September 2003: Vol. 82, No. 4

Master of the euphonium

Adam Frey (BMus '97) and his unusual brass instrument were a big hit with the Boston Pops

by Chris J. Starrs (ABJ '82)

s a former member of the Redcoat Marching Band who played in front of 86,000 fans on football Saturdays, Adam Frey (BMus '97) knows what it's like to make big music in a big venue. But Frey's Sanford Stadium experiences weren't enough to prepare him for the ovation he received during a recent history-making solo concert in one of America's most famous music halls.

Frey, a native of Conyers, performed three dates with the Boston Pops in June, becoming the first-ever euphonium soloist to play a concert series alongside the famed ensemble, which celebrated its 118th anniversary in July.

"It was an awesome, incredible experience," says Frey, whose instrument has been described as a small tuba or a large French horn. "It was a bit of a gamble for the Boston Pops to program such a series, but I've learned over the years how to make it interesting for the audience. I got a standing ovation all three nights, and the greatest feeling came when I returned to the stage for an encore. You're not announced by the conductor and the orchestra is already onstage, so when I came out it was like the applause turned up a notch into a roar."

Frey refers to the euphonium as "the tenor voice of the brass family," and his prowess with this unusual instrument has enabled him to travel throughout the world as a teacher and performer.

In '02 alone, Frey performed 62 shows in eight countries to introduce audiences to the "tenor voice of the brass family."

"There isn't necessarily an abundance of euphonium players, especially as concert soloists," says Donald R. Lowe, director of UGA's School of Music. "But Adam's performance with the Boston Pops speaks well of him and his ability to promote the euphonium."

After graduating magna cum laude from UGA, Frey continued his education overseas, where he received a master's degree and performance diploma from England's Royal Northern College of Music in 1999. Since that time, he has taken to the skies and the road to bring attention to the euphonium. In 2002 alone, Frey traveled more than 100 days, performing 62 concerts in eight countries. And there's no end in sight; later this year, he's scheduled to visit Singapore and Hong Kong.

Frey has recorded two albums of euphonium solo music. His debut release, "Listen to This!!" was produced in Nashville in 1999 with pianist Damon Denton, and his most recent CD, "Collected Dreams," was recorded in Athens, again with Denton but with a slightly different twist. "'Collected Dreams' is New Age with classical influences," says Frey, who adds that Denton eschewed the piano for a synthesizer for the second album, which came out earlier this year. "It's a concept we really liked, and I think it has worked out well. It's basically Scottish and Irish traditional melodies with a New Age spin."

Frey attended UGA during a critical transition period for the School of Music. He spent his first two years in the Fine Arts building on North Campus, and then moved to the department's new home on East Campus for his last two years of study and performance.

"I got to work in the new school for two years," says Frey. "I got to see a lot of changes in the department. . . . I think it really ignited the School of Music and it certainly energized me. Studying at Georgia gave me the opportunity to shine."

Gospel diva

Latrese Bush (AB '98) dreamed of a pro hoops career. Instead, she could be the next Whitney Houston

by Rob Dewig

hen she left her small-town South Carolina home for UGA in 1994, Latrese Bush had dreams of becoming a big-time basketball player.

A talented point guard till she got sick at UGA, Bush is at work on her first album. Look for her in the film "The Fighting Temptations."

Turns out, what was waiting for Bush (AB '98) was a career as a gospel singer. To mark her achievement as her hometown's first solo recording artist, hundreds of people packed Bluffton's First Zion Missionary Baptist Church for a mid-June concert. Scheduled to last an hour, the concert started at 5:30 p.m.—but Bush was still raising the roof and wowing her listeners at 8.

"When I went to UGA, the WNBA had not been formed," says Bush, "so I was just enjoying the opportunity to play [college] basketball. I didn't know there was another level."

During her first year on the Georgia team, Bush, a guard, mostly rode the bench. Then she got sick, but she says God showed her what to do.

