Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Let Me Out
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 11/23/1959
WEBSITE: http://www.peterhimmelman.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Himmelman * http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/music/182130/peter-himmelman * http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2140651/peter-himmelman * https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704657304575540032235064768 * http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/thebigmuse-109
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born November 23, 1959, in St. Louis Park, MN; married Maria Dylan, 1988; children: two sons, two daughters.
EDUCATION:Northwestern University, advanced management certificate.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Singer, composer, consultant, and writer. Founder of Big Muse consulting company. Previously, played in the band Sussman Lawrence; composed for television shows, including Bones, and for the Spinoza Bear; hosted an Internet show called Furious World, 2008-10. Subject of the documentary Rock G-d.
AWARDS:Best Male Songwriter award, Minnesota Music Awards, 1993; Parents Choice Awards (four); Gold Award, National Parenting Publications Awards, 2007, for My Green Kite, 2009, for My Trampoline.
RELIGION: Jewish.WRITINGS
Has released several other albums and music collections.
SIDELIGHTS
Peter Himmelman is a writer, singer, composer, and consultant. Originally from Minnesota, he was a member of Sussman Lawrence, a popular indie rock band that was active during the 1980s and 1990s. Himmelman also composed music for television shows, including Bones, and wrote songs and provided the voice for the Spinoza Bear, a stuffed animal used to comfort children who have experienced a traumatic event. From 2008 to 2010, Himmelman hosted an Internet show called Furious World. He is the subject of the documentary Rock G-d. Himmelman founded a consulting firm called Big Muse, whose clients have included McDonald’s and Adobe. He has released numerous albums with Sussman Lawrence and on his own. In an interview with Wayne Robins, contributor to the Tablet Web site, Himmelman commented on his desire for fame. He stated: “Anyone who desires to be seen in the public eye has a lack, a need for special attention. … I am drawn to that, but even at the apex, I was cognizant of the danger of the whole thing.” Himmelman continued: “I would play for thousands of people, but I’d have to shut that off before I walked in the door. Maria would hand me a screaming baby and say: ‘What do you want, applause?’ And I’d think: ‘Yes, I do.’ So, you really have to give fame more than I would be willing to give. It’s like Baal, or some pagan religion. I can’t give everything to that. The benefits of fame have come to me in smaller packages than I might have managed.”
In 2016, Himmelman released his first book, Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life. In this volume, he offers tips on how readers can take the creative plans in their minds and make them happen. Himmelman encourages readers to start small, tackling their projects one step at a time. He also tells readers not to wait for a better time to start their projects. It is important to take action immediately. Himmelman includes lessons he has learned as a musician in a changing economy. He explains that he was forced to develop new ideas about his life and career when technological changes in the music industry made being a rock star less feasible.
In an interview with a writer on the Huffington Post Web site, Himmelman stated: “Writing this book at the very same time I was going through my own process of reinvention found me acting much like a journalist, taking detailed notes on my own challenges and triumphs along the way.” Himmelman told Seth Rowe, contributor to the Sun Sailor Web site: “Nobody by reading the book will become a fearless person. … But I used to momentarily push away those fears, and in those moments in time that are created to push away that fear, you can get a lot of things done.” Himmelman continued: “That’s the consequence of shame. … It’s similar to a rabid dog; there’s a mortal threat here. If you were abandoned, like as an baby or infant, you could literally die. There’s the same kind of mortal fear, but it’s up to us to distinguish is this an actual fear—a real, mortal fear—or is this some anxiety?” Himmelman added: “Your stomach will turn in knots like it will in any fearful situation. Once you have [made the determination] and you realize this is just anxiety, then you can take the first step in taking action rather than just this fearful rumination.”
Reviewing the book in Success, Chauncey Mabe asserted: “His approach to creativity is refreshingly counterintuitive.” “For those seeking inventive ways to awaken their own sleeping muses, this book delivers as promised,” remarked a writer in Publishers Weekly.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 25, 2016, review of Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life, p. 59.
Success, October, 2016, Chauncey Mabe, review of Let Me Out, p. 82.
ONLINE
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (April 24, 2017), author interview.
Jewish Rock Radio, https://www.jewishrockradio.com/ (February 11, 2016), Seth Williams, author interview.
Penguin Random House Web site, http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (April 24, 2017), author profile.
Sun Sailor, http://sailor.mnsun.com/ (October 25, 2016), Seth Rowe, author interview.
Tablet Online, http://www.tabletmag.com/ (August 18, 2014), Wayne Robins, author interview.
Peter Himmelman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Himmelman
Peter Himmelman.jpg
Background information
Born November 23, 1959 (age 57)
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, U.S.
Genres Rock, folk rock, folk, blues
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, Composer, Speaker
Instruments Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Bass
Years active 1980-present
Labels Himmasongs
Associated acts
Sussman Lawrence
Kristen Mooney
Website www.peterhimmelman.com www.bigmuse.com
Peter Himmelman (born November 23, 1959 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter and film and television composer from Minnesota, who formerly played in the Minneapolis indie rock band Sussman Lawrence before pursuing an extensive solo career. Himmelman is also the founder of Big Muse, a company which helps individuals and organizations unlock their creative potential.
Contents [hide]
1 Career
2 Big Muse
3 Personal life
4 Discography
5 Filmography
6 Film and TV composition credits
7 Awards
8 Visual Art
9 External links
10 References
Career[edit]
Himmelman garnered his first solo deal on Island Records in 1985 after a video for the song "Eleventh Confession" made its way onto regular rotation on MTV. His first release entitled This Father’s Day was composed for Himmelman’s father David. "Stunning... "Eleventh Confession" is a hauntingly beautiful track..."- Rolling Stone. In the early '90s, he achieved significant alternative radio play with songs including "The Woman With The Strength of 10000 Men", from his From Strength To Strength release. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002 for his song "Best Kind Of Answer" which appeared in the CBS series Judging Amy, for which Himmelman also composed the score. He was the composer for the FOX television show Bones through the fourth season. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his children's album, My Green Kite. USA Today has called Himmelman "one of rock's most wildly imaginative performers" for his often highly improvisational stage shows.
