On eBay Now...1988 ORIGINAL PHOTO BY GREG GORMAN MUSICIAN PIANIST MICHAEL FEINSTEIN FANTASTIC For Sale
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1988 ORIGINAL PHOTO BY GREG GORMAN MUSICIAN PIANIST MICHAEL FEINSTEIN FANTASTIC:
$212.33
GREG GORMAN VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO FROM 1988 DEPICTING MUSICIAN MICHAEL FEINSTEIN AND MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 9 3/8 X 7 3/8 INCHES. WITH CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER GREG GORMAN ON BACK OF PHOTOMichael Feinstein has built a dazzling career over the last three decades bringing the music of the Great American songbook to the world. From recordings that have earned him five Grammy Award nominations to his Emmy nominated PBS-TV specials, his acclaimed NPR series and concerts spanning the globe – in addition to his appearances at iconic venues such as The White House, Buckingham Palace, Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House – his work as an educator and archivist define Feinstein as one of the most important musical forces of our time.
In 2007, he founded the Great American Songbook Foundation, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, Master Classes, and the annual High School Songbook Academy. This summer intensive open to students from across the country has produced graduates who have gone on to record acclaimed albums and appear on television programs such as NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” Michael serves on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage.Feinstein earned his fifth Grammy Award nomination in 2009 for The Sinatra Project, his CD celebrating the music of “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” The Sinatra Project, Volume II: The Good Life was released in 2011. He released the CDs The Power Of Two – collaborating with “Glee” and “30 Rock” star Cheyenne Jackson – and Cheek To Cheek, recorded with Broadway legend Barbara Cook. For Feinstein’s CD We Dreamed These Days, he co-wrote the title song with Dr. Maya Angelou.The Sinatra Legacy
His Emmy Award-nominated TV special Michael Feinstein – The Sinatra Legacy, which was taped live at the Palladium in Carmel, IN, aired across the country in 2011. The PBS series “Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook,” the recipient of the ASCAP Deems-Taylor Television Broadcast Award, was broadcast for three seasons and is available on DVD. His most recent primetime PBS-TV Special, “New Year’s Eve at The Rainbow Room” – written and directed by “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry – aired in 2014. For his nationally syndicated public radio program “Song Travels,” Michael interviews and performs alongside of music luminaries such as Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Liza Minnelli, Rickie Lee Jones, David Hyde Pierce and was named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena Symphony in 2012 and made his conducting debut in June 2013 to celebrated critical acclaim. Under Feinstein’s leadership, the Pasadena Pops has quickly become a premier orchestral presenter of the Great American Songbook with definitive performances of rare orchestrations and classic arrangements. He launched an additional Pops series at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Palm Beach, Florida in 2014.Michael’s book The Gershwins and Me – the Los Angeles Times best-seller from Simon & Schuster – featuresa new CD of Gershwin standards performed with Cyrus Chestnut at the piano.The Palladium in Carmel, IndianaThe Palladium in Carmel, Indiana
Feinstein serves as Artistic Director of the Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, a $170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in January 2011. The theater is home to diverse live programming and a museum for his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Since 1999, he has served as Artistic Director for Carnegie Hall’s “Standard Time with Michael Feinstein” in conjunction with ASCAP. In 2010 he became the director of the Jazz and Popular Song Series at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln at the Nikko, Michael’s nightclub at San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel, has presented the top talents of pop and jazz since 2013. He debuted at Feinstein’s/54 Below, his new club in New York, late in 2015. His first venue in New York, Feinstein’s at the Regency, featured major entertainers such as Rosemary Clooney, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Jane Krakowski, Lea Michele, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz and Alan Cumming from 1999 to 2012.
He has designed a new piano for Steinway called “The First Ladies,” inspired by the White House piano and signed by several former First Ladies. It was first played to commemorate the Ronald Regan centennial on February 6, 2011.
In 2013 Michael released Change Of Heart: The Songs of Andre Previn in collaboration with four time Oscar and eleven time Grammy Award-winning composer-conductor-pianist Andre Previn. The album celebrates Previn’s pop songs and motion picture classics. Earlier album highlights include Hopeless Romantics, a songbook of classics by Michael’s late friend Harry Warren, recording with legendary jazz pianist George Shearing. His album with songwriting icon Jimmy Webb, Only One Life – The Songs of Jimmy Webb, was named one of “10 Best CDs of the Year” by USA Today.
