C.O.P. Volunteer Police TV PSA: Behind The Scenes/Making of...2013

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C.O.P. Volunteer 30-Sec TV Spot for City of La Quinta Police Department ...

A Public Service Announcement 2013:  

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National Dance Company of Ireland Hits Big with Their First American Public Television Show, “Rhythm of the Dance!”

World Renowned Troupe Announces 2013/2o14 International Live Performance Tour To Support USA TV Special!

Amazing!  Breathtaking!  Gorgeous!  Inspiring!  Wonderful!  Dazzling Step Dance!  Superb original and classic Irish songs!  Magical and mystical music! 

These are reactions from audiences and critics alike, upon experiencing the exciting and exhilarating sell-out performances of The National Dance Company of Ireland, featuring The Young Irish Tenors, in the resplendent and rousing new stage production, “Rhythm of the Dance!” 

This incredible live show celebrates both the rich history of Ireland as well as the art of Irish dance, from the disciplined tradition of the Celtic Step, to the sensual moves of the Sean Nos dance, rooted solely in the ancient island of Innishbofin near Galway.  “Rhythm of the Dance” has heralded a new era in Irish entertainment, featuring thirty dancers, a traditional live full Irish band, and the dashing and handsome Young Irish Tenors.  Internationally rated as one of the most popular and successful Irish Step Dance shows on tour, critics, audiences, and millions of fans around the world, have hailed the live stage show as a must see!

The amazing cast of dancers, musicians, and singers, are a touring carnival of working class talents, performing their crafts since they were children.  Representing todays 21st Century Irish lad and lassie, their tour with “Rhythm of the Dance” is a dream come true; performing for millions of fans, stomping out the beats of a thousand years in Gaelic history.  And with each generation, comes a new glimmer of hope that one day Ireland will stand united.

A history that has become a well-chronicled story - a country reared on hardship, famine, oppression, and the misty gloom of struggle.  But today’s Ireland has a lively buzz about it.  In the midst of hardship, something wonderful has happened.  A sense of regaining something lost.  Restaurants are packed again.  Pubs overflow onto the streets.  Gaelic appears on every road sign.  And music is once more in the air.  The Irish have risen up, dusted themselves off, and have come back home to themselves.   And with each new generation, comes a new glimmer of hope.  Hope that one day, Ireland shall stand united, and peace shall reign forever over the land.

“Rhythm of the Dance” celebrates this renewed vigor in Irish culture, embracing the traditional and the current, by presenting dance, song, and musical performances like no other Irish dance show.  Though “Lord of the Dance” and “Riverdance” are two very successful, big-budget international stage tours featuring Irish Step Dance, they both have a pop sensibility popular with American audiences: elaborate sets, inclusion of modern dance segments, and flashy stage gear – a bit Elvis, a touch of Liberace, and little matador.  The popular “Celtic Woman” and “Celtic Thunder” tours, both convey a different sense of the Irish experience, with formal gowns and tuxedoed singers, a huge orchestra, and expensive, gorgeously-staged productions.  However, all of these iconic shows set a precedent, opening the door to a worldwide interest in Irish dance and music.

But The National Dance Company of Ireland’s performers are not only an assemblage of beautiful Irish lassies, and handsome Irish lads, sporting colorful Celtic-themed costumes, tapping and stomping out century-old beats - they are also a special collection of incredible young Irish dancers, singers, and musicians.  A crowd favorite, one of the company dancers, a star in her own write, specializes in the ancient Sean Nos Dance style.  And along with powerful and moving songs of celebration and hope, performed by The Young Irish Tenors (soon to have their own American Public Television special), all the music in the live show, as well as in the special, is performed live on stage by the “Rhythm of the Dance” musicians, who play on rare and haunting musical instruments throughout the show, like the Celtic Bouzouki, the Cittern, the Octave mandolin, the melodeon (Irish accordion), Tea whistle and Pennywhistle flutes, century-old harps, banjos, fiddles, guitars and various hand drums.

The 2013 tour supporting the company’s hit television show in America, which premiered on St. Patrick’s Day, was a smashing success, with sold-out venues from the West to the East Coasts.  The tour resumes in August, and stops in every major American marketplace, from New York to LA, hitting every key city that ties into the PBS broadcast of their 2013 TV special.  And plans are already underway for the 2014 live stage tour, to introduce a multi-media element to the live stage proceedings, to more closely tie into the theme of the television show.

