Basic HTML Version
– who lived with his family in Montecito from 1994 until 2012 when the couple
moved downtown – has supervised all things musical for more than 80 films and
TV shows, teaming with many of the most renowned directors in Hollywood
and on some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of the era. His
partnerships include pairings with Michael Mann
(Heat
)
,
James Cameron
(The
Terminator
)
,
Tate Taylor (the 2014 James Brown biopic
Get On Up
), Terry
George
(Reservation Road, Hotel Rwanda
)
,
Bille August (
Les Misérables
1998),
David Anspaugh (
Hoosiers
), fellow Santa Barbara resident Andrew Davis (
The
Guardian
), Frank Oz (
The Score
), Jan De Bont (
Twister
) Mike Newell (
Donnie
Brasco
), Callie Khouri (
Mad Money
), and even Steven Seagal (
On Deadly
Ground
). With a partner, he also supervised all the music for the TV series
Californication
, which launched dozens of indie music careers.
If Academy Awards or Emmys were handed out for musical supervision,
it’s safe to say Budd Carr would already have a couple of golden statuettes
adorning his mantelpiece.
They don’t, of course. Maybe because not a lot of people outside
Hollywood are familiar with what a music supervisor actually does. The job is
about being responsible for “everything music related that goes into the film,”
Carr says. That might be original compositions, a full score, licensed songs, or
other clips. “You oversee the budget. You’re the go-to person for the director
and producer in regards to music. The key thing is being able to get what
someone wants, but practically. So it’s about the ability to make business deals
and the relationships you have.”
BEGINNINGWITH KANSAS
O
f course, Carr didn’t know most of that when he first started in the biz
on
Terminator
, Cameron’s first feature. He’d begun his career in music as
a singer in a rock band in Illinois called One Eyed Jacks. The group opened for
such big names as The Doors, The Hollies and The Who in Chicago, and signed
a record deal with Roulette (home of Tommy James & The Shondells, among
others).
But Carr left the band right after graduating from college.
“I just wasn’t a good enough singer,” he says candidly. “And it wasn’t the life I
wanted to lead unless I was going to be a star.”
Seeking to stay in the business but with something more secure, he heeded
the advice of the record company president and became a booking agent,
representing such acts as Cream, James Taylor, Bob Seger, Carole King, and
Eric Clapton. But another career change was soon in the
works.
“One of the bands I signed was Kansas, and two years
later they asked me to manage them,” Carr recalls. “So, I
moved out to Los Angeles.”
Other acts in his management roster included Captain
& Tennille, Heatwave, Asia, Slaughter, and Jay Ferguson,
formerly of Spirit, who eventually became a close friend and
later his neighbor in Toro Canyon. (“We’d raise a flag and go
have a drink together.”)
If he couldn’t have a career as a recording artist,
managing those who did was the next best thing. “And (my
experience) made it a lot easier to work as an agent and
a manager. When bands would complain about having to
do two sets a night, or travel on the bus, I’d tell them about
playing in clubs in Chicago when we first started out, six sets
Booking agent Carr on the road with Grand Funk Railroad on
“The American Band” tour in 1973
28
winter
|
spr ing
PROFILES
|