by David Burn | Aug 22, 2003 | Advertising
Coors Light has turned a corner. No longer will consumers see Pete Coors standing in front of the San Juan Mountains (nowhere near Golden, by the way). Today, it’s the twins, and other hotties, flagrantly used to attract millions of young men to the brand. The objective is to get ’em in the franchise early and it’s working. This is a case where bad advertising is actually quite effective.
But, I don’t like it. It’s highly offensive to women. So my question all along has been, “What? You don’t want to sell Coors Light to women ever again?” The answer has been equally emphatic, “No, women are not in our target market.”
One current headline–that thankfully I did not write, although I’ve written some just as bad– says, “Here’s to the Wingman!” A wingman in this context is the guy who volunteers to go home with the ugly chick, thereby saving his buddy the humiliation.
Now, that I’m moving off this client, I don’t mind stating that I find these tactics horrid, at best. In the brewery’s defense (for they are a great client in many other ways) it’s merely a guy insight. This shit really happens out there in meet market land.
Lots of terrible things occur at the hands of drunken frat boys, but why choose to use these occasions to market beer, or any other product for that matter? For money, of course. And I love the pursuit of money as much as the next guy. All I’m saying is higher values, like integrity, need to be recognized and employed, at least by me.
by David Burn | Aug 10, 2003 | Chicago
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea? _Dylan
It’s on. I’m moving to daWindy, a.k.a. Chicago, which means “plentiful onions and garlic” in the native American tongue. I lived in the Chicago suburbs from 1975 to 1980, finishing grade school in Wheaton, and attending junior high and my freshman year of high school in Elk Grove Village. These were pivotal years in so many ways. My mom got remarried. I developed an interest in girls. I played basketball and baseball non-stop and developed my allegiances to the Cubs, Bears, and Bulls at this time. So, this is a homecoming of sorts, and I must say I’m thrilled to be moving back to the Midwest, the region where I am most at home.
Chicago inspires me. The architecture. The lake. The neighborhoods and all the global citizens who reside therein. The food. The El. Chicago, like San Francisco and New York, is a great American city.
I often like to analyze things from the geo-cultural perspective, and if I look at my career path through this lens, it’s plain to see that I have been charting a course for The Loop and North Michigan Ave. for some time. Portland > Salt Lake City > Denver > Omaha > Chicago. No need (for me) to go further east. Along the sands of Lake Michigan, I make my play.
by David Burn | Jul 31, 2003 | Literature
Don Miguel Ruiz in his book The Four Agreements advises us to make impeccable use of The Word. He explains that impeccable actually means without sin. Therefore, when we humans form words, he asks that we do so without sin, for our own benefit and mankind’s. In particular, he points to gossip as an evil we can clearly do without.
I can not help but reflect on the world I inhabit, specifically during my workday, and how saturated it is with misuse of The Word. Ruiz claims that we perform black magic when we use hurtful words. He points out that we even do this to the one’s we love most. That we are conditioned to do so by our environment, and that only a concentrated effort can turn things around.
Once impeccable use of The Word becomes habitual, suggests Ruiz, positive life changes become the norm, not the exception. Given that I am a writer, a.k.a. “wordsmith,” Ruiz’s insight means a great deal to me. It’s not only my responsibility as a human being to form my words in a responsible manner, but as a writer it is also a professional obligation, and one I hope to someday soon master.
by David Burn | Jul 23, 2003 | Digital culture
I just spent the past two days fully engaged on the task of importing RSS feeds into this site. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, depending on where one looks or whom one consults. This site has an RSS feed auto-generated by the pMachine blogware. See the sidebar, then click on XML to view Burnin’s rich site summary.
Fundamentally, RSS is a two way street. Other sites can absorb my content, and I can absorb theirs. See the left sidebar once more, then click on “Boing Boing” or “The Daily Report” under RSS Feeds. The resulting outputs are the result of much learning on the subject, at least for me, a non-geek fast on the way to geekdom.
The breakthrough came when I found Magpie RSS, a free RSS parser that works like a charm. Even then, I still spent several hours configuring the setup. The one thing missing from Magpie’s otherwise flawless manual is the step where one must create a new php file and place it in the Magpie directory for it all to work. They do provide the code, but it took some doing to know where and how to successfully place it.
Bottom line, I’m extremely pleased to clear this high hurdle and excited by what it means. Importing RSS adds more than headlines to a site, it adds value.
by David Burn | Jul 20, 2003 | Place
I heard the term “Radotude” the other day and it’s now embedded in my personal lexicon. It was actually pronounced “Raditude,” but I prefer the former option, as it conforms to the state’s actual spelling. Either way, it’s a fitting moniker for the “hipper than thou” mentality that permeates Colorado. Clearly, there are a number of factors that have led to this sad state, but I believe we can first thank the omnipresent gear-heads–athletic young men and women who sport this season’s hottest shades, polypro garments (to wick away the moisture…duh!), and of course the requisite “I’m about to go running thru the back county” sandals, a fashion oxymoron, if there ever was one.