To date, The National Dance Company, along with The Young Irish Tenors, have performed “Rhythm of the Dance” to standing ovations in front of over 4.8 million people in 59 countries! 

The American Television Special!

Spectacular!  Stirring!  Sweeping!  Stunning!  Sensational!

These are words television viewers, critics, and Public Television Affiliates alike, are expressing after recently viewing the new 2013 television pledge special, “Rhythm of the Dance” – now airing exclusively on Public Television in the United States. 

Taking over two years to film and produce the ambitious project, Winmill Films, a California-based production company, travelled far and wide throughout the Emerald Isle, capturing live dance performances at rarely seen locales and historic sights.  Shooting at over thirty-eight scenic locations, this stunning television special premiered on St. Patrick’s Day in dozens of major cities as a two-hour prime time Pledge Special for Public Television.  Additional multi-camera video production also captured the live energy of the international stage show, at the Theater de Tamboer in Amsterdam!  Both the locations and stage footage were combined and woven into a mesmerizing visual one-hour show.

“Rhythm of the Dance” is a unique dance show presented to American audiences, in a new, ground-breaking way, to fully experience and enjoy the essence of Irish dance and its origins.  Because the stage production theme is based on historic tales, and the dance choreographed by the brilliant, Doireann Carney, and is faithful to the geographical cultural roots of each dance, the TV special educates the viewer, while entertaining them with stunning visuals of spectacular locations that are part of the story behind the dance.  Essentially, the live show has been re-imagined, creating a live dance and music performance with seamless visual transitions from stage to exotic Eire locations, from castle ruins dating to 500 AD, to the Irish seawall on remote Innishbofin isle, to the Lost City of Clonmacnoise, St. Patrick’s Rock of Cashel, the scenic Village of Enniskerry, to St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, to Kylemore Abbey, to Cromwell’s Barracks perched on the edge of a sea cliff, and numerous other ancient ruins dating to 650 BC.

The power of dance and music will bring viewers on a fascinating journey into Ireland, seamlessly inserting throughout the show, panoramic locations and exterior segments that tie into the actual dance on stage and its historical content.  This can be seen in wonderful segments, like transitioning from a peasant lass sweeping up outside her seaside cottage, to the live stage where she seamlessly continues the number, but now surrounded by a dozen broom-wielding lads.  Or the lovely lass who skips through the Village of Kinvara, enters a pub, and exits out on stage from the village to the live theater.

The television special Director and Co-Writer, award-winning Hollywood film and video helmer, Chip Miller, describes the results as “…a way to help interpret the meaning of each dance, as well as awe the television viewer with stunning and staggering visuals, worthy of IMAX.”

This unique television event, stars lead dancers Michael Byrne, Nicola Kennedy, and Emma O’Sullivan, along with The Young Irish Tenors – Paul Gough, Rory Musgrave, and Duncan Brickenden.  Other dancers featured in the special, are Conor Smyth, Fiona Stone, Leslie McDonough, and Sean Regan, and musicians Sean Hagan, Aine O’Malley, Kelly Fitzhenry, Christopher Anglim, and Louise Ryan.  All brave performers who withstood rain, sleet, freezing cold temperatures, powerful winds, and fog - for the sake of art and entertainment.

The National Dance Company of Ireland’s fabulous tour support and worldwide audience base (America, Scandinavia, China, Greece, Romania, Amsterdam, and Russia, to name a few, is sure to be a precedent-setting pledge special for Public Television in the United States.

This EMMY worthy special, was produced by director Miller and Kieran Cavanaugh, President of the “Rhythm of the Dance” company, and was Produced for Public Television and Co-Written by legendary Television Producer, Terrel Cass.  The production company is Desert C.A.M. Studios/Winmill Films LLC.

Don’t Hand Me All That Jazz: A Confessional Memoir by Chip Miller

Let me start by sharing that I have never been a fan of jazz.

Or perhaps I should say, I thought I was never a fan of jazz.  This revelation revealed itself recently while I was listening to a weekly radio show in Palm Springs, California, on KJJZ Radio, “Jazz For Jazz Lovers,” hosted by radio personality and jazz connoisseur, Jeff Barr - who, I should add, is also a friend of mine.  When he asked if I would appear on his show to plug my just released CD, with my alternative rock band, Old Sand Mill, I agreed of course, figuring that any and all exposure for our new album is a good thing.  And though I am the songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist for the band, I still admittedly questioned my relevance to Jeff’s program.  After all, this has been a range of music I generally shunned over the years – both as a listener and as a musician.  My tastes have always run the gamut from Late 60’s to Contemporary Alternative Rock, Folk, Reggae, R&B, Blues, Bluegrass, World, and Classical, and depending on the occasion, “Heady” Music.

