Saw Gil Scott Heron play last night at The Blue Note with Kim Jordan, vocals/piano/keys, Glenn Turner, harmonica and Tony Duncanson, percussion.
They didn't actually play any of his terrific new album, which is on XL Records, and can be heard here. Last night just simple keyboards and spoken word, a handful of old classics like "Pieces of a Man" and "Winter in America". Not so sure about his stand-up routine in between songs, a bit crude, compared to his poetry. In such small venue you get such an insight into the performer, beneath the stage presence, something of a tortured soul. Overall, very memorable. 
E-mail ThisThis radio show is epic. The BBC link I previously posted has been taken down, here is another live one. Discover some great new soul, hip hop, house, Afro, Latin, dubstep, jazz and beyond.
Funny review for new Massive Attack album.
The best novel I've read in last 12 months.
http://www.supermarkethq.com/product/recycled-cassette-tape-thin-necktie-3
Giles Petersen's latest show with Thom Yorke
Abandoned federal style farmhouse in Delaware County.
Christina and August, snapped with iPhone camera, has a slightly eerie image quality, which I like
This is a interesting post by Dave Trott on a recent appearance on UK television to discuss marketing's role in excessive drinking. Apparently we are to blame for binge drinking. 
My latest musing about the business of fashion on PSFK.COM today.
Now that fall fashion marketing is here and the industry is working on what’s next, what should fashion brands do differently to make up for a terrible fiscal 2009?
Everyone's a brand strategist these days, including people in the fashion industrywhose core business is to produce fashion shows, generate publicity and create ad campaigns. In which case you'd expect fashion brands to be more distinct from each other, wouldn't you?
Considering fashion is all about change, the fashion-marketing model is fairly old-fashioned. It took a recession for people to accept that the
selling cycle doesn't work, and although advertising isn't as effective as it used to be, brands still invest heavily in formulaic print ads, along
with the same old sponsorships, trunk shows and pop-up shops, or more recently, blogs, videos and social networking.
The fashion-marketing model certainly has its place, although the only tangible difference between brands here is the personality of a
designer/retailer and their collections. Brands can PR, collaborate and Twitter all they like, but without an original brand strategy that frames a
different way for consumers to think about them beyond a cool image or shiny mobile app, the focus will always be on outdoing their
competitors latest tactic rather than doing something unique.
Daniel Chu, Executive Creative Director of marketing agency Momentum, who has worked with brands like Nike, Thom Browne, Kenneth Cole
and Target, points out that, “In fashion, we create mystique, and that’s the strategy. To make it more complex, fashion is a culture that thrives
on itself; at its root, fashion is and always will be about itself. It creates to impress itself.”
I understand that in respect of brands like Margiela where the mystique and creativity of the designer is the brand, and he is uncompromised in
delivering it, but that’s one strategy for one brand, and the point of marketing is to create difference. Chu goes on to say, “Obviously as
demand increases, fashion becomes a populist commodity.” My point exactly.
Before starting her own brand consultancy Vernon Company, Kim Vernon was CMO of Calvin Klein. Kim points out that the biggest change in
fashion right now is that brands are trying to adapt their take-it-or-leave-it aspirational marketing to involve the consumer online. “We are right
now seeing a quick shift in fashion brands jump into the SMM [social media marketing] pool, DKNY, Diane Von Furstenburg, Oscar de la Renta
etc have put their foot, not toe in the SMM water in past months. It is an exciting time for SMM as the image and great product brands won't
fear the medium but have fun with it.”
Which is great, given that digital is just the world we live in, but isn’t building the future of a business around SMM as tactical as placing an ad
in Vogue? I recommend reading ‘Impatient CEO’s are all of a Twitter, but it doesn’t work like that’ by John Naughton.
It’s not that the fashion industry isn’t strategic; some of the most revered and successful brands in the world are in fashion. However, the
words are misused so much that anything and everything is a ‘brand strategy’ when it’s not.
A good brand strategy creatively reframes what the brand stands for beyond a product description and tactical marketing ideas. It’s a
directional idea that drives everything the brand does, and goes much deeper than the surface aesthetics of the fashion business. One of the
best brand strategies that I know of came from the AA, a road side recovery service in the UK that became market leader after reframing their
brand as the ‘fourth emergency service’ alongside the police, ambulance and fire services - brilliant because no other brand could ever literally
or emotionally replace them.
The fashion industry thinks they already have issues with replicas. They don’t know the half of it.
My latest musing about the business of fashion on the fashion trend forecasting site Mpdclick.com and PSFK.com.
It's not a good time for fashion retail.
So, why is it that the owners of Dear 55, a boutique in Manhattans Lower East Side have upgraded and expanded to a much bigger store on nearby Rivington Street, now called Dear Rivington+ ?
The answer is in the +. Owners and designers Moon Rhee and Heyja Do would say that the + represents the addition of menswear and antique furniture designed to complement their existing line of womenswear.
Having spent a morning with them at the new store, it’s obvious that they themselves are the + in the equation.
Dear has had a very clear vision and aesthetic from day one, selling mostly muted tones against a backdrop of a minimalist and entirely white store - if it could be painted white it was.
It’s like stepping into an editorial from Elle Décor upstairs at Dear Rivington+, every piece of furniture is carefully styled, and everything you see is for sale. Downstairs the menswear lives along a painted black wall and floor area, the Yang to the women’s all white fit out. There are no typical shelves or racks of inventory, making Dear Rivington+ feel more like somewhere you want to live than a store.
When I asked about how the vintage clothes will work with the antique and vintage furniture, Moon passed the question over to Heja, and for a few minutes they chatted away in Japanese, which only made the experience more authentic and fascinating for me.
Heja explained that, “We always mix and match very modern clothing with something vintage and we think the same thing for the furniture. It’s always about the combination of things, how things are put together is very important. We’re giving people ideas about how to style themselves and their homes, not selling just a product.”
Moon continued, “Consumers are looking for more out of a retail experience, that’s how I felt running Dear 55, these people are coming here not just for clothing, they really love talking with us and taking time with us and styling together, they love it”. When I asked him if that makes more money, "Of course, it’s why they keep coming back”. Dear currently doesn’t have a website, they're thinking about it, but as Moon points out, “We're not that kind of people, I want you to come to my store and talk to me directly, we like it this way”.
And that’s the +. Moon and Heyja are passionate about styling and ideas more than selling product, but that doesn’t mean they’re not also very savvy business people. Catering mostly to the fashion and creative arts crowd, they have no plans to become a big corporation. Their strategy is ‘small-niche-profitable’, and when I asked about their pricing strategy, it’s easy to see just how profitable they’re going to be; Moon laughed when I suggested it’s an emotional one, but eventually agreed it’s a good strategy to have. Here’s why.
The prices at Dear are very reasonable, considering they are all one of a kind. Ranging from $125 to $1,400 for clothing and $120 to $1,500 for furniture, prices are based on cost, plus how hard it was to find and how much love, care and attention went into the design and manufacturing of each piece. Moon explained that, “If something catches my eye I just get it, even if it’s off the street”, like the $385 lamp shade they found that Heja carefully covered in antique lace. They run a low cost, high mark-up business, which is of course a very good business to be in. What you’re paying for is the lace and the idea, not the lamp. The real value is their time and creativity.
“People come to buy from us because they like our aesthetic, our taste, the way we dress, the concept of the store. Those little things add up and that’s when it all becomes one, not just the clothes themselves”. I suggested that they’re really in the service business; Moon agreed, “Yes, I believe it is like that”.
So, with the big retailers in the state they are, what one thing can they learn from Dear that keeps people coming back?
What is interesting to me is that they are the antithesis of how large retailers operate. A recent trip to London to discover new and innovate retail ideas for this article was disappointing. It’s obvious that large fashion retailers are great at flashing their pants with creative window displays, Selfridges, for example, was very impressive. The window got me in the store, but if you told me I was in Bloomingdales, I’d have believed you. For stores like Dear Rivington+, it’s what’s inside that counts, choosing to blend into their communities with a discreet shop front and to over deliver on a very creative and personal shopping experience. There are no strategic planning sessions involved, it’s just in their DNA. I asked what inspires them; “Everyday we walk around just to look, watching people. Even though we’re doing nothing, it’s very important, it inspires what we do”.
So, dear retailers, take a walk.
Dear Rivington+ is at 95 Rivington Street, New York, New York Tel +1917 213 9858.
Listen to why most brand strategies are mediocre: The Joneses as PSFK Good Ideas Conference, NYC.
Amidst all the digital chatter and point scoring about which new thing someone heard about before you, take time to drift back to 1969 and Kenneth Clark's landmark documentary on Western European civilization. As my Dad said on the phone "he's a bit of a supercilious *&%$!", well maybe, but, if you want to discover why the stone carving at Chartres Cathedral is so historically significant for how we perceive ourselves today, and it is, then well worth watching.
PSFK hosts their next Good Ideas Salon on the morning of August 20 at Soho House with special guest George Parker. Good Ideas Salons are designed to bring likeminds together to share ideas and positivity around certain subjects.
For this salon, the topic chosen is Good Ideas in Advertising. PSFK will invite two panels to debate how New York (and America's) advertising industry needs to retool itself to become relevant and important again in business for the 21st century. The first panels will consist of industry veterans and this will be followed by new leaders from emerging creative agencies.
Panel 1 Speakers: George Parker, author, MadScam (moderator); Tom Messener, Bonaccolta Messner; Curvin O'Reilly; Helayne Spivak, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi Consumer Health+Wellness
Panel 2 Speakers tbc (moderator); Alain Sylvain, Managing Director, RedScout; Domenico Vitale, Founder, PIC; Gill Linton, Founder, The Joneses
Details: 9am to 11am, Soho House NY, August 20
http://goodideassohohouse.eventbrite.com/
Interview transcript:
Name:
Gill Linton
Company:
The Joneses.
We’re a brand and communications strategy company.
Membership type & since:
New York since 2004.
What do you do?:
Co-founder of The Joneses with Rupert Newton.
www.thejoneses-nyc.com
What are you working on right now?:
We're developing our own brand called DOG CHECK - it's like a coat check for dogs, so that people don’t have to leave their dogs tied up alone and at risk on the street while they shop, lunch etc, (which happens a lot in NYC). We’re recruiting ‘Dog-Checkers’ from The Soho Partnership whose mission is to help homeless men and women re-enter the workforce and achieve long-term economic self-sufficiency.
So it’s good for everyone, not just dogs.
We're also working with various official organizations to develop training guidelines and service criteria for the people we hire to look after the dogs, and technologically it’s sophisticated but very simple – we’re incorporating all the usual tech applications but also new pay by cell phone technology.
Our plan is to launch it across the US and eventually around the world.
How are you beating the downturn?:
My friend Eddie Brannan said it best: ‘In a recession when there’s no money, ideas are the only currency worth having’. We’re feeling very liberated and more creative than ever and Dog Check is just one example of what we’ve been inspired to do.
What are you most looking forwards to this summer?:
No more compromises.
Contact details:
gill@thejoneses-nyc.com.
We’d particularly love to hear from dog brands, oh, and the Dog Whisperer.
Gill writes about what's happening in the business of fashion for the fashion trend forecasting site Mudpie.co.uk. If you’re not a paid up subscriber of Mudpie, you can now read her musings here and on PSFK.com.
Gareth Pugh Fall 09 Fashion Video
Now that designer style has become so accessible, thanks to fast fashion knock offs, everyone looks the same. In his book 'Paris New York Shanghai', Dutch conceptual artist Hans Eijkelboom intricately proves that although people perceive themselves as being very independent, they actually look very much alike.
Which is what's so disappointing about designers like Christian Lacroix and Martin Margiela throwing in the proverbial shoulder pad. While I'm all for fashion democracy, the loss of transgressive designers inches us even closer to cultural mediocrity.
I've been egged on by the brilliant BBC2 series British Style Genius, specifically the interviews with Westwood and McLaren about the rise of their anarchy, and the historical camaraderie of various sub-cultures who were united by a look.
In tracing back through vintage fashion culture, it's easy to spot that fashion sub-cultures don't exist as they used to. Who stands out in a way that really impacts culture these days, like the mods, punks and dandies did the first time round? I've been searching for people who don't look like a hipster, or the Connecticut housewives version of a hipster as styled by Vogue, but even hip-hop is more like hipster-hop these days.
Which is creatively depressing to me because fashion has become more like a commodity.
Where's the attitude and energy that pioneers like Westwood and McLaren created? Where are the extremes that make fashion and the culture it creates exciting and inspiring?
Of course there are brilliant designers creating unique clothes and creativity, I put Gareth Pugh at the top of this list, but something's getting lost in translation, and when we're done mixing and matching, the result is, well, beige. We end up looking the same.
Raoul Shah, the CEO of Exposure, an interactive communications, reassures me that, "Creativity is still alive and well in every corner of our planet. It's just harder to spot".
It's harder to spot because the business savvy of H+M, Target and Top Shop etc, who commercialize the talents of niche designers, is so overpowering. I seriously question the millions of dollars spent on consumer research that claims today's fashion conscious consumer is independent and in charge of their own unique identity, and Eijkelboom’s work proves it. The influence of creative extremes is being watered down to lowest common denominator before it's had a chance to challenge us, and it's culturally stifling.
Julie Ragolia, City Magazine's Fashion Director doesn’t think the fast fashion houses are to fault for such a hegemony. “The issue is more sociological as people look to less varied sources for fashion inspiration. Fast fashion retailers offer styles that easily support individuated style, but that consumers should opt toward the same racks is curious to me”.
Rather than pushing varying shades of beige, the goliaths of fast fashion have the power to inspire sub-cultural identities with a more diverse fashion democracy, but crucially, without biting the hand that feeds.
Simon Doonan, creative director of Barney's says, "Today's fashion landscape is vast. The old frameworks no longer apply. We need to approach it without any preconceived ideas".
The challenge for fast fashion is to evolve beyond the tired capsule collection marketing machine, that keeps us stuck in this cultural rut. Jimmy Choo for H+M, (sigh).
John Lee, publisher of Theme magazine points out that fast fashion brands may churn clothes out quickly, but they're slow to step up their marketing game. “If they were really smart, they would use their re-invention opportunities to create content which break them out of the rest of the mainstream, (and I'm not talking streetwear collaborations, or large music sponsorships)”.
According to Shah, "smart entrepreneurs are still ready to back new ideas”.
Whoever proves to be the smartest entrepreneur, better do it fast.
Yes, it's unethical, inexcusable, and all that but until yesterday I did own a 1964 Buick Riviera - with a dozen dents, a decayed interior and more rust than a tugboat. But what a fun ride. And someone nicked it last night. $1800 and 8 good years of Sunday driving later, the end of an era. 
Not posted anything for a while as been out of NYC for a few weeks. However, Saturday night went to the Marcy Hotel for a Wolf + Lamb party. 
