Early Saturday morning I received a surprise telephone call from David Friedman and learned that he and his family were eating breakfast at Aldo’s at the Santa Cruz Harbor.  They live in New York.  Of course, I had to meet them ….!!!  They’re visiting family in Los Altos all week.  David is pictured above with his bride Maxine and their son, Asher William ….!!!  David is a founder of www.mpowergiving.com. I serve on his Board of Directors.

Amick is a great friend …. here are some of his accomplishments: Amick Byram is a two time Grammy nominee, a successful solo recording artist, and one of the top session singers in Los Angeles.

Amick sang the role of Moses in the animated feature film, The Prince of Egypt. He has sung on hundreds of other films including:

Shrek
Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast
The Lion King
Pocahontas
Hercules
Mulan
El Dorado
The Matrix

You have heard his voice on hundreds of commercials, several Broadway cast albums and Broadway concept albums.  Some of these include Civil War, Jeckyl and Hyde, Sunset Boulevard and many others.

Amick recently recorded his first solo CD Encounter.  It is a concept CD where each song represents a man from the Bible who sings a song at a critical turning point encounter with God.

He has also recorded a brand new duets CD with his wife Cassie, called Hymns Renewed, featuring classic hymns that are musically refreshed.

As an actor, Amick has starred in many professional stage productions including Phantom of the Opera, (Broadway and LA), Les Miserables, in the roles of Marius and Enjolras, Sunset Boulevard as Joe Gillis playing opposite Glenn Close, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and many other musicals and plays from Shakespeare to Neil Simon. You may recognize him as Ian Troi, Counselor Troi’s father from Star Trek, The Next Generation.  (For all the trekkies out there, he even has trading cards.)

Some of Amick’s other television guest roles have been on Ally McBeal, Kristin, Fraser, Friends, Saved By the Bell, and Superior Court on which he appeared as a series regular for 3 seasons playing attorney Darrell Guillary.

Amick is also a theater director and producer.  He was a producer of the musical Radio Gals in New York City at the John Houseman Theater on 42nd Street.  Radio Gals continues to have successful productions mounted all over the country.  He has directed five world premieres of new musicals including Ben Hur in Orlando, Florida, an 8 million dollar stage production. He also directed the world premiere of One to One, an original rock/multimedia musical.  He also is the original director of the world premiere of the play David which has toured internationally. He also produced and directed Great Gershwin!, The Best of Broadway, and A Hollywood Tale which he also wrote.  He recently directed Pinocchio and Mounette, a new adaptation of the classic tale for the stage written by Allan Jay Friedman and Bob Merrill (Carnival, Funny Girl, Sugar), and also the world premiere staging of the brand new musical, Aesop based on the life of the ancient Greek writer. He has also directed Les Miserables Brigadoon, School House Rock, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. Amick is an alumni of the prestigious Lincoln Center Theater Director’s Lab West and is also an adjunct professor of theater at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California.

One particular song, Make a Way, on his Encounter CD, is particularly meaningful since it’s the signature song that carried me through Irene’s UCSF hospitalization.  Here are the lyrics of the song:

All my life you’ve been there
With a word for my prayer
So sincere, so assured
You’ve been true.
Now I need greater faith
To believe, to be sure
Need to know, need to see
What to do
Are you there? Do you hear?
Do you know what you ask?
See me now, hear my pain
He’s my son
Make a way
Once so sure of my heart
Now I’m lost in the dark
Wondering why
Wonder how to go on
But if this is your way
Show me now, make it plain
And I’ll know you’re still there
Think of me
Make a way
Father, I know that you
have spoken
I must trust you and obey
If this has been ordained by
your own hand
I know that you will make a way
Here I stand on my own
Still afraid but not alone
Though I doubt, though I fear
I will go on
I will hope, I must try
Give me faith or I will die
Say you hear
Don’t you see he’s my son?
Make a Way ….

Thanks for caring,

Dave