Barr is one of two jazz DJ’s at KJJZ Radio I can call a friend, the other being internationally renowned Smooth Jazz radio personality Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald.  Coincidently, two years ago, Fitz conducted a live on-air telephone interview with me after he heard an advance track from Old Sand Mill’s debut CD, “The World Is Getting Colder” (currently a well-reviewed, popular CD on iTunes).  Though Fitz’s playlist features primarily Smooth Jazz and Fusion, he nevertheless, premiered our song, “Too Much Sun” on his daily show.  The jazz connection, apparently, was inspired by one of the many famous guest musicians on our album, Darryl Jones - a twenty-five year member of The Rolling Stones and bassist on two albums with Miles Davis.

Thus, on preparing for my upcoming appearance on Barr’s more purist jazz program, I searched into my other possible connections over the years, to the world of Mainstream, Modal, Avant-Garde, Cool, Improvisational, and Fusion Jazz. And the result was a surprise, filled with direct jazz-like influences throughout my life that I had simply not realized.  As a great writer once said, “The older I get, the better I used to be.”

For me, it was all about growing up with an Irish mom who was a World War II Navy WAV - nurse turned photographer - and eventually, a 30-year veteran of the Paterson, NJ Police Department.  Paterson is the birthplace of many more artists and entertainers, including jazz artist Bucky Pizzarelli, comedian Lou Costello, and iconic poets, Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams.  After my father died at 39 years old, widowing my mother at 38, she turned her passion to the music of her era, big band and traditional jazz; her own tastes ranging from Dizzy Gillepsie and Lionel Hampton, to Benny Goodman and Tony Bennett.  She became President of big band singer, Helen O’Connell’s National Fan Club, and became very close friends with big band crooner, Bob Eberly, and the legendary Artie Shaw.

As a professional filmmaker, music video director, artist, and songwriter, my world of music and film did not intersect much with the jazz universe.  The earliest impressions of music that affected me, was Elvis, Doo-Wop, traditional Kingston Trio/Pete Seeger-style folk, the protest folk of Dylan, The Beatles and the British invasion, Progressive Rock, Punk, and selected Disco.  But now, somehow, I seemed to have done more than flirt with jazz, I’ve actually been more of a fan of it than I realized.  And more importantly, it has permeated my own creative work. 

Following is a list of icons and artists associated with jazz history, that have touched my life and my own history, in no particular chronology:

- Dave Brubeck – the first jazz recording I truly dug.  It taught me what being in a groove was.  For years, it was the only jazz artist I could cite and the only one I listened to.  How sweet that in 1980, I directed a television commercial for McCann Erickson Advertising in NYC and Dave scored it.  I got to spend weeks with him.  He was everything I hoped he would be.  In fact, we begin our own Old Sand Mill CD with an engineer saying “Take Five.”

- Diahann Carroll – I directed her live concert television special for PBS at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs in 2011, as part of the PBS national pledge drive (It is still airs in repeats).  Diahann, of course, an Oscar, EMMY, and Grammy Award winner, has vocalized, recorded, and jammed with the greats, from Sinatra and Hampton to Armstrong and Les Paul.

- Mel Torme – I was a scriptwriting partner with his son Tracy Torme, and briefly dated his step-daughter, Melissa Torme March in the early 80’s.  Her natural father was Hal March, host of the TV classic, “The $64,000 Question.”  I visited at Mel’s home in Beverly Hills quite often, where on several occasions, he spontaneously serenaded us in his den, on the very piano he composed “Christmas Song” on.  Experiencing this musical giant singing, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” in a live, personal performance, is an unforgettable moment in my life.  We shared many a glass of vino together.  I regret I was on location in Hawaii, and could not attend his funeral tribute.

- John Coltrane & Cab Calloway – As a published poet, I still perform Spoken Word in the LA area, but when I resided in New York City in the 70’s and early 80’s, I appeared weekly in cafes from Greenwich Village to South Philly, where I often performed my original poems accompanied by guest musicians.  One special evening at The Village Gate in Greenwich Village, in an hour-long Spoken Word concert, I was joined on stage by John Coltrane himself; Avant-Garde Jazz abstractionist, Jude Quintere;  and published Poet/Author,  Louis Ginsberg (father of Beat Poet and World Jazz lover, the legendary, Allen Ginsberg). 

