Volunteer Spotlight: Gene Felice
The Bob Moog Foundation is fortunate to have a corps of fantastic, dedicated volunteers. We simply couldn’t carry out everything we do without them. From event support to photography to artistic and technological input and more, our volunteers help shape our efforts. Since fall of 2007, multi-media artist Gene Felice has contributed hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of his time to help us develop visual content that conveys our mission of igniting creativity at the intersection of music, science, history, and innovation.
If you live here in Asheville, you might know Gene Felice from his dynamic events like {Re}Happening at Lake Eden, or as an inspiring multi-media teacher at Odyssey Community School. We know Gene as a long time supporter of the Bob Moog Foundation, having lent his talents to us on a variety of occasions.
Over the years we have been honored to work with him on a number of projects:
- Conceptual drawings for the Moogseum
- Design and graphics for our website
- Design and graphic artist for the MiniMoogseum
- Graphic direction for our Toubab Krewe video
- Poster Design for events like Pushing the Envelope
- Interactive elements at a number of our events
- Curator for Pushing the Envelope
You can view some of Gene’s work on his website. Thanks, Gene, for all that you have done to help grow the Bob Moog Foundation!
Voices: Toubab Krewe’s Connection to Bob & The Moog Legacy
Toubab Krewe’s One-of-a-Kind Connection to Bob Moog through the Network of Creativity
“They are such damn good musicians that I just wish I could dance with Ileana to their music”
– Bob Moog speaking about Toubab Krewe in the month before his passing
On August 21, 2005, Bob Moog succumbed to an aggressive brain tumor. His passing touched legions of people around the world. In the month prior to his passing, Bob discovered the music of Toubab Krewe, an new, local african/rock fusion band who was, at the time, managed by Bob’s longtime friend Steven Heller. One sleepless night Bob listened to the band’s new self-titled CD over and over again, and was deeply moved by the quality of the musicianship. This beautiful video, which features Drew Heller, guitarist for Toubab Krewe and Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation, explores Bob’s connection to the band and the reach of the Moog Legacy as it has touched Toubab Krewe and as it is manifested in the Bob Moog Foundation.
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We owe a huge thanks to many people who helped make this video a reality. The video was shot in the studio of world-class Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, North Carolina. The owner, Steve Wilmans and their manager, Jessica Tomasin, continue to be a wonderfully supportive to the Foundation’s mission. The exceptional filmmaking team that donated their services to make this video a possibility was a collaboration between David Bragg of Flying Pig Studio (located within Echo Mountain Recording) and the late Margaret Lauzon of Studio South, among other local talents.
Music photographer phenom Jon Leidel documented the making of the video. Here are some some of his stunning images:
“Voices” Series Launch: Beastie Boys Cut the Ribbon on the MiniMoogseum!
Hip Hop Legends Perform Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on MiniMoogseum Installation, Paying Tribute to the Moog Legacy
The Beastie Boys have been rocking crowds the world over for more than 25 years; they are the undeniable innovators of both hip hop and rock and roll. Known for looking forward and backward, the Beastie Boys were among the first to embrace the phat analog Moog sound in the late 80s and early 90s at a point when the world of synthesis had gone largely digital.
How fitting it was to have the Beastie Boys swing through town and perform a ribbon cutting ceremony on the Foundation’s MiniMoogseum installation in the Orange Peel, once again championing the Bob Moog and his legacy of pioneering synthesis. Check out the Beastie Boys performing the ribbon cutting ceremony here:
Here’s the embed code to share this video via Youtube:
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Dubbed the “MiniMoogseum,” the eight foot high showcase serves as the first permanent installation of Bob Moog’s archives, including one of his Grammy awards and relics from the early development of Moog synthesizers. Michelle Moog-Koussa, who serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation named after her father, explained that “Over the decades to come, hundreds of thousands of people will see the installation as they visit the Orange Peel…” which was recently voted in the top five in the country by Rolling Stone magazine. The “MiniMoogseum” can be thought of as a small scale version of the future “Moogseum“, coming soon to the Asheville area.
Beastie Boys join a growing group of celebrity musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Keith Emerson, and Billy Corgan who have all voiced their support of the Foundation’s mission to teach science to children using musical instruments. In the video the band expresses that they are “…proud and happy to be here at the beginning of this beautiful thing…..the Moogseum.” They continue by saying “There should be a Moog synthesizer in every classroom.”
This video marks the first in a new series of videos and blogs that the Foundation is calling “Voices” — reflections and ideas from the wider Moog community, focused on how Bob Moog inspired their creativity.
Making the MiniMoogseum a Reality: Volunteers and Sponsors
The MiniMoogseum was designed and built by a team of volunteers and sponsors—the foundation playfully refers to them as “Rockstars”–including Gene Felice, Chris Perryman, Steve Dunnington and Mike Pieo.
