JOE HENRY TO HEADLINE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF ART BENEFIT
COMPLETES FIRST MOVIE SCORE - September 20, 1999
New York--Mammoth Records recording artist Joe Henry will headline this year's
New York Academy of Art cast party on October 7th in New York City. Honorary
chairs for the event include Tom & Kathy Freston, Keith Richards, Natalie
Portman & Harvey Weinstein. Jay Faires, President of Mammoth Records, will chair
the event along with MTV anchor Serena Altschul & Cassandsa Group Head Dana
Giacchetto.
The Graduate School of Figurative Art of the New York Academy of Art was founded
in 1982 by artists, scholars and patrons of the arts dedicated to improving
fine arts education in the United States. Central to its programs is the study
of the human figure. The school aims to provide students with a mastery of
classic, traditional techniques of drawing, painting and sculpture, while
fostering the optimal conditions for the creation of a vital contemporary art.
Proceeds will benefit the conservation of the Academy's plaster cast collection,
one of the finest in the country.
Joe Henry's latest album Fuse has been one of the most critically acclaimed
releases of 1999. The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, People, Spin, USA Today
and Entertainment Weekly are just a few of the publications that have heralded
Joe Henry's album as one of the year's best. The Los Angeles Times stated:
"Casting a jaundiced eye toward relationships, the veteran singer-songwriter
writes in a magical realist style that's both florid and elliptical, like
Gabriel Garcia Marquez recast as a boho folkie."
It's not only the press that has been blown away by Henry's talents. Among his
fans and collaborators are director/actor Billy Bob Thorton, and legendary jazz
photographer William Claxton. Thorton makes an appearance on the CD-Rom portion
of Henry's latest album pretending to be Joe Henry. Longtime fan Jakob Dylan
(Wallflowers) sings on Fuse. And the late trumpet legend Don Cherry performed on
Henry's classic 1990 release Shuffletown.
In other news, in the February 13th issue of Billboard Magazine, Joe Henry
proclaimed his interest in scoring a film: "I'd love to score a film, but I've
never done it before and it is hard to break into," Henry said. Shortly after
that article appeared, Joe Henry got his chance. He has just completed his score
for the upcoming film Jesus Son. The film, which will be released through
Lion's Gate next year, stars Billy Crudup, Dennis Hopper and Holly Hunter. Jesus
Son is an adaptation of Denis Johnson's acclaimed 1992 short story collection
and has been described by Variety Magazine as a film "that explores a subculture
whose inhabitants are mostly hippie drifters, layabouts, small-time criminals
and addicts."