Author, actor, and Daily Show “Resident Expert.” John Hodgman is a Twitter user
and fan. When a recent book tour had him visiting San Francisco Mr.
Hodgman managed to make his way to Twitter HQ for a little tour.
http://blog.twitter.com/2008/12/expert-visits.html
Check it out, Frontside management client BISON b.c.’s yeller is nominated for dropping some science on how to furnish your tour van…..
James Gnarwell has been nominated for a CBC Radio 3 2008 Bucky Video Award in the following category:
Best Advice From An Artist
Fan voting is currently live at www.cbcradio3.com and will continue until polls close at 5:00pm PT on Fri Nov.28. The final awards show will be simulcast to the web and Sirius on CBC Radio 3 Wed Dec. 17, starting at 12:00pm PT/ 3:00pm ET;
Click the link to check out the nominees and vote:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/polls/?pollId=25
Watch The Video Here:
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 152
Musicians and fans seem to love to beat up on one another at concerts. It’s been going on for years as evidenced by this article on Wired’s blog http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/06/videos-egregiou.html However, last week I offended some with my insensitive comments about Noel Gallagher getting attacked on stage. I received a couple of emails from people who were definitely displeased with my description of the clip as “hilarious”. I want to apologize for those comments. After reading a couple of e-mails that came back to me I do realize that what I wrote was inappropriate and it was sensationalizing something that was potentially very dangerous. Let’s all understand that I don’t condone this kind of behaviour and it was a gut reaction that I definitely didn’t put enough thought into. That being said, let’s move on!
Spaceship For Sale
One of my favorite people in the entire world has finally started a blog. The Rock of Jaballster himself, Justin Wachtel, has gotten his ish together and started “Spaceship For Sale”. You have to check this out as he is one of the most passionate people I know and he loves him some music. He’ll cover everything from Electro to Hip Hop to well pretty much everything hipster related (haha) and he’ll do it well. The blog is in it’s infancy and he’s going to improve the aesthetics of it, but content is king right. Check it out, http://spaceshipforsale.blogspot.com/
Shad
Last week, or was it two weeks ago, we showed you the Shad video that basically replays the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air opening shot for shot. Well Shad has basically blown up over night and was on MOD last week and is popping up everywhere. This is what a good music video can do!! You get people talking about you and the sky is the limit. I know it’s not rocket science but word of mouth is powerful! The video is up to 500,000 hits already and it’s climbing fast. Do something original and endearing and people will sit up and listen. http://www.myspace.com/shad
The Wire
I got into The Wire a couple of years ago and watched the first season in about 2 days. My eyes were SORE. But then for some reason I just stopped following the show. Now, thanks to www.surfthechannel.com (shhh don’t tell anyone) I can watch all the episodes back to back whenever I want. So over the last couple nights I’ve just been completely absorbed by The Wire season 2 and 3. It moves slow like The Sopranos (yes, it’s an HBO show as well) but just gets you so addicted. I figure I’ll have all the seasons viewed by next Thursday, we’ll discuss then. www.hbo.com/thewire
Have you Heard
This have you heard doesn’t have that much merit but as we discussed before with Shad it has a great video. The Retro Kidz are from New York and guess what? Yeah their thing is all about Retro. They’re kind of on the border of being uber hipsters mixed with genuine retro throwback peeps. To be honest I’ve only ever heard one song but as I said the video is awesome. It has every old school cliché you can think of. Props to JT for sending this my way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2hn4pnrOO8
http://www.myspace.com/theretrokidz
Ear to the Ground
It is with a truly heavy heart that I have to announce that this will be my final Frontside Word On The Street. I will be moving on from Frontside to pursue other things. I really want you to know how much I enjoyed writing this and I want to thank everyone who ever read this, contributed to it, or responded in any way at all. I’m going to miss writing the newsletter but most of all I’ll miss hearing from all of you every week. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 151
