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fredseibertdotcom · 25 days

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Behold, the king of online cartoons

Ex-Hanna-Barbera whiz Fred Seibert blazing a trail with YouTube network

A couple of times over the years, then-USA Today’s entertainment and tech reporter (and photographer) Jefferson Graham was nice enough to feature me in an article about the cartoons I was producing. First time was in the late 90s with “Oh Yeah! Cartoons,” but in 2015, with streaming video finally reaching the mainstream press (Channel Frederator actually started in 2005) and Graham’s animator son joining our network, he revisited.

Thanks to animator Michael Hilliger, who sent over his copy of the article in 2024.

By Jefferson Graham USA Today July 17, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Fred Seibert wants you to have his card.

And his phone number. He even won't mind if we print his [email protected] e-mail address right here in USA TODAY.

Seibert, 63 is the online toon king, with 400 million views monthly to his Channel Frederator network on YouTube, but he's never sure where his next hit will come from.

So he's always out there looking, at schools, industry gatherings, book signings. You name it.

Next weekend, he'll be at the Vidcon convention near Los Angeles, a gathering of folks who make their living off YouTube, which is where most folks see his online `toons.

"I have no ideas," he says. "But I recognize talent."

That's for sure. Seibert, then president of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon studios in the 1990s, is credited with discovering Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the Family Guy, fresh from college, when he hired him to work on Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

For Seibert's "What a Cartoon!" series for the Cartoon Network, Seibert hit ratings gold, signing up the creators who churned out hits like "The Powerpuff Girls," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Johnny Bravo." Their series debuted as shorts for first for Seibert's series.

He still serves as executive producer of "The Fairly OddParents," a TV series he began producing in 1998 when it debuted on his "Oh Yeah, Cartoons," series. It's been running ever since on Nickelodeon.

Seibert's biggest audiences, however, have come from online, to the tune of some 1.9 billion views for 'toons like the Bee and PuppyCat and Bravest Warriors.

We had Seibert as a guest on our #TalkingTech podcast in June. At the time, he was averaging 300 million monthly viewers to the Channel Frederator network. Now he's already up to 400 million monthly viewers, and predicts he'll top 700 million by year's end, and 1 billion by 2016.

The reason for the massive growth is that unlike before, when animation was targeted just to young kids, either for Saturday morning TV, and kid-based cartoon TV channels, anyone of all ages can view `toons online.

Seibert's Cartoon Hangover, a Frederator section where he shows the best of his `toons, bills itself as the channel for "cartoons that are too weird, wild, and crazy for television."

“Bee and PuppyCat,” about a young woman with a hybrid dog-cat, is written by Natasha Allegri, a woman in her 20s, about a character in her 20s, and thus, obviously not targeted to the traditional animation crowd.

"No matter what your interest online — whether it be anime, or science fiction or comedy cartoons, there is a place for you," Seibert says. "TV has a tough time supporting the sub-genres. Online is all about sub-genre."

Channel Frederator is what's known as a multi-channel network. Cartoons run on YouTube, but his network promotes them, sells ads and distributes the proceeds to some 2,000 of his video makers.

Through Frederator, the channel makers learn about which color to make their thumbnails to find larger YouTube audiences (he recommends yellow) and which keywords to use in the descriptions ("funny" always works, he says.)

"We give them the tools to grow their performance," he says.

Dominic Panganiban, a 24-year-old animator from Toronto, joined the Frederator network in November, and has seen his subscriber base grow ten times since.

He had been working with Full Screen, another multi-channel network that works with YouTube creators to help them monetize their videos and attract larger audiences.

"Frederator was a better fit, because they cater more towards animation channels," Panganiban says. Because Frederator attracts folks who enjoy cartoons, "I have more potential here."

By being part of the Frederator network, Australian animator Sam Green says he's learned about how to better promote his cartoons, and gotten access to a database of free music and sound effects to use in his cartoons.

He too has seen a spike in traffic.

Being with Seibert "helped me move from my mother's garage to affording my own apartment in the big city," he says.

How did the traffic for both creators go up so dramatically?