Big Muse[edit]
In 2011 Himmelman began working with organizations and brands such as McDonald's, Gap Inc., and Banana Republic to help them achieve better communication, innovative and leadership skills with a company he started called Big Muse. The methodology Himmelman created is designed to help organizations increase innovative thinking, team building and leadership ability. Its main metaphor for teaching these skills is songwriting.
Personal life[edit]
In 1988, Himmelman married Maria Dylan, adopted daughter of musician Bob Dylan, whose mother is Dylan's former wife Sara Lownds by her then husband, photographer Hans Lownds.
Discography[edit]
Solo studio albums
1986: This Father's Day (reissued 1995)
1987: Gematria
1989: Synesthesia
1991: From Strength to Strength
1992: Flown This Acid World
1994: Skin
1999: Love Thinketh No Evil
2004: Unstoppable Forces (bonus disc: Himmelvaults, vol. 3)
2005: Imperfect World
2007: Pigeons Couldn't Sleep (bonus DVD: Rock God - originally titled: Mittin Derinin)
2010: The Mystery and the Hum
2014: The Boat That Carries Us
Band albums
1978: Shangoya - "Get a Grip" - 7" single
1979: Sussman Lawrence - Hail to the Modern Hero (reissued 1980)
1984: Sussman Lawrence - Pop City
2004: The Complete Sussman Lawrence (1979-1985) (double CD reissue with bonus tracks) (CD, Deep Shag Records)
2013: Minnesota – Are You There? (2013)
Solo children's albums
1997: My Best Friend is a Salamander
2000: My Fabulous Plum (re-issued 2004)
2004: My Lemonade Stand
2007: My Green Kite
2009: My Trampoline
Live albums
1996: Stage Diving - Live from The Bottom Line - NY, NY
2008: Pen and Ink
Greatest hits compilations
2004: The Complete Sussman Lawrence (1979-1985) (double CD reissue with bonus tracks) (CD, Deep Shag Records)
2005: Mission of My Soul, The Best of Peter Himmelman
2007: Songs of Folly and Transcendence (1998–2007)
2011: Best of Kids Collection: Songs to Make Boring Days Fun
Rarities releases
1998: Himmelvaults, Vol. 1
1999: Himmelman Music for Film
2002: Himmelvaults, Vol. 2
2004: Himmelvaults, Vol. 3 - bundled with Unstoppable Forces
2005: Himmelvaults, Vol. 4 Pristine
2005: Himmelvaults, Vol. 5 When Grace Collides with Sin
2006: Himmelvaults, Vol. 6
2007: Himmelvaults, Vol. 7
2008: Himmelvaults, Vol. 8
2009: Blackout in the Book of Light
2011: Flimsy
2014: Himmelvaults, Vol. 9"[1]
Spinoza Bear Project
-In the early 1980s Peter Himmelman wrote and produced songs for Spinoza Bear, a therapeutic stuffed animal that was used to eliminate the stress of children in hospitals, rape victims, autism sufferers and others. He was also the voice of the bear.
1984: I'm Your Friend And My Name Is Spinoza - Bonding, Opens Communication
1985: You Are All You Need To Be - Encouragement, Self Esteem
1985: Everybody Needs A Little Tenderness - Ease Anxiety
1985: Dream on the Water - Encourage Sleep
1986: Do You Wonder - Curiosity, Learning
1986: Good Friends - Feelings, Relationships
1991: New Beginnings - Relaxation, Healthy Choices
1991: Breathing Healthy, Breathing Free - Positive Attitude, Deep Breathing
1991: Hold On to Me - Grief and Loss
Filmography[edit]
Furious World
He was also the creative force behind Furious World his live Internet show,(2008-2010) which broadcast every Tuesday evening at 7pm (PT) from his home studio. The highly innovative show featured original live music with his band,video segments that ranged from philosophical to comedic, and special guests from the world of technology, music and the arts. The show can be accessed through peterhimmelman.com or furiousworld.com
Rock G-d Film
Rock G-d is a documentary about Peter Himmelman directed by Keith Wolf. It is described as "a road epic about the pursuit of an adolescent dream into adult reality that powerfully touches on issues of faith, fame and failure".
Film and TV composition credits[edit]
TV scoring credits
•Bones (FOX)
•Judging Amy (CBS) - Emmy nominated song "Best Kind of Answer"
•Men in Trees (ABC)
•Ex List (CBS)
•Heartland (TNT)
•Freshmen Diaries (Showtime)
•The American Embassy (FOX)
•Going to California (Showtime)
•Making the Band 4 (MTV)
•Bug Juice (Disney)
•ER - Season 9 - "A Thousand Cranes" (NBC): "Always in Disguise" from the album Flown This Acid World
•Miami Vice - Season 2 "Lend Me an Ear" (NBC)
•How To Rock (Nickelodeon)
Film music/scoring credits
•Ash Tuesday - Janeane Garofalo
•Four Feet
•The Souler Opposite - Chris Meloni, Tim Busfield
•Bill's Gun Shop
•A Slipping-Down Life - Guy Pearce, Lili Taylor
•Dinner & Driving - Joey Slotnick, Paula DeVico, Sam Robards, Brigitte Bako
•Liar's Poker - Flea•Crossing The Bridge - Jason Gedrick, Stephen Baldwin, David Schwimmer
•Pyrates - Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick
•Queen Sized - Nikki Blonsky
•Porn 'n Chicken
•Snow in August
•A Face to Kill For - Doug Savant, Crystal Bernard
•Long Gone - Dermot Mulroney
•Heart of Dixie - Ally Sheedy, Phoebe Cates, Treat Williams
Awards[edit]
•ASCAP - Top TV Series: Judging Amy (2000)
•ASCAP - Top TV Series: Judging Amy (2003)
•ASCAP - Top TV Series: Judging Amy (2004)
•ASCAP - Top TV Series: Judging Amy (2005)
•Family Channel Seal of Quality - My Best Friend is a Salamander (1997)
•Family Channel Seal of Quality -My Fabulous Plum (2003)
•Parents Choice - My Best Friend is a Salamander (1997)
•Parents Choice - My Fabulous Plum (2003)
•Parents Choice - My Green Kite (2007)
•Parents Choice - My Trampoline (2009)
•National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Gold Award - My Green Kite(2007)
•National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Gold Award - My Trampoline(2009)
•Minnesota Music Award - Best Male Songwriter (1993)
Award nominations
•Emmy 2002 Music and Lyrics - Judging Amy, song: "The Best Kind Of Answer"
• Grammy 2008 Best Musical Album for Children - My Green Kite
Visual Art[edit]
Himmelman is also a visual artist and painter whose work appeared on the cover of his 1987 Island release Synesthesia. A collection of his recent art can be found at: www.himmelmanart.com
QUOTED: "Anyone who desires to be seen in the public eye has a lack, a need for special attention. ... I am drawn to that, but even at the apex, I was cognizant of the danger of the whole thing."
