CreativeCATS Update: Tickets on Sale Now for Unlimited Beer Tasting!

Tickets went on sale TODAY for our September events!

#1 - 2nd Annual SUDS on the GREEN - September 13, 2008

If you missed this event last year because of the rains, don't miss it this year! This event is really 3-in-1 - A Professional Team Golf Trournament - where you are encouraged to be loud and proud and yell on your team - along with a CreativeCATS brewfest featuring Unlimited Beer Tasting - and then the evening will see a Concert in the Park featuring area bands. All of this takes place at Land Park Golf Course near downtown Sacramento.

So, get your tickets today for this amazing addition to the CreativeCATS line-up!

Tickets are only $20 PrePay and $25 at the gate.

www.SudsOnTheGreen.com

#2 - 4th Annual FAIR OAKS'toberfest - September 27, 2008

This event is our fastest growing and one of the most enjoyable of our brewer's festivals featuring Unlimited Beer Tasting in beautiful Fair Oaks Park at the Corner of Madison & Fair Oaks.

Tickets sell fast for this incredible event, so get your's early - only $25 prepay or $30 at the gate.

www.FairOaksBrewFest.com

AND SAVE THE DATE!

Our first Bay Area Event is coming in October! SUDS on the GREEN East Bay - October 18, 2008 in Fremont, CA.

Cheers!

Matson "Matsonian" Breakey

CreativeCATS Presents

P.S. Don't miss your chance to get live recordings of the Northern California Blues Festival... www.jasonhaxton.com/ncbf

Nor Cal Blues Fest - Corrections, Surveys & More!

Friends...

A quick correction... if you want to hear the most incredible recordings of the two day sensation known as the Northern California Blues Festival... and support two wonderful non-profit programs (Blues in the Schools and Through the Mind) at the same time... go to www.JasonHaxton.com/ncbf (the previous URL I supplied was incorrect.

So, stop what you are doing and check out www.JasonHaxton.com/ncbf today and support some good causes!

Also, we REALLY want your survey response, so goto www.matsonian.com/blues/index.html and click the SURVEY button to share your thoughts with us and help us develop an event better event for 2009 - our 10th Annual!

Cheers!

Matson "Matsonian" Breakey

CreativeCATS Presents

Blues, Beer & More: CreativeCATS Update: July 11, 2008

To All My Music & Beer Loving Friends!

I still can't believe that it has been three weeks since we completed the Northern California Blues Festival! For those of you who bared the heat, I am sure you would agree it was an incredible event and one for the record books.

There is still time to complete our online survey to let us know what you thought and what you would like to see next year: www.matsonian.com/ncbf/index.html and click on the survey button at the top of the page.

In this, the latest edition of the Creative Cats update, I want to share a few important items:

1. High Quality MP3s Still Available! Did you know that we recorded almost 80% of the Northern California Blues Festival? These HIGH QUALITY recordings are available for a limited time! So get yours today! To download a FREE sample of the quality of these great recordings, CLICK HERE. For a full listing of available recordings, go to www.jasonhaxtonproductions.com/ncbf

2. Suds on the Green – Sacramento! Yes, we at CreativeCATS are now working on the Second Annual Suds on the Green, a great event where you get to watch the National Golf League's Sacramento Tournament while enjoying UNLIMITED beer tasting all around the 9^th hole at William Land Golf Course! Coming September 13, 2008. www.SudsOnTheGreen.com Tickets Go On Sale July 15!

3. FAIR OAKS'toberfest! Next is the Fourth Annual Fair Oaks'toberfest, coming to Fair Oaks Park (yes, the same location as the Nor Cal Blues Fest) on September 27. As is usual for all our brewfests, UNLIMITED beer tasting is the key! This event has sold out since year one - so get your tickets early! As always - more friends, more beer, more good times! www.FairOaksBrewFest.com Tickets on sale, July 15!

Here are some of my preferred events this weekend:

Friday, July 11 – Sacramento's Free Concert in the Park – Richard March, Kate Gaffney, Agent Ribbons, The Juggs – www.DowntownSac.org

Saturday, July 12 – 19th Annual Placer SPCA Blues & BBQ - Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine, Coco Montoya, Cole Fonseca & The Rattlers, Mr. December Band, Blues Farm, Equinox, Pinkie Varner and more (1:00), Gold Country Fairgrounds, Auburn
www.placerspca.org/events.htm

Sunday, July 13 – Sacramento Blues Society Show - Two Cool Blues - Leo Bootz & Southside Shuffle, Equinox (2:00), Zigato's Bar & Grill - Clarion Hotel, Sacramento. www.SacBlues.com

Matson "Matsonian" Breakey

CreativeCATS Presents

P.S. Read the blog about Through the Mind, the nonprofit that benefited from the Northern California Blues Festival at http://throughthemind.blogspot.com  

P.P.S. You can create events like we do with QuickPlanner Plus! the planning software for EVERYTHING. If you can dream it, you can plan it! www.QuickPlannerPlus.com

Northern California Blues Festival... another great community event!

Well my friends...

It is over... the 9th Annual Northern California Blues Festival is in the can. And if you missed it, I am sorry... it was an event that shall never be the same again.

The biggest risk we took this year was turning a one day event into two days. And if you are not familiar with event planning... two days means a whole new host of variables that need to be tackled. Questions like... if you build it WILL they come? Because you are not only creating a longer event, you need you attendees to pay more for more days. Will they? Well... the question was undeniably answered for us... they DID!

