Change Your Image
donnieland
Mr. Powell is a talent manager, an authority on the entertainment industry, as well as the U.S. Hispanic population, its culture and retail buying habits, and Hispanic consumer acceptance in products and ideas.
Mr. Powell is a Playwright, Theatrical Stage Performer, Television Spokesman, Producer, Director, Conductor, was an Apprentice Baritone with The Metropolitan Opera Company, has 49 Top 10 records, 31 Gold Albums, 20 Platinum Albums, and 81 professional honors and awards. He has had Top 10 records in each of the last four decades.
Fresh out of high school and in his first year of college, Mr. Powell was accepted in the apprentice program at The Metropolitan Opera Company as a baritone. �This was when The Met was still in the old house on 39th Street. Standing on the stage where Caruso, Tibbett, and Callas performed was intimidating enough. Singing for Mr. Bing was even more formidable.�
With Mr. Powell�s first professional position, he started at the top, as a promotion man for the 1965 U.S. tour of The Beatles.
Don (Hunter) Powell and Motown; �I joined Motown in 1965, at the most exciting period in the company, when they were located in several old houses on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. I originally signed on to manage Martha and the Vandellas. Motown managed their artists in those days. I ended up working with Stevie Wonder instead. They needed someone to set up a west coast tour for Steve, and I took it. By the time we returned to Detroit, neither one of us wanted to work without the other.� During his time at Motown, Mr. Powell operated out of four areas of the company, in artist management, as a writer, a producer, and out of the office of the President. He also secured and managed live appearances for Motown artists Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and the Jackson Five, on major national network television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Kraft Music Hall, American Bandstand, many others. He co-wrote songs for numerous artists, including Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Jackson Five, The Four Tops, The Rolling Stones, Al Kooper, Jeff Beck, Gary Glitter, and others. His last year at Motown, he was sent to Los Angeles to expand the west coast office, which became the new headquarters of the company. Mr. Powell was also a member of the Motown production team The Corporation, which produced the first five number one hits on The Jackson Five.
During his time at Motown, Mr. Powell became enthusiastically involved with the civil rights movement.
This was at a time when being white and working on civil rights issues, particularly in the South, was a
dangerous proposition. �There were a few times in the South when I actually faced down people with guns pointed at me. I guess I was too young and stupid to give it a thought at the time, but I knew I was right and they were wrong, and luckily, at those moments, I made them believe in �my� convictions more than they believed in �there�s�. After spending time, and marching with Martin Luther King, we all would have marched through fire for him. He was an emotional and spiritual turning point in my life.�
From Los Angeles and Motown, Mr. Powell moved to London to create a management-production company with a couple of British friends. That company, The Gem Group, managed record producers
as well as artists. Some of the artists they managed were David Bowie, The New Seekers, Gary Glitter,
Marianne Faithful, Iggy Pop, Lionel Bart (writer and composer of the musical �Oliver�), and several artists who had great success in Europe and Asia. One of Mr. Powell�s producers was the executive producer of the original cast album of �Jesus Christ Superstar�. Mr. Powell coordinated Bowie�s first two albums for RCA Records, �Hunky Dory� and �Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars�.
When Mr. Powell returned to the U.S., he bought a Ford dealership with his brother. Six months later
he was called on to take over the operation of his family�s flagship dealership, Brookdale Ford,
in Minneapolis, Minnesota�s largest Ford dealership. Within two years, Mr. Powell had tripled business, resulting in Brookdale becoming the largest Ford store in the Midwest. During his 12 years in the automobile business (as well as his three years in London), Mr. Powell continued to assist Stevie Wonder
with his personal business. For six months, Mr. Powell commuted between Minneapolis and Los Angeles
to vocalize Mr.Wonder, helping him complete his landmark, multi-Grammy award winning album, �Songs In The Key Of Life�.
