September-October

Sept-Oct 2016

The Alan Swyer Story

By Oscar Benjamin

20x20: Larry Paul Scott

By Christina Marie

The Giant of Sacramento By: Cliff Weimer

INDIEblush is going semi-annual!

Due to the ongoing demands of our editors and staff, we need to pull back the number of issues we release annually as to preserve the quality of the magazine.

We will still release the magazine every 6 months and bring you the Nor-Cal Film Festival Guide every January.

Thank you for your continued readership and understanding. We will expand the magazine back to quarterly or bi-monthly as soon as we can!

If you think you would like to write, shoot, or place copy with us, please let Christina Marie know!

Inside INDIEblush Sept-Oct

Cover Stories:

08

20x20: Larry Paul Scott

24

By Christina Marie

The Giant of Sacramento By: Cliff Weimer

The Alan Swyer Story

28 Thank you for your readership!

All stories and reprints used with permission.

All rights reserved.

Please direct any questions or comments to our website.

Editor-in-Chief/Founder: Christina Marie Staff photography: Quroscuro, CMYK photography Proofing: Pamela Finney

By Oscar Benjamin

7: Intro from our Editor

About Our Contributors for this Issue: Christina Marie, Founder, Editor-in-Chief:

Christina Marie is a Writer, Producer, Director, and Actress with over 30 years experience in the entertainment business. She obtained her Theater Arts degree from CSU Sacramento with a Minor in Music. After working on the stage for several professional theaters, she converted to film. She is driven by the INDEPENDENT spirit in film, fashion, wine & food, and the outdoors. When not working, Christina enjoys camping, crafting, regional wine tours, day spas, and spending time with her extended family.

QUROSCURO

With over 30 years of combined photography experience and the creative minds of Darren Paquette, Craig Fouts and Jessie Rand we work to create a high-end finished product ready for print in magazines, billboards and all other advertisement needs.

Cliff Weimer, Film Historian

Clifford Weimer is a Sacramento-based writer and film historian; his website, inthebalcony.com, is celebrating its tenth year, and he also writes a regular column for ClassicFlix.com. He’s contributed bios, documentaries, and other material for numerous DVD releases for various companies, including VCI Entertainment, AC Comics, and others. Some of his work can be found on such DVDs as The Green Hornet, The Phantom Empire, and Buck Rogers.

Oscar Benjamin, Music & Film Industry Writer/Photographer:

Oscar has always lived with the idea that an individual should always pursue their dreams and interests to the fullest that they can. This philosophy shaped Oscar’s career and positions he’s held over the span of his adventurous life. Oscar’s been a mobile disk jockey, a truck driver, a commissioned artist, and more. He relishes his current life as a professional photographer and writer who’s documented a number of high profile motion pictures, TV shows, red carpet premieres and numerous other entertainment events. He continues to enliven IndieBLUSH with his first-hand tales of the entertainment industry.

Pamela Finney, Sales, Features, and Proofing:

Pamela Finney has a Bachelors in Communication and an ABT Masters in Education from Simpson College, along with a Masters in English from CSU Fullerton, and spent many years as a college English professor. Pamela is a breast cancer survivor who has also spent most of her life acting, always dreaming of becoming a full-time SAG-AFTRA actor, an accomplishment she is finally realizing.

Do YOU have what it takes to make us INDIEblush?

Send us a sample of your writing, photography, video, or join the sales team! INDIEblush aims to be a competitive magazine in the INDIE market. We need writers who are PASSIONATE about writing and all that is INDIE, photographers who have a unique eye with a knowledge of commercial production, and videographers who get 1 minute journalism. Is that you? Email us at indieblush@gmail.com.

Grow with us!

Contribute by becoming a member today. www.capitolindiecollective.org Member benefits include FREE CLASSES and more!!

From the Editor: This September-October we celebrate what scares us!

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt I hope you find the stories within inspirational and give you the courage to break the fear barrier to success in all that YOU do. I am also afraid to tell you that we are cutting back on how many issues we can execute annually. All of our staff juggle their personal, professional, and social lives to bring you what makes us ‘blush. We are just spread too thin to deliver Bi-monthly these days. We are cutting back to semi-annual for awhile; delivering the Annual NorCal Film Festival Guide in January, and the July issue will focus on Wine, Leisure, and Fashion. As always: thank you for your support and understanding!

