It's All About The Music

For as long as I can remember, Music has been an extremely important part of my life. When I was a very young kid I used to rummage through my older sisters' box of record albums (some of you still remember LP's, right?) and played them on the turntable with my head as close to the speakers as possible. She had somewhat sophisticated, mellow tastes - so I was exposed to Broadway Cast Albums like Camelot and groups like The Kingston Trio & The Letterman. Buried in her collection was a single Neil Diamond album called Touching You...Touching Me, which set the stage for my forthcoming lyrical and musical inspirations and my love and devotion to all things Diamond (fueled early on by Neil's riveting Hot August Night Live album). My older brothers' LP collection was, thankfully, full of Beatle albums, Santana, the Stones, Dylan, Van Morrison, Beach Boys, etc. I loved listening to 60's pop/rock growing up and was thrilled, later in life, to present Ringo Starr, The Beach Boys, The Rascals, The Grass Roots, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Association, Three Dog Night and many other favorites of the era in Concert.

As a teenager I experienced how listening to my favorite songs could lift me up and out of any negative vibe I was feeling. As a concert promoter I experienced how an entire audience can be moved emotionally by the sheer power and force of a live performance. And now, as an independent film producer, I am anxiously waiting for the time when the Soundtrack from a movie we're creating here in Sarasota washes over its audiences like a giant wave and propels the storyline of Beautiful Noise. We have an interesting Tale, wonderful actors and crew, and a beautiful, tropical locale to shoot the movie. But it's a Musical-Drama, so in the final analysis - the Music will make us or break us.

There are many variables involved, many puzzle pieces to fit together for a movie to work. We've all seen films with wonderful casts loaded with A-list stars, guided by terrific directors and written and produced by some of the greatest names in Hollywood history...that have flopped miserably at the box office...and you walk out of the theatre shaking your head and griping about the dough you spent for the tickets, popcorn and sodas. We've all been there. Then we search for redeeming qualities of the film to justify the expense and the time spent. For example, though I dearly loved the book, I would have walked out of Jonathon Livingston Seagull after the first 15 minutes had it not been for the incredible film score by Neil Diamond. The JLS soundtrack sold many millions of copies and is one of my all-time favorite Diamond albums, but even Neil's great songs and score couldn't save that movie. The flip side of this is when you experience a film you love and realize how much the songs, score and incidental music added to your enjoyment. There are countless examples of this and we all have our favorites. My earliest memory of this phenomenon was when I first saw Lawrence of Arabia. The soundtrack of that film swept me up when I was a young kid and added immensely to the impact the movie had on me...then and now.

So you get my point...the Music moves me...and that's the #1 reason I believe that Beautiful Noise has a chance to become something very special. And all the music producers who have helped me create the Soundtrack at SRQ's Top Secret Recording Studios feel the same way. When you consider the fact that 20 of the 21 songs in the film are all original tunes (Joni Mitchell's classic Free Man In Paris being the sole exception) - and that most of those were written by our films' co-stars Kimber Cleveland, Chester See and Chris McCarty - and that there are at least 4 or 5 that could become breakout hit singles, as sung by the composers and their fellow co-stars Jay White, Danielle White (no relation btw) and Twinkle - well, it's nothing short of amazing. For more details on how these songs came to me click on the latest NEWS on this website and read the Creative Loafing feature story by writer Tim Sukits.

I'm blessed to have the very best Team of people any Producer/Director could ask for working with me on the movie, no doubt about it. And we have a really cool Story to tell with this ambitious indie film. How the filming all turns out, well, we'll all have to wait and see how the better angels within us guide our crew to produce our best effort. But as for the Music you'll hear in the movie - take it from me right here and now. We have a dead-bang winner of a Soundtrack as the foundation for Beautiful Noise, filled with a variety of songs sung by a relatively unknown Cast of performers and songwriters who are surely destined for great things. Some extremely talented producers and musicians have been in the studio working with them for months now. Believe me. You're gonna love 'em all

We're already posting song snippets here and there along the way on our "Beautiful Noise Movie" Facebook page - and at least one of the songs from the Soundtrack will be released this Fall ahead of the movie premiere and album release. I'll keep you posted.

Steve