Feinstein received his fourth Grammy nomination for Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, his first recording with a symphony orchestra. The year before, Rhino/Elektra Music released The Michael Feinstein Anthology, a two-disc compilation spanning 1987 to 1996 and featuring old favorites and previously-unreleased tracks.Michael was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he started playing piano by ear as a 5-year-old. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles when he was 20. The widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant introduced him to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. Feinstein became Gershwin’s assistant for six years, which earned him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, many of which he has since performed and recorded.Gershwin’s influence provided a solid base upon which Feinstein evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music. He also has become an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Harry Warren. Feinstein has received three honorary doctorates.Through his live performances, recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins, Bob Merrill and Marshall Barer), Feinstein is an all-star force in American music.
Michael Jay Feinstein[1] (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an interpreter of, and an anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. Feinstein is also a multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist.[2] He currently serves as Artistic Director for The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.[3]Contents1 Early life2 Career3 Personal life4 Discography5 References6 Notes7 External linksEarly lifeFeinstein was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Florence Mazie (née Cohen), an amateur tap dancer, and Edward Feinstein, a sales executive for the Sara Lee Corporation and a former amateur singer.[1] He is of Jewish descent. At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he was not reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear. As his mother saw no problem with her son's method, she took him out of lessons and allowed him to enjoy music his own way.[citation needed]
CareerAfter graduating from high school, Feinstein worked in local piano bars for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, in 1977 he was introduced to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalogue his extensive collection of phonograph records. The assignment led to six years of researching, cataloguing and preserving the unpublished sheet music and rare recordings in Gershwin's home, thus securing the legacy of not just Ira but also that of his composer brother George Gershwin, who had died four decades earlier. Feinstein's extended tenure enabled him to also get to know Gershwin's next-door neighbor, singer Rosemary Clooney, with whom Feinstein formed an intensely close friendship lasting until Clooney's death. Feinstein served as musical consultant for the 1983 Broadway show My One and Only, a musical pastiche of Gershwin tunes.
By the mid-1980s, Feinstein was a nationally known cabaret singer-pianist famed for being a dedicated proponent of the Great American Songbook. In 1986, he recorded his first CD, Pure Gershwin (1987), a collection of music by George and Ira Gershwin. He followed this in quick succession with Live at the Algonquin (1986); Remember: Michael Feinstein Sings Irving Berlin (1987); Isn't It Romantic (1988), a collection of standards and his first album backed by an orchestra; and Over There (1989), featuring the music of America and Europe during the First World War. Feinstein recorded his only children's album, Pure Imagination, in 1992. In the 1987 episode "But Not For Me" of the TV series thirtysomething he sang "But Not For Me", "Love Is Here to Stay" and Isn't It Romantic? as parts of dream sequences.
By 1988, Feinstein was starring on Broadway in a series of in-concert shows: Michael Feinstein in Concert (April through June 1988), Michael Feinstein in Concert: "Isn't It Romantic" (October through November 1988), and Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice (October 1990). He returned to Broadway in 2010, in a concert special duo with Dame Edna titled All About Me (March through April 2010).[4]
In the early 1990s, Feinstein embarked on an ambitious songbook project wherein he performed an album featuring the music of a featured composer, often accompanied by the composer. These included collaborations with Burton Lane (two volumes: 1990, 1992), Jule Styne (1991), Jerry Herman (Michael Feinstein Sings the Jerry Herman Songbook, 1993), Hugh Martin (1995), Jimmy Webb (Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, 2003) and Jay Livingston/Ray Evans (2002). He has also recorded three albums of standards with Maynard Ferguson: Forever (1993), Such Sweet Sorrow (1995), and Big City Rhythms (1999).
