Fred Willard

   Fred Willard is an actor, comedian, voice actor, and writer. 

   He is an alumnus of The Second City in Chicago, and a founding member of the improvisational-comedy group Ace Trucking Company. ACT performed sketches on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson over 50 times.

   Fred's acting credits are extensive and include Silver Streak, Fun with Dick and Jane, Austin Powers:The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Wedding Planner, This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

   He received three Emmy nominations for his recurring role on the television series Everybody Loves Raymond. In 2010, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the ABC TV series Modern Family. For his performance in Waiting for Guffman, he received an American Comedy Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Funniest Supporting Actor.

   Fred also received a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host for What’s Hot, What’s Not and received the Boston Film Critics Award, an American Comedy Award, a Sierra Award, and a tribute from the American Film Institute for his portrayal as Buck Laughlin in Best in Show. 

   Photograph copyright 2003 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Todd Bolender

Ballet dancer Todd Bolender, moved to New York City to study theatrical dance about the same time soon-to-be-famous choreographer George Balanchine arrived in the United States. 

Balanchine supervised Todd at the emerging School of American Ballet. 

A versatile dancer, Todd danced from 1936 to 1972, an unusually-long period. 

He went on to choreograph dozens of ballets for Kansas City Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. 

Todd also choreographed for musical theater, opera and television. He choreographed the opera Samson and Delilah for which the dancing received a better review than the singing.  

In 1981, he was appointed Artistic Director of Kansas City Ballet, and held that position until 1996.  

In 2006, he was notified that he had been granted the Dance Magazine Award for his lifetime achievement in dance. 

To make this photograph, I visited Todd at his residence. As I loaded film into my camera, I asked if his preference was to stand or sit. When I looked up, he had taken a seat on this bench, and he looked so comfortable and relaxed that is where we stayed.

The Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity opened in 2011, and is the new home for Kansas City Ballet and the Ballet School.

Photograph copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

James Lafferty

In 2003, James Lafferty was cast as Nathan Scott in the teenage television drama, "One Tree Hill" on the WB network. When the WB and UPN networks merged to become The CW, "One Tree Hill" was one of the few television series picked up for the 2006-2007 season. James has many movie and television credits, however he is best known for his role as Nathan.

James directed four episodes of, "One Tree Hill", and has received four Teen Choice Award nominations for his work on the series.

He starred in the ESPN made-for-television movie, "A Season on the Brink", and made guest appearances on television shows, "Once and Again", "Get Real", and "Boston Public". 
 
In magazines, he has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Teen People and Elle Girl.

James and actress Eve Hewson, daughter of U2's Bono, live together in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Debra Granik

Debra Granik's first movie, a short entitled Snake Feed, won Best Short at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. In 2004, she won the Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance for her first feature-length movie, Down to the Bone.

Her second feature, Winter's Bone, starred Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes. It won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and it received four 2011 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

For Winter's Bone, Debra cast many of the supporting roles with first-time actors from the surrounding area in Missouri, and all of the homes on screen were local homes - no sets were built for the movie. She kept most of the aesthetics of the homes in which they were shooting, and many of the mementos were contributed by people in the community.


Photograph copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Brett Stimely

Brett Stimely attended dental school, then spent time in Europe  modeling and acting. He appeared in numerous commercials, receiving a multitude of awards. 

Brett then relocated to Los Angeles, intent on a career in movies and television.

He made regular appearances as Dr. Jay Garvin on The Bold And The Beautiful (CBS), and attorney Joshua Sloane on Sunset Beach (NBC).

Other movie and television credits include Michael Bay’s Transformers 3, President John F. Kennedy in the Warner Brothers movie Watchmen, Robert Jones on the FX Channel's The Shield, and he discovered the North Pole in the Discovery Channel's Race To The Poles as the legendary explorer Frederick Albert Cook.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. 

All rights reserved.

Sir Stirling Moss

Sir Stirling Moss is the celebrated Formula One racing driver from England who is hailed as one of the world's elite.

He raced cars from 1948 to 1962, winning 212 races, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. Among the cars he raced were Lotus, Maserati, Jaguar, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.

Upon retirement, he worked as color commentator on ABC's Wide World of Sports for Formula One and NASCAR races.
 
