Brand Noise

Brunette Solidarity

According to W Magazine, Diane Von Furstenberg has been carrying a picture of Wonder Woman around in her diary for years. Who knew? It came up in an article about the capsule Wonder Woman collection she developed in tandem with Warner Bros. and DC Comics. Joel Silver's movie is still in the works for 2009, while everyone laments the team's loss of Buffy Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon over creative visions.

Rural Blues Band Befriends R. Crumb & Daughter

John Heneghan and Eden Brower of NY’s East River String Band are reviving rural blues. “Before radio took over in the mid-1930s, music was really interesting — people weren’t hearing each other. Now, you can hear the most popular thing on the radio and then everybody copies it. In the ’20s, music was different from state to state, county to county.” Robert Crumb, the iconic cartoonist and 78 record collector has befriended the band, along with his daughter, who is also an artist. Crumb has traded records in their apartment, sat in on their shows and, most recently, drew the cover art for “Some Cold Rainy Day.” Definitely something to be said for the days before mass influence. Has the envelope for innovation been pushed beyond its limits? Read more.

Brew Shrine in Potosi

Potosi, Wisconsin, is now the home of a $7 million project in a restored 1852 brewery building that includes a restaurant, microbrewery and an unrivaled exhibit of often rare collectibles from the history of brewing in America. Besides being poured at the bar, Potosi beer will be sold in 22-ounce bottles, half-gallon "growlers" and kegs…Plans include regional distribution, and licenses are being pursued in Illinois and Iowa. Why not another brew? In the 1880s, there were over 2,400 breweries in the United States. Read the whole story in the Chicago Tribune.

Raising the Dead (Brands)

Rob Walker looks at the fine art of reviving old, discontinued brands in this week's NY Times Magazine. (excerpt) Brim, the decaffeinated coffee brand, has been off retail shelves since the 1990s. From 1961 to around 1995, General Foods spent tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to get it (top of mind). But General Foods disappeared into the conglomerate now known as Altria, which also acquired Kraft, maker of Maxwell House. With much smaller sales than that megabrand, Brim soon disappeared — except, perhaps, for a vague idea of Brim that lingered, and lingers even now, in the minds of millions of consumers. What’s that worth? A small company in Chicago, called River West Brands, figures that it’s definitely worth something, and possibly quite a lot.

Growing Pains: As Networks Intensify, Roles Evolve

We here at scenarioDNA love the roller derby. It’s an amazing source of girl power. Not just in the sport itself but in its underpinnings. It takes extraordinary team effort to sustain the operation. That said, there’s been some chatter of late talking about junior league roller derby. The first brat league was formed in Tucson by a group of kids who had been following the Tucson Roller Derby adult league. The girls are from 10 to 18 and they play by modified rules.

What’s interesting is that the girls enjoy the same solidarity as their elder counterparts. Yet, one thing has come up for discussion during our own visits with New York’s Gotham Girls: the emotional impact of injuries.

It’s fabulous to see young girls enjoy the solidarity and empowerment that the older girls find in roller derby. They’re practicing at least twice a week, playing once and socializing in-between. They live and breathe the sport. Even at work or school, they txt and IM their derby friends.

The network is pretty intense, which is something hard to find today. But because of that intensity, the impact of an injury hits very hard. Suddenly, a girl is jolted out of her element. That in itself is difficult for women of age, and further complicated for girls in their teens and pre-teens who are in the formative stages of their identity. It singly steps the issue up for the big sisters who now play yet another role.

The trick is how to maintain the authenticity of the younger set without losing the essence. (Image: Arnicare waiting for derby girls at practice.)

The Eyes of Amy Winehouse

I have spent much time deconstructing Amy Winehouse both with clients and my students.  There are many layers to explore that speak to an evolution and remixing of subculture trends.  The roots of her big eye makeup makeup are touched upon in this interesting clip from Herald Tribune.