In the late 1990s, Feinstein recorded two more albums of Gershwin music: Nice Work If You Can Get It: Songs by the Gershwins (1996) and Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin (1998). Feinstein's albums in the 21st century have included Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway (2000), Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (2001), Hopeless Romantics (2005, featuring George Shearing), and The Sinatra Project (2008).Michael Feinstein and Marvin Hamlisch performing a duet of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" in 2009.In 2000, the Library of Congress appointed Feinstein to its newly formed National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to safeguarding America's musical heritage.[5]
In 2008, The Great American Songbook Foundation, Michael Feinstein, Founder located its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana. The Foundation's two-fold mission includes the preservation, research, and exhibition of the physical artifacts, both published and non-published, of the Great American Songbook and educating today's youth about the music's relevance to their lives. The Foundation houses an archive and reference library; plans exist for a free-standing museum. The organization also holds an annual Great American Songbook Vocal Academy and Competition that invites high school students from around the country to compete in regional competitions; Feinstein has been a judge and mentor for the summer intensive each year from its inception in 2009.[6] Finalists gather at the Foundation's headquarters for a vocal "boot camp" and final competition. The winner receives scholarship money and the opportunity to perform with Michael at his cabaret in New York.
In 2009 Feinstein became the artistic director of The Center for the Performing Arts.[7] located in Carmel, Indiana. Construction of the $170-million, three-theater venue was completed in January, 2011. The Center is home to an annual international arts festival, diverse live programming, and The Great American Songbook Foundation, Michael Feinstein, founder.
In 2009, Feinstein teamed up with Cheyenne Jackson to create a nightclub act titled "The Power of Two". The show was hailed by The New York Times as "passionate", "impeccably harmonized" and "groundbreaking".[8] Variety acclaimed it as "dazzlingly entertaining".[9] Their act became one of the most critically acclaimed shows of 2009,[10][11][12] and the duo created a studio album from the material, The Power of Two that included their cover of the Indigo Girls song of the same name.
In addition to doing more than 150 live performances per year, Feinstein has appeared on a number of television series, documentaries, and talk shows.
In 2010, PBS aired Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, a three-part television documentary that depicts the history of the American popular song up to 1960, as well as Feinstein's own life and career.[13]
As of June 2011, Feinstein has written the score for two new stage musicals, The Night They Saved Macy's Parade and The Gold Room.[14]
His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, presented the top talents of pop and jazz from 1999 to 2012, including Rosemary Clooney, Liza Minnelli, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Jane Krakowski, Lea Michele, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz and Alan Cumming. The club was closed in December 2012 due to a year-long complete renovation of the Regency Hotel. Michael opened his new nightclub, Feinstein's at the Nikko in San Francisco's Nikko Hotel in May 2013, Feinstein's/54 Below at New York's Studio 54 in 2015 and also plans for a future nightclub in London.
Since 2012, Feinstein has been the host of the weekly, one-hour radio program Song Travels with Michael Feinstein®, produced by South Carolina ETV Radio and distributed by NPR. On the program, Feinstein explores the legendary songs of 20th century America. The series surveys the passage of American Popular Song throughout the American landscape, evolving with each artist and performance.[15] Podcast highlights of the show are also available under the title Song Travels Express.
Feinstein was named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena POPS in 2012 and made his conducting debut in June 2013 to celebrated critical acclaim. In 2016, Feinstein's contract with the Pasadena POPS was extended through 2019.[16] Under Feinstein's leadership, the Pasadena POPS has quickly become the nation's premier presenter of the Great American Songbook in the orchestral arena delivering definitive performances of rare orchestrations and classic arrangements.
Feinstein's memoir The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs about working for Ira Gershwin was published in the fall of 2012, accompanied by a CD of Feinstein performing the Gershwin brothers' music discussed in the book.[17]
In April 2013 Michael released a new CD, Change Of Heart: The Songs of André Previn, (Concord) in collaboration with legendary composer-conductor-pianist André Previn, with an album celebrating Previn's repertoire from his catalog of pop songs that have most commonly been featured in motion pictures. The album opens with "(You've Had) A Change of Heart".
On October 31, 2014, Feinstein's Michael Feinstein at the Rainbow Room premiered on PBS, with guest stars. The special is part of the 2014 PBS Arts Fall Festival, a primetime programming event with 11 weekly programs of classic Broadway hits and music from around the country, as well as acclaimed and award-winning theater performances.
Personal lifeIn October 2008, Feinstein married his longtime partner Terrence Flannery.[18] The ceremony was performed by famed family court and television judge Judith Sheindlin, also known as Judge Judy.[19] Feinstein and Flannery have homes in New York, Los Angeles, and Indiana.
