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57-633: Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. began as Pacific Arts Productions, Inc. when incorporated on October 18, 1974, as a California corporation by Michael Nesmith (incorporated by Nesmith's accountant, Howard Leitner of Leitner, Zander, Sniderman & Co., Los Angeles). The first product released under Pacific Arts Productions was under the subsidy of the Pacific Arts Records label in September 1974 of Nesmith's own concept album, The Prison . Between 1974 and 1981, Pacific Arts Productions created

114-734: A "dastardly scheme, which was played out with military precision, to strip Pacific Arts of its assets by inducing Pacific Arts not to file bankruptcy, by lulling it into a sense of security while it organized a mass termination of Pacific Arts' licenses." After three days of deliberation, the nine-person jury unanimously agreed with Gradstein and found PBS liable for breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation (fraud), intentional concealment (fraud), negligent misrepresentation, and interference with contract. The court awarded Pacific Arts $ 14,625,000 for loss of its rights library, plus $ 29,250,000 in punitive damages. The jury awarded $ 3 million to Nesmith personally, including $ 2 million in punitive damages for

171-430: A companion book while listening to this album to provide a unique aural experience for each audience member. The Prison - A Book with a Soundtrack The Prison - A Book with a Soundtrack (or simply The Prison ) is Michael Nesmith 's seventh solo album of his post- Monkees career and his first to be released under his own record label, Pacific Arts . It includes a novella meant to be read while listening to

228-601: A documentary about an Ann Arbor factory. He graduated from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor in 1971. Turning down reduced tuition at the University of Michigan, he attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where students are graded through narrative evaluations rather than letter grades and where students create self-directed academic concentrations instead of choosing a traditional major. Burns worked in

285-475: A large library of various musical artists and built its own independent record distribution system. Nesmith considered Pacific Arts an umbrella corporation over two major divisions: TV and records. It was during this time that Nesmith began to develop music videos, produce PopClips (the predecessor for MTV ), and ideas for a non-theatrical home video business. In 1981, Pacific Arts Productions, Inc. changed its name to The Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. (PAC) PAC

342-547: A record store to pay his tuition. Living on as little as $ 2,500 in two years in Walpole, New Hampshire , Burns studied under photographers Jerome Liebling , Elaine Mayes , and others. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film studies and design in 1975. In 1976, Burns, Elaine Mayes, and college classmate Roger Sherman founded a production company called Florentine Films in Walpole, New Hampshire. The company's name

399-408: A regular contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV . In 2016, he also gave a commencement speech for Stanford University criticizing Donald Trump . In 2023, a 2013 photograph of Ken Burns and Clarence Thomas at a Koch Brothers fundraising event was made public in a Pro Publica article about Justice Thomas' ties to right wing activists. Burns stated that the encounter

456-499: A sealed box set [of "The Prison"] from 1974" and proceeded to digitally transfer sides one and two, taking it "off the record completely flat - straight wire. All that can be heard is what he created four decades ago." This digital transfer is currently available to download from Videoranch.com - as individual MP3 files ($ 1.99 each) or as one long continuous MP3 file ($ 9.99) at 320 kbps. All songs by Michael Nesmith. Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953)

513-460: A special production stage in Sand City, California for producing live performances and delivering them into virtual worlds. The live performances are delivered over the internet and seamlessly embedded into a fully multiplexed 3D environment. The first of these environments is Videoranch3D. In February 2009, Videoranch released a 6-minute song entitled "Helen's Eternal Birthday". The single track

570-697: A time. The 16-chapter novel has been released in its entirety and is available for purchase at the Videoranch online store. Unlike the Pacific Arts release of Nesmith's first book, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora , which was released as a printed novel, The America Gene is only available electronically. Re-releases of the Michael Nesmith Pacific Arts' catalog (both music and videos) for UK and Europe were licensed to Demon Music Group . In January 2007, Pacific Arts built

627-537: A total award to Nesmith and Pacific Arts of $ 48,875,000. The jury resolved the outstanding license fee issues by ordering Pacific Arts and Nesmith to pay approximately $ 1.2 million to American Documentaries for The Civil War , about $ 230,000 to WGBH , and $ 150,000 to WNET . Following the ruling, Nesmith expressed his personal disappointment with PBS and was quoted by BBC News as stating "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother

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684-470: A virtual audience. Nesmith has two patents pending for these processes which were filed in 2007 . Videoranch3D began a series of trial productions in 2006 which consisted mostly of live music concerts. In addition, there have been and are ongoing seminars, book signings, and professional musician clinics. Pacific Arts has produced hundreds of live performances in the virtual world of Videoranch3D, including shows with Nesmith performing To continue developing

741-600: Is a distant relative of Scottish poet Robert Burns . In 2014, Burns appeared in Henry Louis Gates 's Finding Your Roots where he discovered that he is a descendant of a slave owner from the Deep South , in addition to having a lineage which traces back to Colonial Americans of Loyalist allegiance during the American Revolution . Burns is an avid quilt collector. About one-third of