Moss was a guest challenger on the television show, What's My Line?, and appeared in the 1967 film Casino Royale playing Evelyn Tremble's (Peter Sellers) chauffeur.

In 1990, Moss was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

He was awarded the O.B.E., Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 1959, and in March 2000, awarded Knighthood of the British Empire. 

I knew of a story about Moss aggressively driving his Mercedes-Benz away from Buckingham Palace following his knighting ceremony. He was stopped by a palace guard who asked angrily, "Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?" I asked Sir Stirling if that story was true. He laughed and assured me it was.

Sir Stirling lives in London with his very personable wife, Lady Susie Moss.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Army National Guard

 

Tank Commander

Training NCO

Army National Guard

 





Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Ramon Powers, Author

In September 1878, an important event in American Indian history occurred. After enduring a year of disease and hunger, 350 Northern Cheyenne Indians living on Indian Territory fled Oklahoma and Kansas to return to their homelands in Wyoming and Montana. Pursuing them was the United States Army. Some of the Cheyenne were killed, some surrendered to the military and were held in army barracks in Nebraska. 

In January 1879, desperate and homesick, the Cheyenne made one last attempt at freedom. Many of the men, women and children who ran from the barracks were shot and killed. Others died over the next two weeks while again being pursued by the US Army.

In the award-winning book, The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011), James N. Leiker and Ramon Powers explore ways that exodus has been remembered by examining recollections of Indians, settlers, and descendants.

Pictured is co-author Ramon Powers.

Please also refer to Mari Sandoz's Cheyenne Autumn (1953, reprint edition 1992).

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback

I am preparing for a trip to Emporia, Ks., to photograph Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and key business leaders from across the state. This photograph of Governor Brownback is from a couple of years ago.
 
Photograph copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Jodi Orton

Jodi Orton was doing very well as a legal executive. She and her husband Bret were successful in their careers, but felt barren spiritually. So, they decided to make a change toward purposeful living and making a difference.

They began fostering and adopting children, and now have ten children, nine of whom are still at home. They live on wildlife conservation property where they also provide homes for large animals. 

Jodi is the author of three children's books and was featured in an award-winning documentary, Gold Medal Service, about her work with Special Olympics in Iowa. In the Fall of 2011, the family was the subject of a documentary shot by United Kingdom director Sam Windsor-Phillips titled Fostering Change.

This photograph is of Jodi and two of her children.

The family was named 2011 Foster Family of the Year by the National Foster Parent Association.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

William Whitener

For thirty years, William Whitener has been active as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and director and has worked with leaders of contemporary American ballet, including Robert Joffrey, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp. Mr. Whitener has served as Artistic Director of  Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal and Kansas City Ballet.

At age 11, he was the recipient of a Ford Foundation scholarship to study with the San Francisco Ballet School. As a child, he performed with the Bolshoi Ballet in their production of Ballet School. As a teenager, he was trained by Robert Joffrey, who invited him to join the New York City Opera Ballet and, subsequently, the Joffrey Ballet. 

Mr. Whitener joined the original Broadway cast of Bob Fosse's Dancin' in 1978. Later that year, he began an eight-year association as a leading dancer with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company. He performed internationally and for President Ronald Reagan at the White House. He also assisted Twyla Tharp with works for American Ballet Theatre with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has staged Ms. Tharp’s ballets for Kansas City Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, The Juilliard School and Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse in France.

He expanded his career into the world of film and television, appearing in Amadeus, and the ABC television production of Bye Bye Birdie. Other television credits include the premiere episode of the PBS series Dance in America, The Dick Cavett Show and the BBC production of The Catherine Wheel. 

Mr. Whitener has choreographed works for many ballet companies including Kansas City Ballet, Boston Ballet, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Hispanico with the Tito Puente Ensemble, Hartford Ballet, Joffrey II, and Princeton Ballet. He also choreographed solos for Broadway performers Ann Reinking and Tommy Tune. 

He has been a member of the faculties of Harvard University, University of Washington, Concord Academy, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He was nominated for the National Corporate Fund for Dance American Choreograper Award and served as an Evaluator and Advisory Committee member for the International Ballet Competition 2006.  Mr. Whitener has served on the dance panels for National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trust Fund, Bush Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Herb Alpert/CAL Arts Awards, and the Board of Trustees of DANCE/USA. 