New iPod/New Apple Ad
Apple introduced the new iPod nano this week and it appears to have some cool additions to it, “including a shake-to-shuffle function and accelerometer screen, which senses which direction a user is holding the device. Its curved aluminum case is thinner, sleeker and it has a so-called Genius feature, a function that will make playlists of similar music at the click of a button.” Apple will also introduce a new iPod Touch which will feature a built-in speaker. The machine that is apple just keeps churning. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id. In other Apple news, a new commercial premiered this week and it’s pretty freaking cool. Yes, it continues the “I’m a Mac” and “I’m a PC” theme but what’s interesting about this particular ad is where it’s placed. Yes, that’s the front page of the NY Times. Have a watch… Well it appears that I can’t find it. I’m sorry, just trust me, it was funny. Instead you can watch the new Microsoft ad featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. I heard Seinfeld is getting paid $10 million to do the Microsoft ads????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjNJZpRtj8
He Leaves Me No Choice
As I have claimed many times before, Kanye West leaves me no choice but to continue to write about him almost every single week. This week he announced a new album coming out in December, he played a secret show for about 50 people at the Knitting Factory in New York, he played a brand new song at the MTV Video Music Awards, oh and he got arrested. The new record will be out December 16th and it will be called “808’s and Heartbreak”. He debuted one of the songs from the album “Love Lockdown” at the VMA’s (it’s not bad, I like that he’s taking chances). Check it out here, http://hiphopst.blogspot.com/2008/09/kanye-west-love-lockdown. And of course Kanye got arrested for trashing some papparazzi’s camera or something like that. Personally, I think that should be legal. http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1788889337
The Future of Magazines?
Esquire will celebrate their 75th anniversary in October with an “E-ink cover”. Yeah I don’t really know what the hell that means either. Basically, the cover moves and changes like a TV or computer screen. Wired says, “What is presented as the future of digital/print convergence is little more than ink mashed with some underutilized circuitry.” To be honest I’m not really that impressed, I’m sure if I knew the actual technical process that went into making this happen I’d be blown away but at this point it just kind of looks ghetto to me. If this progresses, which I’m sure it will, it will definitely turn into something impressive. You tell me? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKS12PMdJ6w
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/09/esquires-first.html
Have You Heard
This week we’ll take a look at Dandi Wind. I’ll leave it up to the Rock of Jaballster to tell you more:
Hot off the heels of releasing a remix record entitled ‘Sacrificial’ featuring the likes of Nick Catchdubs, Jokers Of The Scene and South Central, Dandi Wind is releasing her second full length album entitled ‘Yolk Of The Golden Egg’. With a thunderous opening track one realizes that ‘Yolk Of The Golden Egg’ belongs to that select group of sprawling, personal and complex electronic albums that eschew the clinical detachment of the genre in favor of passion and introspection. In other words, Dandi Wind ‘ain’t for no baby hipsters!’
Dandi Created a short animation to accompany the album. The concept for the Dandi Wind animation was to create a moving version of her cover. The film and album are both called ‘Yolk Of The Golden Egg. The film was done by notable photographer John Londono http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SamQJJ4Jy48
Ear to the Ground
I think this clip is hilarious, although it’s only funny for about 2.1 seconds of the 5 minutes. Thanks to Leake for sending this along. It’s a clip of Noel Gallagher of Oasis almost getting shoved off of the stage by a sneaky concert-goer. Forward to about 1:25 in the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX5JBsKih0c
I talked about Terry Lynn, who is an artist from Jamaica and signed to Last Gang Records, a while back and the response that I received was amazing. People really loved what they heard. Well here’s something new. It’s the new video for “The System” http://this.bigstereo.net/2008/09/06/terri-lynn/. It’s FIRE! Oh and it’s pretty graphic so please be aware it’s not for the faint of heart. Look for the album on September 23rd.