798-502: Is a thief." After the judgment against PBS, Nesmith told Entertainment Weekly , "I may not get back in business at all. If you can't trust PBS, who can you trust?" Six months after the verdict, a settlement was reached with the amount paid to Pacific Arts and Nesmith kept confidential. In 1995, Pacific Arts opened Videoranch, which hosted several multimedia projects, including video and audio clips from various albums and video productions it owned or licensed. In 1998, Videoranch began

855-698: Is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture . His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed by PBS . Burns's widely known documentary series include The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011), The Roosevelts (2014), The Vietnam War (2017), and Country Music (2019). He

912-458: Is now termed the " Ken Burns effect " in Apple 's iPhoto , iMovie , and Final Cut Pro X software applications. Burns stated in a 2009 interview that he initially declined to have his name associated with the software because of his stance to refuse commercial endorsements. However, Apple chief Steve Jobs negotiated to give Burns Apple equipment, which Burns donated to nonprofit organizations. As

969-560: Is the operating entity for Videoranch.com and Videoranch3d.com. Following the success of Elephant Parts , Pacific Arts focused its attention on producing full-length motion pictures. Its first major motion picture was the Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982) . Its film Repo Man was released in 1984, for Michael Nesmith served as executive producer under its still-active subsidy, Zoomo Productions, Inc. The last major motion picture Pacific Arts produced

1026-554: The Democratic National Convention , a video described by Politico as a "Burns-crafted tribute casting him [Kennedy] as the modern Ulysses bringing his party home to port." In August 2009, Kennedy died, and Burns produced a short eulogy video at his funeral. In endorsing Barack Obama for the U.S. presidency in December 2007, Burns compared Obama to Abraham Lincoln . He said he had planned to be

1083-764: The John Steinbeck Award , an award presented annually by Steinbeck's eldest son, Thomas, in collaboration with the John Steinbeck Family Foundation, San Jose State University , and the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies . In May 2015, Burns gave the commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis and received an honorary doctorate of humanities. Burns was the Grand Marshal for

1140-951: The Mayo Clinic , Muhammad Ali , Ernest Hemingway , the American Revolution , Lyndon B. Johnson , Barack Obama , Winston Churchill , the American criminal justice system, and African-American history from the Civil War to the Great Migration . On April 5, 2021, Hemingway , a three-episode, six-hour documentary, a recapitulation of Hemingway's life, labors, and loves, debuted on the Public Broadcasting System , co-produced and directed by Burns and Lynn Novick . In 1982, Burns married Amy Stechler. The couple had two daughters, Sarah and Lilly . Their marriage ended in divorce in 1993. As of 2017 , Burns

1197-719: The New York Times crossword puzzle. He says, "there has not been a day since when I haven't done the New York Times crossword puzzle". Burns is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party , describing himself as a “ Yellow dog Democrat ” and contributing almost $ 40,000 in political donations. In 2008, the Democratic National Committee chose Burns to produce the introductory video for Senator Ted Kennedy 's August 2008 speech to

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1254-541: The PBS Home Video banner. However, in the early 1990s, Pacific Arts and PBS went through a series of serious disagreements. Lawsuits were filed: by Nesmith and Pacific Arts against PBS for breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation (fraud), intentional concealment (fraud), negligent misrepresentation, and interference with contract; and by PBS against Nesmith and Pacific Arts for lost royalties. The lawsuits escalated in 1994 and 1995 into major litigation between

1311-577: The Washington University International Humanities Medal. The medal, awarded biennially and accompanied by a cash prize of $ 25,000, is given to honor a person whose humanistic endeavors in scholarship, journalism, literature, or the arts have made a difference in the world. Past winners include Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk in 2006, journalist Michael Pollan in 2008, and novelist and nonfiction writer Francine Prose in 2010. In 2013, Burns received

1368-764: The 10 part TV series The Vietnam War (aired September 2017). Burns has built a long, successful career directing and producing well-received television documentaries and documentary miniseries . His oeuvre covers diverse subjects including art ( Thomas Hart Benton , 1988), mass media ( Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio , 1991), sports ( Baseball , 1994, updated with 10th Inning , 2010), political history ( Thomas Jefferson , 1997), music ( Jazz , 2001; Country Music , 2019), literature ( Mark Twain , 2001; Hemingway , 2021), environmentalism ( The National Parks , 2009), and war (the 15-hour World War II documentary The War , 2007;

1425-467: The 11-hour The Civil War , 1990, which All Media Guide says "many consider his 'chef d'oeuvre ' "). In 2007, Burns made an agreement with PBS to produce work for the network well into the next decade. According to a 2017 piece in The New Yorker , Burns and his company, Florentine Films, have selected topics for documentaries slated for release by 2030. These topics include country music ,

