Posts Tagged ‘Harriet Schock’

The Best Movie of 2009…..IRENE IN TIME

Thursday, December 31st, 2009
After seeing all the films, I assume will receive Oscar nominations this year, for Best Picture, I was not going to pick a Best Picture for 2009.
Then I read this letter to the Arts Editor in The Los Angeles Times about AVATAR.
“Though it is not difficult to see how they spent more than $350 million to produce “Avatar,” it is difficult to understand why — except the obvious motive that they hope it will earn back an even larger fortune, not only from the theater ticket sales, but also from all of the commercial tie-ins it has and will generate.

Remembering H.L. Mencken’s quote that “No one ever went broke underestimating the (bad) taste of the American public,” they very well might succeed.

However, as for the movie itself, you’ve probably seen it all before: If you have seen “Jurassic Park,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Star Wars,” “Apocalypse Now,” old “cowboys and Indians” B-movies, and any of a number of other films in all of these genres — and then throw in a healthy dose of Busby Berkeley kitsch — there is nothing new in “Avatar.” You’ve also heard it all before, from the cliché-riddled dialogue to the “boom boom” and “screech screech” sound effects; even the score by James Horner channels everyone from Gustav Holst and Edward Elgar to Howard Shore.

Ron Streicher

That letter made me reflect on the films I had seen in 2009; and upon reflection, it became evident to me, that I had seen a film which was original, had stunning performances, packed a life lesson,had outstanding music, and a point of view. IRENE IN TIME, Written and  Directed by Henry Jaglom is a vest pocket masterpiece.

I have often wondered about the individual back stories of the female contestants on Reality Tv programs. How they, in good conscience, could evacuate privacy from their lives?

Jaglom  is the leading exponent of Bergmanesque among our current crop of film makers/playwrights. Here, working in an Ingmar Bergman vein of humanistic discovery, he takes a devastating look at the back stories of all those inane female REALITY TV contestants. He has caught their pulse. The heroine, IRENE does not wind up on a Reality Show, but that was the only other logical choice in her life.

Tanna Frederick is wonderful, in her portrayal of total, complete, almost  catholic vulnerability; Her every action, every thought is afflicted with the leprosy of vulnerability.  The ground that Ibsen and Tolstoy pioneered in trying to explain modern women gets a full, fruitful vetting in her performance.

Ms. Frederick’s performance is keenly supported by Kelly DeSarla, who gives a seasoned, and ripe performance as the lesbian who has a great deal of issues with her reprobate,not so recovering, drug addict of a father, played by David Proval of THE SOPRANOS.

The best scene  in the film, in my opinion, is the dialog between IRENE, and her mother, played brilliantly by Victoria Tennant.  Not bitter, but wise and bittersweet, the mother desperately tries to explain to her daughter the lure, and danger, hope and shipwreck, she experienced being married to IRENE’s father, the danger of being married to an emotionally reckless man.

 I sincerely hope some kind soul will splice that scene and send it to Elin Nordegren,she needs it.

As for the original  music in IRENE IN TIME, scored by Harriet Schock; it is sublime.

BEST DOCUMENTARY remains GOOD HAIR, which did not made the cut for the Oscar.

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Harriet Schock and her song, DANCING WITH MY FATHER, My AMAZING GRACE

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

This is the second in my tributes to Los Angeles musicians.

One of my pet peeves with modernity and the generation it has spawned is that they have taken inconsequential paths because there is no danger in their lives. The Millennial Generation, lives without danger; they will never know the danger of losing your First Love because you got the Draft Letter sending you off to fight rotten wars in rotted jungles, of the woman you love dying in childbirth of child bed fever, (which meant that every time you knocked up your wife, the odds were 50-50 it was a Death Sentence), of going back to school in the autumn, and seeing two desks empty because your BFFs had died over the summer from Polio. The cars did not even have seat belts.

It was a world with danger, and because of that danger, life was appreciated, and courtesy was abundant. Danger breeds courtesy. In a world of danger, manners are very important.

The Millennials live in a world without danger; so they have manufactured artificial thrills, microwaved recklessness.  In a world of cheap thrills,they have strangled courtesy, and replaced it with cloned vulgarity.

I lost my daughter in an absurdly reckless event manufactured by a callous and callow young man who has since prospered.

My father was an Union Organizer, on the streets of New York, my brother made his bones doing uncivil things for the US Government; between my father’s associates, and my brother’s friends, I am just a phone call away from mustering Avenging Angels. But I don’t, my sister sits like a two ton rock on my vengeance. So I do nothing, and the callow young man prospers.

But I believe this, in a particular juncture of time,  the accounts of the universe, and the accounts of people who dwell within that universe will be squared, if not to my satisfaction, then to Someone’s satisfaction.

There is a film in current release, Henry Jaglom’s IRENE IN TIME. I saw it in Santa Monica. It is a keen, honorable and sympathetic crafting of a sad piece of the Millennial mosaic. It is a wonderful work.

