WFMU's Beware of the Blog

West African Finds At The WFMU Record Fair

WFMU was featured today in an article that raves about the last record fair. Written by Egon (Stones Throw records), you can listen to some of the West African LPs he found at the fair.

Thanks Egon!  And thank you to everyone who visited us last year at the fair.  We hope to see you again this year and we especially hope you find and discover music you've been looking for... or happen to stumble upon.

The dates of the next fair are October 23, 24 & 25 2009. At the same old place, 125 West 18th Street in NYC.

I Dream of Pseu

Sure, I dream of Pseu Braun. Who doesn't? Last night, for instance, I dreamt that I was in the big, white, split-level house with the view of the Verrazano Bridge and New York Harbor to the north, that Sluggo and I live in when I am dreaming, and I went downstairs in the morning and Pseu Braun was in the kitchen, just as happy as a gamecock, making breakfast. Two guys from a band from Belgium were staying with us, and they were there with their Parson Russell Terriers named Nipple and Mr. Crowder. Nipple had a little skin condition, nothing very serious, and I was about to recommend a veterinarian when my alarm went off and I woke up. 

I think everyone should start documenting their Pseu Braun dreams. Maybe we can get a company of Pseu Braun Dream Reenactors to portray them during lulls in this year's Marathon. I'll speak to the proper authorities, and let you know.

Video R.I.P.'s

I didn't make a year end list for 2008, because it was just a crappy year for me. But if I had, I think I would have made a list of the Top 10 Legends Who Died in 2008. Because, man, it was a heavy year for some of my favorite musicians, entertainers, and all around inspirations to move on. The best year end wrap ups so far have been at AM, Then FM and Locust St. But if you really want to go obit-crazy, just look at the full list on wikipedia.

And here are some video clips from a few a few of my personal heroes who passed away in 2008.

Yma Sumac, as she appeared in Secret of the Incas (and yes, Heston's character was the inspiration for Indiana Jones).

Even better, a French documentary about Yma features amazing clips from throughout her career.

Jerry Reed's Hot Stuff was my first, and still remains my favorite, Jerry Reed song. I really loved the movie of the same name, which featured another 2008 RIP, Suzanne Pleshette.

Eartha Kitt doing the song that made me fall head over heels for Eartha Kitt.

More after the jump!

Cool Objects that Poms Have Sex With: Mp3s from Richmond, Virginia

Speaking as a person who has consistently avoided living in places generally acknowledged as trendy, I'm always looking for exciting things coming from unexpected places.  If you tell me your band is from Austin, Portland or (God forbid) billyburg, I'll be hoping that your band sucks.  Your band probably does suck too.

So it was very refreshing to learn about the large amount of good music coming from Richmond, Virginia.  A lot of it seems to be amped up breakcore with a high tolerance for noise and general spazziness.  Jason from Richmond based CNP Records helped me put together this (by no means comprehensive) sampler of some of the town's more interesting exports.

Diamond Black Hearted Boy - Night One very interesting Richmond personality is Diamond Black Hearted Boy, a "post-hiphop artist who draws from the worlds of punk, hiphop, high art, disco, goth, industrial, and traditional african chant in his music and performance."  The myspace.  He's pictured below the fold in this article.

Narwhalz (of sound) - Pomeranian Redneck Snoopy Another of Richmond's most exciting artists is this pomeranian obsessed dude.  His noisy, gameboyed-out ADD beats glitch around faster than a gif animation on a myspace page.  He also runs a venue/gallery in town called Church of Crystal Light.  This dude is nuts, just look at his webpage and you'll see what I mean.  He also did the drawing to the right.

Hot Lava - Apple+Option+Fire I didn't know Hot Lava was from Richmond when I first heard them on Spleencoffin's Girlz of Noyz comp; all I knew was that I couldn't stop listening to their track, Ghosties, over and over!  Turns out they've got many more equally addictive songs.  Cutie indie-pop with psychy swirls, lyrics about video games and, most importantly, an endless supply of hooks!  Apple+Option+Fire is from the new LP Lavaology.  For those in NYC, Hot Lava will play Death By Audio in Brooklyn on January 10th.

