I know many of you have written ‘where’s the post from your son?’
I’m sorry, he blew me off. He had better things to do. Like watch American Idol, do his homework, and have a play date with a couple of his friends. I was putting too much pressure on him to write. And I think he just decided it was too much work.
Damn. It would have been funny. Maybe someday he’ll be a guest blogger. Just not this week.
Apologies again.
My normal post for today will follow shortly.
3.2.12
This weekend, I mounted a GoPro Hero 2 video camera to my son’s ski helmet and hit the ‘record’ button. What happened for the next 2 hours was funny, boring and an interesting view into the world of 9-year-old. Here are some snippets.
I’m Going To Be Famous
My son gets on a chairlift with a certain ‘girl.’ This girl has already told everyone that she has a little bit of a crush on him. I think he has one back. This conversation was funny.
Girl: Turn the camera toward me (Head turns – now she’s looking directly into the camera) some day; I’m going to be rich and famous. And you’re going to be my assistant.
Son: How are you going to become famous?
Girl: I don’t know, maybe some reality TV show. Like ‘Mary’s Got Talent’ (Name changed)
Son: Maybe, ‘American Mary’ or ‘Mary’s Voice’ or ‘The Amazing Mary.’
Girl: I know ‘Marry Mary!’
Son: So you’re not going to famous too soon, right?
Girl: Why?
Son: I think we have a race tomorrow.
Girl: Well, I won’t be famous by tomorrow, unless someone discovers me while skiing and wants to put me in a ski movie.
Son: That would be cool. Can I be in your movie?
Girl: No, but you can be my assistant.
Birthday Parties Suck
My son was also discussing his upcoming birthday with another boy. He’s a bit of the conversation.
Boy: What are you doing for your birthday?
Son: I don’t want to do anything. It’s too much pressure.
Boy: I love parties. You get lots of gifts and stuff.
Son: I don’t mind the presents; it’s the people that drive me nuts.
My Son Sings While He Skis
Who knew? But on every run down the hill, my son can be clearly heard singing. His song choices were interesting.
1st run: Kelly Clarkson “Stronger”
2nd run: China Anne McClain “Unstoppable”
3rd run: Katie Perry “California Gurls”
4th run: Don McClain “American Pie”
Although he did get some of the “American Pie” lyrics wrong, ‘…. then good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing I’m going drink ‘til I die.’
Adults Mug For The Camera
The last little tidbit, is how comfortable kids are in front of a video camera, but how silly adults act. Virtually every adult made some strange face into the camera. While the kids just acted normally. I guess the kids have grown up in the video age, so having their life on film is nothing out of the ordinary. But funny.
So that’s partially what happens. More once I finish screening the rest of the footage.
2.27.12
I don’t know why, but I had a dream last night about my college Spring break. It was a time I hadn’t thought about in a long, long time. I was at Rider College in Lawrenceville, New Jersey studying journalism. My goal was to be the next great investigative reporter – you know – the next Woodward and Bernstein. I was in my dorm room in Switlick C (I know, it’s a strange name for a dorm) when my room mate, Weazer asked if I wanted to join him, Space, and Breeze on a road trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. By the way, their real names were Dave, Jim and Paul. I think the real reason they asked my to go was because they didn’t have a car to drive down and I did. But that didn’t matter, I quickly agreed and off we went.
That was the amount of planning.
We jumped in my car with a backpack full of clothes, virtually no money, no plans, no hotel reservation or place to stay. We just assumed we’d figure it out on the way down.
And we had the time of our life.
We drove all night. Decided for some strange reason to stop in Orlando on the way and spend a day in Disney World. The only reason I remember stopping in I have a photograph of Space standing in from of the Space Mountain sign. He has this shit eating grin on his face. I’m pretty sure he was drunk. I seem to remember that we knew someone at a college in Florida – and we crashed in their dorm for a night. Had a fairly late party, and decided in a drunken state to go visit Mickey Mouse. I’m sure at some point in the night it seemed like a good idea.
Next day, off to Fort Lauderdale. We somehow found a place to stay. I think we crashed with other guys from our college, because I seem to remember we had seven of us in one room. We stayed for a few days. Went to a few bars. Met a few people. And then we decided Fort Lauderdale was lame.
So all seven of us packed up our two cars and drove further south to Key West. Again, no plans, no reservations, no hotel. Just seven guys. Two cars. And a few six packs of beer.
