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
On 10.10.10 I participated in a global film project to document life on planet earth. When the final film came out in 2012, I was thrilled to see that 4 of the clips I contributed made it into the final film, and even one into the trailer. I’d contributed content from my friends Justin and Debika’s ‘Hindu lite’ wedding in Philadelphia. On Earth Day, 2012, the film debuted in the general assembly at the UN, and screened in every country around the world. My family was in Boston at the time and we hosted a small community screening in Jamaica Plain. It was a powerful family portrait of the shared human condition, both vibrant and struggling. THe film debuted in the general assembly of the UN and was also screened around the world in all kinds of unique venues. The film Baraka had always been an early inspiration to me and much of my own personal work has been of the archiving of culture, technology, nature, music, labor, food, etc. that I encountered in my travels. The video was all shot spontaneously handheld on a flipcam.
Though many of my friends are excellent musicians, one of them has always been at the very top, touring the world with a handful of different bands. My man Pete Levin has spent the past 2 years on the road with The Blind Boys of Alabama playing some of the most prestigious stages and festivals. Pete’s new project that he’s leading is called Moon Palace Revival and is a melange of funk, soul, R&B and gospel jams, a collection of originals and classic covers. Back in November, I spent a few days in the Moon Palace Studio with him in Brooklyn filming for his EPK and the album which his label Reap and Sow Records is in the process of bringing out. I made a short documentary about Pete and his evolution as an artist, and there are a variety of individual shorts of him playing various instruments, talking about his artistic process, and lots more on his YouTube channel. The site is about to drop so stay tuned and enjoy the videos for now.
