Home    Filmmakers     Sponsor Info     Festival Info    Concerts     Panelists       Screenings

Entertainers

THE BACON BROTHERS

Long before Kevin Bacon became a household name with such hit films as Footloose, A Few Good Men,  Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood, Murder in the First, River Wild and many others, he was writing songs on his own, and playing percussion in Philadelphia coffeehouses with his brother and other groups.  What most don’t realize is that guitarist/vocalist Kevin and his older brother Michael (guitar, vocals, cello) are lifelong musicians, which is of course part of the reason why they’ve become so good at turning heads and tweaking ears, harvesting an ever-growing fan base along the way.

For his part, Kevin is more than eager to shuffle his busy film schedule around to accommodate a string of Bacon Brothers shows, even if it means he has to bend over backwards to meet all of his commitments. “It’s hard just to play them for myself, or my wife,” he says of his songs, many of which he sat on for decades.“I love to play, and I love to play live.  Mr. "Six Degrees of Separation" his Bis on the way to Paso Robles, all the way from New York to perform for the Paso Robles Digital Film Festival...

www.BaconBros.com

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT

" The world that I was heading into was really the world of Jack Elliott and Joan Baez.

Bob Dylan in his book Chronicles

"Hearing Jack play, one knows that she/he is listening to the real thing".
-Bob Weir (Grateful Dead)

One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, 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.  In addition he was also nominated in 1998 and 1999 for the recordings of "Friends of Mine" and "The Long Ride"  which were both nominated for Grammy's in the Traditional Folk category.  Marty Stewart said, "Ramblin' Jack is the best friend a song has ever had. Jack apprenticed himself to Woody Guthrie traveling and performing with Woody in his later years.  He remains one of the last true links to the Guthrie traditions, it is well documented that Jack influenced Bob Dylan, with his picking style, and when Dylan heard Jack to Woody, Dylan decided that he could never do Woody that good, and decided to do his own music...See more on Jack at link below, while he is at the PRDFF, we will tape more of him for the project below.

www.PioneerTroubadours.com

KYLE EASTWOOD

Son of Clint Eastwood with a very impressive list of music, soundtracks, and composition to his credit. In addition to his albums, Kyle has composed music for the Academy Award winning films of his Dad's Mystic River, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.  And Kyle wrote "Boxing Baby", "Solferio", and "Blue Diner", for Million Dollar Baby. He worked on the soundtrack The Rookie and was a composer also on Rails & Ties  In fact, he co composed the latter film’s score in its entirety. Joni Mitchell and tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson (who readers may remember as the original Pink Panther sax man) worked with Kyle on one of his CDs.  Kyle is very well known in the London Jazz scene, and will fly in from London to do the Paso Robles Digital Film Festival.

DINA RUIZ EASTWOOD: In speaking with your dad earlier today, obviously about jazz, he recalled that you got turned on to jazz during the filming of Honky Tonk Man.

KYLE EASTWOOD: It got me into playing because I had to play the guitar. But some of my earliest memories of music are of jazz. My parents took me to the Monterey Jazz Festival a lot when I was a little kid. One advantage of having a famous father was I got to go backstage. I met a lot of artists, greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. Looking back on that, I can see how much the musicians I met there influenced my career.

www.KyleEastwood.com

THE BRUBECK INSTITUTE JAZZ QUINTET

The Brubeck Fellowship Program is a one or two-year full-scholarship program in jazz performance for five musicians who have just graduated from high school. These are the Brubeck Fellows and they comprise the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet (BIJQ). The Brubeck Fellows are students pursuing careers in jazz performance, and are selected during auditions held annually at Yoshi's Jazz House in Oakland, CA.

The BIJQ has performed on the Monterey Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Brubeck Festival, North Texas Jazz Festival, and many others, and have done concerts in California, New York, Washington, Florida, Chicago, Toronto, Minneapolis, Texas, Washington D.C., and on a State Department tour of Spain. They have performed in jazz clubs such as Yoshi's in Oakland, The Montreal Bistro in Toronto, Herb Alpert's club Vibrato in Los Angeles, and the Jamboree Jazz Club in Barcelona, Spain. The BIJQ also does clinics and performances in colleges, universities and schools throughout the country. The BIJQ has also performed at the annual conference of the International Association for Jazz Education.

JACK TEMPCHIN

and Peter Fonda giving him a birthday lick in Hollywood...

Wrote a number of big Eagles hits like ALREADY GONE AND TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT Glenn Frey sang his SMUGGLERS BLUES twas on Miami Vice Television Soundtrack.  Jack wrote THE LONELY GUY in the Steve Martin movie The Lonely Guy, he wrote ON THE LOOSE for the movie Girls Just Want To Have Fun, and BAD SEEDS for the movie Homer and Eddie, for the blockbuster movie Thelma and Louise Jack wrote Part Of Me Part Of You, and last but not least  Jack has two songs on the new Long Road Out of Eden Album by the Eagles, on the charts now.  And, add he wrote SLOW DANCING that Johnny Rivers had a huge hit with. 

www.tempchin.com

In Jack's band is:

RICK THE BASS PLAYER

Rick Rosas has appeared on a wide variety of recordings by many artists, but he's probably best known for his work with Neil Young and Joe Walsh, working now with Neil Young on the road and in the Studio.  Rick was in Young's movie Heart of Gold and will be on a panel discussion about this great Neil Young Film.

