It's Integrated production. Stafford is like a field general today, and all week, and weeks before. And the rest of the cpb integrated crew making it happen. No one does it better. So psyched. Pelting ourselves live, charitably, with robots and vid and social, holiday style. Link here: http://www.nutcracker5000.com/view/
That’s all I can say. With thanks to taste-advantaged friend Caroline Greeven. (I think as an afterthought this first vid struck me as the most explorational excursion in eyeline anti-production value I have ever seen.)
And, years later, the drummer as real star, steve marriott…
Heartening to read this. And only a tad sad for the suggestion of surprise that it coursed peaceably. Maybe the dump trucks helped? Hopeful for the Russian peoples.
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Nostalgia creeps in. So I’ll act, and post this oldie I just found while looking at a chuck porter youtube talk. Now I’m cured. Forward march!
From the "Power of Making" exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Learn to make via the spirit and discipline of doing.
This was forwarded by old pal and music powerbroker sarah gavigan, it was a spot we did years ago for Sirius when they were just kicking in, circa 2003. The recollections I have of the job are MUCH better left for verbal sharing but let’s just pretend I’m talking— hazardous.
First off, I will always love this work, was a totally unique animation at the time and it still stands as it. We did about six of these, with ever-nimble Heavy (creatively led by Ryan Honey, now of Buck), and we invited a designer to lead, whom visual god / present cpb ecd Tony Calcao found. A Dutch guy called Joost Korngold, somewhere outside of Amsterdam. He did amazing futuristic images, and a bit of animating, and I found him in what I like to refer to as “his basement bedroom office” and asked him to come to the US and do our tv campaign to launch howard stern’s radio network (Sirius). The basement bedroom may be apocryphal but I don’t think so. We did the work over endless long nites in Heavy’s NY studio and I needed to rent a lone limo to rush through cab-vacant NY in a major snow blizzard to get tapes to shipping on time, I recall.
But also what I recall is that I am in this commercial. The track is from legendary, eponymous and perhaps all-time great rap album, Dr. Octagon. Combining re-named Kool Keith with producer Dan the Automator. Was always worshipful of the work and cpb worked with Sarah’s Ten Music and we made a bunch of sweet deals for several slick tracks of this kind. But this track was rap. So it had samples. And sampling is future-stuff. And future-stuff isn’t as easy as past-stuff. Because sampling isn’t easy to clear, to legitimize (which is why it’s so legit). So this was a last minute mess.
We were rushing through getting the deal set with Dan for the track (I believe Keith owns little of Dr. O—sorry Keith but u rule otherwise), and we realized that we really couldn’t go without the sample “Create rap music cuz I never dug disco” in our :30. Okay, no problem. Rolfe—who is that? That’s obviously Chuck D, from that Public Enemy track… track… track… ?? Fuck, what track. Searching lyrics, searching. Er, huh? That IS Chuck D right? Yep—search yourself, and confirm, we alllll know that’s Chuck D. Hi Dan (the Automator), this is Sarah G and Dave Rolfe, following up… that IS chuck D right? You know the part I’m talking about, the sample? Maybe. Maybe? Ahhh, got it, got it, yep yep, artist integrity—I too am a futurist dude and I get the art of sampling, respect, respect. But, that’s Chuck D right? We are already doing a deal with him for voiceover for these spots—yes, voiceover, he is going to be the sort of announcer/spokesperson at the end. Pretty convenient right? Yeah, that may be him.
Geez. Well we have a record with Chuck D tomorrow, day before we ship, let’s just go over this with him. For him it’s like fun memories! Remember when you did this lyric? (Great, sign here.) Hi Chuck. Awesome you’re doing this campaign. This is Sarah G and Dave Rolfe, hey you know that killer Dr. Octagon album, eponymous and such? Ahhh, right. Okay, have you heard of Dan the Automator. Yep that’s him. You know that “Bear Witness” track— you don’t, got it. Here I’m putting phone by the speaker, do you know this track? And, uh, is this you??
Not sure. Pretty cool though. Yeah I think that’s me... could be. When? Where? How? Shit we’re going national on Grammy’s with this spot in 48 hours and I don’t know who the key voice is. It’s like my fave sample of all time too, this is close to home, man. Well, this IS you maybe Chuck. And Dan says, maybe too. So, we good?? If you’re good we’re good man.
Not good, not a terribly hearty confirm. We didn’t know who it was. No one was owning up. The beauty of the artist, as island.