By the way – you’ll notice I never mention eating food. From this entire trip, I have no recollection of ever eating. Probably because we didn’t eat. We used all of our available money for beer. But that’s beside the point.
We get to Key West and can’t find a place to stay. Nothing. Everything is booked. So we decide to sleep on the beach. Can’t be too hard to find a place to sleep. Some of us can sleep in the car. Some on the beach. But then a miracle happened. As we’re driving to the beach, we see a beachside shack. Sitting on the porch (and I’m not making this up) are seven local girls drinking beer. They wave at us. We wave back. We head over. Before you know it, we’re drinking their beer, sleeping on their floor, and basically crashing at their shack for the remainder of the trip.
While in Key West, we also ran into another friend from school that had become stranded in the Keys when his group from school left him behind. So he crashed with us. We drove him back. And that was a good thing. He had money for gas. We didn’t. One thing we forgot to figure into our plans was money to buy gas for the return trip.
It’s funny; I often talk about my daughter and how they’ll leave the house with no plans, no money, and no idea where they’re going. And it always works out. Maybe I should let it go – because my Spring break trip proved to me long ago – that some times the best memories are the ones you don’t plan.
Spring break was one of those times.
2.25.12
Let me start by saying that I don’t need another guitar. But that doesn’t change the fact that I want another guitar.
Last night, during my guitar lesson, my teacher and I were playing a song when it hit me – this would sound really good on a hollow body electric guitar. And then I realized that it was only a matter of time. I’m now justifying buying the guitar because I need it to make the songs sound better. Not because I really just want it.
Last night, I was learning four songs. Yes four. The topic of the night was arpeggios. How to make something very simple sound really amazing.
The first song we tackled was ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele. A very simple song that really sounds great. The arpeggios are mimicking the piano part. And while I’d love to sing along with my playing – this song is very difficult to play and sing at the same time. That’s because you’re not playing the melody line. The first note of the arpeggio is the melody but the other seven notes are not. But it’s great to play and a beautiful song. Of course, I was also thinking how great this would sound on the Epiphone 1961 Casino that I tried but didn’t buy.
Next we jumped into ‘Because’ by the Beatles. Ever lesson with my teacher includes something by the Beatles. I was blown away by the complexity and simplicity of this song. I was learning the part that is actually played by a harpsichord on the original. Only later in the song does a guitar take over. But again, I was amazed how a simple grouping of notes could make a great song. What kept running through my mind was that this would sound really good on a Gibson 335.
Finally we moved to ‘Across the Universe’ also by the Beatles. And while this isn’t a true arpeggio song, it has a lot of the same playing structure as the others. This song is all about the opening few bars. Once you get past that, it’s really straightforward.
Of course, I’d love to hear it through a Gibson 359 hollow body.
Last we jumped to a Neil Young song “Dead Man.” This has nothing to do with arpeggios at all. But I think my teacher wanted me to learn something fairly obscure and interesting. This was great. And sounded really good on my Martin D-35. I also played parts of it on my J-45, but for some reason, it sounded better on the Martin. I don’t need another acoustic guitar. My two main guitars are just perfect.
So it begs the question – do I really need it? Or do I just want it? Or am I just making excuses and should just get over it? Or should I just buy one because I will eventually break down.
I don’t know. All I know is that I love playing guitar. I owe it all to my daughter Nicole. Just she began my addiction. And I love her for it.
PS: You’ll notice the format of my blog did NOT change — yes — I counted all the votes. And the current format won hands down.
2.23.12
I have five or six meetings in my office every day. The average number of people in those meetings is about four. And every day, someone leaves something in my office. And the interesting part – most never come back to look for the item they’ve left behind.
Here is a short list of some of the items left behind in the past few weeks.
Eyeglasses
You would think that someone would notice that they’ve left their glasses behind. I mean eventually you’ll have to read something. But that would be logical. The glasses have been in my office for about two weeks. I finally put them on a file cabinet outside my office – and someone did claim them. I can’t believe it took that long.
Clipboard
I carry this really nice metal clipboard. It holds a small pad and is very handy when going to internal meetings. The problem – the clipboard is not mine. Someone left it in my office. I’ve asked everyone. Nobody has claimed it. I carry it to meetings and nobody ever asks ‘is that mine?’ I know it’s a low cost item, but I would certainly want my clipboard back. But in three weeks, nobody has claimed this item. So now it’s officially mine.
