23-11-2019, 19:50
Peter Himmelman was born on this day in 1959, in Minnesota, USA. He is a very busy boy – a singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, he has been involved in the biz from around 16 years of age, releasing 13 solo albums during the course of his career and around 5 with his erstwhile bands. In addition, he has made a few children’s albums as well as writing and producing songs for Spinoza Bear, a therapeutic soft toy used to help reduce the stress and anxiety of children who’d been hospitalized for any number of reasons. He provided the Bear’s voice too.
He is a consummate live performer and is noted generally for his inventiveness and imagination – in addition to ongoing performances and recording and composing (which he’s done for film and television), he also runs a company called Big Muse which uses music as a vehicle to help with team building and increasing innovative thinking in organizations. All this despite being Bob Dylan’s son-in-law which has apparently had absolutely no bearing on the way he chooses to live his life.
Himmelman was raised in a non-observant Jewish home and one of the reasons he’s perhaps not better known is that he converted to Judaism in early adulthood, right at the start of his career, and among other things, refused to become a slave to the system or to compromise his newfound beliefs; no performing on the Sabbath, for example, and other personal rules and standards he’s consistently and uncompromisingly upheld.
I stumbled over him when he had formed an outfit name Minnesota and released their one and only album, Are You There. Today, I listened to Synesthesia - I have also previously heard his Love Thinketh no Evil.
“Time Just Flew” from the latter - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9WftyXPUY4
From Minnesota’s one and only – “Ash and Chickenwire” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncIUJG2Qu4k
Three from Synesthesia because it’s still fresh in my ears – “245 Days” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9yWqqA77WA
“Speaking Mouth” …. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmIoeuZomv0
“Dirty Reasons” - some fab guitar on these ...
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson