We Can't Sleep Till We Take It Back

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 17 Apr 2004 12:00:00 GMT
# GeekWithA.45 - Pennsylvanians - the Geek has closed on his new house and has the deed in his hands. He's no longer a New Jersey resident. Welcome, Geek, to a freer state. [geekwitha.45]

# Tracy Connor at The New York Daily News - Beer ads full of boos for Bloomy - Rheingold Beer has made a series of commercials as part of its Don't Sleep Campaign (page includes links to Windows Media Player videos of the commercials), making bad fun of New York Mayor Bloomberg's anti-smoking, anti-dancing, anti-milk-crate-sitting, anti-life, fascist, police-state tyranny. Good for them. [villagechoice]

You can bet they won't be serving Rheingold at Gracie Mansion anytime soon.

The brewery has declared war on City Hall with a series of in-your-face television ads attacking the smoking ban, cabaret laws and silly summonses.

"This is New York, and we can't sleep till we take it back," the narrator declares in the three commercials, which start airing Wednesday on cable.

Each 30-second spot tackles a different enforcement issue.

In "Cabaret," actors are seen break dancing all around town until a banner comes up on the screen announcing: "No Dancing. Fine: $3,000."

Another features a montage of people sitting on milk crates - a reference to Daily News stories about a man getting ticketed for turning a crate into a chair.

But it's the "Ashtray" spot that's sure to be the most controversial, depicting hipsters striding down city streets with ashtrays in their pockets.

They march into a bar, pound down their ashtrays and are served ice-cold Rheingold before the screen fades to this message: "No Smoking in Bars. Fines Issued: $200 up."
The text behind the commercials is recited by Eric Griswold in a gritty funky sing-song black voice. Transcribed from the audio in this 701K MP3 (poetic line breaks are mine):
This is New York!

Where the black air buzzes
With stop lights and street lamps,
And bootsteps beat the blacktop
Past peep-show perfume breeze.

The skaters and painters and traders
Swarm electric fireflies
To the beat bump from bar doors.

This is New York!

Where the red light smoke
Bathes the bar stools.
The babes and dudes groove
The lead-heavy bass till dawn,
When the bleary-eyed stumble
To meet the sun again.

This is New York!

And we can't sleep
Till we take it back.

# Sharon Theimer at The Las Vegas Sun - Nation's Gun Lobby Creating News Company - The National Rifle Association is creating its own news agency to get around the Incumbent Protection (er... Campaign Finance Reform) Act. Good for them. [root]

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