Michael Feinstein Biography (1956-)Full name, Michael Jay Feinstein; born September 7, 1956, in Columbus, OH; son of Edward (a sales executive and amateur singer) and Florence Mazie (an amateur tap dancer; maiden name, Cohen) Feinstein. Addresses: Agent: International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA pianist, actor, composer, producerBirth DetailsSeptember 7, 1956Columbus, Ohio, United StatesFamous WorksCREDITSTelevision AppearancesSpecialsA Musical Toast: The Stars Shine for Public Television, PBS, 1986Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration, CBS, 1988A Grand Night: The Performing Arts Salute Public Television, 1988Royal Command Performance, BBC-TV, 1988Command Performance: An All-Star Salute to the President (also known as An All-Star Salute to Ford's Theatre), ABC, 1989Michael Feinstein in Concert, BBC-TV, 1989Night of 100 Stars III, NBC, 1990The Ice Capade's Fiftieth Anniversary Special, ABC, 1990Host, Michael Feinstein and Friends, PBS, 1991Wolf Trap 20th Anniversary Concert, PBS, 1991Memory and Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress, PBS, 1992The Magic of Bing Crosby, PBS, 1992Bob Hope's America: Red, White, and Beautiful--The Swimsuit Edition, NBC, 1992Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, PBS, 1997Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley (documentary) PBS, 1999Also appeared on the television coverage of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, 1992MoviesPianist, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, NBC, 1987The piano player, This Can't Be Love, 1994Michael, For Love Alone: The Ivana Trump Story, CBS, 1996Episodic"George Gershwin Remembered," American Masters, PBS, 1987"Celebrating Gershwin" (also known as "The Jazz Age" and "'S Wonderful"), Great Performances, PBS, 1987Himself, "But Not for Me (AKA Saturday Night)," thirtysomething, ABC, 1987"Broadway Sings: The Music of Jule Styne," Great Performances, PBS, 1987Nightline, 1988Himself, Santa Barbara, 1988The Pat Sajak Show, 1989Nightwatch, 1989Coast to Coast, 1989"You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story," American Masters, PBS, 1990The Tonight Show, NBC, 1991Guest host, Talk-Live, CNBC, 1992The Tonight Show, NBC, 1992Himself, "My Funny Valentine," Herman's Head, Fox, 1993The Tonight Show, NBC, 1993Himself, "Isn't It Romantic?," Coach, 1996Himself, "Caroline and Richard & Julia," Caroline in the City,NBC, 1997Television WorkSpecialsExecutive producer, Michael Feinstein and Friends, PBS, 1991Film AppearancesHimself, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Cinecom,1989Himself, Get Bruce!, Miramax, 1999Stage AppearancesThe Sophisticated Sound of a Steinway," Quintessence Series, Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland, OH, 1987-88(Broadway debut) Michael Feinstein in Concert: Isn't It Romantic, Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 1988Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice, Golden Theatre, NewYork City, 1990Title role, Hans Christian Andersen, 1991Major ToursMichael Feinstein in Concert: Isn't It Romantic, U.S. cities,1988-89RECORDINGSAlbumsPure Gershwin, Parnassus, 1985, reissued, Elektra, 1987Michael Feinstein Live at the Algonquin, Parnassus, 1986, reissued, Elektra, 1987Remember: Michael Feinstein Sings Irving Berlin, Elektra, 1987Isn't It Romantic, Elektra, 1988The MGM Album, Elektra, 1989Over There: Songs of War and Peace, c. 1900-1920, EMI Angel, 1989Michael Feinstein Sings the Burton Lane Songbook, Elektra/Nonesuch, Volume One, 1990, Volume Two, 1992(With Jule Styne) Michael Feinstein Sings the Jule Styne Songbook,Elektra/Nonesuch, 1991Pure Imagination, Elektra, 1992Forever, Elektra, 1993Big City Rhythms, Condord Jazz, 1999Michael Feinstein, Volume One: Romance on Film, 2001Michael Feinstein, Volume Two: Romance on Broadway, 2001WRITINGSFilm MusicSong "Wouldn't It Be Wonderful," The Lady in Red, 1979The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters, 1986Score and title song, Get Bruce!, Miramax, 1999Editor of The Ira Gershwin Songbook; contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times and the Washington Post.Further ReferenceOTHER SOURCES
BooksContemporary Musicians 1991., Volume 6, Gale Research,PeriodicalsForbes December 27, 1999, p. 307.,New York Times, June 29, 1986.People, May 4, 1987, p. 126.It's a half-million dollar salary - and maybe more going to a Grammy-nominated vocalist who becomes the new artistic director of the upcoming Carmel Performing Arts Center. There are serious concerns over where the money is coming from to pay pianist Michael Feinstein and whether taxpayer money is being used.
