Update, 8/24/2001

Drawing by Peter Himmelman

Hey, everybody! I spoke with Peter today, so I thought I would give you an update.

First bit of news is about the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival show Peter did in Lyons, CO. Peter said that the show was awesome!! He also said that Andy Kamman and Al Wolovitch were BOTH with him! I am freaking out! PLEASE - if anybody can give me a review for the site, or better yet, hook me up with a CD and/or video of the show, I would be IMMENSELY grateful! PLEASE!!!!!! (That's me begging. 'Just wanted to clarify that for you in case I don't sound forlorn or desperate enough!)

Regarding Peter's work on TV and Film - Peter is of course still scoring the music for Judging Amy™. You can also hear Peter's music on a couple of Showtime™ productions: a movie called, Snow in August, which is out this month, and a tv show called, Going to California.

Peter and I talked about the work he's done for the Spinoza Bear project (http://www.spinozabear.com/). The Spinoza Bear is a cuddly teddy bear that teachers and healers use to help people at difficult times in their lives. Many years ago, Peter made 9 audio cassettes that go into the bear. Each cassette focuses on something different, i.e. self esteem, creativity, grief and loss... I recently purchased the whole set for my collection (without the bear, although I'm considering getting the bear since it's cuddlier than a Walkman™) and can tell you that the two I've had time to listen to were incredible. I actually cried because I found the music to be so gentle, and tender, and loving. As much as I have appreciated Peter's music in the past, what I have appreciated most in these cassettes is his humanity. For more details, you can check their website, which I've listed above, and to order the cassettes, you can call 1-800-CUB-BEAR.

One other thing that Peter and I discussed related to his expansion into creating commissioned pieces of music for individuals or organizations. Some of you might remember that during the Flown This Acid World tour, Peter was running a contest at each venue, where people who attended his shows would fill out a questionnaire about themselves. He would then choose one questionnaire and write a song about the person. When he did this at The Bottom Line in NY, he told us to listen to WNWK the next day to hear who had won and to hear the song he created for the winner. Having actually heard that show, I can honestly say that the song he made up was great!

These days, Peter would like to do this kind of work on a commission basis perhaps for businesses, for special events such as honoring an employee's retirement or promotion. He is also considering doing commissioned music for individuals for their anniversaries or other special occasions. Besides producing great original songs, tailor-made to suit the people for whom they are written, Peter plans to do original art for the CD covers as well, so that the packaging will be as enticing and as memorable as the music.

Peter's obviously very busy, so he will only be able to do these commissioned pieces on a limited basis, but if you or your company has an interest in pursuing commissioned music with Peter, you will soon be able to do so through his site at http://peterhimmelman.com, where there will soon be a section on this with all the relevant details.

Anyway - that's all the news for now, but keep coming back to Himmelfans for more updates throughout our site!

All the best! : ) -- Ellen