Some pictures a friend took, abysmal placards!
...and a shower cap with a frog on it. errr, ok....
Michael Tomasky's excellent take on the auto bail-out, and exactly what our industry should do. Just got to find the right client!
There is one never ending myth in the US used by marketers to suggest "quality" and by American journalists to patronize their readers - that Europe is "more sophisticated".
I've got a vested interest in trying to deflate this because as a half English half Dutch-man I'm very aware of a couple of things.
In general, for some reason an English accent to an American, sounds "smart", and, I think this can back fire on the English person in the room.
Why?
Rick Gervais accepted his Golden Globe with the memorable "Hi, if you don't know, I'm from England, we used to run the world before you did." I think the reason some Americans think the English accent sounds smart is because it triggers some subconscious historical context. Power, authority, taste, and a lot of posh people flopping around in palaces. (I also suspect that it's restricted to the "middle-class British" accent, defined in this instance by how you pronounce the word "class".)
If you're British in America this might sound like a good thing, but I think it activates another historical context, America's subconscious dislike for an English accent "telling" you what to do, even if it's couched as advice. Patronizing, top down, stuck-up and a lot of pointless posh people stumbling out of Bouji's.
The truth is just as Britain's view of America is totally skewed by what people choose to observe the same is true of America's view of Britain.
If you think it's sophisticated I'm offering a field trip to my home town. We'll take in a football match, the last time I was there the local beauty pageant winner walked onto the field in full length fur coat, swimsuit and heels and "flashed" the four sides of the stadium much to the braying hordes delight. The game was peppered with racist abuse, sexual mockery of players wives, and a stupefying quantity of booze is drunk before, during and after the game. Often ending in a scuffle at closing time and a kebab (kebob) on the way home.
That's just one day, I'll build a weeks itinerary. More soon.
http://www.showstudio.com/project/parisfashionweekaw09/reports/32392
Another roundup...
Puzzle-piece cookie cutter:
(Cribcandy)
SunCat solar battery:
(Inhabitat & PSFK)
Garbage-powered garbage truck:
(Inhabitat)
Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired prefab homes
(Inhabitat again)
Last but not least, Sebastian Errazuriz, like Sruli Recht (below), transmutes the mundane into the magnificent-- I highly recommend kiling some time at his site.
(Liu Bolin)
I recently came across this neat little article on urban camouflage art. My favorites are Liu Bolin's politicized camo shots (above) and Michael O'Neill's Garden State-inspired portraiture (below).
(Michael O'Neill)
Iceland-based designer Sruli Recht has 'indieified' the infamous Snuggie: the Blankoat is for individuals who do not necessarily partake in camping or high school football games but nevertheless seek to blur the line between cultwear and couture. Recht's insular insulation will set you back 250 Euros plus shipping, but of course you're paying for the smug (or is that snug?) satisfaction that you are as warm as Middle America yet much cooler at the same time.
To be fair, I really do like his Umbuster, an umbrella + brass knuckles hybrid for Batman villain-types.
Well it's been a while since I've done a music post, so here's a quick rundown of the latest:
...well I was going to leave it at that but it seems that Animal Collective has captivated the indie community one way or another.
I've been listening to their new ((over)over-hyped?) album but I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The cover art is pretty neat though.
As for other new releases, we weren't too impressed by the new Franz Ferdinand, although I suspect it may grow on me.
Lastly, I caught the Thermals at the new-ish Gowanus venue Bell House last weekend. Despite the hour-long wait in the cold after the 11 o'clock doors-- apparently an uncharacteristic gaffe by management-- the pop-punkers put on an excellent show for their faithful fans. Full coverage at trusty ol' Brooklyn Vegan.
So the Village Voice recently interviewed mystery blogger Carles, the man behind the contrarian 'altblog' Hipster Runoff, a veritable mash-up of contemporary indie subculture and the cynical dissection of it. The result occasionally flirts with brilliance, or at least knows what brilliance is, but more often comes off as a headache-inducing exercise in irony in the Age of Web 2.0. (Caveat emptor: this is not an endorsement unless you have a fetish for the the prefix "alt-".)
Hipster Runoff's tone is equally self-promotional and self-deprecating (not to mention self-referential) but always knowingly so, something like the editors of Vice Magazine playing the rest of Williamsburg in an epic game of Scrabble... within a single ego. Despite his penchant for appropriating post-LOLCATS bombast (srsly) and subverting neologisms-- bro, ghey, blog house etc.-- I wouldn't be surprised if Carles was a grad student who happens to have a little extra time on his hands.
At its core, Hipster Runoff is a product of postmodernity, a blog about blog culture that asks to be blogged about (literally). But if the suggestion of recursiveness-- infinite levels of analysis and endless layers of subtext-- is symptomatic of modern man's futile search for meaning, Hipster Runoff is an intentional parody of itself, disguising the abyss with a hot pink header, uncomfortably large helvetica typeface, and ubiquitous American Apparel ads. Apparently, overdosing on irony is the opiate for the alt-masses.
Of course, it's always difficult to critique a subsumptive zeitgeist when you're living it, something like (if you'll excuse the rather grotesque metaphor) pinning the tail on a donkey that has swallowed you whole. Or, alternately (pun intended), the unsettling feeling that you've created a monster but must keep feeding it if only to prevent it from eating you. Hence the conception that hipsterdom is parasitic on the detritus of previous creative movements, which has evolved into an ungodly Katamari-like entity of pure snark.
Perhaps this is why I find Hipster Runoff so irritating: the fact that he has seen into the soul of the beast has spawned a critique that is not prescriptive or even palliative but, on the contrary, amplifies its bite and rate of consumption.
At the end of the day, I prefer the comfort of Brooklyn Vegan's no-frills news, pics and commentary. But Carles must be doing something right-- he got me to blog about his blog.
The New York Times has been the channel for artist Christoph Niemann's visual musings on the city for some time, but this time he's outdone himself.
Piqued? Check out the rest of "I Lego NY" at Niemann's blog on NYTimes.com.
(Just about every design and/or New York blog has picked up on it, so I figured I would as well.)
I would consider getting one of these badboys...
(via Racked)
...if I were homeless.
But apparently 4 million Americans think otherwise, as this pragmatic solution to, um, blankets-- which had its humble beginnings in a direct response TV ad (with a veritable cult following), below-- has had astounding sales despite the current economic climate.
As one DRTV ad man put it: "Imagine a product like
that just sitting on a retail shelf with no ad. No one would buy
it."
Perhaps the next line of Snuggies could be made out of Shamwow material... and while we're at it, we could find out if it will blend.
In our experience, when you ask a room full of marketers what they expect a brand and communication strategy company to deliver, you'll get widely different answers.
We believe this is because much of what passes for strategic thinking is vague and ill-defined, so the actual discipline itself has become vague and ill-defined.
Which is why we have written a short "creative strategy manifesto".
Today we have a good old-fashioned TV commercial for the National Coalition for the Homeless (prevention, or at least awareness, of, if there's any confusion). It's not particularly interesting, except that I doubt a girl like that would ever end up sans abode... and it features a Radiohead song.
PAM HOGG : Her first collection was Psychedelic Jungle in 1981 and by 89´s ´ Warrior Queen´ . Pam had grasped the imagination of both the fashion press and the Sunday supplements with her mixture of loud inovative fashion and pure Glaswegian mouth. Refusing to become a part of the business of fashion the ex-printed textiles student sold her studded silver jackets and tasselled lycra numbers first in HYPER HYPER and later in her own shop in Newburgh Street.
