“See The World”
Gomez

Day to day
Where do you want to be?
‘Cause now you’re trying to pick a fight
With everyone you need

You seem like a soldier
Who’s lost his composure
You’re wounded and playing a waiting game
In no-man’s land no-one’s to blame

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all’s been said and done
It’s the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

Empty handed, surrounded by a senseless scene
With nothing of significance
Besides a shadow of a dream
You sound like an old joke
You’re worn out, a bit broke
And asking me time and time again
When the answer’s still the same

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all’s been said and done
It’s the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

You’ve got a chance to put things right
So how’s it going to be?
Lay down your arms now
And put us beyond doubt
So reach out it’s not too far away
Don’t mess around now, don’t delay

See the world
Find an old fashioned girl
And when all’s been said and done
It’s the things that are given, not won
Are the things that you want

It’s been an awesome if not exhausting week for shows for me. Thankfully, last night’s bill at the Crossroads KC was just what I needed. Memphis-made rockers Lucero and the Dallas-bred quartet the Old 97s transformed the lot behind Grinders into a makeshift roadhouse dive with their distinct brands of swaggering liquor-soaked country rock. With a mulch floor beneath the crowd’s feet and a beautifully open evening sky above — not to mention about as a bearable of an evening as you can get in KC in late July temperature-wise — the setting couldn’t be more perfect.

While some in the crowd were muttering about who should really be opening for who, with the majority opinion seeming to be that Lucero should have been topping the bill, the derision was nullified by the robust setlist delivered by both bands. Lucero frontman Ben Nichols trademark whiskey-on-gravel vocals were delivered with an intense sense of sincerity as the band paced through a generous mix of well-established and newer material. Meanwhile, the Old 97s’ Rhett Miller took more of a hammed up alt-country approach by working the crowd with hip sways, leg kicks and hair tosses while the band blasted through their core cuts with a few cover song surprises thrown in (Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” and REM’s “Driver 8″). For a crowd looking to shake off the dust and dirt of the KC summer, this was a show custom-built for the beer-and-barstool jetset.

Many thanks to Concert Chris for the hook-up on the tix. My photos of the evening are below…

Call me racist, but Canadian supergroups are all the same: earnest, talented, and typically unable to include any less than nine musicians on the stage at the same time. (Last I checked, Broken Social Scene was still touring in a clown car commandeered from the circus.) Regardless of these stereotypical exhibitions of northern overexposure, one has to admit that the result is nothing less than impressive when it comes to a live display of musical prowess, especially for the New Pornographers.

Built on hard-driving tempos and a “wall of sound” approach to vocals (why sing solo when five voices will kick things up a notch or three), the Vancouver nontet did their best to fire up a relatively subdued crowd at Liberty Hall. Breakout solo talent Neko Case, who spent most of the evening unabashedly wrestling with her wild mane of red hair, certainly stood out from her compatriots with a mile-wide voice that sounded as if it could ring for days. All in all, this northern sound front was a welcome relief from the humid haunts of our midwestern summer.

While the New Pornographers delivered as expected, the upstart honors were certainly earned by the San Francisco trio The Dodos. Built on acoustic intricacies and carefully crafted sonic pyrotechnics, the crowd was quickly won over by the group’s contributions to the festivities — a band well worth keeping tabs on moving forward.

Be sure to check out the thoroughly chronicled (though perhaps overly effusive) review of the evening’s festivities on the Pitch’s Wayward Blog. For a more appropriately reserved take, give Mr. Brownlee’s Back to Rockville review a gander. My pics are below.

[Full Disclosure: Thanks to Ashley at Tell All Your Friends PR for info about the Dodos and access to the show!]

Indie three-piece and Pitchfork poster children the Dodos are in Lawrence tonight, joining Imaad Wasif and the New Pornographers for a show that’s sure to feed the soul of even the most hard-hearted hipster.

Guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber started the Dodos as an acoustic duo in 2005 but expanded to a trio with the addition of vibraphonist Keaton Snyder in 2009. Known for their aural explorations but holding themselves to primarily the acoustic plane, the group has released three discs that are marked by their subtle nodding connection to the aesthetics of bands like Animal Collective and Broken Social Scene but have the distinct ability to stand on their own merits. Their latest, Time To Die, was released just last year and has received a well-deserved warm embrace from critics.

For a taste of what to expect, check out this clip of “Fables” from their appearance this past January on “Late Night with David Letterman.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Full Disclosure: Thanks to Ashley at Tell All Your Friends PR for info about the Dodos and access to the show!]

