I’ve belatedly read “The Tipping Point,” Malcolm Gladwell’s marvelous little book on the critical mass required to create an epidemic — whether a literal, biological one or the adoption of ideas or products.
I’ve been comparing Gladwell’s ideas to the intense little scene we experienced in late ’70s/early ’80s San Diego. In particular, I’ve been thinking about the people that played the three key roles Gladwell describes as necessary for a movement to take off. Check out the definitions, and then think about the folks we hung around with back when we were young:
- Connectors are “a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack [… for] making friends and acquaintances.” They’re very social, and they delight in “collecting people” and bringing all kinds of different, little social circles together. All those little subgroups spread across San Diego County … Who made the introductions that brought people together?
- Mavens are “information specialists,” the people who get great pleasure in acquiring and sharing data about different topics. Who always had the answers about music, fashion, parties, used clothes, good deals on records?
- Salesmen are the charismatic souls who can get others excited about the things they’re enthusiastic about themselves. Who were the people who could get you out of the house and off on a new adventure any time, anywhere?
By the way, people can fit into more than one category — a charismatic Salesman, say, may also be a Connector with the social insight to bring new groups of people together to support his or her ideas.
I can think of a lot of folks in each category … many of them regulars on this blog!
But I’d like to hear who played these kinds of roles in your own social education in San Diego. Who were the people who connected you up, who had all the info and who got you excited to be a part of the action?
More Che sociology!
- Here comes the ocean … And the waves (Life near the beach)
- Have you ‘zine me? (San Diego’s music mags)
- “I’m with the band.” (Who was your biggest fan?)
- “Tourist, go home!” (How native is “native”?)
- Record stores: Unchained vinyl (Where’d you buy your licorice pizza?)
- Weird SD (Odd corners of San Diego)
- Rock ‘n’ roll high school (How HS scenes informed your creative process)
- Hyphenates (How did you define yourself and those around you?)
- A Che lexicon (Why we talked like that)
- Under the ‘hood (Your corner of San Diego and how it shaped you)
- Where’d you get those clothes?? (Retro-cool on a budget)
Priming the pump with a few very off-the-cuff, personal opinions — do you agree or disagree with these assessments?
Marc Rude: Salesman
Harold Gee: Connector
Dean Curtis: Maven, Salesman
Ron Silva: Maven, Salesman
Mike Stax: Maven
Jerry Cornelius: Maven, Salesman
Toby Gibson: Connector
Cliff Cunningham: Connector
Terry Marine: Connector, Salesman
Feel free to amend … And as usual, help me get some women on this list! Sheesh.
Oh! God, Bart Mendoza: Connector, Salesman.
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the maven, “Nevermore.”
Patrick Works: Big time connector
Tammy Pollard was a Maven.
Paul Howland: connector and salesman
Dan Howland: maven and salesman
Dave Fleminger: Connector/Maven/Salesman
Stacy and Laura Swapp: Connectors -- If there was a party in San Diego County, they knew about it.
Cliff Cunningham: Connector I would add salesman
Matthew is not only a great connector nowadays, he was back then too.
Dave Rinck defined your definition of salesman.
EVERYONE I knew was a maven.
…or rather, Dave Rinck personified your definition of salesman.
I would go so far as to say that being a maven was what our whole scene was based on, and was one thing that made it different from other things going on at that time. Having a lot of knowledge about music and things that went along with it (and a strong opinion) were pretty much what all my friendships and romantic relationships revolved around.
Dave Ellison was the notable connector among the Rockin Dogs. 🙂
I’d suggest that every band that gets any traction (even local) has one of each food group. It’s not always a playing member (viz. Mr. Cornelus), and often one figure embodies more than one characteristic. But I definitely got the sense that specific folks played those roles band to band.