"I would play for thousands of people, but I’d have to shut that off before I walked in the door. Maria would hand me a screaming baby and say: 'What do you want, applause?' And I’d think: 'Yes, I do.' So, you really have to give fame more than I would be willing to give. It’s like Baal, or some pagan religion. I can’t give everything to that. The benefits of fame have come to me in smaller packages than I might have managed."
LIFE LESSONS FROM BOB DYLAN’S BRILLIANT JEWISH SINGER-SONGWRITER SON-IN-LAW
To Peter Himmelman, fame was no match for observance, and the music just got better
By Wayne Robins
August 18, 2014 • 12:00 AM
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(Photoillustration Tablet Magazine; background art Shutterstock)
Peter Himmelman is an observant man, in all senses of the word. After lunch at a kosher fish restaurant in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles one recent afternoon, we walked to a nearby apartment that he keeps as a place to wind up or wind down, write songs or to sip tea, paint, write, relax, and to enjoy Shabbat. He took off the pork pie hat that is one of his sartorial trademarks, and placed a kippah on his head. He observed that his guest was tired and suggested we meditate.
We moved to facing chairs. He showed me some breathing exercises, and gave me a mantra on which to concentrate. The words were: “My purple shirt.” I was more tired than I thought, since I was wondering why he chose that phrase, until I noticed I was wearing a purple shirt. “It can be anything,” he said. The phrase he often uses when he begins to meditate consists of the Hebrew words ribbonah shel olam: Master of the universe.
“Meditation is one area where assessment thinking has no place,” he said. “No one does meditation well, no one does it poorly. We’ve put such a premium on success and failure.”
Peter Himmelman is a man of many talents and accomplishments who is known to those who have heard of him, but haven’t heard him, as Bob Dylan’s son-in-law. He has been playing in and with bands since sixth grade in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. (Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, Sen. Al Franken, and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman are also SLP natives.) He has released a dozen rock albums since 1986—the first half dozen on major corporate record labels, others on smaller indies, others self-released—all of which have received love from critics and none of which have sold well. The only Billboard chart on which he has ever appeared is the Heatseekers chart, limited to artists who have never had an album in the top 200. But the quality of his work has never flagged, and lately he has released some of his finest work, including Imperfect World (2005) and The Mystery and the Hum (2010). There is also an intentional oddity called Flimsy (2011), a collection of spoken-word songs ranging from the absurd to the heartbreaking. His new album, The Boat That Carries Us, now available on his own Himmelsongs label, is about motion, or being in motion, by air (“33K Feet”), by car (“Green Mexican Dreams”), or in spirit (“Angels Die”).
Himmelman still attracts some of the best musicians in the world to play with him. The rhythm section on the new album features Leland Sklar (who played with Carole King, James Taylor, and dozens of others) on bass, and Jim Keltner, the go-to drummer for John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr on their solo albums and tours, not to mention frequent percussionist for Dylan, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman, Steely Dan, and a hundred others. “I find I learn something new and valuable every time we talk,” the 72-year-old Keltner said in an email. “Playing music with him is very much the same, with the added bonus of his strong and versatile guitar playing, very memorable melodies, and provocative lyrics for all kinds of subject matter. The challenge is to be better than his demo, which can take awhile.”
Rock stardom for Himmelman was a real possibility in the mid-1980s. Critics loved him for his unpredictable but riveting stage shows. And those of us who love to linger over well-crafted lyrics enjoyed Himmelman’s language of the heart, images of struggle and joy that are by turns imaginative, erotic, and transcendent without ever degenerating into pseudo-poetry or pretentious imagery. He came of age when the introduction of the compact disc had made the record companies flush, independent labels were scoring with new wave and rap, and megastars including Bruce Springsteen, U2, Prince, Def Leppard, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, and Billy Joel made it an industry of not just million-sellers but 10-million sellers. But something happened to Peter Himmelman along the road to major label stardom: The gift of his talent and ambition was overshadowed by another, deeper gift: a Jewish spiritual awakening that coincided with the release of his first major album, This Father’s Day. The blues singer Robert Johnson, according to the myth, sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi Delta crossroads. Himmelman made another choice at a crossroads in his young life, when he was 25.