Seibert promoted the cartoons to his audience. With 2,000 cartoon makers, that's a lot to choose from. He says he'll plug as many of them as "show an interest" to growing their audience. He looks for people who post new work regularly, stay in touch, and ask "what we can do to help them more."

And despite the massive online audience, Seibert isn't making money yet, and doesn't think he will for another three years.

"Our cartoons are 3-4 minutes long, and the average American watches 6 hours of TV a day," he says. "We have a long way to go to even that out."

Photography by Jefferson Graham, July 2015

#USA Today #Fred Seibert #press #PR #Channel Frederator #Channel Frederator Network #2015

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shizukathefox · 2 years

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Just finished watching Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space!

Seriously, there NEED to be more remakes! Cartoon Hangover may still suck on some levels, but if they continue this, maybe this YouTube channel will come back as a TV network!

Don't know what I mean by Cartoon Hangover as a TV network? Trust me, if this TV network definitely has all of the cartoons from Cartoon Hangover (along with the exception of Fin Punch), you remember the same shows they used to have on that YouTube channel.

This remake of Bee and PuppyCat was just so perfect. If only Cartoon Hangover could just do more and more remakes, like Bravest Warriors and Super Fuckers (though if Super Fuckers was solely remade, it would be called “Super Fuckers Forever” based on the comic book with the same name).

Because if that happens, then @cartoonhangover has a chance to redeem itself.

Also, happy early birthday, @fredseibert 💖✨

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feldplaybackexperiment · 1 year

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Adventure Time article from the February 2010 issue of Animation Magazine

#adventure time #atimers #pendleton ward #fred seibert

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fredalan · 4 months

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The Movie Masters! for American Movie Classics 1989

Albie Hecht (executive producer & co-creator): “My favorite!”

Christine Ecklund (producer/writer): “Wow. Bet I can still answer every question. (“Ucipital Mapilary”)“

Before Mad Men, before Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, AMC was actually “American Movie Classics,” the Turner Classic Movies of its time, a cable channel exclusively focused on, duh, movies from the heyday of Hollywood. (In fact, the former head of AMC programming created TMC.)

Towards the end of the 80s, channels that relied on acquired, cost efficient stuff like AMC (or Nick-at-Night or USA or even MTV) were realizing that advertisers and cable operators were on the hunt for programming that could excite viewers.

The Movie Masters was one of AMC’s first jump into the pool, and obviously, it wasn’t the approach that worked like crazy for them. Fred/Alan’s primary Showtime client, Josh Sapan, had become AMC’s leader and thought that our Chauncey Street Productions had an idea for a network series.

Original television production, even when it’s done efficiently, is pretty expensive. And the explosion of cable TV had exploded in terms of dozens of channels, but it was still trying to figure out how to make enough money to thrive. The financial picture wouldn’t really come into it’s own until the end of the 1990′s. All the networks we worked with over the years approached originals very gingerly, and American Movie Classics was one of the most, um, fiscally careful.

Well, Chauncey Street was a perfect fit for a deliberate situation. We were still feeling our way in series production and we were well aware we weren’t yet booking the big gigs.

Chauncey Street majordomo Albie Hecht loved game shows (CSP went on to produce Turn It Up! for MTV, Kid’s Court and GUTS for Nickelodeon, and Albie oversaw many more as president of Nickelodeon production). He and Alan created the idea for The Movie Masters, with the notion that it would recreate the salad days of broadcast network quiz shows.

To that end we ran dozens of casting calls at our office, talking to everyone from Betty Comden and Margaret Whiting, before coming to the conclusion that we’d replicate a classic quiz show line up (American Movie Classics, right!). The production landed on The Match Game’s Gene Rayburn as host, and actress and veteran quiz panelist Peggy Cass, New York Times’ theater critic Clive Barnes, and actress and To Tell the Truth stalwart Kitty Carlisle as contestants.

The production came off with only a few hitches and delivered on time and on budget. It was a hoot working with such revered acting, writing and television royalty. AMC would eventually find their way to “prestige” TV, but as far as we were concerned, we did a wonderful job in the name of the greatest movies of all time.