Do you know of an INDIE who could use coverage? Our mission is to highlight the INDIE films, fashions, wine producers, and more in the Northern CA region and beyond. In the past we have highlighted Bollywood and other regions that produce Independently made products and services. Please contact us with your story! We also take photo submissions through our site.

You may be highlighted on our blog, social media, or in the magazine itself.

Thanks again!

~Christina Marie

YOU could be Advertising here. www.INDIEblush.com

20x20: Larry Paul Scott By: Christina Marie

I am continually amazed at the people that come into my life--usually by default or coincidence. Such is the case with my neighbor Larry Paul Scott... but I am ahead of myself.

Let’s go back a bit back to a day in my early twenties when I noticed a particular Armani Advertisement.

You know the one: A young chiseled man drenched in water selling Acqua Di Gio. From 1997-2007 women and men bought their love interests Acqua Di Gio because of the staggeringly excellent series photographed by Patrick Demarchelier. The Blog, “The Scent of Man” sums up the campaign beautifully and includes images of additional models who have passed the torch onward. https://thescentofman.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/giorgio-armani-acqua-di-gio-1996/

It all made sense. It all came together. I am going to kill Steve. My brain needs better facial recognition software.

Not only did I see the incredible resume that Larry has, but his photography. HIS PHOTOGRAPHY. This first image he sent me via email, sent me to the moon.

He is not a photographer.

He is a STORY TELLER. A brutal poet.

His images hold a mirror up to society’s snobbery and shallow morality. He shows the blatant cracks in the veneer that the entitled elite apply to everything.

His site describes his work as, “... ‘Anti-Fashion’, Larry’s photography aims to strip away magnificence and find timeless beauty in the mundane.” I saw juxtaposition that instantly told the story of inequity in the cold, dark, “contrasty” development of Mr. Scott’s vision.

While I found the images alluring and inspiring (yes, I am guilty of keeping the perfume counter samples just for the photo), I never imagined that I would actually meet the super model in the image. I am sure I didn’t even entertain the idea.

Fast forward to 2016. When I first met him, he was just, “Larry’s kid” as Steve introduced us.

They were working together on a project, “You’re going to like him,” Steve said, “Because he’s into artsy stuff too.” I just smiled and shook his hand. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.

Maybe I had seen him in the neighborhood before helping his aging parents with something in the front yard...?

After several “hellos” and “nice to see you agains”, I finally went to his website that he kept mentioning.

In recent years I have grown wary of those who say they are, “a photographer! You should check out my site! Steve says you make movies....” etc. etc. And that is when I got a refreshing splash of cold water in the face (ala Armani Acqua DiGio).

As I received each new image, my interest grew. (“You’re going to like him,” Steve said, “Because he’s into artsy stuff too.”) Yeah.

THAT. This bi-month’s 20x20 is just as irregular as the images you are about to see. I did not lay out the usual line of questioning. We just took a walk and conversed like two old friends who had both been through the wringer of the “the biz”.

Larry Paul Scott isn’t “just another pretty face”. He is a world-traveled, uniquely educated, scribe of mankind who uses a Leica instead of a quill. Larry is driven by the notion that a photograph is a complete statement that can’t be refudiated--it just simply IS.

It began when he was just a child. Early on he was hypnotized by visual stimulus like watching power lines oscillate as his father drove down the highway.

“I couldn’t draw. My sister could see something and draw it perfectly...my drawings were more abstract.” When

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he was about 12 years old he began “borrowing” his father’s camera without permission to serve as his means of illustrating book reports. “It became a way to expand my narrative... I couldn’t always draw the right thing or find the right word, but I could create the right image to exemplify what I was feeling.” I asked him when he first went Pro. He stutters and flinches at the notion.

“I never...I guess I don’t even use that terminology. I guess my eyes just evolved....my interpretation expanded more... I never did it to become a professional photographer-- I always did it for me.” At 28 years old he still hadn’t the confidence to enter his images in contests even though his girlfriend had encouraged him. “I was

modeling then and didn’t need to be a professional photographer.” He then went into how his modeling career started. “I was living with 3 roommates in San Francisco and I owed them about $300.” He came home one day to find the locks changed and all of his possessions seized. “They threw me a pair of boots, jeans, and a jacket.