***
Growing up in a nonobservant home—the very idea of devout Judaism, in 1960s Minneapolis, he said, seemed to him like something out of a Sholem Aleichem story—Himmelman was barely beyond bar mitzvah age when he began playing in bands with R&B singer Alexander O’Neal and in an influential Minneapolis-based calypso-reggae band Shangoya. His account of about getting into this band offers a microcosmic look at the adolescent blend of talent and chutzpah that quickly propelled him to the perch of major label rock success just a few years later. “After the show I went up to the bass player and said, you guys are good, but you’d be a lot better with me. He laughed, but he took my number.” Seven months later, Himmelman was invited to a competitive audition. He was 16, at least a decade younger than most of his rivals. Using a small amp he had bought with his bar mitzvah money, he crushed the audition by playing “Guiltiness,” an obscure Bob Marley song from an album called Exodus. “It was a perfect little longueur to throw on these blues licks I had been playing forever.” Then came the interview: What, asked the leader, Aldric Peter Nelson, can you bring to the group?
“I said, ‘You see that amplifier? When I’m up there with you guys, this thing’s gonna shoot fucking flames. I’m going to take you over the edge. You’re not gonna be this novelty calypso band, you’re going to be headliners in clubs.’ ” They laughed and hired Himmelman. In a 2004 Minneapolis Star-Tribune obituary for Aldric Nelson, Himmelman was named as among a “who’s who” of Twin Cities musicians “reared” by Shangoya. But in the late 1970s, before Himmelman’s 21st birthday, his music was off in another direction. He was the singer and songwriter for the Sussman Lawrence Band, a new wave group whose music was described in a pithy question from the All Music Guide: “Has anyone wanted to be Elvis Costello as much as Peter Himmelman back in his days as a callow youth fronting the band Sussman Lawrence?” The band recorded its first album in 1979. During the early 1980s, its buzz spread, relocation in the New York area seemed like the right move. Sussman Lawrence’s double album Pop City was released in 1984. A third album, released in 1985, was also a Sussman Lawrence project. But the leader’s songs had grown so personal that it was released as a Peter Himmelman album, on the band’s own Orange label imprint. It was called This Father’s Day. The title song was recorded in the basement of the family home in 1983, a final Father’s Day gift for his dying father.
Himmelman’s father David looms large in his story. He was a “Jewish Marine,” as Himmelman often describes him, who more than once dispatched local anti-Semites with his fists. With his dad around Peter felt secure, encouraged to pursue his ambitions. “It gave me a different perspective from people my age,” Himmelman said of his father’s death. “It increased my awareness of life being short. How well we grasp that is reflected in how well we act on that. I wanted to get married and have kids. I had a hunger to rebuild my family, shattered by the death of my dad.”
When I first met Peter in 1985, he was living in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, not far from Times Square. Despite the low-fi, deeply personal title song of This Father’s Day, the video for another song, “Eleventh Confession,” was breaking out at MTV. Island Records, home to Bob Marley, U2, Robert Palmer, and a host of other hit-makers, signed Himmelman, and eventually released This Father’s Day in 1986 as his debut album. Peter came to my office at what was then Newsday’s New York bureau at 1500 Broadway. We schmoozed for a while, and he invited me to join him and singer Kenny Vance, who had been a key part of Jay and the Americans, for a class a very sharp rabbi was giving in Brooklyn. I decided to pass. Himmelman went, and stayed.
The class was given—and is still taught—by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, who was one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s “oral scribes”: one who memorized each of the Rebbe’s talks, which couldn’t be written down or recorded on Shabbat or holidays. The talks, often in Yiddish or Hebrew, had to be memorized and translated as soon as allowed. “Peter was a tall, lanky guy from Minnesota, funny, a smart-alec and skeptic,” Jacobson recalled during a visit in his home the day after the gimmel tammuz, the Rebbe’s 20th yahrtzeit. The house is a short walk from Chabad world headquarters on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway. Around a large table there were bookcases with the well-worn Jewish texts familiar as a backdrop to Jacobson’s many video talks and classes. There are also video cameras, microphones, and laptop computer, the tools of modern outreach.
Jacobson described the Himmelman he met in 1985 as one who had seen the hypocrisy of the Judaism he had grown up with, being concerned more with paying for the synagogue’s wall-to-wall carpeting than with spiritual matters. Jacobson’s classes are more concerned with discussing Judaism in terms of purpose, “the gamut of existential and metaphysical subjects,” as he puts it. Himmelman stayed long into the night talking to Jacobson, who spoke about the Rebbe’s wisdom and mystical abilities. “I felt comfortable with Simon immediately,” Himmelman says. “He was witty and sharp and saw I was not antagonistic to Judaism. And because my dad died I was very receptive. But I still thought it was a cult.” Both Jacobson and Himmelman recalled the same decisive moment in their conversations.
“Can the Rebbe do anything?” Himmelman asked. “Can he fly?”
“I’ve never seen the Rebbe fly,” Jacobson replied. “But for the Rebbe, walking on the earth is as miraculous as flying.”
Jacobson continues: “Peter seemed to appreciate that miracle and he started coming to the class on a weekly basis.”
Himmelman, back in his Santa Monica home, offered his response to that story. He snapped his fingers and said: “I was in.” A few weeks after their first meeting, Himmelman told Jacobson he had started lighting Shabbat candles. It was Jacobson’s impression that Himmelman was making the candlesticks from broken beer bottles he found on the street in Hell’s Kitchen. Not exactly, Himmelman said. “I do recall using some beer cans for Shabbat candlesticks when we were opening for Gregg Allman,” he said. “Gregg was curious about their purpose.”
Soon, Himmelman would be “all-in” to observant Judaism. “I had emerged from this long, sad, fallow period,” he said. “A lot of grief. And it [Judaism] lifted my head out of it. It meant a lot then, and it means a lot today.” While the timing was perfect for Himmelman’s sense of inner peace and self-understanding, observant Judaism was not especially conducive to the work of being a rock star in the 1980s. Careers were built on touring, even when radio airplay, MTV, marketing, and promotion were still a factor, and everyone except shoplifters paid for the recorded music to which they listened.