Inspired by punk, the BLITZ scene and later Acid House, in 1988 she made a record with a group called The Garden Of Eden, Hogg has been described as a 100% party girl and has designed clothes to match. She ended the 90s as the most consistently inventive British fashion designer. ID Magazine
I was going to write about what caused the demise of Woolworths, and how sad Britain is to see it's 'national treasure' go by the wayside.
The point being that nostalgia kept the brand going this long, not new retail fit-outs or anything they sold. The brand and the business had no reason to exist, and they didn't bother to create one.
I was going to write about that, but my friend, Fraser Widdowson, said it all with, "really, pick n mix, what were they thinking?"
Right now it feels like every newspaper and website is running a best-of-top-ten-not-to-be-missed list of 2008, so here's a few things that really stood out for me this year! Although the thing I realized in thinking about this is how often I (re)discover something years after it came out.
I randomly picked up George Orwell's Animal Farm, a few weeks before the election. I had not read it since school, even though I knew the story it was like reading a completely new book. The simplicity and clarity of his writing is really extraordinary, he worked very hard to express complex ideas and metaphors in plain English. It inspired me to read a collection of his journalism, edited by George Packer, that came out this year.
I think the album that effected me most this year was TV on the Radio's Dear Science, particularly the quirky, robotic, funk of the song Crying. Honorable mentions to Portishead, Third,
Burial, Untrue and Mary Ann Hobbs radio show for being the backing track to my evenings at home. In terms of albums I rediscovered, Echo and the Bunnymen's third album Heaven Up Here is a classic, (shame about the Radio City Hall gig), Buju Banton's 'til Shiloh, and, I'd never really listened much to David Bowie so I went through half a dozen albums, Hunky Dory and Low being favorites. 
I spend hours watching movies. Anything by Werner Herzog is a must see for me, he released a new documentary Encounters at the End of the World, and I went to see him being interviwed by Jonathan Demme, which if I'm honest was a little boring, the film's great, though he has got a slightly sadistic sense of humor. Tell No One is a terrific French thriller, a good Friday night movie. Although it's not a movie 2008 was the year I discovered The Wire, right after the last series ended! The best TV drama I've ever seen, I watched all five seasons in six months, which was way too fast, in retrospect I wish I'd paced myself. 
A follow-up to the shoe-thrower saga: Copyranter has dug up what appears to be an eBay advertisement featuring said thrower.
(Animal, yet again)
And just when everyone was putting together their year-end best/worst of lists...
In the immortal words of Austin Powers, "Who throws a shoe? Honestly..."
(Via Vimeo)
While Mr. Powers' question may have been rhetorical, he got an answer this week: Muntader al-Zaidi does.
The footwear-flinging Iraqi-journalist-turned-folk-hero has succeeded where thousands of his dissenter brethren (all over the world, no less) have failed: making international headlines for half a week now.
The Vimeo clip of the loafer-lobbing Leonidas is short and sweet; for extended coverage, check out Youtube (where you can find a remix that interpolates the Austin Powers clip).
What's more, you can live your own Olympian dreams of shoe-shotput glory vicariously by post. Brilliant. (Full story via Animal)
Meanwhile Gill is hunting down an elusive pair of boots at Barney's and I've recently become enamored with Swear's kicks.
Marina Abramović, the grandmother of performance art, recently published a book which caught my eye. She writes, "since I was very young, until my early thirties, I had serious problems in opening and reading any letters I received. Letters would stay on my table for weeks before I found the courage to open them, and during this time my sense of guilt would grow and grow. Most of the time, when I finally opened the letters, it was too late to answer them and my sense of guilt was worse than ever. I kept every single letter, from the first notes received from my mother, in I965, up to the time I left Belgrade for ever in I979. I decided to chronologically write down the first sentence from all of these letters, without noting the name of the senders. When finished, I was astonished to see how it was possible to trace all my life just by reading the text created by all these first lines. Later I heard that Marcel Duchamp, on receiving a letter, opened, answered, and immediately burnt the letter he’d received. Jean Tinguely never opened or answered any letter, and every christmas he made a ritual of burning unopened envelopes, which sometimes included important information and even checks".
As I mentioned in a previous post, I used to work at Like the Spice Gallery in Williamsburg. I've stopped by to catch up with LtS owner Marisa a few times and she seems as busy as ever, as she started her term as the president of the Williamsburg Gallery Association this fall.
Anyway, I've been trying to keep up with the Williamsburg art scene and this Friday happens to be the WGA's monthly Every 2nd Friday Event, so I thought I'd give them a long-overdue plug on QI.
Gothamist was a bit flustered/flummoxed by ESPN's promotional potato, which made the news out of spite alone (as indicated by the PG-13 pic below):
In the felicitous phrasing of a commenter: "mission accomplished ESPN."
Marketing at its starchy best. (Didn't the tuber inspire everyone to turn the tube to Sportscenter for several hours, or was I the only one?)
Start watching from around 5 mins in - or the whole thing for a classic 80's crescendo.
SANS HAT. WITH BIKER BOOTS. AND A TIGHT UP DO. NO MAKE UP.
Check out the full Pre-Fall collection here.
Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo has created a rather captivating activist/public art work that consists of tiny melting men. They are rather terrifying in a twee kind of way, beginning as robust Rodin miniatures until they become emaciated Giacometti-like skeletons and proceed to disappear altogether.
Truly wonderful.
Now, if only I could find some kind of Penseur-shaped ice cube tray out there to destroy populations at will...
(Pic and full story via Inhabitat)
Goldie is a drum and bass pioneer who recently competed on a reality show for aspiring conductors. Check him conducting The Hall of the Mountain King. Terrific!
It's been a few weeks since the last TWM post, but we have some new jams for our avid followers.
First we have Robbie Williams (!)... reimagined by Soulwax. I've been known to wax poetic (sorry, couldn't resist) about them in the past but I've gotten really into their remix compilation lately and there's a good chance I'll treat you to another of their remixes in coming posts.
(Klever via Oh Snap Kid)
As for current ongoings, I hit up West Village hotspot Le Poisson Rouge last night to check out my boy Klever, who reps my previous hometown of Atlanta. I caught his act several times in the Dirty Dirty, including memorable gigs with NYC scenester Roxy Cottontail and B-More pioneer Tittsworth, another innovative DJ on Saturday's bill at LPR. Unfortunately, I got there a bit late and missed both sets. I had to settle for the tech-house stylings of LA Riots, who is also good but lacks the eclecticism of Klever & Titts.
(The Lovely Miss Roxy Cottontail via Oh Snap Kid)
Here's some remixes and collaborations from the whole crew:
Bonus pic of Klever doing his thing:
(Oh Snap Kid strikes again)
Call me what you want (nerd and geek come to mind), but as a fan of both technology and music, I've been interested in the theremin [thAIR-uh-min for the uninitiated] for some time now. It is a seminal electronic instrument, invented in the early 20th Century, which simply generates a sine wave (I love those too)-- in other words, an eerie pure tone.
The theremin is unique in that it is played without direct contact from the musician: the pitch and volume are controlled by proximity to two antennas, one for each hand. While performing, it looks roughly like the thereminist is casting a spell.
This will make much more sense if you just see the damn thing in action. So if you think I'm a nerd, check these guys out:
Daft Punk Theremin Jam via The Daily Swarm
Wiimote Theremin Mod via Engadget
(via Flickr)
The Wikipedia article has much more information, including a shortlist of its use in pop music. I saw a live theremin performance for the first time a month and a half ago, at the able hands of John Maclean, pictured above.
