Dirty Dancing For A Cure
08/24/2010
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Dirty Dancing songwriter Franke Previte is expanding his new mission to preserve Hollywood history while honoring the memory of his friend Patrick Swayze through the release of the original demo recordings of the soundtrack's most popular songs by embarking on a pilgrimage to the iconic movie's two primary filming sites while helping to boost the landmark destination that recently has fallen on hard times.
During the week between the Tuesday, Sept. 7 release of Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos (Knockout Music) and the first anniversary of Swayze's untimely passing, the co-writer of the 48 million-selling soundtrack's Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning smash "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes" will be driving from his New Jersey home to the Mountain Lake Conservancy & Hotel in Pembroke, VA to survey the troubled "Kellerman's Resort" filming location with which he has now teamed to aid in its preservation. Previte's trip will extend to Lake Lure, NC for charitable appearances Sept. 17-18 at the first annual Dirty Dancing Festival.
At both stops, Previte will be raising money for the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund at Stanford Cancer Center, established by Lisa Niemi Swayze. USA Today, the Associated Press, Billboard, ABC News Radio and Premiere Radio Networks are among the top media whose coverage this summer has anticipated the release of Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos.
"I never expected the project to unfold this way," said Previte. "All I initially set out to do was release the original demos as my way of joining Lisa's fight against the terrible disease that killed her husband and my dear friend. But that's been the magical blessing of Dirty Dancing since the very beginning. It started as a low budget film that exploded to become a cultural phenomenon, and '(I've Had) The Time of My Life' has been along for this incredible ride with me for over two decades. And now, my journey continues as an actual crusade to the places where it truly all started."
Previte is releasing the digital-only four-song package Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos, led by "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes," the songs that rocketed the Dirty Dancing soundtrack to No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 18 straight weeks and cemented its enduring reign as one of the bestselling albums of all time. No songs better defined Swayze's career than the Previte-penned Dirty Dancing hits. Included are two versions of "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" – the original recording that Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey danced to when filming the unforgettable grand finale scene and a sharp new remix of the No. 1 blockbuster by its renowned producer, Michael Lloyd. The demo is a duet between Previte, noted front man of '80s hit makers Franke and the Knockouts ("Sweetheart"), and Rachele Cappelli.
Responding to media reports this summer that the sagging economy had forced Mountain Lake Hotel & Conservancy to make drastic staff reductions, had sliced almost all profits, and had taken away more than 20 percent of its visitors, Previte reached out to management to help boost its ailing fortunes. Making matters worse, falling water levels due to years of below-average rainfall have almost dried up the once-brimming lake where Swayze romanced Jennifer Grey in the classic movie.
Previte and resort general manager Buzz Scanland have now teamed to raise money for cancer research in Swayze's name through the aforementioned foundation as well as the American Cancer Society. Fans attending last weekend's "Dirty Dancing Weekend" had the first opportunity to start bidding on original handwritten lyrics to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" for a charity auction and contest that will continue into 2012. Previte will personally deliver the custom-framed lyrics to the resort on his mid-September motor trip. He and Scanland continue to research and plan additional ways to raise cancer research funding in Swayze's memory and preserve and enhance the resort through the original demo recordings.
Previte's next stop will be the Dirty Dancing Festival at Lake Lure, NC, where the famous "lift" water scene was shot and the memorable climactic dance scene was filmed to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," with Swayze's everlasting words, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!", just voted the most iconic film catchphrase of all time in an online poll conducted by a British film festival. At no charge to the festival, Previte will be making several personal appearances, led by a "Storytellers" session, and a main stage presentation where he will be signing and selling limited collectors' edition CDs of Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos.
Previte also has aligned with Lionsgate Films and entered joint discussions with QVC to produce a program packaging the collectors' edition CD of Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos with the Dirty Dancing: Limited Keepsake Edition DVD and Blu Ray, released earlier this year. He was reminded of the historical significance of the demos after being interviewed for the commemorative movie package. In it, Dirty Dancing choreographer Kenny Ortega (Michael Jackson's This Is It, High School Musical) and Eleanor Bergstein, the film's writer and co-producer, also drove home the impact of the original demos on Swayze and Grey.
As Swayze revealed to Previte at a 1988 Academy Awards after-party, the original demo recording of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" ended up galvanizing the cast, prompting Ortega to drop a Lionel Richie track in favor of the song that helped make the movie a huge box office hit and forever defined the coming-of-age romance for the actors and audiences.Dirty Dancing: The Original Demos will be available through CD Baby on iTunes and all major digital download destinations. Listen at www.myspace.com/dirtydancingdemos.
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