This was two weeks before I ended up in Milan.” They had his camera, negatives, and his collection of photos he

saved over the years. “I was like, ‘fuck photography’ I’m never going to take pictures again, fuck cameras.’” For almost 2 years he didn’t pick up a camera. Now he was in Paris and his friend, Mark Lemore had a Leica R4. He gave Larry the camera to play with and here is where the story gets “good”. “My career as a model was immediate. There was no evolution. [When I got to] Milan--a star was born--I was being shot by the best photogra-

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phers--had the best jobs.” He was learning hands on from the best of the best. He observed the masters work: How they lit the scene, the angles they chose--all while posing in front of the camera. “That was my education...I was absorbing everything; marinating in it.” By 1999, Karl Lagerfeld took notice in Larry’s work. “He said, ‘Oh you are a great photographer--the best!’ and I asked him, ‘how can you tell? You haven’t seen any of my pho-

tos.’ and he said, ‘I can tell by the way you take them.’” Lagerfeld offered to get Larry into Steidl, a large German publisher specializing in photography. Lagerfeld’s mentoring continued through 2003. He recalls Lagerfeld stating, “You are tired of being a modeling icon! It is time for you to be a top photographer!” How surreal. In 2005 he moved from Miami to New York City at the same time Lagerfeld opened his NYC Studio. And then it all

fell through. The studio failed. Larry had given him many photos and negatives for publishing and printing, and suddenly everything was gone. “He just never got back to me. I still don’t know what happened. We never had a falling out--it just went from, ‘Yes, you are going to do this’, to never hearing from him again.” Needless to say, Larry went through a big depression in 2007. He had been robbed of his life’s work... AGAIN. “But this time at

a higher level. A different place. The fact that I gave them to him, and he’s... never used them.” Larry pauses still confused at what could have happened and why Lagerfeld never returned the prints and negatives. It was at that time that Larry went through a transformation. All of the hurt and anguish created a new photographer. “That whole Lagerfeld ride really pushed me over the edge to call myself a photographer... I paid my dues to become a

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fucking photographer.” In 2007 he fell back on his graphic understanding of concepts and began experimenting with sets of 2 or 3 pictures grouped together known as diptychs and triptychs. He played on the visual graphics, symbolism, and the social narrative. He wasn’t cognoscente of what was happening; he was just following his feelings and throwing pictures on the floor to see how they related to each other. “It was a learning process on

how to create a style.� He wanted to create something that was anti-fashion in the way that it could stay relevant longer than 6 months. “How do you create timeless images? How do I create a narrative that is true to the moment? Finding things that are parallel- maybe not happening in the same place, but have the same kind of emotion in different spaces... looking at the mundane.� Armed with his new style, he returned to Milan. He

went to Contrasto. They just didn’t understand it. Put off, and depressed again, Larry kept moving. “It’s like you are creating a new language and nobody understands it in the beginning. And that’s O.K., because some people will want to understand it and it starts off like that.” He intends to grow his audience and once a small village is formed, the language can spread.

Larry likes to shoot in black and white over color as it seems more “real” to him. He prefers to use Leica or Hasselblad in a medium format. He began to use digital in 2012. “Film is just magical... that reaction of the chemicals.” Larry is now looking to show his art to the world in galleries. Through all of his trials he has never had an exhibition. He’s been published in a few magazines and papers globally, but no exhibitions until March and April 2017, when he will be exhibited in Girona, Spain. “It’s really important to me”. In the meantime his

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agent in San Francisco has some modeling opportunities for him. He is looking at things differently these days.

“I know what I need to do and once I get back on that track, I know where I need to go.” He plans on staying in Sacramento for a short while, then it’s off to New York City again. I think to myself how wonderful that might be to pick up and move to NYC. Perhaps I will one day. Perhaps Larry will be my neighbor again one day. Until then, I will enjoy his presence in Sacramento and remain humbled to have met an icon.

The Giant of S a c r a m e n to !

He was popular, he was loveable, and he tried to eat two of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood!!

By Clifford Weimer

Brothers Max and Buddy Baer were two of the most famous boxers of their era, known for both having dynamite hands (they’re both enshrined in Ring Magazine’s list of 100 Hardest Punchers of All Time) and for clowning around in and out of the ring. Max is the more famous pugilist; although a “gentle giant,” he killed a man in the ring early in his career, and won the World’s Heavyweight Championship in 1934 by defeating Primo Carnera in a unanimous decision. A long-time resident of Sacramento, Max has a park named after him.