The Midway State is starting to really blow up. They just played V-Fest last weekend and then made an appearance on Much on Demand at Much Music on Wednesday. The video for Never Again is really getting a lot of attention and I expect the story to keep growing from here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXYE-Oju3FY
Here’s a clip that’s a little dated but is just too funny to pass up. Thanks to JT for sending it over. These guys have obviously gone to the Monty Python school of comedy. There is a whole series of these clips if you look around youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxVy8-7tyio
Another of our favourite acts this year at Frontside is Crystal Castles. Coming off an amazing 8 week run at #1 on the Canadian college radio charts, they have released a video for Crimewave. http://www.stereogum.com/archives/video/new-crystal-castles
And another awesome band released a brand new video this week! Said The Whale dropped their video for Course of the Currents, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzJrVVXAQpE The video was shot in English Bay in Vancouver and you just might recognize some of the furry characters from videos past.
Gary calls this mask the “worst mask ever”. It’s a Halloween mask for kids that want to be Obama. Gazza says it looks like a Ronald Reagan mask gone awry. Personally I think it’s just a prop from the Point Break 2 set, the bank robbers are the “future presidents of the United States” this time around. http://www.amazon.com/Barack-Obama-Adult-Mask-2008/dp
Speaking of government hopefuls, here’s a clip from Funnyordie.com featuring Gina Gershon as Sarah Palin. I might think this is funny, I might not. I don’t really want to reveal my personal US political bias (refer above). http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/61410aa4ff
More people should know about Adam Tensta. We’ve talked about the Swedish rapper before in WOTS and if you didn’t check him out last time, I urge you to do so now. He’s got a new video out, it definitely reminds me of the Justice D.A.N.C.E video and Kanye’s Good Life but it’s still fresh. http://www.discobelle.net/2008/09/08/adam-tensta-dope-boy-video/
Pic of the Week
Let’s go a little crazy with pictures this week. We got Terry Lynn, Adam Tensta, The Midway State, Dandi Wind and Crystal Castles.
Thanks for reading,
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 150
I HATE accordion sticky notes!! You know the ones, they unravel like an accordion and are sticky on opposite ends as you leaf through them. I don’t know why this is important to me, but I just like the original “Post-it note”. It works, why change it? I don’t like them, they make me angry. Good talk.
The Nike Plus Human Race
Over the weekend I volunteered at the Nike Plus Human Race and it was a great experience. The Human Race was very well organized in Vancouver and from what I hear also went well around the world. In Vancouver alone there were over 3,100 runners and over 6,000 spectators for The Trews and Theory of a Deadman concert, while 500 people volunteered for the event and there were 150 VIP guests. All told, the international event raised over $3 million for three charities, posting numbers like 10,000 runners in New York, and over 14,000 people showing up to Soldier Field in Chicago to watch Fall Out Boy and last but not least (and you know I had to mention him) Kanye West destroyed the crowd in LA with a little help from surprise guest Common. Oh yeah, and for volunteering I came out with about $400 worth of free Nike gear.
