BrandlandUSA

HAMPTON, Virginia – What do Betty White and Lena Horne have in common? I will answer the question, but please let me tell you a story first. At the entrance to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel between Hampton and Norfolk was a motel called Strawberry Banks. Though it was a motel, it was on the [...]

[Read more →]

What’s America’s greatest contribution to world culture? It’s our music. And luckily, much of that African American music part of the heritage is alive, in museums and sites across the U.S. Here are some of the top music labels associated with African-American music. We know there are more (think Black Swan, Blue Note records); we [...]

[Read more →]

NEW YORK – We happened upon Manhattan music industry exec Jon Vanhala‘s new blog entitled Who Can Dance to That. It’s about music, technology, trends and whatever else he finds amusing. The “Who Can Dance” comes from his music days, when that was the ultimate question at one of his music gigs. If you are [...]

[Read more →]

Miss those pneumatic airline audio programs? Of course we do, though sometimes the plastic air tubes for onboard entertainment would poke into your ear if the rubber end was loose, I think. As my Very Astute Companion says, there was “the magic of being able to plug anything into the arm of a chair. It [...]

[Read more →]

What do Cheryl Lynn, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Ralph Stanley and Tony Bennett have in common? It’s Columbia Records, one of the greatest brand names in record history. Columbia, like all the record brands, is having a very long-playing spin these days, and it isn’t happy. Each record brand has a story, often related to [...]

[Read more →]