It's that time of year when I attend the Critic's Choice Awards in Hollywood, CA with my sister - fashion designer Erin Pennacchio, and, my good friend Ms. Roberta Wygant - the legendary Entertainment Reporter from Dallas, TX. In an interesting twist this year, we will hopefully be connecting with an old family friend who used to play keyboards in the 70's band "Darwin" with my brother Mark Shannon. His name is Mychael Danna and he is the music composer for the nominated movie Life of Pi. Mychael was born in Winnipeg, Canada and he and my older brother Mark became friends in high school in Burlington, Ontario and played in various bands for several years together before each of the band members went their separate ways, carving out their own separate musical niches.
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| The Fabulous 70's Canadian Band "Darwin" L to R: Bill Wood, Michael Lalonde (RIP), Mychael Danna, Tim Clement, Mark Shannon |
My brother Mark Shannon, now age 53, moved to Toronto, Canada after highschool and went on to complete his Master's Degree in Music at York University. He is a now a successful TORONTO based music composer, producer and musician with many credits to his name (including work for the fabulous Sara Dell, and, producing my own daughter Hannah Renee's first 3 original songs on ITunes). He has produced recordings for many talented artists in a wide range of material spanning Jazz, Rock, Gospel and Folk. Mark also writes music for documentary TV, radio and websites, and, works as a freelance bassist, playing live gigs and recordings. Every now and then you can catch him playing bass at Graffitti's in Toronto with his longtime friend Bill Wood (Bill Wood and the Woodies). Mark's latest film score is for Water on the Table, a documentary by Liz Marshall.
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| Bill Wood and The Woodies Lead Singer Bill Wood, Mark Shannon on Bass |
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| My brother Mark Shannon today with his beautiful daughter Grace |
In a similar parallel, Mark's friend and former band-mate Mychael Danna, studied music composition at The University of Toronto, winning the Glenn Gould Composition Scholarship in 1985. Now based in HOLLYWOOD, CA, he is recognised as one of the most versatile and original voices in film music and has gone on to achieve major success in film score writing for such films as Moneyball, Capote, Little Miss Sunshine and most recently, Life of Pi. You can check out Mychael's website to view his complete body of work - it's quite astounding! We always knew that he was massively talented (genious in fact) and would go on to do amazing things. I never imagined that I would be attending the very same award show in Hollywood, CA some 30 years later. Talk about "Six Degrees of Separation", right? Congratulations Mychael on all your success! I'm really looking forward to the Critic's Choice Awards this year.
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| Mychael Danna |
See you all at the movies!!!
The Critic's Choice Movie Awards will be televised live on the CW this coming Thursday, January 10th, 2013. Tune in to see if Mychael wins in the Best Music Score category for Life of Pi
Nominations for BEST SCORE:
Argo - Alexandre Desalt
Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
The Master - Jonny Greenwood
Moonrise Kingdom - Alexandre Desplat
Six Degrees of Separation
Reviewed by pada mama
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