While Saturday's attendance during the day was less than last year due to the 105 degree weather, the attendance by Saturday evening to watch Elvin Bishop was easily at 2500+.

Sunday's attendance for Maria Muldaur and the rest of the first ever Sunday Line-up was incredible at 1500.

But there was more than just the attendance. This year we had 35 craft vendors, 9 food vendors, two beer stations, and for the first time ever... Margaritas from Tequila 374.

And then there were the cars... incredible hotrods brought together by the Capital City Cruisers... six trophies were handed out to the winners including the Best of Show (confession here... I don't have the name of the winner but I get it for you).

The line-up of music for Tuesday was truly special... from Equinox to Elvin Bishop, from the Delta Wires to Steve Foster, from Lee Bootz to Mighty Mike Schermer (he's shorter than I thought)... it was a one day line-up any festival would be proud of.

If you want to purchase EXCLUSIVE live MP3's of the festival you can get them at http://www.jasonhaxton.com/ncbf.

Sunday started out with a wonderful pancake breakfast sponsored by the Orangevale Grange. Very tasty! The proceeds from the breakfast benefitted their scholarship fund and they are excited about doing it again next year!

Then the Sunday line-up went along with great aplomb... Jeff Watson, Strictly for Kicks, Sacramento Blues Review, Mick Martin and his new Blues Rockers and the ever so talented Maria Muldaur.

Reminder --- EXCLUSIVE live MP3's of the festival @ http://www.jasonhaxton.com/ncbf.

;-)

Maria was very gracious and sat around for at least 30 minutes signing autographs. Then the crews came in and we had the complete park back to its pre-festival beauty by 11pm that night.

If you would like to be on our email list for the upcoming festivals that I am doing under the banner of CreativeCATS presents, please go to www.matsonian.com and enter you email in the box on the left. We use Constant Contact so you can be assured of no spam.

Keep it real my friend and we will see ya at the next event.

By the way... a blatant plug here... we plan all our events using QuickPlanner Plus which you can get for only $34.95 at www.QuickPlannerPlus.com it is truly the best planning software for creating quick administrative plans. I should know... I designed it! ;-)
----------------------

Matson "Matsonian" Breakey

SAVE THE DATE - UPCOMING EVENTS!!!!

SUDS ON THE GREEN - Sacramento
Like Golf? Love Beer? Don't Play... Just Drink!
September 13, 2008
William Land Park, Sacramento, CA
www.SudsOnTheGreen.com

FAIR OAKS'TOBERFEST
An Octoberfest for BrewFest Lovers, by BrewFest Lovers!
September 27, 2008
Fair Oaks Park, Fair Oaks, CA
www.fairoaksbrewfest.com

SUDS ON THE GREEN - East Bay
October 4, 2008
Fremont, CA
www.SudsOnTheGreen.com/eastbay

CHILI COOKOFF & MUSIC FESTIVAL
October 18, 2008
Old Sacramento, CA

Using QuickPlanner to Plan our Trip...

Okay, I admit that I should have done this earlier... but I am going to plan the next thirty days before my one month hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (matsonianpct.blogspot.com) using QuickPlanner Plus (http://www.quickplannerplus.com)

While this trip with my father has been over two years in the planning, this last month is the most critical.

QuickPlanner Plus came out of simplified strategic planning for my various business activities and my need for comprehensive marketing plans for my day job with The Community College Foundation (not there anymore... see matsonian.blogspot.com for my rant on that one).

I've used it successfully in planning the West Coast Brew Fest, the Northern California Blues Festival, Suds on the Green and the Fair Oaks'toberfest. I've used it to develop business plans, software launch plans, teaching plans, even weekend fun plans.

But now, with only a month before my father and I start on our trip at Mt McKinley and hike 300 miles to Echo Lake, I am going to maximize my planning process by using QPP to develop the step by step guide I need to get it all done - while also planning the Northern California Blues Festival June 21 & 22 (northerncaliforniabluesfest.com)

This afternoon, I am going for a nice bike ride and some tennis playing with my girlfriend, then I will come back and do the plan.

I will post the plan in the user's forum at QuickPlannerPlus.com, which for a limited time is free to all... take a look at let me know what you think.

Matson

About Time I did an Update

It has been far too long since I last types words into this blog. Primarily because I have been so busy with my day job at TechEd, that I've neglected many of my other passions including QuickPlanner Plus.

But today I had the opportunity to speak to an Intro to Business class at Sacramento City College.

I opened up with the basic questions of who in this class wants to start their own company and I got about four hands. Then I asked who in this class wants to go work for someone else, and I got about three hands. Out of a class of 14, that left several who didn't answer at all. So I asked a couple of them why they were in the class.

The answer? Its a requirement.

A requirement?

That's definitely not the right view to have about business 101. I don't care if you are going to be an entrepreneur, accountant, future executive, doctor, lawyer, burger flipper or wig maker, you had better understand the world of business.

So yeah... it had better be a requirement for everyone.

If you don't understand the world of business, you don't understand anything going on around you.

Okay this is starting to be less of a QuickPlanner blog and more of a Matsonian Rants so I guess I will have to post it there as well.

Business is business. Every organization in the world, every employee in the world, every group in the world operates on the basics of business and business operates on the basics of human organization.

And, here it is, human organization survives because of planning. And planning is the root to successful living.

So, if you don't understand business how can you understand life.

Join me in the mantra: Intro To Business for EVERYONE!

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