Also on stage that night was - Cab Calloway!   A decade later, I controlled the film rights to Cab’s story and was attempting  to get it financed at a major studio, with Eddie Murphy attached to play Calloway.   As the attached director and screenwriter, I got to work closely with Cab before he passed in ’94.  What an honor.

- Artie Shaw – a longtime friend of my mom and her family.  I knew Artie since I was a young teen, though I did fall out of touch in the late ‘80’s, until he passed away in 2004.  He attended my mom’s funeral when she passed ten years earlier.

- Chick Corea – In an earlier incarnation as one-half of a popular acoustic duo, Reynolds and Miller, whom gained popularity on the East Coast in the early 70’s, we opened for Corea many times, including once when  his guitarist had to borrow my guitar because his was lost in baggage and hadn’t arrived in time for the show.

- Nina Simone - My first Personal Manager in NYC, Nat Shapiro (also a noted author on music and discographies) also managed Nina.  I got to sit in the wings onstage at Carnegie Hall during one of her concerts, and met her several times.

- Thelonious Monk – I opened for him in a music festival at Cornell State College in New York, with my Progressive Rock band, Pomeroy.  We all jammed together after the show.  It was, to say the least, a fascinating experience. 

- Oscar Peterson – I directed a national commercial spot for J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in NYC, and Oscar scored the spot, as well as appeared in it.  The best part was that we shot on location in New Orleans.  What a wonderful place to be working with a jazz icon.

- Keely Smith – I met Keely when I moved to the Palm Springs area, and have enjoyed getting to know her personally.  We first met backstage at a Chris Botti concert in 2006.  She got a big kick when I told her I had a mad crush on her when I was 12.

- Pat Metheny – Met Pat backstage at the Greek in LA, and had a chance to chat about music and the dying, changing music biz.   

- Chris Botti – Met and spent time with Chris Botti after his annual concert at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert.  We connected over several mutual friends, particularly Darryl Jones (The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Madonna, etc.), who joined Chris recording and touring with Sting on his world tour.

- Darryl Jones – Bass player for The Rolling Stones for over thirty years, Darryl replaced original Stones bassist, Bill Wyman.  But before his long stint with The Stones, Jones played with Sting, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna.  But his pride and joy memories come from his playing bass with his hero, Miles Davis.  In the mid-80’s, he appeared on the Davis albums, “Decoy,” and “You’re Under Arrest.”  Darryl appears on our Old Sand Mill 2012 debut CD, “The World Is Getting Colder,” playing his remarkable bass on several tracks, including our first single, “Too Much Sun,” to be released in September 2012, and already a hit on iTunes.  In addition, Darryl, Old Sand Mill, and I, all share the same Personal Management team.

- Les Paul - The jazz legend who got me fired from my job.  One Summer in the mid-70's, I worked as a graphic and mechanical paste-up artist for a small ad agency in Mahwah, NJ, located about a half mile from Paul's sprawling ranch and estate.  One day, I chanced to come across him while I was taking a lunchtime Stroll.  He was a gentle and friendly fellow, who ended up inviting me to see his guitar collection and studio. I was blown away and spent the afternoon with him, completely forgetting about my job.  Needless to say, my boss was quite unhappy and let me go on the spot.  So, thank you Mister Paul, for an unforgettable afternoon and for getting me out of that horrible job.  Two months ater, I was working as an Art Director on Madison Avenue, followed a few years later by co-founding my own successful ad agency, American Media Advertising.  I sold the company to move to LA in 1982 to become a full-fledged filmmaker and writer.  My motto is "Les is more." 

- Bucky Pizzerelli and sons John and Martin – Hailing from my hometown of Paterson, NJ, I met and worked with Bucky many times and even shared a stage with him and his sons at a Bergen County, NJ open air music festival, where I performed my stand-up comedy act at the time. 

- Clint Eastwood – Besides his ultimate jazz-themed film, “Bird” in 1988 about Charlie “Bird” Parker, which I actually worked on, I have since gotten to know Clint quite well, including developing an original western script with his production company, Malpasso Films, along with longtime friend, actor Liam Neeson.  When Clint broke up with his longtime girlfriend, actress Sondra Locke, I was her rebound love interest for a few months.  I have had the honor of attending several of Clint’s film premieres, and now ironically, dine often at his restaurant, Hogsbreath Inn, in Old Town La Quinta, located within walking distance to my film and video production company, Desert C.A.M. Studios.  Clint, as most folks know, is a “pure” jazz lover from way, way back.