"My feelings about basketball kind of left [after the illness]," she says, "but I always had singing and I've always had a church nearby. But I wasn't thinking about being a gospel singer when I was at UGA."

What Bush had in mind was taking her Sunday-morning musical roots and parlaying them into a pop or R&B career, as Whitney Houston and Anita Baker have done. "But I couldn't be Anita Baker," she says. "Believe me, I couldn't sing what she was talking about. And I couldn't wear those clothes. But I liked her style."

Starting with Baker's jazzy-cool style, Bush has added more energy—to the point where she's a ball of fire on stage, constantly moving, and with a set of pipes that are far more breathtaking than any finger-roll layup or three-point bomb she ever made on a basketball floor.

"There are no words to describe her voice," says Cori Stevenson of the Atlanta singing group Lyrical, which sang backup for Bush at her Bluffton concert. "She's flawless," adds Lyrical's John Watts. "I've never seen anyone like her."

As a contributing member of Lyrical, Bush made her way to a solo career by singing backup for such singers as Mariah Carey, Richard Smallwood, and Shirley Caesar. Look for Lyrical, including Bush, in the upcoming Paramount Pictures film "The Fighting Temptations" with Cuba Gooding Jr.

Bush, who lives in Atlanta, is working on her first album. Her day job is as a software trainer, but she tours with jazz trumpeter Joey Sommerville, whose new album contains a track ("Voo Doo") that was written and is sung by Bush.

Bush credits Georgia coach Andy Landers with helping her on her way.

"He said, 'I'm going to help you as much as I can because you got it.' That meant a lot to me," she says. "But I never thought I'd be here. I wish he was here, too. I'd love for him to hear me. I'd like to get back to Athens so he can."

Bush has been formally recognized by Bluffton's mayor, Hank Johnston, who made a big deal about promoting her concert at the town council's May meeting. He also showed up for the concert, bobbing his head as she sang and grinning from ear-to-ear.

"My reaction?" said Johnston. "Latrese Bush should be on the next round of 'American Idol!' She's the real deal."

Spirit Gardens

Water it well and Brent Vicknair's (ABJ '90) Holland-bred tulip kit will spell the Georgia "G" in your garden or patio

by Margaret Goerig (ABJ '03)

Vicknair moved to Holland to start an international marketing business, but merging flowers with school emblems has proved to be an interesting sidelight.

very year between April and May, the tulips bloom in western Holland's bulb district and tourists flock from all over the world to bask in 38 miles of glorious color. Last spring, in the midst of the annual parades, tours, and festivals that honor Holland's national flower, two bright-red, 35-square-foot University of Georgia "G's" popped out of the tulip fields.

"The Dutch people thought I was crazy," says Brent Vicknair (ABJ '90), who moved to Amsterdam to set up an international marketing business. The idea for creating horticultural patterns that replicate American university emblems came to him out of the blue—blue tulips, that is.

When Vicknair visited friend Molly Sapp at her at home in Ann Arbor, Mich., last year, he brought her blue tulips. While they sat admiring the newly planted bulbs, Vicknair remarked that fans of the hometown University of Michigan Wolverines—whose school colors are blue and gold—would like the blooms, too. The idea of configuring tulips into university logos seemed worth trying, and Vicknair and Sapp decided it made more sense to try it in Georgia than in Michigan.

"We needed a place that had a longer planting season but an equally rabid fan and alumni base," says Vicknair, who recruited Deborah Dietzler of the UGA Alumni Association and Avery McLean of the UGA Athletic Association to help spread the word. When Vicknair visited Athens in November, he brought Dietzler tulips to plant at the association's headquarters at the Wray Nicholson House. By the end of the '02 football season, he and Sapp had 45 clients.

The Georgia "Spirit Garden" includes 264 red-and-white tulips and an easy-to-follow planting pattern.