I recently chanced on a great documentary about Albert Kahn a French financier who bankrolled the earliest collection of color photography just as the Edwardian period was drawing to a close. At the heart of it was a new technology, the autochrome, which is basically a glass plate coated with a suspension of dyed potato starch, and one man's desire to record a rapidly diasppearing world for the betterment of mankind and the promotion of peace.
The depth of colour from autochrome is captivating, the richness of the reds and greens is extraordinary, almost hallucinogenic.
Irish Woman early 1900's
Vietnam early 1900's
Circa 1915
Mongolian Dept. of Correction
Gotta hand it to them, H+M are smart marketers, because without their designer collaborations, I'm not sure what else they stand for, other than cheap fast fashion, that, let's face it, you can get anywhere.
My name's Gill and I'm a fashion snob. Even when it comes to where I get the cheap and cheerful stuff from. For that, I'm still a Top Shop girl, and have been since I was a teenager - I should have kept that 80's look, it'd be vintage Top Shop now.
'Vintage fast fashion', what a terrible thought that makes even more of a mockery of real vintage that thrift stores do.
Which is how I feel about the real designers, the real innovators and fashion inspirations, who are in my opinion selling themselves, and in the process, me, out to, I'm assuming, a tidy paycheck from H+M.
I hazard a guess that the people who kill or be killed for a limited edition knock off of their favorite designers, are the people who already have the much more expensive version of the same, but slightly different, and lesser quality piece in their closets.
And saying 'it's a Comme des Garcons', when it's from H+M, is a lot like saying you're a fashion model when you model granny knickers for Kmart - one cancels the other out.
Few fashion designers, like Comme des Garcons, are, in my opinion, like great artist of their time, and their collections are special, something to be revered. When these real craftsmen, manufacture their unique talent like re-prints of a Warhol soup can, it becomes less special.
So, please, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela, Balmain, I could go on... Say no to H+M.
It's too late for McQueen for Target, but it can stop with you.
...or so they say. I guess it means we've been rather busy, which is good.
There's never really been a theme to QI, but short of aggregating, here's a few articles of interest:
Poster Boy strikes again.
The Pitchfork 500, leaked and critiqued.
Reviewing NYC Restaurant Reviews.
Girl Talk Is Everywhere, Sells Out Shows, Sells Out, Sells
EUBK
Last but not least, Kate Clark's new sculptures remind me of Like the Spice Gallery's Dean Goelz's ducks. (I used to work at LtS.)
An article in today's Wall Street Journal, entitled "What Sneakers Say About Your Soul," addresses the trend of increasingly liberal dress codes in creative industries.
"Established companies have long hired employees whose clothing suggested they would toe the corporate line. Today, many young managers believe office attire should do pretty much the opposite: express a person's inner soul.
"To older people, young people's style can be difficult to understand. Going far beyond business casual, the clothes seem either highly informal or provocatively young -- jeans, athletic shoes, tight T-shirts and miniskirts, for instance.
"But young workers are replacing traditional business dress with their own complex sets of rules and subliminal messages. Their choices among brand-name items are meant to communicate substance. Rather than Gucci versus Allen Edmonds, for instance, the choice may involve Nike Air Force versus Chuck Taylors. (Read: urban vs. surfer.)"
Full Article.
I'll refrain from commenting, but I think one of the article's quotes from (presumably) a young, soulful, urban surfer sums it up: "You know when someone's real and when someone's corporate."
Last week's Justice show was awesome, almost as sweaty as my Girl Talk experience (i.e. pretty damn sweaty); their set was more like the Essential Mix they did for BBC Radio 1 than the Fabric mix I posted. Gaspard and Xavier showed lots of remix love, only dropping originals of "Stress," "Waters of Nazareth," and quintessential closer "We Are Your Friends," while opting for Soulwax, MSTRKRFT, Boys Noize versions of some of their other tracks. The balance of the set consisted of new/obscure, probably French, house jams; throw in DJ-staple "TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY" a cappella, "DVNO" and of course "D.A.N.C.E." a cappellas and you have yourself quite a shindig (or is that shitshow?).
Opener, labelmate, friend and fellow Frenchman SebastiAn played a slightly more eclectic set, alternating between the bass-heavy electro he's known for and poppier stuff: he was crossfading the Justice remix of MGMT's "Electric Feel" into Gym Class Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold" when I arrived. He's done some kickass remixes of just about everyone and is definitely one to watch.
All in all, a great time. Soulwax might have been a better show, but Justice was a better party.
Francophilia aside, I was also caught this concert on Saturday. Hercules & Love Affair were ok. No comment on the headliners.
Here's a sweet tech-house rave-up throw-down for this week:
Finally the cloak got cool. The cloak dress at www.lindseythornburg.com however....
(Obamabot [I prefer Barack Robama] via Engadget)
It's official: Barack Hussein "Blowout" Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America.
(Nanobamas via Flickr)
Coverage of the election is just about everywhere (including the streets), so there's nothing I can say to underscore the significance of what happened last night. But the real breakthrough was CNN's unveiling of hologram technology.
Today's the big day. I voted before work this morning and I was in and out of my local polling center in less than half an hour.
It's out of my hands now...
(Yes that's a beach, no I don't know if it's real but it's cool anyway; via Animal)
So it seems that Obama's campaign is nothing short of a phenomenon (Obamenon, anyone?) If nothing else, he'll be remembered in t-shirt form (not to devalue the huge creative inspiration he's provided for artists everywhere). Hell, there's even an Obama art blog (with some cool work, I might add).
I even did a portrait about six months ago, for my old college newspaper, for an editorial by Alice Walker:
Is it a good sign or a bad sign that we've had so many posts today?
I'm seeing Justice tonight, one day shy of Halloween but it will be a blast nonetheless. Here's a preview:
This mix was rejected by London nightclub / tastemakers Fabric, possibly because it was too short. (Insert bad joke about injustice.) Tracklist, mp3, and more details at Red Threat.
In London, the Natural History Museum's 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year has just been announced. Here are the five winning photographs.
Snow Leopard, India
Black-Crested Macaque, Sulawesi
White-tailed Eagles, Poland
Swamp Cypress - Cece Fabbro, USA
So we've all seen the proliferation of presidential candidate costumes, or rather presidential costume candidates, but here's something for someone who wants to go above and beyond lipstick on a pig:
I wonder if that outfit is in Gill's lookbook...
Also: I've always liked this BV post about these Faux Punks from last year, some dafter than others (like the second to last guy, who looks like he just cruised to the CD store on his Vespa).
Every week I'm going to share looks I'm pulling for fashion shoots. Buy them if you can.
Kate Moss for Top Shop dress. At this point Ebay is your best bet as it 'sold out in 0.0005 seconds'. Yeah, whatever. Make more.
But then Muji just did this and I felt like I was flicking through the pages of a great magazine, something I don't think a brand (oh, right, they're not a brand) has done with quite the same panache.
http://www.muji.com/message/
As promised, this is a follow-up to last week's post(s) about the much-anticipated (by me, at least) Soulwax concert last Friday.
I arrived shortly after midnight in hopes of catching Late of the Pier, who didn't get on stage until 45 minutes after their scheduled 12:00 set. The show was an hour and a quarter behind schedule by the time James Lavalle was on, and his forgettable DJ set only further exacerbated my exhaustion from the long day.