Pianist and singer Michael Feinstein will be the new artistic director for the yet unfinished $147 million Carmel Performing Arts Center. Feinstein said this week that he'll be paid at least $500,000 a year in his new position. But there are concerns over how the performer's salary will be funded along with its new executive director's $200,000-a-year paycheck.
Eric Seidensticker is the Carmel City Council president.
"We don't know simply because that has not yet been disclosed," he said.
Mayor Jim Brainard was taken to task this summer over $600,000 in taxpayer seed money funneled to the Performing Arts Foundation through the city's redevelopment commission.
"The city could have taken the option of just running this as a city facility, but we got a step further and said no, we want to raise private funding to take that burden off the taxpayers," the mayor said.
But even concerned city council members don't know how much money has been raised to fund the not-for-profit center.
The mayor and the center's executive director weren't available for comment but there are serious questions about who's paying Feinstein's salary: the not-for-profit or taxpayers.
"I think it's very unclear to the residents of Carmel what's going on here. Whether these individuals are working for the city or the Performing Arts Foundation and where the money is coming to pay these individuals," said John Accetturo, Carmel City Council member.
Because the mayor hasn't disclosed that or Feinstein's exact salary, several city council members say if they don't know, they ask how taxpayers can find out how their money's being spent.
The center will have a concert hall and two theaters and is scheduled to open next fall.
Feinstein already has announced plans to move the headquarters of his Feinstein Foundation for the Education and Preservation of The Great American Songbook to Carmel. He also is to perform Friday with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra.
Feinstein performs Friday with the Carmel Symphony. It's unclear how much time he'll devote to the Performing Arts Center, and no one has confirmed his salary.
GREG GORMAN: A HOLLYWOOD ICON INTERVIEW BY NAVOFebruary 17, 2010
“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.” – Lord Byron, English poet and satirist (1788-1824)
THE FAN AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER
(LA) When can I separate the fan from the photographer? I’ve started this blog actively 4 months ago a day after the legendary lensman Mr. Irving Penn died, his lost was my first blog entry. Ever since, interviewing photographers has given me a great pleasure and opportunity to discover things about myself and I can’t help but be starstrucked by these visionaries, for some people it sounds like a straight-up major ass-kissing articles, but only a true fan of portrait photography, like me, can understand the surreal feeling of this experience. Most of the photographers that I had featured and will be featured in Naiveboy.com are probably the busiest people you’ll ever meet in your life, they travel a lot, they work everyday, they’re the most in-demand people in the industry and you’ll rarely read them in blogs for an intensive interview like this, because in the photography world that I live in, they are the rock stars, they are the celebrities, they are the legends.
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE
In the 2008 film How to Lose Friends & Alienate People starring Simon Pegg as Sidney Young, based on the memoir (with the same title) of British journalist Toby Young and the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine. The movie version was neither sharp nor satirical, the film misses the point of the source material completely, but there are few parts in the film that made the movie worth watching for me, I remember the promising first 2 seconds, the first line was “When I was a kid I used to think there was a special place where all the movie stars lived, a kind of Shangri-La, if you can just get inside there, you’ll be happy, forever.” and the scene where Young have a moment with his philosopher/published author father in his dilapidated New York city apartment:
Father: I picked up your magazine at the airport, most enjoyable, I particularly like the young hollywood actress who said she would like to start a theatre career somewhere small like London or England (laughed)Sidney Young: Why would you always do this?Father: It’s just a little joke.Sidney Young: It’s not a little joke, its just your way of saying that what I do is worthless.Father: I don’t think it’s worthless, I just think you know in your heart that you could be doing more with your life.Sidney Young: More? Sharp magazine (Vanity Fair magazine) is one of the most respected magazine’s in the world, there’s a million hacks that would kill to be where I am. You know who I hang out with just today? Orlando Bloom.Father: (paused) I don’t know who that is?Sidney Young: Ofcourse you don’t know who that is, you thought Brad Pitt was a cave in Yorkshire. Most people do know who that is. And most people wouldn’t think a journalist hanging out with celebrities like that was a disappointment.
ADORATION
I think those two scenes are hilarious but also true, it’s familiar for many of us, working in an industry of physical appearances you are surrounded by unreal people who worship celebrities like no one else does, and it’s their world and some of us just happen to work on it. For the rest of the world (like Young’s philosopher father) they don’t even exist. I just have this naive idea of a world, where a generation growing up adoring scientist, astronauts, artist, musicians, philosophers, doctors and NOT brain-dead pop stars, no-talent movie stars, politicians, and reality show stars that are being force-fed to us every single day of our lives.
MR. HENDRIX
Jimi Hendrix is considered by most of us, if not all of us, as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music, one of the most influential musicians in the human history. Can you imagine a kid growing up looking up to a Jimi Hendrix? You can’t deny that most musicians born during and after Hendrix have been a fan and has been starstrucked once in their lives by his genius, probably some of those adoring fan’s in the 60′s and the 70′s buying his concert tickets, following him in tours, collecting all his records, have all growned up and now leading the modern music industry, and for another 18-year-old boy born in Kansas City, Missouri, have photographed Mr. Hendrix and changed his life completely, the boy became an influential voice in the world of photography and his name is Greg Gorman. I think that’s how electricity is transfered from person to person, you start out as a fan of someone else’s work.
MR. DICAPRIO
I was in highschool the first time I got aware of Mr. Gorman’s work, it was the unforgettable images of the very talented young actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the beautiful faces of Maxwell Caulfield, Keanu Reeves, Jared Leto, Greg Knudson, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Rodney Harvey that made me an instant fan. Greg Gorman’s works that have appeared in Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, and Vanity Fair magazines have always reminded me of my teen years and why I love the beautiful celebrities and what they represent to me as a photographer now, they are the muses.
This world-exclusive one-on-one interview with Mr. Gorman is a full circle for me, the 18-year-old boy who once collected the images of a Mr. DiCaprio is sitting for a Q&A with the 18-year-old boy who have once have photographed a Mr. Hendrix.
LIVE IN PARIS VOLUME 2
LOPE NAVO: Thank you for dropping by Naiveboy.com Greg, I’ve chatted with you for a while now and I’ve been itching to ask what is it like photographing a Jimi Hendrix?GREG GORMAN: I really don’t remember! I was 18 years old and it was my first experience shooting. I was probably stoned and enjoying the concert. The following morning after seeing Jimi Hendrix , I processed the film in a friend’s dark room and when I saw the image coming up in the developer, I was hooked! I subsequently enrolled in a photojournalism class at the University of Kansas where I began my formal studies.
NAVO: What camera did you use?GORMAN: A Honeywell Pentax 35mm camera with an 85mm lens.
NAVO: What’s your top 3 favorite albums/records of all time?GORMAN: 1. Miles Davis “In a Silent Way”, 2. Chet Baker “Live in Paris Volume 2”, and John Coltrane “A Love Supreme”
THREE MOST BEAUTIFUL FACES
NAVO: You’ve basically photographed virtually all the most beautiful people in the world in my book, I remember very clearly from highschool about your sublime images of young Maxwell Caulfield, Keanu Reeves, Jared Leto, Greg Knudson, Heath Ledger, Rodney Harvey, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Who’s the 3 most beautiful faces you’ve photographed?
GORMAN: 1. Kim Basinger, 2. Sophia Loren, and 3. Alex Pettyfer.
HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY YOU SON?
NAVO: What do you think is the best part in being a photographer?GORMAN: The best part about being a photographer above and beyond the energy rush of knowing when you are connecting photographically with the subject is the opportunity of getting the chance to meet and know the individuals in front of your lens that in most ordinary circumstances might never happen. I don’t even necessarily mean a celebrity per se but any individual you might fancy getting to know and the prospects of them being photographed can often lead to a friendship if the communication channels are open and flowing. Part of the entire process is about being part-time psychologist - to be able to come up or down to their level to put them at ease: make them feel comfortable and most of all confident, attractive and in touch with themselves.
