Tag: Bruce

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Entertainment

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen’s Podcast to Change into a Ebook

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen's Podcast to Become a Book

In “Renegades,” a podcast collaboration between Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, the former president acknowledged that it was, at a glance, an odd partnership.

“On the surface, Bruce and I don’t have a lot in common,” he said. “He’s a white guy from a small town in Jersey; I’m a Black guy of mixed race, born in Hawaii, with a childhood that took me around the world. He’s a rock ‘n’ roll icon. I’m a lawyer and politician — not as cool.”

But they have become vacation buddies and avid collaborators whose podcast — a series of frank conversations about race, fatherhood, social justice and American identity — became one of the podcasts with the most listeners around the world on Spotify.

Now, they will be co-authors of sorts, with the coming release of a book of their conversations. This October, Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is publishing “Renegades: Born in the USA,” a book adaptation of the podcast. The 320-page book includes introductions by Obama and Springsteen, more than 350 photos and illustrations, and archival material such as Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and Obama’s annotated speeches.

In his introduction, Obama describes how the conversations grew out of “our ongoing effort to figure out how it is that we got here, and how we can tell a more unifying story that starts to close the gap between America’s ideals and its reality.”

As salable book ideas go, a collaboration between a rock star and a former president seems a sure bet. (Crown is suggesting a list price of $50 in the United States and $65 in Canada.)

Springsteen’s memoir, “Born to Run,” which was released by Simon & Schuster in 2016, was a hit, selling nearly half a million hardcover copies in its first few months on sale. Obama’s 2020 memoir, “A Promised Land,” which was published by Crown, has sold 8.2 million copies globally, and nearly five million in North America.

The book version of “Renegades” also marks the latest release from the Obamas’ growing media empire. It is being produced in partnership with Higher Ground, the company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, which has struck exclusive production deals with Netflix for film and television and with Spotify for podcasts. The Obamas sold their memoirs to Crown in 2017 for a record-breaking $65 million. Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” sold more than 16 million copies globally since its release in 2018.

Obama and Springsteen got to know each other in 2008 while Obama was campaigning, and became friends over the years. Springsteen performed at the White House in January 2017, as Obama was preparing to leave office.

In their podcast conversations, the pair largely focused on personal stories about their lives and avoided partisan politics, but spoke generally about the urgent need to understand and address divisions in American society.

“This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested,” Springsteen writes in his introduction to “Renegades.” “Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens.”

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Business

How Jeep landed Bruce Springsteen for its 2021 Tremendous Bowl advert

How Jeep landed Bruce Springsteen for its 2021 Super Bowl ad

Bruce Springsteen starred in and narrated a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep that featured far more Americana and scenery than any other vehicle.

Rob DeMartin for Jeep

Jeep’s Super Bowl commercial starring Bruce Springsteen was a decade in the making, according to Olivier Francois, an automotive marketing manager best known for convincing A-list celebrities to appear in such ads.

Every year since 2011, Francois said he had come up with an idea for a Super Bowl commercial by Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau. It became something of a tradition, although Francois believed there was little chance that this would happen.

Why Springsteen, who had never appeared in a commercial before? It goes back to the automaker’s former CEO Sergio Marchionne, who passed away unexpectedly in 2018. The Italian-Canadian businessman was a fan of the singer and regularly used his music at presentations and events to connect Springsteen’s personality with that of the company.

“What you are really seeing today is 10 years of history,” Francois told CNBC. “We started discussing Bruce – about Bruce, not him, about – with my old boss Sergio. … He loved Bruce Springsteen’s music.”

Francois, head of marketing at Jeep’s parent company Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), convinced Detroit rapper Eminem and musician Bob Dylan to star in the company’s ads. He even landed Oprah Winfrey for a voice over once. Last year, Francois convinced elusive actor Bill Murray to repeat his role from the 1993 film “Groundhog Day” for a Super Bowl commercial.

He said his “greatest regret” was unable to do the Springsteen commercial while Marchionne was alive. “My biggest regret today is that they never made it to meet. I always promised him that I would make a difference and I delivered a little too late,” said Francois.

Why now?

Francois first featured on Springsteen in a 2012 Super Bowl commercial titled “It’s Halftime in America,” which starred actor Clint Eastwood, another celebrity not known for appearing in ads or to commit to a product or company. The ad featured Eastwood as the national coach and urged the US to learn from the resurgence of the Detroit auto industry.

