SAN JUAN ISLAND MUSICIANS

Local songwriters nominated for awards in LA

posted 11/26/2007
Friday Harbor residents Tom Doenges and Richard Hieronymus have been nominated by the Los Angeles Music Awards for Independent artists/writers(LAMA) for two songs they co-wrote. Tom Doenges AKA TOM HENRY performed and produced both songs and has been invited to attend this event.

The songs are entitled "All Tled Down" and "The Shutup Song". These songs can be heard along with others on Broadjam. The songs can be played by logging on to www.broadjam.com/tomhenry.

The nomination can be found at: www.losangelesmusicawards.net/2007nominees.html

The merit of the songs is figured by of number of hits and strength in the independent artist web sites along with ITunes and other notable sites.

This event will be televised locally in Los Angeles the evening of Nov. 29 and is expected to reach more than a million people. Many celebrities are expected to attend.

Hieronymus and Doenges have worked together during the past 15 years on feature film scores such as Molly and the Ghost and The Meanco Project.

Congratulations to "Tom Henry"

posted 10/25/05
San Juan Islander Tom Doenges' "The Shutup Song" made Broadjam's top ten yesterday (Oct. 24, 2005). Broadjam is an affiliate of record labels and a way for them to review songs before they are picked up by artists for recording. The good news happened on Tom's birthday. Congratulations and a belated Happy Birthday to Tom. To listen to the song go to www.broadjam.com/top10. Click on Region, then on Washington. Tom's pen name is "Tom Henry."

The song was cowritten with Richard Hieronymus.

Hieronymus' composition performed at the Olympics

posted 02/24/02
San Juan Island resident Richard Hieronymus' Olympic moment was thirty years in the making. "The Indian Ballet," a composition he wrote in 1972 while working as a music arranger in Hollywood was performed Feb. 19, 2002 at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics.

The long road to the unexpected Olympic performance began shortly after "Frog Story," a live action short film he had scored, was nominated for an Academy Award. Burch Mann commissioned Hieronymus to compose and arrange 15 minutes of original American Indian style music for a thirty piece orchestra. She was a dance choreographer and owner/director of the American Folk Ballet.

The first performance was held on March 24, 1972 at Thorne Hall, Occidental College, Los Angeles. The complete show was titled "Remember the West" ( The opening of the Frontier - in Song and Dance ). "The Indian Ballet" appeared in Act 1, Scene 1: Moon of the Falling Leaves; The Wounded Hawk and The Gathering Storm.

In 1973 the company went on a world tour to Europe, including Russia, Greece and Israel. In Athens, Greece after the performance the lead male dancer was lifted above the heads of theater crowd and carried through the streets of Athens. Hieronymus said, the dancer's fiery dancing as a Wounded Hawk in the pas de deux was wildly acclaimed.

On January 19, 1977 the American Folk Ballet performed at Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. in honor of President Jimmy Carter's Inauguration. Year after year they danced "The Indian Ballet." In 1982 Mann moved her dance company to Cedar City, Utah where she served as distinguished Artist in Residence at Southern Utah University until her retirement in 1992. She created the SUU's dance program in the department of Theatre arts & dance.

Hieronymus lost track of Burch after she left Los Angeles and was saddened to hear she had died June 25, 1996. Two months ago, Larry Smith, Burch's original conductor, called him. They hadn't been in touch in 15 years.

Smith asked if Hieronymus had the score and any tape recordings of "The Indian Ballet." The company's originals had been lost. Hieronymus sent them to Smith to be performed and recorded for a performance in Salt Lake City on February 19, 2002 at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in the Cultural Olympiad Theater. He said, "How amazing that this music should be danced once again after thirty years."

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