When it comes to movies, a lot of things makes a movie good like the cast or the writing but for me, it’s always about the soundtrack. The music that moves you, that can change a scene. It can make you laugh or make you cry. This Wednesday, a great orchestra is going to bring some of that music to life. Adam Levowitz will lead his orchestra at the Howard Theatre for the Tarantino Soundtrack Vol. 1.

I cannot believe when I read about the Tarantino Soundtrack Vol. 1., that you have an orchestra that will bring some of that beautiful music, that we’ve heard over the years, to life at the Howard Theatre

Yeah, I am excited about that too. I was surprised when I got the idea over a year ago that it hadn’t been done over and over again. I was thrilled to stumble on it and discovered those great songs and putting this show together, I became more and more pleased with what I’ve found. I got more excited about putting these songs onstage LIVE and in one place with a focus. It’s been an exciting process!

We have plenty of Tarantino soundtracks out there, how did you determined which songs you were going to include in your setlist?

Well, that’s a great question. It started with Pulp Fiction, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. There’s so many great songs in it. I knew that I wanted to do multiple songs of Tartantino soundtracks and I thought movie-wise, they were Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs & Jackie Brown. It turns out that those three have similar soundtracks in the style of music and there’s thematic material in the movie and characters that are very similar. Tarantino has put together these amazing set lists. I wish that I could take credit for putting Son of a Preacher’s Man in the same set list as You Never Can Tell but he did it. I took it and put it together and they work great together.

You can take credit for bringing those soundtracks to life on one stage. You can do that!

Yeah, I will take credit for that. I do get a lot of enjoyment. You know, just putting put this show together and creating a playlist of the three movies and all these great songs back to back with such a wide variety. In Pulp Fiction, there’s a Ricky Martin song that’s like this 1950’s guitar solo boy band precursor type of song. It kind of seems corny on its own but in the context of everything its really hip and cool.

Will there be any future volumes in the near future?

I like but we have other movies that are happening. In fact, we have Blues Brothers soundtrack that we are doing at the Howard Theatre next month. It’s the same deal. We got this amazing set of songs from the 1980 movie that featured Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Ray Charles. I would love to come back and more of Tarantino soundtracks since there were a lot of great songs in Kill Bill. Right after David Bowie had passed, we did a song from Inglorious Bastards. We did Cat People (Putting Out Fire) as a tribute to him.

When I first read that you’re doing a Blues Brothers show, I literally jumped to my feet because it’s one of my favorite movie musicals ever.

You know, I’m a trumpet player by trade…

Did you just say you’re a trumpet player?

Yes, I did.

Excellent, I used to play the trumpet from grade school and all the way through middle school.

Well, there you go. I always wanted to play that music and now I get to write my own arrangements and get to revisit in that way. It’s very exciting. In fact, we had rehearsal the other night for Tarantino with the same guys in the band. I drop the news and I said “How many of guys when you watch the movie to the scene when they are all singing to the theme of Rawhide? Guess what you get to do. So they are all looking forward to that.

I found out that every ticket sold at your soundtrack event is going to help out military families. That right there is very honorable thing to do and I am very proud you’re doing this.

We are actually teaming up with a charity called The 25^th Project. The 25^th Project is a DC charity that give the homeless a voice. They are really focused on the homeless community in the Washington DC area. Of course as we all know sadly that many homeless people especially in Washington DC had served in our military. It’s a great cause and the proceeds that the band are getting for the show. We already got a $1,000 pledge from a sponsor that’s going to buy fifty propane tanks to heat the homeless for January. That’s the entire goal for the project.

I made a few very easy phone calls to Blue Rhino, the suppliers of propane tank to the world. They agreed to match that. So will donate $1,000 pledge for fifty propane tanks to cover for February. We can help some people out. It’s crazy to think that people are living in tents right in our neighborhood. The propane heaters and propane tanks need to be refilled. That’s their goal for the winter is give them all propane tanks. We are helping them out since we got them for January and February. We are hoping that would continue and people that come to the show will now learn about this great cause as well.

I hope they do indeed. I read that you started to play piano back in 1978. Then you got your first professional gig in ’85 but one of the most interested facets that I read about you is that you created the official song of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center called Home of the Warrior Care. I would like know more about that composition.

That’s great that you found that. It’s the thing that I am most proud of in my life. I was fortunate to serve when I was forty years old – I joined the US Army National Guard Band. While I was in the Walter Reed Hospital, in the former location, they were celebrating their 100^th birthday. The Commander put out to the Army musicians worldwide that we needed somebody to write a song for the anniversary. There was this sort of competition. People had entered and I wrote songs for them and entered them into the competition. Out of all the songs that were entered, mine was chosen to be the official song of the Walter Reed Army Hospital. They do such great work for the Wounded Warrior Project. It’s a great hospital and the things that they do for the men and women who serve for us is tremendous. I have a little tiny piece of that history and that’s really exciting & satisfying.

We not only thank you for your service to our country, but also for creating such a beautiful composition.

Thank you Adam for the wonderful interview! See the Adam Levowitz Orchestra perform this Tarantino Soundtrack this Wednesday on and The Blues Brothers Soundtrack on February 9th!

Click here to purchase tickets for the Tarantino Soundtrack Live. Tickets are $15 – $25

For more information on the 25th Project: go to https://www.the25thproject.org

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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