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Chauncey Street Productions, New York Created by Albie Hecht & Alan Goodman Producer/writer: Christine Ecklund Executive Producers: Alan Goodman, Albie Hecht, Fred Seibert

Three of the original episodes of "The Movie Masters"

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#AMC #American Movie Classics #Josh Sapan #The Movie Masters #1989 #Chauncey Street #Albie Hecht #Alan Goodman #Fred Seibert

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nofatclips · 2 years

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The Summoning, created by Elyse Castro and directed by Natasha Allegri, first episode of GO! Cartoons from Frederator Studios

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michaelmtv1981 · 1 year

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I have the very 1st MTV shirt from the 1981 NARM convention in Hollywood and was trying to find out how many were made. It is in unworn condition.

#fred seibert

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beeclops · 5 months

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‘Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake’ Renewed for Season 2 at Max

Max has renewed “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake” for a second season.

A spinoff of “Adventure Time,” which ran on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2018, the series follows Fionna (Madeleine Martin) and her sidekick, Cake (Roz Ryan), who find themselves in the crosshairs of a powerful new foe, leaving them with no choice but to seek the help of Simon Petrikov, the former Ice King (Tom Kenny). Other characters from from the original series featured in “Fionna and Cake” include Marshall Lee (Donald Glover), Marceline the Vampire Queen (Olivia Olson), Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) and Finn the Human (Jeremy Shada). The cast also includes Andrew Rannells as Gary Prince, Sean Rohani as Prismo and Kayleigh McKee as the Scarab.

The news comes two months after showrunner Adam Muto told Variety he was unsure whether the show would continue, saying, “It’s in discussion. But the person who greenlit the first season is no longer at Max.”

“My hope is that this series did well enough that they feel like they can invest in future seasons,” he added. “What shape that takes, if that’s a ‘Fionna and Cake’ Season 2 or it’s more of an anthology kind of approach and we focus on another character, is still kind of up in the air … There’s a running list of what we think could work as a series, what we think could work as a miniseries or a special.”

Muto executive produces “Fionna and Cake” with Fred Seibert and Sam Register in partnership with Cartoon Network Studios.

“To know that the show will continue into a second season feels both wonderful and frankly surreal,” Muto said in a statement upon the renewal. “Thanks to ‘Adventure Time’s’ creator Pendleton Ward, the team at Max, the talented cast & crew and the passionate audience who made this possible.”

“As proud stewards of the beloved ‘Adventure Time’ brand, we have been delighted to dig deeper into the world through the ‘Fionna and Cake’ lens,” said Suzanna Makkos, executive vice president of original comedy and adult animation at Max and Adult Swim. “We look forward to following them on the next chapter of their journey!”

“‘Fionna and Cake’ gave us all the familiar joys from the land of Ooo while pushing the ‘Adventure Time’ franchise forward,” said Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. “Thanks to Adam Muto and his amazing team for bringing us to all new multiverses and rich new levels of charm, fun and heart-filled stories. I can’t wait to see where they take us next."

#max #cartoon network #adventure time #fionna and cake

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fredfilmsblog · 8 months

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Best of Original Cartoons: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

FredFilms Postcard Series 3.7

• How a casual web comic became a MAX series.

Don't think that Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake isn't for you.

Starting as a tossed off web comic by Natasha Allegri –then a storyboard revisionist, now creator/showrunner of Netflix's Bee and PuppyCat– in the summer of 2010, Fionna and Cake starred in some massively popular episodes included in the the original Adventure Time series and then spawned merch, costumes, cosplay and comics.

Mathematical! A woman had the chance to be the hero of her favorite show.

It wasn't uncommon to find gender reversed fan fiction in aughts. But of course, Natasha did her fan fic with art that was perfectly on point. Eric Homan, AT creative executive, put it on our Tumblr and the fandom went nuts.

Soon enough, Cartoon Network would greenlight an 11-minute one-off and lo and behold, an already hit series had it's most popular episode yet. More followed over the next several seasons and if you happened to be at a comic con women who had been cosplaying other series characters all of a sudden were all over the place as Finn-now-Fionna.

KaBOOM! comics knew how popular their Adventure Time was, but they couldn't have anticipated the success of the Natasha written/drawn F&C books.

What we have here is a gen-u-ine phenomenon.

