Hi. I'm Colin. I love to write, remix, and amplify culture.

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Words & Music

I write lyrics and rhymes as a record of my experience listening for the humanity in our changing times. Enjoy, share, build.

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Talks & Shows

My favorite part of performing or speaking are the unscripted moments when we experience creating something live together.

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Ventures & Projects

I build platforms that enable people to more powerfully create and amplifying authentic stories that inspire and educate.

Premixed is an album released in 2006 that was collaboratively produced across space and time by acoustic, ambient, reggae, and trip-hop producers that had never met in person.  In 2003, Colin began sharing his words and music through ccmixter.org, explicitly & legally ‘premixed’ for producers to legally build on his work via Creative Commons licenses. In 2006, after over 40 remixes by producers from around the world, he released this collection of the best, sharing revenues with the other artists, and helping to build the market for ‘open source’ music. Premixed: Collaborative Album
In October of 2012, I was invited to the TEDx event on “Crowd Innovation” to share stories of regular people coming together to crowdfund mass awareness campaigns to accelerate impact and awareness in their countries. The three stories I highlighted from the Louder platform included Greeks coming together to save their tourism industry, supporters of Occupy Wall St. getting their 30 second spot on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor, and a group of college students pushing President Obama to break the #ClimateSilence.  TEDx talk: Culture Hackers
Ever since moving to New York City in 1999, I’ve been fascinated by the power of advertising in our culture.  After experiencing the challenges of spreading important ideas, and working with major global brands to influence millions, I started Louder to gives everyone access to advertising channels dominated by big corporations and big politics. Using easy to use crowdfunded advertising tools, anyone can spread important content beyond their friends to spark dialogue, transform opinions, and create change.  The platform has already been used by thousands of citizens to help save the Greek Tourism industry, force conversations about domestic violence in San Francisco and immigrant families in North Carolina, and air grassroots ads from climate groups on Fox News, MTV.  Louder: Advertising for Everyone
I wrote this piece back in 2005 as I was learning the tension between wanting to define my own story and reality, and wanting to build on the various culture that I had been influenced by. I shared the acappella version on CCmixter.org, and the response from producers was amazing.  My favorite was this reggae version produced by the German producer alionsonny, who continues to produce great remixes of my work and others.  Language of My Reality2005 I am speaking the language of my reality, images expressed, the distinctions between my experience of moments of illegality and the slanted views of they mean. to me it’s about the choices we’re making, the lives we’re leading, and the futures we’re creating we are a generation raised on media an image nation that sees the biased news, the many truths,and yeah, buys sweatshop shoes whose stories are being told, whose stories are still owned by the ten o’clock blues? and whose stories am I telling in my privileged shoes?white, hippy, suburban, family, business, pharmaceutical industry, dollars and stress, and love that paid my way, sourced my days. you see if we want to move forward we need to acknowledge and build on the past.so whether we shoot, or speak, or edit, or click through media, we choose the direction of his encyclopedia, his story which is becoming our story,  as we gain the power to lead the interpretation,license the information, and be the strategic communication that hears competing views and reconstructs the worlds’ truths. I say that I’m a strong and powerful leader for love and freedom, but behind the fear and the confusion and the judgement and the stress I see fighting images of beats and breath. yes, things seem to be breaking down, from church boy confessions and corporate transgressions, to tommy and grandma getting sued as a copyright lesson, and quote “men of peace” using solders and weapons,yes these are the days of break down, break througha time of forgiveness, to begin again, truth and reconciliation yes I am speaking the language of my reality,images expressed, the distinctions betweenmy experience of moments of illegalityand the slanted views of what they mean. Language of My Reality (2005)
Upon first moving to San Francisco, I was invited to give a talk about the unique creative opportunities and challenge that emerge when being completely open in the process. The talk covers the story of My Life Changed, the collaborations with the producers of CCmixter that led to the album Premixed and a song used by the Economist, and an improvisational experiment that includes jamming to the Twitter feed of #tedxsoma.  TEDx Talk: The Possibility of Open
