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At a special event co-sponsored by the Recording
Academy and ASCAP at the Georgian Terrace Hotel
in Atlanta, Georgia, ASCAP Board member and
songwriter/producer Jimmy Jam was a featured
speaker. Jam told stories to an SRO crowd about
his life and work in the music business. Pictured
(l-r) are NARAS's Michelle Caplinger, songwriter/producers
She'kspere, Jimmy Jam, Teddy Bishop and ASCAP's
Ian Burke. |
HAROLD ARLEN THEN AND NOW
The late great American composer Harold Arlen, pictured
at work on his piano, has a new promotional CD, Harold
Arlen Now! Modern Recordings of Timeless Classics,
that is being released to raise awareness of the legendary
composer's timeless work.
The CD contains ten Arlen compositions recorded by
notable artists such as Faith Hill, Tony Bennett, Eric
Clapton and B.B. King. "Harold Arlen's songs are just
as cool today as when they were written," says Sam Arlen,
owner of S.A. Music Co. and son of the composer. Arlen
is best known for composing the music for the classic
film The Wizard of Oz including "Over the Rainbow."
"Over the Rainbow" won the Academy Award for Best Song
in a Motion Picture in 1939, and was recently named
the Number One Song of the 20th Century by the Recording
Industry Association and the National Endowment for
the Arts. Harold Arlen has written over 400 songs for
stage and screen and, along with contemporaries like
George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, is
heralded as one of the great American songwriters.
S.A. Music Co., which publishes many of the songs
written by Arlen, created the new promotional CD to
highlight a few of the great Harold Arlen standards.
Songs featured on the album include "I've Got the World
on A String," "Stormy Weather," "Come Rain or Come Shine,"
"I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues," "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate
the Positive" and "Over the Rainbow.
There is now a new Harold Arlen website (www.haroldarlen.com),
which includes an in-depth biography about the composer,
a photo album, a listening lounge where visitors can
hear streaming media clips of various Harold Arlen songs,
licensing information and much more. The CD and the
new website have been launched in anticipation of the
upcoming Centennial celebration, which will honor Harold
Arlen's 100th birthday in 2005. For more info, contact
Sharon Zak Marotta at esqenterprises@haroldarlen.com.
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ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF
FAME
Pictured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame After
Party earlier this year (l-r) are legendary producer
Phil Spector, ASCAP's Loretta Muñoz and ASCAP
writer/performer Danny Lama. |
 ALL
ABOUT EVE ALBUM BENEFITS BREAST CANCER
Music for the Cure: It's All About Eve, a special
album featuring songs and performances by all female
rockers, including several independent ASCAP writer/performers,
was released this year to raise awareness about breast
cancer and to help raise money for the TJ Martell Foundation
and the Libby Ross Foundation. Rock legend Joan Jett
was invited to provide a bonus track, a performance
of the Lennon/McCartney song "The Word," backed up by
a choir of 27 women.
Jett got involved with the project through longtime
friend, Eve Executive Producer Hernando Courtright.
The singer said of her contribution, "While we heed
the call to support the WTC victims and our military
overseas, we can't forget women's health concerns. Hernando
was such a wonderful friend of mine when I was in The
Runaways, and I totally enjoyed being part of this project
that is his passion, after all these years."
The album has received rave reviews and was a Billboard
Spotlight Album in June. To order the album and for
more info, visit: www.itsabouteve.org. Pictured are
ASCAP members (front row, l-r) Jenn London, Valerie
Ghent, Deena Miller, Heidi Petrikat and Elisa Peimer
and (back row, l-r) Amelia Gewirtz, Phe Cullen, Executive
Producer Hernando Courtwright, Michelle Jerson, Ina
May Wool, Julia Greenberg and Jill Diane.
MANIC MOOSE'S MUSIC
FOR KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS
Joe Carroll and Peter Thom's music for the direct
to video feature, Kermit's Swamp Years
(Jim Henson Home Entertain- ment). The feature is
a prequel to the highly successful Muppet feature
films and follows 12-year old Kermit and his frog
friends through their first adventure beyond the
borders of the swamp. The soundtrack includes original
songs co-written by Carroll and Thom as well as
other classic songs. Highlights include Kermit's
wistful ballad, "Follow Your Star," and a score
that uses blues, soul, Cajun, modern rock and polka.
Through their company, Manic Moose Music, composers
Carroll and Thom have created music for many award-winning
projects, including PBS's "Zoom," the Sesame Street
producers' "Sesame English" and the Disney Channel's
"Stanley." |
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 JOE
HENRY'S LIME CREEK CHRISTMAS
Lyricist Joe Henry's words have graced songs for musical
greats such as John Denver and Garth Brooks. His words
also grace many pages in a novel-in-progress called
Lime Creek. But while Henry still has yet to finish
the novel, the book has already inspired a popular seasonal
concert called Lime Creek Christmas, which
marries Henry's lyrical prose about a Western Christmas
with seasonal music. Over the years, there have been
several performances of the show, from Colorado to Wyoming
and last year at Nashville's Bellsouth Acuff Theatre.
At the Nashville show, actor Anthony Zerbe read from
Henry's novel while fellow ASCAP members and singer/songwriters
Garth Brooks and Beth Nielsen Chapman performed songs
between the readings. In reviewing the work, CMT.com
said "In its strong sense of place, exalted language,
gentle whimsy and child-like level of wonder, Lime
Creek Christmas is similar to Dylan Thomas' timeless
short story, A Child's Christmas in Wales.
Pictured on the Bellsouth Acuff stage are Zerbe, Brooks
and Chapman.
NEELY BRUCE'S CONVERGENCE
Composer, conductor and pianist Neely Bruce's Convergence
was presented as part of Lincoln Center's Out of Doors
series this summer. The New York City performance was
not only "out of doors" but in the streets as well.
Bruce's work brought together six marching bands, a
dozen choruses, a West African Drumming Ensemble, Javanese
Gamelan, West Indian Steel Drums, bagpipers and a fife
and drum corp, some of who marched through the streets
of the Upper West Side before ending up in Lincoln Center's
plaza, where the groups performed simultaneously. It
was an afternoon of organized chaos...and unforgettable.
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