Adam Muto, the showrunner and executive producer of Fionna and Cake, has been with the original Adventure Time series longer than even creator Pendleton Ward. He was Pen's sole Los Angeles co-worker on the original short we produced for Nickelodeon in 2006, went with the show to Cartoon Network in 2009, eventually becoming the creative director. When Pen moved to a consultancy role, Adam became the stellar showrunner, bringing the characters to new and continuing intriguing places. He ran the movie mini-series starring Finn and Jake, Distant Lands, and then took on the leadership of Sam Register's Cartoon Network Studios putting together a full blown F&C series.

Today, MAX drops the first two episodes of a complete Fionna and Cake cartoon series, cementing Adventure Time's status as a bona fide franchise, the coin of the realm in our streaming world.

A web comic-to-series success!

Rhombus!

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From the postcard back:

Congratulations! You are one of 125 people to receive this limited edition FredFilms postcard!

www.fredfilms.com

Adventure Time Fionna and Cake Created by Pendleton Ward Original characters by Natasha Allegri

Executive Producers Adam Muto Sam Register, Fred Seibert

Series 3.7 [mailed out August 28, 2023]

#FredFilms postcards #Series 3 #Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake #Fionna and Cake #Pendleton Ward #Natasha Allegri #Adam Muto #Sam Register #MAX #Cartoon Network Studios #Adventure Time

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anotherbaldiblog · 4 months

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Adventure Time is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (John DiMaggio)—a dog with the power to change size and shape at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo, where they interact with Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch), the Ice King (Tom Kenny), Marceline (Olivia Olson), BMO (Niki Yang), and others. The series is based on a 2007 short film that aired on Nicktoons. After the short became a viral hit on the Internet, Nickelodeon's executives passed on its option before Cartoon Network commissioned a full-length series from Fred Seibert and Ward, which was previewed on March 11, 2010. The same year, the series premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5, and it ended its eight-year run on September 3, 2018.

Playtime: I can't wait for 2010!

#baldis basics #baldis basics in education and learning #bbieal #bbieal playtime

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pspwiki · 5 months

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"executive producer fred seibert once mentioned that cartoon network had tried to remove princess bubblegum and marceline from the show because they didn't feel the need to appeal to women" ??????????????????? hello??????????

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fredseibertdotcom · 2 years

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Click here for my posts about MTV and here for Fred/Alan’s MTV work.

“Anniversaries are for parents!”

It’s hard to say why we thought August 1, 1982, the first birthday of MTV: Music Television, was such a big deal. I was off-the-record in jokingly telling a senior executive that we were rock’n’roll so we probably would be lucky to last five years.

But, we were so excited at actually making the thing work, so exhilirated that we pulled it off, exuberant that the old men cable operators we wrong, we were stunningly popular across the United States (soon the world!).

One way or the other, we wanted to celebrate. Even though the company was still losing a lot of money, everyone was certain we were onto something and soon enough the Benjamins would be rolling in. Given our circumstances though, the company wasn’t going to let us spend just to make ourselves happy, so the solution was to make the birthday all about the cable companies, who we would need for the next 20 years to get big enough to generate all that cash.

vimeo

MTV 1st Birthday ID from fredseibert on Vimeo.

Manhattan Design (MTV logo originators) came up with the cardboard cable box and t-shirt, and Frank Olinsky illustrated. We even found a few bucks to animate a 10-second cake for the birthday.

“Birthday.” That’s the ticket. As with everything in those early days, the entire MTV team spent a lot of time figuring out our appropriate vocabulary. For everything.

First anniversary? First birthday?

“Anniversaries are for parents. For old people. We’re for kids.”

It was our first birthday.

I’ll point out that last year MTV celebrated it’s 40th birthday! So much for being careful about the brand. Sigh.

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Creative directors: Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman Design: Manhattan Design Illustration: Frank Olinsky Animation: Buzzco Associates, New York Thanks to Nancy Kadner Feingold for the cable box and t-shirt

Click here for my posts about MTV and here for Fred/Alan’s MTV work.