NYC Gets Drive-ins This Summer

“Drive-ins have been disappearing for decades, declining to about 400 today from a peak of more than 4,000 in 1958, largely because of rising property prices and changing movie-going habits. After today, there will be 30 or so scattered across New York State, two in Connecticut, and just one, the Delsea in Vineland, in all of New Jersey, the state where drive-ins were born in 1933.” —The New York Times
                   
                    DRV-IN, a pop-up drive-in at 139 Norfolk that ends this week, will partner this summer with area parking lots, car rental companies, and car manufacturers to produce a spectacular series that will bring back the drive-in: Cars Under the Stars.                    

                   

The Method Behind Pep Band Music Choices

Who knew to ask? It can seem that the pep bands are forever behind the times, playing from song lists borrowed from classic-rock radio stations and wedding-reception D.J.s.

But there is a method to their madness — “We try to play songs that not only appeal to the blue-hairs in the crowd, but also to our students,” said Jim Hudson, director of athletic bands at Arizona State.

Updating the songbook is an annual tug-of-war. Most bands hold year-end votes for band members. At U.C.L.A., the bottom five songs are dropped. Five new ones are added.

Most pep-band arrangements, designed for timeouts, range from 100 seconds to 2 minutes. Raps, with their repetitive hooks, are increasingly used for 30-second timeouts.

Choosing the right mix has legal complexities, too. Music is copyrighted, so bands typically cannot simply choose a song and start playing it — although many do.

Read the whole story.

Crushed Ice Gets Its Due

Ice isn't just for chilling drinks anymore, or for packing fish and treating sprains. It's a hot snack. Some Sonic Drive-In franchises sell it in cups and in bags to go. Ice-machine makers are competing to make the best chewable ice, with names like Chewblet, Nugget Ice and Pearl Ice. One manufacturer calls the ice-loving South the "Chew Belt."

Sales of machines that make easier-to-chew ice jumped about 23%, to 16,673 units in 2006 from 2003, according to data from the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. Some ice chewers, including country-music star Vince Gill, have had the machines installed in their homes.

Ice chewers swap tips on Icechewing.com. A recipe for preparing the perfect cup of ice: Use a glass, not a plastic cup. Let crushed ice fuse in water. Drink the water. Shake the cup to loosen the ice. Dig in.

The American Dental Association says that ice-chewing can damage teeth. "People have the right to do things that may hurt them," says Matt Messina, a dentist in Cleveland and spokesman for the association. "If something breaks, we'll fix it."

A little trading down, a little retro, a little irreverence, a little retro. No wonder ice is gaining commercial steam.

Read more. (Image: Billy V.)

Vampira's Authenticity Pulled from the Culture

Maila Nurmi, whose "Vampira" TV persona pioneered the spooky-yet-sexy Goth aesthetic, has died. She was 85. Friends plan to transport Nurmi's casket in the same hearse she rode in when she served as grand marshal in a procession of hearses sponsored by Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum -- a vintage 1951 vehicle that appeared in a scene of "Ed Wood." (Read more from CNN.)

Vampira played with her pet tarantula, gave gruesome recipes for vampire cocktails and bathed in a boiling cauldron. With a knack for the double-entendre and the requisite blood-chilling scream, Vampira was a hit.

The character won Nurmi short-lived fame and a dedicated cult following. Nurmi claimed Vampira was also the uncredited inspiration for later ghoulish yet glamorous female characters in film and television, including Elvira.

The unconventional came calling in 1953, after Nurmi attended a Hollywood masquerade ball dressed as the ghoul of Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. In creating Vampira, Nurmi said she went beyond the Addams cartoon, developing an alter ego influenced by beatnik culture and her experiences as a child of the Depression.

"The times . . . were so conservative and so constrained," Nurmi said in a video interview that was posted on her website. "There was so much repression, and people needed to identify with something explosive, something outlandish and truthful."

Read more from the LA Times.