Evening's Proceeds Benefit Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation
The Association of Music Producers’ (AMP) West Coast chapter hosted its first “Battle of the Ad Bands” competition on Monday night (11/19) at The Mint in Los Angeles. The event–with proceeds benefiting The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation–drew a full house of 150 and six competing bands. Winning the $500 Grand Prize was the Crash Kings from S! Studios.
“The AMP Battle of the Ad Bands in the West is a great opportunity for the community to come together to seek out new talent, and help a really worthy cause,” said event chairman Liz Myers of Trivers/Myers Music. “We’re really excited with the turnout, knowing that we’ve raised much-needed funds for Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, the charity that supports public school music and gives instruments to talented musicians who otherwise couldn’t afford them .”
The musical acts competed in an American Idol-style talent competition. Judges included: Scott Cymbala of Elias Arts, Julie Ward of Groove Addicts, and head judge Stephen Dewey of Machine Head. Bands were invited from the ad business at large, including production companies, mix and editorial houses and ad agencies. Each group was allowed one ringer, and had 12 minutes to perform three songs. Covers were permitted—with one exception: a performance of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” in its original form was grounds for immediate removal from the stage. Bands were judged on originality, stage presence and talent.
Competing in the competition were: Devastating Karate from Rubin Postear & Associates; Hard to Nailer from AddMarketing; Crash Kings; Joanna Equilibria of Latin Sphere; The Monthlies out of TBWA/Chiat/Day; and The Exaggerators of WongDoody.
The style of the Crash Kings was described by judge Cymbala as “Ben Folds lives in a trailer park and runs a meth lab.”
AMP was founded in 1998 for the purpose of educating its members, and the production and advertising community as a whole, on all facets of music production, from creation to final use. Headquartered in New York, with regional chapters in Los Angeles, Chicago, Florida and Minneapolis, AMP is the first organization to represent the commercial music industry on a broad platform of creative, business and community matters.
Apple, WWF, CeraVe, Sydney Opera House Among Those Having A Grand Time At CICLOPE
An awards ceremony last night (10/10) capped three days of CICLOPE in Berlin, marked by talks by notable speakers, collaborative Craft Sessions, and attendees making global connections.
Drawing nearly 1,700 entries, culled down to 370 finalists across 18 different countries, the competition saw judges award seven Grand Prix winners, 45 Gold, 51 Silver and 61 Bronze trophies.
Grand Prix winners were:
--Apple’s “Flock” directed by Ivan Zacharias of SMUGGLER for TBWAMedia Arts Lab, Los Angeles.
--WWF’s “Up In Smoke” directed by Yannis Konstantinidi via production company NOMINT.
--A$AP Rocky’s “Tailor Swif” from directors Vania & Muggia of production company Iconoclast.
--Spotify’s “Spreadbeats” directed by Maldita via production house The Youth for FCB NY.
--CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe” from directorial duo Tim & Eric via production company PRETTYBIRD for WPP Onefluence team, led by Ogilvy PR North America.
--Sydney Opera House’s “Playit Safe” directed by Kim Gehrig via Revolver x Somesuch for agency The Monkeys.
--Gucci’s “Who is Sabato De Sarno? A Gucci Story” directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman via Moxie Pictures.
Special Awards--Year’s Best
CICLOPE Special Awards went to:
Production Company of the Year: SMUGGLER
Director of the Year: Ivan Zacharias
Editing Company of the Year: Work Editorial
VFX Company of the Year: Electric Theatre Collective
Animation Company of the Year: Untold Studios
Sound Company of the Year: Barking Owl
Music Company of the Year: String & Tins
Agency of the Year: TBWAMedia Arts Lab
Brand of the Year:... Read More