Francois referred to this year’s ad as the “successor” to this commercial as well as others such as a 2013 Super Bowl commercial called “Farmer”. Both were cinematic, country-specific ads with few actual vehicles.

In this year’s “The Middle” advertisement, Springsteen drives around in an old jeep and talks about a chapel in the center of the country called US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. He used the extremely small chapel as a base to talk about the country that must “meet here in the middle” before the ad ended with “To the ReUnited States of America”. A website and logos for Jeep followed, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2021.

Bruce Springsteen (left) with Olivier Francois, Stellantis Chief Marketing Officer, while filming the company’s Super Bowl LV ad for Jeep.

Rob DeMartin for Jeep

In a press release, Landau said as soon as they saw the pitch they decided it was something they had to do.

“Olivier Francois and I have been talking about ideas for the past 10 years. When he showed us the design for ‘The Middle’, our immediate reaction was ‘Let’s do it’,” he said. “Our goal was to do something surprising, relevant, immediate and artful. I think that’s exactly what Bruce did with ‘The Middle’.”

Francois believes the message of the ad is in line with Springsteen’s beliefs and has struck the “right balance” between the company’s goal and that of the singer, who narrated a commercial for Joe Biden last year.

According to Francois, Springsteen was closely involved in creating the Jeep ad and worked closely with director Thom Zimny. He wrote and produced the original score for the commercial with another of his frequent collaborators, Ron Aniello.

The ad almost didn’t happen

According to Francois, the commercial with Springsteen almost never happened. After being turned down by the singer’s manager for 10 years, he had decided not to give Landau an idea for Springsteen.

“I think it’s the first year I haven’t asked an agency to crack an idea from Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “I think it took me 10 years to understand that it never happened. Of course I was wrong, but I thought so. And it was also an abuse of John Landau and Bruce’s time.”

Bruce Springsteen starred in and narrated a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Jeep that featured far more Americana and scenery than any other vehicle.

Rob DeMartin for Jeep

Until the Southfield, Michigan-based advertising agency Doner came up with the idea of ​​”The Middle”. After Francois contacted Landau in early January to say a happy new year, he decided to send him the advertising agency’s pitch. Francois said that after receiving the parking space, Landau believed it was “the right message”.

“Yes, he takes a position, but he takes a position for the middle,” said Francois. “It’s not liberal. It’s not republican. It’s just something that tries to stand up for the apolitical. The community.”

The news seems to have resonated with viewers. Since it was posted on YouTube early Sunday morning, the ad has been viewed approximately 24 million times. That’s roughly four times the combined viewership of other Super Bowl ads from General Motors, Toyota Motor, and online car salesman Vroom.

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Business

Bruce Springsteen and Infants Star in Pandemic-12 months Tremendous Bowl Adverts

Bruce Springsteen and Babies Star in Pandemic-Year Super Bowl Ads

Longtime advertising man Donny Deutsch, who normally hosts a watch party for up to 40 people but this year played the game with a group of six, said attending the Super Bowl usually got a quick attention boost. Companies also run the risk of the half-absorbed audience remembering aspects of an ad but forgetting who produced it.

“The Super Bowl is such a crowded environment for people to advertise,” he said. “You can have an effective ad, but it may not get registered for your brand, especially if brand awareness isn’t there.”

Because of the restrictions on pandemic movies, many companies have relied on stock footage, voice-overs, and remote filming. Those hurdles were largely hidden and many advertisers were able to incorporate location changes and special effects, said Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who worked on Cheetos’ Super Bowl commercials for 2021. Doritos and others.

The limitations on filming meant there were few large crowd scenes, usually a staple for the flamboyant ads that were shown during the big game. Oatly, an oat milk company, showed its managing director Toni Petersson at a keyboard in the middle of a field.

“Wow! Wow!” he sang. “No cow!”

The commercial got a lot of attention on social media, both good and bad. Immediately after the ad went online, the Oatly website offered a t-shirt that said, “I totally hated that Oatly commercial.”

Many other ads only contained a character or two, “which is safest,” said Daniel Lobaton, chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi NY.

