Gary Powell, Composer/Producer

On June 24th, the Austin Toastmasters Club presented Gary Powell with their respected “2008 Communication Achievement Award.” The club’s 28th annual banquet was held at the Austin Country Club. Kristi Curry, owner of Survivorship Now, presented the award and introduced Gary Powell.

No one is quite sure how Mr. Powell was nominated for this award – much less how he won it. Club president, Scotty Burch, suspected foul-play. Others, however, because of the uncommonly beautiful club members, men and women alike, were simply suspicious of illegal Botox being smuggled from Mexico through Mr. Powell’s studio. We will continue to monitor how many Toastmasters’ music careers soon start to blossom. Regardless of the accusations, Gary Powell has the trophy displayed in a place of honor in his Austin recording studio.

Mr. Powell’s parents, longtime Austinites Max & Jessie Powell, who now reside in Huntsville, Texas were present at the event along with Gary’s life-partner and Austin psychotherapist Amy Person and her parents, Ralph & Peggy Person of Temple, Texas. This was a most gracious evening for Gary Powell, who would like to thank Scotty Burch, Kristi Curry and all the club members who gave him such a graceful reception. Mr. Powell’s speech is best described here by club member and presenter, Kristi Curry.

Our keynote speaker took us on a tour through the internal spaces of a producer, musician and someone who has a heightened awareness of changing the world with music. He told us how seamy the music business can be, and how this music industry is a barometer of the health of our culture … like canaries in a coal mine. Gary then took us on a tour of what it’s like to compose music. As he played on a baby grand piano, he walked us through the process. He added humor, drama, random thoughts and a little peek into the “other side” of a symphony production. Finally, he brought it all together with how he writes music with the most personal themes. He sang, “In My Palm,” – the lyrics describe what we all could only have wished for from our parents at our birth.” – Kristi Curry

Past Honorees

2008, Gary Powell – Composer/Producer
2007, Ronnie Earle – Travis County District Attorney
2006, Sarah Weddington – Attorney, Leadership Philosopher
2005, Judy Maggio – Anchor, CBS-42 K-EYE News
2004, Kinky Friedman – Humorist, Performer, Mystery Writer
2003, Liz Carpenter – Author; Lecturer
2002, Admiral Bobby Inman – Venture Capitalist, Austinite of the Year
2001, Kirk Watson – Mayor, Austin Texas
2000, Chuck Meyer – Minister; Author
1999, John Kelso – Humor Columnist; Author
1998, Marion Winik – Author; Lecturer
1997, Willie Kocurek – Community Leader
1996, Toody Byrd – Humorist; Lecturer
1995, Lloyd Doggett – U.S. Representative
1994, Cactus Pryor – Humorist
1993, Brigid Shea – Director, Save Our Springs
1992, Nick Barbaro – Publisher, The Austin Chronicle
1991, Molly Ivins – Syndicated Columnist
1990, Ben Sargent – Political Cartoonist
1989, Wally Pryor – Sports Broadcaster (”Voice of the Longhorns”)
1988, Gonzalo Barrientos – Texas State Senator
1987, Jodie Conradt – U.T. Women’s Basketball Coach
1986, Barbara Jordan – LBJ Centennial Chair on National Policy, UT Austin
1985, Jim Hightower – Agricultural Commissioner, State of Texas
1984, Ann Richards – Treasurer, State of Texas
1983, Ron Mullen – Mayor, Austin Texas
1982, Neil Spelce – TV News Anchor

Mr. Powell has agreed to terms with his estate and airs to make the video, which was recorded during his speech at the Austin Toastmasters Club, available for release to the public 25 years after his death.

Pictured at left and from left to right are: Susan Baughman, Max Powell, Gary Powell, Jessie Powell, Helena Escalante.

Filed by Gary Powell at 9:54 am under Speaking Engagements
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Speech Delivered by Gary Powell

I learned to sing in Huntsville, Texas…..in prison…..the women’s prison. It was my first teaching job at the Wyndham School District inside the Goree Unit, the former women’s prison within the Texas Department of Corrections. Little did I know that a boy from Highland Park, Dallas, would learn so much in that place. I owe much to those women, who gently introduced me to a world I didn’t know existed.

SING: “The Spirit of Rosa”

One terrible gift of maturity is no longer seeing our reflection in the popular culture where we actually do “live”. The chasm between these two places has compelled me to engage bigger ideas in order to stretch my capacity for understanding and hopefully not just finding, but creating a reflection of my liking.

All this leads us to examine our “brand”, its purpose and its scope. The “Gary Powell” brand has proven to be dependable, competent and largely compliant. It has only surrendered upon the threat of extinction. What happens next to each of our “brands” seemed to be the topic for the day. It will be interesting to watch what happens next to the “Gary Powell” brand as thirty years of experience become emboldened to a purpose of its own choosing.

The hidden compromises with which we all live put terrible stress on both us and our culture.

If our popular music can be equated with the “canary in the coal mine” as the barometer of our culture’s health …… then the bird is dead. Our unspoken assessments of a failed system don’t bring the bird back to life. The bird is still dead. Speak up like Galileo did at his trial before the Catholic Tribunal and you may find yourself exiled or executed. That’s the message we learn. Be seen and not heard. In 1992 the Catholic Church formally admitted that Galileo’s views on the solar system were correct. I don’t have quite that much time. NOW is the time and place where I intend to practice respectful non-compliance with systems which fail the test of reason, with governments which purposely seek to silence the voice of truth and with corporations which strategically swallow whole the magnificent individual.

SING: “The Boys in Red”

Every Tuesday, these Rotarians stand up and recite “The Four Way Test”.

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

This is my lyrical version of the parental “Four Way Test”. The lyric was inspired by a photograph I saw of parents holding a tiny infant in the palm of their hands. The lyric is what we all could only have wished for from our parents at our birth.

SING: “In My Palm”

IN MY PALM

Music and Lyric by Gary Powell
11/12/02

Verse 1
Is there more that I can do
Is there more that I could say
Is there more that I might be
To hold you in a way

That might show you how to love
That might show you how to see
That might show you who you really are
And who you’ll come to be?

Bridge 1
So for now I’ll hold you here with me
Close and safe where you might learn
How to walk the path ahead
And how to love the path you’re on

Verse 2
And when you are far away
From the peace, the care, the calm
Please remember just how safe you felt
When your world was in my palm.

(Copyright 2002 Jesmax Music, BMI)

Institutionalization insipidly happens to all of us. It is nothing less than an effort to collectivize the human spirit all the while silently limiting our potential. It is the hijacking of the most resolute and powerful thing we humans have, our individual aptitude…..now conscripted into the service of the common good. However, with our integrity so compromised, the good is less than common and the common is far less than good.

Here, at the Austin Rotary Club, they do far better than that. Thank you Rotarians for your service to our community and for the good work which each of you has individually chosen. Your gracious reception allowed me to step away from my own comfort zones and take some risks today. My hope is that you found some reflection of yourselves in my words, songs and life experience. This was indeed a good day and one I will always remember!

Special thanks to songwriter Ande Rasmussen for the invitation to speak and gracious introduction, Gaines Bagby for the great memory of singing “I Can’t Find the Street Where I Live”, Ben Franklin and St. David’s staff for working out the Headliners Club DVD playback, Tom Granger, chairman of the Headliners Club for permission to share the club’s music video, Austin Rotary Club president Pete Meeker for his support and friendship and to my father’s longtime professional associate and friend Don Ray George for the big bear hug!

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Filed by Gary Powell at 9:26 am under Speaking Engagements
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