Creative Czar
Southfield native David Gorman wins a Grammy.
SCOTT GREENBERG
Special to The Jewish News
T
he voice-mail greeting says
many things about the
man. Backed by music from
the motion picture score of
an
authoritatively jocular
Ben Hur,
voice booms, "You have reached the
office of David Gorman, creative czar
of Rhino Records.
"He is, aleph, sitting on his throne;
bet, holding court elsewhere in the
building; or, gimmel, beheading his
minions in the town square. You will
be given a sign, after which you may
speak."
It's a message with a sense of
humor, a creative streak and with a
strong sense of Jewish identity. What
it fails to mention, however, is that
this 27-year-old former Southfielder
just walked off with a Grammy for
Best Boxed Recording Package for Beg,
Scream & Shout! The Big 01' Box Of
'60s Soul.
What started off as an update of
Rhino's "Soul Shots" vintage R&B
series ended up as a pet project-
turned-dream-come-true for Gorman.
Originally released in the late '80s as a
10-LP collection, the series was pared
down to 4 volumes for rerelease on
CD.
Then Rhino's head of A&R (artists
and repertoire), Gary Stewart, decided
to expand the collection into a box-set
hybrid of known favorites and lesser-
known gems.
An avid fan and collector of the
genre, Stewart provided Gorman a list
of material for inclusion in the box set
and gave him carte blanche.
"I took it and just completely went
berserk on it, changed a bunch of
songs, added 75 things that weren't on
there before. The more involved I got,
the more [Gary] just handed the pro-
ject over," says Gorman, who ended
up as co-producer along with Reggie
Collins, James Austen and Stewart.
Released in August 1997, Beg,
Scream O. Shout! is not just a superla-
tive library of 1960s soul put out by
Rhino, a record label with a reputa-
tion for superlative reissues and corn-
pilations. It's a well-thought-out box
with a big sense of fun.
Packaged in a 45 RPM record-car-
rying case, this six-CD set is broken
down into 3 parts: Beg (ballads),
Scream (mid-tempo) and Shout (flat-
out barn burners).
"The package was conceived
around trying to convey
how cool it would be to buy
an entire collection of really
great 45s," says Gorman.
And he avoided the stan-
dard small-novel length, aca-
demically written booklet
that accompanies most box
sets in favor of trading
cards.
,"Each song should have
its own little soundbite, or
wordbite. Each song should
have its own separate
thought. It should be the
verbal equivalent of a 45,
talking emotionally about
what's great about the song.
That's what you want to
convey," says Gorman.
All of Gorman's attention
to detail and penchant for
creative packaging has paid
off. While attending the
University of Michigan (he
graduated in 1993 with a degree in
graphic design), working at Schoolkids
Records and interning for Sony
Music, Gorman sent several copies of
his resume, designed as a CD package,
to the Los Angeles based Rhino record
Grammy was just the icing. The day
that I got the first copy of the box was
definitely a bigger deal to me," he
says. Still, he remembers the 6 a.m.
phone call from his father and brother
informing him of his nomination.
"Once I woke up, and it kicked in, it
was pretty exciting."
Even after the news had sunk
in, Gorman, a 1988 Southfield-
Lathrup High School graduate,
didn't think he'd win. "There
was other stuff that was nomi-
nated that was really good," he
says. "I certainly didn't want to
set myself up for disappoint-
ment by listening to various
family members and others who
were a lot more confident than
I was."
One of those with unshak-
able faith in Gorman is his
father, Ashley, a partner in the
law firm of Gorman & Levine
PC. "When we found out that
he was nominated, in one way
it was a big surprise," says the
elder Gorman. "[But] it really
wasn't a big surprise at all.
David's always been very cre-
ative."
The younger Gorman
attended last month's
Grammys with his father; his
mother, Nancy Lole, a cash
office associate for Lord &
Taylor in Tamarack, Fla.; and a
high school friend.
He received his Grammy in
a ceremony before the broad-
cast. "I remember nothing
between hearing the name of
the box and actually being on
Above: Grammy winner David
stage," says Gorman.
Gorman
Gorman's mother felt confident he
would win. "I told him no matter
Left: Gorman's art direction for the box
what happened, he'd already won," she
set "Beg, Scream & Shout! The Big 01'
says.
Box Of '60s Soul" won a Grammy for
Not one to rest on his laurels,
Best Boxed Recording Package.
Gorman is currently hard at work on
other projects, which, he hinted, may
Grammys along with Gorman for
eventually include a Jewish
their work on the box set were Rachel
humor/culture box set. CI
Gutek and Hugh Brown.
And though he is happy to have
Scott Greenberg is a Southfield-based
won, Gorman sees the Grammy more
freelance
writer.
as a bonus than anything. "The
label, where he landed a job in creative
marketing four years ago. Then, a lit-
tle more than a year ago, he was pro-
moted to "creative czar," the title
which appears on his business card.
Last month's Grammy for his art
direction of the boxed recording pack-
age was the topper. Winning
3/27
1998
97