Clouds in My Coffee

If you are reading on a smartphone, use landscape / hold phone sideways. 

I'm 62 years old. It was around 50 years ago that I was living in Boca Raton, Florida wearing my #39 NFL football jersey as I watched my Miami Dolphins go 17-0. Still the only perfect season in the NFL. At 12 years old, Larry Csonka (football) was my childhood hero, with Johnny Bench (baseball) a very close second. 

Larry Csonka has a new book: "HEAD ON - A Memoir." More on this later. 

I started doing audio podcasts a few years ago - mostly because everyone was doing them. Currently, there are around 3 to 4 million audio podcasts out there. 44% have less than 3 episodes! Only around 700K have more than 10 episodes. And of those, only around 150K are releasing a weekly episode. 

A few years ago, I stopped doing audio (only) podcasts, and started doing video podcasts. My motivation? Again - because everyone was doing them. We kept the name as we transitioned from audio to video: Coffee in the Clouds. Just two people having a fireside chat on the Internet. On video, one take, live, no editing. NO EDITING! And, there was always a cup of coffee at hand. 

Now as we just took the wrapper off a new year, 2023 has become the year of the video podcast. At least for me. During COVID, no one was going ANYWHERE, so hybrid meetings, hybrid events were not very hybrid. It was ON LINE or nothing. We would do Zoom Talks with Actors, Authors, Athletes, and.. COMEDIANS. During lock-down, Zoom Comedy Shows were the only thing that a stand-up comedian could do. So, even though most of our comedian guests would much prefer a LIVE audience in a packed nightclub or large theater venue, it was Zoom Shows or nothing. Because some our comedian guests had millions of followers on their social media channels, our www.ZoomTalks.us would get millions of eyeballs. Cool, I love millions of eyeballs. 

ZoomTalks became TomTalks which became NYDLAcast.com interviews - but the introduction was always the same, such as: "Patton Oswalt - welcome to an episode of Coffee in the Clouds - how are you?!?" 

Actors, Authors, Athletes, Entrepreneurs. Thought Leaders. Subject Matter Experts. Some of our video podcast guests are famous in the business world, having millions of followers on LinkedIn. If you have millions of followers on LinkedIn, you got something going on... Millions of followers on Twitter or Instagram - OK, fine. But millions of followers on LinkedIn? Hello...

Our two favorite technology platforms for doing video podcasts are Zoom and BlueJeans by Verizon. Full disclosure: the NYDLA.org ( and now NADLA.org) which I run are Tier 1 ELITE Partners for both Zoom and for Verizon. And, we are impressed with a few other video conferencing platforms in the marketplace. But both Zoom and Verizon allow us to host LIVE video podcast recording sessions from our NYC office. Or from Convene. Or, from one of the 31 Hard Rock International locations. Or, from just about...anywhere in the world. If you have a stable high-speed Internet connection at your location, we are in business. So, we can have hundreds of people LIVE in the room, hundreds of thousands LIVE (virtually) and then millions of people watching the Livestreams or the archives like a TED Talk. 

As of 8:33 AM on 2/5/2023 the most viewed (non-comedian) Coffee In the Clouds of all time is Bill George. Right behind Bill is Marshall Goldsmith, then Tom Peters. It makes sense since 98% of our global community are "in business" in some capacity. And these are the kind of subject matter experts, the type of folks that have millions of followers on LinkedIn. Today, our association is indeed global, with 5.8M+ members and 46% of the Schools of Business. I expect that we shall be at 10M+ global members come 2024. 

I don't know who originally said, "Baseball has been very, very good to me." It might have been former MLB slugger Sammy Sosa. Or if you are old enough to have been watching SNL in the late Seventies, you might have been watching Episode 5 of Season 4. That was when SNL cast member Garret Morris nailed it, appearing as Chico Escuela for the first time in the Nov. 11, 1978 episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. 

"The Internet has been very, very good to me." ~ Thomas A. Capone, 2/5/2023

Last month, I sent an email to ZONK! Productions, Inc. c/o www.LarryCsonka.com

"Larry, you would make a GREAT NYDLAcast.com interview. We reach millions. You fit our audience perfectly: athlete, actor, author, entrepreneur.  Please say yes - we can promote your new book to our entire community. Larry - when I was growing up in Boca Raton, Florida, I wore your #39 jersey every day - especially in 1972! Please say yes." 

Hey, I wonder if Johnny Bench also wrote a book...

www.CoffeeInTheClouds.us