Huggies, the diaper company, aired a commercial in the second quarter that was new to the use of long distance movies. It contained scenes shot on Super Bowl Sunday that were interspersed with footage that had already been filmed. The ad showed eight infants born since midnight in scenes shot by willing parents who were being compensated by the company. A team of 25 people who worked on the commercial made every effort to get the commercial ready on time, the company said.

Categories
Business

Bruce Springsteen stars in Tremendous Bowl 2021 advert for Jeep

Bruce Springsteen stars in Super Bowl 2021 ad for Jeep

Bruce Springsteen plays and narrates a two-minute Super Bowl commercial called “The Middle” for Jeep.

Screenshot

Bruce Springsteen encourages Americans to meet “in the middle” during a Super Bowl LV ad for Jeep – his very first appearance in a commercial.

The legendary musician, known as “The Boss”, plays the lead role and narrates the scenic two-minute commercial that contains far more Americana and scenery than jeeps. The only vehicles in the ad are a 1980 Jeep CJ-5 and a 1965 Willys Jeep CJ-5. Both models are predecessors of the brand’s current Wrangler SUV.

During “The Middle” Springsteen speaks about a chapel in the center of the country, the US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. He uses the extremely small chapel as a basis to talk about the country that needs to meet “here in the middle” before the ad ends with “To the ReUnited States of America”. This is followed by a website and logos for Jeep, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2021.

“It’s no secret … The middle has been difficult to reach lately. Between red and blue. Between servants and citizens. Between our freedom and our fear,” says Springsteen. “Now fear was never the best of us. And as far as freedom is concerned, it is not only owned by the lucky few; it belongs to all of us.”

The ad is reminiscent of previous Super Bowl ads from Olivier Francois, Marketing Director at Jeep’s parent company Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). In particular, a 2013 Super Bowl commercial called “Farmer” featured the voice of legendary radio station Paul Harvey and another semi-political commercial with Clint Eastwood called “It’s Halftime in America” ​​in 2012 were actual vehicles.

“It is absolutely intended as a successor,” Francois told CNBC. “This is our style. This is our language. This is our approach to Super Bowl. We really tried to get a little bit of what we did in these other commercials. This is really relevant and meaningful and something that is really being developed. ” the moment.”

Topicality and relevance are the pillars of Francois’ advertising style. He’s also known for casting A-list celebrities who aren’t usually associated with advertising in offbeat commercials. Previous Super Bowl ads included Detroit rapper Eminem, musician Bob Dylan, and a voice-over from Oprah Winfrey. Last year, Francois convinced elusive actor Bill Murray to repeat his role from the 1993 film “Groundhog Day” for a Super Bowl commercial.

A company spokeswoman declined to say how much the ad cost, including the fee for Springsteen, who is not known for appearing in ads but cast his voice on a commercial for Joe Biden last year.

Fiat Chrysler CMO Olivier Francois (left) with actor Bill Murray while filming the 2020 Super Bowl commercial for the Jeep brand.

Fiat Chrysler

According to Francois, Springsteen was closely involved in creating the ad and worked closely with director Thom Zimny. He wrote and produced the original score for the commercial with another of his frequent collaborators, Ron Aniello.

“Olivier Francois and I have been talking about ideas for the past 10 years. When he showed us the design for ‘The Middle’, our immediate response was ‘Let’s do it’,” Springsteen manager Jon Landau said in a statement. “Our goal was to do something surprising, relevant, immediate and artful. I think that’s exactly what Bruce did with ‘The Middle’.”

The ad was created in collaboration with Michigan-based agency Doner. The spot was shot over five days in late January in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.

Categories
Politics

Meet his new attorneys, Bruce Castor and David Schoen

Meet his new lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen

US President Donald Trump returns to the White House after the news media declared Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 US presidential election in Washington, USA on November 7, 2020.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

After members of his first legal team quit, former President Donald Trump has won two new lawyers to represent him in his upcoming second impeachment trial.

Two trial attorneys, David Schoen and Bruce Castor Jr., will lead the legal team that Trump is defending in the Senate against charges of instigating the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

The hiring of Schoen, a civil rights and criminal defense attorney who previously represented Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone, and Castor, a former district attorney known for failing to prosecute Bill Cosby for sexual assault, was announced in a press release on Sunday Trump’s office announced.

