A new book by Dan Backer and Lance Watson taps brewing history to detail the can designs of nearly 500 beer brands. The book, published by Chronicle (Amazon link at right) shows major and minor brands. Like other Chronicle books, it is handsomely produced at is quite authoritative. It isMORE HERE

Edwin Heathcote, writing in the Jan. 15, 2011 Financial Times on old British eateries, said: The more everything becomes the same, the more ubiquitous branding begins to grate, the more everything looks like it belongs in a mall – the more Britian’s few surviving “caffs” represent a refuge.’ Heathcote wasMORE HERE

The new Starbucks logo has removed the word Starbucks. Many do not get it. We talked to a veteran branding executive, Allen Adamson of the New York office of Landor Associates, to get some insights. BrandlandUSA: What do you think about the changes?Adamson: The changes strengthen Starbucks’ branding. They makeMORE HERE

In a discussion about whether Episcopalians believe in purgatory, our parish priest asked us to consider our actions, what we practice. Regularly, we pray for the departed, and if we pray for them, and are serious about it, it means that we believe, by what we do, that we thinkMORE HERE

Recently, our parish priest “commissioned” another week’s worth of bell ringers for The Salvation Army. Our family adopted a kettle, and one star member of the congregation, Janet Trefry, helped organize a whole season’s worth of ringers. What an tremendous job. The whole effort was a boost to Publix, whichMORE HERE

Here, the famous song with Hillside Singers in a late 1970s commercial for Coca-Cola. Below is the original. And below is Lorri Hafer, who was the original lead, along with the Shaw Brothers, who performed the music. Interestingly, introducing the video is Herb Oscar Anderson, WABC morning man and fatherMORE HERE

Some readers were discussing distinctive men’s colognes that were still around. One of the survivors (and a potent scent) is Canoe by Dana. The brand was originally for women, but became a men’s brand in the 1970s in the United States. Below, a 1981 ad for the cologne. The adsMORE HERE