(via jmoranmoya)
Thankfully, Soulwax came on without a delay and proceeded to play without stopping for just under 50 minutes, which was enough time to cram in a handful of Nite Versions (of their own songs) and their remixes of LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons, Daft Punk and Justice, to name a few. I was sure they were going to close with [MGMT's] "Kids" but they concluded their relatively short set with "Another Excuse," which was fine with me. The highlight was probably the modulator solo in "Miserable Girl," one of the few times Soulwax strayed from the studio versions of their songs. Still, I enjoyed the show precisely because they were very tight-- the live 'crossfading' was a nice touch-- and they sounded great.
We read in this months Dazed Magazine that Jackie Cooper PR created the fashion strategy for Courvoisier Cognac. Which is funny, because I thought we did that.
Rory Sutherland writes a blog post for the UK's equivalent of AdAge, here. This one a treatise on pitches, is a classic.
As I mentioned in my last post, Soulwax is playing the Pete Tong-curated "Insiders" concert at Irving Plaza tonight. The brothers Dewaele have been pumping out both dance-rock and mash-ups (under the 2 Many DJs moniker) for more than a decade and, as electro pioneers, they keep good company: Soulwax has remixed or been remixed by Daft Punk, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Tiga (who is playing Studio B tomorrow, I'll be there if I have the energy) and many more.
This one is going to kick ass; expect tons of blog posts titled "Part of the Weekend Never Dies" next week, QI included.
Soulwaxplosion:
Russell Brand got into a little bit of trouble for encouraging the Jonas Brothers to get on and have sex (not with each other you understand, that would be wrong at such an impressionable age). If you've read My Booky Wook you'll know why he feels so strongly about it.
Turns out RB received a death threat after sharing his advice to the young Disney boys. God's love we deliver?
Anyway. Russell Brand is performing a live stand up in New York on Nov 13th and 14th for his upcoming special on Comedy Central, and it's my gig of the week/month? until another good one comes up.
Pin Pin.
The Juan Maclean burned down the house, or rather the ballroom, on Saturday night. I had all but forgotten about the rescheduled concert at the Bowery Ballroom until I chanced upon Showtrotta's handy weekly dance posting on BrooklynVegan. Although the relatively small venue was only at 75% capacity or so, the concert was more enjoyable because I could actually move; the bass-heavy rhythms insisted that I dance and I gladly complied.
For lack of a better reference point, the Juan Maclean pulled every trick from the 80's playbook: eerie pad solos, dance-pop stabs, never-ending arpeggiators and throbbing disco basslines, often with a punk snarl and always with post-punk precision. Frontman John looked a bit stiff except when he worked his magic on the theremin. Nancy played the disco chanteuse. The other keyboardist (Holy Ghost?) expertly handled loops and effects. Meanwhile, the drummer was spectacularly limber, punctuating the synth drone with furious electronic drum fills, reminding me how much I love drum machines + live drumming.
(New tracks streaming at RCRD LBL)
While I only recognized two songs, singles "Tito's Way" and "Give Me Every Little Thing," from their 2005 debut Less Than Human, The Juan Maclean has once again taken an ostensibly outdated aesthetic to a new level. I couldn't quite identify what it was until halfway through the 15-minute disco odyssey that concluded their 70-minute set, when I realized that the studied, borderline pedantic, retro-futurism fetish was not ironic but, in fact, authentic.
The Juan Maclean is playing Santos Party House tonight as part of DFA Records' CMJ showcase, catch them if you can.
So that was the best show I've been to in a while, but it could easily be outdone by Soulwax (referenced in the title of this post), who I'm seeing on Friday. I've been looking forward to it for a while now and I will report back with all of the sordid details.
Here's their remix of MGMT's megahit "Kids," which I actually think is one of their weaker remixes:
Plus a bonus track, the "Nite Version" of "E Talking" featuring Nancy from The Juan Maclean & LCD Soundsystem:
I finally got around to checking out the pop-up gallery installation 'Outsiders' at Bowery and Houston, which Gill recommended some time ago. It was supposed to close a week and a half ago but will remain open until this Friday due to popular demand, and I can see why.
The show is curated by Lazarides Gallery of London, who specialize in contemporary street art and represent such artists as Banksy, Stanley Donwood of Radiohead fame, and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett. There's also a couple small drawings by Blu, who I've been obsessed with lately (another link to his video mural here), as well as some ironic/iconic sculptures by another great public artist, Mark Jenkins (work pictured above and below). The more traditional graffiti stuff by the rest of the Laz, Inc. crew is also top-notch.
There isn't much I can say about it except that I would highly recommend it, it's free and a 5-minute detour from Soho or LES is definitely worth the trip.
Also, Irina Blok on Swiss Miss (love it or hate it?) and Streetsy's 40+ Street Artists You Should Know.
You may have noticed the preponderance of music posts this week, which is strange because I feel like it's been a slow week for music in the office.
I've been following TV on the Radio, poster boys of the Brooklyn indie scene, since their brilliant debut EP, Young Liars. Although their sound has changed a bit over the past five years, their latest effort, Dear Science, is quite solid and probably couldn't have been made by any other band.
TV on the Radio has been getting lots of press (and acclaim) lately, due partly to the three sold-out shows they played this week. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see them this time around-- to be honest, I wasn't that impressed when I saw them a few years back, but apparently they now live up to the hype.
We also have a new trick up our sleeve: I'm trying out the quintessential web 2.0 site Imeem to post tracks to the blog. Here's a mashup I came across this week that I rather like. Enjoy!
I suppose there isn't much I can say about Radiohead (my favorite band, by some measures) that hasn't been said before, but the results are in for their recent marketing experiment: Thom Yorke & co. have sold (or given away) over three million copies of In Rainbows, physical and otherwise.
Their 7th LP was released last year shortly after they announced that fans could pay as much as they wanted to download it. The digital release alone proved to be more lucrative than their previous record, 2003's Hail to the Thief. For better or for worse, this is attributed more to marketing than the merits of the music itself.
No word on exact numbers for the pay-as-you-wish system, but apparently there were still more downloads via torrents than downloads from the official In Rainbows microsite.
I think I paid $6 for it.
Some much better pics at Brooklyn Vegan, here
The comments are great, I so very nearly went to the second night, looks like I missed another great set but I just couldn't believe it would top Saturday night. Possibly a mistake!
Olafur Eliasson's waterfalls close today. He took New York City by storm this summer, with a retrospective at MoMA and P.S.1, though the waterfalls were probably the most polarizing-- if only because they were the most public-- work on display. Of the Eliasson work that I've seen (which, admittedly, is not that much), I like the frozen car the best.
Gothamist reflects and Curbed rates the waterfalls.
(via Seg Fault)
Once in a while a gig comes along that transports you. Saturday night was one of those rare experiences that makes live music life affirming. It was a trip back to a harsh, driving, sound that viscerally grabbed me as a young boy, just as I was starting to discover music for myself, and, a realization now of how completely right I was, (without knowing it). Killing Joke formed because, as they said on stage, "we were paranoid of an authoritarian state". It was this sense of dislocation of being at odds with the world and really angry about it that makes them sound the way they do.
After there first two albums their sound changed, I lost interest and they split up, long before I was gig-going age. This tour is the first time the original line up have been in the same room together since 1982. Within a minute of the opening track I just dived in up front and danced around for the whole two hour set. Electric atmosphere. Great night. Some very blurry pics taken with my iPhone.
