Jimmy Dunne and Inspire produced an amazing live concert event for 2,500 at “Austin City Limit’s” Moody Theatre.
Starring Ingrid Michaelson, Michael Franti, John Hall (of Hall and Oats) and Allen Stone, the event celebrated Whole Foods Market.
It was a one-stop-shop for Inspire; booking the talent, negotiating all deals — and producing all specifics for the event.
Absolute home run for the artists, Whole Foods Market, the Moody Theatre — and the fans.
The Southern California Broadcast Association announced that Jimmy Dunne and Inspire will be honored at the upcoming 2014 Southern California Broadcasting Association Awards.
Our new audio logo and ad campaign for “Westside Rentals” is the winner of the 2104 SCBAssociation Outstanding Achievement in Radio Advertising – “Best New Advertiser in Radio.”
If you get a moment, check out a few of our favorite spots — and elements of our ‘audio package’ for Westside Rentals.
It was a pleasure working with Westside Rentals’ principals Kevin Miller and Mark Verge.
WESTSIDE RENTALS (Song)
WESTSIDE RENTALS (“Parents” Radio Commercial) We wrote and produced 4 of these; each with it’s ownWESTSIDE RENTALS (Instrumental Hold Music)
WESTSIDE RENTALS (Jingle)
We wrote and produced the audio logo for Westside Rentals, and wrote and produced all 60 second radio spots – currently running on stations throughout Southern California.
Pick up Jimmy Dunne’s new CD, “Joy to Life,” at Amazon — or download it on iTunes.
Also check out Spotify’s JIMMY DUNNE RADIO channel!
You can also find “Joy to Life” on Soundcloud, Spotify, IHeart Radio — and many, many other spots.
Enjoy!
Jimmy Dunne will be lecturing for a UCLA class titled: Entrepreneurship of the Indie Artist. This class will be an introduction on: logo creation, branding, business cards and letterheads, filing a DBA for tax benefits, website creation, fan list collection set-up, royalty payment set-up, social media optimization, written bio and press release, deciding on distribution options, understanding the variety of ancillary revenue streams available and more…all on a shoestring budget. Jimmy will be focusing on the aspects dealing with Sponsorships and Working with Brand Partners.![roycelarge[1]](http://inspireentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/roycelarge1.jpg)
With the loss of Whitney, I thought I’d share a journey that Whitney and I had in the very early, developing days of her career…
A song I wrote, “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” (with Pamela Oland) – and its demo version (with me singing) played about a hundred times on “As the World Turns” – as Betsy (Meg Ryan) and Steve (Frank Runyeon’s) theme song.
Because the song was gaining popularity on “As the World Turns,” the producers involved me as an actor in the storyline of the series. In the episodes over a couple-month period, I supposedly wrote the song with Meg Ryan (my character name was ‘Jimmy Dunne’) – and Meg’s best friend, Tonya Pinkins, and I sang it as a gift to Betsy – at her wedding. (I was a groomsman.) The frenzy around the wedding episode was astounding; the wedding episode garnered the 2nd biggest audience in the history of daytime television – second only to ‘Luke and Laura’s’ wedding on “General Hospital.”
The cast was great; Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, and I was dating, at the time, one of the other actresses on the show… Lots of fun.
The day after the wedding episode, a pillow company sold 10,000 pillowcases with the lyrics to “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do.” The producers said requests for the song generated the greatest amount of mail in the history of the series. The truth is; it had little to do with the song – it just happened to be in the key moment that celebrated these tremendously loved characters in daytime television.
Meanwhile, in real life, Clive Davis (at Arista) recorded the song as a duet with Jermaine Jackson for Whitney’s record (produced by Jermaine Jackson).
(I didn’t know who Whitney Houston was, but I was excited Jermaine Jackson was doing the song – the Jacksons were on fire at the time.) Working with Clive Davis and the producers on “As the World Turns,” I arranged to have Whitney and Jermaine perform the song on the series; and we worked it into the storyline of the series. Nobody knew who Whitney was at that time – so the storyline was about how Betsy’s friend on the show got her personal buddies, Jermaine and Whitney, to sing Betsy and Steve’s wedding song at a party.
In real life, Jermaine, Whitney and I had a terrific time on the set that day; and Jermaine played me their recording for the first time. (They used my piano player from the demo, Steve Rucker, and Jermaine mirrored our demo’s arrangement and vocal harmonies.) Whitney was nervous about performing on TV… I continued to be the ‘Jimmy Dunne’ songwriter character in that episode…
Whitney was incredible on the show, and it garnered another day of huge ratings for the series. (Here’s a clip from that show: http://www.welovesoaps.net/2012/02/whitneyatwt.html.)
Because the show wanted to capitalize on the interest in the song, they built it into the daily storyline over the following months. In the storyline, Betsy (Meg Ryan) was travelling in Vermont, and literally fell off a truck and had amnesia – and couldn’t remember where she lived or who she was married to. (Only in the soap operas…) Meanwhile, in real life, the song was a #1 hit on the radio with Anne Murray and Dave Loggins (as a country version), so the producers/writers worked that into the storyline as well. In the series, Betsy heard Anne Murray’s song on the radio, and knew she was somehow connected to the song. The deejay, on the radio, said the song was written by Jimmy Dunne. Betsy’s mission became finding ‘Jimmy Dunne.’ She tracked my character down, her distraught hubby, and came back home to her town…
The song was one of Whitney’s first TV appearances…
Months later, Whitney’s CD launched around the world, and became the biggest-selling female record of all time.
A fun ride for all of us…
Yours,
— Jimmy Dunne.
Last night I was watching a documentary on a high-wire artist, Philippe Petit. It was about how he found a love of finding balance in the oddest of places. Over cities. Across cathedrals. Over mountains and valleys. In the backyard of his own home.
Maybe we’re being pulled today to the other ends of the spectrum. To the extremes. Turn on your TV, or the radio in the car, or itch around the Internet… It’s a smorgasbord of angry extremists on the far-right and left, barking how they’ve got it all figured out and how anybody not listening to their channels are allthere’s a connection to why this is a lost art. You don’t see a lot of tightrope artists, balanced only by a long pole weighted at both ends — grabbing the headlines.
We’ve lost an interest in that in our lives. Generations before us, all had tightrope artists. They didn’t exactly give Mickey Mantle a run for his money, but people knew who they were. Charles Blondin. Farrell Hettig. Bird Millman of the Ringling Brothers. Maybe, on some level, they were part-preachers, reminding us how good it feels to find balance. Reminding us how hard it seems at first to find it, but how doable it is if you clear away all the clutter and distraction — and keep moving forward. How balance and getting where you’re going are very connected.
We’re being pulled today to the other ends of the spectrum. To the extremes. Turn on your TV, or the radio in the car, or itch around the Internet… It’s a smorgasbord of angry extremists on the far-right and left, barking how they’ve got it all figured out and how anybody not listening to their channels are all morons and dead wrong. Ten minutes ago, I just heard one presidential candidate on TV assuring the newscaster he’s much more to the right than the rest of them. That’s what he’s selling. And you’ve got just as many TV and radio hosts beating the left meter, mocking anybody right of Mary Wollstonecraft.
Balance used to be a powerful word. A word of strength. Of dignity. Of passion. Of intelligence. Of commitment.
Now balance is an over-priced candy bar.
Yours,
— Jimmy Dunne.
