Gary
Conway has an extraordinary creative background from
the fine arts to the arts of viticulture
and
winemaking, it was in television where Gary first became
recognized worldwide, initially starring
in the TV
series "Burke's
Law," then
"Land of the Giants,"
the world’s most successful TV series.
Besides
starring in series and a multitude of episodic
television shows and TV movies for the three
networks,
he starred in many motion pictures. He is also a
prominent screenwriter with such credits
as
“Over the Top,”
and the “American
Ninja” series. He currently directed
and starred in the acclaimed
film
“Woman’s Story.”
A Renaissance man for our time, youngest artist to win a major
prize at the LA
County Art Exhibition and, before
age sixteen, was awarded full scholarships to the three most
prestigious art schools in the
country.
Joel Cox (Editor) has
worked with Clint Eastwood for more than 30 years, on films that include
"Bird," "Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall," Tony Bennett: The
Music Never Ends," and
co-edited Clint Eastwood's "Piano Blues." Joel
has been editor on movies like “Flags of Our
Fathers,” “Million Dollar
Baby,” “Mystic River,” “Blood Work,” “Space Cowboys,” “True Crime,”
“Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “Absolute Power,” “The
Bridges of Madison County,”
“A Perfect World,” and “Unforgiven,” for
which he won an Academy Award for Best Editor in 1992.
WE GAVE JOEL THE PADEREWSKI LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, and have great footage
of him in interviews and panel
discussion.
Joe Estevez is an
American actor, director, and
producer. Starring in
well over 150 films, he has
a very large cult following, he
is a sought after voice-over actor, and has hosted numerous
documentaries.
He is the younger brother of
actor Martin Sheen and the uncle of Emilio Estevez,
and Charlie Sheen.
Joe loves to go back to
his roots as a stage actor when time permits. Joe
will do a Q & A after the
screening of the movie PrimeMates, a story of four men,
cigars and why
they cheat. He will join
his friends at Luck Films for some fun in Paso.
Sonny Curtis
My hero then was Sonny Curtis ... I admired
him so much, I wanted to
change my
name to Sonny. I even tried to stand like him.”--Waylon
Jennings From his West
Texas
beginnings as the lead guitarist in Buddy Holly’s pre-Crickets band to a
prolific songwriting
career, Sonny
Curtis is a rare talent who transcended musical genres long before the term
“crossover” was coined. He has penned over 500 songs, recorded by legendary
artists across
the music
spectrum, including Holly, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hank Williams, Jr.,
Bing
Crosby, The
Everly Brothers, and wrote their big hit "Walk Right Back", Nanci Griffith, Roy
Orbison,
The Stray Cats, and The Clash. Might mention that he wrote the huge hit "I Fought the
Law", and
Keith Whitley's record "I'm No Stranger to the Rain," which was voted
Country Music
Assoc.
single of the year in 1989.
Ann Dandridge
With
over 30 years in Public Relations consulting, Ann has helped
many
celebrities become the stars they are today. Ann
worked with one of her clients, Earl Mills for
ten
years to get his book optioned, which finally became the HBO
Movie
"Introducing Dorothy
Dandridge" starring Halle Berry, Dorothy is Ann's cousin,
She has worked with the likes of Eric
Root,
author of Lana Turner's Biography, Motown legend Martha
Reeves of Martha Reeves and
The Vandellas, Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the LA Lakers, Ron
Rice, founder of Hawaiian Tropic
Suntan Lotion, Elaine Young, Beverly Hills Realtor to the
Stars, Mayor Harold Washington, 1st
Black Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Armand Hammer, CEO of
Occidental Petroleum and others.
Bela
Lugosi, Jr. Lawyer specializing in the protection of intellectual property rights of
famous
celebrities. He was the plaintiff
in a landmark case involving the estate of his late father, famed
`Dracula' character actor Bela Lugosi Sr Lugosi also was involved in the enactment of the
California
Celebrity Rights Act of 1984. He is often retained to represent heirs of well known celebrities in
litigation over ownership and enforcement of intellectual property rights and
recently served as one
of the attorneys involved in the nearly five month-long
jury trial on the rights to "The Three Stooges."
Bela has been president of Lugosi Enterprises since 1963, and from 1995 to August 1999 he was
the Director and Executive Vice President, Corporate Acquisitions and
Development of C3
Entertainment Incorporated.
Zev Robinson- filmmaker,
artist, photographer and world traveler. Zev lives in
Spain and is presently
working on documentaries on wine
as culture, history, and economic, with food related
projects next
on his film list. He has
explored the use of digital technologies in creating time
based art, videos and
random works. He will
screen "Life On The Douro" a documentary on the making of
Port wine on the
Douro River, the 3rd largest
river in the Iberian Peninsula, it is about 300 years of
history with direct
ties to the current wine making
there now. Zev also has produced a documentary on
wine, wineries
and winemakers of Dinastia
Vivanco in Rioja, Spain.