Say, Chuck, have a favor to ask. You know tomorrow when you do your voiceover record for our campaign from that lamp-lit audio place next to the gas station a mile away from your show tomorrow nite in Cincinnati? How about you add “Create rap music cuz I never dug disco,” ummm, somewhat emphatically? Like you did before. Cuz then we’re legit. What’s it to ya? No problem, all can be handled.
So, we did it. We actually overnighted a cd, I think, to back up whatever primitive electronic file existed, to the Cincy studio. And Chuck imitated himself from a track where he was uncredited for a sample—thereby officializing the sample-- but it might not be him anyway, so he’d be imitating someone imitating him.
And… you know what? It was good but not great. The “re-record.” I mean, its him right? Well, it was. He did it. But these things can be imprecise.
What was off was the “create.” It sounded like the other Chuck D. Different from the in-the-moment present day Chuck D, he’s recording it right now damnit so it is DEFINITELY him, come on. But this Chuck D, and his endless reads of the word “create (!!),” aren’t really the same as Kool Keith, Dan (the Automator) and Dr.Octagon’s version. This record is quickly revealing that we don’t really have any idea where this sample is from.
So I championed a track, my favorite rap track at the time, and then I personally bastardized it. It was a perfect re-record, the perfect plan, restoring sanity to this all, except “create” sounded like “cree-ate” and not “cchhreee-ate.” I know what I’m talking about, this track has echoed in my head for weeks, and months even, as a fan.
So I did what I had to do—and recorded “create…” myself, at mix, hours before shipping. At HSR in NY. And then what the hell I did the whole line—cuz I never dug disco. Imitating Chuck and his imitator, some of Chuck of old and Chuck of new, or someone we altogether don’t know who sounds like Chuck, only known by Dan. And we married it all together, me and chuck-- I won’t reveal who’s primary but have a guess-- and that’s our track and that’s my story.
Joost’s cool stuff:
Sarah’s home:
And, the “truth,” years later revealed:
http://www.shadowboxing.org/2011/05/4-ever-fresh/
Been on a kick lately where I realized how goshdarn exciting it is when we get it extra right in our biz (advertising). But by right I mean differently than maybe I have thought before.
I was thinking about how we combat the “interruptive” nature of advertising messaging. As it may stand now, our resolution—as in the most basic counter to our interruptive bearing, in advertising—is essentially that we try to make it good. The tacit conclusion is that we aspire to make the ad-experience satisfying enough such that it doesn’t suck. Or maybe, yeah, it entertained me. Entertained me near as much as Will Ferrell, Harry Potter, or Modern Family. For 30 seconds (etc). And it paid for will and modern and hp, after all. We’ve done a good job, as we "interrupted."
But I was watching a car ad this weekend, which was not funny, and not entertaining, and not that visually stimulating, etc, but I was listening to what it was positing. It was some feature or thing that was pretty great—it may have been a safety distinction, but I recall it was notably breakthrough. I remember when Jonah Bloom wrote in a preamble to the Superbowl two years back that the best thing happening in the ad world was a Hyundai ad on how there was some form of unique guarantee to buyers of their cars. That’s it. Straight forward consumer benefit. Advertising as meat and potatoes.
So I realized that maybe, when we’re at our best-- as in our very very best-- it’s not necessarily that we made people laugh or marvel at us, it’s that we'ver shared something that will be of real use to consumers. And if we do this—holy cow—it’s a sheer and utter benefit. The hell with Modern Family, entertainment. This is a form of consumer advocacy. Advertising as public service; interruption as asset.
There’s a lot we must do to keep the conversation moving. A lot of work and constancy of messaging that has to fall shy of utility; sheer representation of brand, etc. But many if not most products do make life better, in some way—which deserves amplification. (And we need to assume that product competitiveness in the more consumer-led world is only getting more demanding and complex.) So it’s been great to remember to feel like a hero, lately.
Simple elegance and flow for young artist Conner Youngblood by cpb PLUS artist Matthew Prickett.
Having link problems so view here:
http://mikeshinoda.com/2011/10/05/conner-youngblood-australia-video/?utm_sour...
Atticus sighed… “Scout, you aren’t old enough to understand some things yet, but there’s been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man. It’s a peculiar case—it won’t come to trial until summer session…”
“If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?”
“For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county and the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”
“You mean if you didn’t defend that man, Jem and me wouldn’t have to mind you anymore?”
“That’s about right.”
“Why?”
“Because I could never ask you to mind me again…”
“To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee, 1960