Suppression - Maryanne Suppression's new collection of early records is out on CNP, but grind fans might also recognize them from releases on Noise Pollution, Slap-A-Ham, Pessimiser and Clean Plate.  Making this trash since 1992, Suppression continues to play primitive powerviolence but adds newer, noisier developments as well.  This particular track is a collab with harh noise freak Crank Sturgeon.  The extensive discog.

More excellent mp3s and a video below the fold...

Jamie and the J. Sylvia Singers (MP3s)

1. This Is All I Ask (3:08)
2. A Taste of Honey (2:21)
3. Days of Wine and Roses (2:40)
4. Yesterday (2:48)
5. It's Not Unusual (2:18)
6. Lost in the Stars (3:09)
7. Nature Boy (1:50)
8. A Lover and His Lass (1:59)
9. The Shadow of Your Smile (2:28)
10. Eight Days a Week (1:53)
11. We Can Work It Out (2:28)
12. Softly as I Leave You (2:44)

Following their three-album tenure at Capitol, Joe Sylvia took the J's with Jamie over to ABC records, restored the original Jamie and the J. Silvia Singers name, and produced a new album with a full orchestra under the direction of Don Costa, who had provided arrangements for Frank Sinatra's recordings. Once again, the album lacks a copyright, but using The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" as a guide puts this album at 1966 at the earliest.

Fans of earlier J's with Jamie recordings are in for a surprise, as the swinging jazz sound has been replaced with a more AM-radio-friendly supper club orchestra sound. Jamie is relegated to harmonies for much of the album, particularly the Beatle covers.

That's not to say any of this is bad. There's excellent singing and musicianship throughout, but much of what makes the group's earlier recordings so special gets lost in the attempt to create a broader appeal. "This Is All I Ask" comes closest to the classic J's sound, with Jamie's lovely lead vocal taking center stage. The harmonies on "Nature Boy" are so smooth that you may need to hear it a few times to realize it's an a capella track. "It's Not Unusual" rounds out the highlights of the album. The one original track, "A Lover and His Lass," was penned by jazz legend Dick Hyman and injects a bit of swing into the mix.

It's a pleasant listen, but ultimately it's hard to separate this from the abundance of vocal pop that drove Tom Donohue to flee AM radio in the 1960s. The squeal of delight that comes from the thought of the J's taking on The Beatles fades when you hear by-the-numbers arrangements and production. It's done just as well as any of the other vocal group recordings of the day, it's just not done better. Fans will want to add this to their collections, but the uninitiated would be better served getting to know the group's Columbia recordings to understand their enduring popularity.

Karate Elvis Style

In the spring of 1372 the Ming Dynasty kick-started the modern karate kraze by bringing old school martial arts to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. It was a relaxing hobby until 1609 when the Shimazu clan (the first cats to use firearms) got in everybody's business and the Okinawa Elders did thus decree an all out ban on weapons. This led to the widespread use of punching and kicking and gouging. To keep up with the demand for savvy senpais, those already trained in the martial arts assembled makeshift classrooms and hired receptionists. Three hundred and forty-nine years later in an army base in Fort Hood, Texas, the exotic open-handed techniques of the Orient found an unlikely zealot in the form of the Rock and Roll King of the World.

In the 1950s, Elvis Presley--all purpose sleepwalker and fan of Mario Lanza 78s and chocolate milk, was Sun Records' most successful foray from the darkness of unsold hillbilly noise. In an early interview Elvis mentioned that he "was studying to be an electrician but got wired the wrong way," and he wasn't too far off the mark. A loyal devotee of Captain Marvel, Jr., Presley carried a five battery police flashlight like a scepter while his own candle flickered tenuously within. He rose and expanded like a human Pac-Man, squandering his days searching for clouds that resembled Joseph Stalin and nurturing his Norman Bates complex. Blessed/cursed with a notoriously short attention span, Presley tore through hobbies and interests with the feral randomness of a three week old chimp. He actually owned a chimp ("Scatter") and after much hilarity, the poor monkey found himself delegated to a spare room along with slot car tracks, fireworks, religious booklets and other sundry forms of spent distraction.

One hobby that Elvis stuck with for almost his entire adult life was the martial arts, specifically karate. He had his first taste of the chop-socky in boot camp and would excitedly expound on its history and meaning to anyone who was forced to gamely listen. Karate's teachings and theatrics complimented his superhero obsession nicely and he devoured books on the subject. Elvis' voracious appetite for knowledge was matched only by his voracious appetite.