- Herbie Hancock – I Co-Produced two of his music videos in the 90’s.

- Gerald Albright & Jeff Golub – Got to know them both quite well when I directed a recent multi-camera concert video for DVD that they headlined at the annual KJJZ Radio’s “Guitars & Saxes” Smooth Jazz Festival, hosted and produced by my friend, Jim “Fitz” Fitzpatrick.  .

- Paul Simon – not exactly the first person one thinks of when one is talking jazz greats, whether new or old school players, but Simon has employed the best of them for his many wonderful solo albums over the years.  And recently he made a foray into jazz at Lincoln Center where he performed with The Jazz and Wynton Marsalis.  My relationship with Paul goes back to 1973, when he was brought in to produce what was supposed to be my debut album as one half of the acoustic folk duo, Reynolds and Miller.  We had already toured and opened for Simon and even did a few early shows with Simon & Garfunkel as well.  In the late 70’s, Simon was a guest artist on several songs I was recording at the time with my folk rock band Pomeroy, adding both guest vocals and guitar.

- Brian Wilson – Known more for his extensive and legendary pop discography, Brian recently released a solo album of jazz and American Songbook classics.  As a composer, many of his chord progressions follow the fusion jazz structure.  Brian also appears as a guest vocalist on Old Sand Mill’s CD.  Two years ago, I directed his “Live Pet Sounds” multi-camera concert comeback at UCLA’s Royce Hall, that featured another ex-Beach Boy, Al Jardine..  

- Jack Jones – I met Jack and his wife in 2011, and had the opportunity to sing along with him at a private party, where he serenaded guests with his hits and jazzy classics.  Hearing him do “Love Boat” solo at a piano, was truly priceless.

- Gino Vanelli – A still touring international 70’s singing star, who flirted with smooth jazz on pretty much all of his many top ten hits.  Gino and I became friends when I decided to cast him in a supporting role in a small indie film I was set to direct in NYC, that was to star James Caan, Alison Eastwood (Clint’s daughter), and Dean Cain.  Unfortunately, the film was scheduled to shoot on September 15th, 2001.  Needless to say, history altered our plans. To compound matters, my dear friend and producing associate, Carolyn Mayer-Beug, was aboard Flight 11 that struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  A sad year for all.  But Gino and I nevertheless remain in touch and hope to work with each other on a future music or film project. 

- Allen Ginsberg – the great legendary beat poet and I performed many times together.  I opened for him as a spoken word performance artist throughout the NYC area in the early 70’s.  Allen was also born in my hometown, Paterson, NJ.  Allen experimented with jazz in almost all his writings and performances, working on stage with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Charlie “Bird” Parker.

- Bernie Williams – a former NY Yankee great and Hall of Fame slugger with a gazillion World Series rings.  It seems, that all this time, he was also a great jazz and smooth jazz guitarist.  After retiring from the Yanks, he released several solo albums and all to favorable reviews, and has now played with a who’s who of smooth jazz greats and guitar legends, like Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, and Pat Metheny, and Will Lee and Paul Schaefer from The David Letterman Band.  As of this writing, PBS Television is preparing a huge marketing campaign to promote their September 2012 Pledge Drive Special live concert. The show was all shot on location in Puerto Rico, and features a host of international musical artists, including Marc Anthony, pianist Arthur Hanlon, Laura Pausini, Ana Isabel, Cheyo Feliciano, Natalia Jimenez, and Bernie Williams.  I directed, co-produced, and edited this exciting upcoming television special.

- Jake Shimabukuro – a world famous ukulele master who dives deep into jazz in his performance songbook.  I discovered him in 2000 while I was directing a movie in Hawaii.  He was part of a band called Colon, a top folk rock band on Oahu, winning two HOKU Awards that year (Hawaii’s Grammy Awards).  After the band split up, Jake went solo and I represented him for a year on the Mainland.  Since 2004, Jake’s career and status, has gone through the roof, performing for world leaders, opening for major artists, and gaining the respect of other great musicians.  He has appeared on all the major circuit shows: Leno, Letterman, O’Brien, Ferguson, Kimmel, and Daly’s, as well as at all the major jazz and music festivals around the world.  Called The Clapton of the Ukulele, Jake and I remain good friends and hope to work together in the near future.

