in the Spotlight
RAP, PINK FLOYD AND ME
I am honored to be included in Paul’s new book, Gliders Over Hollywood. Rap and I go back some thirty five years at Columbia Records. Some of the crazy adventures we’ve shared together include working for long periods of time with Pink Floyd, among several other major recording acts. I remember someone bursting into my office saying, “Hop on a plane tomorrow. We have to get you to Texas ASAP. We just purchased this retired Good Year Blimp and turned it into the Pink Floyd Airship, and need you to get arial shots for promotion and PR before the Division Bell tour starts soon.”
After a week of shooting air to air, it was on to the next arial acrobat the 1994 Division Bell tour and the rest is history.
Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay, And The Art Of Rock Promotion - Paperback – April 15, 2025
Gliders Over Hollywood tells the exhilarating true story of a blue-collar kid nicknamed ‘Rap’ who grew up in thrall to rock’n’roll, then found himself right in the middle of many of his heroes’ lives as he became the most renowned rock promotion man in the USA.
Paul Rappaport enjoyed a storied thirty-three-year career at Columbia Records, where he was instrumental in the careers of everyone from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd to The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello to Billy Joel, Judas Priest to Alice In Chains, and many, many more.
This dynamic, entertaining memoir captures the magic of these times and the people who made it happen, revealing the never-before-heard secrets of the promotion and marketing that turned the music industry on its head. From creating the Pink Floyd airship to sword-fighting with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden and receiving a guitar lesson from Keith Richards, it’s a book packed full of extraordinary adventures with some of the biggest names in rock.
Portrait Photograph: Mark Seligar
Joey Wit
I met Jimmy in 2021 just before recording my sophomore LP, “Rose Gold”. A mutual friend introduced us in hope we could work together. In fact, our original introduction was a phone conversation. What was supposed to be a brief “hello” before we officially met turned into about a 90 minute long back and forth story trade heart to heart discussion; now a common theme for Jimmy and me. We covered everything from Abbey Road, to international touring, and the iconic Blackwing 602 (if you know that one, well then, you’d probably be great friends with us). When it came time for the first shoot the chemistry was already through the roof, not only did I gain an artistic partner to work with, but a brother as well. Jimmy and I have since worked together in several capacities from official publicity photos, head shots, and in studio recording sessions, with international touring and live performances on the agenda for the future.
If Joey Wit had only been a short-lived professional baseball player, that would have been enough of a legacy to satisfy his adventurous spirit. But after three years and multiple concussions, when his career ended abruptly, he was blessed with the hard-earned realization that he never felt as alive or awake in athletics as he did writing and performing music. As a boy who grew up listening to classic rock in the likes of the Beatles and Stones, while drowning in guitar catalogs before and between little league games, his homecoming back to music was both a dream and the hardest thing he's ever done, yet where he's supposed to be.
Now, Wit is a tattooed indie rock singer with a sound influenced by contemporary alternative artists such as Wilco and Radiohead, along with the vintage progressive touch of bands like Yes and Pink Floyd, with an aspect of personal storytelling immersed in vulnerability. Featuring the single, "Reconsider," his debut record, "Eastern Standard" accumulated extensive radio play on the indie rock circuit. Wit and his band, The Definition, "stop and start their songs using the telepathy of familiar bandmates, infusing the material with dynamics that let the music go from a roar to a whisper of fingerpicking from one beat to the next," wrote The New Haven Independent. His songs lyrically describe deeply human journeys: Searching for someone to fall in love with; dreading the unknown; getting another, unexpected chance to run at a dream; making instant and profound connections at the wrong time; romanticizing past relationships. They portray, in equal measure, feelings of brokenness and of the glimmers of hope when piecing oneself back together. But they also pan back out to reflect a deeper belief, that the telling of these stories matter more than the stories themselves. That's what gets us through. Wit's sophomore LP, "Rose Gold", is scheduled for a Spring 2024 release, featuring the first single"Leave It to Me," which came in at #29 on the Radio Indie Alliance Charts, with contributions from Matt Starr (drums-Ace Frehley/Mr.Big) and 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ricky Byrd (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts) on lead guitar. With a full slate of live performances in 2024, Wit will be hitting the road in support of Joel Hoekstra (Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Whitesnake) and Brandon Gibbs (Devil City Angels/Poison) on their 2024 Ireland/UK Tour; as well as performing with his band (The Definition) throughout the US and Europe.
Video teaser in production on former music executive and photographer
Michael Friedman highlighting the process of EXPOSED
Michael Friedman began his music career managing bands in college, later becoming a publicist for The Bee Gees. The Mamas and Papas, The Turtles, The Hollies, and Glen Campbell. He managed and produced Todd Rundgren's first band. NAZZ, before joining Albert Crossman in 1968, working with Bob Dylan, The Band, Janis Joplin, and others, while documenting his experiences with a Pentax camera. Friedman produced early albums for Grossman's Bearsville Records and later managed Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge. At Arista Records in 1979. he created the video department. producing groundbreaking music videos, before founding Empire Records.
In 2018, Friedman's wife, Donna Vita. discovered photo negatives of artists he worked with (1968-1973). This led to The Lost Negatives Project, featuring exhibits at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where the photos are archived. Their book, EXPOSED: The Lost Negatives and Untold Stories of Michael Friedman, was published in 2023.
Video stills
Friedman also pursued antiques and design, opening Friedman Gallery Antiques and Artafax in Westport in 1983. His book Cowboy Culture: The Last Frontier of American Antiques was released in 1992. With Vita, he co-founded the Ash Creek Saloons in Fairfield and Norwalk and The Goose American Bistro in Darien.
Currently Donna, Michael and Jimmy are working on multiple projects. Michael continues showing at galleries and public spaces throughout New York and Connecticut.