Music Mondays: The Weeknd @ Lincoln Hall

Nothing says Thursday night like some dark R&B jams at Lincoln Hall, as was the case last week when I saw 2011 Internet sensation/2012 bonafide R&B artist, The Weeknd, perform his first Chicago show. If you do not know who The Weeknd is, he took the nerdy music collective of the Internet world by storm in 2011 with three excellent, dark and edgy mixtapes that helped bring R&B back into the national music consciousness. Shortly thereafter he went from being completely anonymous, to rarely photographed, to playing Coachella in 2012. Being a full-on Weeknd fan boy since his first mix tape House of Balloons dropped in March of 2011, saying I was excited for this show would be an understatement. With the release of Thursday and Echoes of Silence, here was an artist who now had three mix tapes to unleash of fans for his first tour.

Abel (first-name basis over here) delivered with a set that crushed all of the greatest cuts from his mixtapes (opened with “High for This”, “Outside”, “The Zone”, “Loft Music”, “Rolling Stone”, “The Birds Pt. 1″, “The Party & the Afterparty”  and my favorite “The Morning,” at which point I managed to finally embarrass my girlfriend with my fandom, plus many more). Photos, videos and stories don’t do this show justice -  it was a bonafide R&B experience. He’s playing Lollapalooza and if you don’t go see him then, you’ve already lost.

The Branding Police Prepare for London

Depending on who you talk to the 2012 Summer Games either present the greatest social media opportunity in the world, or the biggest social  media challenge in order to protect sponsor rights. John tackles this issue head on in his latest column for MediaPost.com, The Social Olympics:  The Effect on London 2012. If we are in a “new age of sharing and connecting,” does it make sense to put in place the  “most stringent restrictions ever put in place to protect sponsors’ brands and broadcasting rights?” Expect the debate to rage on as we get closer and closer to July.

Mixing and Matching at the Event Marketer Summit

Earlier this morning, rEvolution’s president presented with Travelers’ Director, Media and Sponsorships, at the 2012 Event Marketer Summit in Chicago. Video, Foursquare contests, umbrella giveaways, live tweeting – and that was just the presentation itself! John and Mike discussed how Travelers successfully expanded its golf sponsorship into new markets and sports through amplification, and by connecting sponsorship equities and consumer passions. Congrats to Amanda for checking in and taking home an iPod courtesy of Travelers.  More photos from today’s session after the jump.

Music Mondays: Electric Guest at Schubas

It helps being the friend who’s a music nerd, specifically for situations when someone has an extra ticket. The timing for this one couldn’t have worked out much better. I had just picked up on the buzz about newcomers Electric Guest a couple weeks back, their debut was released last Tuesday and here I was, the following Friday standing before them at their first headlining show at Schubas. Nothing is better than a surprisingly good opener for a show, local band Brother George put together a nice opening set that certainly got everyone’s attention.

With only one album out, Electric Guest’s set was short, but they certainly managed to squeeze all of the entertainment they could out of their tracks. Their front man did his best Mick Jagger impression and was sure to playfully rag on his two band mates whose mothers were in attendance. Select tracks to get a feel for this band would be “This Head I Hold” (see below)  and “American Daydream.” If you are in search for a killer dance party set that doesn’t include someone “dropping the bass,” check out Electric Guest when they roll through your town soon.

rEvolution Short Film Takes On Mofest

Production assistants (PA) are pretty much the backbone of film production.  I don’t know how many of you have worked as a PA or fully understand the scope of what a PA does.  Well, for my first three or four years in the production world, I worked as a freelance PA in Chicago.  I would work for anyone that called me.  Most of the time, the jobs are pretty demeaning: setting up tables, telling people where they can’t walk, and throwing out garbage.

My lowest point came when I had to stand in O’Hare airport to pick up the producer, holding a sign that read, “Tool of North America.”

Now granted that that was the name of the production company, it still stung when some random passerby laughed asked me if I was the “Tool of North America?” Don’t get me wrong though, I also had some great experiences as well.  Actually, on that same Tool of North America job, I was able to my eat dinner in an empty Vic Theatre while Wilco played an entire practice set to just a fellow PA and myself.  I can still hear “I am Going to Break Your Heart” when I shut my eyes.

No matter how bad a job was, I was always excited to go back to work the next day because of the people. We were one giant dysfunctional family.  Now, thanks to Mo Wagdy, this dysfunctional family has a reunion every year, MoFest.  

MoFest was started seven years ago as a platform for PAs to show the films that they had made.  In order to show a film, you had to have served time in the production community.  Sure the first year was held at a tiny storefront theatre called The Cornservatory and there were only 25 people there, but it was amazing!  We were the stars, DPs (directors of photography) and directors.

This past Saturday, MoFest 7 was held at the historical Portage Theatre on the Northwest side of Chicago with around 650 guests, free beer from Half Acre Brewery and 30 plus films.  I was lucky enough to have one of my shorts accepted; it was a behind-the-scenes look at the making of rEvolution’s business cards at Rohner Letterpress (Thanks Mo!).

In addition to the film programming, there is also the 48-hour Film Challenge.  The film challenge is my favorite part of the fest.  Each team pulls prop and genre suggestions out of a hat.  Then all the teams are given the same line of dialogue, which is also pulled out of a hat.  You then have 48 hours to conceive, shoot and edit your film.  These films always end up being really odd and this year was no exception.  Our team drew rags-to-riches/historical biopic from the hat.  So naturally, our short revolved around thumb piano virtuoso turned Mike Tyson’s Punch Out champ’s fall from grace story.  Drew was part of our team and has some great behind the scenes photos.

Along with the films, there were photo installations, paintings, and sculptures.  This year, I was approached by the John Adams (Photo Gallery Director) to do a 4’ by 4’ block of Instagram photos, 256 3” by 3” photos to be exact.  We ended up pinning the photos and selling them for a dollar each.  By the end of the night, there were two beer bottles full of singles.

To close out the fest, Mo led a couple hundred guests in an obligatory shot of Jägermeister, which is a terrible way to end an awesome night.  So shots were done and hugs were given as the festivities drew to a close and everyone walked out of the theatre talking about their plans for MoFest 8.

Thanks again Mo.