“He turned down many great opportunities because he would not perform on Shabbos or travel on weekends,” said Janet Kleinbaum, a video producer who was a top PR executive at Island through the Himmelman years and had known him since junior high. “To be honest, it frustrated and probably confused the label, but ultimately Peter was in charge of his career path, and we did the best we could to support him and promote the albums within his guidelines.”
‘Anyone who desires to be seen in the public eye has a lack, a need for special attention.’
Himmelman was also marrying and starting a family in those late 1980s Island Records years. When he announced that he would marry Bob Dylan’s daughter Maria, he recalled, “Rolling Stone wanted to do a big spread on the wedding: ‘Bob Dylan’s daughter gets married,’ and we turned it down. People magazine wanted to do this whole thing, come into the house. When I turned down People, Island said, ‘What are you doing? We want you to light up like a toaster.’ Something like two or three invitations to be on the Tonight Show we turned down. They wondered, who is this guy, straddling the fence? Why doesn’t he just give it up to the machine?” While his record company fretted, Himmelman would stand in line “for dollars, many times, and receive blessings,” from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who handed out dollar bills to the faithful for many years. “Maria and I saw him briefly in his home once, just after his wife had died,” he recalled. “At the time he was seeing newlyweds, or soon-to-be-marrieds.”
Rabbi Jacobson brought a handwritten letter from the Rebbe to the wedding. It did not do much for record sales but reinforced the sense of purpose, and the privacy that Himmelman has had to maintain no matter what the impact on his career.
Peter and Maria have four children, two boys, two girls, ages 18 to 24. I met Maria for about 15 seconds, when she came out to get Peter because he was late for their exercise class. She shook hands, said hello, smiled, very cordial. I got a glimpse, and no more. I had asked Peter if he could tell me how they met, or if she would talk on record for a few minutes and only about some recipes for a cookbook they wrote together (mostly her work, Peter said) that was a lagniappe for Kickstarter supporters of The Boat That Carries Us. She would not. “A few things differentiate her from anyone I’ve ever met,” Himmelman said of his wife. “She has absolutely no desire whatever to be in the public eye. In almost 26 years, she never said one word, to anyone, on the record.”
The conventional journalistic narrative might ask how being an observant Jew, married to the understandably reticent daughter of one of the most famous men on the planet who himself is just as notorious for guarding his own privacy, has limited his career. “There are certain guardrails that protect a marriage,” Himmelman said. “Not that children are guardrails, but they serve that function.” The holidays that require observance, he said, are protective of unions. Unplugging, literally and figuratively, is one of the blessings of Shabbat. And so is the benefit of not quite achieving the fame as an adult that he might have dreamt of as a boy. “Anyone who desires to be seen in the public eye has a lack, a need for special attention,” he said. “I am drawn to that, but even at the apex, I was cognizant of the danger of the whole thing. I would play for thousands of people, but I’d have to shut that off before I walked in the door. Maria would hand me a screaming baby and say, ‘What do you want, applause?’ And I’d think, yes, I do. So, you really have to give fame more than I would be willing to give. It’s like Baal, or some pagan religion. I can’t give everything to that. The benefits of fame have come to me in smaller packages than I might have managed.”
***
There is a video from the 1990s in which Himmelman performs on a Chabad telethon along with his father-in-law and the actor/musician Harry Dean Stanton. Himmelman is in the center, flanked by Dylan and Stanton. All three men are wearing kippot. Himmelman tells the host the name of the group is Chopped Liver. Dylan plays flute, recorder, and harmonica. They do three songs: a Yiddish Romanian tune Himmelman learned from his grandmother; a Spanish song featuring Dylan and Stanton; and a rendition of “Hava Nagila.” When Himmelman doubles the tempo to the already speedy “Hava Nagila,” Dylan, perhaps getting winded from all the wind instruments, appears to shoot Himmelman a look that only a family member could survive—or playfully ignore.
There were obvious levels of connection long before Dylan became family. “He was a guy with an unusual voice, Jewish, comes from Minnesota, a lot of identification. He didn’t go to college, nor did I. [I thought] if he didn’t, maybe I don’t have to.” Any songwriting tips, comments, criticism, or affirmation from Dylan about their shared profession? “It doesn’t come up a lot, music, not as much as you might think. When we talk it’s usually about other things. It would be like two accountants talking about numbers.”
After three critically acclaimed but non-charting albums for Island—This Father’s Day (1986), Gematria (1987), and Synesthesia (1989), Himmelman was signed by Sony Music’s A&R Executive Vice President Michael Caplan, who helped him release three more quality albums in the early 1990s: From Strength to Strength (1991), Flown This Acid World (1992), and Skin (1994). Caplan’s Epic artists also included the Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His first post-Sony indie label Or Music orchestrated the implausible success of Hasidic reggae-rapper Matisyahu.
Around 1990, when Himmelman became available, Caplan had sufficient autonomy, or power, that he could sign Himmelman because he was a fan and hoped for the mass commercial breakout that never quite materialized. “I signed him because he was brilliant, when I could still sign people because I thought they were brilliant,” Caplan said in a phone interview. “Because I was able to do what I wanted, I convinced the people who I worked for that he would be far bigger than he was.” Himmelman’s albums sold in the 50,000-60,000 range, which would be highly respectable now and wasn’t bad for a cult artist, who fit neither mega-selling rock trend of the era: the pretty boy “hair bands” of the late 1980s, and the oncoming onslaught of grunge in the 1990s. The 1992 debut album by Epic’s Pearl Jam sold well over 11 million copies.
Caplan, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family, also identified with Himmelman, having defied familial expectations of being a lawyer, doctor, or accountant. And he loved the audacity of Himmelman’s concerts. “As a performer he flew without a net, and sometimes he’d fall,” Caplan said, describing an acoustic showcase for Epic execs that Himmelman powered up by inviting people from the audience to play air guitar. Watching the artist acting out the arena rock ritual of jumping on amplifiers while playing silent power chords left many of Caplan’s colleagues bewildered. “I loved it,” Caplan said.