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Marty Bicknell

Each year, Barron's magazine publishes a ranking of independent wealth advisors. Marty Bicknell, Chief Executive Officer at Mariner Holdings, and his teams were ranked #7 on Barron's 2012 list of the "Top 100 Independent Wealth Advisors". That was the third consecutive year Bicknell has been ranked in the Top Ten. 

For five years in a row, he has been ranked by Barron's as the #1 financial advisor in the state of Kansas.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Tanna Guthrie

Tanna Guthrie, the Kansas City radio legend, was honored with a 2013 Kansas City Influential Women Award by Kansas City Business Magazine. Tanna was chosen based on her career achievements, business acumen, outstanding leadership abilities, and her dedication to bettering the Kansas City community.
 
The Influential Women Award program annually recognizes Kansas City's women leaders in the creative, corporate, nonprofit and entrepreneurial communities. 


Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Dr. Linda Godwin

Linda Godwin, Ph.D., joined NASA in 1980, where she worked in the Payload Operations Division. 

Dr. Godwin became a NASA astronaut in 1986, and is among the very few female astronauts who have completed space walks. 

She has logged more than 38 days in space on four space flights. Two of those flights were aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, the other two on Space Shuttle Atlantis.


Photograph © 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Cedric Hurtt

Cedric I. Hurtt's long-held secret caused him great anxiety: He could barely read or write. He was functionally illiterate. In his first year of college, he was finally diagnosed with dyslexia.

His teachers had worked with him, "but none of them got any good results out of me. Back in the 1960's, no one knew what dyslexia was, not in Kansas City, anyway." It was not until Cedric was in his late 20's that he found help at Literacy Kansas City.

Even then, it took 11 years of hard work. "I have dyslexia, it plays tricks on you. It really played tricks on my mind." One week he would be reading well, the next week, "horrible."
"For 35 years of my life, I did not feel a part of it. I was walking around hoping no one would find out my big secret."

Presently, Cedric has two sons in college, owns a thriving business, and has written and illustrated two books. The first book, “I Look Up To My Dad”, is about a journey through childhood with father and son. The second book is, “Our First Business Venture”, which centers around two brothers thinking about starting a business.

“Knowing how to read is the greatest thing that ever happened in my life. I am able to go into a restaurant, read the menu, and order what I want. Not just by looking at the pictures, but by reading the menu. When I’m grocery shopping, I can read the labels on the food. I can read and understand my own mail. Now I can read a book, the newspaper, and learn about the world, not just by seeing it or hearing it on television."

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

John de Lancie

John de Lancie played the supreme being, "Q", one of a very few characters appearing in multiple episodes (12) of Star Trek:The Next Generation, Star Trek:Deep Space Nine and Star Trek:Voyager. He co-starred in Legend, had a recurring role as Colonel Frank Simmons in Stargate SG-1, and appeared in Breaking Bad, The Unit, Law & Order: LA, Touched by an Angel, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Get Smart Again!, The Fisher King, Bad Influence, and The Onion Field. There are many more credits.

Additionally, de Lancie has performed as narrator with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Montreal Symphony.

He and Leonard Nimoy are co-owners of Alien Voices, a company producing radio-style dramatization of classic science fiction.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Karole Armitage: Dancer, Choreographer

#WomenYouShouldKnow

Karole Armitage is based in New York City where she is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance.

She began her professional dance career as a member of Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève in Switzerland, which was directed by George Balanchine. Following this, she was a member of Merce Cunningham Dance Company where she danced in leading roles around the world.

In 1984, she was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to create a work for American Ballet Theatre. Three years later, Rudolph Nureyev commissioned one of her works for Paris Opéra Ballet.

She served as director and choreographer of the company MaggioDanza in Florence, Italy, was resident choreographer of Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, France, and director of the International Festival of Contemporary Dance at the Venice Biennale.

Karole created dances for numerous companies including Paris Opera Ballet, White Oak Dance Project, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Lyon Opera Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Kansas City Ballet, Bern Ballet, Washington Ballet, and Rambert Dance Company. She directed operas for many of the prestigious houses of Europe, including Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Lyric Opera in Athens and Het Muzik Theater in Amsterdam.

