Mondoville Daily Scroll: November 27
Today on the Scroll: trying to keep billboard lobbyist hands clean; media remains spellbound by the Rebel Billionaire; explaining the internet to newspaper readers; Toronto’s original short-lived sonic boom gets remembered; and two straight decades of dining from A to Z makes it all the way to K.
Free Billboard Lobbyist Hand Sanitizer Now Available For All Members of Council [IllegalSigns.ca]: Rami Tabello buys some custom-packaged goop in advance of the Toronto City Council debate on the new signs by-law and billboard tax. Meanwhile, over at Spacing, an investigation from Jonathan Goldsbie, “Karen Stintz, Billboards, and how to get around the lobbyist registry” digs into what a business lunch with a city councillor is all about. CityBillboardTax.ca, the website promoted by the Out-of-Home Marketing Association on 139 of their billboards, roundly ridiculed earlier this week for its lack of aesthetics, has relaunched with something that resembles a design — if not quite matching the protest finesse of the tax-for-art position of BeautifulCity.ca.
Sir Richard: Eternal Marketing Machine [Simon Houpt, Globe and Mail]: Marketing columnist trails around Virgin brand chief Richard Branson, whose recurring stunt visits over the last several years have stirred up enough free promotion in the form of to put Krispy Kreme to shame: “Right from the beginning, when we didn’t have any money and we were building the Virgin brand, I learned that using oneself to get out there and promote the brand is a lot more effective than full-page ads,” he says. “And that’s, to an extent, why I’m still at it.” And so, The Globe and Mail is there, taking his bait.
Nothing is off-limits in TMI culture [Toronto Star]: Julia Allison + Chelsey Sullenberger + We Live in Public + Lamebook = just another paint-by-numbers broadsheet trendpiece about interweb voyeurism.
When Radio Was King, and A Hit Was Solid Gold [David Farrell, FYIMusic.ca]: A new history lesson about Toronto Sound, a 14-hour marathon concert at Maple Leaf Gardens on September 24, 1966, where a unique R&B-based musical aura was defined — only to have its bubble burst by relaxed liquor laws, broadcasting consultants, and government regulation.
UTTERLY UNFATHOMABLE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY GALA CELEBRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Serial Diners]: Whimsical misfits who decided to patronize a different Toronto eatery each Friday night, in alphabetical order according to the Toronto edition of the Yellow Pages, celebrate two decades of consistency at the Kim Vietnamese Restaurant at Dundas and Spadina — not quite outlasting the concept of a printed telephone book, but getting there.
… and more all day today @mondoville and dailystream@mondoville.com.