This quirky little video called "Loungin'" was sent to us from some self-admitted fans of We Heart Music at Kindling Media. It’s part of an ad campaign called “There Will Be Stories” for The Star, a hotel and casino in Sydney, Australia, by agency The Monkeys.
I’ve mentioned once or twice that I had some training in the classical school of music, so I found it a real treat to talk shop with Bill. Again, it’s one thing to listen to music, but it’s quite another to actually be in contact with the musicians that create that music, to find out the inspiration, and moreso, to learn about how the creative process came about. I don’t have a lot of performance experience, but it’s different when you’re a musician, and not merely a passive spectator. My training started out with the piano, and so talking about the particulars about the piano itself was something I understood.
That was the essence of our interview: many auditioned for the ad, but The Monkeys chose someone who is a showman of the old school. He wasn’t lip-synching or pretending to play as some of the others were. More so, this was his own interpretation and his own performance. Maybe you thought of Richard Cheese, like I did. Bill said Cheese had covered this tune as well in a very similar style, but he hadn’t actually listened to beforehand and wasn’t directly influenced by it. I laughed when he said that Cheese actually models his style on Bill Murray in that old SNL “Nick the Lounge Singer” sketch. Here’s the clip, just for reference:
(The piano player there, of course, is Paul Schaffer, best known as the bandleader for The David Letterman Show.) |
“Good artists copy, but great artists steal” has been quoted many times, even paraphrased, in art and music schools. It’s certainly true in the entertainment industry and an example involving Richard Cheese, Bill Murray, and Bill Baker is hardly the only one.
Of course, I’ll point out too that it was quite a story, how so many things seemed to coincide so perfectly, as if The Powers That Be had chosen Bill Baker for this ad. He had many kind words for the production staff, including director Steve Rogers. We’ll have that interview for you in a podcast real soon, so stay tuned.
[Photos by Carol Baker. Used with permission-- all rights reserved]
[Photos by Carol Baker. Used with permission-- all rights reserved]
Recent Comments