Estelle
I went to see Estelle this week at the Commodore in Vancouver. Estelle has that jam with Kanye West called “American Boy”, it’s a certified hit and her only hit, I might add. I went with minimal expectations and was absolutely blown away. There was a ten piece band on stage with her including 3 funky soul singers who danced and kept the show lively the entire time. As for Estelle, well, she gets it. She kept the tempo up, she catered half her set to the girls and half to the guys. She played the crowd perfectly and kept the energy up. The venue was packed, which I was also pretty surprised by. My only issue with her is that she tends to sound a lot like Lauryn Hill, especially on the new album. However she manages to overcome it and brings her own style and she does it well. Check out the myspace, www.myspace.com/estelle
Zack and Miro Make a Porno
Don’t worry, this isn’t about a real porn. Instead it’s the new Kevin Smith film starring Seth Rogen, and it looks hilarious. I hadn’t heard a thing about this movie until today (thanks to Perez Hilton haha). The intended poster has been banned in the States, but it got the OK in Canada. See below for the poster. I will put a link to both the teaser and the trailer but be warned there is harsh language and subject matter in both of these clips, be ready to be offended. I’m a Kevin Smith fan and this one looks like it will not disappoint. As you watch the trailer you’ll see all the usual suspects that you’d expect to see in a Kevin Smith film. Check it out, teaser first followed by the link to the trailer. http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/30/zack-and-miri-make-a-porno-teaser-trailer/ and http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/09/02/zack-and-miri-mnsfw-red-band-movie-trailer-and-poster/
Have you Heard
Neon? Check! Ironic sunglasses? Check! Tight jeans? Check! Purple hoodie? Check! Ok now you’re ready for hipster heaven (or hell depending on your point of view). This is an act that I was really surprised that a lot of people I talked to hadn’t heard of. Cobra Starship has over 11 million myspace views and will be embarking on an absolutely massive tour in October hitting just over 8 million cities. They sound like they’re from the 80’s, they’ve got catchy songs that are easy to listen to and dance to and the kids love them. It might not be my thing but it still makes my nod my head. F$&#ing hipsters. http://www.myspace.com/cobrastarship
Ear to the Ground
The Vancouver Canucks will pay tribute to their fallen young star Luc Bourdon all season long in 08/09. As you may know Bourdon passed away in May and the Canucks plan to pay tribute to the lost family member in a number of ways, starting on October 9th at the Canucks home opener. There will be a video tribute before the game and every fan will receive a commemorative pin. http://canucks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=380940
A friend of mine once suggested a band called Times New Viking. I checked it out and I must say that I think it’s hot garbage. I’m sorry to those of you who are fans, and I rarely say negative things about music ,but this one is important because it was a huge epiphany for me. I’m getting old. I understand why I don’t like this music, I’m getting freaking old! Damn you aging! www.myspace.com/timesnewviking
Manny Steele is calling this “possibly the best rap video ever made”. Shad is a rapper from London, Ontario and this really is one of my favourite rap videos in a long time. Can you say “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”? Check the video, it’s genius. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=41238001
You know what I take the thing about Times New Viking back. It’s terrible. I mean even when I was at my peak of loving music that no one else had heard of and trying to find the most esoteric music out there I still wouldn’t have listened to this hot garbage. Good talk.
September 13th marks the next event on the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund schedule. This time the event will consist of breakfast at the River Rock Casino followed by a Deluxe Presidential Police Escort as you ride your, or someone else’s, bike all the way to Whistler, non-stop! Ed Robertson of The Barenaked Ladies and other celebrities will be participating and as always all proceeds go to a really great cause. Check the website for more details, http://www.musictherapyride.ca/
Frontside clients had a great week with videos this week. The Midway State’s video for “Never Again” and Colin Munroe’s video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” were both featured on the front page of Youtube, (HUGE!). The Midway State is also featured on MegaHits on MuchMusic. Prior to that State of Shock’s new video for “Best I Ever Had” was added into Heavy rotation at MuchMusic and debuts at #29 on the countdown. Check the videos here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXYE-Oju3FY&feature=dir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vu4JIdLsBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkAcgInHMU0
Here’s a funny video about how to get into any club. Apparently it’s all about the DJ bag. Check it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoIL2×6slC8
The NFL season kicks off this Sunday (well actually Thursday but you know what I mean), let’s have a tailgate party! No seriously, let’s grab a parking lot somewhere and bbq some meat and drink beer. No SERIOUSLY!
Finally, this is issue #150 of the Frontside Word on the Street. Thank you for reading and for your feedback and all of the tips and videos that you send us every week. If you like what you read, please check out the ’send to a friend’ function below and share the joy!
Pic of the Week
This week we have the poster for Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and we also have some great shots from the Nike Plus Human Race last weekend. And finally we have a shot of the Quarterback who will be holding the Superbowl above his head at the end of the season.
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 149
The man, the myth, the legend, Gary McDonald, returns to Vancouver for a brief appearance this weekend. Furthermore, one of our newest additions to the NYC office Ms. Laserson is also making an appearance in her hometown of Vancouver. You can be sure that team Frontside will be out on the town participating in some shenanigans at some point during the next 4 days.