- Pat Rizzo  - Since residing in the Palm Springs area, I have become good friends with sax great and orchestra leader, recording artist Rizzo, who was also an original member of Sly & The Family Stone and War.  Pat is currently recording his version of an original track from our Old Sand Mill CD, “The World Is Getting Colder.”  His Tony Bennett meets Earth, Wind & Fire mix of “River, River” is due for release in late 2012.

- Frankie Randall - I have also gotten to know on a very personal basis, recording artist and singer/pianist Frankie Randall, who not only accompanied Frank Sinatra as a pianist, but had a close personal relationship to Old Blue Eyes, and even inherited his original sheet music as a gift from Sinatra.  At his 2011 annual Christmas show at the Bob Hope Theater, I was invited to be on stage with his other guests, Jack Jones, Peter Marshall, Rich Little, Steve Rossi, Ariana Savalas (Telly’s singer/dancer daughter), and Pia Zadora.

- Pia Zadora – Pia and I became friends after I directed her comeback concert video DVD in 2012.  Before she voluntarily retired for 15 years to tend to her children, she played Las Vegas alongside Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis, Jr., Count Basie, and Tony Bennett. She is currently touring successfully and in mid-2013, we will be taping her show again, but this time as part of a Public Television special concert and documentary about Jewish Jazz greats and songwriters.

I think that pretty much drains my memory banks in my quest to tie my art and my life to jazz.  In retrospect, it appears that the many genres of jazz have been more influential and far more impactful to my world than I possibly could have imagined.  So let me finish by repeating, I thought I was never a fan of jazz.  Well, don't give me that jazz anymore!

Below are original illustrations and drawings inspired by Jazz, including a portrait of an aged John Cage.

Unexpected Honor Closes Painful Door

I am a desert-based Filmmaker, Artist, Writer, Recording Artist, Singer, and Songwriter, who moved to California from my native New Jersey in 1981.  In 2010, I relocated to the Palm Springs area, lured by the high desert and my treasured Joshua Tree National Monument.  I am a Co-Founder and current partner in a major film and video production and post- production company, Desert C.A.M. Studios/Winmill Films LLC, with offices located in La Quinta and Burbank, CA as well as in Vancouver, BC. 

Last Veteran’s Day, I was honored by the City of La Quinta, for my years serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.   I attended a special public tribute and acknowledgement ceremony held at the La Quinta Civic Center Campus, near historic Old Town.  I was selected along with a handful of other combat veterans, to be acknowledged for our war service.  My name, along with other veterans, is now engraved on a large bronze art piece – resembling the mountains surrounding the Village of La Quinta, and is on permanent display in the Civic Center campus community park. Though somewhat belated, it was nevertheless still very deeply appreciated.   But the event and the gesture reopened and closed some deep and painful memories for me.

In many ways, it helped erase the negative memories of returning home as a Vet to Paterson, New Jersey in 1970.  At the airport on arrival, I was spat upon, called horrific names, and had food scraps thrown at me, as well as at my fellow comrade veterans.  Though I myself was anti-war, and remain that way philosophically till this day, I was also dead set against our role in the Vietnam conflict.  But that said, when I was called up, I proudly went into the military, served my time, and performed my patriotic duty for four very long years.

Drafted in my last year of art school in NYC, at the prestigious Manhattan School Of Visual Arts, which I was attending on a partial scholarship, I became a Graphics Specialist and Documentary Filmmaker in the Air Force, supplying everything from audio and visual aids, to Top Secret organizational charts for the Base Commander’s weekly war briefings.  I also performed documenting and filming tests for military equipment that was being prepped for active use in the field.  I was fortunate at first, to be stationed at Fort Lee in Virginia on an Army base ironically, but then was transferred to Stewart Air Force Base in New York State where I spent every weekend driving back to New York City, where I was moonlighting as a freelance Off-Off Broadway set designer.

In 1967, I was transferred again, but this time overseas - to England.  And smack in the wonderful midst of the British music invasion (The Beatles, The Stones, Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Animals, etc.).  I adapted quite well to Europe, and to London particularly, where I made more British friends than I had military ones.  I even had another freelance moonlighting job as an Art Assistant on weekends, working on the “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” BBC TV series.  My bosses were the incredibly creative director/writer, Terry Gilliam, and the hysterically funny Eric idle.  And technically, this was my first foray into a show business job.

