Posts from November2015

The Lookout – Solace in Mountain Solitude Exhibit Video

I recently had the opportunity to film a lecture given by a dear friend. Tori Karpenko’s exhibit ‘The Lookout – Solace in Mountain Solitude’ at the Traver Gallery in Seattle is a uniquely beautiful collection of paintings, spread around a to scale model of an actual forest fire lookout. Tori built the lookout in Twisp WA where he lives, and reconstructed inside the downtown Seattle art gallery. In the wake of his divorce and his young son moving 4 hours away, he sought solace from the emotional crisis in the North Cascades mountains. In his words, “The vast silence of raw wilderness gave me a place to bring calm to a troubled mind. Empowering solitude led me to the stories of three poets; Gary Snyder, Phillip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac, who spent summers in the 1950’s as fire lookouts experiencing their own profound personal transformations. The simple Lookout cabin, one of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic hermitages, became a crystalized form that could encapsulate the sanctuary that I too found in the high peaks.” On this special night in mid December, Tori discussed his collection of paintings which were anchored in the gallery by the lookout itself, landscapes of the local mt wilderness, familiar to hikers of this region, heavy on reflective lakes and streams, the foliage and geology of our local mountains where I too love to spend time hiking and backpacking. This particular night had a focus on poetry, with Tori reading some of the beat poetry he was inspired by and special guest Saul Weisberg, the co-founder and executive director of the North Cascades Institute Link reading some of his own poetry and reflecting on his own journey in the North Cascades over time and the poetry and prose it inspired in him. It was a lovely night, a full house with a lively QnA that I was happy to have recorded on video, to help Tori tell his story and promote his work, and the lecture simply as a beautiful portrait of an artist.

Documentary Style Promo Videos with Keyboard Legend Peter levin in NYC

In November I made a trip to NYC to work on some new promo videos for my old friend Peter Levin. Pete is currently playing in the Greg Allman Band, after years touring the world with The Blind Boys of Alabama. Over the last 20+ years during my own journeys, we’ve connected in endless cities where I’ve been at the time and he’s passed through on tour with all kinds of bands. Pete’s a killer keyboard, piano and organ player who’s performed with if you can believe it Allen Toussaint, Crosby Stills & Nash, Aaron Neville, Levon Helm, The Doobie Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Lou Reed, Joan Osbourne, Yo La Tengo, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Charlie Musselwhite, Christian McBride, Merl Saunders, Phil Lesh, Mike Gordon, Vasser Clements, and the Oak Ridge Boys.

We spent 5 days at his studio in Brooklyn filming daytime sessions with an assortment of players, and then he played each night as part of a weeklong run at The Winery in Manhattan with the Greg Allman Band which I also got to enjoy as his guest. The new materials will showcase some of his solo work with a variety of artists, featuring him playing on an incredible collection of keyboards, synthesizers and his grand piano that he keeps in his studio. Was a great time connecting with an old friend and will be exciting to put the content together over the coming weeks.

This is a similar style of piece we did 7 years back

and a clip of Pete playing Amazing Grace with The Allman Brothers Band and The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Beacon Theater in NYC

UW Dental Conference Career Planning Video

Pangeality Production was recently hired by a motivational speaker from out of state, coming to Seattle to present at a conference of dental students from around the country. Though his business is about preventing divorce by helping build healthy marriages and providing tools and exercises for repairing broken ones, his talk to students was about future planning. The majority of them were graduate students who would soon begin their professional lives, and he teaches that the 3 pillars upon which a successful career rests are Vison, Expectations, and Support. He’d found Pangeality Productions online and hired me to film his hourlong training and presentation, that he could then share within his own social media channels and website.