Americana

is the cowboy still considered the antithesis of our modern, go go go, slightly materialistic society? In an NPR (great station) story that covered breakaway advertising, the Marlboro Man was described as "his own man in a world he owned, a man whose environment was simplistic and relatively pressure-free."

my latest and greatest campaign for cigarettes goes something like this: Got the hiccups? Smoke a cigarette. came up with that one this weekend at a party. hiccups are a damn party ruiner...there's no pill, no exercise, no solution. Couldn't we change the image of cigarettes to a more solution-based positioning statement? i'm kidding.

the title of this blog is Americana. to my roomie, Americana means all things relating to our culture in very white-bread american terms: homecoming, BBQ, drinking beer, watching a game, etc. She brought this up after i told her about an endearing window onto human life i'd had: Picture a garage filled to the brim with tractor parts, a small tv screen in the back playing the latest, interesting sports-replay, and three men sitting with their beers/coffee mugs in hand. there's a girl, about 9, tap dancing, practicing her routine, showing off a little but concentrating like there's no tomorrow. the men share time watching her and watching the game. it's silent. it's genuine.

it was a moment i enjoyed for what it was. thank you.