NAVO: At what point did you know you want a career in photography?GORMAN: That one on one communication that no other profession can provide like photography. My mother was always extremely supportive and encouraging. My father thought it was a waste of my time because he thought I would never make enough money! After photographing the five most powerful women in Hollywood (Barbra Streisand, Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda) for the cover of Life Magazine, I told my father, thinking it would impress him, but his response to me was “how much did they pay you, son?”
NAVO: Speaking of Life Magazine, I’ve asked this question a couple of times to my recent interviews, there are 367 magazines closed in 2009 alone, what do you think about this?GORMAN: I think in many ways the onset of digital as great as it is in many of the arenas of photography, has been detrimental in terms of the hard copy. Particularly in the world of journalism. I prefer to look at a magazine while holding it in my hands – not reading it online.
NAVO: Whats the last book you’ve read lately and what is it about?GORMAN: The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace. It was basically about the sale of the world’s most expensive bottle of wine and the entire sham behind it.
NAVO: Who’s your favorite historical figure?GORMAN: Mikhail Gorbachev for his contributions to Global Green and for being forefront in creating the awareness of our planet’s need to solve its environmental issues.
HOLLYWOOD ICONS
NAVO: If you’ll get a chance to photograph a dead icon, who will it be and why?GORMAN: Strangely, I would have liked to photograph Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. That stems from my childhood infatuation with horror films and monster movies.
NAVO: Speaking of Hollywood movies, Whats your top 3 favorite films and why?
GORMAN: 1. Ingmar Bergman‘s ’Skammen’/ ‘Shame‘ (1968), for it’s cinematography and content, 2. Federico Fellini‘s ‘8 & ½’ (1963), need I say more?, 3. Akira Kurosawa‘s ‘Dodesukaden‘ (1970) and ‘Dersu Uzala‘ (1975), beautifully realized fables.
NAVO: Those are some of the best film directors that ever lived, who’s your top 3 favorite Hollywood Icons then?GORMAN: 1. Bette Davis, 2. Martin Scorcese, and 3. George Hurrell
NAVO: How about your top 3 favorite actors of all time?GORMAN: 1. Leonardo DiCaprio, 2. John Hurt, and 3. Divine
NAVO: Top 3 favorite actress?GORMAN: 1. Bridget Bardot, 2. Liv Ullman, and 3. Divine
ESCAPE THE HOLLYWOOD SYNDROME
NAVO: What is the top 5 favorite movie posters you’ve ever shot?GORMAN: 1. Tootsie, 2. Pearl Harbor, 3. Man in Iron Mask, 4. King Arthur, and 5. Pirates of the Caribbean.
NAVO: One thing I always remember growing up looking at your work, besides your signature breathtaking bodyscapes are the landscapes and locations that you use in your backdrops. Whats your top 3 favorite locations that you’ve ever shot and why?GORMAN: 1. The Sand Dunes at Ten Mile Beach near Mendocino for their continual change and mystery which present challenges each time I shoot there. 2. The Okavango Delta in Botswana for its enormous scope and spiritual presence. 3. Pierce Brosnan’s new beach house during construction! The house is filled with an incredible amount of natural light. The windows are covered with plastic, since they haven’t been installed yet, which gives the enormous space the feeling of one giant soft box of natural light. Quite extraordinary!
NAVO: What’s an ideal vacation getaway for a Greg Gorman?GORMAN: An ideal vacation for me depends on my needs and they can vary greatly! Sometimes I just need total downtime to escape the Hollywood Syndrome and that usually means time alone with my dogs at my Mendocino retreat-hiking/fishing and biking. Other times at this stage of my life, I enjoy traveling to far away places I have yet to see and visit. This has been pretty high on my priority list. I have tried to incorporate teaching workshops in cities where I can spend more time enjoying the essence of the locales. I am teaching this spring for instance in Paris, Tel Aviv and on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Zingst. Last year I taught in San Miguel and in Budapest. It has been great because I have actually had enough time in each city to really get a feeling of day-to-day life there.