Brenda and Marc Lhormer
for a number of years produced the Sonoma Valley Film
Festival, and
are said to made it a top of the
line event, and are now venturing to produce the Napa Valley
Film
Festival in 2011. Brenda
and Marc coproduced the feature film
“Bottle Shock”—a “factional”
2008
retelling of the events
surrounding the 1976 “Judgment of Paris,” when Napa Valley
wine beat
French vintages in a blind
tasting, and brought Napa Valley and California wines to
National
attention. Brenda and
March have several films slated for 2011, and will stage an
reenactment of
the "Judgment of Paris" at
thePDFF, with Napa Valley and Paso Robles wines in
competition.
Angie Gega--aka Anjeza, an
actress/singer/dancer/model/humanitarian, was born in
Albania and
raised with a desire to belong
to the world. Her artist career started at a very
young age, when she
started to travel around the
world.
Dance awards, recent music releases,
appearances in many TV
shows and films, International singer
with a knowledge of more than 6 foreign
languages, are just a
few details that characterize her
persona. One of her strongest goal that
inspires her work, is the
desire to make a emotional and
financial difference in the world. She is also the CEO of a new
non-
profit organization called BECHLEM*--BECAUSE HE LEADS
ME, I SHINE". A non-profit
organization
to inspire, motivate and guide children,
(abused, sick, poor, and uneducated) to become better
leaders
and better communicators. The organization's objective is to provide a helping hand to
poverty, a
warm hug and inspiring example to sick and abused
children, and a great guidance of
education so
they can make better choices.
Lawrence
Kraman,
the founder of Newport Classic, which in its 26 year history
has been one of the
most
successful independent American classical CD companies, has
been producer and/or engineer
of more than
250 CDs, with repertoire ranging from modern orchestra to
period instrument ensembles,
electronica,
jazz and comedy. In 1995 he became Vice President for
International Product Development
for Sony
Classical for two years. Recently migrating to the visual
arts, he executive produced PDQ
Bach
in Houston for Acorn Media; as well as producing and
directing the critically acclaimed DVD of
Carlisle
Floyd's modern opera masterpiece, Willie Stark,
which had its broadcast debut in June 2008
on Louisiana
Public Television, an d a ten DVD set of concerts from
The Newport Music Festival 2007.
He has just
completed producing and directing David Amram: The
First 80 Years, a documentary
about
Classical/Jazz/film score composer/conductor/jazz French
hornist/ world musician and Beat
novelist,
Jack Keroauc's musical collaborator, David Amram. In
previews, the film has been screened
at the Green
Mountain Film Festival, The Library of Congress and the Moab
Music Festival.
Ivan Suvanjieff- was lead
singer/song writer for the infamous Detroit punk rock band,
'The Ramrods',
he was a journalist and an
editor at CREEM magazine, with his work being featured in
two recently
published books: "The Best of
Creem" and "Iggy Pop and the Stooges: The Authorized
Biography.
He is friends with a gang of the
"Beat/Kerouac" crowd (Alan Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski,
who
were contribution editors to his
literary magazine, "The New Censorship"...Ivan is friends
and works
with the legendary Don Was.
He co-founded PeaceJam Foundation, and has been nominated
for
the Nobel Peace Prize six times
for this good work, and he is Ex Producer and Director of
Photo-
graphy for '2012: The True Mayan
Prophecy'.
Joel Diamond
Billboard Magazine
described Diamond as, "one of Contemporary Music's Best
Record Producers sitting behind
the board." A 30-year industry veteran, multi-platinum
producer/
songwriter Joel Diamond
has produced and/or co-written over 36 gold and platinum
recordings,
plus movie soundtracks and
television themes, and has been a recording artist himself
on five
different labels. His career has
included everything from record production and song writing
to heading up the music
publishing companies for both Mercury (at which time his
second in
command was Tommy Mottola) and
CBS/Sony Records, serving in executive and creative
capacities. During his career,
he has also worked closely with such music icons as: James
Taylor,Laura
Nyro, Harry Nilson, Van Morrison, The Bee Gees, Rod Stewart,
Barry
Manilow, David Bowie, Dr. Hook, among
others.
CLINT EASTWOOD...NEED WE SAY
MORE?
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is
considered one of the country's legendary foundations of folk
music.
Honored at the White House in 1998 with a National Medal of Arts
for his contribution to American
Folk Music, he was also awarded a
Grammy in 1996 for his "South Coast" recording. As one of the
last true
links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums
under his belt. Jack
was a huge hugeinfluence on Bob
Dylan.
Rich Ferguson
is a magician, entertainer and poker columnist.
