Creative PR

As the world reacted with disbelief and anger to Scotland’s release from prison of convicted Lockerbie bomber, Al-Megrahi, the coming release of Helen Engelhardt’s audio memoir, The Longest Night—A Personal History of Lockerbie 103, is a voice of those families and friends who were personally affected by this early act of terrorism.  Convicted and sentenced to life in prison by the Scottish court in 2001, the former Libyan intelligence agent, who is suffering with terminal cancer, was released on compassionate grounds.

Among the official protests lodged by governments worldwide was FBI Director Robert Mueller III’s letter stating “… it makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988.”

The Longest Night – A Personal History of Pan Am 103 is a deeply emotional audio book that begins with the author’s learning that her husband was killed in the terrorist bombing over Lockerbie and ends after a journey of twelve seemingly endless months.  Engelhardt’s husband, Tony Hawkins, was returning from a family visit when Pan Am 103 exploded, killing 270 people.  More than one woman’s journey, The Longest Night weaves conversations, recorded at the time of the crash, with family and friends of the victims as well as residents of Lockerbie, as they describe the impact on their lives and on those of the people they knew.

While the heart of this memoir is the story of Engelhardt and Hawkins, it is through her recounting how she connected with these other broken families as they created a political support group that we come to realize the extent of the damage done to those left behind, and see the beginnings of the more than 12 year legal battle that ended in 2001 with Al-Megrahi’s sentencing.

Since 1989, Engelhardt, a writer, poet, storyteller, and independent audio artist, has created work that explores the loss and grief felt by herself and others who suffered from the Lockerbie bombing.  In addition to The Longest Night, she has produced the public radio pieces “Yesterday and Forever… recollecting Lockerbie” and “Mothers and Sons,” both of which feature stories of women who lost loved ones on Flight 103.

The Longest Night, directed for Midsummer Sound Company by award-winning audio book producer Jeffrey Hedquist.

Mark Sommer is an author, independent journalist, award-winning radio host, and internationally syndicated columnist who has written several books and hundreds of articles on national and international issues for major U.S. and foreign newspapers. His monthly columns on world affairs are syndicated in 12 languages to 100 countries by the Inter Press Service in Rome. In the United States, his articles have appeared on the editorial pages of The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Newsday. He hosts the syndicated radio program, “A World of Possibilities,” which highlights innovative solutions to longstanding societal challenges and is produced from the studios of the Mainstream Media Project. A 1967 graduate of Cornell University, Mark served from 1991-1998 as a program consultant on peace and world order issues for the Compton Foundation.

Since retiring from regular broadcasting in 2007, Larry Bensky has returned to a lifetime avocation, French language and literature. He is producer and host of “Radio Proust,” a web site which he’s developing as a fellow of the Bard College Center (www.Bard.edu/radioproust).

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Art of the Song is Hosted and Produced by John Dillon & Vivian Nesbitt. In addition to their work in radio, John & Viv are a performing songwriting duo and members of the blues/rock band, El Rito Rhythm Kings. Viv has an active creativity coaching practice, and John is featured as a keynote speaker delivering inspiring talks about creativity laced with entertaining and relevant live music.

Vivian Nesbitt, whose acting credits include Broadway and national television, got her first guitar for her 15th birthday. It came from a pawn shop in Toledo, Ohio. She has been producing music and theater events for 25 years.

Vivian was co-producer, writer and narrator for a 26 part television series about Buddhism for Mongolian National Television. These shows had the blessing of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, and were hosted by Richard Gere and Keanu Reeves.

She is active in the New Mexico film and television industry with recent roles in the ABC Family Network show, “Wildfire,” and the AMC new series, “Breaking Bad.”

Viv met John in their hometown of Taos, New Mexico, when she poured him a cup of coffee at a local diner. Their love of sharing music has won fans from all walks of life.

John Dillon has had a fascination with Creativity all his life. He grew up in a Pennsylvania town that was settled by his Irish immigrant great-great-grandfather, whose son–John’s namesake–started a flower growing business that flourishes to this day.

Like all of us, John was very creative as a child, and as happens to some of us, his creativity faded during his pre-adolescent years. Fortunately however, he was given a guitar at age 13 and he learned to express himself by improvising the blues with his teenage band-mates. A major turning point came in his late teens when he discovered first-hand the power of music (creative process) to build community and transcend physical limitations (this experience will be revealed in the presentation).

Pack on back and guitar in hand, John spent a year cris-crossing the US absorbing the landscape and culture of our great country. Eventually he settled in Northern New Mexico.

John was so passionate about guitars that–in his mid-twenties–he learned how to build them. Over the course of three decades, he built over 80 acoustic guitars, including custom instruments for Steve Earle, Michael Murphey, Tish Hinojosa, Trisha Yearwood and the Mavericks. Through guitar making John learned that the true creative process combines both right and left brain thinking–a blending of art and craft.

A twelve year stint in the family floral business gave John the opportunity to apply his creativity to marketing and business. He started a division of the company that sold plants to mass market outlets, and a program for importing directly from the flower auction in Aalsmeer, Holland. While in the floral business, he was an active leader in state and national trade associations where he made presentations as an individual and participated in numerous panel discussions.

Throughout John’s varied occupational endeavors, songwriting and music performance continued to be vital forms of creative expression. He recorded his first solo CD, Piece of Paradise, in 1998. His second release, Callin’ Me Home, which chronicled his return to the West, received 7 New Mexico Music Award nominations and one win.

In 2004, John and his wife Vivian created Art of the Song Creativity Radio which is now heard by over 180,000 listeners every week on 200 public and community stations across the country.

Creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit are indeed alive and well in John Dillon’s life.