Caplan also identified with Himmelman’s Jewish awareness, especially one night at the Manhattan live music venue the Marquee Club. “I had forgotten my father’s yahrtzeit, but Peter hadn’t. So, he stops his show and invites me and nine other guys up to the stage and we said Kaddish.”
***
Those who profited so greatly from it mourn the passing of the business model for the recorded music business. Himmelman sees the beauty of the transition. “I don’t want to be like the guy who made a fortune in the horse-and-buggy whips lamenting the era of the automobile,” he said. “How was it we ever made money out of this wild and wondrous idea of trapping sound waves and charging for them in the first place?” Himmelman has also been resourceful enough to diversify, alert to recognize that when one door closes, another opens. Starting in the mid-1990s, he began recording and performing children’s music. “I was always making up songs and stories for my kids when they were small,” he said. “There was a story I used to tell them about this dog with amazing fur that all the kids loved to pet and how sad it was when one morning, all its hair fell out. The dog went to the vet only to learn that its hair would never grow back. Now, how and why would anyone love a hairless dog, especially since its main attribute, the wonderful fur, was gone? When the dog learned of a special polish that made its fur ultra-smooth, all the kids came running to pet it again. A happy ending!”
‘How was it we ever made money out of this wild and wondrous idea of trapping sound waves and charging for them in the first place?’
A woman from Minnesota with a label called Babyboom offered Himmelman $15,000 to write and record his first children’s album, My Best Friend Is a Salamander, in 1997. Today, his body of work as a children’s entertainer nearly rivals his major label output: five albums, including the Grammy Award-nominated My Green Kite (2007). He also became prolific writing for television, both songs and instrumental background music. He began scoring the CBS drama Judging Amy in 1999, and a song that appeared in an episode, “The Best Kind of Answer,” was nominated for an Emmy in 2002. His latest work is for a new six-episode USA Network political thriller Dig, shot on location in Israel, that will air in fall 2014. Himmelman composed the dramatic underscores that range from intense and percussive to soft and ambient, Middle Eastern electronic blues very different from his singer-songwriter work. “It has a lot to do with biblical things and Jerusalem, so I don’t think there’s anyone better positioned in the composing world to understand the minutiae and nuances of it,” he said.
Himmelman and his family have been frequent visitors to Israel. “I go there and feel some connectedness to it,” he said. “Some of it is tribal, some of it mundane, some of it mystical. Every time I go I think, am I still going to be excited? Yeah.” He has a “very brotherly” relationship with Israeli star David Broza, with whom he recorded a pop metal Hanukkah song, “Light Up the World” from the 1996 anthology Festival of Light. His big project these days is Big Muse, a kind of umbrella for all his creative efforts, which encourages non-musicians to write songs. He has used his songwriting exercises in myriad ways—for creativity seminars, for companies such as The Gap, institutions such as the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and the Wounded Warriors Family Project. At a Wounded Warriors gathering in 2013 in Breckenridge, Colo., he asked soldiers to write down, in 90 seconds, why they love their family members; spouses to write down why they aren’t divorced from their husbands, why they still find them sexy; kids to write down why they love their dads. It was a high-risk endeavor for a self-described “Jew from Santa Monica” in front of an audience in which many were brain injured, had lost limbs, or were suffering from PTSD. The emotions were overwhelming.
“There is an adage I love from Judaism,” he told me. “ ‘What comes from the heart, enters the heart.’ It’s a potent statement. But you have to be damn sure when you’re going out on that limb that you purify your intentions. Otherwise, you’re a dead man.”
***
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Peter Himmelman
Photo of Peter Himmelman
Photo: © James Hershleder
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PETER HIMMELMAN is the founder of Big Muse, a company that teaches creative thinking, leadership skills, and deeper levels of communication in all facets of life–from personal to professional. As Big Muse has grown in popularity over the last four years, Peter has come to share his program with thousands of individuals, including charitable organizations, start-ups and international brands. A successful musician, he has been nominated for Emmy and Grammy awards, won the NAAPA Album of the Year Award, won six consecutive Parents Choice Gold Awards, and recieved six ASCAP awards.
QUOTED: "Writing this book at the very same time I was going through my own process of reinvention found me acting much like a journalist, taking detailed notes on my own challenges and triumphs along the way."
Peter Himmelman
Emmy and Grammy nominated Musician, Author, and Founder of Big Muse
By all accounts Peter Himmelman has had an unusual and highly successful career. He’s a Grammy and Emmy nominated singer-songwriter, visual artist, author, film composer, entrepreneur, and rock and roll performer. In yet another twist, Peter is the only rock star to have ever earned an Advanced Management Certificate from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Time Magazine has said of him: “Himmelman writes songs with the same urgency that compelled the Lost Generation to write novels." Within the last few years Peter and his Big Muse team, have taken their special skills at unlocking innate creativity, to academic institutions such as The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, The UCLA School of Medicine, The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan as well as corporate behemoths like McDonald’s, Adobe, and Gap Inc. A restless and creative spirit by nature, his recent book, Let Me Out was a step in a natural progression for Peter who said, “Writing this book at the very same time I was going through my own process of reinvention found me acting much like a journalist, taking detailed notes on my own challenges and triumphs along the way.” Peter is thrilled that Let Me Out will give him chance to share his ideas at a depth that goes beyond a single workshop or a keynote. People in the know are already becoming fans of Let Me Out as well as Peter’s message overall: “Fear is one of life’s biggest roadblocks, which is why Peter Himmelman’s book is so important. Let Me Out gets to the heart of how we can keep fear from limiting our potential by tapping into our inner resilience, creativity, and strength. There’s deep wisdom here along with very practical tools for translating our ideas into the real world.” – Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post “Peter Himmelman is an award-winning musician, and he knows what it takes to overcome fear and unlock our creative potential. In Let Me Out, his energy, humanity, and imagination literally leap off the page. I can’t wait to share it with my readers and my students.”
– Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
Celebrity Interview | Peter Himmelman
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Celebrity Interview | Peter Himmelman
Celebrity Interview | Peter Himmelman
FEBRUARY 11, 2016/BY SETH WILLIAMS/IN CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS
Celebrity Interview
What becomes a rock icon most? Continuing to turn out great work, of course. Growing artistically. Challenging expectations. And how about acting your age: embracing experience rather than trying to airbrush it?
Among rock musicians who matter, no one has check-listed those items more winningly than Peter Himmelman. During his multi-pronged career as a singer, songwriter and all-around performer, as a children’s entertainer, TV and film composer and pioneering webcast star, he has maintained remarkably high standards: Can you point to a song in his vast body of work that feels tossed off, or remember a concert or club date that didn’t delight and amuse? Is there a pop star of his generation more committed to exploring new modes of expression and new methods of connecting with his diehard followers?
Recorded on a dare – his own – to work faster and more under the gun, and closer to the quick of the creative process, Himmelman’s new Himmasongs album, “The Mystery and the Hum,” tumbled out of him with no planning or preparation. Holed up in a Minneapolis studio, far from the comforts of his home in Santa Monica, Calif., this native of St. Louis Park, MN, wrote the tunes over a two-week period and cut them in three days. Though he co-produced them with his friend Rob Genedek, who operates the studio, he raised the stakes of his experiment by hooking up with “house” musicians with whom he had never played, taking it on trust that if bassist Jim Anton and drummer Billy Thommes were good enough to run with Jonny Lang, they were good enough to ride the sonic rapids with him.
QUOTED: "Nobody by reading the book will become a fearless person. ... But I used to momentarily push away those fears, and in those moments in time that are created to push away that fear, you can get a lot of things done."
"That’s the consequence of shame. ... It’s similar to a rabid dog; there’s a mortal threat here. If you were abandoned, like as an baby or infant, you could literally die. There’s the same kind of mortal fear, but it’s up to us to distinguish is this an actual fear – a real, mortal fear – or is this some anxiety?"
"Your stomach will turn in knots like it will in any fearful situation. Once you have [made the determination] and you realize this is just anxiety, then you can take the first step in taking action rather than just this fearful rumination."
St. Louis Park native Peter Himmelman releases book on creativity
Published October 25, 2016 at 10:38 pm
By Seth Rowe
Peter Himmelman conducts a creativity-building process during a Big Muse session. (Submitted photo)
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Peter Himmelman conducts a creativity-building process during a Big Muse session. (Submitted photo)
St. Louis Park native Peter Himmelman has been writing music for decades, but he has turned his creative attention toward writing a book.
Himmelman currently resides in Santa Monica, California, but plans to return to Minnesota for an event 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S. in Minneapolis. Peter Bailey, a leadership development expert and president of The Prouty Project, will converse with Himmelman about his new book, “Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life.”
Himmelman and St. Louis Park High School classmates in the classes of 1978 and 1979 developed a national musical reputation for their band, Sussman Lawrence.
In recent years, Himmelman has channeled his creative thinking into his Big Muse project, through which he works with businesses and organizations to help them look at the world in more creative way through song-writing exercises.
His new book encompasses some of the advice he gives to Big Muse participants. For example, he said everyone has a voice in his or her head that calls attention to the fear of expressing oneself creatively. He calls the voice Marv, a name that doubles as an acronym for Majorly Afraid of Revealing Vulnerability.
Throughout his career of writing new songs or scores for shows like “Bones” and “Judging Amy,” Himmelman said he had to push aside fears he had while producing materials intensively.
“Nobody by reading the book will become a fearless person,” Himmelman said. “But I used to momentarily push away those fears, and in those moments in time that are created to push away that fear, you can get a lot of things done.”
A person’s limbic system of the brain includes the amygdala, which is associated with fear and anxiety.
“That’s on the lookout for threats,” Himmelman said.
The amygdala serves as a built-in device to protect a person, Himmelman said.
“If it’s a rabid dog, it causes you to run – fight or flight,” Himmelman said. “But when it comes to people not liking our music, let’s say, or something we’ve produced, it causes a very similar response to this amygdala.”
Marv, as Himmelman calls the brain system, can make him feel like if he writes a book and fails he will be ashamed and then abandoned.
“That’s the consequence of shame,” Himmelman said. “It’s similar to a rabid dog; there’s a mortal threat here. If you were abandoned, like as an baby or infant, you could literally die. There’s the same kind of mortal fear, but it’s up to us to distinguish is this an actual fear – a real, mortal fear – or is this some anxiety? And you have to be able to make that determination.
“Your stomach will turn in knots like it will in any fearful situation. Once you have [made the determination] and you realize this is just anxiety, then you can take the first step in taking action rather than just this fearful rumination.”
Himmelman dealt with the same sort of fears he wrote about in “Let Me Out” while authoring the book, he indicated.
“It came in stops and starts,” Himmelman said. “There’d be times I’d be so exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was even think about the book, you know? One of the things I learned is it wasn’t so much me giving up in those lulls. It was sort of taking a break and interpreting those lulls as something other than giving up – a natural flow and not a concern that my energy level had waned at a certain point. Just like a wave, it came and picked up again at full force.”
A local example
In the book, he writes about an anecdote involving former fellow Sussman Lawrence bandmate Jeff Victor, a second cousin of Himmelman’s who still resides in St. Louis Park. About three years ago, Victor – who has worked with Himmelman on Big Muse events and still performs with him occasionally – worried about playing a solo concert. Himmelman talked him through the process of mentally preparing for such a show during an interview for the book.