She created choreography for Michael Jackson’s "In The Closet", and Madonna’s "Vogue."

Vanity Fair magazine once dubbed her the “punk ballerina”.  

She was nominated for a Tony Award for her choreography of the Broadway musical Hair.

In the spring of 2009, Karole was awarded France’s most prestigious award, "Commandeur dans L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres."

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. 

All rights reserved.

#CelebratingWomen

#Dance

#Ballet

Cameron Richardson: Model, Actor, Associate Producer

#WomenYouShouldKnow

Cameron Richardson modeled for Mademoiselle, Interview, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, and other fashion magazines, and modeled clothing for American Eagle Outfitters, GAP, Lucky Brand Jeans, Chic Jeans, Roxy, and Forever 21. 

She has a long list of movie and television credits, including a series regular as Chloe Carter on Harper's Island (CBS), plus appearing on Entourage (HBO), and CSI: Las Vegas (CBS).

I remember well her as a guest star on House (Fox, Season 2, Episode 13).

Cameron has been named one of the "102 Sexiest Women in the World."

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Update: The Television Academy's Primetime Emmy® Awards honored her as Associate Producer for an Emmy Award Winning Children's Program, 2019 - 2020.

Wrongfully Convicted

   

   Dennis Fritz, a high school science teacher and track coach, was convicted, and given a life sentence for murder.

   

   Several appeals of his conviction were denied, and he contacted Innocence Project. 

   After serving 11 years in prison for first-degree murder, Dennis was exonerated, his conviction overturned, and he was released.

   Dennis, and another wrongly-convicted man, were subjects of the best-selling, non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, by John Grisham.  

   

   He published his account of the tragedy, Journey Toward Justice, where he writes of profound emotional harm.

   Please also visit Midwest Innocence Project for useful information.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. 

All rights reserved.

William Whitener With Ballet Company Dancers

Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director William Whitener with the company dancers. 

 
Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Mayor Sly James

Sly James is the 54th Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. In the late 1960's, he was the lead singer in a band, and it was the opening act when Jefferson Airplane performed in Kansas City.
 
Mayor James served in the Marine Corp, graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctor degree, and was the first African-American partner in the large, prestigious Kansas City law firm for which he worked.
 

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Forrest Whitlow

Forrest Whitlow hails from Kentucky, and his music has been described as, "David Lynch meets Neil Young". One can discern elements of country, folk, and rock in the songs he skillfully writes and performs.

Ghosts From The Old Country, his ninth studio album, was recently released. It was produced by Forrest, along with Pat Tomek.

Photograph copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

JJ's Restaurant

I made these photographs at JJ's Restaurant. Zagat Survey rated it as, "one of the top restaurants" in the Midwest, and Wine Spectator stated JJ's Restaurant had, "one of the best wine lists in the world". 

The wine rack image shows a portion of the 1800 bottles of wine destroyed following an explosion and fire. When I shot these images, I never imagined using them in a eulogy for the acclaimed restaurant.



Photographs copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Michael Pink

Michael Pink, an internationally-celebrated ballet Artistic Director and Choreographer, was born in the city of York, England. When he auditioned for the Royal Ballet School, he was accepted on a scholarship. Michael was the recipient of a Royal Society of Arts Choreographic award, which he used for travel to the United States to study with the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Early on, he worked as répétiteur for Rudolf Nureyev at the Paris Opera and La Scala Milan. 

Michael is perhaps best known for his creation of the narrative dance works, Dracula, Swan Lake, Coppelia, Cinderella and Peter Pan. Michael's theatrical productions have been described as, "Classical ballet for the 21st century". 

Michael told me that audiences attending performances of Dracula dress in character, similar to attending The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

He recently celebrated his 10th anniversary with Milwaukee Ballet. 

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Zildjian Cymbals

In the early seventeenth century, Avedis Zildjian was an Armenian alchemist striving to make what every good alchemist at the time was attempting to make - gold. He made a spectacular discovery; an alloy of copper, tin, and silver yielding sensational sound qualities. In 1618, Mr. Zildjian used this alloy to create cymbals.

