Pop Culture Blog: Music, Movie and Humor

Leveraging low-hanging synergies outside the vertical fruit box since 1999.

Linkbait for a Living


in Professional

Have you ever thought to yourself – “Gosh. I wonder what Dave Pye actually does for a living“?

If your answer was “yes” then please read on. If your answer was “no, you narcissistic prick” – I probably deserved that. I’m going to pull down my professional pants today and give you a Wizard-of-Oz-esque peek behind the… pants. I wrote a piece on my search engine marketing blog last night which may just be entertaining enough for Pye in the Face. It may also earn me street cred with the local Star Trek fan club.

The “art” of creating linkbait is one of my favorite parts of online marketing. How else would I be able to pay my bills writing about Joy Division, Al Capone and the NCAA in the course of the same workday? I’ll let you travel on over to my linkbait examples post for a deeper explanation. You’ll get to see me share, for the first time, some of the admittedly very silly things I get to put together for clients. You’ll also learn how it helps their companies make money. Sometimes these things have to be seen to be believed. Sometimes they should be ignored completely.

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Wednesday Wadio: The Tragically Hip’s “Grace, Too”


in Canadiana, Musical, Wednesday Wadio

I come from downtown
Born ready for you
Armed with will and determination – and grace, too

Since they’re gearing up to launch their 11th studio album, “We Are the Same” on April 7th – I thought it would be beyond appropriate to re-boot Wednesday Wadio with a delicious slice of the Tragically Hip. When they were invited, at Dan Aykroyd’s insistence, to play an episode of Saturday Night Live which he hosted in 1996 it was a big night for Kingston, Ontario’s favorite sons. Dan even represents the Limestone City as he introduces the first song – my all-time favorite “Grace, Too“.

Dan’s friends, the Tragically Hip

The song’s lovely bass intro was the first feature that grabbed me way back in my University days, 1994 to be exact. I remember my friend Steve Barry had all of his friends (of which I was one,) over to his house as soon as he got back from the record store with the comprehensively classic album “Day for Night” on CD. We sat scrunched in his room as it kicked off with Grace, Too – and I remember the boys were all suitably impressed. In fact it’s amazing we even got to the bars that night. The record also contains Hips canon classics like “Thugs”, “Nautical Disaster”, “Scared” and “Inevitability of Death” – and little did I know we were in for long afternoon of many repeated listenings and a lot of Molson Canadian. It’s a great, solid record from start to finish which I can admit now – although in 1994 my epiphany had not yet come and I friggin’ hated the Hip.

There was a website I loved devoted to explicating and deciphering Tragically Hip lyrics. It was called the “burning schoolhouse” or something and it may be ancient history as I can’t find it. I once read there that the song was about a pimp attempting to convince a young girl, straight off the bus, to come and work for him. “The appearance of conflict meeting the appearance of force” line would be especially meaningful under that interpretation. I know now from personal experience that lead singer, Gord Downie, saw no shortage of hookers growing up in Kingston. Did that come out wrong? That came out wrong.

That same night on SNL we were treated to the performance of another confirmed Hip classic, “Nautical Disaster“, which is a little easier to translate than Grace, Too. Primarily because it’s about a nautical disaster. If you’re a Hip rookie and you enjoyed what you saw and heard above – be sure to check this tune out before you leave me today.

I ask you – What kind of a frigtard designs a lifeboat for only 10 people?

It’s true – if nothing else, Canada is rich in lumber, fresh water and songs about people dying violent deaths at sea. I hope you enjoyed the return of Wadio today and of Pye in the Face in general. You can order the Hip’s classic, “Day for Night“, from Amazon MP3 by clicking the title and their upcoming tour dates have also been released.

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Operation: Redneck at the Improv Asylum in Boston


in Boston

Sunday night Janet and I went to see this year’s NEMPAC play at the Improv Asylum in Boston’s North End. T’was directed, as always, by the amazing and talented Lauren Nelson. Operation: Redneck was full of laughs and in addition to raising money for charity the actors were obviously having a very good time with the down home material. Some of the characters in “Redneck” make Larry the Cable Guy look like Grace Kelly.

You may remember I was a cast member in the troupe’s production of Don’t be Afraid of the Dark in 2006, and I sure could have sunk my teeth into the “JJ” role. I cannot, however, fault the performance of John Chenier who was pitch-perfect as the beer-swilling pea brain. Dan, Laurie and the rest of the cast also did a fine job. The final show is tonight at 7pm, tickets are available at the door starting at 5pm and will only run you $15. And yes – you can drink beer while you’re watching the play. Hooo-weeee!

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Pye in the Face Hath Returned!


in Pye in the Face

I’m beyond happy to announce that the bastard hackers have been thwarted and my humor and pop culture blog, “Pye in the Face” a.k.a. www.DavePye.com is back and better than ever! New energy, new backend, new design and all the previous posts were saved and restored. That was a close one.

It’s scary to have a labor of love you’ve been plugging away at for 5 years vanish in the blink of a 12-year-old Korean’s keystroke. If I’ve learned one thing from this nightmare it’s that it pays to have long, intricate passwords. Let that be a lesson to you all. “%afwr&kjhk*()-=-&%$@yut” over “ilovemykitty” – always. I know you love your kitty. We all love your kitty.

I won’t stop until the momentum and commenting community I had circa 2007 has been fully reinstated, and even then I’ll keep polluting your RSS feeds with my own brand of silliness. I have missed having this outlet like you couldn’t imagine. I’m back – and I hope some of you are still listening.

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ePixome.com on Canadian Dragon’s Den?


in Television

As an admitted anglophile – someone who likes all things British and definitely not someone who hangs around near Saxon playgrounds – I have always been a fan of the wonderful show, Dragon’s Den. Fledgling entreprenuers climb a flight of stairs into the vertitable den – coming face to face with the dragons who are 5 accomplished, and very wealthy, businesspeople looking to invest money in new ideas, start-ups, inventions, etc. They either love the idea and compete to outbid their peers (“I’ll give you 100,000 pounds for 35% of the company.”) or tear the hopeful pitchers to shreds (“You’ve got a better chance of seeing a one-legged cat bury a turd on a frozen pond”. Here is an especially humorous clip from the original British version to give you a better idea. A very creative pitch goes a bit awry…

Canada’s CBC launched their own version of Dragon’s Den 3 years ago and my old friend Gary wrote to tell me he auditioned for the latest season this week in Hamilton, Ontario. I was suitably impressed and also glad to hear that apparently the day went very well for him. Looks like there’s a very good chance he’ll make it to the den – and if not, good on ‘im for trying. You can see him giving a mini-pitch to a camera here – he is second in the montage. It’s worth a look to see his futuristic soul patch alone.

Gary’s company, ePixome.com, has actually been quite successful and he’s been slugging away at it for the best part of a decade. I may make fun of his facial hair from time to time (and head hair for that matter), but he went from over $60K in debt to profitability after landing contracts with a variety of NBA teams. So what does his digital media marketing company do, exactly? It’s very cool – he allows sponsors to brand digital photos that his team take of fans at sporting events, concerts, etc. Everyone who is in one of the free photos is given a card with a serial number on it which can be entered at the website for access to the photo. It’s proven popular to date and Gary’s plans now include his new site, Fanaticam.com which brings videos from events under a more targeted digital media sports marketing model. Frankly, I like his chances. Mainly because they don’t use real dragons.

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