Mar 16, 2007

Grammy Award winner's latest work to be seen, not heard

By Paul Freeman

While Barry Mann hasn't lost his lovin' feeling for music, he now also pours soul and inspiration into another creative passion - photography.

The stunning, thought-provoking photos from this Grammy winner are being displayed through March 30 at the California Modern Art Gallery on Market Street in San Francisco. The two-person show, titled "Uncovering the Essence," features Mann's photography and the work of artist Susan Berkowitz.

For the full impact of Mann's photos, which are as large as 6-feet by 4-feet, you'll have to experience them at the gallery. But you can peruse his intriguing, imaginative work at www.mann-weil.com.

Mann began taking photos in the '60s, but didn't think much about it. He was enjoying the spotlight as one of the era's most important songwriters. With wife Cynthia Weil, he wrote many timeless hits, including, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Soul & Inspiration," "On Broadway," "Kicks," "We Gotta Get Outta This Place," "Walking in the Rain," "I Just Can't Help Believing" and later, "Somewhere Out There" and the Dolly Parton hit, "Here You Come Again."

About 17 years ago, Mann contacted his friend David Hume Kennerly, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, who helped Mann purchase the right cameras, then advised simply, "Go shoot!"

"I had this concept in my mind," Mann says. "I wanted to shoot large. I had the idea of shooting part of an object, so you don't know quite what it is and you can make an abstract painting out of it. In photographer mode, you start seeing things you wouldn't normally see."

Jogging around the Beverly Hills High track, he noticed a battered baseball backstop, and had to take a photo of it. You can see the large-scale image of this, one of his early works, at the exhibit. Like his other arresting visual images, it invites endless contemplation as you discover fresh connotations and nuances.

Kennerly encouraged Mann in his photographic pursuits. "David said I could have been as successful a photographer as I am a songwriter. And that's what I hope to be. He said you take it for granted what you do. You just see things. You just naturally have a great eye for composition and color."

Mann sees a correlation between his two creative paths. "Sometimes, creating a song, especially now with all the technology, it's almost like painting a picture, where you do layers, putting different colors in. I get the same sort of visceral feeling when I'm satisfied with a song as I do from a photograph that feels just right to me."

He hopes to elicit similar reactions. "When I write a song, I'd like someone to visualize a photo. When I print a photo, I'd like somebody to hear a song."

As a singer, Mann had a 1961 novelty hit with "Who Put the Bomp." "After that, nothing really happened with me as a performer. It's not the kind of song that you create a career with," he laughed.

Although Mann and Weil performed in "They Wrote That?" a revue of their classic tunes, off-Broadway a couple years ago, he says, "I think my temperament is much more that of a songwriter, alone, creating."

Mann plans to bring to fruition a photography book his daughter conceptualized. But at the moment, he and Weil are focusing on a theatrical musical based on the Cher movie "Mask," about the disfigured teen and his biker mom. With a book by Anna Hamilton Phelan (who wrote the film's screenplay) and directed by Richard Maltby Jr. (Ain't Misbehavin'), it will open this fall and then hopefully play in New York.

"It's a great story," Mann says. "This kid is like a spiritual figure, in that he turns so many people's lives around. It called for pop and rock, kind of Springsteen-ish on certain levels."

Broadway was more Weil's dream than Mann's. She started out with Frank Loesser's publishing company, working on show tunes. "Then she met me and her eyes opened up to a whole other world," Mann chuckled.

There was instant chemistry - romantically and creatively. "She showed me her lyrics, which were gutsy, yet very sophisticated. I thought, 'Man, this would be interesting to combine in the rock world.' She took to it right away. My wife is brilliant. In a certain sense, she should probably never have gotten into the pop business. She would have been Stephen Sondheim," Mann said. "Her lyrics are so smart and soulful."

Their personalities balance one another. "She's much more of an obsessive-compulsive personality. I'm much more spacey. But it works."

Oh, yeah, it does indeed work. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" turned out to be the most performed song of the 20th century. The Righteous Brothers' record was produced by epic eccentric Phil Spector.

"Phil is Phil. We had a lot of fun together. He was damaged, but not as damaged as when he got older.

"I remember Phil predicting this was going to be one of our biggest records. Cynthia and I had gone back to New York. We weren't there when he cut it. So he played it for us over the phone. Even though I had rehearsed it with Bill [Medley], hearing it over the phone, when he sings in that incredibly deep voice, 'You never close your eyes ...,' I started screaming, 'You've got it at the wrong speed, Phil!'" Mann laughs. "But once we really heard the record, it was fantastic."

In the legendary Brill building, which housed a dazzling lineup of tunesmiths, the duo's main competition was another husband-wife songwriting team - Carole King and Gerry Goffin. "We were best friends, always trying to help each other out, but at the same time, beat each other out for the next record. It got very competitive. But we really love them. To this day, we're very close, especially with Carole."

Mann has been writing hits for decades. His songs will be sung as long as there are humans left to sing them. Yet his ear and eye remain as keen and fertile as ever.

"I don't understand when people rest on their laurels. Why die? You've got to keep going. Im a creator ... and I have to be creating something."