Thursday, April 15, 2010

Woohoo! (And Boooo!)

Congrats to my "gee eff" Kim's soap company, Stella Marie Soap, for winning Best Fun Getting Clean in the Providence Phoenix! The cool part is she had no idea she was even in the running.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z is suing David Ortiz, since Papi's club in the Dominican Republic has the same name as Jay-Z's Manhattan club or some crap. In other news, I'm suing Jay-Z for turning what used to be an awesome form of music into a big, fat, boring turdburger world, AND for being the all-too-common, terrible kind of New York fan who has no loyalty, choosing to like whichever team is currently on top. Punitive damages, here!

And remember, Jay-Z, what Grandmaster Flash said--a good rap record should consist of nothing but other records. The whole theory behind hip-hop (and most other things in life, essentially) is using bits and pieces of what's already there and making it you. And that's a beautiful thing, as long as you're accomplishing that last part. I'm guessing Papi's club doesn't have a bunch of Jay-Z pictures on the wall, it has a bunch of David Ortiz ones! If he's using your club's name, consider it a tribute, because if he did use it knowing that's what yours is called, I'm sure that's why. Okay, I'm not sure, but the point is, look, tough guy, I used to be in a band--if I found out some other band was playing one of our songs, I'd be honored. If they were pretending to be us, that would be a different story. But I really think you have nothing to worry about. (Why am I talking directly to Jay-Z as if he's reading this? I guess we bloggers are "wont" to do that sometimes....)

Comments:
So, if Derek Jeter starts a soap company called "Stella Marie Soap", and each soap produced is created with a Yankee logo, then you'd be cool with that idea? You won't be pissed and you wouldn't encourage your gf to file a lawsuit?

This has nothing to do with Papi or Jay-Z - like you, I don't even think he's that great, I'm more of a tribe, roots, de la soul, nas (90s), snoop fan anyway - but you don't really believe that Papi is not ripping off that name. Right? It's pretty obvious. The lawsuit seems perfectly justified, at least from what I read.

I like Papi, I don't have anything against the guy, and think he has way more redeemable qualities than Jay-Z, so don't think this has anything to do with the uniform Papi wears to work.
 
you think people in the DR are going into Papi's club going, "Oh, this must be that club owned by Jay-Z. In New York." ?
 
First of all, to the guy who commented here who I didn't publish: You're doing that whole "New York is good and Boston is bad and the Celtics and Patriots suck" thing, and I am NOT a fan of the other Boston teams, and I am a fan of New York City. So that stuff means nothing to me. (However, it's pretty ridiculous for you Yankee fans to mock us our whole lives, then when we finally win (in the biggest comeback in sports history on your damn field), call our championships "bogus.")

You asked about my comment re: Jay-Z being a front-runner. (And you thought I meant it had something to do with other sports, no.) The guy was a Mets fan in '86, just like a lot of other front-running fans that pick whichever one's on top. Now he's a Yankee fan. And if the Mets are ever good again, watch him go right back.

And then you're all making fun of Boston rap vs NYC rap? Hellooo, I just gave mad proverbial props to Grandmaster Flash and talked about the early days of rap. I didn't say "New York rap is dumb and Boston rap is better."

Daaa, you wrote back saying a bunch of stuff that implies I'm not aware of the Dominican population in NYC. It made no sense. I was saying that no one in DR is gonna think, Hey, I'm in NYC right now at Jay-Z's club! When they're actually at Papi's club in DR.
 
How didn't that make sense? If I name a software product 'Microsoft', how won't that cause any confusion? It doesn't matter where you are, they know they are not in NY, but they can easily (incorrectly) make the association that both clubs are affiliated - which is my point. Dominicans are brand/name conscious, so the fact that they can interpret it that way then that's justification for a lawsuit - same industry and same name. If big papi had a company that makes marbles and he called it 40/40, then there isn't a legitimate lawsuit. Both industries don't really intersect so it's hard to make that type of association.

I think your point doesn't make any sense. Obviously they know they are not in NY. Why don't you just post the discussion?
 
cuz it's over
 
Congratulations to Kim! I did see that yesterday. I love the Best of Rhode Island thing, even though most of the readers' choices are not imaginative. Evidently, anything north of Providence is not trendy enough.

BLACKSTONE VALLEY!!!
 
And she won an editor's pick so if there's a CF Soap Maker that's better, it's not the readers' fault, ha.

In that Prov. Monthly mag, the voting's going on now and they do have like localized categories...
 
Congratulations again to Kim...hopefully she has some soap for babies in product development.

I like David Ortiz a great deal; I'm not a fan of Jay-Z (although I thought it was cool that he performed No Sleep Till Brooklyn last summer at All Points West as a Beaties tribute after they had to cancel b/c of MCA's illness.)

But I suspect Papi's only defense here is if whatever copyrights Jay-Z has on the 40/40 name as a club don't extend to the DR. If he had opened this club in Boston, I'd be shocked if he weren't forced to change the name.

Years ago I was looking at the site for Jay-Z's nyc club for some reason, and noticed that they had a photo gallery from ARod's birthday party. Lots of hysterical pictures of ARod, Posada, Giambi, and a couple other Yanks (tellingly, no Jeter) looking like complete doofuses.
 

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