By CAROLYN GIARDINA
Tom Pomposello, president/founder of New York-based music/sound design house Pomposello Productions, died Jan. 25, reportedly from an aneurysm, which led to an automobile accident. No one else was injured in the accident. Pomposello was 49.
During his career, the multitalented Pomposello created music, animation, video and records and was known for conceiving countless recognizable compositions for both network and cable television, perhaps most notably the Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick, Neh-Nick-Nick-Nick doo-wop sound for Nickelodeon.
Among Pomposellos numerous industry honors were three Clios and a Gold Radio Mercury award. His advertising clients included Old Navy, Sudafed, Chips Ahoy, Quilted Northern, Milky Way, Burger King, American Express, Little Caesars and Taco Bell. He also created music for network IDs and on-air promotions for ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, Bravo, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, HBO, MTV, TNT and more.
Pomposello also had his own record company, Re:signed Records, whose releases include Women in Chant, a collection of Gregorian Chants performed by The Choice of Benedictine Nuns at The Abbey of Regina Laudis. Pomposellos own discography-more than 30 albums as producer, composer/songwriter, featured performer or sideman-continually pays tribute to his roots as a bluesman and accompanist to his mentor, the late blues great Fred McDowell.
My closest pal, personally and in business is how J.J. Sedelmaier, president of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, White Plains, described Pomposello. The two frequently collaborated, Sedelmaier creating animation and Pomposello sound. Sedelmaier said he would remember Pomposellos terrific sense of humor and laughing on the telephone together.
He was constantly called on to help sculpt and mold a networks image. Thats not just visual and audio, thats strategy, Sedelmaier recalled. He was a performer, an executive, an artist-he was whatever he needed to be for whatever he found himself involved in. He was without parallel.
Jeff Dickson, an associate producer at Pomposello Productions, called Pomposello the kindest person I ever knew in a sometimes cruel business. Describing him as sweet, generous and loving, Dickson said Pomposello was sort of a father figure to everyone he worked with, especially his staff. He made us feel like a family.
Pomposello is survived by his wife, Patricia Lawrence, of Chichester; his mother, Rose, of Kings Park; five children, two sisters and three grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Pomposellos name to Promisek, a charitable foundation that helps provide musical instruments to the children of Northern Mississippi in honor of McDowell. The address is: Promisek, 694 Skyline Ridge Road, Bridgewater, CT 06752, or call (860) 350-8226.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More