One of our favourite music artists, Mayer Hawthorn, on one of our favourite labels Stonesthrow, is in town tonight at Queen of Hoxton as part of his European tour. Before you even ask, no I will not be there tonight, as tickets sold out quicker than proverbial hot cakes.
Yes, I am very very upset, but I’m not gonna let a few tears get in the way of me mentioning his friendly advice columns, that are now in their 4th edition.Being a man of the world, Mayer Hawthorne knows the pains of the heart, and Dear Mayer is how he helps you with yours. You can send your “Dear Mayer” questions about love, relationships, food[??] and other mysteries to Mr. Mayer, and he answers the best inquiries on camera, in front of a cozy fire place, music to soothe and trainers that I want.
Dear Mayer is nice way for Hawthorn to connect with his, how can we put it… eclectic yet sensitive fan base, and is as helpful as you could expect any Agony Uncle to be.
Ok, the tickets obviously didn’t quite arrive in time (must have been the postal strike) and George the Cloonster forgot to pick me up tonight (oh George!), so I could attend the London Film Festival premiere, so like many I’m going to have to wait a little bit longer to see Fantastic Mr Fox.
Now Wes Anderson happens to be one of my fav America directors and Roald Dahl kept me laughing to no end as a wee whipper-snapper. So I’m looking forward to Wes Anderson’s stop animation take on RD’s Fantastic Mr Fox. I have to admit, this is one of Roald Dahl’s books I haven’t read, and you know old adage of ‘the film is never is good as the book’, but I’m sure Wes must of had a good bash at it. Fingers crossed then…
One Song. One Take. One Cab. That’s the simple premise of the Black Cab Sessions. No lights, postproduction or amplification – just a willing cabby, a cameraman, an artist and their talent. The sessions are a perfect marriage of medium and musical message that makes for some addictive viewing.
The idea was conceived and produced by Just So Films, with artist selection byHidden Fruit. Some of our favourites include The Cool Kids (above), Benjamin Zephaniah and Lykke Li, and with eighty sessions spanning near on two years, you’ll surely find your own.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter if the artists have gone platinum, or their recording studio closely resembles a mate’s laptop – they just have to be superb. And alive. The criteria might be loose but the standards are definitely high, so enjoy.
It’s not often we’re left with our mouths truly agasp in front of the tele-box, but this is surely a week of discontent, as we turn our attentions to the recent Fair Trade advert from Cadbury.
Occasionally, when the intelligencia of the Ad world sit round a table for some blue sky thinking, messages are created that are both beautiful in their simplicity and relevant in their delivery. When the pseudo intelligencia sit down around, what might look like a very similar table, then often, to paraphrase a famous word to Houston, we have a f***ing big problem.
If you’re a loyal twenty%er and have had a good ramble round our humble site, you’ll know our perspective on the successful selling of beans, as opposed to cultural / social economic phenomena. According to Barbara Crowther of the Fairtrade Foundation, the ad totally captured the love of music, dance and community celebration that anyone who has ever visited Ghana will instantly recognise. According to Cadburys, one focus group member went as far as to suggest that the advert portrays life in a typical Ghanaian environment.
A typical Ghanaian environment? Would that be the fat-lip shaking and bug eyed buffoonery that a marginal percentage rise in revenue might induce? Or perhaps the idea that life really is one big party for the struggling cocoa bean producer?
What with consumers worldwide spending £1.6bn on Fairtrade certified products back in 2007, and with no doubt been another bumper year, your average Fair Trade deal amounts to what are effectively the crumbs off of a very, very big table.
And while consumers and marketers may appease themselves with this newest ode to conscientious consumption, we’ll all do well to remember that economic independence and real fair trade practices, rarely come under the guise of a sticker. By finding authentic artists and authentic dancers, Cadbury seem to have embraced the authentic aesthetic, but totally missed the point.
All aesthetics and no substance may not make Jack a dull boy, but it does still leave him at the mercy of next years crop harvest.
Sometimes in life, you have to sit back and marvel at the kind of disillusionment that goes beyond normal comprehension, so allow me to present to you the Windows 7 launch parties – 6:15 minutes of inadvertent comedy gold that couldn’t have landed further from the proverbial mark if they tried their very best, which we have to assume they have.
For a brand that’s relied on monopolisation of the marketplace rather than customer satisfaction, this kind of disconnect can perhaps be expected. But despite their seemingly all-conquering market share, Microsoft have had their troubles generating the kind of reverential word-of-mouth that Apple have managed to create during their own technological ‘revolution’.
The answer? Encourage you – the user, to invite people – supposedly known as your friends, into your home, where you entertain them with a series of Windows 7 tutorials, as together they learn to change wallpaper, burn CDs and edit photos.
I mean, if word-of mouth is what they were after, then the forced casualness, mixed with the bizarreness of the idea that people will actually host these kinds of parties in the first place, almost make it a twisted act of genius. But it isn’t. ‘Word of mouth’ matters, but the words that come out those mouths matter even more. But don’t take my word for it, watch for yourself. And whatever you do, don’t EVER try this at home.