If you read my She Says speech, you'll know I'm a big fan of Oasis and their Busker idea to launch the Album in NYC. It's early days yet, but so far it looks like they still can't get a break in America - the land of Britney-Pop and Hip-Pop.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-10-06-oasis-profile_N.htm
After looking at Ray's weekend line up I shall be reprezenting middle youth at Killing Joke's Fillmore gig on Saturday night, what's more I'll be dropping by Elizabeth Peyton's opening at The New Museum beforehand.
Killing Joke are a band I was heavily into in my early teens, by the time I got to a gig going age they had split up, become occultists and moved to Iceland...Their music was built round a dense, aggressive sound with heavy drumming, they were a major influence on Nirvana. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the original line up live, for the first time.
We finally got around to checking out King Khan and the Shrines, who got some press over the summer for a couple of raucous (free) concerts. They sound great on record, I hope I can catch them live at some point.
Diesel's much-hyped 30-year anniversary party is going down on Saturday with the likes of M.I.A., Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip and N.E.R.D.-- check out the NSFW viral. I enjoyed the Hot Chip show last week despite feeling a bit under the weather.
A few other good concerts will be in town this weekend. I'm going to try to catch Les Savy Fav at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday.
An anonymous street artist known simply as "Poster Boy" has been tearing up New York subway stations, in a manner of speaking. His work consists of mashed-up advertisements, which range from political to merely amusing.
Poster Boy has been at it since January, according to an article in this week's New York Magazine. Gawker, for its part, has been covering him for some time now. He also turned up in PSFK a couple weeks back.
Poster Boy is perhaps the most well-known street artist to come along since Banksy, who has also been making headlines lately for his rat murals (pictured above) and a new pop-up store/gallery in Greenwich Village, including a blurb in today's NY Times. Again, Gawker provided coverage of his true identity over the summer, and PSFK has been keeping tabs as well.
Lesser known but equally (if not more) deserving of attention is Blu, whose deceptively simple murals fuse the playful and the grotesque. I first discovered him when a friend sent me this amazing video mural (watch to see what I mean) and shortly thereafter in Print Magazine. He is also currently featured in a Lazarides pop-up gallery on Bowery, around the corner from the office, until October 26th.
Check out Streetsy for more street art.
News today that the company I worked for from 1996-2003 has merged into a unit of WPP. George and Graham are two people who really have made a difference to our industry through pioneering communications strategy. I was lucky to work there.
Rupert had mixed feelings about the Echo & the Bunnymen show on Wednesday.
Hot Chip is playing a two night stand at Terminal 5 this weekend, tickets are still on sale.
Meanwhile, Township Funk (mp3) by DJ Mujava has been on repeat here in the office.
(Photo via BrooklynVegan)
If blogging epitomizes the post-modern condition, then blogging about blogging must be post-post-modern.
A recent AdAge article provides a cursory justification for blogging, while the BuzzGain article that Ochman references is slightly more in-depth.
I don't know if we at The Joneses can quantify our blog performance against those criteria, but I think we steer clear of Ochman's own counterpoint, 10 reasons not to Blog.
So what does that make blogging about blogging about blogging?
For the fellas who didn't get through security in their wigs and high heels, here's my presentation from She Says.
Download PDF with notes.
I'd heard about the Walk Score about a year ago but I didn't try it out until it came up in the New York Observer last week.
Walk Score appraises the walkability of any given address based on proximity to amenities such as restaurants, shops, schools, etc.
Walkability, for me at least, is a large part of the appeal of New York City. My apartment in Brooklyn garnered a respectable "Very Walkable" 88/100 score, while my previous address in Atlanta was far more difficult to perambulate at a "Car-dependent" 48/100-- to be honest, I was expecting a lot lower. (It could be worse: my mom's house in the heart of suburbia scored a meager 6 points.)
Of course, The Joneses office received a perfect score; we wouldn't have it any other way.
Apparently I'm the jealous type.
Sorry Fellas. This one's for girls only.
Christoph Buchel is known for his conceptual projects and complex large-scale installation pieces. For the Sydney Biennial 08 he invited some punk rock grannies, Jill, Violet, Joan and Wilga, to give a performance of God Save The Queen. Currently they are in discussions with the Stones for a support slot on their next tour.
Toby Young has written a piece about New York's Eurotrash in this weeks Spectator, and fortunately, has a few kinds words to say about us. Phew!
A couple of months ago while I was thinking about what to do for a bit of vacation I chanced on this article about a working ranch in Montana. I grew up in rural Britain and worked on farms throughout my teens, it's a way of life I've a lot of affection for, and, it immediately felt like the perfect break from New York. I'd never actually ridden a horse before, but after one week, Wild Bill and I definitely had an understanding - as he galloped across the prairie in pursuit of cows and I just basically hung on. Aside from pushing cows up hills it was great to spend some time in rural America with the people who live and work there - Lonnie, the 5th generation rancher who runs Lonesome Spur, with his wife Elaine, their wranglers, visiting the Cody rodeo and the annual Crow Indian Fair. Highly recommened (as long as you are ok getting up at 6am every day on vacation).
There has been a spate of pit bull attacks recently in NYC and a subsequent clamour to have them banned.
A few years ago I rescued a pit bull from the dog pound, in my experience pit bulls are about as vicious as our old family Labrador, in other words, not at all, which is now backed up by some evidence.
A study, published this week in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, concluded that sausage dogs are the most aggressive breed, with the highest incidence of biting strangers and owners. They found pit bulls have roughly the same temperament as, you guessed it, labs. Malcolm Gladwell also wrote a fascinating article a couple of years ago on what pit bulls can teach us about racial profiling, here.
This is Stella, if you come to our office you'll meet her!
Emily Bell wrote an opinion piece here in yesterday's Guardian about illegal file sharing. The central premise, and the stock response from the digerati, is muscians will make up for lost revenue from music sales with other avenues and we all have to accept the value of content is essentially nil.
I disagree, and posted the following comment at the site.
The idea that "...gatherings, merchandising, hard copy sales and new advertising models might partially make up for the end of the distribution monopolies.." is pretty much the standard line from the entertainment industry but doesn't this miss the point? Other than new advertising models all the revenue channels are an existing element of any artists income so they are not going to replace lost revenue. New advertising models are treacherous waters for any artist who's credibility is dependent on their independence from outside influences, speaking from experience, advertisers will attempt to influence the content to reflect their brand values, which 9 times out of 10 are so deliberately anodyne you can't create anything compelling. In my experience it's like watching your Dad dance at a wedding.
I believe there is something wrong with this statement, "we have to accept that the value of content is going to be essentially nil" . It's a fundamentally pessimistic, defeatist, place to start from, and, it supports the notion that you can't change people's behavior.
Getting people to see the value of the music, and why they should pay for it, is a cultural issue that can be solved with marketing communications; if people can be persuaded to kill themselves with cigarettes they can be persuaded to pay for digitally downloading music.
Last week we got tickets to see The Colbert Report. I've never been to a live TV recording before, we were told very clearly 'our job' is to laugh! Loudly. It was actually great fun, he mucks about quite a lot with the audience between segments and the professionalism of the whole operation was really impressive. It's interesting reading some of the first reviews of the show back in 2005. The recurring theme was the format and his persona might not have legs, yet three years later he's up for a bunch of Emmy's again and was recently voted 3rd most influential person in Time's Alt100 reader poll.
I think one of the reasons he is so popular, and clearly revered by the people who work on his show, is his courage. It's not just the cleverness of using Bill O'Reilly's persona to turn the tables on "Papa Bear", it takes balls to do what he did at the White House Correspondent's dinner.
