A Monthly Meditation on Branding and Language
From Your Favorite Copy Shop, Editorial Emergency

#48 (April 1, 2011): And, Per Se, Us

After a brief hiatus to move to our new digs, we're back. This time we ponder the symbolic power of the ampersand; provide the digits to our sweet new location; voluntarily catch Dengue Fever (unlike the time Julia involuntarily caught it in the Dominican Republic); and bear witness to more communications carnage with the latest Not Our Clients. We'll return to our regular publication schedule henceforth — no fooling.

Flash Card: Amped on Ampersands

Is there any logogram as elegant as the ampersand?

It's no wonder we're still using this ancient ligature millennia after it first appeared. Thanks to texting and tweeting, it's more popular than ever. After all, why expend three precious characters on "and" when the ampersand can do the job in one?

In these informal communiqués, the ampersand is indeed most welcome. But it's not an all-purpose substitute for "and." In more formal modes, its use is proscribed to only a few circumstances.

We'll get to those, but first, a bit of etymology.

Read the rest here.

EE Has Moved.

We decided to head for the hills, moving our office from Glassell Park (just north of downtown Los Angeles) to Sunland, just south of the Angeles National Forest (but still within L.A. city limits). You may now send checks to:

7841 Rim Canyon Road
Sunland, CA 91040

The new phone number: (818) 273-4115
The same old e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Please update your assorted directories, address books, Rolodexes and crumpled napkins accordingly. And if you've got a hankering to get away from it all, we know just the place.

Round and Shiny: Dengue Fever's "Cannibal" Feast

Dengue Fever has made a career of defying stereotypes, especially those regarding genre. Though Cambodian pop of the '60s was a primary inspiration for founders Zac and Ethan Holtzman, who recruited Cambodian celebrity songstress Chhom Nimol into their L.A. outfit, the band has come to embrace more ingredients than a bowl of k'tieu.

Twangy guitars, exuberantly cinematic horn lines and hypnotic beats intertwine in the dark, dangerous, twisty universe of their oeuvre, and one never quite knows what transformations are waiting around the bend.

On Dengue's latest disc, Cannibal Courtship, these spicy, sweet, evocative flavors cohere deliciously. There's nervy, surfy indie pop (the lethally seductive title track, referenced by the praying mantis on the cover artwork; the scorching "Family Business"); mesmerizing Khmer dub ("Uku"); jazzy, kinetic funk ("Only a Friend"); spaghetti-western threnody ("Sister in the Radio"); and spooky, psychedelic ska with bongos (the spy-soundtrack instrumental "Kiss of the Bufo Alvarius").

The lyrics switch with ease between Kumai (Khmer) and English, playing with the listener's assumptions about "world music," and the band executes the demanding shifts in tempo and feel with aplomb. Kudos are especially due to the brilliant rhythm section of Senon Williams (bass) and Paul Smith (drums), who also spearheaded the band's self-production. Never have songs in a minor key felt so exhilarating.

L.A. fans can catch Dengue Fever's record release party at the storied Troubadour on Tuesday, April 19.

Not Our Clients: Sitting Bull Edition

We don't mean to be a pain in the ass, but something about the following description — from the University of California Berkeley's Wellness Alerts Week in Review — seems off.

Somebody's got a pretty big comfort zone.

If you're a glutton for pain, experience more acute examples at the Not Our Clients main page. Share the agony with your friends, using the handy-dandy URL NotOurClients.com.

Have you spotted an inflammatory error, torturous typo or something else in that vein? Don't just sit there — get off your rear and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it If we choose to insert it in a future issue, we'll send you an iTunes Music Store gift card, redeemable for such bottom-heavy jams as "Get Up Offa That Thing," "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" or, heaven help us, "The Bertha Butt Boogie."

Editorial Emergency puts words in your mouth.
Assuming you're a marketer, creative, lifestyler, publicist, artist and/or do-gooder
who wants to connect with and persuade consumers.
We've worked for these kinds of clients on this kind of stuff.

In case of editorial emergency, break glass and call ...

(818) 273-4115
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
surf: www.editorialemergency.com
send checks: 7841 Rim Canyon Road, Sunland, CA 91040