Brother Jacob “Buddy” Baer was no less a puncher. The man knocked Joe Louis out of the ring in a heavyweight title fight (Joe got up, climbed back in, and mopped up the floor with him), but when World War II broke out, Max and Buddy both retired from the ring, joined the Army and served their country.

While they were away, Sacramento changed in a big way. The city’s large Japanese population was shamefully relocated into concentration camps, leaving cheap housing available for the many African-American families looking for work in friendlier territory or seeing loved ones shipped out of Mather Field, a major departure point for Negro soldiers during those segregated

days. Many jazz, blues, and rhythm clubs sprang up in the area, and upon Buddy’s return from the service, his old manager, Ancil Hoffman (there’s a Sacramento park named for him, too), talked him into opening his own nightclub, Buddy Baer’s, located at 1114 11th Street, just across from the Capitol. It was one of the nicer clubs in town, and the large, affable Buddy (who stood 6’7”) was there to greet patrons every night. Buddy Baer’s became THE spot for traveling entertainers, film stars, vocalists, and politicians.

Enter Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, popular movie and radio funnymen. They had teamed quite by chance – one night Costello’s straight man on the burlesque tour went missing, so Abbott, also on the bill so he knew all the routines, stepped in and they discovered that together they made magic. They called their most famous routine “Baseball,” although most people refer to it as “Who’s on First?” During the early 1940s, they were the #1 box-office stars in America, and their 1948 film Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein was their biggest hit yet, letting them write their own ticket away from their home studio, Universal-International, by starring in a series of lucrative independent films.

On a promotional tour through Sacramento, they naturally stopped at Buddy Baer’s and were so impressed by the

enormous proprietor that they put him and his brother Max in their next film, Africa Screams (1949), which also featured their funny pals Joe Besser and Shemp Howard, two guys who at various times were part of the Three Stooges. That was only a prelude for what was to come, however, for Bud, Lou, and Buddy.

Lou Costello was reading a picture book of Jack and the Beanstalk to his young daughter Chris one night when he got the idea to produce his own version of the tale, a big-budget fantasy in Technicolor with songs and special effects to match The Wizard of Oz more than a decade earlier. He had to settle for a two-picture deal in the cheaper Cinecolor process, released by Warner Bros., but the two films would be wholly owned by Bud and Lou (Costello took the first film, Jack, and Abbott opted for the second, Abbott & Costello meet Captain Kidd, with Charles Laughton). The call was made up to Sacramento—Buddy, the role you

were BORN to play is being written for you!

Shot in three weeks on standing sets from Joan of Arc (1948), Jack and the Beanstalk matches its Oz forebear by opening in crisp sepia tone: Bud and Lou are babysitters for hire, meet all the characters they’d eventually tangle with in the fantasy sequence, and then, after Lou is clobbered by a brat he’s supposed to be telling a bedtime story to, the rotund comic dreams he’s Jack as the film turns to color. Costello is joined on his trek up the beanstalk by Abbott, who wants his magic beans back – and a share of the goose that lays the golden eggs. Atop that beanstalk, of course, is Buddy Baer, all growls and snarls and Fee Fi Fo Fums. Pretty Dorothy Ford (6’2”) adds to the fun as the Giant’s housekeeper, and Costello even gets to sing a song called “I Fear Nothing,” and rather well, too. Of course, the Giant doesn’t survive the fall from the beanstalk, and no doubt the kiddie crowds in 1952 ate it all up.

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Unsurprisingly, the film was a hit, and became a perennial favorite on television. Buddy went on to a long TV career guesting on such shows as The Adventures of Superman, Gunsmoke, and Peter Gunn, as well as the films Snow White and the Three Stooges and Giant from the Unknown. He lived long enough to see his nephew, Max Baer, Jr., become a TV superstar playing Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies.

The Baer Brothers are both buried in Sacramento, and Buddy Baer’s old nightclub – showing no sign of the giant that once inhabited it – is now a real estate office.

Watch for a restored version of Jack and the Beanstalk at an upcoming Classics 101 Live show at the CLARA, 2420 N Street, Sacramento. See inthebalcony.com for our upcoming schedule.