A more commonly used term that goes well with this new linguistic discovery is “Rado dude!” As in, “Everything’s kinder in Rado, dude.” And there is some truth in that sentiment, as the mountains are bigger, the rivers do run wilder, and the kids tend to only smoke dank. Dank is the polar opposite of schwag (a brown, seed-riddled, import).
by David Burn | Jul 18, 2003 | Digital culture
db.vg is a literary Web works, so it’s fitting that I finally managed to locate some blogging software that I could understand, load to my server, and use. Thanks Rick Ellis, lead developer at pMachine–u rock.
by David Burn | Jul 10, 2003 | Music
The Dead
I came to these shows with little anticipation, as I was hugely turned off by the blatant commercialization inherent in last February’s name change. On a more substantive note, Warren Haynes is not in this new band, and for me personally, that decision equals a decline in musical quality. Despite these inhibitions, I managed to enjoy Tuesday night’s show quite a bit. It was Joan Osbourne’s birthday and she’s a lovely singer, plus it was nice to have some female energy in the mix. The first sent ended with a rousing “Stagger Lee” > “Mr. Charlie” and the second set was solid in most every way. “Comes A Time” out of drums was especially poignant, if not chill inducing. My experience on Thursday night was not as pleasant, in fact, I walked away after the first set. Looking on a tad more critically, it was not hard to see the gaping hole I anticipated would be there in Warren’s absence. Music is highly personal, and for this person, Warren phils the hole left by Jerry in a way no one else can. Warren, like Jerry, is able to share his immense and beautiful soul via inventive playing and expressive singing. The two rock icons also share a certain grit, that frankly is lacking from this current arrangement. To me “The Dead” is a step down from Phil + Friends. That’s not a popular opinion among Dead Heads, clearly thrilled with the prospect of summer tour, five nights at Red Rocks included. What thrills me is the news that Phil + Friends will in fact be playing more shows this fall.
For further inquiry
by David Burn | Jun 28, 2003 | Music
Widespread Panic, Col. Bruce, and more…
Art + Wendy decided not to go to Saturday’s Picnic at Red Rox, so I swooped into their lovely Boulder County hamlet (Lafayette) and picked up two tickets. At $45 a hit, one might expect some blistering theatrics from the performers. None were to be had on this night. There was a lovely “C. Brown” in the first set, a rousing “Chilly Water” in the second, plus a pleasant rain and wind throughout. From a musical perspective the night got going once we dpearted Red Rox for Englewood’s Gothic Theatre. First up, Col. Bruce Hampton’s new outfit, The Codetalkers. Three guys in bad suits, but the sounds coming from this band are the real deal. At 1:30 a.m. the liquor was put under lock and key, but the music really started to uncork. New Orleans and Georgia gettin’ together for a major blow out. Blind keyboard wizard and blues singer, Johnny Neel was accompanied by Matt Abts of Gov’t Mule on drums, New Orleans legend George Porter on bass, Brian Stoltz from The Meters on guitar, and June Yamagishi of Papa Grows Funk also on guitar. We left this rich stew of sound at 3:45 a.m., wishing we had the energy to go the distance.
by David Burn | Jun 19, 2003 | Music
Telluride Bluegrass
Approaching Montrose on the long ride from Denver to Telluride, the cell rang and Milt had good news for us. Unbeknownst to Darby and I, Yonder was playing this very night at the Telluride Conference Center, but it was sold out, like all things good in Telluride during festival season. Despite these cold hard facts, we were having none of this T-Ride ‘tude. Upon reaching the show, we were informed that more tix might be put on sale between 8:30 and 9:00. In the meantime we wandered over to the Wyndham Peaks Resort, to query about a room, which surprisingly was instantly offered and for a reasonable price. After getting situated in our luxury treehouse, I went next door and stood online for Yonder tix and was rewarded for the effort. Yonder kicked it down and got us prepped for the acoustic showcase that is Telluride in June. On Thursday we saw Tim O’Brien Band, Susan Tedeschi, Nitty Grity Dirt Band, and Cheese in Town Park, before departing Friday for a wedding in Summit County.
by David Burn | Jun 15, 2003 | Music
subdudes + Derek Trucks Band
Phestival season is underway in Colorado! I attended the Blues + Bones Fest on a warm spring night in urban Denver and found the event to be easy-going and enjoyable. There were several bar-b-que stands to choose from, two stages of music, and plentiful cocktails. subdudes proved to be the musical highlight. Two words: Tommy Malone! Dave Malone’s younger bro is one helluva musician and this reunited band, composed of Colorado and Louisiana players cooks up some truly savory sounds. The evening’s headliner, Derek Trucks Band featured a new lineup with Kofi Burbridge on keys and flute and vocals from Mike Mattison.