For being a record hot week in Kansas City, Friday night was a bearable ordeal when it came to the temperature. With regard to the music, however, the evening was a much more hospitable affair. It was an eclectic lineup for sure.

As an opener, the Crash Kings got their due with the early crowd and likely earned some fresh looks and new fans for the effort. Against Me! paced themselves through a scorcher of a set before giving way to DEVO, a stylistic transition that was less than seamless. The quintet’s 80s art school punk sound that once served as heavy rotation fodder during the heady early days of MTV was in rare form, accompanied by a stage show that was an inflatable human-sized hamster ball and a couple of confetti cannons away from finding a more contemporary analog.

The Silversun Pickups may have benefited from the cooler breezes of the evening but had to push their way through a miserably muddy and overdriven sound mix that was as thick as the pungent humidity pressing down upon the crowd. And to cap off the night, Ben Folds managed to transform the City Market into a sweaty piano bar complete with a raucously engaged crowd ready to belt along with every tune. Be sure to check out the excellent review on Back To Rockville. My pics from the evening are below…

[Full disclosure: Many thanks to Mary at Sideways Media, the promo folks for Crash Kings, for passing along tickets for Friday's show.]

Few things get me going like a good outdoor summer concert. What was once about the escape from the rigors of academia has now turned into the sweet and sweaty release from the grind of 9 to 5. And in Kansas City, outdoor summer shows don’t get a much better unconventional venue than the City Market.

This Friday’s show is going to be a strong (if not eclectic lineup) consisting of Ben Folds, Silversun Pickups, DEVO, Against Me! and the Crash Kings. The great part is that I haven’t seen any of these cats live before. And though I’m familiar with pretty much the entire lineup, I’m stoked to catch something completely new with the Crash Kings.

A guitarless power trio consisting of the brothers Beliveau (vocalist/keyboardist Tony and bassist Mike) and anchored by drummer Jason Morris, the Crash Kings have caught the attention of a number of industry folks as well as high profile fans. (Actor David Arquette recently directed the video for the band’s most recent single “You Got Me.”) While vocal comparisons between Tony Beliveau and Jack White are easy to lines to draw, it’s a disservice to the unique sound of the trio as a whole which is a hard-driving, teeth-clenched mix of guts and grit. To me, that sounds like the perfect start for a show on what is likely to be one of the hottest days of year.

For a taste of what to expect, check out their raucous cover of the Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog” below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Full disclosure: Many thanks to Mary at Sideways Media, the promo folks for Crash Kings, for passing along tickets for Friday's show and the lowdown on the band.]

Click here to view the embedded video.

In my mind, I could see and hear that kicking in around 1:43 of the clip below. But apparently Fonda passed, prompting one of the guys to say he “just didn’t get it.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

But 41 years after that film was released, and upon hearing the news of Hopper’s death, I can think of no better song to associate him with. And this version with David Crosby, Graham Nash and David Gilmour plays out like a prayer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For an interview with Schneider and Rodriquez on this collaboration, check out IFC.com. It’s a good read. About 5 years ago (!) I had the chance to interview Schneider for the Pitch. Hands down, one of my favorite conversations with a musician ever. We talked for about 45 minutes with only a fraction of the conversation making it into the final piece. If there’s such a thing as being eloquently crass, Schneider fits the bill.

Secondly, this whole rant by Chris Weingarten hits me with the force of a gut punch. As a former hack freelance music critic, I like to think that I wrote from a place that harbored a genuine love for music that goes back to my earliest memories. Currently as a digital marketing strategist, I realize that I’m part of the problem that he’s describing.

While I don’t agree with everything he’s saying, there’s about 90% of it that is a dead solid perfect bullseye. And I’m left speechless. Stunned. And a little sad too. Hit me with your take on the other side. It’s about a 10 minute viewing but very much worth your time if you care anything about music criticism, good writing and the twisted gyrations of the analog to digital conversion currently rocking the world of print media.

Let’s face it: 2009 was a pretty tough year for the Kansas City advertising community. Yet amidst all the turmoil this current economic recession has brought, last night proved to me that our local creative spirit is still as strong as it ever has been. And although overall entry numbers were down this year, the Kansas City ADDY Awards are still able to claim the title of being the single largest local advertising awards competition in the United States. In contrast to the crappy weather outside, the inside of the main ballroom of the Marriott Muehlbach Tower was transformed into mission control for two hours, launching winner after winner into the intense spotlight of peer recognition.

