Tune In Saturdays: Grizzly Bear

Oh, Fuck!  I almost forgot about Tune In Saturdays.  What a shame it would have been, and you may have never known the genius of Grizzly Bear.

Forgive me, but this one will be lazy, with one kickass band, and one totally yanked review.

From Pitchfork:

"Grizzly Bear have stepped up their songwriting in every way, assembling melodies that proceed in a logical fashion but never sound overused or overly familiar. Yellow House is a much better record than we could rightfully have expected from these guys, better, even, than we could have imagined them making. And I find myself wondering how much further they might go..."

Couldn't agree more. 

Listen to On a Neck, on a Spit, or clips from the whole record, or check out their myspace.

October Post of the Month: A Vote for Me is a Vote for You

I'm sorry to be the one to deliver this terrible news to you guys.  Please, if you're not sitting, do so now...

Hee-Haw is locked in what surely will be the epic-est of battles, the battle for October supremacy on Russell Davies' blog.  Now, ordinarily that would be great news, and it was.  Until I started losing.  Horribly losing.

As you know, the winner of the Post of the Month gets showered with imaginary gifts, and a slight, momentary feeling of accomplishment.  But this loss could be a huge hit to the Haw psyche.

And the main competition.  this guy.  Where's the Sausage. 

From his bio:
"I'm the Founder and Managing Partner of the brandgym, a network of brand coaches that helps teams develop an inspiring vision AND the action plans to turn it into growth. I'm lucky to work with on some great brands including T-Mobile, Hellmann's, Bertolli, Top Gear, Peroni and Mars."

Do we really need another raging braggart to win all the good awards and all the glory?  Hee Haw is a man of the people.  And, I heard the sausage guy wants to raise your taxes.  You don't want that to happen, do you?

And, more competition, from this guy,  Faris Yakob.

"Now then, let's think about transmedia planning. In this model, there would be an evolving non-linear brand narrative. Different channels could be used to communicate different, self-contained elements of the brand narrative that build to create an larger brand world. Consumers then pull different parts of the story together themselves."

Ok, Faris, that's great that you know big words like "linear" and "narrative" and "different," but how about we leave the condescending, know-it-all attitude for the liberals, ok?  I really don't need to hear you droning on about your "facts" and "theories," when I've got my gut, thanks.  Oh, and Faris said, get this, that global warming was REAL!  I know, I couldn't believe it either.

So, that's it, a vote for this post is a vote for the people.  And, a vote for those two is a vote for killing puppies.

VOTE!

*paid for by the people for hee-haw, cute puppies and kittens, too.

And, it's official.  This past election cycle has rotted my brain.  Big ups to Cam for submitting the post, and Armano for seconding.  Thanks!

coffee morning, lunch with barely any coffee

Sorry for the belated post, but we did have our coffee morning, lunch with barely any coffee get together on Friday.  Excuse me while I trademark the name.  I don't want you assholes stealing it.

There was plenty of great conversation, and hopefully this will only be the first meetup of many more to come.

The stealthy Cam Beck of Chaos Scenario took the picture, and as such, is not pictured.  We'll get him next time!

At the front, there's Mack Simpson of Adverb, recent father to weemonkey, then to the left, the unfortunately haircutted Paul McEnany (that's me!), then my friend Landon, who is currently blogless (everyone point and laugh), then Paul Herring, of Click Here and Chaos Scenario fame, and finally Scott Baradell, purveyor of the Media Orchard, Idea Grove, and most recently Spin Thicket.

Aren't we a pensive-looking bunch?

Don't be surprised if you see some cool stuff coming from this group...

Keep Your Eyes Wide Open

This is the house where my grandmother will die.

We're not sure when, of course, but she's quickly nearing the end. Today might have been the last day I will see her.

She lay in her chair, as fragile and feeble as one could be.  Of course, she's never been anything but an old lady in my mind, but seeing her today made me realize she never really was.

My mom sat next to her, holding her arm and slowly stroking her hand, and every few minutes, she would jump awake, terrified of falling asleep.  My mom looked over at me to explain, but she didn't need to.  Wouldn't you be afraid to sleep if you thought you may never again wake up?

But maybe that wasn't it at all.

It's one of those moments that you know will stick with you for a very long time.  Although it may be a sad metaphor, it made me wish I had spent more time living the way she was dying.  Afraid to fall asleep.

Granted, that may sound morbid, but maybe her fear was of missing one more thing.  With so little time, she just wanted to soak in every last second with her daughter in her arms. Quietly basking in every transitory moment of unconditional love, the kind only a parent and child could know.

But every day we should go to bed just as she was, fearful of the one last thing we may have missed.  One last thing we could have learned or created. One last, well, whatever it is, there will always be one more wish. Each night, we should be terrified of falling asleep.

So, struggle to keep your eyes open, squint if you have to, because you never know what you could learn if you fight it just a little longer...

Thanks, Mimi, for one last lesson.

Tune In Saturdays: Fields.

So, I was a little excited about this new band.  And, I still like the album I just got.  But, now I've seen the boring labored, annoying, pretentious video, and somehow, now I hate them.

Did a major label signing make them suck?

Anyway, 7 from the Village, the ep released by the, according to MySpace, Birmingham/Reykjavik/London based Fields. is lovely.  It's glossy, but interesting.  It sort of reminds me of the Secret Machines, but with a little more pep.

It's a good good from a band that's less than a year old, but already making the jump to Atlantic Records.  Hopefully they won't go all Coldplay.  By that I mean, get rich, marry famous and make bland crap.  If the new video is any indication, the slow fade to shit has already begun.  But, at least we'll have 7 from the Village to remember them by.

