Achieving goals

Achieving goals

Dan Moore and Leonard Nimoy

When I was in high school, I shared a room during my senior year with Dan, who was a film freak and a Trekkie. I admired him - then as now - for his devotion to and enthusiasm for his passions. When John Williams, the composer of the "Star Wars" theme played in nearby South Bend with the Boston Pops, Dan took a bus up there and somehow finagled his way into the green room where he got to shake Mr. Williams' hand and take some pictures of one of his idols. When he got back to our room that evening, he discovered that his camera didn't have any film in it. He cried and I felt sad for him until two months ago.

Dan behind the camera in 1990

In his Christmas card he reported that he made a film with John Williams and got to take the picture again - after 30 years! The year before that, he was involved in the making of the "Star Trek" movie and sent me the picture of him and Spock along with the attached note. What a present! Dan is a video operator in L.A. and has worked with Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Tim Burton, Leonard Nimoy, Steven Spielberg and many others. Following his passion has helped him achieve his teenage goals - and aren't they often the ones we're secretly most passionate about?

At our tenth high school reunion with fellow roommate Mark Johnson

I've written about having achieved one of these secret teenage goals: becoming a Genesis roadie. Well, connected to that dream was the idea to take photographs at a Genesis concert and have the band use my pictures in their program.

Well, last March I took pictures at two shows put on by Martin Levac and band. He is a Phil Collins look-alike/sound-alike/act-alike and I like what he does! A wonderful musician and a warm, generous man, he and his manager allowed me to take pictures at his shows in Stuttgart and Mannheim. I sent him the best pictures, as agreed, and today in the mail I received a signed copy of the program for his upcoming tour. 

I was blown away to see that he had used five of my pictures in the program and, of course, given me credit. 

Page 7 of the program

Page 11 of the program

Page 12 of the program

To round out an awesome day, I went to a concert performed by the SWR Vocal Ensemble, which sang an a cappella versions of several songs by Gustav Mahler, including "Urlicht", "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", the Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony (with a text by Eichendorff which Richard Strauss used in his Four Last Songs!) and "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen", which Maureen Forrester told me was her favorite song by Mahler.

Oh, and to make it a perfect day, we picked out a secondary school for our son. He'll be doing lots of art the next eight years!

So I will end with one more picture from Martin in Mannheim (which he will revisit on March 7, 2011) and wish you all a good night!