KC’s “big three” — Bernstein-Rein (my shop), Barkley and VML — certainly took home their fair share of gold ADDYs but I was struck by the top-notch work coming out of the smaller shops in town, most notably Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Willoughby Design, j-n-a advertising, Callahan Creek and C3. Meanwhile, the Kansas City production community’s world-class capabilities that make so many of us look so good had a great chance to shine. If it weren’t for the folks like T2, Wheeler Audio, rw/2, Ron Berg, Alistair Tutton, Austin Walsh, Bazillion, Propaganda 3 and so many others, many big ideas would remain just that — ideas.

Taking home this year’s top honors of Best Of Show was Bernstein-Rein’s print work for Hostess CupCakes titled “Filling 90 years with fun,” proving that a smart idea cleanly and clearly executed can still speak volumes. Meanwhile, Best of Broadcast honors went to Sullivan Higdon & Sink for their L’Desh Fresh video for Water.org, Willoughby Design claimed Best of Design for their work on New Leaf Paper, Best of Interactive went to T2 for their new digital home, Best of Print went home with Barkley for Jazzoo, Bernstein-Rein was awarded our very first Best of Public Service for our Salvation Army “Good Work” campaign, and recent KU grad Amy Rottinghaus snagged Best of Student ADDY for her Genesis School design work.

For a little taste of the show — at least how it looked from the Bernstein-Rein table — be sure to check out the slide show below. For a full accounting of all the ADDY gold winners, you can see the full list after that.

Congratulations to all the entrants and winners. Well deserved! Now…get back to work for 2011!

Student ADDY Competition

• Jared Brustad, Johnson County Community College, Saul Bass Poster
• Jeremy Kramer, Johnson County Community College, Rodchenko ‘Exclaim’ Exhibit Poster
• David Matheny, Avila University, Movie Title Sequence
• David Matheny, Avila University, DVD Packaging
• Amy Rottinghaus, University of Kansas, Genesis School
• Kevin Rudolph, Johnson County Community College, Certainties in Life, A Print Magazine Series
• Joe Wheeler, Johnson County Community College, Browns Budget Brewery

Advertising for the Arts & Sciences

• Muller Bressler Brown, Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) – Campaign for Kansas International Film Festival

Advertising Industry Self-Promotion

• Bazillion Pictures, Sprint Center ‘Capture’ for Bazillion Pictures
• Bernstein-Rein, BR Stache The Halls for Bernstein-Rein
• Bernstein-Rein, Interactivism for Bernstein-Rein
• Blacktop Creative, Blacktop Creative Website
• Movilis Media, MADDY Show Open for AAF – Kansas City
• rw/2, Horse Head for the Wade Brothers
• rw/2, Room 107 Motion for the Wade Brothers
• T2, T2 Halloween Massacre for T2
• T2, T2 Motion Design Reel for T2
• T2, T2 Website for T2
• Vedros Motion/Vedros & Associates, 2009 Cinematography Reel for Michael Stine/VEMO
• Wheeler Audio, Break A Leg for T2/Wheeler Audio

Collateral Material

• Barkley, Jazzoo Poster for the Kansas City Zoo
• Tad Carpenter, Nanny Match for Nanny Match
• Tad Carpenter, Wedding Invite for Tad & Jessica Carpenter
• Tad Carpenter, Yummo for Yummo Yogurt and Smoothies
• Willoughby Design, The Red Rubber Ball at Work for Kevin Carroll, Catalyst
• Willoughby Deisgn, What’s Your Red Rubber Ball for Kevin Carroll, Catalyst

Consumer or Trade Publication

• Bernstein-Rein, Hostess Cupcakes – 90 Years for Hostess

Direct Marketing

• C3 – Creative Consumer Concepts, SONIC Science Sliders 2 for SONIC, America’s Drive-In

Elements of Advertising

• Barkley, Expiration Date Book for Barkley
• Barkley, Jazzoo Logo – Lion for the Kansas City Zoo
• Bazillion Pictures, A Little Horse for the Wade Brothers
• Bazillion Pictures, Fly 53 House of 53
• Bazillion Pictures, MADD ‘Broken Teens’ :30 PSA for Mothers Against Drunk Driving
• Bernstein-Rein, Julian Logo for Julian Restaurant
• Bernstein-Rein, National Hurricane Museum Logo for National Hurricane Museum & Science Center
• j-n-a advertising, Exactly How It Used to Be for Kansas Travel & Tourism
• Ron Berg Photography, Birdies Single for Birdies
• Ron Berg Photography, Holiday Angel for Ron Berg Photography
• Ron Berg Photography, The Roasterie for The Roasterie
• rw/2, Bicycle Magazine for Bicycle Magazine
• rw/2, Fly 53 House of 53 Motion for FLY 53
• rw/2, Fly 53 House of 53 for FLY 53
• rw/2, Freshstep for Freshstep
• rw/2, MADD Print for MADD
• rw/2, WAD Magazine Series 1 for WAD Magazine 10th Anniversary
• rw/2, WAD Magazine Series 2 for WAD Magazine 10th Anniversary
• rw/2, Wyclef Jean for Western Union
• T2, Ameritrade Holiday Greeting Card, TD Ameritrade
• T2, Children’s Hospital of Illinois Campaign for Children’s Hospital of Illinois
• Willoughby Design, EK Success Brands Identity System for EK Success Brands