Olympic Highlights
Rather than talk about the closing ceremonies or who earned the most medals in the Olympics, let’s focus on more inappropriate things. By way of Jimmy James, here are the top 9 quotes that people probably wish they could take back from the 2008 Olympics games in Beijing. I cannot guarantee the authenticity of these quotes, but they’re still damn funny.
1. Weightlifting commentator: ‘This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.’
2. Dressage commentator: ‘This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.’
3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: ‘I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.’
4. Boxing Analyst: ‘Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.’
5. Softball announcer: ‘If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.’
6. Basketball analyst: ‘He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn’t like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces.’
7. At the rowing medal ceremony: ‘Ah, isn’t that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew.’
8. Soccer commentator: ‘Julian Dicks is everywhere. It’s like they’ve got eleven Dicks on the field.’
9. Tennis commentator: ‘One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them… Oh my God, what have I just said?’
Good Morning
You all know that I talk about Kanye West far too often, but I can’t help it. He just keeps coming out with quality material. His new video for Good Morning is, again, on another level. The beauty of Kanye is his diverse creativity and the fact that he seems adamant in presenting it in so many different ways while not giving a sh$% what anyone thinks. Here’s the animated video for “Good Morning”, which is in my mind one of his best yet. http://hiphopst.blogspot.com/2008/08/video-kanye-west-good-morning.html
Small Error
Have you screwed up at work lately? I’m sure you have, everyone makes little mistakes here and there. Don’t feel so bad, at least you didn’t report that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, had died. The Bloomberg financial newswire updated their obituary for Steve Jobs (which is apparently a normal practice) and accidentally published it, thereby misinforming their readers that the tech genius had passed away. His obituary is very nice, even Bill Gates is quoted as saying positive and nice things about Jobs, calling him the CEO he most admired. It’s a long read, but well worth it, and it’s kind of funny it makes it better knowing that he’s not actually dead, it takes away from the emotion attached to reading an obituary and it just seems biographical. Take some time to read it if you have any interest in Jobs. Of course if you’re on a PC, you should probably just stop whatever you’re doing and go buy a Mac and then read it on your brand new Mac. http://gawker.com/5042795/bloomberg-runs-steve-jobss-obituary
Have you Heard
Breaks Co-op is a band I’ve been listening to a lot lately. Their last album called The Sound Inside was, to me, one of the most underrated albums of 2006. They’re from New Zealand and just have a great vibe. Their most well known single “The Otherside” was the single of the year in New Zealand in 2005. I love this band, they’re incredibly mellow in a very passionate way.
http://www.myspace.com/breakscoop
Ear to the Ground
Frontside’s glue-stick Justin, aka J-Balls, aka It’s Jaballs!! Aka The Rock of Jaballster went on a little trip to Las Vegas last week or as he likes to call it, Weeeeeeeeeegggggaaaaaassssss!!! He came back alive which is more than we anticipated. He is now completely addicted to pools that serve liquor and allow nudity and is currently searching one out in Vancouver, so if you know any please let him know.
Entourage Season 5 is almost upon us, check the brief trailer for the upcoming season, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOvgkPmN-o
I posted a “Diddy Blog” a couple weeks back. He’s back at it and telling us that gas is too expensive, he’s so insightful. I love the difference between polished Diddy that you see in interviews or on his reality shows and this Diddy who swears like a trucker and just comes off as plain ignorant. I like the latter better to be honest. Also, there is no way he’s flying coach, stop lying. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yh1NHRP3NA
The man who leaked the new Guns ‘n Roses album has been arrested. Shouldn’t he get a medal instead? The Axl Rose album (let’s face it, that’s what it is) Chinese Democracy has been in the works since 1987 and should be released sometime in 2031. http://perezhilton.com/2008-08-27-guns-n-roses-leaker-busted
Our good friend Jeff Leake from the Verge on satellite radio made a couple videos in honour of the Olympics. It seems as though he participates in the same event that I do. In fact, I think we should schedule a competition of sorts… Info to come in the following weeks. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=39687346
Common and N.E.R.D are on tour, I will be in attendance for this one. In the meantime check out the new Common video featuring Pharrell, “Announcement”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZt-8nNGKmE
R.I.P Kevin Duckworth, the former NBA player passed away at the young age of 44 this week. Duckworth played on the Portland Trailblazers most notably and wore 00 which I always thought was cool. http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=247715
American Airlines has announced that they will be providing Wi-Fi on some of their flights. I assume this means that all flights will have Wi-Fi very shortly and for a small price of $45 per ten minutes we’ll all be able to enjoy the internet while flying. http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressReleases/2007_08/01_connectivity.jhtml
Pic of the Week
We have a picture of my man Kevin Duckworth. We also have a picture of the un-dead Steve Jobs.