IN THEIR YOUTH
NAVO: Where were you born and where did you grew up?GORMAN: I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Mission Hills, Kansas. I moved to Los Angeles at age 20 in 1970 after attending the University of Kansas.
NAVO: I got the copy of your latest book Greg Gorman ‘In their Youth’ and I can’t deny the fact that I have a crush on the boy holding a huge Trout on the book jacket. What’s the story behind it?GORMAN: Kind of a funny story! When I was putting the project together in the final stages, my very dear friend, Audrey Wells, a terrific screenwriter and director, who interviewed me for the forward felt that since so many of the images in the book were also taken when I was in my ‘youth’ that my portrait should reflect a similar time in my life. This image is so appropriate because it was taken by one of my best friends at the time, who coincidentally was the same person who loaned me his camera to photograph Jimi Hendrix and helped me process the film in his darkroom. His name is Marlin”Buzz” Gher and he is a dental surgeon living with his family near San Diego. We were on a rafting trip in Wyoming where I caught this German Brown Trout in the Green River in Pinedale, Wyoming. I love to fish so I felt this picture held many memories and couldn’t have been more fitting considering all the ties!
NAVO: Now its my time to fish, I consider you to be one of the most influential portrait photographer out there, your iconic b&w images and your unforgettable photo books have been one of my greatest inspirations growing up and loving photography, I would love to know what do you think of my work?GORMAN: I felt your images not only grasped the subjects in a bold austere way but presented the subjects in a very good light! Something I can’t say about many of today’s photographers whose imagery is this strange non-flattering pseudo editorial style that in most cases I find rather appalling and terribly forgettable in terms of memorable images. That is one of the things that drew me to your work – your respect for your subjects.
NAVO: What can you advise the young men and women who wants to make a living photographing the most beautiful and interesting people in the world?GORMAN: Good fucking luck! Follow your heart, start by photographing people you are very attracted to as this will most likely yield the best results to get you started, develop and showcase your own unique style to separate you from all those out there copying others. Be aware of all the editorial work being created so you can set a benchmark in achieving your GORMAN Books• Greg Gorman – Volume I (1989)• Greg Gorman – Volume II (1991)• Greg Gorman Inside Life (1996) (foreword by John Waters) ISBN 978-0847819980• Greg Gorman As I see It (2001) ISBN 978-1576870877• Greg Gorman Perspectives (2002)• Greg Gorman: Just Between Us (2003) ISBN 978-1892041807• Journal of the 21st Century: Greg Gorman (2007)• In Their Youth: Early Portraits (2009) ISBN 978-8862080972
Greg Gorman (born 1949) is an American portrait photographer of Hollywood celebrities. His work has been seen in national magazine features and covers, including Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair, and the London Sunday Times.[1] Although he studied photojournalism in college, his passion for rock-and-roll led him to his chosen field when he photographed Jimi Hendrix in 1968.[2] John Waters once said, "Greg Gorman is the only person I'd let photograph my corpse".[3] He primarily works in black and white.
He has also directed music videos, television advertisements, and graphic design layouts for advertisers.[4]
Since 2016, Gorman lives in a relationship with the Spanish film maker Samuel Rubin.[5]Contents1 Publications1.1 Books1.2 Collaborations2 References3 External linksPublicationsBooksGreg Gorman – Volume I (1989)Greg Gorman – Volume II (1991)Greg Gorman Inside Life (1996) (foreword by John Waters) ISBN 978-0-8478-1998-0Greg Gorman As I see It (2001) ISBN 978-1-57687-087-7Greg Gorman Perspectives (2002)Greg Gorman: Just Between Us (2003) ISBN 978-1-892041-80-7Journal of the 21st Century: Greg Gorman (2007)The Odes of Pindar (21st Editions, 2007) ISBN 1-892733-36-6In Their Youth: Early Portraits (2009) ISBN 978-88-6208-097-2CollaborationsNo Excuses: Antonio Sabato Jr. Workout For Life by Greg Freitas and Greg Gorman (1999)Adonis: Masterpieces of Erotic Male Photography by Michelle Olley, Horst P. Horst, Nan Goldin, and Greg Gorman (1999)
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