While Himmelman said people who have met Victor might think playing such a show would be easy for him, the prospect of performing alone became a continual challenge for him.
With the aid of advice Himmelman provides in the book, Victor went on to play the solo show in Excelsior that he had worried him.
Asked about the experience, Victor said, “He really knows me, and, you know, I actually took some of the things that he was saying to heart during the interview process. He started by interviewing me, and then he said, ‘It’s not that hard to accomplish the things you’re dreaming of.’ And in reality, I actually did succeed. So it’s kind of proof that what he says works. I did do a solo show; I did feel euphoric about it just like he said I would in the interview.”
Victor said he hesitated to call Himmelman a guru because he said the word has a connotation of hocus pocus.
“I think his deal is real,” Victor said. “It’s solid, it’s scientific, it’s logical, and that’s the key. I think it’s practical and it works. And there’s also the fact that he can deliver things in a colorful, original way.”
Victor said he appreciated that the book includes pictures Himmelman drew by hand.
“That’s really a plus,” Victor said. “It brings his personality to life. He keeps it fun.”
Victor noted they have worked on Big Muse presentations for McDonald’s and Banana Republic and plan to conduct a presentation for 3M in November.
“It’s already in the corporate culture, and I think what he has to say will be relevant not only to corporations but to the general public,” Victor said. “Anyone who’s interested in making their dreams become real and not just being depressed about never being able to accomplish what they’ve dreamed of will be able to benefit from these.”
St. Louis Park influence
While Himmelman never moved back to Minnesota after his band moved to the East Coast in 1983, he said his time growing up near Westwood Hills Nature Center influenced him creatively.
“I think one of the things I never really considered at the time about St. Louis Park was our proximity to nature, especially when I was a kid,” Himmelman said. “In some ways, there were so many rural areas or forested or wooded areas I used to go in. Being in that proximity to nature, it helped a person think of larger ideas, and that may have had something to do with the person I am today.”
Victor recalled days when Himmelman would jog from where he lived near the nature center to Lake of the Isles before stopping by Victor’s house in the Fern Hill Neighborhood.
“My mom would give him Pepperidge Farm cookies, and he would jog back,” Victor said while remarking on the miles Himmelman would cover.
St. Louis Park influenced a generation of creative individuals, Victor said, pointing to St. Louis Park musicians in The Jayhawks, Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare and Prince-led bands along with other creative individuals like the film-making Coen Brothers, columnist Thomas Friedman and violinist Sharon Isbin.
“I don’t know if it was the creosote plant or the water or whatever, but you look at the number of people in that 12-year space of time, when we were going to school – that era turned out so many creative names,” Victor said.
The members of Sussman Lawrence would hang out near the nearby lakes, visit the former Lincoln Del restaurant and go down the St. Louis Park Recreation Center’s water slide, Victor recalled.
“It was the right environment, the right lenience from our parents to let us go wild and do our own thing – to explore and do wild stuff,” said Victor, who also listed cinema, art and jazz teachers at St. Louis Park High School who shaped their students as artists. “Yeah, it had a lot to do with St. Louis Park.”
Another famous Minnesotan has also had a direct impact on Himmelman. He became Bob Dylan’s son-in-law is after marrying the famous singer and songwriter’s adopted daughter, Maria Dylan.
Of Dylan’s influence, Himmelman said, “Every musician, myself included, every songwriter of any age who’s still alive has been totally impacted by his excellent work,” Himmelman said. “I was always inspired by that. He’s known all over the world.”
To learn more about the outlook on life Himmelman has developed over the years, visit letmeoutbook.com.
Contact Seth Rowe at seth.rowe@ecm-inc.com
QUOTED: "His approach to creativity is refreshingly counterintuitive."
Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life
Chauncey Mabe
Success. (Oct. 2016): p82.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 R & L Publishing, Ltd. (dba SUCCESS Media)
http://www.successmagazine.com/
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Full Text:
LET ME OUT
Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life
By Peter Himmelman
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Peter Himmelman is minor rock royalty--a Grammy and Emmy nominee and the son-in-law of Bob Dylan. He's also the founder of Big Muse, a firm that teaches creativity to outfits such as Gap, Adobe, the Wharton School and the Ross School of Business. His approach to creativity is refreshingly counterintuitive.
"I always hear people say if you want it, 'just do it'--as if just doing it were the most natural thing in the universe." Just doing it is challenging when your inner critic says don't But that voice must have a positive function, Himmelman reasons, "because everyone I've ever met has got the same voice inside." Using science-based exercises and techniques developed in his music career, Himmelman promises to reduce the fear that stifles creativity, and shows how to bring intimidating projects to completion and take ideas from your head into the real world.
(October; TarcherPerigee; $23)
QUOTED: "For those seeking inventive ways to awaken their own sleeping muses, this book delivers as promised."
Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life
Publishers Weekly. 263.30 (July 25, 2016): p59.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Full Text:
Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life
Peter Himmelman. TarcherPerigee, $23 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-14-311095-8
In this inspiring debut, songwriter Himmelman, founder of the training company Big Muse, shares his story of how he was forced to recreate and rebrand himself when online piracy made it impossible for him to earn money from his music. In a highly conversational style, Himmelman strives to help readers pluck their dreams from their heads and make them a reality with a three-point strategy: break down your plan for realizing your ambitions into small, feasible sections; act on your plan immediately; and decide whether your goal is something you really want for yourself, not just for others. Showcasing his own creativity, the author has concocted a host of terms, such as "Milky Way moment" and "brain bottle opener," to make his points. At times, the book reads like a memoir, as Himmelman shares numerous stories about his life and career, emphasizing the events that taught him to think differently. Any book aiming to spark imagination can be judged by its suggested mental exercises, and this book is chock-full of these, though they are only modestly interesting. However, for those seeking inventive ways to awaken their own sleeping muses, this book delivers as promised. (Oct.)