New Song-Poem Project (MP3's)

The last few times I have posted Song-Poems, either here or to my own blog, I've received comments or e-mails from people requesting that I post more, or asking where to find more on-line song-poems, now that the American Song-Poem Music Archives site is no longer being updated (and now that it's MP3's are no longer available).

As a result, I've decided to start my own project, "Song-Poem of the Week", at my own blog. This began on New Year's Day, and I hope to continue it indefinitely. Primarily, I intend to use tracks from the many song-poem albums, 45's and 78's I personally own, but will probably move into those which I've received as files or tapes from other collectors, and perhaps those which used to be at the AS/PMA site. Feel free to make requests, either here or at my blog.

As a preview, here's a handful of song-poems I like a lot:

First up, a song which I did submit to the former MP3 page of AS/PMA, and an all time favorite of mine, a rave-up of a tune which, unlike most song-poems, deserved to be a hit:

1.) Jim Hall and the Radio Pals - Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Potassium (MP3)

Oddly enough, I've recently found another version of the above song, by a female singer, on another label, in a sedate, "adult contemporary" setting - a version which appears to predate this one! I'll get to that one at my site, one of these weeks.

Next, two songs by the sadly under-appreciated Cara Stewart, including one which would have been ideal a few days ago:

2.) Cara Stewart - New Year Song (MP3)

3.) Cara Stewart - Any Dance, Any Dance (MP3)

Finally, two songs sung by the ubiquitous (and frequently incognito) Sammy Marshall. "You Insulted Me", in particular, features some fairly tortured turns of phrase:

4.) Chuck Jones and the Links - Sputnik Hit the Moon (MP3)

5.) Ben Tate - You Insulted Me (MP3)

Enjoy!

I Felt the Same Way When They Cancelled Larry Sanders

like flies on sherbet

It's kind of startling to discover how something can be so breathtaking and so influential, that you can't point to a time when this force wasn't felt in your life.  I know many of us felt that TANG granulated soft drink was going to be that moment for us, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. 

I just came back from the William Eggleston retrospective at the Whitney museum and I am still agog with that feeling.  His photos seem so effortless, but that's because we have been looking at his influence in the photo world ever since he touched down in the 1960's.  Coming of age in an era that wasn't engulfed with constant technological innovation, Eggleston made his mark through his viewpoint, a much harder innovation to identify.  He shot in black and white at the outset of his relationship with the camera and then switched to color when color was yet to be cool. Following the trail of American vernacular that Faulkner had trod so surely before him, Eggleston presents us with who we are, without the blinding glare of the American Dream.  His reality surrounds us in a loving embrace of old and torn, new and shiny: what we are whether we like it or not.

Eggleston was born in Memphis. It's the same Memphis that gave us Big Star.  The original cover of Radio City is wrapped with his 1973 photo "The Red Ceiling".  Another photo of a waving bunch of dolls astride a big old Caddy welcomes us to Alex Chilton's Like Flies on Sherbet.  David Byrne invited Eggleston to chronicle the making of his film True Stories.  There seems to be a natural kinship between the construction of his photos and the unmasking that some music offers.

Eggleston's 1973 film Stranded in Canton is also on view in the Whitney's galleries. A rambling mix of late night jams, shot in friends houses and on the street, it feels like an odd night relaxing with William.  Two documentaries centering on William Eggleston and his photography: William Eggleston in the Real World, and By the Ways: A Journey with William Eggleston are available through Netflix.  The exhibit closes January 25th, 2009.

Pretty Good: The Bronwyn C. Top Ten of 2008

1. The Giants win the Superbowl.

2. The NYC Musical Saw Festival. I’ll say it again: Hearing Satie’s “Gymnopedie” played by a musical saw and a handbell choir was one of the highpoints of my life. Seriously. The piece for musical saw and Japanese music box by Scott R. Munson was outstanding, too. This year’s Saw Festival is scheduled for July 18.

3. Reading my story “Loved Ones” at the Cup and Pen Small Press Reading Series in March. Emcee Rebecca Alvarez (pictured) is the Pink Pony Princess of the World.