I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall Base, and worked in the graphics department, where I created maps, charts, squadron shields and patches, as well as mascot art for the pilots who flew their jets into battle each week.  I also got married during my years there, and had a son – Justin Christopher (now a very talented and successful nature photographer in Florida).  I loved England very much, even returning there for a year after my discharge to continue working with the Python TV show.

One incident that occurred while I was there made headlines around the world, including the front page of the NY Times.  It was the week President Richard Nixon visited our base on his way to France to try and convince President Charles DeGaulle, not to kick out all the American bases located throughout France, as we are located in other European countries as well.  A young Sergeant, Paul Meyers, single-handedly hijacked a huge C-134 and took off unassisted, narrowly missing crashing into the English countryside, and aimed his stolen craft towards the east coast of America.  Evidently, he had just been given orders to transfer to Vietnam, and with his wife just having his first child back in Virginia, he had a meltdown.

All day, we were on alert, waiting for the news about Meyers, and whether he made it or not.   In the late afternoon, after the story was all over British and American TV news, it was announced that he had crashed into the mid-Atlnatic, unable to maintain a steady flight with a crew of one - himself.  However, when I was called in by the Base Commander to design and create a flip chart presentation on the day’s events, I learned through my Top Secret clearance, that Meyers had been shot down an hour after he took off, and had crashed into the English Channel.  The entire day of alerts, updates, and news bulletins, going out to the English press and American media, was essentially all a fake exercise in media control.  This, so they could keep a lid on any bad press should the plane crash in England or France, killing innocent civilians.  Especially with Nixon on his way.  I still have the reports and photos, and almost got it made into a TV Movie with Nicolas Cage and the late Ray Sharkey in the late 80’s.  One day though, I will get that film project off the ground, so to speak (the pun is unintentional).

But it was this incident that further disillusioned me about America’s role in that war, as well as the unbridled power of the Military Industrial Complex in general.  Over the next several months, along with a group of other AF buddies, we started and distributed an underground newspaper, called The Semit (Times spelled in reverse), and authored, designed, wrote, and printed the paper from our Graphics office.  British actress and Oscar winner, Vanessa Redgrave, became our private financier and mentor for our independent anti-war paper during its six month existence, even helping to distribute the editions throughout London.  Eventually though, our staff was broken up by transfers to other bases.  An interesting note here, is that of our little underground military staff, all went on to great things in their civilian lives, from myself as an established filmmaker and artist, to another as the Editor of the Boston Globe, another is a famous author with 6 books out, another became a noted songwriter and performer, and another became a trophy winning Grand Prix racing driver, and yet another an admired painter in France. One, unfortunately went into Scientology, and had their life ruined financially and spiritually, and passed away just last year.

When the paper folded, I had to deal with the unexpected - a three-month secret assignment to Vietnam - Tan Son Nhut Air Base to be exact.  I was not allowed to inform anyone in my barracks or squad of the assignment.  Located near the city of Saigon in South Vietnam, my temporary graphics studio was a Vietnamese constructed Quonset bunker hut slapped together I’ll bet, in a day.  It was either stifling hot or damp and freezing cold.  Anyway, for months I worked there in Bunker 051, somewhat detached from the horrible conflict and death going on all around me, just a mile away beyond the mountain range, or just past the rice paddy fields behind the base, or down the dirt highway that led to our base from the thick jungles that surrounded the facility 

And it was always there - in the background, just like approaching thunder before a storm.  Twenty-four seven, the rumbling sound of explosions and machine gun fire, mortars, and choppers overhead, flying in and out of the base after delivering the dead or the wounded to the hospital and sick bays.  At first, it was hard to get any rest or decent sleep, but after a while, like anything else, I adjusted.  The sounds of war became just like traffic sounds outside my city windows – sirens, horns, jackhammers, and planes.  My job function was changed and I found myself creating reconnaissance maps and visual battle plans, as well as the occasional day trips to the war zone to do some assigned filming and photogrpahy. 

