There are a number of updates this week that I wanted to share...
SPRING MATCH CAMPAIGN: Own one of Richard Amsel's personal MAD MAX posters!
First, our SPRING MATCH donation promo has now launched, and will be active through Friday, April 19th. Donate any amount for a chance to win a MAX MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME poster from Richard Amsel’s personal collection! Your donations will also help us qualify for a potential $1,000 matching gift from our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas.
But instead of giving just one poster as originally planned, I'm going to give away TWO! One recipient will be chosen at random, while the other will go to whoever makes the highest donation between now and April 19th!
Check out our blog post for more details. Every one of your donations are appreciated! We're planning another trip to the east coast in a few months to film some last-minute interviews, and this campaign could help us offset those costs.
And if you want to assist us even more, SPREAD THE WORD! Share our posts on social media, and encourage people to join our newsletter!
Pictures at an Exhibition: The Paintings of BOB PEAK
On June 14, Walt Disney Concert Hall will present the Los Angeles Film Orchestra in a special performance inspired by the paintings of legendary movie poster artist BOB PEAK.
Peak was a huge influence on Richard Amsel’s work, and this musical performance should be a fascinating one. (I’m tentatively planning to attend, and hope that Peak’s sons, Matthew and Tom, will be there as well. I’d love to catch up with them!)
Robert Townson, a celebrated music producer with a long history of film soundtracks, is hosting the event. He writes:
It is miraculous beyond belief that I would begin my career just a few years later and find myself working with all three of these heroes. But it’s true and it all happened. I have loved film music, classical music, movie poster art and paintings by the masters my whole life since then. About 25 years ago, when I was producing new recordings with some of the greatest orchestras in the world and had also commissioned new works, such as a new Star Wars score for a book called Shadows of the Empire, that I had what to me was a beautiful and visionary idea. I have countless favorite classical pieces, but one of my favorites has always been Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. But much as I loved Mussorgsky’s original piece, my idea was to create a new Pictures at an Exhibition for a new age. To have all new music composed and have the inspiration for all the new music be the paintings of Bob Peak. Not his film paintings. They already have music attached to them. His other artwork. He did almost everything. New York World’s Fair 1964, 100th Anniversary of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, he painted portraits of Mother Teresa, John Kennedy, Anwar Sadat, The Band that were featured on 45 different Time Magazine covers! He did paintings for The Olympics and the Special Olympics. For the United Nations and for the Academy of Motion Pictures arts and Sciences. He painted cars, and beautiful women and couples, and the American West. He did so much work, it could inspire 50 different versions of Pictures at an Exhibition. For 25 years it was a dream. Now, in a major international co-production between Abu Dhabi Festival and Robert Townson Productions, we are preparing for the premiere.
Like the Mussorgsky, the new piece has ten movements. But unlike the Mussorgsky, there is not one composer … there are ten! Michael Abels, Jeff Beal, Marco Beltrami, Bill Conti, Mychael Danna, Ihab Darwish, Don Davis, Harry Gregson-Williams, Maria Newman and Marc Shaiman. Each of them has composed a new movement for the all-new Pictures at an Exhibition, each inspired by a different painting by the great Bob Peak! …
And to conduct this world premiere performance of Pictures at an Exhibition: The Paintings of Bob Peak, we have one of the greatest maestros in the world, the legendary Leonard Slatkin!
But that is not all! I have just described for you the second half of the concert. The first half of the concert will be a tribute to Bob Peak’s legendary Hollywood career.
His first film painting was the poster for West Side Story! Courtesy of the Leonard Bernstein Estate we have Leonard Bernstein’s film overture from West Side Story! We have My Fair Lady! We have the world premiere of Alfred Newman’s arrangement of Frederick Loewe’s Camelot! We could not leave out Apocalypse Now and what music could we perform other than Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries! One of my favorite film cues of all time, Jerry Goldsmith’s The Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture will also be conducted by Leonard Slatkin! Another dream. Can you imagine the beauty? As if that is not enough, how about Bruce Broughton’s Silverado! And John Williams’ Superman: The Movie!
DAVID BYRD GoFundMe updates
I had posted recently about a GoFundMe page I set up on behalf of my friend, artist David Edward Byrd, who has been facing crippling health and financial challenges. I’m happy to share that the campaign has now generated nearly $31k, and has provided David with considerable help during this trying time.
David and his husband, artist Jolino Beserra, have now moved out of their Los Angeles home, and are starting a new chapter in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was able to see them during David’s last day in Los Angeles. Needless to say it was bittersweet, and I got a bit choked up while driving away from their beautiful house on the hill. But there shall be new memories, and a new house for them to make into a home of their own.
The GoFundMe campaign is still going on, however, as David and Jolino still need your help. As an additional incentive for donors, David will be offering some of his original art in the future, so please, follow the campaign to stay in the know!
In memoriam: MARTIN RADEER (1945-2023)
I recently posted a small tribute to artist/illustrator Dan Goozeé (1943-2024), and was very moved by some of the personal responses I received from those who knew him. I wish I had the opportunity to know the man as they did. My deepest sympathies to you all.
It got me thinking back to some of the art teachers I had during my youth, and prompted me to do a Google search of a few names. One of them was MARTIN RADEER, who was my favorite art teacher in high school.
Sadly, I learned that “Mr. Radeer” (as I had always called him – I was a kid back then, after all) passed away just last December 1st. I regret having lost touch with him the past twenty-plus years. When I ventured out to Hollywood after college, I reached out to him over the phone, and he was very supportive of my work and creative career. I shall miss him, and will regret never having properly thanked him. A good teacher can make a great influence.
