During a discussion with some friends last night, the topic of “people you’d want to have lunch with” came up. We were discussing a quote from Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “What the dog saw” and that’s what sparked this meme.

This will work the same as other memes: I’m writing a list of five people I’d like to have lunch with someday and will “tag” five people to follow suit.

In no particular order, here are my “5 People Lunch Meme”

1. Malcolm Gladwell
Author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, the man seriously has a way with words. His ability to take a pretty out-there topic, spell it out and feed it to his readers in digestible little nuggets in a style of reading (and writing) I haven’t discovered yet. He made the ride of Paul Revere sound like one of the most important things to happen to this country- and did it without it sounding boring. And the “10,000 Hours” concept of Outliers is something I’ve come to pay attention to in my daily dealings with colleagues and professionals.

2. Chuck Klosterman
Another author (I swear, I really don’t read THAT much) who penned the epic Killing Yourself To Live (about 80′s Metal), Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs (about pop culture through the 80′s and 90′s) and Fargo Rock City (a sort of biography about growing up on 80′s metal which is now being put to screen with Craig Finn of The Hold Steady co-writing the screenplay). Snarky, clever and witty, Klosterman has a way of taking the mundane and seemingly boring and writing them into stories that are more addictive than the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cocoa puffs. He sounds like he may be a real douche, but every good writer deserves a bit of doucheiness.

3. Bill Clinton
The ONE thing I’d want to discuss would be “what the hell were you thinking when you signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law”?

4. Bob Lefsetz
He writes the Lefsetz Letter. Industry pundit, critic, rabble rouser…call him what you will, but the guy went head to head with Gene Simmons over a blog Lefsetz wrote criticizing the old-school model of Simmons’ new record label…and absolutely SLAYED him. It’s quotes like this “What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where the biggest rock star doesn’t even play an instrument?” (referring to Steve Jobs) preceded a few posts earlier by “What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a band’s stage is more important than their music?” (referring to U2)

5. Ron Delsener
Concert Promoter extraordinaire. He’s the “Delsener” in “Delsener/Slater Enterprises” – a tagline you heard over and over again on WNEW and 92.3 KROCK in New York City/New Jersey if you grew up going to concerts there in the 80′s and 90′s. Perhaps one of the most successful promoters in the history of the New York metro area, the guy has done The Dead, Springsteen, Bon Jovi….essentially, you name them, he’s done them. I’d kill for an hour with this guy. Giants Stadium, Brendan Byrne Arena, Jones Beach Amphitheater and Shea Stadium are some of his venues. Until they sold out to Live Nation. Which would be the main topic of our discussion.

There you have it- and I dutifully tag the following:

Dave

Bozich

Ken

Courtney Engle

Rich Hauck

Brendan Hilliard