Rabbit Enthusiasm

His peers apparently agreed: Clio panels bestowed their favor upon CP+B with gold awards in the integrated media and print/poster categories for campaigns for the Cooper Mini and Miller Lite. One of the memorable Mini ads was a magazine piece that featured a perforated Mini model that could be punched out and folded into a three-dimensional mini Mini.

The "contact and content" segment jury, led by executive chair Paul Woolmington, founding partner of Naked Communications of New York City, also awarded a gold Clio to CP+B for its integrated campaign for the Mini.

Around 19,000 submissions were received from around the world, and only about 190 gold Clios were awarded. On Tuesday evening, during a presentation at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach, Crispin Porter + Bogusky was named Clio Agency of the Year for the second year in a row. The agency also won another gold Clio in the cinema and television division for its “Urban Hipster/Decal Conscious” spot for the American Legacy Foundation.

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House Music All Night Long

Even among the fiercely individualistic cadre of underground music heroes, Osunlade is special. His success as a producer of Gerardo's multiplatinum single "Rico Suave" and vocal tracks for Martha Wash and India.Arie has allowed him to found a fledgling record label, Yoruba, which is dedicated to tribal-infused music.

But it is for his dance-floor epics that Osunlade is known and beloved in the house music community.

The Bitch saw Osunlade when he visited Miami Beach for Aquabooty's party at Glass back in February (Osunlade returns to Aquabooty this week; see story on page 84) and was transfixed, along with hundreds of others, by an hours-long endorphin-fueled experience that lasted till dawn.

But Osunlade is more than a preternaturally charismatic DJ. He is an advocate of a serene, animist belief system who eschews the excesses of club culture. By popular demand, Osunlade released The Yoruba Soul Mixes, a new collection of his remixes previously unavailable on CD. Here are some excerpts from The Bitch's recent chat with the 33-year-old ancient soul, a six-foot-plus-tall man with a regal bearing but gentle manner:

How do you define or categorize your music? Your compositions and mixes seem to be more interested in polyrhythms and melodic structures than a lot of house and breakbeat is.

"I'd call my music ancestral.... It's first rhythm, then emotion. My melodies are influenced by jazz and soul, but it's all in reverence to the ancestors."

Are you a full-time expatriate now? You've lived in Greece for a while.

"I've been an official expatriate for almost seven years now.... I live in Santorini, Greece. And I hate [DJ haven] Mykonos! It's one of those tourist places people think of and visit when they think of Greece.... I don't like places like that. My life is built on peace and not fun. Santorini provides me with such."

What is your impression of the Miami dance music scene?

"Miami's is similar to a Los Angeles crowd; you know — you know, more about what car you drive, the clothes, and who you're with. But just as L.A. does have its house-heads, so does Miami."

Stevie Wonder is one of your inspirations, right?

"I've never worked with Stevie; however, my mentors in production and engineering were Stevie's people in the Seventies, so I learned a lot of techniques that gave me many hints on how to write and create in clear, creative environments."

How do you divide your time between Yoruba label responsibilities and travel, composing, and laying down your own tracks?

"There is no separation.... It is one and the same. Yoruba is my life. Everything else is a part of my responsibilities. It's a balancing act sometimes with the travels, but the Orishas and ancestors keep me balanced and allow me the strength in living and acting as one with spirit and human duties."

Who are some of the DJs you are listening to right now, or who do you think is doing something interesting and different? What about music in general? What's in your iPod?

"I don't usually listen to much DJ-based or electronic music outside of doing gigs. I think it keeps my mind clear by having blinders on to distract me from other music that's out. I listen to mostly jazz or progressive rock. Right now in my iPod I have Can, Gentle Giant, Joe Henderson, Benny Maupin, Jonathan Brooke ... and the list goes on."

Aren't you studying to become a priest of some sort?

"I am already a priest. I am in the second phase of studies, which will allow me to teach further and have my own i'lle [temple] and parish. It's simply a year of cleansing, like a monk. I must wear white only; there are many restrictions on food, and no physical human contact. Simple things like looking in the mirror are forbidden. It's a path that allows you to close your eyes to the world and the things that sometimes make you vain with ego or make you imbalanced."

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Uniform Chilling