PHILL JONES

For years Phil has played with Tom Petty on the road and in the studio, is on songs like "Runnin' Down a Dream" and Freefallin'...and played with the likes of Joe Walsh, Roy Orbison, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, JD Souther, Terry Reid, Randy Newman and many many others.

HAROLD JACKSON

While he is best known today as the only surviving member to be recruited by the original INK SPOTS, Harold is well-traveled among the legends of Jazz.  Mr. Jackson grew up among the Pettiford family where he was proud to call Jazz great Oscar Pettiford his second cousin, with whom Jackson shared a deep, mutual love as well as a gifted ear for music.  Harold has been sharing his gift with the world through his own music and the music of the Ink Spots for over a half a century.

At the musical conservatory he attended in NYC, Harold met Eddie Cole, whose brother, Nathanial ("Nat" for short) would later invite Harold to join him on several tours across the US, with stops in Honolulu at Lau Yee Chai's, and in Lake Tahoe.

Prior to this though, Harold was proud to serve his country in World War II, where he distinguished himself not just musically as a performer in the USO, but militarily as a member of the first assault wave on the beach at the Allied invasion of Okinawa.

Before Harold was officially recruited by INK SPOTS leader Charlie Fuqua in '48, he could be found performing with such musical legends as Duke Ellington ('46), Hot Lips Paige ('47), Cab Calloway and the Billy Williams Quartet ('48).  Harold also worked with Sid Caeser and Imogene Coco on "Your Show of Shows" and appeared at the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem. 

As a credit to Harold's lifetime devotion to music, he was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1999 along with other musical greats who performed in groups such as The Coasters, The Temptations, The Four Seasons and The Moonglows.

Mr. Jackson's film credits include a cameo in "Darlin' Lil" with Rock Hudson and Julie Andrews, and more recently in the movie "Swing Shift" with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.  Mr. Jackson now devotes his vast creative musical energy and talents to bringing audiences in the new millennium the lush, romantic sounds of the Ink Spots.

NORM STEPHENS

Norm played guitar for Lefty Frizzell and on some of his super hits, he also

played with Hank Thompson, and toured with the one and only Merle Haggard. 

Norm will perform on the Pioneer Troubadour Stage at the Festival, and

discuss his part in the production of the web based TV series Pioneer Troubadours,

and talk about how the life of a musician has changed from the days he toured

with Lefty to on the road with one of the kings of the road...Merle Haggard.

www.PioneerTroubadours.com

JOHN ANDREW PARKS

Parks is a Songwriter's Songwriter, a Poet, and a Storyteller. Park's melodic narratives run from windblown prairies and old jalopies to shooting stars across the cosmic canvas. As Kenny Rogers once said on an NBC Television Special, “John Andrew Parks is one of the greatest singer/songwriters I’ve heard in 20 years, and whether or not you like this song you have never heard anything like it before!” Willie Nelson has him on his list of favorite songwriters.  Kenny Rodgers produced Park's Plant Texas in a video that was well well well ahead of its time using music, film footage and animation.   John recently performed for 600 million people on China TV.  Jim Fogelsong, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy winner, commented: “John Andrew Parks’ influence will be felt for a decade to come.”

www.myspace.com/johnandrewparks

RONEE BLAKLEY

"This was Dylan’s gypsy lover, the one who can’t be tied down, the one who walks away, from love, from men, even from fame." (Valerie Martin, Vogue Magazine)  Blakley is known for her performance as country superstar Barbara Jean in Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville. She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Supporting Actress and, along with Lily Tomlin (who was also nominated in the same category), is often regarded as offering one of the most revealing performances in the film.  Blakely was in the Rolling Thunder Revue with Dylan and company, and worked with Dylan on some recordings, and was in his movie Renaldo and Clara.  Ronee also appeared in A Nightmare on Elm Street and some other movies and has a few CDs behind her belt.

www.myspace.com/roneeblakley

TRAVIS HOWARD

Travis is a Hollywood Actor and has written sever big hits for the hot new country star Miranda Lambert, several of his songs have gone to the top of the charts, and he has a song in the movie Alpha Dog, starring Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake and Bruce Willis.  Travis made his cinematic debut in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Travis performed on Nashville Star, and a mechanic in the 70s coming-of-age film, The Garage.   He is working now in the movie biz, songwriting in Nashville and Hollywood, and working on soundtrack music as we speak.  Travis will perform and be here to discuss the Miranda Lambert's videos that we will screen, written by Travis and Miranda.

www.TravisHoward.com

Kacey wrote 10 of the 12 songs on her new album, several of which were co-

written with fellow Texan, Miranda Lambert.  "Writing is such a huge part of who I am. I want my music to be taken serious.  It's my story...no one's gonna write it for me." 

Thank you Texas, for giving country music another slice of heaven.

Kacey Musgraves' voice is absolutely golden.  Absolutely five stars!"

New Country Star

www.kaceymusgraves.com/

SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Buffalo Benford Productions, LLC
buffalobenford@gmail.com

Home    Filmmakers     Sponsor Info     Festival Info    Concerts     Panelists       Screenings