Thanks for reading,
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 147
Last weekend…4 day stag…brain damage…still hurting…I’ll try my best…
O Canada
As I write this Canada has 0 medals at the Olympics, that technically puts them in 153rd place. Can you name 152 countries? I sure couldn’t do it. Now, don’t get me wrong… I am not slagging our athletes, not in the least. I am proud of our Olympic competitors and I’m sure that we will come around and get a few medals before the fort night is done. I’m just astounded that 152 countries have more medals than we do. That’s totally sensationalist by the way. To be fair there are a lot of countries with no medals so it’s an unfair placement, and if Canada were to win just two medals they would sky rocket into the top 30. To be honest I haven’t watched much of the Olympics at all, I just can’t get into synchronized diving and badminton etc. I think that Canada will finish with 8 medals.
Never Again
If you read this often you’ll know that we’re all pretty huge fans of The Midway State here at Frontside. One of the reasons that we stay big fans is that they consistently produce quality material. If you haven’t heard the album “Holes” yet go freakin buy it on iTunes already. The album is great. This week the brand new video for their first single “Never Again” was released and it’s frickin awesome. The video was directed by Grammy Award nominated director Frank Borin who directed videos for a couple people you may have heard of like Eminem, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte etc. I love the song, the video looks fantastic, check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UW59DBWmZc
Sunday Bloody Sunday
A few months ago a musician named Colin Munroe did a “re-interpretation” of Kanye’s “Flashing Lights” song and it was so good that his label made an awesome video for it. It was so good that Kanye posted it on his own blog. It was so good that Perez Hilton featured it! It was so good that if you haven’t seen it you should check it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40G8sbl6o9c. Well Colin is back at it with his newest release, a version of U2’s Sunday, Bloody, Sunday. This one is a laid back mellow cover which really resonates with me. The video is freakin cool as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vu4JIdLsBE You can also check out the making of video right here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esggP38Dq58. It took them three weeks to build the set using only household items and things that they could find at second hand shops and junkyards!
Have You Heard
Sometimes Manny Steel will have a few chardonnays and just start stumbling into bars to check out new bands. Once in a while he’ll find a good one. Invasives is one of those bands. We really don’t know much about these guys other than that they’re from Vancouver, play some pretty heavy rock music and kick ass. Check it out you might like it, I do. http://www.myspace.com/invasives
Ear to the Ground
Cruefest came to Vancouver on Monday. I heard the show was great, I tried to go but the fact that I couldn’t walk, talk, see or move due to the stag prevented me from attending. I heard Sixx AM killed it!