Coffee Cups
This is the #1 item left behind. Empty. Full. Lipstick stained. Fresh. Every day I throw away at least 3 coffee cups. And many are full and brand new. I don’t care. If it’s in my office, and you leave, I throw it away. So you know all that money you’re spending at Starbucks? It’s ending up in my trashcan.
A Leather Glove
A woman left a single leather glove in my office. Black. Size small. I could have a Cinderella fitting – come by my office and you can try on the glove. Or if you have the mate, I’ll give you the match. But it’s been a few weeks, and I think it may be time to chuck it in the trash. I don’t think anyone is coming by to claim it. But if it’s yours, please raise your cold hand.
Notebooks
Another common item left behind is a notebook. Usually I can figure out whom it belongs to by looking inside. Luckily, I haven’t looked inside a notebook and read any mass murder manifesto or some plot to overthrow the government or even an I HATE RICH rant. So far it’s been pretty tame. Although someone is practicing his or her ‘star’ signature a little bit too much.
Hot Sauce
I think someone ate something in my office recently and left an entire bottle of hot sauce. I thought that was kind of strange, since I don’t remember anyone eating in my office. And if they did, do they carry their own bottle around with them? Who does that? And if you’re reading this – I threw the bottle away, sorry.
The other things that end up in my office, pencils, paperclips, lots and lots of paper, push pins, ring binders and even an extra chair are all a part of doing business in a big company. But if you’re looking for your MacBook Pro – I’ve locked it in my desk.
See you after my next meeting.
2.21.12
Did something ever happen that was so weird and so unusual that you’re wondering how could it possibly happen? Last night, such a thing happened to me.
Last night I was in my kitchen when I noticed someone DRIVING on my front lawn. Excuse me? Can I help you?
A woman got out of her car and asked if my house was a certain Bed and Breakfast. Now, my house does not look like a B&B. “No, this is a private home.” And then she said something really funny “My GPS said that I should turn here.”
So a woman drove down my driveway, avoided the three cars that were parked there (yes, I had friends over), drove up on the lawn, and only stopped when she ran out of space because her GPS told her to turn? Really?
How about using a little common sense? How about asking yourself ‘Does this look like the photo I saw online for the B&B?’ How about parking behind the other cars and asking before driving on my lawn.
When she realized she was wrong, she began to back up out of my driveway. Thank goodness my friend Ken recommended we move the cars out-of-the-way. I can picture her ramming into our cars on the way out.
It was so strange, that it almost doesn’t seem like it really happened.
“The GPS told me to turn.” How funny is that!
2.19.12
I don’t think I’ve been this angry in a long time.
And it’s stupid. But I’m still furious. It’s all because I ordered something online and the delivery company is being an idiot. OK – here’s the premise.
My wife and I have been looking for a new coffee table for our living room for 10 years. We can never find anything we both like. So we’ve been living with this ugly coffee table I got second-hand when I was living in my NYC apartment in 1988. I’ve always hated this coffee table. I’ve put it outside for the trash men at least 4 times. And every time, my wife pulls it back in.
Recently we actually found two coffee tables we liked from the same online site. We bought them. And then the delivery stupidity began.
Unless you buy the ‘premium’ delivery package for an extra $400, the delivery company won’t take the coffee table off the truck when they come to deliver. That’s right, they will pull up to the street, knock on the door, and YOU have to go inside the truck and carry it off.
But wait there’s more — they can’t leave until I sign the delivery sales receipt AFTER I inspect the item inside my house. Really. So they’re going to sit in the truck and wait for me and my wife to carry the table into our house, unpack the box, inspect the item, and then come outside and sign a piece of paper. Interesting.
Oh, and they only deliver on weekdays. And won’t give you a range of times when they’re going to show up. So my wife and I BOTH have to take the day off, since I probably won’t be able to carry the table into my house by myself.
I know, you’re thinking ‘and you didn’t cancel the order and tell them to #$@$# off?’
After 10 years of searching – I really want the table. So I have a plan.
I’m going to bribe the drivers. Yes, I’m going to see if they have a price. $50? $100? What will it take to have them carry the table into my house.
Another alternative is to ask for their company information before I get on the truck. “You know, I’d like to know who I’m going to have my lawyer call in case I hurt myself while inside your truck.”
My last thought was to have my wife and son go outside to carry the table inside. Surely the drivers won’t allow a woman and 9-year-old to carry the table.