While at Brookdale Ford, Mr. Powell developed an extremely effective television advertising concept,
which greatly contributed to the dealership�s ongoing success. Other dealers around the country began
to ask about the ad program, which featured Mr. Powell on-camera. Mr. Powell created a production unit
to produce television commercials for other dealers. He wrote, produced and appeared in over 3,000 commercials for auto dealers in Cleveland, Kansas City, Wichita, Seattle, Los Angeles, and 26 other cities.
After 12 years in the automobile business, the entertainment business once again captured his attention.
He took on �Quazar� as the group was called, changed their name to The Jets, signed them to MCA Records, and proceeded to have 8 Top 10 Hits with the group, including a Grammy nomination, the only internationally successful Polynesian group before or since. During this time he also created a duo called �Boys Club�, who had a Top 10 hit their first time out.
After the successful run with The Jets, Mr. Powell read a biography on the composer Cole Porter, became fascinated with the man�s story, and wrote a musical play on Cole Porter�s life. Needing a theater to put the production in, Mr. Powell was directed to a run down old vaudeville house on its last legs. He assembled a team to renovate the theater, returning it to its original beauty, and was awarded an historic preservation award. The play ran for four months in Minneapolis and two months in Chicago.
Mr. Powell then directed his energy toward music and the internet, becoming Vice President and COO of the Disc Jockey Development Corp.. The company developed the first commercially viable system for downloading music from the internet to retail kiosks that would produce made-to-order CDs on site. The system tabulated sales and publishing information, ensuring royalties would be paid to record companies, performers and songwriters. The major record companies hated it. The recording industry was doing their best to ignore the internet, and their ignorant position on the worldwide web has now caused the near collapse of the major record companies.
Mr. Powell then went on to create and develop a point-of-sale video advertising system specifically for Spanish language Supermercados, utilizing video monitors placed at strategic points throughout the stores.
Mr. Powell developed and implemented the marketing plan for the national launch of a former Mouseketeer, Christina Aguilera, for his close friend Steven Kurtz, who was Aguilera's manager. Aguilera won the Grammy for Best New Artist that year.
Throughout the course of his career, Mr. Powell has written, produced and directed thousands of television commercials, written hit songs, produced hit records, managed hit recording artists, has written, produced and directed several music videos and television shows, and along the way, has gained several close friendships in all areas of the entertainment business, from music to film, television and live theater. It is with this group of friends he has created The Burbank Entertainment Group LLC, a consortium of extremely talented people, all with their own areas of expertise, who join Mr. Powell on his ongoing and upcoming projects. He is also writing a musical play for the theater with Stevie Wonder, as well as writing a book on his time with Stevie Wonder and Motown.
In film and television, Mr. Powell calls upon directors and film editors who have created major motion pictures and television programming, including My Cousin Vinny, The Hurricane, Ali, Swordfish,
Big Top Pee Wee, Young Guns, That Was Then � This Is Now, The Next Karate Kid, The Principal, Robin Hood � Men In Tights, The Pirates of the Carribean series, and Avatar, films that have starred Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Jamie Fox, Michael Caine, Will Smith, Peter Fonda, John Travolta, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Hugh Grant, Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Joe Pesci, Rob Lowe, Gene Hackman, and Dean Cain.
In the theatre, Mr. Powell's team has produced 11 plays and musical shows on Broadway and on the London stage, including Clarence Darrow, with Henry Fonda; the Tony Award winning An Evening With Diana Ross; The Ultimate Event, Starring Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza Minelli; Grease;
The Who�s Rock Opera �Tommy�; and Drood, winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
In Music, Mr. Powell and team have worked with The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five,
Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Supremes, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Yanni,
The Four Tops, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Madonna, Bobby Darin, Buddy Rich,
Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and many others.
Reviews
Amore tra le rovine (2015)
An Annoying Exercise In Fakery
I am watching this film as I write. There are no spoilers, as I shall turn the film off when I am finished writing.