The Alan Swyer Story By: Oscar Benjamin

This page: Poster of The Buddy Holly Story of which Alan Swyer scripted. Sony Movie Classics and the cover for the book written by Alan Swyer entitled The Beard-published by Harvard Square Editions. Opposite, Alan Swyer photographed by Oscar Benjamin

There is an oft used cliché that upon listening or reading a story of an individual that inspires, we will scratch our heads and ponder why has there not been a motion picture created out of that person’s life. On a typically beautiful day with just touch of a lazy wind in Santa Monica, California, I sat down and shared coffee with celebrated writer, producer and director Alan Swyer to reflect upon his amazing career that began in the most unexpected manner. The most fascinating and gifted individuals are those that are seemingly contradictory to others around them. There can be no doubt that a film created about Mr. Swyer’s life would be captivating, riveting and triumphant as I soon discovered throughout my time with him in front of a quiet and very modest coffee shop.

The tale begins on the mean streets of New Jersey with a boy that was not born into a family of financial means. A smile punctuated by Alan’s striking dimples crosses his face as he begins with a lyrical east coast accent. Swyer states, “I think all of that stuff works for me. I like to think that I was really lucky that I was born poor.

I never expected anything to come my way. I had to go out and get everything I wanted. I have never taken anything for granted!” Alan continues, “Do you know who Ricky Jay is? Google him when you get the chance. Aside from being America’s best magician, he has a great acting career, has written a number of books and done all sorts of things. He and I have known each other since we were kids, and whenever we get together at a certain point in time, he will look back and say how in the hell did we wind up doing what we do out here! It gave me a sense of wanting to do something better, more and different. I had none of the conventional breaks. I took off and moved to Paris at a fairly young age-- which changed my life in a million ways-- and now I am about to do a film about that period of time. It will be a largely autobiographical story that I will be directing primarily in French, and I never in a million years could have imagined that.”

As his French adventures continued in the year 1966, Alan found himself engaging in two very different activities that would influence the path that he continues to walk to this day. He lived with his girlfriend at the time, but he wanted to shower regularly so he ventured to a certain location. Alan Swyer speaks, “I was living in a place with no shower and I guess I was really American when it came to hygiene. I went to the Paris University Sports Complex and asked them what could I play, so I wound up on the French University boxing team. I boxed

with the Police Athletic League in New Jersey, and let me tell you, when you are on a boxing team, if you don’t learn to speak and understand the language real quick, you will get real hurt!” On the other end of the spectrum, Swyer ignited his passion for writing. Alan explains, “I hustled my way to a gig for a Paris guide called ‘Where the Fun is’ for Simon and Schuster. I was the only impoverished kid in Paris with a mandate to do everything with an expense account.”

Alan Swyer’s rough upbringing and background did not deter him from attempting to realize his goals. Alan recalls, “When I was in Paris, I made a couple of shorts and it was at that point that I said, ‘let me come to the west coast.’ I went back to the east coast for a year and knew that I didn’t want to handle the weather and I thought I should see if I could make it in movies.” Swyer continues, “I thought I would be a novelist and the weird thing was the absence of role models. I didn’t know anybody that did those things, and to a certain degree it was considered sissified where I grew up. It was 1968 and everything was wide open, so I came out to L.A. and got a job teaching French at Pepperdine. I had an interview by phone and wound up getting hired and came out here. I ultimately sold a spec screenplay and got an agent in a funny way that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Alan’s story became even more interesting. Swyer continues, “I was playing in a Saturday morning basketball game and I was pretty good, so therefore, I would always get picked. I didn’t even know about networking, but one day as I was walking back to my car, a guy says, ‘hey what do you do?’ I told him I was hoping to get into the movie business and I had just wrote a script. He asked me if he could read it and I asked him why. He told he was an agent and I thought he was kidding me. I gave it to him and I assumed it would be real awkward the following Saturday when he didn’t say anything and instead, he called me up and said he would like to rep it. He sold an option on it. Optioning the script meant that I would get a check every six months.”

The amazing debut of Alan Swyer as a writer on a film came in the form of the 1978 release of the celebrated motion picture starring Gary Busey as the late Buddy Holly in “The Buddy Holly Story.” Alan discusses this incredible credit that could arguably be said to have propelled his career in a sometimes unforgiving industry. Swyer speaks, “I wish it could have been what it should have been. I got hired on that movie because I

knew a lot about music. We had a bunch of conversations about it. They asked me what I had thought of Norman Petty, who was the producer that was involved in Buddy’s life. They were thinking of calling him and I told them that it was a mistake because Norman would ask for control and approval.” Swyer recollects, “The best thing you could do is wait until I finish the script and then send it to him so he wouldn’t be worrying about what it’s going to be, or the alternative would be to make him a female and don’t show it to him. And then he couldn’t say it was him.

