They’re paying $2 million. So I’ll mention them, too. February 6, 2007

I know.  We’re all a little jumpy these days.  But think about it.  For anyone to mistake this rather opaque publicity stunt as an act of terrorism. . . in comparison to previous events, doesn’t this one (at best) appear uncharacteristically whimsical? Do we really think the bad guys are spending time developing maddeningly clever graphics? 
None of us can [...]

Content Wars February 5, 2007

As one major player in television tries to force a rival not to distribute clips of copyrighted material, I’m reminded of many other such battles in media history. 
We’ve been here before.  In the 1920s, recording companies wrote contracts with their artists demanding they not perform on the radio, fearing that the rival medium would cut into record sales.  [...]

THE TPS-L2 February 2, 2007

Why do years flood by unnoticed, and moments linger forever?  On a beautiful morning in New York back in autumn, 1979, I walked up Sixth Avenue to my music business copywriting job.  On my belt was my new Sony Walkman, the silver and blue one — model TPS-L2 — that introduced the line to the [...]

POMEGRANATE SORBET February 2, 2007

We usually end the summer with an ice cream social at Herb’s and Sarah’s house, friends who love great food and enjoy the challenge of coming up with new and novel flavors.  There are four or five of us in the group who annually spend days pouring over recipes, mixing, freezing and packaging our newest [...]

“IT’S A NAKASHUMA!” February 2, 2007

Satirist Allan Sherman’s “Twelve Gifts of Christmas” came on the car radio just before the holiday.  Strange, but even though I’m familiar with his “Camp Grenada” song (“Hello Muddah, hello Fadda”) and “God Rest Ye Jerry Mendelbaum,” I had never heard his send up of the familiar Christmas classic. 
If you don’t know it, you [...]

THE RULES February 2, 2007

I was thinking of Frank Capra over the holidays, because of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  I remembered a remark of his related to movie making, and how often I’ve quoted it to advertising and promotion clients – usually when someone tells me how many times the product name needs to be mentioned in a radio script, [...]