Interesting use of the Segway. Members of China's armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill. More pictures here.
I'm been asked a bunch of times by people in agencies, and by clients, - "what is communication strategy"?
I've always wondered why people were confused by it.
And now I know.
It's because a bunch of charlatans crossed out "media planner/buyer" on their business cards, called themselves "connections planners" or "communications strategists" and then carried on doing media planning in the same old robotic way.
"Start with the consumer", identify the most efficient media apertures (usually by manipulating crap research), allocate budget accordingly, then interrupt target with message in identified space. With hardly a passing thought given to the brand and what's being communicated. Old fashioned media planning circa 1985. It's pathetic and it's standard practice, even today.
Communications strategy is a creative process that determines how to bring the brand idea to life in the right communications channels for the audience, with give and take from both sides, and not dictated by either party. Communications strategy is based on the principle of involving and engaging the audience in an idea. It's a symbiotic process with the brand strategy, where each influences and shapes the other.
I recently stumbled on a Kind Fruit and Nut bar. Unknown to me when I bought a bar, 5% of the profits goes on projects that foster trade between Palestinian and Israeli businesses. I think it's brilliant that something as everyday as a snack can get involved in the peace process, trade is just another word for cooperation and collaboration, so I think it'll help. Maybe PeaceWorks, which is sort of like a holding company in its infancy, could become the "Unilever" of ethical and socially responsible brands.
The one rule we had for Q.I. was no posts about marketing but I've already broken it, and here we go again ;)
There are three things that we've had enough of.
1. Pseudo-scientific, sophistic, communications strategy white papers and practices.
2. The flat-packed intellect, committee correct truism of "the consumer is in control".
3. And, the sheer mind bending tedium of "your brand your way" brand strategies.
Taking on the first one I recently fell upon these three charts, which kind of make the same point, one that we are all familiar with.
The one thing that always seems to get over looked is that the catalyst for "conversational marketing" is the conversational quality of the brand idea not the communications theory attached to it.
Invest in developing a brilliant creative strategy and the rest comes naturally - people will want to talk about it, remix it etc, on whatever social network they are plugged into - but it's not "engineered" by the communication strategy.
Ok, the communications strategy facilitates people sharing an idea, but then as we are endlessly told, people control and edit their own media, it follows the communications plan is controlled by them too.
But the brand idea is not "controlled" by the audience. Never. Ever. Did you ever see a great movie originated and written by the audience? What they've always had control over is whether they think its any good, or not.
All these charts illustrate what happens when you throw a bunch of money at a bad idea versus investing in creating a great idea.
What's new about that?
The simple test of all concepts is: is it an improvement?
You should be able to answer that yourself without 23 focus groups or a quant study.
Quite interesting snippet from the NYT article on Rush Limbaugh.
At a much higher rate he will weave a product into his monologue (To a caller who said he took two showers after voting for Clinton in Operation Chaos, Limbaugh responded: “If you had followed my advice and gotten a Rinnai tankless water heater, you wouldn’t have needed to take two showers. And I’ll tell you why. . . .”)
I need two showers after listening to him to wash off the snake oil. And I've got a Rinnai water heater. 
As seen on a lampost near my house.
If you've read my bio you'll see I like this show, actually I'm a bit of a sucker for cooking shows, particularly Hugh Fearlessly-Eats-All and Cookin' with Coolio who kicks it up to another level.
News in today, from Popbitch the publishing world is buzzing with news that he's bringing out an eponymously titled book.
Gill recently styled this print ad for Fuse TV, with the help of my old Buick Rivera!
I've been reading Rob Walker's book 'Buying In'. There's a lot in there about the click, the consumer being in control, consumers co-creating brands and so on. We think there is a nuance to this that gets glossed over and is really important.
A powerful, long lasting brand makes a stand, has its own point of view, it is polarizing and charismatic - all of which the brand is in control of.
The measure of a good brand idea is the degree to which people can and do get involved with it, which clearly people have some control over, and, this will to some extent effect what they think about the brand, but, it does not change the brand idea.
The brand is the author the customer is the editor.
Should a citizen journalist disclose the fact, just as a journalist for any newspaper has to? Yes.
Would Mayhill Fowler have got the Clinton "scoop" on the rope-line if she had? No.
A brief to sell McDonalds new specialty coffee to African-
A limited edition design project for Penfolds Wine.
A brand and communication strategy assignment for Key Air.
The launch strategy for Rock Band II
A book on British immigration to the United States from 1880 to date, for the Campaign For Little Britain.
And, designing a table for our new office.
Good to see Hanoi Rocks are alive and well in the horse world.
The Burmese junta has declared hip-hop a threat to their regime and arrested two of Burma's biggest stars and pro-democracy supporters.
Intererstingly the generals derive most of their wealth from a gas pipeline owned and operated by Total Oil a company located in the democratic republic of....France.
I watched this documentary recently, it's a engaging look into the day to day prankishness of Hunter S Thompson - he really lived it. I think it could be a good time to read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, his collection of reports from the McGovern presidential campaign, who appeared in the film talking about how he campaigned in '72 to 'change the politics of Washington'. Perhaps there are things to be learnt that will be relevant for today...probably.
This book is very amusing. According to the author the original meaning of 'idiot' was a 'private man with opinions' - so it's a book of opinions on topics ranging from drink, to the French, and contemporarty art.
A man from Washington State admits having sex with 1,000 cars in today's Telegraph
He says that his most intense sexual experience was "making love" to the helicopter from 1980s TV hit Airwolf.You couldn't make it up.
People often ask us why we chose this name for the company. There isn't one single reason, we wanted a name that was neither the traditional names-on-the-door nor an adjective. We both like music a lot and wanted something a bit tongue-in-cheek that could be a band, like The Smiths, except that was already taken, as was The White Stripes ;) And, for a marketing company we kind of liked the meaning behind having a 'jones' for something and the (ironic) play on 'keeping up with'. So there you have it.
I got snapped near the office and amusingly slagged off!
Pieter Hugo exhibited these photos a couple of months ago but they really stuck with me and for some reason I think about them quite alot. I find something weirdly futuristic and dystopian about them. And the baboon is pretty fly! I think that might be the late '80's Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. strip he, or she, is sporting. 
It's been a good week for going to gigs, from the trad rock of The Black Keys, who played at Terminal 5, to Neckbeard Telecaster who played Union Pool, to the disco revivalism of Hercules and Love Affair, who played at Studio B, last night. We've been working on a strategy brief this week for Rock Band 2 so it's all work, right? Or all fun, whichever way you look at it!
And this article in todays Guardian made me smile.
"Nothing fills me with more delight each week than the non-fiction best-seller list, crammed not with "proper books" but with dreadful ones. It proves the overpowering usefulness, the sheer vitality, of the form to all who live under the capacious roof of modern culture. This past week, the book has been the one outright winner from the recollections of Blair, Prescott and Levy of skulduggery in high places and vulgarity in low ones.
As any politician, rock singer, sports star or celebrity chef faces the dark chasm of obscurity, the book is the last therapy, the final fingerhold on fame."
Peter Cook is a hero of mine. He's been described as the funniest man who ever drew breath. If you don't know him he's an anti-establishment satirist who founded a comedy club in London called "The Establishment", JFK and Jackie visited when they were in town.
What's great about this internet thing is I can watch old TV footage of him whenever I want and a treasure trove for this is UKNova, a bittorrent site that only allows movie files not available commercially. So it's free but you're not stealing.
