UPDATE: This is definitely a work in progress. My uke guru is suggested some changes. Thinking it might be fun to add one new verse a week for as long as COVID-19 hangs around. We’re talking epic. (Put this on YouTube for anyone having trouble streaming here.)
UPDATE: I’m going to record this again and change “Chinese Virus” to “Donald Trump’s Virus”
Barb and I have “gone to the mattresses” as one of the Corleone boys said. We’re fortunate to have a nice home and a few acres roam around in. Shoot, I can do this for a long time if I have to. My second favorite hidey-hole would be Bud’s trailer from Kill Bill II.
“New York’s Chrysler Building, one of the city’s most iconic skyscrapers, was built in a remarkably short time–foundation work began in November 1928, and the building officially opened in May 1930. Even more remarkably, the steelwork went up in just six months in the summer of 1929 at an average rate of four floors a week.
Fox Movietone’s sound cameras visited the construction site several times in 1929 and 1930, staging a number of shots to maximize viewers’ sense of the spectacular heights.”
“With advertising revenue being the significant contributor to Facebook’s success, the risk for Facebook lies in the possibility that users will get bored of its properties – or of its ads,” Littleton said.
Advertising has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My dad was in radio for 30+ years and I was in or around it for 40. And advertising paid the bills. In 1971 I was road-tripping across the country with a friend when the radio station we were listening to broke for a commercial. I remember thinking, “I could write a radio commercial.” A year later I started working at a small town station and —over the next dozen years— wrote and produced a shit load of commercials. In the 70s, in our little town, you could advertise in the daily newspaper, on the radio, or you could rent a billboard.
In the late 40’s and 50’s, small town radio was such a new thing that listeners were happy to listen to anything on the radio. Music, news, commercials… how cool is that?! Joe Bankhead tells this story well.
Did any/all of those ads “work?” Were they effective? Not sure I thought about it at the time. If we wanted to keep the station on the air, we had to sell ads. I’ve thought about advertising a lot in the ensuing years. We pointed out to advertisers that our ads were “intrusive.” A good thing. Before they could hear the next song or the rest of the newscast, they had to listen to the commercial(s).
Somewhere along the way music radio stations came up with the idea of “stop sets.” Instead of mixing “spots” in with the songs, they’d stop twice an hour and play as many as eight commercials in a row. Advertisers would pay a premium to be the first, or the last, in the set.
In those days a radio spot was either “price and item” or “image.” Those of us who wrote and produced the spots liked to do image ads because it gave us creative freedom. Small market radio guru Jerrell Shepherd insisted all spots on his stations be price-and-item because it was the only way the advertiser could know his ads were working. Someone would come in and ask about the lawnmower sale he heard on the radio.
Any time an advertiser would question whether or not the ads were working, we’d explain they were “branding” his business in the (subconscious) minds of listeners.
In traditional media (radio, TV, print) it was pretty easy to tell what was a commercial and what was programming/content. When the internet came along someone figured out it might be useful to make a paid commercial message look like the content on the page. Finally we knew for certain: people hated ads. They installed software to block them. They used their DVR’s to skip them.
Today, the best advertising doesn’t really look like advertising. I think Amazon has probably perfected the art. An Amazon product page includes images of the product; reviews; and recommendations of similar products in which you might be interested. And if you don’t like something you bought, no problem. Easy returns.
I’ll admit to being a little amazed anyone keeps buying ads. They must believe they work. And it’s difficult to imagine our “consumer economy” working without advertising. Despite my life-long dependence, I am advertising averse. It’s like your next door neighbors inviting you over for drinks only to spring an Amway pitch on you. Or that Jehovah’s Witness who interrupts your nap with a fistful of Watchtowers.
I’ve been haunted by thoughts of The Peripheral. (The impending arrival of WG’s new book I suppose) A low-tech hack occurs to me, reminiscent the Simstim from Gibson’s earlier work.
At designated times a host avatar (someone famous or just someone really interesting) puts on their Simstim goggles and goes about their normal day. Or an abnormal day, if they prefer. This is where the ‘talent’ would come in.
Simultaneously, I put on my goggles (and get comfortable), seeing and hearing everything you see and hear. You might provide a little narration where appropriate. Some “avatars” would be better at this (the narration) than others. I might like to hear everything Eddie Murphy (for example) might care to say.
An optional feature: I could text you things to say. For example, if you’re stalling down Broadway in Manhattan, I might have you go up to a native and say, “Can you tell me how to get to the Statue of Liberty or should I just go fuck myself?”
I’m a little surprised this isn’t already a thing. Out of work comedians could charge by the hour. (Something like this is already happening on YouTube, isn’t it?) Struggling art historians could give tours of the Louvre or The Museum of Modern Art.
The “best” of these could be recorded and experienced at reduced prices. Maybe even “George Carlin’s Greatest Hits” compilations. If George were still alive.
These wouldn’t have to be funny/famous people. I’m thinking of a trail guide in Montana or a white water rafter in the Grand Canyon. No narration, thank you.
I love the scene in Mississippi Burning where Gene Hackman grabs KKK man Michael Rooker’s testicles.
It came to mind while watching Get Shorty in which John Travolta’s character grabs James James Gandolfini’s character by the balls and tosses him down a flight of steps. I should compile a list of such scenes, right? Too late. Been a long time since I came up with an idea for a “best of” that hadn’t been done.
In one of the episodes of Ken Burns’ series on the history of country music, they trace the shift from country to pop music. I believe it was in the early 50’s. My father, John Mays, would have been at KBOA for several years by then and he had a better feel (and preference) for pop than country so he played that music while other announcers played different types. Rudy Pylant (Mr. Rudy) was known for Old Camp Meetin’ Time which was country gospel and “old time” music. Jimmy Haggett was — during this period — known as the country DJ.
The photo below was the result of a “popularity” contest in which listeners voted with 3-cent postcards.
This must have been an incredibly exciting time to be in radio, even at a small market station like KBOA. Nashville station WSM (home of the Grand Ole Opry) was featured prominently in the Burns documentary Haggett worked there at some point after leaving KBOA.