4. The Center for Book Arts, and Barbara Henry, and letterpress printing in general.

5. A weird photo that I took was made into a giant street banner and hung from a lamppost in a little village in upstate New York. Somewhere I have a picture of the banner hanging up, but not where I can get at it right now. It was pretty great, though.

6. The excellent books from Eye Rocket Books ), especially the brilliant and extremely disturbing “Diamonds” and the incredible “Works Cited.” Matt Kessler and Zach Huelsing should totally be getting grants from the Center for Book Arts.

7. DJ Kelly and I spent three days getting gussied up to attend the premiere of a movie we were in, and then didn’t even think to get a picture of us standing in front of that official “Tribeca Film Festival” backdrop. In fact, we didn’t get any photos of ourselves at all. That’s probably partly because I’m faceblind and it never occurs to me to get a picture of myself, but what’s her excuse?

8. The exhibit of Francis Alys’ collection of copies of one 1885 painting of St. Fabiola at the Hispanic Society. Bizarre, unique, and oddly moving. Sluggo and I spent hours on it.

9. “That One.” After John McCain referred to Barak Obama as “that one” during a debate, Mr. Obama called Mrs. Obama “this one over here” during an interview on CBS. That One, This One—what do they call the girls, Thing One and Thing Two? But everything has felt better and more hopeful since he got elected.

10. Judge Roy Pearson was named “Douche of the Year” on a special bracketology edition of my show “Killing Time with Bronwyn C.” on June 6. (For highly technical reasons, all the archives of that show are filed under the name of another show, “Bronwyn Knows Best with Bronwyn and Kelly” on the WFMU playlists and archives page. But it’s there.) Judge Roy Pearson is the douche who sued his dry cleaners for $64 million dollars because they temporarily misplaced his trousers. The great thing is that he was subsequently removed from his job as an administrative law judge in Washington DC and now he's suing for reinstatement and “damages in excess of $75,000.” Plus he’s appealing the ruling in the original case. Once a douche, always a douche—something to keep in mind as we go boldly forward into 2009.

Thanks for reading my blogpost this time, and may God bless.

Jason Sigal thinks 2008 was Great (mp3s)

Remember 2008? I know I do. Here are the ALBUMS that have stood the test of time for me:
*Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker (Gulcher) // listen to Space Forklift mp3

*Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You (Domino)  // listen to "Orphaned" in real audio

*Lazy Magnet - He Sought For That Magic By Which All The Glory And Mystic Chivalry Were Made To Shine - or - Is Music Even Good? (Corleone Records) (album title of the year?)  // listen to "Masters of Science Fiction" mp3

*Mahjongg - Kontpabb (K Records)  //  listen to "Tell The Police the Truth" mp3

*Brooklyn Academy - Bored of Education (Sowl Productions)  //  listen to "Black Out" in real audio

*Human Eye - Fragments Of The Universe Nurse (Hook Or Crook)  // listen to "Slop Culture" in real audio

*Bird Show - Bird Show (Kranky)  // listen to "BRDDRMS" in real audio

*Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language (Marriage Records)  // listen to "Morning Ritual" mp3

*Tommy Jay's Tall Tales of Trauma (Columbus Discount) reissue  //  listen to "I Was There" mp3

*Arthur Russell - Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika) reissue  //  listen to "This Time Dad You're Wrong" in real audio

My two favorite SONGS of the year:
A) Catatonic Youth - "Control My Gun" from The World's Lousy With Ideas vol.5 (Almost Ready Records) [real audio]
B) Mahjongg - Free Grooverider from the Selector Dub Narcotic 7'' [real audio]

                                                                                                            ...much more nostalgia after the jump

Flame Broiled Seduction

Burger King® Flame™, introduced last month just in time for Christmas, is a new meat-scented body spray. It was only sold in NYC at that paragon of good taste, Ricky's. Gothamist interviewed a Ricky's employee who reports that Flame actually smells "Nice and spicy... kind of like Axe body spray"*. 

While it is easy to assume that Burger King has merely lost its freaking mind, the Flame ad campaign makes it rather obvious that they planned this as a bit of a gag all along. Their "Flame Meets Desire" interactive website is actually a really funny look at the most perfectly cheesy examples of romantic imagery. It also features some of the creepiest romantic imagery, with that expressionless new "king" trying to seduce you wearing nothing but a blanket in front of a roaring fire**. 

