Steve Ford Named Chapter President.
By KATHY DeSALVO
Formally launched earlier this year, the Chicago chapter of the Association of Music Producers (AMP) elected a board of officers at its meeting last week (12/7).
The board is headed by president Steve Ford, president/composer/executive producer of Chicago-based Steve Ford Music. Ford presided over AMP Chicago’s first official meeting in October (SHOOT, 10/22, p.1) and has unofficially spearheaded the formation of the trade organization within the local commercial music community over the past year.
The board also includes vice president Larry Pecorella, owner/composer at Chicago-based Chameleon Music; VP/secretary Jim Olen, owner/composer at The Rhythm Café, Chicago; treasurer Stan Xidas, owner/ composer at Chicago-based Xidas Music; and events planner Rich Rankin, owner/composer at Mosaic Music, Chicago.
No major agendas were laid out at the meeting, attended by 18 people representing six or seven music companies. "We were basically just trying to get a little infrastructure and a little background [about AMP]," related Ford. "During the next meeting, we’ll figure out how often we’re going to meet, and what issues people are interested in."
The meeting’s guest speaker was Lyle Greenfield, partner/executive producer at bicoastal Bang music+sound design and AMP’s national president. Greenfield discussed the history and purpose of the AMP organization, and clarified some of the issues it is trying to address. "He basically said that these kinds of meetings serve a good purpose," related Ford. "[They promote] conditions [that are] a little bit more favorable towards the role of music in an audio-visual medium."
"I think everyone in our industry responds to this idea [of AMP]," said Greenfield, "not only to the specificity of it—like we need to deal with rights agreements and indemnification clauses, and the mundane aspects of conducting business—but also with the overall philosophy: What you hear is as important as what you see."
"We had a very passionate and enthusiastic meeting," continued Greenfield. "I was impressed and flattered by the turnout—not for myself, but for the organization. …The really relevant players and leading-edge companies in the industry showed up for this meeting. The enthusiasm and commitment I felt from that group of people made me feel that it will be very beneficial in terms of propelling what we’re doing in New York, and what’s being done on the West Coast as well."
Greenfield added that AMP plans to call for the election of new national officers shortly after the first of the year. The next Chicago AMP meeting is slated to be held Feb. 8 at Catfish Music, Chicago.
Tim Burton Discusses His Dread Of AI As An Exhibition of His Work Opens In London
The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits — all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween.
But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence.
Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me."
"It wasn't an intellectual thought — it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' … (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside."
Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work.
"To take over the world?" he laughed.
The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home.
"I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself."
Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen.
London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in... Read More