Dr. Daryl Isaacs by Andres Serrano, new work by artist and patient.
I am writing a blog post to bring things up to speed. It’s in the works.
Thanks for all of you for your support.
Much appreciated.
Paul
We made our goal for Kickstarter!
We’re still reeling with boundless gratitude. Thanks you all. People would still still like to back us as, even after Kickstarter closed the gate. If you go to the Kickstarter site – we will still honor the same rewards and pledge levels until further notice.
We love you all, and you can still donate. Just click the MSMC button below and follow the secure process toward official backing for Everything is Going to Be OK.
Though Kickstarter has closed, for those who come to our side after, there will be continual updates about our progress on this website and your donation will be acknowledged.
Again we love you, and onwards.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-06-06/amanda-bennett-cost-hope
Quoted from the NPR copy on the Diane Rehm Show:
Terence Bryan Foley was an American expert on agriculture and Asia who earned his Ph.D. when he was in his 60s. He played more than 15 musical instruments and spoke six languages. He was funny, eccentric and beloved by his wife, award-winning journalist and editor Amanda Bennett. In a memoir, Bennett writes of their marriage, their travels and their battle for more life together after Foley was diagnosed with cancer. She takes us on a journey through the complex and often maddening American medical system. And she questions whether the emotional, physical and monetary price was worth it.
Lisa Levy has been a working conceptual artist since we met in the 1990′s and since then she has moved into performance vis a vis the stand up comedy circuit AND with Shroeder Romero Shredder Gallery in New York. She’s currently on Gawker.com Artists Top 1000, worked live with GalleryBeat as a host (Dr. Lisa) and correspondent, and is has provided us with the signed special LTD edition digital print on 8.5 x111 inch paper at the $150 pledge level. Fantastic level, really, since you get one music CD, two film DVD’s, one Spencer Tunick photo and one Lisa Levy print. Get two and have your Xmas shopping halfway finished! This is cheaper than a pair of Manolo’s, so boot that up. Glide into the Kickstarter for Everything is Going to Be OK (sil vous plait).
One of our Kickstarter rewards is a limited edition print of Brian Alfred’s portrait of Dr. Daryl Issacs, the family physician featured in our documentary. Our Kickstarter rocks because you get real, bona-fide art from NYC artists who are championing our cause and Brian is one of them.
Now, some of you may know Brian’s work, bit if you don’t, check out Brian’s work at his fantastic site Paintchanger by clicking on the image below. It’s a screencap of his site that showcases his art in a wide array of media.
Some of may not know that Brian was in a postmodern, post-punk jazz band called 33.3. Here are samples on Amazon from their début CD in 1999. While I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I’ve been having Park Slope on my mind. This made me think of this track, “An Evening in Park Slope” from ‘Plays Music’, which makes me want to mix myself a cocktail and enjoy this warm spring evening outside:
I’m waiting for the doctor. It’s 7PM. There are two seating areas, one in the front and one in the back. In the front the chairs are about like tiny theater seating only along the wall. I sit in the back area, you can’t see it. Hardly anyone ever sits back here even though it’s a lounge with big soft leather couches.
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We’ve just launched the Kickstarter. There’s great art available as rewards, so go check it out.
via The Brian Lehrer Show
This one goes out to Don Chambers. He’s the opening soundtrack for “Mercer Street Medical Case”, directed by Paul Hasegawa Overacker, produced by Ken Kambara, and co-produced by me. It’s his song “Red in the Face” off the CD , “Don Chambers & Goat”. He’s been very good to us and we’ll be promoting his music through all our project PR in social media.
“Nine national medical groups are launching a campaign called Choosing Wisely to get U.S. doctors to back off on 45 diagnostic tests, procedures and treatments that often may do patients no good.”—Richard Knox, NPR
This week, we had the good fortune to have a minute to chat with Dr. Issacs at Mercer Street Medical. Paul and I heard the doctor decry the state of the profession, where medical tests serve as a proxy for experience and judgment. We will have more on his views of how tests are used in the current healthcare system in the US on a future blog.
The NPR story by Richard Knox above doesn’t stop at medical tests, but extends to treatments. Dr. Lowell Schnipper, a cancer specialist states that treatments for that disease need to be more carefully considered:
“When somebody is literally bed-bound and unable to walk or take care of himself, it’s almost futile to use cancer-directed treatment and will probably have negative consequences.”
While there will be talk of “rationing” of care, a key issue is what are the realistic expectations of therapies with respect to patient well-being. I’m reminded me of a manager at a large pharmaceutical company based in California who scoffed at the French for their callous attitude towards terminal disease. I’m paraphrasing here, but his take was that in France, if one is diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage, it’s time to get one’s affairs in order, while the “US system” and the therapies his company offered grants extended lifeweeks. While this certainly be true in the strict sense, the quality of life and the potential for huge out-of-pocket costs for drugs not covered by insurance should also be factored in.
Gallery Beat Media
After completing and gaining theatrical, television, downloads and DVD distribution for the film, Guest of Cindy Sherman, which is culled from the archival footage of GBTV, there’s been a clamor for all forms of GalleryBeat—old and new. So, we have started a new little monster, GalleryBeat Media.
GalleryBeat Media is the engine behind the Mercer Street Medical Case.
GalleryBeat 98 Filmlike
Director Bio
Paul H-O (Hasegawa-Overacker)-Producer/DirectorPaul is the writer, producer, and lead director of the feature 2008 documentary, GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to 29 festivals worldwide. It went theatrical internationally in 2009-10, and is rotation on the Sundance Channel and Sky TV (UK). GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN has also been screened at the Jacob Burns Center, as well as The Bloor Theatre in Toronto for Hot Docs.
Since 2010 H-O has made short films on George Herms, FIVE DECADES OF MADNESS and PIANO FOR MONK, which is part of the in-production feature documentary, VENICE TO VENICE. He also directed DECODED (2010-11), about the grunge era poster artist, Jim Evans, and directed/produced numerous videos. He is the creator of GalleryBeat TV (1993-2001) the director/ host for Cooking with GalleryBeat, a Talk Show, which now is a live event at the Brooklyn Museum (last BM show 10/06/11). Other credits include writer and critic for Artnet.com magazine (1996-2003), Art in America (film 1998) and The Surfer's Journal (2003-present). He has been featured as a subject or guest in the New York Times, NPR, The Village Voice, Salon.com, Kurt Anderson's Studio 360, and has been a guest artist/filmmaker for many universities and museums since 1985. He attended one year of college.
Social Media
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Guest of Cindy Sherman
DVDs & Posters from GuestofCindySherman.com
DVD $19.99.
28" x 40" poster $20.
28" x 40" signed poster $40.
Educator License for DVD $250.
Guest of Cindy Sherman on iTunes
$12.99 Buy HD
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