ETA: Nice bit where they talk to Joe Boyd about the use of "Pink Moon" in the VW ad.
Kaylee: Can I? Zoe: Sure. He's out, though. Kaylee: He did this for me, once.
'Safe'
Buffista Music III: The Search for Bach
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
sumi - Apr 13, 2007 7:53:30 am PDT #5550 of 10003
Art Crawl!!!
Jon B. - Apr 13, 2007 8:31:16 am PDT #5551 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
About 10 years ago, I was approached by VW's ad agency (Arnold, in case Tina is wondering) to make a mix tape for them. They were about to introduce the new Bug and were looking for musical ideas. Turned out the copy writer was a fan of my radio show! They liked what I put together, but didn't end up using any of the songs I'd suggested (I didn't mind -- I got paid very well for my effort).
A few years later, the Pink Moon ad came out. I thought it was a great ad, but otherwise didn't think too much about it... until I noticed that I'd put Pink Moon on that mix tape I'd made for them! I asked the copy writer about it. He insisted that he already knew the song, but I like to think that I had a small part in making it happen.
Hayden - Apr 13, 2007 8:33:15 am PDT #5552 of 10003
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
Joe Boyd is a great guy. He's one of the few primary sources for my book, and his memoir White Bicycles is a fun read.
tina f. - Apr 13, 2007 6:53:38 pm PDT #5553 of 10003
A few years later, the Pink Moon ad came out. I thought it was a great ad, but otherwise didn't think too much about it... until I noticed that I'd put Pink Moon on that mix tape I'd made for them!
Jon, you just totally blew my mind.
Seriously. As an ad geek you just HAVE NO IDEA how much I (and many others) have thought about the genesis of that ad.
My favorite VW ad of that series though is the Son Volt one - it uses the tiny instrumental "Chanty" from Wide Swing Tremelo as a girl drives from Denver to Phoenix in a Rabbit on one tank of gas taking off several layers of clothes and putting her hair up until she goes from parka and hair down to tank top and a small bun. I have watched that ad a zillion times.
Those are the ads that made me want to be a part of this industry. I could go into the whole grave dissapointment part of that story (long, hard week, and year, really) - but that is just whining. I love it.
YOU could have been part of what made me go into advertising. That's just really... kind of cool.
I should add that I am many glasses of sangria into my Friday night. But still.
Frankenbuddha - Apr 13, 2007 7:37:54 pm PDT #5554 of 10003
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
My favorite VW ad of that series though is the Son Volt one
Mine was the Spiritualized one, but there was a ton and a half of meta on my love for that (first and foremost for seeing Spiritualized without knowing diddly-squat about them because Mistle Thrush was opening for them and Spiritualized blew me AWAY!!!; secondly because MT basically did the most free-form show I ever saw them do including massive amounts of Theremin; mostly because Spiritualized played 90% of LADIES & GENTLEMEN... which is a FUCKING awsome disc).
Jon B. - Apr 14, 2007 4:12:08 am PDT #5555 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
Because it's all about MEMEME, did you know that Valerie from Mistle Thrush played in the Lothars for one gig?
bon bon - Apr 14, 2007 10:06:22 am PDT #5556 of 10003
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
BTW, Jon, Bob Bob is like a huge fan of your existence. I saw what may be the first of the White Castle ads in what I'm assuming is the series you are in -- a limo driver talking about taking people to White Castle-- and I told Bob Bob about how you got the ad job. He was like, "he plays the THEREMIN! And is an ACTUARY! I love those things!" I just told him about the VW ad thing and he was like "I love advertising!"
Jon B. - Apr 14, 2007 11:00:15 am PDT #5557 of 10003
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
I'm... flattered?
There definitely was a "limo driver" ad in the new series. The latest I've heard is that my ad would run over the summer. Supposedly, they're still tweaking it.
sumi - Apr 14, 2007 6:45:31 pm PDT #5558 of 10003
Art Crawl!!!
Oh, I hadn't even realized that the limo ad must be part of that series.
(I like the Trio "Da Da Da" vw ad.)
Scrappy - Apr 14, 2007 9:45:21 pm PDT #5559 of 10003
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
j got to realize a teenage drem tonight and only those on the music thread wil appreciate this. He was talking to an older guy and it turns out this guy was lead singer of Manfred Mann back in the day. An important thing to know is that the Lead Singer Guy , whose name is Chris, was a horrible, bitter, cranky dick to everyone at the party. So, Chris was quoting lyrics to explain to someone also in the conversation what songs he sang on and said "wrapped up like a deuce, another runner in the night." This is a lyrical idiocy that has bothered J ever since he first heard the song when he was 13.
Now, he did NOT make fun of the dude for singing "Like a douche" although that's totally what the song sounds like, because that would be making fun of his accent and J had much bigger things on his mind. No, he said to Lead Singer Chris, "You know, it should be revved up like a deuce, not wrapped up. The 'deuce' is a deuce coupe, which is a car." The guy said "I sang it, don't tell me what it means." We got home and looked it up on wikipedia and you may read for yourself: [link]