Interruption, Disruption or Enablement?

We spend an inordinate amount of time doing things that piss off our customers.

Who loves radio ads?  Or TV ads, or whatever, really?  Sure, there are the great ones, but as a whole, most consumers would just assume get rid of them.  At least, I would if I could.

We've made careers out of doing things that our own customers hate.  Maybe they don't hate us, in particular, for them, but did you love McDonald's any extra because of some new tagline? Probably not.

With all this focus on interruption or disruption, maybe we were going for the wrong thing all along.  We never really had to interrupt anybody.  We just had to make it easier for them to do the things they love, and do so in noticeable ways.

We should be working hard on enabling, making things work better than they did before, for the mutual satisfaction of both our brands and our customers.  Is the happy medium really in interrupting their favorite television show, or showing them an ad for no other reason than there may be a couple extra inches of space? 

If branding really is about sales through endearment, maybe our tactics aren't the problem, it's our misplaced goals that lead us to these poor conclusions.

Apple Pie, Shit Forks and One Big Tuesday

I have to go to work.

I don't give a shit.  Go vote.

My vote doesn't matter.

I'm from Texas, asshole, and I'll be there, so, I don't give a shit, go fucking vote!

I don't like the poll stations.  They smell like old people.

OK, you smell like a lazy American.  And that smells even worse, so go vote.

I hate them Democrats and Republicans.  Keep 'em all!

And we all agree.  We all hate politicians, even more than we hate marketers (damnit!).  So, get off your lazy ass, go fulfill your civic duty, and vote for Nader.  Nader not running?  I don't care, go vote.

See?  Now you're out of excuses.  Get off your ass and go vote.   Oh, and, take ten minutes to find out who you're voting for, cause voting blind's like eating apple pie with a shit fork.  And yes, that's my favorite analogy ever. 

Our democracy can't be stolen from us if we give it away. So, don't, please don't, give it away.

Thanks to CK for the awesome photo.

Tune In Saturdays: Baboon

You don't really expect to be overly surprised by a band that's been around for 15 years, but with Dallas-based Baboon, they fucking shocked me.

As a staple of the Dallas scene for years, they've flirted with labels, got big and bigger back when the Toadies were still rockin' it, and from what I thought, had settled into being just a hometown band.

And then comes this eponymous new release, full of bleeding harmonies and soul, but still retaining all the old-style noise ruck and punk manifesto that they ever had.  It's not a reinvention, but more of a resuscitation.  All the rock, but now with more depth and maturity.

Although, the record is full of gems, start over at the MySpace page with Light of the Lightning Strike.  The payoff is so nice.  I promise.

Or, below is the promotional video for the new record, featuring the song Saturday.

Coffee Morning Dallas, sort of.

And the trend towards the blogger conversation bleeding off the computer and into the coffee shops continues...

Coffee Morning Dallas has gone from in the works, to worked.  Although, for us, it's less of a coffee morning, and more like a coffee day. 

Anybody that wants to show up for a little bullshitting, lunch and a spot or two of coffee, details below:

Cafe Brazil
6420 N. Central Expwy, Dallas, TX, USA, World.
Friday, November 10, 12:00pm.
directions.

In so far:
Cam Beck and Paul Herring, from the brilliant blog Chaos Scenario.
The hopefuls, as in, we're hopeful they can make it:
Scott Baradell, the mind behind the newly launched Spin Thicket, as well as the Media Orchard. 
Mack Simpson, creative badass, and proud new poppa, from Adverb: Adman of Action.

Next time, we're keeping our fingers crossed for John Keehler of Random Culture and Chaos Scenario.

And the meetups around the world:
Of course, the original, from the godfather of coffee and mornings, Russell Davies in London (but this time hosted by Ben).  Then there's the Toronto coffee morning from the Leo Burnett boys.  And, we can't forget Noah and Piers, hosting likemind NY&SF.  Last, but certainly not least, there's coffee morning Sydney (home to two of my favorites, Katie and and the Servant of Chaos himself, Gavin).

Looks like Russell's little idea is turning into a movement. Kudos!

**Update: Scott has been upgraded from hopeful to in.  And we all celebrate.

Blogs: Thug Life 2.0

Lately, I've been hearing a bunch of jokingly accusatory remarks about the blogging "geek factor," or "dork quotient," or whatever. 

And, of course, it's always followed by some sort of partially-shamed denial.

"Really, I am cool.  I promise!  See, look how many MySpace friends I have!  I'm, like totally, cool."

And, not to mention the awkward explanation of obsessive blogging, and the relationships that have begun to bleed offline.  What do you tell your friends, like the ones you met before business blogging consumed the little free time we had left?  Are you going to meet-up with your internet pals?  Are you getting together to debate which Star Trek episode is the most authentic?

With all this debate over our collective dorkiness, obsessiveness, and opinionated bullheadedness, keep this in mind...

Some of the greatest achievements, the movements that changed the world, were made by small, obsessively dedicated communities, who were largely misunderstood by the moderate masses.

Now, granted, we all look normal.  There probably won't be thick-rimmed glasses and members-only jackets to tip off the lay person to our alter egos.  But, what we have in common is an extreme passion to be heard, to know that by forming these connections, by working hours that most aren't capable of sustaining, we are constantly making steps towards improvement.  We are advancing our causes, both individually and collectively, to find a better way.

The ultimate winners will not only be ourselves, but by pushing responsible agendas, consumer respect and advocation, the clients we represent and the customers with whom they build relationships will be the ones who prosper.  And we can know, that while maybe a little misunderstood from time to time, we made contributions that others were not always willing to make.

And we'll all be better off for it.  So, embrace it.