"I've always really enjoyed it," says Vicknair, who got interested in flowers by watching his father graft camellias and his grandfather manage greenhouses. After graduation from UGA, he put his advertising degree on hold and began working at one of the largest commercial landscaping companies in Atlanta. He ran his own garden design business until "the rainiest, soggiest summer" of 1994 convinced him to see the world and plant his roots in advertising. Sapp, who was then the director of visual merchandising for all Borders bookstores, hired him to be her creative manager. The two stayed in touch when Vicknair moved to Amsterdam.

Planting the Spirit Gardens is easy, says Vinknair. The kit includes 264 Georgia Red and Bulldog White tulips and a PLANTOGRAM designed and trademarked by Vicknair that plots where the bulbs must go.

Vicknair and Sapp want to start a Web site, which will allow customers to tailor a Spirit Garden to their specific needs or interests. For example, the gardens could become a fundraiser for a school organization, such as the marching band.

For now, the Spirit Gardens serve as a hobby for Sapp and Vicknair, neither of whom plans to quit their day job. But if the business succeeds, they envision a world full of custom-designed tulip beds, growing into anything from the blue-and-red Delta Airlines triangle to a tulip lover's own personal symbol.

She has her finger on America's pulse

Joey Cummings (ABJ '71) made a name for herself by coining slogans for KFC and McDonald's. Now her boutique agency handles all the biggies

by John W. English

ome advertising copy writers go an entire career without coming up with a catch phrase that sticks in the public consciousness. Whereas, Joey Cummings has done it twice. She coined "Finger Lickin' Good!" for Kentucky Fried Chicken and "Keep Your Eyes on Your Fries!" for McDonald's, and these early successes have enabled Cummings to remain a major player in the industry over the last three decades.

The client list for Cummings' Brooklyn-based ad agency includes BMW, IBM, Sony, and Xerox. She got a head start in college by majoring in advertising with a minor in graphic design.

A recent commercial for Arrid Total deodorant shows her imagination at work. Titled "Half a Hat," the TV spot shows an otherwise fashionably dressed woman wearing half a hat and another person carrying three-quarters of an umbrella. The copy, produced by Cummings' five-person Brooklyn, N.Y.-based agency, reads: "Would you wear half a hat or drive half a car? Silly girl. Why use half a deodorant?" The spot is playful yet effective and the client, Church & Dwight, was so impressed with Cummings' work that they switched their $65 million account to her firm.

Cummings (ABJ '71) earned a degree in advertising from UGA with a minor in graphic design, and the combination has served her well since she landed her first advertising job with Winn-Dixie in Jacksonville. In 1992, Cummings launched her own boutique agency, The Joey Company, where working on the accounts of such classic brands as Kellogg, Kodak, and McDonald's has taught her that "bringing together talent is a talent in itself. I cherry-pick talent for projects. I have created an intellectual brain trust, a hub of people—some in New York, Chicago, Boston, and in California. The film world was a great model to create this kind of advertising agency. Intellectual property is more important than physical real estate."

The Joey Company's client list is a long and distinguished one, including such corporate giants as ABC, American Express Bank, BMW, Citicorp, Jenny Craig, Food Network, IBM, The Limited, Price Waterhouse, Miller Brewing, Nutri-Systems, Shoney's, Six Flags, Sony, and Xerox. To build relationships, Cummings scrutinizes clients' consumer research reports and attends focus groups. "As corporate budgets get tighter," she says, "we have to be innovative. We have to dream big."

Says Cummings of her college years, "I channeled rebellion into projects, including the student magazine, and I still work with a friend from those undergraduate days, Jim Trowell (BFA '79).

Building her agency has been an all-consuming enterprise, but Cummings says she's taking some time off to catch her breath. "Life is fragile and short," she says, "so I intend to live while working." Assessing her years in advertising, she says, "It's been crazy, wonderful and diverse. It's given me the opportunity to be a creative person, to be a problem solver, and to dabble in a variety of media. It's an old cliché—"Do what you love and the money will come"—but it's true."

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