Kardinal Offishall is making international moves. His single with Akon is huuuuuge and his new track with The Clipse is looking like it’s gonna blow up too (that one is my jam, derrrty). He also just appeared on a remix with Lupe Fiasco. Check the Set It Off video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBT2bQyblSc
Looks like Billy Bob Thornton is going to be the new Freddy Kreuger. Yes the string of Hollywood remakes continues, Nightmare on Elm Street is here. I’m a fan of BBT but don’t you think they should have cast some no name dude that is scary looking as hell? http://www.hollywood.com/news/Billy_Bob_Thornton_
Just in time for the Olympics there is a new video for Kanye West’s Champion. I dig this video a lot, maybe I just like puppets, I dunno. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoLE8FmooIM (You’ll notice that Canada disses Kanye in the start of the video)
Vancouver band Mother Mother is set to drop a brand new album on September 16th. Looks like it will be called “OMYHEART” but heart is the heart symbol, I just don’t know how to rock that on here. I was able to hear a couple of the new songs and they sound fantastic. http://www.myspace.com/mothermotherspace
Barack Obama is keeping his campaign rooted in the grass, or grass roots as you may prefer. The first people to know who his running mate is will be his loyal supporters. Yes, he will announce his running mate to all of his supporters via text or email first. Very cool.
Dane Cook hates the way his new movie is being marketed. This is freaking hilarious. He loves the movie, but hates the poster. Read his diatribe and then watch the trailer. Comedy.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.
Holy F#$@ is stirring up controversy all over again. The Canadian Government is cutting funding and citing Holy F$%# as one of the bands responsible. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/144672-holy
Chocolate Industries has released a compilation called Worldwide Renewal Program in association with Adult Swim. You can check it out, and download the whole thing right here, http://www.adultswim.com/williams/music/wwrp/index.html. Artists include Cool Kids, Diverse ft. Vast Aire and others.
Pic of the Week
We’re definitely going to include a picture of Robert Englund as the original Freddy Kreuger, and I think we’ll include a couple pictures of Canadian Olympic victories.
Thanks for reading,
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
Frontside Word on the Street Volume 146
I can barely contain myself this week. I just can’t wait for you to watch “Guido Beach”. It will change your life. I know it changed mine, I’m moving to Jersey. Some call it Douchebag Beach, others just call it a good time.
Gnarls Barkley
So you didn’t think anyone made original music videos anymore? You thought they were all just cheesy, clichés with douchey guys singing in the rain, doing choreographed dance moves, looking constipated? Oh wait that’s just all the Backstreet Boys videos. Either way my point is that Gnarls Barkley always comes correct, they are, in a word, unique. The new video absolutely blew my mind when I saw it the first time, I think I’ve watched it about 15 times since and it works for me every time. The imagery, the conversation, the fact that I’m sure most everyone can relate to this in some way or another… I could go on. Just watch it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTVSygNKAsg. Oh one more thing, if you get squeamish with blood and guts you probably should avoid this video.
The Best Clip Ever
OK, I probably shouldn’t exaggerate too much, it might not be the absolute best clip ever but it sure is funny. So funny that I had to search for it for about 45 minutes because it had been removed from Youtube and many other video sites. But I think it’s worth it. I present Guido Beach or Douchebag Beach. Please enjoy and note that I don’t condone any of this behaviour but I do think it’s damn funny. My favourite is the girl at the end and the guy who doesn’t know what a pet peeve is. “I don’t even know what the f$^% that means!” Huh??? http://www.vidmax.com/video/56543/Welcome_to_Douchebag_err_ I really hope that this link is still active.
Pineapple Express
Have you noticed the TV trailers for Pineapple Express, they have a different look than any other trailer I’ve ever seen. They have the border at the top with the title throughout the entire thing etc. Yesterday I noticed that Step Brothers has the same aesthetic, just something I noticed. I’m wondering if there is as much buzz throughout the country and continent as there is in Vancouver for this movie. People are really excited and I can’t tell if it’s a universal sentiment or it’s something that is just huge in Vancouver because of Seth Rogen. Either way the movie looks hilarious and I can’t wait to see it. Franco looks like he pulls off the comedic role well and I’m interested to see how they pull off the violence with the comedy… “Thug Life.”
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/pineappleexpress/
Have you Heard
I first saw this band two years ago and I thought it was quite possibly the best name for a band I’d ever seen. Taylor Hawkins is the drummer for a little band you may know called the Foo Fighters. As he says in the band bio on the myspace he is a drummer who is in fact a frustrated songwriter. Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders is his act that he gets all the attention on and doesn’t have to deal with that pesky Dave Grohl dude. Check out a couple tunes, http://www.myspace.com/taylorhawkinsandthecoattailriders I actually like the tunes. Tell me what you think.
