Fred Leo

Dog, amp, strat, macbook. The essentials.

Executive Summary: Increased gossip-cycle mentions suggest opportunities, challenges.

Spike in name recognition

In our first query we sampled internet positive-negative opinion measured against awareness.

While the “sucks” metric is trending up, so is the “great” index, overwhelmingly so, though we see evidence of a more dramatic tail-off in “great” vs. “sucks.” This is not considered statistically significant. More noteworthy is the vast spike in name recognition, revealing a new population of potential Mayer audience members — blank slates, independents, many of whom are likely to be humming capable.

Negatives vs. Curiosity

Next we queried negatives against against curiosity, confirming the opportunity to be found in our new pool of potential John Mayer virgins listeners.

While it’s true that both “go away John Mayer” and “John Mayer disease” are trending up, clearly these negatives at this point in the celebrity cycle are far more valuable than deleterious. However, these trendlines should be monitored, evaluated, and a new strategy determined before they cross over.

Negatives vs. unicorn goring

Next, we posed a judgment query against a John-Mayer event.

The good news here is that in the general population there is virtually no awareness of the goring by unicorn incident.

In our final query we see that among John Mayer disapprovers, the “asshole” versus “douchebag” trends are proportional, with “douchebag” leading “asshole. The most interesting chart intersection from this query is the coalescence of the trendlines of “douchebag” in general and the “john Mayer is a douchebag” trendline, suggesting a melding of the terms in public consciousness and possible celebrity brand ownership.

Research will continue monitoring, though we believe this “spike event” will settle into a more sustainable pattern of distinctive direction.

Meanwhile it seems that other artists have created supporting cultural material for the douchebag trend.

UPDATE: We have determined a flaw in the methodology of chart four based on a spelling error. Hoever, since too much time has been wasted on the subject and because conclusions are likely to be unaffected by performing the research again without the error, we’re going to stand by the results. It is entirely possible to waste too much time on the subject.

It’s actually 5 American terrorism suspects in Pakistan, but one could also imagine it as:

• Shuttle service from taping of the Joy Behar Show.
• The Tournament of Roses Parade Jack Bauer float.

You get the idea.

I do love Paste magazine. I should probably pay them money and subscribe — if they’re into that kind of thing.

Anyway, here’s a cool interview in PASTE with a guy from DEVO.

Note the last section of the article. A record sells 30,000 copies, but it’s licensed for $5 million.

Here’s a fantastic video of the mighty Sony Landreth. You can really observe his technique. Or just enjoy great slide-based music.

When you’re snagging pics off Google Images of lawmakers from other countries and using them to simulate what the world’s most wanted psychopath looks like, well, let’s just say it’s not reassuring.

However, with some care it is possible to achieve a degree of accuracy with the Google Images technique in specialized cases. For instance, here’s a shot of what the conqueror Hannibal might look like today.

I heard from more than one of my handy and honest stable of friends via assorted media, all trained professionals in critical matters of communication, that the Scott Brown for Senate spot I made, under certain listening conditions, suffered from a less-than-clear singout.

I’ve executed a quick fix of the spot’s video that solves the problem (later I’ll actually dive back into the audio.) I just added an effect to the sung-out word’s super to reinforce it. Otherwise, it’s the same as below, which is why I’m not wasting the real estate to show it again.

The revised spec Scott Brown spot can be downloaded here.

I’ve converted (I think) for iphone here, although the aspect ratio is altered. Thankfully, since it’s almost all type, it’s not too big a deal. Feel free to take one down, pass it around…

Last, I threw it on youtube, in case you want to see it in lower quality and with crappier sound.

Thanks to my focus group friends. They always come through with smart comments and suggestions with expectations of virtually nothing in return — unless you count the Aunt Mary gifts.

First off, I’m not a citizen of Massachusetts, so I’m a little reluctant to even step in that kitchen. On the other hand, I spent my youth wearing corduroy in New England, so I know something of the region. Besides, the people elected from Massachusetts have had a major and often awful impact on the lives of every citizen in the country, so I don’t feel too guilty about chiming in. (Don’t make me play that party Frank clip about how ship-shape Fannie and Freddie were.)

I wasn’t really planning to slap together a campaign spot demo. Actually I was working on a piece of music for the production library, but the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race seemed like a good way to test it out, especially since I’ve developed a fascination with political advertising.  I have a good feeling about the music’s broad usefulness.

Bear in mind, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Scott Brown campaign.

So here it is. Can’t seem to embed it to fit at the moment.

I have mixed feeling on the subject of covering great songs. On the one hand, it can seem insulting to the artist, as if the person doing the covering is saying “Hey, here’s how ya do that song.” On the other hand, a cover is a way to pay homage, to keep the song out there, to say “thank you.”

Ultimately, I think the reasons to be in favor of covers outweigh the reasons to oppose them — depending on the cover, of course. Sometimes they’re just slaughterings, and that might be the case here, though I sure hope not.

I just did a test of Petty’s Southern Accents, and it’s so down and dirty it’s subterranean. It was kind of spur of the moment, so I didn’t download the lyrics and screwed them up from memory. In fact, i’m pretty sure I forgot the last verse. I also wanted to see how things would work micing the new amp, but the mic was a paperweight, so both the guitar (the Epi Sheraton) and vocals on this are with the $25 radio shack mic.

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard this one until the Live Anthology came out.

UPDATE: Paperweight stereo mic, soooooyou want a battery? Fine, second chance for you. Also, the actual lyrics to the song seem to be this:

There’s a southern accent, where I come from
The young’uns call it country
The yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talkin’
But everything is done, with a southern accent
Where I come from

Now that drunk tank in Atlanta’s
Just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando
If them orange groves don’t freeze
I got my own way of workin’
But everything is run, with a southern accent
Where I come from

For just a minute there I was dreaming
For just a minute it was all so real
For just a minute she was standing there, with me

There’s a dream I keep having
Where my mama comes to me
And kneels down over by the window
And says a prayer for me
I got my own way of prayin’
But everyone’s begun
With a sou thern accent
Where I come from

I got my own way of livin’
But everything gets done
With a southern accent
Where I come from