And I know the final outcome — I’m going to take delivery, carry the table inside the house, unpack it, inspect it — and something’s going to be wrong. I’m going to have to have them take it back. And start the stupidity all over again.
I think I’m always going to hate this table as much as the current coffee table. Maybe I should just cancel the order now.
2.18.12
I judged an award show today and saw a campaign that I loved. In fact, I gave it a perfect score. And I don’t give anything a perfect score. You should check out the link, because once you see it, I think you’ll agree it’s an amazing campaign. It’s for the Troy public library. It’s great.
And here’s the kicker. The budget for the campaign was $3,500.
Now I didn’t forget any numbers here. That’s right three thousand five hundred dollars. Many campaigns have bigger budgets for client entertainment.
It just goes to show that a great idea done brilliantly is better than an OK idea with a ton of money behind it.
I also judged entries that have $100 million dollar ad budgets – Troy library was better. I saw amazing special effects TV spots – Troy library was better. I saw emotional tug-at-your-heart campaigns – and Troy library was better.
Please take a look and let me know what you think.
That’s it for today. A simple brilliant campaign. I wish I created it. Kudos to the team who did.
2.15.12
I’ve been very lucky, I’ve worked some amazing creative directors. These are people who have molded my career, taught we valuable lessons, mentored, pushed and promoted me. These are also people who have fired me, harassed me and bullied me. These are people I’ve loved, loathed, looked up to, and looked down upon. These are people who taught me how to behave and how not to behave. But most importantly, these are people who made me want to someday be a creative director. To help others as they have helped me.
Below are a list of the best and worst. But mostly the best.
The Best (In order of my career):
Sandra Jackson – Copy Chief, Strawbridge and Clothier Department Store.
My first boss, who taught me more than she will ever know. She was a mentor, a friend, a teacher and a disciplinarian. She gave me the foundation of my entire career. She also gave me the desire to give back to more junior writers. She didn’t have to spend as much time with me as she did. But she never complained.
Jim Dale and Steve Perrin – Doner
I’ll never forget my interview with Jim and Steve. My portfolio was awful. The concepts were expected. But they saw something in me – not my work – that they liked. The told me that I have exactly one good idea in my portfolio. They couldn’t tell if I was good, or if I created it by accident. But they were willing to take a chance on me. They also beat the heck out of me. Steve said one line over and over again “you know what this ad needs, it needs an idea.” But he taught me so much. Helped me with my concept development. Jim and Steve were the godfathers of my career.
Laurel Krischok – DMB&B
Laurel was not my creative director; she was my art director partner. She taught me more about how to create a TV commercial than anyone I had ever worked with. We also hated each other. We would fight like cats and dogs. She had to be right about everything. The problem was, so did I. She eventually left and I got reassigned to another art director – Greg – who ended up being my favorite art director partner for years.
Bruce Nelson and Ira Madris – McCann
I loved Bruce and Ira. Incredible creative directors. They hired me to work on Coke and Kodak. They gave me incredible opportunities. They had great taste. They produced great work. Unfortunately, they didn’t stay for very long. I didn’t like the guy who came after them and I left the agency. But I’ll never forget Bruce and Ira.
Stan Becker – Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
He gave me the first BIG promotion of my career to Associate Creative Director. Considering I was only 28 at the time, it was a huge risk. And for a long time, I wasn’t very good. But he taught me how to guide others. He gave me to tools that I still use today. Plus, he was a hell of a nice guy. Thanks Stan.
Brent Bouchez – Bozell
I don’t think Brent liked me very much. But he gave me the greatest gift any CD ever gave me – the greatest team on a great product. Brent put me, Lynn Mercado and Michelle Ferone together to produce some TV commercials for a small regional telephone company. For the next four years, the three of us travelled the globe shooting hundreds of commercials for Bell Atlantic and then Verizon wireless. Some of the best times I’ve EVER had at work I experienced with that team, that client at that point in my life. As a matchmaker of creative talent, Brent was #1.
Tony Granger – Bozell
Those of you who know me are probably surprised to see Tony’s name on the ‘best’ list considering he fired me. But without Tony, I wouldn’t be where I am today. He taught me how to dig deeper into myself to find the really great ideas. He pushed me like no creative director before or since. I also learned how I didn’t want to act in front of people. He was a difficult man to work for. I never felt like I was on his team. I did everything I could to avoid him, right up until I was asked to leave the office.
