The Fearless Blogger

image credit: Sick Sad M!kE

Aside from the controversial “Focus On the Family: Tim Tebow” (aka, “So glad that, given the choice between ‘no abortion’ and ‘no abortion’, I chose ‘no abortion’.”) the Air Force recruitment ad was probably my least favorite of this year’s Super Bowl ads.

Politics aside, it just kinda sucked.

The one thing it had going for it was the catchy (albeit incongruous) tune in the background.

Wouldn’t have pegged the Air Force to be a White Stripes fan?  You’re probably right -- considering the Air Force neglected to get the band’s permission to use “Fell In Love With A Girl” (video below) in their recruiting efforts.

The aesthetically-and-musically-gifted duo posted their objection to the song’s use on their homepage, beneath a side-by-side comparison of their song vs. the allegedly infringing ad, stating:

The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.

Lest their protest be interpreted as a lack of support for our troops, the band clarified that they

support this nation’s military  . . . [but] simply don’t want to become a cog in the wheel of the current conflict, and hope for a safe and speedy return home for our troops.

White Stripes' statement as it appeared on whitestripes.com

The Air Force responded to the allegations with the following statement:

. . . the Air Force Reserve, through its advertising agency, hired Fast Forward Music of Salt Lake City to score original music for its commercial. There was never any intention to utilize any existing music or to sound like any music by the band White Stripes or any other musical performer. Any similarity or likeness to any other music is completely unintentional.

Mike Speciale, a spokesman for ad agency responsible for the ad, had this to offer in their defense:

It was specifically produced for airing regionally during the Super Bowl in some local markets.  It was scheduled to be pulled right after the Super Bowl. It was only a one-time shot.

Perhaps not quite confident in Mr. Speciale’s plans to use the “one-time shot” defense approach, the Air Force has since removed the spot from their website.  The ad is also not included among Hulu’s “Adzone” collection of Super Bowl ads, although I’m not sure if  it was removed, or it wasn’t there to begin with).

For those who may have missed the ad when it aired (or for a second look), it can still be viewed here (on the Huffington Post ).

image credit: Paradasos

What do you think?

Blatant rip-off?

or

Coldplay-esque “coincidence”?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

click to view video

On December 7, 2009, Starbucks will be hosting a global “sing-along” of the Beatles classic “All We Need is Love” to raise support for The Global Fund.

Starbucks will be premiering the commercial for their new campaign, called the Starbucks Love Project during the morning talk shows Friday morning.  If you can’t wait (or missed it) you can view the video on Facebook or at the Love Project site (currently no embeddable version is available to share here).  The site also features a link where visitors can upload and share their own “love pictures”.

Following are the details from the Starbucks press release:

WHAT

The countdown is on.

An unprecedented event that will unite individuals, communities, nations and cultures through the universal language of music as a celebration of Starbucks one year anniversary in partnership with (RED)TM.

On December 7th, at 1:30pm GMT (8:30am EST), Starbucks Coffee Company will unite artists from around the world for a simultaneous, live performance of the legendary hit “All You Need Is Love” as a single global concert. Inspired by the vision of the Playing for Change Band, this project spans languages, cultures and time zones through the universal language of music, with musicians contributing in individual ways that are customary and unique to their homeland to create a one of a kind rendition of the song.

A first for Starbucks, the event will use state of the art technology to stream the live feed of this performance on www.StarbucksLoveProject.com. Following the sing-along, everyone with access to the site and a video camera will have the opportunity to submit their own version of “All You Need Is Love” for the world to see and hear.

To invite the world to the event, Starbucks is collaborating with Facebook to create the largest globally-reaching campaign on the Facebook platform to date.

WHY
Delivering on the Starbucks commitment to inspiring and nurturing the human spirit, the project is also about sharing that love with customers who have helped Starbucks contribute to the Global Fund through its partnership with (RED) TM. In just one year in partnership with (RED), Starbucks has generated enough money to buy more than 7 million days of medicine to help those living with HIV in Africa.

WHEN
Monday, December 7th – 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. EST

WHERE
www.StarbucksLoveProject.com

This post goes out to all the Neil Young/Fresh Prince fans out there.

Well – Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young, that is.  But it’s a cool cover nonetheless! And maybe one day?

(From Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

If you live in SoCal and are without Halloween plans  (and with a disposable income) look no further – I have the scoop for you (thanks to YouTheDesigner.com)!

The Skinny

Silverlake Conservatory of Music announces its fifth annual “Hullabaloo” fundraiser will be held on Halloween, Saturday, October 31. Ben Harper will perform. The event, dubbed the “Halloweenabaloo,” will take place at LA’s historic Union Station. Doors open at 6 PM for a special “Kids Hour” of music, trick-or-treating and Halloween celebration. At 7 PM, the first of the evening’s musical performances will begin, continuing throughout the evening.

Music, Halloween excitement and performances from SCM co-founders Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and “Tree,” a/k/a SCM Dean Keith Barry along with special musical guests Ben Harper, Linda Perry and others will highlight the Hullabaloo festivities including costumes, masks, observation of “El día de los muertos” traditions plus food and family fun.

The Cause (Silverlake Conservatory of Music)

Reacting to the disappearance of music education in the curriculum of many public schools, Flea and Tree (Keith Barry) founded the non-profit conservatory to provide a place where young people in their community could learn and enjoy music. The school’s website states, “The mission of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a non-profit organization, is to facilitate basic music education. Our primary focus is on the youth of the community but all are welcome and encouraged to participate. The Conservatory offers private music lessons at a reasonable cost and grants scholarships to children in need, providing free lessons and instruments. The study of music enriches the life of the student as well as the community and society.” Nine years after opening, the school serves about 600 students (about a quarter who are on scholarship). Students enjoy access to private lessons, instruments, summer camps and group ensembles.

More details, including how to get your hand on some tickets, are posted here (by YouTheDesigner.com)
And if you act quickly, you may still have time to enter to WIN a pair of tickets to the event!*

*Disclosure: I’ve entered the contest and plan on winning it. :-) So enter at your own risk- set your expectations accordingly!

Our favorite online Jack-of-All-Trades, Google, has announced their latest venture; and it looks like they’re heading straight into iTunes territory.

TechCrunch posted details about Google’s new music service:

Google will partner with iLike and LaLa for their new music service, we’ve learned. And the announcement date is Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

Press, including us, received an invitation this morning (see ticket image above) inviting them to a Hollywood event next week hosted by music services LaLa and iLike. The invitation, titled “Discover Music!” says announcements will be followed by performances, and that LaLa, iLike “& Others” are hosting. The “& Others” includes Google, we’ve heard from multiple sources, and the new service will be unveiled. All four major music services are backing the service

To get the full scoop, read the original post at TechCrunch:
Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

Update:
TechCrunch has posted screenshots of the new service.