Even though Flame is sort of a joke, it is one that will make BK a bit of money on sales, as a cheap joke gift can be a bit hard to resist - and some people do indeed want to smell like they work in fast food (initial stock sold out instantly). More importantly, such a campy campaign will help spread word of mouth without them having to spend much money on adverti....  CRAP! You did it! It worked, you bastards! Still, your jokes won't make me eat a meal at Burger King. Never again, I say!***

While you're waiting for Flame to be restocked, you can experience the same romantic feeling in your ears instead of your nostrils by allowing yourself to be seduced by romance master Fabio. Just listen to the advice offered from his quickie CD marketing ploy Fabio: After Dark. Enjoy!

Fabio, About Romance  |  Fabio On Inner Beauty  |  Fabio On Films  |  Fabio On Tropical Islands  |  Fabio On Humor  |  Fabio On Surprises****  |  Fabio On Slow Dancing

"Are We Going To Play With Our Friends' Balls Today?" (video)

A slightly different episode of the British children's TV show Rainbow...

Mae West - Way Out West

This bizarre 1966 album was the first attempt by Mae West for a showbiz comeback. Despite being an extremely talented playwright and acerbic comedic actress, Mae West's final attempt at showbiz triumph was not to be. This album featured West covering The Beatles, Percy Sledge and The Guess Who (to get technical, it is a cover of Chad Allen and The Expressions... to get more technical, it is really a cover of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. The song is Shakin' All Over) among others. Some of it is surprisingly listenable. West's next two projects, motion picture duds Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Sextette (1978), are also considered camp classics. Listen to the whole album here.

No, You Racist Pig--Go The Hell to Dairy Queen

Merry New Year!

Bet that last bottle of Asti Spumanti there won't be any merry new years ahead for the Campbell kiddies of Holland Township, NJ when they hit third or fourth grade.  All are still too young to understand why some kid is repeatedly using their stomachs as field goal tees on the playground at the ages they are now because he learned the sources of these childrens' names earlier in his young life so I guess it really wouldn't matter too much if they were in third or fourth grade.   

Lee Ving vs. Tom Scott

In honor of Fear's slated Club Europa 2009 show in Greenpoint, Mark Morgan provides a clip of what was surely the most unlikely fusion of styles since Zorn played on Joe Piscopo's "Fat Boy":

UBUWEB :: Featured Resources 2008 (+ Jan '09)

Selections from UbuWeb

January 2009
Selected by James Hoff

1. Sjollander/Weck: Extracts from Monument
2. Ron Rice: A Brief History of Anti-Records and Conceptual Records
3. Alan Sondheim: Run by Me
4. Ulay: Action in 14 Predetermined Sequences
5. Joseph Nechvatal: viral symphOny (28'09")
6. Henry Chopin Performance: Undated
7. CoLab: All Color News Sampler
8. John Cage / Wim Mertens "So that each person is in charge of himself."from A Dip in the Lake
9. Dec-Francis: Rant 2
10. Charlemagne Palestine: Island Song

James Hoff is an artist living in New York City. He, along with Miriam Katzeff, is the co-founder of Primary Information.

December 2008
Selected by Julian Cowley

1. Robert Ashley - Music with Roots in the Aether
2. Joe Jones/ Chicken to Kitchen Fluxus Meditation from Fluxsaints (1992)
3. Robert Wilson - Christopher Knowles The Sundance Kid Is Beautiful (1975) from Giorno Poetry Systems, Big Ego
4. Wolf Vostell - De/Collage [LP] (1980)
5. John Cage and Raahsan Roland Kirk - Sound?? (1966)
6. Nicholas Moore, Spleen (Ubu Editions, 2004)
7. Pina Bausch Documentary (directed by Anne Linsel) (2006)
8. David Behrman, Long Throw (Roulette, 2008)
9. Derek Bailey, Interview by Henry Kaiser (1987)
10. Vito Acconci, The Bristol Project (2001)

 

Julian Cowley contributes regularly to The Wire and occasionally to other music magazines. He has also lectured and written extensively on literature. During the 1980s he had the good fortune to work closely for several years with poet and critic Eric Mottram, whose inexhaustible conversation was, in effect, a foretaste of the UbuWeb experience.

