you also care about what it looks like on your foot.

Zappos not only offers “free” overnight shipping (obviously built into the price) but, if you are unhappy with your selection, they offer free return shipping as well. Full refund with no questions asked if you choose to return the shoes.

My daughter wanted something different than the Christmas present I gave her-no surprise there. She was able to pick out a new choice and have them the next day, and I was able to return the original purchase with no hassle at Zappo’s expense.

Obviously, if too many customers were unhappy, Zappos’ free return service would not work. It’s essential that they achieve customer satisfaction the first time around on most purchases. With the overall commitment to service they showed us, my guess is that the percentage of returns is not too high.

Regardless, we’ll shop at Zappos again.

Got a good “value added” idea ? Share it with us.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.

We’re considering producing some “how to” videos to add to goodbuyguys.com, so I did a Youtube search to get a sense of what might be out there. Not a lot really, so I am hoping that we can put together some simple, but informative instructional videos for those interested in building their production skills.

I did, however, come across one microphone stand-realted video that you really ought to see.

Blacklie Lawless, the guitar player for W.A.S.P. has a mic stand that might qualify as a state fair ride. Take a look at this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tJbNLu3QDrU

Overall, I’m not a big fan of heavy metal, but you’ve gotta admit that no musical genre does a better job of turning a simple piece of sound equipment into a prop. Something as simple as Jon Bonjovi’s white mic stand or Korn’s female figure stand add a lot of visual interest to the set.

W.A.S.P. ’s combination mic stand, motorcycle & pogo stick somehow manages to make the microphone stand a part of the show. It even takes a bow at the end!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

A newspaper article headline in the business section of yesterdays Raleigh, NC News & Observer caught my eye.

“Losing The Cords On Flat TVs”

Thinking this AP article might be about extension cords, I read a little before realizing that the author, Peter Svensson was actually talking about the ability to send television data to a large screen TV wirelessly using technology similar to the WIFI signals now found distributing computer data in so many homes.

Three different wireless protocols for delivering data to flat panel televisions will be featured at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It uses recently allocated spectrum that is not supposed to interfere with WIFI and it has a range that reportedly will limit it from spilling into your neighbor’s apartment. This has the potential to make the home theatre installer’s life a lot easier.

Unfortunately, no where in the article did the writer even mention the most important cord of all. THE POWER CABLE! That certainly isn’t going to be lost anytime soon.

One of the most popular locations for large flat panel televisions is over the mantle. How many houses are built with an electrical outlet in the middle of the wall over the fireplace? Not many.

More importantly, while the installation of low voltage cabling for video and data can be safely installed by a hobbyist or homeowner, the installation of a 110volt electrical outlet needs to be done by a licensed electrician. Doing this installation in a space adjacent to a fireplace flue requires special cable and a lot a care to prevent creating a fire hazard.

LCD and plasma display video monitors use a lot of power, and ideally, the electrical outlets they are plugged into also need special surge protection to protect the TV from electrical surges. Providing power for such an expensive item shouldn’t be done as an afterthought.

Now, when flat TVs can lose the power cord, that’s an article I look forward to reading.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Count on us to meet your power distribution needs.

When I got back from taking a few days off at Christmas I had over 5000 email messages in my inbox. I have had my email address on hundreds of web pages for over ten years, so I’ve become some sort of spam magnet. Even with lots of filters, I still have to wade through several hundred messages on any given day. Believe it or not, I don’t really mind.

Sure, I’m bombarded with a lot of stuff that is a total waste of time, but a lot of it is pretty entertaining.

Who has the time to create subject lines like “real bored astronauts” or “tire round go wheel“? I realize that this is must an attempt to fool my spam filters in order to sell me something, but somebody actuallly has to write this stuff. Is this actually their job?

Maybe I have too much time on my hands, but when I see something like “Sailing Boat Waters Rainbow” it’s hard not to take a look.

Fortunately, on our latest web site, goodbuyguys.com, we were able to implement a “contact us” form based method for customer inquiries that does not allow spammers to find my address. It means that you can get real questions and comments to me but spammers can’t lift email addresses from our pages. Hope I’m not helping to put some really creative writers out of business.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Got questions about audio visual and production supplies? Contact Us!