#MTV #Alan Goodman #Manhattan Design #Frank Olinsky #Buzzco #MTVposts #Fred Seibert #illustration #1982 #MTV design

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shizukathefox · 2 years

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Happy birthday, @fredseibert ❤️💝

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onthedriftinthetardis · 3 months

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Let's do this!! For the music meme:

2, 11, 12, 26, 29 please!

Hey hey! Thanks so much for the ask, and my apologies for taking a WEEK to answer this!

2. three last songs you listened to

I can't remember what I was listening to now, so imma cheat and say the last 3 songs in my previous ask.

11. three favourite songs from movie or TV series soundtrack

This is so hard! You have to understand, I used to collect soundtracks, so I have a LOT of favorites!

No list of soundtrack greats could omit John Williams. The man is a legend. My favorite of his is probably the Raiders of the Lost Ark March. Today, anyway, lol.

Chariots of Fire by Vangelis was one of my first soundtracks, and still a favorite.

The third is the best TV track of all time, the theme for Doctor Who by Murray Gold.

12. three favourite songs from video games

First sentimental favorite goes to the Magic Meadow (Erana's Peace) theme for Quest for Glory by Mark Seibert. This guitar cover of it is rather lovely.

The Secret of Monkey Island is a classic, and one of my favorite games ever. One of the many reasons for that is the soundtrack, which I heard on my first playthrough on PC speaker, and THEN (*glorious*) on my brand new sound card, a Sound Blaster Pro. 😂 There are a ton of versions of the main theme out there, but I had to post the version that's closest to what I listened to back then.

Last one, also from a classic & favorite game, the title screen theme from Okami. If you haven't played it, the game is available on multiple platforms, and is well worth it, like a Japanese watercolor come to life.

26. three favourite non-English songs

Answered here.

29. three songs that influenced you most (some songs change or save lives)

Tracy Chapman's entire eponymous album was one of the first to make me really think about the way other people think and live. Gotta give it to the (still relevant) first song, Talkin' Bout a Revolution.

I was a militant atheist for a long time, mainly out of a sense of self defense. Dar Williams changed my mind about the possibility of reconciling with the faithful in The Christians and the Pagans. I'm married to an Episcopalian who was a religious studies major, so it must have worked. 😅

Everything Possible by Fred Small is the lullaby of affirmation and encouragement we all need to hear, especially if we didn't hear it when we were younger. Lyrics below the cut.

We have cleared off the table, the leftovers saved Washed the dishes and put them away I have told you a story and tucked you in tight At the end of your knockabout day As the moon sets its sails to carry you to sleep Over the midnight sea I will sing you a song no one sang to me May it keep you good company

[Chorus] You can be anybody you want to be You can love whomever you will You can travel any country where your heart leads And know I will love you still You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around You can choose one special one And the only measure of your words and your deeds Will be the love you leave behind when you're gone

There are girls who grow up strong and bold There are boys quiet and kind Some race on ahead, some follow behind Some go in their own way and time Some women love women, some men love men Some raise children, some never do You can dream all the day never reaching the end Of everything possible for you

Don't be rattled by names, by taunts, by games But seek out spirits true If you give your friends the best part of yourself They will give the same back to you

You can be anybody you want to be You can love whomever you will You can travel any country where your heart leads And know I will love you still You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around You can choose one special one And the only measure of your words and your deeds Will be the love you leave behind when you're gone The love you leave behind when you're gone

#music #fun with memes #favorite songs #three favorite songs meme #about me #songs that changed my life #video game soundtracks

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fredalan · 4 days

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Michael Cuscuna by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna R.I.P. 1948-2024

Our fantastic friend, then client, Michael Cuscuna, record producer/historian extraordinaire and co-founder of Mosaic Records, passed away on April 19, 2024. Both of us –Alan and Fred– wrote remembrances that we’re reposting here.

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Michael Cuscuna by Thomas Staudter

I knew the voice of Michael Cuscuna before I ever met the man. Growing up in an area of New Jersey where we could pull in both New York and Philadelphia stations, I would listen to him DJ at WMMR out of Philly. He had a quintessential FM DJ voice — soft-spoken, intimate, gravelly, authoritative. He didn’t yammer on, but I remember he was clever and his sense of humor was dry as a bone. He played a mix of progressive rock and some things that clung to the precipice of musical genres.