 

 

November 2008
Selected by Neville Wakefield

 

1. Willoughby Sharp Interviews Vito Acconci (1973)
2. Bas Jan Ader - Selected Works (1970-71)
3. Pipilotti Rist - Video Works (1986-2003)
4. Chris Burden - Documentation of Selected Works 1971-74
5. Johan Grimonprez - Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997)
6. The Films of Jack Goldstein (1974-1978)
7. Gordon Matta-Clark - Splitting, Bingo/Ninths, Substrait (Underground Dailies) (1974-1976)
8. Lawrence Weiner - WATER IN MILK EXISTS (2008)
9. Psychic TV - "Unclean"
10. Robert Smithson - Bootleg of Hotel Palenque by Alex Hubbard (1969 / 2004)

 

Neville Wakefield is a writer and curator living in NYC. Recent film projects include 'destricted' a compilation of commissioned films by Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Marco Brambilla, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noe, Richard Prince and Sam Taylor Wood. Senior curatorial advisor to PS1 and curator of Frieze he is also creative director of 'tar' magazine.

Liz Berg's Best of 2008

Best New Releases (listen = real audio)

Dan Friel - Ghost Town (listen) - ecstatic electronic blitz

Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual (listen) - best spastic screeching lady of the year

Times New Viking - Rip It Off (listen) - irresistibly damaged 2 min pop songs

Monotonix - Body Language (listen) - that's spelled r-a-w-k

Sic Alps - US EZ (listen) - lo-fi catchy tunes

Teeth Mountain - Self Titled (listen) - pounding drums electronic fun

Various - Museum of Future Sound Vol. 2 (listen) - party music for robots

Gary War - New Raytheonport (listen) - mellow experimental songs for the future

Golden Triangle - Self Titled (listen) - if the B-52s were fronted by Mark E. Smith...

El-G - Tout Ploie (listen) - woozy strangeness from France

Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace (listen) - rock deconstructed

Dead Western - Soften Your Screams Into Sings (listen) - creepy, warped pop ballads

                          Growing - All the Way (listen) - bent electronics soaking in the sun

 

 

Bob Brainen's Favorite Releases of 2008

(In Alphabetical order)

New New Releases

Terry Adams - Love Letter To Andromeda (Clang/nrbq.com)

 

 

Awake, my Soul - Documentary Soundtrack (Awake Productions)

 

 

Fern Knight - Fern Knight (Vhf Records)

 

 

Inara George w/ Van Dyke Parks - An Invitation (Everloving)

 

 

Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet - One Dance Alone (Songlines Recordings)

 

 

Make A Rising - Infinite Ellipse And Head With Open Fontanel (High Two / Aum Fi.)

 

 

 
Stephen Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra - We Are MTO (MOWO Inc)

 

 

Vetiver -Thing Of The Past / More Of The Past E.P (Gnomonsong)

 

 
Willoughby - I Know What You're Up To (Sargeant)

 

 

Hi! We're The Fitt Family! (MP3s)

1. Grandpa's Arrest (:56)
2. Patch of Blue (:57)
3. Company Time (:56)
4. Pac-Man Wrist (:58)
5. Team Spirit (:29)
6. A Fitt Date (:28)
7. Trump Card (:28)
8. Executive Privilege (:29)
9. Phil 'Er Up (:28)

If you're like millions of Americans (myself included), then weight loss tops your list of New Year's Resolutions. Here's a little motivation, courtesy of the President's Council for Physical Fitness, circa 1981.

Each of these fitness-encouraging public service announcements revolves around a member of the family sharing good fitness news or resolving a crisis with Mother Fitt, who seems to be getting closer to a nervous breakdown with each successive track. With a grandfather who struts around town in his pajamas, a husband who's working out with "that cute Miss Willoughby," a son who's name nobody can remember (he's referred to as both Frankie and Freddy), and a daughter who can't get a date, who can blame her?

Production credit goes to Lowengard and Brotherhood. Jerry Lowengard ran an agency that specialized in political ads, so the writing and production is a cut above most PSAs, even if they simply sped up the intro track to make it fit a 30-second spot. "Team Spirit" is the most flagrant example.