Thus my military experiences were now slowly changing, going from working and partying with, the Monty Python cast on weekends, to witnessing almost daily, a parade of guys my age being whisked past me on stretchers - bloodied, disfigured, or dead already.  Since I myself, was luckily not assigned to squatting for survival in a fox hole somewhere in the middle of hell, I felt very fortunate to be doing what I was doing.  But the toll of injured and dying soldiers and civilians, took its toll on my head and my memories.  I am not sure till this day, where the hell I mustered up the courage, but I found myself visiting the sick bay every evening, checking in with the guys to see how they were doing. Sometimes we’d just chat, or I would do a little of my stand-up shtick, or I would play guitar or harmonica and get them to sing with me.  Or their favorite, when I would draw them pictures of beautiful women.  At the time, I was probably doing all that to ease my own guilt at not having to hide in a rice paddy somewhere hugging an M-16.  But it still felt good, like I was accomplishing something in that damn war, other than drawing maps and cartoon mascots.   

Tan Son Nhut was primarily a command base, but became a main target of major Communist attacks following the 1968 Tet Offensive.  One attack began early one morning in January with greater severity than our military had anticipated.  The first enemy rounds hit the base around 2 AM, and sent a chill up my spine only to be matched by the ’94 Northridge earthquake that I also had the pleasure of being in the middle of.  The shells kept coming and coming for hours.  The base chapel was one of the first hits, essentially destroying it.  Then the shelling stopped.  Later that same day, I was in our Quonset graphics bunker with the other six Airmen who worked in that structure: me, an assistant Airman, and four Air Force Security Policemen who occupied the other end of the bunker.  We were ordered to put together ASAP, a detailed visual brief of that mornings attack, for the Colonel in charge of the base operations.  Funny too, that I remember the guy’s name, one I would use decades later in one of my screenplays – Colonel Farley Peebles.   Ione cannot make that one up.

Anyway, it was my turn that day, to go to the supply officer in the Quonset hut next to ours, to stock up on art supplies - magic markers, ink, paper stock, rubber cement, etc.  We all hated having to deal with the very mean and grizzled Supply Sergeant who would hassle us with a dozen forms to fill out, while barking out lectures on discipline and haircuts.  No sooner did I enter the Supply office, it all started again.  A major mortar attack, but this time with enemy ground troops moving in on the base as well.  We were under siege. The Supply Sergeant quickly grabbed the armful of drawing pads I had in my arms and replaced them with an M-16.  The moment was a total nightmare for me.  I will never forget the intensity, the noise, the screams, the smoke…And I will never, ever forget the sound of that rifle upon first squeezing the trigger.  I know one of the many rounds I fired hit their target, as I saw two Vietnamese soldiers go down.  That image is engraved forever in my mind.

But then the frightmare really kicked in.  When I was finally able to step outside, my jaw fell open.  My Quonset Bunker 051 and graphics shop was completely gone.   Leveled.  Thankfully, my assistant got out, but all four of the Policeman (ages 20-22) perished.  And only because it was my turn to get supplies that morning - something I tried to wiggle out of - that I survived that horrific day.  Vernon Luna, my assistant who also survived, committed suicide back home in Utah, several years later. 

The attack ended up in the history books of war.  Thanks to the Base Security Forces, despite being outnumbered, and with help from Army helicopter and U.S. ground units, they killed almost a thousand attacking enemy combatants, and finally secured the base again.

I was returned to England for my discharge, and was offered opportunities to discuss my combat zone experiences many times with VA Councilers, but always felt that I could deal with it myself.  However, the guilt grew over the years, especially now being the only living survivor of my group on that terrible day of infamy.  I have been able to come to grips with it all and understand it more over the decades, by devoting myself to living life to the fullest and to helping folks in any way I can.  Especially war veterans.

I have had and continue to have a wonderful career in the entertainment industry, winning many awards for the hundred plus music videos I directed for MTV, VH-1 and CMT, as well as the movies I have produced or directed, the many pledge concerts I shoot for PBS and HBO, and of course, the advent of creating Desert C.A.M. Studios here in the desert.  But many of my creative and organizational disciplines and collaborative teamwork philosophies, were born and came of age during those years in military service.  Though I am still dealing with the guilt that I survived and my young comrades did not. It makes me often think of that last line in “Saving Private Ryan” where Tom Hanks utters to Matt Damon as Ryan, “Earn this.  Earn it.”

I am not sure if I have indeed earned the accolade La Quinta awarded me last year, but I proudly accepted it graciously and humbly for my friends and comrades that were the true heroes that day in January, 1968.

I have never shared so much about this incident before, so I think a painful door is finally beginning to close for me.  And each day forward, I become prouder that I was a Vietnam Veteran and served our country to the best of my ability. 

Below are original artworks I created, originally published in The Semit, 1968:

Boondocks video by Chip Miller