Years later our paths merged. I started seeing his name on the backs of albums I’d play on my college jazz radio show — now I was the DJ, and he had become a prolific producer, supervising dates for a diverse list of artists, including many dedicated to the avant garde. He also produced for Bonnie Raitt and other groundbreaking musicians. I am searching my memory in vain to recall how we became connected, but he was also creating a monthly promo disk sent to radio stations by Crawdaddy Magazine and I became his producer, using the free facilities of the college station to record and edit. He would collect the interview tapes from the magazine’s feature writers, I would edit them into a coherent radio show, then he would come in and record his host segments. Out of that association, I started writing reviews for Crawdaddy of new jazz releases. He was as wickedly funny in person as I remembered him on the radio. I was a little in awe of his extraordinary knowledge of music — an artist’s historical significance, how a musician’s style linked that person to the artists that came before and after, and why certain artists deserved more recognition than they had received by the public. He turned me onto a lot of music. I think we did the show for a couple of years.

More time passed, and Michael came into my life again through my partner at our media advertising agency, Fred/Alan. By now, Michael had established himself as an important compiler of jazz reissues that went above and beyond what was typical at the time. Starting with Blue Note Records, but ultimately including the libraries of other labels, he’d go into the vaults and unearth the unreleased sides and alternate takes and place them alongside the more well-known songs. His two-fer series for Blue Note was particularly noteworthy. On the back of that success, he and a former Blue Note executive named Charlie Lourie created Mosaic Records. Their concept was to do numbered, limited editions in luxurious box sets aimed at the collector market. Initially vinyl only, they switched to CDs when that was the prevailing release format. The boxes were gorgeous, each with a booklet filled with photos, an essay by a prominent jazz historian, and absolutely accurate discographical information. They specialized in “complete” collections depending on the frame they decided was relevant. That frame might have been the three-day recording binge from 1957 by organist Jimmy Smith that resulted in enough material for three CDs, the unreleased complete recordings of Charlie Parker’s live solos recorded by Dean Benedetti, or the complete Capitol recordings of the Nat King Cole trio, a box that weighed-in at 18 CDs. They were sold only through the mail, direct to consumers. But they weren’t reaching the market and needed help. In an earlier era, my partner Fred Seibert had attached himself to Michael to learn as much as he could about producing records. Knowing the two of us, Michael asked if we could come up with a direct marketing campaign. In our typically arrogant belief that we knew how to do almost anything or could figure it out, we said yes.

We began producing a catalog that was mailed out to jazz enthusiasts, slowing building a list of devoted listeners and buyers. My job was to write that catalog. We dissolved the advertising agency in 1992, and mailed catalogs gave way to internet promotion, but I continued writing the sales copy for each release, save one or two that I didn’t do for reasons lost to time. I just wrote one last month for an upcoming set featuring vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.

I developed a format for my essays. I started with some thesis about why that artist deserved more recognition, or why the music from that era was crucially important — in other words, why you absolutely had to own that collection. I segued into a couple paragraphs of biography, followed by a few paragraphs where I singled-out important tracks or tried to convey in words the feeling, the sound, the artistry of the musician. I wrapped it up with more “don’t delay” language. In all those years, each and every time I approached a new assignment I had two thoughts crowding my mind — will Michael agree with my thesis? Will Michael take issue with the way I chose to describe the music? Each package gave me an opportunity to do a deep dive into the music, but I knew I didn’t have Michael’s personal connection to many of the artists, or his historian’s perspective on the music. And by the way, he was himself a damn good writer. It never stopped thrilling me when he’d send back an email merely correcting a calendar date, or the number of unreleased tracks, with a message that he thought it was otherwise perfect. More than anything I wanted to impress and satisfy Michael. I was alway so happy that I could.

I think they had done four releases when we got involved in 1984. The company is closing in on 200 box sets. I can’t believe it’s been a 40-year association.

We lost Charlie more than 20 years ago. This weekend, Michael passed after a long illness. I will miss his husky laugh, his personal stories about the musicians we both obsessed over, and the gratitude he expressed each time I turned in an assignment.