He is current spokesman
for a Dream For Kids, a local, San Luis Obispo California
charity. Rich's humorous and original
magic has enchanted audiences all over the world. Rich
combines magic, hypnosis and mentalism
to create a style of magic that is highly intriguing and
sets him apart from the rest as a world-class
magician. His slogan is "Where Magic & Mentalism Join
Hands." He performs for high profile
events, award shows, magic clubs, theatres and his hands are used as
extras in movies for cheats,
gambling, hustles, pick pockets and various manipulations
Christopher Felver is a
photographer and filmmaker. His work has been exhibited
internationally,
and his works are collected by numerous libraries and
museums, including Stanford University
Special Collections. He participated in the 53rd
Venice International Film Festival, and screened
films in festivals and
museums around the globe, including presentations at the Library of
Congress,
he received the Best Art Documentary Awards at the Cinema Arts
Centre Independent Film Festival,
and he was a Visiting Artist at the
American Academy in Rome.
Max Gail
His acting debut came in 1970 in San
Francisco, California, playing the Chief in the
original stage
production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He is
best known for his
television role as Det. Stan "Wojo" Wojeciehowicz
from the sitcom Barney Miller (1975). Gail's
best known feature
film role is in D.C. Cab (1983) as Harold, Gail runs Full Circle, a production
company which has done
documentaries on such subjects as Agent Orange, Native Americans,
and
nuclear issues.
Judie Hoyt stared working with
Clint Eastwood in 1975, on The Outlaw Josey Wales, after he
arrived at
Warner Brothers from Universal. She has worked with him for a total of
20 years, with a
couple of retirements in between. During these years
she has worked on the films Letters from Iwo
Jima, Flags of
Our Fathers, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Bird, Pale Rider ,Sudden
Impact,
Honkytonk Man and many more.
Dan Jones
was recently Chairman of the Ponca Nation. He was a Field
Producer on the
Emmy
nominated documentary 500 Nations,
working with Kevin Costner. Dan worked
for Disney
Imagineering on the Disney America
Project,
and performed with Sammy Davis Jr. and Wayne
Newton at the John F.
Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts.
Jones' television
productions
include producing The World of American Indian Dance,
which premiered on NBC in 2003.
In
2001 Jones was the
co-host and co-producer of the First Americans in the Arts awards ceremony
webcast, with broadcast
partner Yahoo.com. In 1993 he received the Muse Award from the
Association of
American Museums for a work produced by the new Smithsonian National Museum
of the American Indian. Jones is a traditional
straight dancer and resides in his hometown of Ponca
City,
Oklahoma.
Kathy Kelly has over 25
years experience in all aspects of media communications. Her work has
included projects for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Turner Classic
Movies, Capitol Records,
MGM, Kal Kan, Johnson & Johnson, Toshiba,
Amgen, Gemstar, Hoover, Fitness Quest,
Braun, T-Fal, Conair, Murad, GNC,
Motorola and many other national and international consumer
brand
marketers. For two years she produced the Winery Music Awards,
then left Paso for greener
pastures.
Ken Kragen has managed some of the world's
most important entertainers, including Kenny
Rogers,
Lionel Richie, Trisha Yearwood, Olivia Newton John, The Bee Gees, Burt Reynolds,
The
Smothers Brothers and many others. He was the creator and organizer of "We
Are the
World",
"Hands Across America", and Cisco System's "NetAid".
Kragen has produced a variety
of
film and television projects, ranging from the ground-breaking "Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour"
on CBS
to Kenny Rogers' "Gambler" movies, and numerous series, mini-series and
films. He
produced the "12 Dogs of Christmas" live action, full length feature film
based on his daughter's,
Emma's, best-selling children's book.
12DogsofChristmas.com To date this project
has sold
500,000 books and 700,000 DVDs. He and his friend Quincy Jones
produced a portion of the
1992
Presidential Inauguration. He has written the best selling book
"Life is a Contact Sport"
which
is filled with unique and well tested career advice.
Archie McLaren: Archie
McLaren is no stranger to the world of fine cuisine and rare wine. He is
the founding Bailli of the Central Coast Chapter of the Confrerie de la
Chaine des Rotisseurs, a
member of the Vintners’ Club of San Francisco,
the Wine & Food Society of San Francisco, the
San Francisco Chapter of
the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and the Marin County Chapter
of
the International Wine & Food Society. He is one of only two Americans
inducted into the
Austrian Wine Brotherhood, and one of the few
Americans inducted into the Commanderie des
Bontemps - Medoc et Graves &
Sauternes et Barsac of Bordeaux in France.
Michael Lewis
has played with Frankie Valli,
DeBarge, Sherman Hemsley (George Jefferson),
and was keyboard
player for the great Quicksilver Messenger Service for years. Michael was
Liberace's Music Director and
arranger, and produced three of Liberace's albums. He did the
music for Barbara Walter's TV
Specials, soundtrack for the TV show "In Search Of", narrated by
Mr. Spock and Leonard Nimoy.
Besides running his own music company, he has been music
director and playing with Dave
Somerville for many years, and will join him at the Festival on stage.
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