Colin led major global accounts with the top agency R/GA. In 2009, he led his team to help bring Nokia’s Music & Entertainment clients and fans into the participatory culture era with help from a major global pop star.  From the Rihanna Live case study by Figaro Digital: The Nokia brand has always been about connecting people. And, as the business has evolved from mobile phone company to innovative digital solutions provider, they have stayed true to that principle. Nokia’s current entertainment offering brings together music, games and apps content, services and devices to offer a ‘connected entertainment’ solution. So a campaign to launch Nokia’s latest entertainment offering would have to bring people together, and keep that Finnish proverb alive. It would also have to stand out in the crowded entertainment space. R/GA’s answer was ‘Rihanna Live’: A global campaign that merged on and offline activity, engaging Rihanna fans, bloggers, and music mavens at every stage. Throughout the campaign our focus was on involving the fans and giving them the tools to connect around a shared love of music. We wanted Rihanna Live to take on a life outside the brand, dramatising Nokia’s entertainment credentials and starting new, potentially enduring conversations with consumers. Rihanna Live in London
These photos and words from Colin were put together in 1999, as part of a course called “American Communities” with the Center for Documentary Studies in Durham, NC.  Colin drove around with a gracious unit of the Durham Police Department, as he took pictures and took in the experience of communities living and working at the edge of the law.  Who gets to live in peace? 1999 I grew up in the Jersey SuburbsNever really liked CopsFat white men yelling, STOP!But Durham is such a different place. The law is enforced by good people on both sidesof this static subtle civil war of twisted words, statistics blurredinto focus what is the punishment for being poor?how does it feel to be watched?hey, slow down, children playing tough, like that police man with the white lightsshot in the home of a possible criminalfriend of a dealer, mother of children on the other sidewhere confusion and fear glow through false appearance in quick moving worlds of power and riskI ask, who gets to live in peace? Durham Cops: Who Gets to Live in Peace?
In November of 2002, I sat down at American University with about 20 or so leaders of what was called the “Civic Internet” and learned about the policy challenges facing the youth media and independent media fields. In these informative policy sessions, I longed for a younger, more entertaining approach that might actually engage young people about these important issues.   Over the next three years, I had the privilege of attending an Internet Law Summit at Stanford and several “Future of Music” Policy Summits, and helped engage the youth media field in the conversations about copyright and media policy.  I also incorporated all of this law and policy work in with my music, photography, and spoken word poetry, and created a multimedia “Free Culture” performance designed to demonstrate the complex and entertaining crossroads between intellectual property and creative freedom. With the financial and moral support of American University’s Project on Youth, Media, and Democracy, during the Spring of 2005, I was able travel to colleges and youth media centers in 11 states from Texas to North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky to Pennsylvania presenting my “Free Culture Tour.”   The unique blend of music and images, live performance and lecture presented through my show resonated powerfully with thousands of students, professors, and artists throughout the country. From the bloggers and geeks of SXSW Interactive, to activists in Athens GA, to college students at Duke University, to 300 future music industry leaders at Belmont University, to youth media producers in Appalachia, and even two young preachers in Jackson, MS, I was happy to find a shared concern for the current state of the media, and a shared commitment to ensuring that the internet is fair and democratic.   Almost all people love music, and the people I met were encouraged by my collaborative process and multiple use of mediums.  There is a sense that so much more intimate and dynamic storytelling is possible, and that regular people, not just those with access to money and power, can tell their own stories and build their own culture. Throughout my “Free Culture Tour,” the overwhelmingly positive responses from both sides of traditional geographical and political divides confirmed my belief that we are at a historic moment in the evolution of the music and media industries, positioned with a ripe platform from which to effectively facilitate constructive exchange among diverse constituencies of citizens and civic organizations.   As I spent the next year attending INSEAD business school in France and Singapore, I was able to bring a Free Culture perspective to it, share the talk/performance with both campuses, and found allies in unlikely places to help build a media industry that values authentic voices, empowers under-resourced people and communities, and realizes our dream of an engaged democracy. Free Culture Tour (2005)
In July of 2002, during an after work drink for my 26th birthday, my friend Tina started dancing and another friend Rhea commented, “Damn…, she can really shake that booty.” A year later, we realized that we needed to represent more strongly for our people, and Free the White Booty was born. Ultimately, it’s about moving your hips when you dance, especially for all of us white folks. We know that it’s tough for some of us white folks to groove with the hips, but we believe that it is nothing less than an issue of national security that we do so.  Just imagine, if more of us were comfortable shaking our booty a little every day, maybe we wouldn’t have a desire to control other people, or be violent toward them.  So in the name of good beats, great vibes, and a more peaceful culture where all booties are freed… less anger. more rhythm.free the white booty.  Free the White Booty