To many, his name was a name on the back of an album jacket. To those of us who knew him, we know him as someone who single-handedly rescued the Blue Note archive and other treasures from oblivion, who introduced us to overlooked artists such as saxophonist Tina Brooks, and who demanded we take a second look at music that was significant and mind-blowing. As a colleague, as a client, but mostly as a music lover, I am forever in his debt. My sympathies to the family of this enormously important figure in music. RIP Michael Cuscuna.

–Alan Goodman (repost from Facebook)

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Michael Cuscuna, photograph by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna, one of my great inspirations and sometime collaborator, passed away this weekend (April 19, 2024) from cancer. Being a cancer survivor last year myself, when someone I’ve known and worked with for over 50 years it hit particularly hard.

Blue Cuscuna: 1999 promotional sampler from Toshiba-EMI [Japan]

Michael has been the most consequential jazz record producer of the past half century, a man who had not only a passion, but the relentlessness necessary to will the entire history of the music into being. Don’t believe it? Check out the more than 2600 (!) of his credits on Discogs. Substantial and meaningful he might have been, but to me, he was a slightly older friend who was always there with a helping hand. Hopefully, I was able to hand something back on occasion.

As I said when he answered “7 Questions” eight years ago: “I first encountered Michael as a college listener to his “freeform,” major station, radio show in New York, and was fanboy’d out when a mutual friend introduced us at [an] open rehearsal for [Carla Bley’s and Michael Mantler’s] Jazz Composer’s Orchestra at The Public Theater (MC has a photographic memory: “It was Roswell [Rudd]’s piece or Grachan [Moncur III]’s. You were darting nervously around the chairs with your uniform of the time – denim jean jacket, forgettable shirt and jeans.”) By 1972 or 73, he’d joined Atlantic Records as a producer, and since that was my career aspiration, I’d give him a call every once in awhile. He’d patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions, and I never forgot his kindness to a drifting, unfocused, fellow traveler.

“...patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions...” says a lot about Michael. His raspy voice could sometimes seem brusque, but ask anyone and they will tell you that he always made time to talk. Especially about jazz.

I desperately wanted to be a record producer and Michael was one of the first professionals I encountered. He had already produced my favorite Bonnie Raitt LP when somehow or other I bullied my way into his Atlantic Records office, where he was a mentee of the legendary Joel Dorn. Over the next few years, Michael was often amused at some of the creative decisions I made, but he was always supportive and even would sometimes ask me to make a gig when he couldn’t. When I spent a year living in LA, he invited me over to the studio while he was mining the history of Blue Note Records that would define his life for the next half century. I completely failed to understand what the great service to American culture he was about to unleash. Along with Blue Note executive Charlie Lourie, Michael’s research resulted in a series of double albums (”two-fers” in 70s speak), but little did the world know what was on Michael’s and Charlie’s minds.

The Cuscuna/Lourie Blue Note “Two-Fers” that ignited Mosaic Records

“I don’t think it’s generally understood just how imperiled the musical and visual archives of Blue Note Records were at one point, and just how heroically Michael stepped in to make sure this unparalleled American music survived for future generations. If you like jazz, you owe the man.” –Evan Haga

(Joe Maita does a great interview about Michael's career here.)

Fast forward a few years. The air went out of my record producing tires, I became the first creative director of MTV, I quit MTV and along with my partner Alan Goodman started the world’s first media “branding” agency. Leafing through DownBeat one day I saw an ad that started a new relationship with Michael that would last, on one level or another, for the rest of his life: the “mail order” jazz reissue label Mosaic Records.

Charlie Lourie & Michael Cuscuna at Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, Japan 1987. Photograph by Gary Vercelli / CapRadio Music

Long story short, in 1982 Michael returned my check for the first two Mosaic releases with a note asking for some help. Initially, Mosaic wasn’t the sure fire, instant success Michael and Charlie had hoped for, did I have any ideas? I did, but no time to do anything other than make suggestions, we were busy trying to get our own shop off the ground. This cycle repeated itself for another couple of years when this time when Michael called he said Mosaic was on death’s door. Fred/Alan was in better shape, so Alan and I, on our summer vacation, came up with the first Mosaic “brochure,” convinced the guys we knew what we were doing (I’d read a few paragraphs in a direct mail book in a bookstore) and, with nothing to lose, Charlie and Michael took the plunge with us. Success! 42 years later, the former Fred/Alan and Frederator CFO at the helm, Alan and I always answer any call from Mosaic.