The acclaimed company continues to make Zildjian Cymbals, and the business has been passed down through the family for hundreds of years. It is now located in Norwell, Massachusetts, and owned by two Zildjian sisters (14th generation), Craigie and Debbie. It is recognized as the oldest family-owned business in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world.

Photograph copyright 2013 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Steve Schmidt

Steve Schmidt holds a degree in Engineering. While working on that degree, he and a friend started a computer business, which thrived until a fire left it in ashes.

Not one to be discouraged, Steve set out on his own in 1991, and founded Tekniq Data Corporation. Today, Tekniq is a successful Information Technology firm with very talented programmers, developers, network engineers and designers.

Tekniq creatively assists clients with computer and telephone systems, document management, software development and website design.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

A number of years ago, my photographs were accepted into an abundance of top-notch juried art shows around the nation.  I had a fabulous time traveling, meeting other artists and selling images. Although I am no longer involved with these events, I continue to shoot fine art photographs.  One can view all the art shows that accepted my work on my Résumé.

In this architectural image, I am looking straight up, and I rotated the image 90 degrees. I have a couple of other images that were most striking when oriented upside down, and that is how I framed and presented them.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Marilyn Maye

Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show, described Marilyn Maye as, “Super Singer”, and Ella Fitzgerald referred to her as, “The greatest white female singer in the world.”

Marilyn began her musical training at the age of three with her mother, who accompanied her on the piano. At age nine, she began classical voice lessons.

Steve Allen invited her to appear on his very popular television show, and soon after, Marilyn signed a recording contract with RCA records. 

She appeared on The Tonight Show an unprecedented 76 times, and received a Grammy Awards nomination for “Best New Artist”.

Her most recent award, among many, was the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Cabaret Professionals.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Christine Elise McCarthy

#WomenYouShouldKnow

Multi-talented Christine Elise McCarthy starred as Emily Valentine in Beverly Hills, 90210, and wrote three of the episodes. 

She wrote the, "Jeopardy" episode, and described Alex Trebek as, "Lovely."

Additional television credits include ER, HBO's Tell Me You Love Me, Law & Order:SVU, China Beach, and In the Heat of the Night. 

Movie credits include Mojave Phone Booth, Child's Play 2, Boiling Point, Vanishing Point, and Bodysnatchers.  

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. 

All rights reserved.

#CelebratingWomen

When my long-time client, and television-news personality, asked if I would photograph her baby, I jumped at the opportunity. This perfect angel was mesmerized by the studio lights, and most likely destined to work in front of the camera like her mother.

Photograph copyright Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

A noun, architectonics refers to the scientific study of architecture. It includes musical, literary, and artistic structure.

The definition is quite appropriate for this photograph I made at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, one of the most technically and architecturally advanced performing arts centers in the world.

I admire the graceful lines and simplicity of the solitary, lighted candles on tables nestled in the curve of the wall. The walls are not normally this color; there was a wash of blue light from below.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Dan Thomas

A passionate performer, Dan Thomas is a musician and educator who came to the United States from Canada in 1993. He has performed and presented with some of the most important jazz performers and academicians in the United States, Canada and abroad.

Dan can often be seen at jazz festivals throughout the United States and Canada, plus he performs regularly in small jazz combos, classical chamber groups and with big bands.

Listen to Dan's CD's, "City Scope" and, "Musical Sanctuary". Both have received high praise in recent reviews.

This image of Dan is much more interesting to me than shooting during a show, because it is his solitary, privileged time not seen by an audience. We made this when he stepped outside to warm up just before a packed-house performance.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Bobby Watson, Musician

Bobby Watson is a saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator. He attended the University of Miami along with fellow students Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius and Bruce Hornsby. After graduating, he moved to New York City and joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

Bobby has worked with a multitude of notable musicians, including drummers Max Roach and Louis Hayes, fellow saxophonists George Coleman and Branford Marsalis, multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. In addition to working with instrumentalists, Watson has served in a supporting role for a number of distinguished vocalists including Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Carmen Lundy, and has performed as a sideman with Carlos Santana, George Coleman, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Bob Belden and John Hicks.

Bobby also composed an original song for the soundtrack of Robert De Niro's A Bronx Tale (1993).