The current team was deployed after several outlets reported that Trump’s former impeachment attorneys left after the 45th President asked them to focus his defense on unsubstantiated election fraud claims.

Trump, who lost to President Joe Biden in November, falsely claimed for weeks that the race was stolen from him through widespread fraud. He reiterated these claims, calling on then-Vice President Mike Pence to discard the election results during a rally outside the White House just before a group of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

A source told NBC News that the attorneys’ departure from Trump’s legal team was a “mutual decision.” The New York Times reported, citing someone familiar with the matter, that one of the late lawyers, Butch Bowers, had no chemistry with Trump.

The impeachment process is due to begin on February 9, almost three weeks after Trump left the White House to make way for Biden. Last week 45 Republican senators voted for a motion declaring it unconstitutional to hold a trial to convict a president who has stepped down – a view held by Trump’s new legal team.

“Schön has already worked with the 45th President and other advisors to prepare for the upcoming trial, and both Schön and Castor agree that this impeachment is unconstitutional,” Trump’s office said in a statement.

The process-oriented argument is viewed by some as a potential escape route for Republicans who refused to defend Trump’s conduct prior to the Capitol uprising but are unwilling to publicly cross their former party leader, let alone vote for him on impeachment condemn.

Democrats reject this argument. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., vowed that if Trump is convicted, there will be another vote preventing him from ever being president again. But if the 45 GOP senators who voted to dismiss the trial ultimately release Trump, the Democrats will leave the 67 votes required to convict far behind.

In this file photo dated August 16, 2016, Bruce L. Castor Jr. speaks the day before taking the oath to become acting attorney general during a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Marc Levy | AP

“I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President,” Castor said in a statement from Trump’s office.

“The strength of our constitution is being tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document that was written to last and will triumph over partisanship again and again,” he said.

Castor was a District Attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2008. He has also served as the district commissioner and attorney general and brief acting attorney general for Keystone State.

Castor decided not to bring sexual assault charges against world-famous entertainer and comedian Cosby in 2005 after former Temple University employee Andrea Constand told police that Cosby attacked her at his Pennsylvania mansion.

A decade later, Cosby was arrested by the same prosecutor and charged with substance abuse and sexual assault on Constand. Cosby’s lawyers argued that he had an agreement with Castor that he would not be charged. Castor said in 2016 that he wanted prosecutors to win.

Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison in 2018. Last June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appealed Cosby.

Castor is the cousin of Stephen Castor, a Republican House attorney who was involved in Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, according to the New York Times. Stephen Castor recommended his cousin to Trump for his second impeachment team, according to the Times.

Lawyer David Schoen

Joe Cavaretta | South Florida Sun Sentinel | AP

Schoen, meanwhile, is linked to Trump through his representation of Republican agent Roger Stone in an appeal against his criminal conviction.

Stone was charged in 2019 with disability, false testimony and witness manipulation as part of the Russia investigation by then special adviser Robert Mueller. The charges related to Stone’s efforts during the 2016 presidential campaign to obtain information from the WikiLeaks document disclosure group about emails stolen from prominent Democrats.

Stone was convicted and sentenced to 40 months in prison. Days before he was due to report to a federal prison camp, Trump, a frequent critic of Müller, commuted Stone’s verdict “in the face of the tremendous facts and circumstances of his unfair persecution, arrest and trial.”

In his final month in office, Trump pardoned Stone amid dozens of other pardons.

Schön said in a statement from Trump’s office on Sunday: “It is an honor to represent 45th President Donald J. Trump and the United States Constitution.”

According to reports, on August 1, 2019, days before Epstein’s death, Schön met with alleged child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. Schön considered becoming Epstein’s principal attorney.

Epstein’s death was classified as a suicide by hanging in his prison cell. But before the New York coroner made that decision, Schön told the Atlanta Jewish Times, “I don’t think it was suicide … I think someone killed him.”

In a recent interview with the outlet, Schön said he represented “all sorts of respected gangster figures: the alleged boss of the Russian mafia in that country, the Israeli mafia and two Italian bosses, as well as a man who the government claimed was the greatest Mafioso in. ” the world.”

Castor and Schoen have little time to adjust to their last task. Trump will file a response to his impeachment lawsuit on Tuesday, a week before the trial begins.