The first Mosaic Record box set 1983

There aren’t many people in the world like Michael Cuscuna. The world’s culture will miss him. I will miss him. Most of all, of course, his wife and children will miss him.

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#Michael Cuscuna #Mosaic Records #RIP #Alan Goodman #Fred Seibert #Charlie Lourie

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oblivionrecords · 5 months

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Fred McDowell: The farmer who emerged from the woods and made a masterpiece

I thought it might be good for newbies to Mississippi Fred McDowell –like I was when I recorded “Live in New York”– to find out about where Fred came from, recording wise. This article in the UK webzine, Far Out, lays it out pretty well. You might want to dig deeper into folklorist Alan Lomax, but more importantly, you'll get a glimpse of the ambition that drove Fred from a Mississippi farm to his well deserved worldwide acclaim. -Fred Seibert.

By Tom Taylor @tomtaylorfo Far Out Magazine Sat 18 November 2023 22:00, UK

Some blues players can get their guitars to tell a story; Fred McDowell could get his to sing an opera akin to a southern Les Mis. “With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes,” fellow blues guitarist Bill Orcutt explains. “I’m hardly unique in that, but there’s just something about that that I love.” He’s not alone in that love either; everyone from Keith Richards to Bonnie Raitt have cited him as a star that they have attempted to emulate.

However, the one element nobody could ever copy was the humble backstory that brought him to the world. Long before he earned the prefix of Mississippi and became a big attraction at juke joints, got swamped backstage at folk festivals, or had his track covered by The Rolling Stones, he was just strumming away to an audience of nearby wildlife on his porch after a long day at work. Occasionally, he’d find himself in a situation where someone might toss him some loose change, but any notion of fame seemed unfamiliar.

But his skills were profound all the same, and fate would drag him towards another American numen on his travels. Alan Lomax was a roving ethnomusicologist, which is a big word for a curious fellow with a portable recording device that could capture the nation’s true folk on the move. One day, during Lomax and Shirley Collins’ great Southern Journey expedition, they rocked up in Como, Mississippi. They were intent on capturing the music at a local dance and the Young brothers’ fife and drum ensemble.

It was 1959, and McDowell was a 54-year-old wondering what his legacy would be beyond the farm he kept. So, without much fanfare and no warning, he decided to pick up his guitar, weave his way through the local woods, and rock up at Lonnie Young’s porch, where the recording was said to be taking place. Lomax and Collins lent him their ears, hit record, and old McDowell began to play.

Half a century later, if you close your eyes while listening to the masterpiece now known as The Alan Lomax Recordings, you can almost see the overalled maestro on the creaking porch ahead of you, hear the rustle of the southern breeze through the lowering tupelo trees, and smell the dancehalls buffer in the air. Of course, some of that is due to the suggestion of the cover art on the Mississippi Records pressing, but what I’m trying to convey is the dogeared sincerity that renders this authentic tape so beguiling.

Even at the time, Lomax and Collins were so flummoxed by the humility and skill of this unknown farmer that they quickly whisked their tapes off to a blues label, and in his autumn years, McDowell became an internationally renowned star, typifying what was best about the blues when the revival movement had somewhat muddied the waters — he was the new (old) find that the kids were craving.

He would soon rub shoulders with the next generation, teaching Raitt how to play slide guitar, touring with the likes of Big Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker, and embracing the flattery of being covered by rockers despite declaring himself that he did not play rock ‘n’ roll. He left the farm behind and enjoyed a good 13 years of fame until his death in 1972, aged 68, but his old porch was never truly that far from his artistic thoughts, so even beyond the masterful Lomax Recordings, he’s the bluesman who can capture the earthiness of the South with more verity than anyone.

#OD1 #Mississippi Fred McDowell #Alan Lomax #The Alan Lomax Recordings #1959 #Fred McDowell

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