Materials for the project were donated by Cormark International, Speed Graphics, Moog Music, Asheville Hardware and Henco Reprographics. This project is the first step in an iterative process for the Foundation. The full-sized Moogseum, scheduled to open in four years, will feature interactive and experiential exhibits that inspire the next generation of “Bob Moog” like innovators, as well as an intimate performance area, where musicians from around the world can participate in the Foundation’s programming.
Special thanks to Meg Lauzon, Rhino & Jon Leidel for capturing this even on both video and photo! And a special thanks to the Orange Peel for hosting this amazing event.
MoogFoundation.org — behind the curtains
Hello to all of you out there in our online community. I wanted to take a minute to give you an update on 8 months of hard work by a small group of dedicated volunteers in building this website. So, I present: a peek behind the curtains of the MoogFoundation.org. First and foremost, thanks to our Rockstar team: Gene Felice, Jeremy Ferguson and Mike Ostrich. These guys have put in countless hours to make this machine work and in doing so, added tremendous value to the foundation and given us so much more capacity to fulfill our mission.
First, a quick tour of the software to give credit where it is due. We use the open source, world-rocking, amazing WordPress content management system, as well as Linux, MySQL and PHP. We use about a dozen free and open source WordPress plugins, which I won’t list for security reasons, but sincere thanks to all of the developers who have made these systems available and open source.
There are several third-party services that expand our functionality. We use iContact for our email newsletter, Groundspring for secure online donations, and we based the original design of the site on a template from GraphPaperPress. The current design of the site is a collaboration of our team, with Gene Felice doing the heaviest lifting.
It would surprise some people to realize just how much we have going on. Did you know, for example, that we have an iPhone and mobile friendly version of the site? Yep, we do.
A few other things people might not realize is that we have a regular blog series that will be expanding across the course of 2010. We maintain a micro-site for the Moogseum at www.Moogseum.com. Beyond that, we have our Twitter account, Facebook page and Facebook Causes page, a YouTube Channel, a MySpace page and an email newsletter list that reaches somewhere around 5,000 people a month.
[edit: I also forgot we maintain a Flickr account with lots of great pictures of Bob's Archives.]
Later in the year, I hope that we can be a little more transparent about the traffic to the site, but for now we are not releasing that information.
All of this is in place to help us foster innovation at the intersection of science and music. So special thanks again to our Rockstar team. You guys are amazing!
And thank to you, our friends, donors and allies.
–Sean McDonald, board member
p.s. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our bloggers–Dave & Seva–and our truly tireless Executive Director, Michelle Moog-Koussa. This foundation depends on Michelle for everything we do, and she is remarkable in her commitment!
Thank you. (And happy Thanksgiving!)
This Thanksgiving, The Bob Moog Foundation is thankful for you.
Happy Holidays!
I’m Sean McDonald, one of the board members of the Bob Moog Foundation. Like most people, my attention is turning from my job and day-to-day life, to focus on the things that matter most–the things that make my life rich, meaningful and happy.
The past year has been a great year for the BMF. We have had some huge accomplishments. I want to take the time to highlight a few and express my thanks for all of your support.
First and foremost, the BMF has been blessed to work with our incredible Executive Director, Michelle Moog-Koussa. Most people know Michelle–or “Mimi” to some of you–as Bob’s daughter. But it’s important to understand that Michelle is a talented, tireless and deeply committed individual who has built this foundation from the ground up. Her leadership and determination are among the things I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving.
We launched our effort to build the Moogseum and received a commitment from the Buncombe County (Asheville, NC) Tourism Development Authority for 20% of our total goal. (That’s $600,000 out of $3,000,000 FYI.) That is a great start to building one of the world’s most innovative community engagement and artistic development spaces.
Additional thanks go to the Grammy Foundation, Moog Music–who just donated a Moog Guitar signed by Lou Reed, which will be auctioned off Dec 7th as a benefit to the BMF–and all our donors and other funding partners.
We also hosted our first Bob Moog exhibit with our partner, the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA. If you are in Southern California anytime soon (think: NAMM 2010), make sure to visit the space.
We released a new version of MoogFoundation.org, and I am eternally thankful for our Web Development team, one of the many groups of our “Rockstar Volunteers.” (There are too many to thank individually, but we love you all!) In addition, we held several MoogedOut events with the support of actual rockstars, like Umphree‘s McGee and Toubab Krewe.
Most important, and I can say this on behalf of the whole Board of Directors, we are thankful for you: our friends, partners and allies. For your gifts of time, talent and treasure to the BMF. For your creativity and enthusiasm. And for your commitment to our work, fostering innovation at the intersection of science and music.
If you would like to give some time, talent or treasure, email me and we’ll talk directly about how you can help. (If you are interested, we’re accepting applications for board members.)
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We’ll be in touch soon.
Sincerely,
