Richard Ewell, the First African Inside American to Win a U.S

Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale Hawthorne Press Tribune Lawndale Tribune AND LAWNDALE NEWS Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 9 - March 4, 2021 Richard Ewell, the First African Inside American to win a U.S. National Title This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals ......................8 Classifieds ...........................2 Entertainment .....................2 Hawthorne ...........................3 Huber’s Hiccups .................3 Lawndale .............................4 Richard Ewell with Friends on the L.A Kings Ice Girls Squad. For Richard’s story, see yellow box below. Inglewood ............................5 El Segundo Local J.J. Eboli Teaches Legals ......................... 5,6,7,8 Kids to Write Music for the Big Screen Pets .......................................8 By Kiersten Vannest When it came time for college, Eboli Nestled in north El Segundo, little musi- did not follow his path of music. He went cians in the making practice piano and guitar to school for advertising. With his musical and learn to compose at a place called Little background, he ended up writing the music Composers Academy. Their instructor? J.J. for all the school projects, both for himself Eboli, professional entertainment composer, and the students around him. This led natu- and musician. rally to him writing music for commercials. Eboli was born in Brazil, growing up in In Brazil, Eboli found much success in writ- a very musical family. His mother and fa- ing for major commercials like McDonald’s ther played instruments, along with all his and eventually opened his own music house, siblings and cousins. Family dinners were expanding his business and even teaching Weekend a musical affair, as he describes, with each music for commercials at the university member picking up a different instrument level. As his success grew, he began to ask Forecast and playing their own in-house concert just himself: what next? for themselves. At the heart of all this was “It would be either going to Rio or São his grand-aunt (his grandfather’s sister), Paolo. Or should I go to L.A., New York, or who was the former dean of the Music and London?” Having done a cultural exchange Friday Arts School at the Federal University in his See J.J. Eboli, page 2 JJ Eboli, professional musician and composer. home city of Porto Alegre, and who gave Mostly them all lessons. Sunny “Who doesn’t like to go to your grandpar- ents’ house, right?” laughs Eboli, explaining South Bays’s Richard Ewell: 67˚/49˚ that his relationship with music has always been relaxed and never forced, “I would eat Figure Skating Trailblazer food and play in the yard and talk… all sorts By Duane Plank European tour troupe of Holiday on Ice. Saturday of stuff. And then, in the middle of that great When Richard Ewell was approached Ewell, who was born in 1949, was raised day, I had a piano lesson.” about consenting to an interview with a in the Los Angeles area. He said that he Partly Amid eating candy, playing, socializing, Herald Publications scribe that could lead started on the figure skating pathway Cloudy and spending time with family, music lessons to a possible profile for the paper, he blurted with a nudge from his parents from the were seamlessly worked in, which allowed out just one incredulous word: “What?” Midwest. Ewell said that he and his sister 63˚/49˚ his relationship with music to be associ- But after he recovered from his initial Lynn would gripe about the alleged winter ated with a sense of joy and calm. This is shock, the trailblazing figure skater gra- cold in the air in Los Angeles winters and something he hopes to bring to everyone he ciously consented to a phone interview, in try to use the mild weather as an excuse Sunday teaches now. He’d rather create a player for which Ewell, the first African American to crawl back under their bed covers and life, he says, than a competitive player who to win a U.S. national title in singles and skip school. Partly will end up giving up the art. pairs figure skating, spoke of the road But Ewell’s parents, who had experi- As he grew older, he learned the violin, tackled to achieve his triumphs on the enced actual cold weather in Missouri, Cloudy which gave him the opportunity to play in ice in national competitions, as well as decided that they would expose their kids to 63˚/50˚ the youth orchestra as a teenager. He gained the time spent as a professional skater what the real cold felt like and took them a sense of all the instruments’ sounds and working for the Ice Capades franchise one day to the Polar Palace ice rink in how they sound in conjunction to create a in the 1970’s and 80’s, and later with the See Richard Ewell, page 4 larger piece. Page 2 March 4, 2021 J.J. Eboli from front page once in L.A. and thinking of scoring mov- kitschy way, but in a scientific and beautiful ies, he moved here in 2006 and took a film way. He’d definitely space travel if he could, Entertainment scoring program at UCLA. he says, or visit the moon given a chance. Since living here, he’s worked for many With all this musical background and training, In Malcolm & Marie, Tortured Artists Speak music houses, written for music libraries and he wanted to share his experience with kids. commercials, and scored several films, games, “I love working with kids,” he says, going Their Minds in Beautiful Black & White and T.V. shows, like The Late Show with on to say that he hopes to impart his upbring- By Morgan Rojas for cinemacy.com supervisor Jen Malone. In addition to music Stephen Colbert, Pawn Stars, and many more ing of a relaxed relationship with music to I’m probably one of the few “critics” who by British singer-songwriter Timothy Lee on channels like The Discovery Channel, CBS, kids today. In the future, he plans to expand isn’t offended by the biggest point of conten- McKenzie aka Labrinth, tracks like Dionne HBO, The History Channel, A&E, VH1, Spike his business, hire new teachers for basic mu- tion in director Sam Levinson’s (Euphoria, Warwick’s “Get Rid of Him” provide fur- TV, WWE, Amazon Prime T.V., and Hulu. sic lessons, and focus on teaching kids and Assassination Nation) stylishly enthralling ther context into the emotional state of our When working with a director on a project, teenagers composition and music production romantic drama, Malcolm & Marie: the point protagonists. he likes to speak in terms of emotion rather as a business. He wants to teach his students being “critic bashing” or, “how criticism kills The music is balanced out by the non- than musical terms. Often the director knows how to record to the computer, sequence, and art.” While I can’t fully agree with that outlook stop monologues, which the film delivers in what feeling they’re going for, but may not write for a specific scene, giving them the (because my job would be rendered useless spades. The deft, meaty script is accredited to know the right music to get there. So after a tools of the trade. if so), I tend to agree with the bigger picture Levinson as well and is worth dissecting and spotting session, going over every spot that When he is not playing, recording, or teach- here: sometimes art for art’s sake, without the re-visiting like a graduate thesis paper. Shot needs musical coverage and which beats to ing, J.J. likes to engage in outdoor activities need for a “message,” is good enough. That entirely during the pandemic, Malcolm & Marie hit, he composes a mock-up and submits it like surfing, volleyball, and tennis. said, if you’re looking for a whirlwind of leans into this pressure cooker of emotional for review. After several rounds of notes, “Coming from Brazil, I play soccer, mostly sharp monologues, snazzy music, and a story energy. Taking place in one location and with he records the final piece, sometimes with with my son,” he adds, noting that he loves that exists purely for artistic expression, then only two actors, the weight of the film rests an orchestra, and delivers the final product. the parks and small-town feel of El Segundo. you’ll find a lot to love in Malcolm & Marie, solely on Washington and Zendaya who each However, in his free time, writing for Music is a living for J.J. Eboli, but more now streaming on Netflix. give electrifying, passionate performances. music libraries, he isn’t given a direction in than that, it’s an outlet. Kids especially have which to write. so many things in their schedule, he says, “I would create a scene in my head,” says that music is a way to have some quiet time Eboli. When he is writing for a music library, and let their minds wander. he never writes in generalities. He thinks of Every time he sits in front of his piano, a specific scene and writes music to it as it he is thrown back to his grand-aunt’s house, plays out in his head. For example, he recently because he feels good there. That’s his used the landing of Perseverance on Mars goal in music and all other aspects of his to write a scene and score. He pictured the life. He plays not to be the best, but for the launching, the travel, the landing and wrote love of playing.

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