Even though this begins as a documentary about finding a 90 year old film, everything, and I mean 'everything' in this film is fake. The discovery of the film, the two director-brothers, the documentary interviews, and the supposed restoration of this 90 year old film, all fake.
I started watching because I thought it was a documentary, not a mockumentary. The discovery and restoration of a lost film is serious business to those of us who admire silent films. Simply the fact that this is a 'serious' mockumentary, makes this film becomes more annoying by the minute.
The actual fake movie within the fake movie is supposed to be this famous lost film. It is marginally acted, and is generally dull as dirt.
With all the great silent films out there, TCM has to show a 'fake' one? Stupid.
Woody Herman & His Orchestra (1940)
A Great Historical Music Video!
After sound came to motion pictures, when you went to the movies, you got your money's worth; a newsreel, a cartoon, a 'short subject,' a second-billed feature, and the 'main' feature film! 'This' is one of the great musical 'short subjects' from Vitaphone - Warner Bros.. Woody Herman was a 'big star' in dance pavilions and live theater shows, and this short is a perfect example of the era. Going to the movies back then was a special occasion, and everybody dressed up! There are some shots of the theater audience that look like they're at the opera, but that's how you dressed when you 'went out' back then. Woody's band is top notch as always, and the two specialty dance numbers are terrific! The first, by Wiley and Hartman, is the only known film performance of Marie Hartman. The second dance number, by Hal and Honey Abbott, a great vaudeville eccentric dance team,is 'their' only known filmed performance as well. This little gem is what live performing was all about in the thirties and forties.
East of Eden (1955)
Sorry, I don't get it
OK, there are a million '10' reviews for this movie. After five or six pages of reviews, I finally found a '3', so I won't give it less than that to not be thought of as a killjoy.
Steinbeck.... Brilliant! Elia Kazan.... Brilliant! Julie Harris...Brilliant! Raymond Massey...Brilliant! Jo Van Fleet... Very underrated. I even liked Albert Dekker!
But James Dean...... I really don't get it. To me, he was 'incredibly' overrated.
A 'method' actor, Dean seems to have had different 'methods' than Brando, Karl Malden, Dustin Hoffman, and many others. Whenever he's on the screen, I feel like he's shouting, 'Look, Ma... I'm 'Acting'!' This guy was so over the top in everything he did!
I know all the old guys at the studios at the time were trying to be 'hip' and 'with it', showing they knew what 'teen angst' was all about. They were waaaay off the mark.
You want to see 'real' teen angst from that period?.... watch Sal Mineo in anything he did. In 'Rebel Without A Cause', all Sal had to do was play about 8 angst-levels down from Dean, and he was a 'real kid'.
I watched about 15 minutes of 'East of Eden' with a group of twenty-somethings, and their reaction to the movie was, Who's this cornball 'Dean'???
Dean's acting was dated in '1955'.... in 2011, he's a cartoon. He would have been pretty good in silent movies.
The only other Kazan movie I can't watch is his 'other' movie of the same genre, 'Splendor in The Grass', 'another' film that everyone else thinks is brilliant, but to me is off the graph.
Everything else Kazan did, I can't get enough of!
Lassie Come Home (1943)
A Classic Film!
I feel compelled to rebut the curmudgeon who 'couldn't stand this movie'.
First off, what a cast!..... eight of the greatest film stars and character actors who were ever on the screen, including 11 year old Elizabeth Taylor and 15 year old Roddy McDowall. You will never see child actors this talented in any film made today.
Obviously, the writer is no animal lover. The complaint about Lassie continually whining is a whine in itself. Yes, the whining was meant to pull at the heartstrings. This movie was made in 1943, part of the greatest era in motion picture history. They knew how to tell stories back then, and 'this' story is about a dog trying to find its way home. The entire 'premise' of the film is a heart tugger!
And one more point; no animal character dies in this film, unlike in 'Bambi' and some other Walt Disney films that scare very young children to death.