A resident of New York for most of his professional life, he still performs live engagements around the world and leaves time for teaching. Watson is currently involved with the Thelonious Monk Institute's yearly "Jazz in America" high school outreach program.

Addendum: Bobby Watson was presented the prestigious Benny Golson Jazz Master Award at Howard University in Washington, D.C., March 7, 2013. He was honored for his excellence in jazz.


Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. 

All rights reserved.

Toni Pimble

Toni Pimble is Artistic Director, Resident Choreographer and co-founder of Eugene Ballet Company in Eugene, Oregon. She was born in England and studied at Elmhurst Ballet School.

Ms. Pimble's work has been performed by an abundance of ballet companies in the United States including Atlanta Ballet, New York City Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Omaha, Washington Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theater, Ballet NY and Kansas City Ballet.

With Ms. Pimble's leadership, Eugene Ballet Company has toured 32 states, and internationally to Taiwan and visited India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia. Her creative work has brought her a number of awards and fellowships, including two Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Awards and a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship Grant.

She has choreographed over 60 works for Eugene Ballet Company. Many of those productions involved collaborations with composers, literary and visual artists and local arts organizations including the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Mozart Players, The Shedd Institute for the Arts and the University of Oregon School of Music.

Ms. Pimble's most recent choreography was seen in "Carmina Burana" performed by the Kansas City Ballet.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Lynne Taylor-Corbett

Choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett's work spans theatre, dance and movies. She was nominated for two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk for direction and choreography of Broadway’s “Swing!”, and for two American Theatre Wing Star Awards for it’s National Tour.  She also choreographed Broadway's “Chess” and “Titanic”.             

Her dance works have been commissioned by numerous companies throughout the world, and in the United States by the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Company, and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

In 2008, Taylor-Corbett was the recipient of the Joseph A. Callaway Award for excellence in stage directing and choreography given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Broadcasts of her work have been seen on “Live From Lincoln Center", “Live from the San Francisco Opera House” and on UNCTV.  Her movies include “Footloose”, “My Blue Heaven”, “Vanilla Sky” and “Bewitched”. 

Ms. Taylor-Corbett choreographed "Mercury", the opening piece of "Carmina Burana", recently presented by the Kansas City Ballet.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Google Fiber is a project to build an experimental internet network using fiber-optic communication in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri.  Over 1,100 communities applied to be the first recipient of the technology.

The internet service offers connection speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have today.

Shige, an engineer from Japan, is located at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. He is working with the Google Fiber marketing department.



Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Kevin is General Manager, Google Access, and is also based at Google headquarters.



Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Ten-Year-Old Guitarist

This talented ten-year-old has been playing his Gibson Les Paul guitar, his drums and singing in popular venues since he was eight years old. 

He loves an audience, and says his goal is, "to be a legendary rocker the whole world knows." 

He taught himself to play - no lessons. 

Perhaps he will take me on tour with him.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Young Mensa Member

Mensa, the largest and oldest High IQ Society in the world, accepted my eight-year-old client when he was seven years old. 

At the Mensa Mind Games in Washington, DC, (April, 2012) he was the youngest adjudicator present, responsible as a Mensa member to play, review and vote his top 7 picks of the new board and card games competing for the 2012 Mensa seal of approval. 

When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, his response was, "A scientist. I'll invent all day and party all night."

Sounds right to me.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

Steven Nagel - Astronaut

Steven R. Nagel  (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) joined NASA's astronaut program and served on missions aboard shuttles Discovery (1985), Challenger (1985), Atlantis (1991), and Columbia (1993). 

Colonel Nagel was Pilot on the Challenger mission and Commander on the Atlantis and Columbia flights.
 

Photograph © 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.

The Illustrated Woman

This lovely lady is a feminine work of art.

Her tattoos are a combined picture, meaning she can put her arms together to make a solid drawing. The flowers represent each family member she loves. 

The butterflies illustrate a time when she was an iron worker. It was her first time on a particular type of girder, and wore no safety cables. She was ninety-feet in the air and just as she took her first step onto the girder, a butterfly landed on her shoulder staying with her all day. The trolls are a man and a woman giving each other a lady bug; the gnomes are protectors.

Photograph copyright 2012 Larry F. Levenson. All rights reserved.