Interactive Media

• Barkley, Low Dough Variety Show for Sonic Drive-In
• Bernstein-Ren, Bayer-Fetch for Bayer Animal Health
• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s Beats for McDonald’s (2 awards)
• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s Pop Art for McDonald’s (2 awards)
• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s Spin Art for McDonald’s (2 awards)
• Bernstein-Rein, Salvation Army- Good Work for Salvation Army
• Greetings Comrade, Boobspeak for Disney Publishing Group/Brent Crawford – Author
• MMG Worldwide, Barbados Tourism – Long Live Life Website for Barbados Tourism Authority
• VML, CentryLink Moblitizer for CentryLink
• VML, ESPYS Website for ESPN
• VML, Kansas City Art Institute for Kansas City Art Institute
• VML, LG ‘Big In’ Website for LG
• VML, LG Fame US Website for LG
• VML, Nature’s Pride Site for Hostess Brands
• VML, Office Depot Racing for Office Depot
• VML, Wonder Sandwich Builder for Hostess Brands

Local Only

• i-Phone Apps Propaganda3, Swine Flute for Propaganda3
• One Giant Leap j-n-a advertising, March Angriness for Kansas Lottery

Mixed/Multiple Media

• Bernstein-Rein, Julian Branding Campaign for Julian Restaurant

Non-Traditional Advertising

• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s – Filet-O-Fish Polybag for McDonald’s Heart of America Co-op
• Bernstein-Rein, Middlebrow for Middlebrow Comics

Out-Of-Home

• Barkley, Library Trucks Campaign for Johnson County Library

Public Service

• Barkley, Jazzoo Campaign for the Kansas City Zoo
• Bernstein-Rein, Salvation Army- Good Work for Salvation Army
• Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Water.org — L’Desh Fresh Campaign for Water.org
• Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Water.org — L’Desh Fresh Online Video for Water.org

Radio

• Barkley, On The Go Guy for Sonic Drive-In
• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s – $1 Breakfast Campaign for McDonald’s Heart of America Co-op
• Bernstein-Rein, McDonald’s – Movie Jail for McDonald’s Heart of America Co-op
• Nicholson Kovac, Mustang Max: Dinner for FMC

Sales Promotion

• Barkley, Apple Slices Packaging for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Fresh Air for Dynamic Earth
• Willoughby Design, New Leaf Premium Business Paper Products for New Leaf Paper

Television

• Barkley, Cheap Date for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Chew Sip Chew for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Coffee Treat for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Cute Cute for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Go Long for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, Music Video for Big O Tires
• Barkley, Sonic 2 Guys TV Campaign for Sonic Drive-In
• Barkley, You’ll Find It for Sonic Drive-In
• Reign, Tenniset.com “Tennis Addict” TV Campaign for Tennisset.com
• Reign, Tennisset.com “School” :30 TV Spot for Tennisset.com
• Reign, Tennisset.com ‘Intervention’ :60 TV Spot for Tennisset.com
• Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Midwest Dairy — ChocoNoGo 10s Video for Midwest Dairy Association
• Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Shatto Milk — ‘More High Quality’ TV Spot for Shatto Milk

Best of Student ADDY Amy Rottinghaus, University of Kansas, “Genesis School”
Best of Broadcast Sullivan Higdon & Sink, L’Desh Fresh Online Video for Water.org
Best of Design Willoughby Design, New Leaf Premium Business Paper Products for New Leaf Paper
Best of Interactive T2, T2 Website for T2
Best of Print Barkley, Jazzoo Poster for the Kansas City Zoo
Best of Public Service Bernstein-Rein, Campaign for the Salvation Army
Best of Show Bernstein-Rein, Hostess Cupcakes – 90 Years for Hostess

2009 AAF – Kansas City Member of the Year Dan Barker, C3
2009 ad2 Member of the Year Kyle Rohde, ER Marketing
2009 Art+Copy Club Member of the Year Amy Young, Muller Bressler Brown
2009 Advertising Professional of the Year Matt Anthony, VML

[For a full winner's list, visit http://www.aafkc.com/addy/#/Winners.]