They got loaded one night and sent him the script and he immediately sent a Cease and Desist letter, so there was no Norman Petty character in the movie. It could have been a much richer film. I think Busey was terrific. The irony for me is although I like Buddy Holly’s music, I had always preferred Black Music and so did Buddy!” Alan Swyer adds, “The most interesting thing about it all is that it legitimized me, but not being much of careerist I immediately took off back to Europe instead of using the heat from the credit!”

Most might typically be satisfied with the promise of working in an industry known for fame and riches beyond what most can dream of, but Alan Swyer did not turn his back on his roots and that inspired him to fully embrace his activist nature. Alan explains, “I am also an activist and I created the L.A. County Teen Court in which juveniles can elect to face a jury of their peers, and I am probably prouder of that than anything else because we changed people’s lives. The recidivism rate came tumbling down and is now used in twenty different venues.” Swyer continues, “Having a certain measure of status can be used in good ways. I am on the board of the Compton Baseball Academy designed to get kids off the streets and on to the ball field. And hopefully while they dream of playing pro ball, I am thrilled when one of them gets a scholarship!”

One of the most well-known and perhaps notorious credits in Alan Swyer’s eclectic range of projects was that of being a Supervising Producer on thirteen episodes of Baywatch. Alan addresses this and begins with a hearty laugh. Swyer speaks, “The question I get asked the most is ‘what was Pamela Anderson like?’ There were two real reasons for taking this job. The first was that I had never done hour T.V. and I thought it would be interesting to enter that side of the business as the boss. The second was that I had a wife and two young kids. I learned about hour T.V. by running the show and it certainly helped put food on the table. It’s like knocking somebody who does work as a studio musician. Are you going to hold out until you get your own record? What if you don’t get your own

record? Ray Charles worked as a studio musician also!”

Alan Swyer is also a published writer with a number of intriguing titles under his belt and perhaps the most humorous is that of a book that he had written and published in 1972 entitled “The Wonders of Yogurt.” Alan begins with an enthusiastic laugh, “I was looking to make some money and I met someone who was working at a small L.A. publishing house. She asked me if she could throw something my way. She said she needed something ridiculous and I said-try me! She said, ‘Yogurt’ and I told her that you have to be kidding me! I treated it as a lark and they were very happy with it, so they published it.”

Alan Swyer proudly wears many hats and one in particular he undertook out of necessity. Alan explains, “Most of my life has been ad hoc and sometimes in hoc. I started making documentaries because there was a writer’s guild strike that shut down Hollywood. A project that I was supposed to direct fell through because I had to finish the script and everything ceased. Somebody I knew said, ‘I don’t have a lot of money, but some money to make a film and I don’t think it’s enough to make a scripted film. What do you think I can do?’ I told him you could make a documentary and he asked for ideas. I had plenty so I suggested the Latinization of Baseball.”

Swyer continues, “My older son was being scouted by all the big league clubs and so I had gotten to know a lot of people in the Baseball world. If you don’t know anybody, then it is hard to get in, so I wound up shooting documentaries.”

As a published writer with a career that spans decades, Alan Swyer writes from his experience and also from his observations. The novel “Too Close to Home” was published in 2012 and finds Alan Swyer delving into the subgenre of detective noir that is classically associated with the environment of Southern California and most notably Los Angeles. Alan speaks, “I have a very close friend who graduated from high school one year ahead of me who would have made it in the N.B.A. if he hadn’t blown out his knee. As a dare he applied to the D.E.A. when he was coaching J.D. Basketball. He was the most conspicuous undercover operative of all time because he was six feet, eight inches! He got disenchanted with the D.E.A. and became a private eye. I have been around that world a lot through him and another friend who was in the F.B.I. and through osmosis when you hang out with friends, you pick things up.”