Ear to the Ground
Have you seen all the hype and marketing efforts surrounding the Nike+ Human Race around town? I don’t know if it’s as intense in other markets as it is in Vancouver but whomever is putting that event on is doing a fantastic job. (Nice work Tania) It’s a global event celebrating Human Potential taking place in 25 cities around the world including New York, Paris, Istanbul, Seoul, Melbourne, and LA to name a few. It hits Vancouver on August 31st. The causes supported include Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong, WWF, and the UN Refugee agency NineMillion.org. You can participate in the 10K run, volunteer to help out, or simply enjoy the evening concert featuring Canadian bands Theory of a Deadman and The Trews. For more information or to volunteer visit http://inside.nike.com/blogs/humanrace-en_CA or www.nikeplus.com to register.
As Let’s Go To War so eloquently put it “The Whole City’s Got a Cold”. Here’s the remix for N.E.R.D “She Nose”, this is the jam and the video is dope too. A couple guests that you just might know appear as well, http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=201621_-1__0_~
Back to Pineapple Express for a second. As you may know, M.I.A’s hit song Paper Planes is featured in the trailer and it has been somewhat of a renaissance for the track. Her iTunes sales have received a huge spike, which has made some people believe that she might come out of retirement. http://perezhilton.com/2008-08-05-does-this-mean-shell-come-out-
I hope I’m not the only who laughed their ass off the first time they saw this video because I think it’s one of the funniest hip hop videos I’ve seen in a long time. Redman always comes through for me. Check this out, http://hiphopst.blogspot.com/2008/07/video-redman-run-my-block.html. Also of note Red and Meth are on tour again.
Have you seen this new iPhone application? I actually first heard about this on the Vancouver radio station The Beat and now I’m hearing about it everywhere. It’s called the I Am Rich application, and basically it’s a screensaver for your phone that costs $999.99. Sounds like something I really need. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399461,00.html
Chromeo just keeps putting out the dopest videos. This is just so 80’s. The video is for Momma’s Boy and well, it’s just pure 100% unadulterated Chromeo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmr3MZx1GKw P-Thug makes me miss my neck beard that I had back in 2000.
I debated whether or not to put this in because it’s just not that funny. But it is relevant to something so I’ll put it in. You recall John McCain using Paris Hilton in a campaign ad, well here is her rebuttal. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d
It looks like Wolfmother have split up. That’s all I have to say about that. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/08/07/wolfmother Actually I have one more thing to say about this. Who approved that press shot???? He looks like a Gremlin.
Katie Perry’s I kissed a Girl was the #1 song in America again last week making it 7 weeks in a row. Pretty amazing.
Did you see Anderson Cooper put the smack down on the Lohans? Hahahahah. It was funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2gfiAOLBOo
Have you seen the ads for Battleground Earth? No, it’s not a crappy movie starring John Travolta (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVixMg4d-TA only watch if you can handle pure crap). No this is a new show on TLC featuring Ludacris and Tommy Lee doing their best to save the world. I don’t even care what it’s about, I’ll be watching, if it’s half as good as Tommy Lee goes to College it will be one of my favourite shows. http://tlc.discovery.com/
Pic of the Week
We have that shot of Wolfmother for those of you who didn’t check out the link. I also have the poster for Pineapple Express and of course a shot of Gnarls Barkley because those MF’s know how to take a press shot. I’m hurting for good pictures, send me some funny stuff people!
Thanks for reading,
Craig Larson
Director of Street and Lifestyle Marketing
Frontside Promotions Group
web: www.frontsidegroup.com
www.flickr.com/photos/frontsidestreetmarketing/sets
Got something you wanna get on the street? Let us know.
Effective, affordable and just plain cool street promo.
