THE DAYDREAMER soundtrack CD is finally out and it is a GREAT one! The music sounds amazing (Digitally re-mastered), there are BONUS tracks, a 36 minute interview I did with MAURY LAWS and I was lucky enough to write new liner notes. Listening to the interview again was interesting. We talked about RUDOLPH, RETURN TO OZ, THE BERMUDA DEPTHS, JERRY LEWIS, MAD MONSTER PARTY, etc. MAURY talks about the process that he and JULES BASS went through to create the wonderful RANKIN/BASS soundtracks and gives insight to the creation of "One Star In The Night" from THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY. If you love the music from the classic RANKIN/BASS specials, you will love this!
There is a possibility that I may be playing a LIVE show at SCOTT JOHNSON's (GIN BLOSSOMS) open mike night at the YUCCAH TAP ROOM in Scottsdale, AZ this coming Monday night...possibly with SCOTTY, ROBIN WILSON (GIN BLOSSOMS), Ryan Prior and Chico Diaz. We are going to rehearse earlier that night for our recording sessions this week. Hope to see you out there! I'm told Arizona is a good place when you have ASTHMA.
I have been dubbing alot of TALES OF THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO lately. Lots of CANADIAN and US fans! I have also been tightening up my songs for recording at URANUS STUDIOS in Tempe, AZ. THE DAYDREAMER Soundtrack cds are being picked up from the factory tomorrow. PAUL COKER, JR. is working on the new cover to THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A PORTFOLIO. Hopefully MARK will be posting some new NEWS at www.rankinbass.com soon.
My recent New York Radio interview is now on the internet at this LINK www.drrus.com?section=ll&id=81 We talked about RICK GOLDSCHMIDT SINGS and a few RANKIN/BASS items. These pictures are my band circa 1991, when it was known as CLUTCH CARGO....JIM, DOUG and RICK. We played songs by LIVING COLOUR, SOMETHING HAPPENS, JIMI HENDRIX, etc. I later worked on a DVD set of the CLUTCH CARGO cartoons. We even opened our shows with a rockin' version of the theme song.
Here are a few images from the wildly popular RANKIN/BASS series THUNDERCATS starring LION-O! Posted for THUNDERCATS fan ADAM SMITH! Click images to enlarge. I am always getting e-mails about the series and hear from many, many film Producers in regards to making it into a LIVE ACTION feature film. One was supposedly in Production at WARNER BROTHERS BUT not sure what happened to it.
This art is from my friend KIRSTEN ULVE! Check her website out at www.kirstenulve.com Her BUMBLE art appears in my MAKING OF RUDOLPH book.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! We will be talking music on New York radio Thursday AM at 8:40am Eastern on the DR. RUS show 1420 WACK AM. You will be able to listen at www.drrus.com if not LIVE, via a PODCAST shortly after.
The most current project I am assisting with.... is a book by Robert Eckstein called THE HISTORY OF THE SNOWMAN; From Ice Age to The Flea Market (SIMON & SCHUSTER)! It will see a release in the Fall of 2007.
THE DAYDREAMER CD soundtrack is coming from www.percepto.com and I for one can't wait. It is definitely one of the BEST RANKIN/BASS Soundtracks and this special release also features an interview I did with Composer MAURY LAWS and three RARE RANKIN/BASS demos! A treasure trove of RANKIN/BASS audio to be sure!
TOM MARGARITES, MARK BRAUN, MITCH O' CONNELL and ALEX ROSS
Then check out the FX SHOW www.fxshow.com from JAN. 26-28 at the ORANGE COUNTY CONVENTION CENTER! The original ANIMAGIC SANTA & RUDOLPH RANKIN/BASS figures will be there along with a beautiful ELF GIRL at the www.timeandspacetoys.com booth! This will be a RARE opportunity to check them out in FLORIDA! ENJOY! There will also be an EXCLUSIVE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO Mego doll there with JACK DAVIS artwork on the package!
I was lucky enough to find the MATTEL KING KONG & BOBBY BOND handpuppet in the box years ago! One of just a handful of RANKIN/BASS items that existed before my first book. Basically the only shows that RANKIN/BASS did that were heavily merchandised were THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO, TALES OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE KING KONG SHOW and THUNDERCATS & SILVERHAWKS. A few odds and ends came out from the SMOKEY THE BEAR SHOW, etc.
Here are a couple of pictures I took of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO Collegeville Costume (Back when my daughter SARA was small enough to fit into it) for my first book THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A PORTFOLIO. Now that I am working on doing a 3rd Printing of the book, I am thinking about including the explosion of merchandise that resulted from the release of the book! CVS PHARMACY and STUFFINS got the idea to do RANKIN/BASS merchandise, reading my book on a flight to JAPAN for a TOY SHOW in 1998, and the rest is history. 
It is a bit FROSTY in Chicago today on DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'s Birthday! We got a little snow and some cold and icey weather! It was definitely a blast from JACK FROST!
IWAO will definitely be missed! He was a super gifted artist that refined and designed many of the HANNA-BARBERA characters. He brought his DISNEY background to HANNA-BARBERA as THE FLINTSTONES were launched. We had the pleasure of meeting with IWAO in his office at HANNA-BARBERA and we talked about RANKIN/BASS animator Steve Nakagawa and all the GREAT work IWAO had done over the years. He still had it...all the way to the end.