All activists need to have a crusading spirit that burns within them. It is an indefinable and perhaps intangible element that can only be measured by deeds. On the day

of March 14 in the year 1995, Brenda Marks Wolf was murdered allegedly during a robbery at the Jeffrey Scott Fine Jewelry, which was owned by both Brenda and her husband, Jeffrey. It remains an unsolved murder, although it is alleged that Brenda’s husband may have been the individual who had pulled the trigger. It is a case that not only touched the heart of Alan, but also has inspired him to try to resolve this case for Brenda’s sister, Laura Trueman. Alan recalls, “I love her. She has a heart of gold. It took place in New Jersey and her family reached out to my friend Freddy and his then partner. They mentioned it to me and wondered whether I could help her. I was willing to talk to her, which I did and I really liked her. I told her I didn’t know if I could help but I was willing to try. At this point it remains the perfect crime and hopefully if we keep turning over enough rocks, we can find somebody to testify, which would give her the closure that she needs.” Alan adds, “I have done a lot of things where there is a potential for violence and danger, but fortunately nothing has happened. If we find a resolution. Who knows what will happen then? I worry more about her.”

Throughout his life, Alan cultivated an interest in Jazz, Soul and Rhythm and Blues music and developed friendships with two legendary performers in particular.

There are few still walking that can claim to have had a close and long friendship with the late greats known as Ray Charles and Solomon Burke. A warm smile forms on Alan’s face as recalls his friendship with these legends. Swyer speaks, “Ray Charles is the artistic giant of the second half of the 20th century. I was crazy about Ray. Ray was a rich, wise and funny character. There was a funny point in time where I did interviews as Ray Charles. He would call me up and tell me he was going to do an interview with somebody who stuttered and he said it would drive him crazy so he asked me to come sit with him. When I arrived, he told me I would be him when the interviewer asked the questions. This led to a bunch of interviews where I would answer the questions as Ray and he would be sitting back laughing and whatnot. These were for print interviews.”

have a reason to travel. I was in Venezuela, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama and Puerto Rico and meeting with these great, great guys, many of whom hadn’t gotten their due. I love to tell underdog stories.”

As a seasoned, accomplished and acclaimed veteran of the entertainment industry it was only a matter of time before Alan would actually translate what he has experienced into a novel. His most recent work was released in the early part of this year and it bears the amusing title, The Beard. It could gain fame as a great Los Angeles novel on par with past works such as “Less Than Zero” and “The Last Tycoon.” Alan comments, “I was flying back from China, where my youngest son had been living at the time, and on the flight I had this idea that became, The Beard. I had proven I could write short stories so, I wondered if I could write a novel.” The Beard is set in an internet company based in Santa Monica, California, and tells the story of Calvin, who maneuvers through the byzantine world of such companies. It is a story begging to be made into a motion picture. Swyer comments, “I guess you internalize certain styles, so it is hard for me not to be interested in dialogue and visuals. There is a producer who hopes to be able to set it up.”

A man of Alan Swyer’s experience and knowledge is a man that should be listened to and I was interested to hear what his thoughts were on the current state of the industry as it relates to the contemporary film. Swyer’s honesty was refreshing throughout the interview and I expected no less when it came to this final question. Alan speaks, “It is ironic that I am about to do a film in France because I have largely checked out of the scripted film business. Why? I am not interested in most of the stuff that gets made in this country any longer. When I started in the business, I did so not because I thought it was sexy or because I thought I could make a lot of money--I did it because I loved movies. There were movies to love. You had Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, Samuel Fuller and Sam Peckinpah making great movies. Studio film was not a dirty word. Studios made ‘The Wild Bunch,’ ‘Charade,’ ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ ‘Out of the Past,’ and ‘To Be or Not to Be.’” Alan Swyer drives one final point home. Alan concludes, “Studios are not interested in brands or what is called tent poles. It is all this advertising speak. They want remakes, retools, prequels and sequels. I don’t want to see ‘The Fast and the Furious 47.’ The good news is T.V. brought us ‘The Wire.’ Italian T.V. brought us ‘The Best of Youth.’ There are great series from all over the globe.

It is not like we are impoverished. I am not interested in product. Every once in a while there is ‘The Big Short’ and things get made, but it is getting harder and harder.”

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Alan’s enthusiasm is quite visible throughout our conversation and it was quite evident that his passion for music is equaled by his love of sports. He has written or directed several motion pictures and documentaries that take place within the worlds of Baseball, Boxing and Basketball. It would be logical to conclude that his own participation in these sports initially fueled his continuing love affair that burns to the present. Alan speaks, “I wanted to do a documentary on Baseball initially and I wondered what hasn’t been done. I realized that the Latinization of sports had not been done and so I did it.

It was really fun because I got to meet the great guys --my heroes! I spent time with Marichal, Zapata, Vic Power and Camilo Pascuel. I love to travel, but I want to

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