This is one of MGM's best family films, a wonderful, heartwarming adventure story that anyone who loves dogs will enjoy again and again.
Kes (1969)
A Brilliant Film Not To Be Missed!
I saw this film at a cinema in London when it first came out. The previous comment hits all the great points about this film. I just want to urge everyone to see it! For Americans (as I am), it's going to take about 10 or 15 minutes to get into the rhythm of the dialect of northern England. Initially, you won't believe they're actually speaking English, the dialect is so thick. But after a few minutes, you'll automatically start to understand what they are saying. This is a brilliant film that will lift your spirits, and break your heart. It's impossible to not have a big lump in your throat at the end of this movie.
The High and the Mighty (1954)
What An Incredible Load Of Rubbish!!
OK, I'm not moved to write many of these, but I just saw this movie and feel duty bound to warn the world! I mean, how could you go wrong? John Wayne, Robert Stack, Claire Trevor, directed by William Wellman??? William Wellman, who made James Cagney a star with 'Public Enemy'??? got an Oscar for the original 'Star is Born'??? The guy who directed 7 different actors in Oscar nominated performances??? Well, this film, which did big business in 1959, plays horrendously in 2007!
First, the writer, Ernest Gann, should be shot for this script, if he wasn't already dead. Every stereotype you can think of is included in these roles; the faded glamour girl, a Korean women who has fortune cookie lines, a guy named 'Swede' who, what else... sounds 'really' Swedish; a poor couple who scrimped and saved to take this trip, the guy played by 'Phil Harris' of all people!; the newly wed couple, the guy is a sap and the girl is a whiny bitch; a wealthy businessman, an idiot flight navigator, an airline pilot who flies into hysterics at the first sign of trouble, and on and on. The only thing missing is Hattie McDaniel doing 'Mammy'. The only sane person on the flight??.. John Wayne, thank God! (He didn't want to do this movie). The dialogue and characters are laughable. Robert Stack as the pilot turns into an hysterical girl right before your eyes. The Dimitri Tiomkin music is so over the top, it makes this ham-bone of a movie even 'hammier'. Fortunately, Wellman, Stack and The Duke have a lot of great movies under their belts. 'This' ain't one of 'em!
Sitting Bull (1954)
Spoiler?? Every MINUTE of this mess is a spoiler!
The only thing worth watching is the opening credits. The film's downhill from there. Everybody in this film must have needed work really badly. The only 'Indian' in the movie is Iron Eyes Cody. Remember the TV commercial Iron Eyes did against polluting the environment, when, seeing a river full of trash, a tear rolls down his cheek? The guy must have been bawling his eyes out after being in this crap. J. Carrol Naish, an Irishman, plays Sitting Bull with a Yiddish accent. The faithful Indian scout is played by a black guy with a 'Rochester' accent. The dialog, the acting, is stiff as a board. Whoever told Cliff Robertson he could act should be made to watch this movie 10 times. If only I could tell you this movie is so bad it's good...... sorry..... So many great movies on nitrate film deteriorated and were destroyed, and THIS one has to survive??? I haven't seen this whole movie. I couldn't make it past the 30 minute mark.
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Lame Hollywood Version of a Perfect Musical
This movie suffers most from Hollywood executives and their unending urge to 'fix' the material. The original Broadway show was impeccable! One of the two shows that to me are 'perfect musicals', the other being 'Gypsy'. The original stage show moved like lightning. The film gives you several opportunities to make a sandwich, or give you a 'lot' of bathroom breaks. The cast is wrong, except for Stubby Kaye and Vivian Blaine,who created their roles on Broadway. They made Frank Loesser write additional music for the movie, and then they dumped 'More I Cannot Wish You', one of the sweetest, most beautiful, lump-in-the-throat songs you will ever hear. The saving graces of this movie are that Stubby Kaye's and Vivian Blaine's performances are immortalized on film, two great stage actors, most of whose work, being live performance, is gone forever.