In the film’s score, there is Harriet Schock and Ron Troutman’s song, DANCING WITH MY FATHER. I know they did not intend to give me this song as a gift, because we did not know each other. She and her co writer gave the gift to the film, but it is a larger gift than that; it is a gift to all the wounded fathers and all the lost daughters in every dimension, in every world.

Her song is my AMAZING GRACE; for it is because of that song, I know I will see my daughter again, at the time when the accounts of the universe are squared. I will see her and we will dance; how do I know that? I know that because I KNOW what music we will be dancing to, DANCING WITH MY FATHER.

We will dancing to, Harriet Schock - Songwriter/Recording Artist

HARRIET SCHOCK,     www.harrietschock.com

Grammy Nomination - Gold Record (RIAA)
“Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady”

Platinum Record (RIAA) - “Helen Reddy’s Greatest Hits”

Cashbox Award - Best New Female Artist

L.A. Women In Music 2007 Award for Career Achievement and Industry Contribution

 

DANCING WITH MY FATHER(Schock and Troutman) is featured on the album AMERICAN ROMANCE

 

SONGS

Helen Reddy (“Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady”, “Mama”)

Letta Mbulu   (”Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady”)…….

Vikki Carr (Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady”)….

Mireille Mathieu (“Ain’t No Way To Treat A Lady”)…

Johnny Mathis (”Ooh, What We Do”)….

Manfred Mann(”Hollywood Town”)….

Lee Greenwood….( “Winds of Change”)……

Roberta Flack (”Happiness”)…

Jeannie Kendall( “Worn Around the Edges”, “You Just Don’t Get Me, Do Ya?”)….

TheLittle Mermaid  (Jodi Benson)( “Dreaming”)…..

Partridge Family(”That’s The Way It Is With You”)…..

Nancy Wilson(“First Time On A Ferris Wheel”)….

Gloria Loring/Carl Anderson( “First Time On A Ferris Wheel”)….

Smokey Robinson(“First Time On A Ferris Wheel”)….

Rebecca Paris(“First Time On A Ferris Wheel”)….

Supremes(”First Time On A Ferris Wheel”)…

Lisa Jason(Ok, You Win, I Give Up, You’re Right, I’m Gone”)…

Jannel Rap(“Ok, You Win, I Give Up, You’re Right, I’m Gone”)…

E.L.K.(“Search”)..

David Pomeranz(  “Oh, Stephanie”)

Theme Songs for Organizations

Yad B’ Yad - “Hand in Hand”

The National Foundation for Women Legislators - “In It For Good”

 

Songs for Feature Films and Television

 

The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking(Columbia)….

The Secret Garden (ABC)……

Phantom of the Opera(21st Century)…….

The Last Dragon (Tri-Star)….

Delta Force II (Pathe Films)…..

Geniuses II(Paramount)…. 

State Fair (CBS)….

Baby Makes Five (ABC)…..

NBC Saturday Morning Preview (NBC)…

Unsettled Land (Hemdale)…..

Crossing the Mob (NBC)….

Matters of the Heart (Universal)…..

Cave Kids (Hanna Barbera)….

Sing Me A Story with Belle (Disney)……

Fun with Spanish (Disney)….

Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Universal)…..

The GhostClub(Hemisphere Entertainment)…

Loving Alan (Road Kill Productions)……

 The Adventures of Piggley Winks   (PBS–Theme Song)…

Baby Geniuses II – Superbabies (Columbia)….

Going Shopping—All theMusic (Jagtoria Film Company, Inc.) ….

Hollywood Dreams - Underscore (Rainbow Film Company)…..

The Mirror - End Title Song (Big Screen Entertainment)….

Irene In Time - Songs w. band on camera (Rainbow Film Company)
oing showGenAB

Stage

Missouri Waltz — 5 songs                                          (A Play by Karen Black)

 

Harriet Schock’s Recordings as an Artist

 

Hollywood Town ( 20th Century Records);She’s Low Clouds( 20th Century Records);   

 

You Don’t Know What You’re In For  ( 20th Century Records);

 

American Romance  (Godsdog Records)     

 

Rosebud (Evening*Star Music Group)

 

Harriet Schock Live, From Fairfax to Pasadena  ( Thunder Digital)

 

BOOK

 

BECOMING REMARKABLE, For Songwriters And Those Who Love Songs

Published by Blue Dolphin Publishing  and available in bookstores nationwide

 

 

 

HER LINKS

http://www.allmusic.com\
http://www.pandora.com/music/artist/harriet+schock
www.myrecordlabel.com/harrietschock 
http://www.cdbaby.com
http://www.myspace.com/harrietschock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_t2DCYlF6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzYwxrHoJBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr5stC_16ko
http://www.youtube.com/user/sirpaopao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajGJF_H-Lpc

 

 

An impressive Curriculum Vitae, and all I can add is my small and humble thanks for her DANCING WITH MY FATHER, which brings me peace.

 



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