Thank you, Tony. I did learn something from you.
The Worst: (Since these people are still alive, I will change their names)
Curveball O’Drunk – McCann
The man had a drinking problem and you couldn’t show him work after lunch. I would work hours and hours and hours on a project, just to watch him kill everything. The next morning he asked to see the work, as if the meeting the afternoon before didn’t happen. I quit McCann while he was my boss.
Guy SeeHowSmartIAm – McCann
He was the sole copywriter and Associate Creative Director on a brand for so long, he felt like he owned it. His taste was awful. We used to come up with really bad ideas on purpose to see if he’d like them. We actually had a contest with all the creative in the group to see who could write the worst ad and have Guy approve it.
I was never ‘bad’ enough.
Silly South African – Bozell
“I want to own the color red.” Excuse me? “I want to own the color red” And how do you plan on doing that? “Isn’t that your job?” I see. I can’t tell you the strange arguments I had with this guy. I didn’t last long. But neither did he.
The Worst of All Time:
I’m Married To Someone’s Famous Brother – Ketchum
Easily the worst creative director I ever worked for. Luckily she didn’t really want to work, so she didn’t bother me too much. She liked music. She liked ideas with song lyrics rewritten. He liked execution over idea. I don’t know what I was thinking when I took a job working for her. But I couldn’t wait to get out.
At the end of my career, I’m sure I’ll look back and be thankful that I worked with many more great people that jerks. I’ll love that I’ve had a long and fruitful career. That I did some great work. Hopefully I’ve mentored the next generation of great talent. And 10 years from now someone isn’t writing a blog about me in the bad column. But you never know.
Tomorrow marks the one-month anniversary of my first blog entry. I have to admit I had no idea how much I’d enjoy writing it and how much I’d enjoy reading your comments. Thank you. Obviously, this wouldn’t be so much fun if nobody was reading. The feedback has been greater than I expected. The traffic is far heavier than I expected. And the weird SPAM I’ve received has been weirder than I expected.
But I have noticed some trends after a month. Here are some thoughts:
My First Few Entries Sucked
Looking back at the first few days – I’m surprised anyone came back to ready my blog. Those first few entries weren’t very good. I think I knew that and that’s why I changed the tone. Remember, only 30 days ago, I was going to write about a daily observation on my 10-block walk from Grand Central. The problem was that nothing interesting was happening. Average daily traffic was around 20 people. Thank you for allowing me to find a voice.
Stupid Stuff = High Traffic
Whether it’s funny stuff that my son says or funny stuff people do on interviews, you like to read about stuff that is hard to believe is true. 100% of the dialogue is true. I change the names of people (especially children). But the words are as close to what was said as possible. By the way, I’m working on a piece that’s all about funny ‘auto correct’ e-mails that I’ve received. Some are amazing.
Tuesday and Wednesday Are The Highest Visited Days.
Maybe people are too busy on a Monday to visit after the weekend. Or perhaps I’m funnier or more interesting in the middle of the week. But when I see a giant spike in traffic, it’s almost always a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Frankly, looking back, I think my posts are more interesting in the middle of the week. But who knows?
People Say Dumb Things
My conversations with people usually end with a punchline. Maybe the people I talk to are funny or sarcastic. Maybe I hear things through a lens of “this would make a great story.” Or perhaps real people saying real things are just funny. That’s why reality TV shows are so popular. When you shine a light at some of the thing real people do or say, they’re just damn funny. On the other hand, perhaps I just hang out with some pretty strange folks. (Can’t be that.)
I’m Not Writing About My Walk To Work
In case you didn’t read the first few posts (you know, the entries that sucked), I was supposed to be writing about the things I observed on my way to work. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve changed my mind. My subheadline “Random Things That Pop Into My Mind” is really the subject of this blog. I think I like this better. I don’t plan on changing the title of my blog. Too many people are Google searching this site. So I plan on continuing my ‘random thoughts.’
The About Rich Levy Section
I’m shocked how many people click on the ‘About’ tab. I think I have to write something more interesting here. Every day, about 5% of the traffic to the blog is on the ‘About’ tab. I apologize that I haven’t written anything interesting in there yet. So look tomorrow. I’m planning on writing a whole new ‘About’ tab tomorrow.
But here’s a preview: I like to write about random things. Hmmmmm, maybe I should put more thought into that.
2.11.12
From the desk of Rich Levy 