1482-609: The 2016 Pasadena Tournament of Roses ' Rose Parade on New Year's Day in Pasadena , California . The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Burns to deliver the 2016 Jefferson Lecture , the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities , on the topic of race in America. He was the 2017 recipient of The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal at Vanderbilt University . In 2019, he received an honorary degree from Brown University . In 2022 he served as

1539-560: The Britt Festival . With the release, Nesmith alludes to the growing number of subsidiaries, listing the distribution of the video as a Pacific Arts subsidiary named "One of the Nesmith Enterprises". On the release of Nesmith's album The Garden in 1994, he introduced his current record company, Rio Records. PAC is the managing partner of Videoranch, LLC which was established in 2007 as a Delaware LLC. Videoranch LLC

1596-730: The Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has effectively communicated the values of the National Park System to the American public. As of 2010 , there is a Ken Burns Wing at the Jerome Liebling Center for Film, Photography and Video at Hampshire College. Burns was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2011. In 2012, Burns received

1653-582: The S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards . In 2008 Burns was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award . In 2008 Burns received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement. In 2010, the National Parks Conservation Association honored him and Dayton Duncan with

1710-460: The Videoranch website in various states of completion while updating those songs as he feels compelled, thus making the listener a part of each musical journey. This sense of audience inclusion in an entertainment enterprise was a recurring theme in this phase of Nesmith's career, the roots of which may be found in Nesmith's first Pacific Arts album “ The Prison ”, released in 1974. The audience reads

1767-837: The Year Award from the Producers Guild of America , a People's Choice Award , a Peabody Award , a duPont-Columbia Award , a D. W. Griffith Award , and the $ 50,000 Lincoln Prize . In 1991, Burns received the National Humanities Medal , then called the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities. In 1991, Burns received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . In 2004, Burns received

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1824-567: The album as its "soundtrack". The novella is in English and French. Nesmith recorded a companion novella/album entitled The Garden , released in 1994. According to Nesmith's website (Videoranch), a third installment titled The Ocean has been released and completes the Infinitia trilogy The Prison and The Garden were re-released together on CD in 2004 by Video Ranch. Allmusic called The Prison "a brilliant multimedia concept marrying

1881-417: The case of the 2007 remix, a new or alternate lead vocal track in places), and many other changes. Although the iTunes download of "The Prison" is credited in the iTunes store as the 1990 remix, it is actually the 2007 remix. As of September 2013, the original mix that appeared on vinyl has not been officially released on CD. However, according to Videoranch.com, on "Wednesday, August 16, 2017, Nez opened up

1938-475: The commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania and received an Honorary Doctor of Arts. Burns frequently incorporates simple musical leitmotifs or melodies. For example, The Civil War features a distinctive violin melody throughout, " Ashokan Farewell ", which was performed for the film by its composer, fiddler Jay Ungar . One critic noted, "One of the most memorable things about The Civil War

1995-489: The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge . Developing a signature style of documentary filmmaking in which he "adopted the technique of cutting rapidly from one still picture to another in a fluid, linear fashion [and] then pepped up the visuals with 'first hand' narration gleaned from contemporary writings and recited by top stage and screen actors", Burns made the feature documentary Brooklyn Bridge (1981), which

2052-473: The first chapter were released for preview and a purchased download, respectively. Plans call for the release of one chapter of the book online per week for sixteen weeks. After its release, Nesmith holds a "live reading" of each chapter of the book in the Videoranch3D virtual world. In June 2009, Videoranch began selling a serialized version of Nesmith's novel, The America Gene , beginning one chapter at

2109-403: The home video Elephant Parts , a long-form video featuring various comedy skits and music videos. Elephant Parts was an early home video available to consumers and would win the first Grammy Award for a music video . Koyaanisqatsi (1983) was among the titles they distributed. In 1992, Pacific Arts began releasing promotional material on the then-upcoming video, Michael Nesmith Live at

2166-449: The multimedia platform, Pacific Arts published the audiobook of Nesmith's first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora . The book was published and distributed by St. Martin's Press. The unabridged reading of the novel was released on a six-CD set by Pacific Arts and was sublicensed for direct download to Audible.com. In June 2009, Pacific Arts began a serialized release of Nesmith's second novel, The America Gene . A free sample and

2223-602: The original PBS deal in 1990. The cases went to jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in February 1999. By the end of the trial, the judge and jury were leaning toward Nesmith's (Pacific Arts) counterclaims. Henry Gradstein, lead attorney for Nesmith, contended in a brief that the company's video rights were worth enough for it to have paid off any proper debts to the producers. But, he said, PBS had concocted

2280-542: The parties over these rights and payments. PBS and Nesmith and Pacific Arts vigorously prosecuted these multimillion-dollar counter-suits. The six plaintiffs included PBS, including WGBH in signings, WNET in signings, American Documentaries and Radio Pioneers Film Project (production companies owned by producer Ken Burns ), and the Children's Television Workshop . They sought approximately $ 5 million in disputed royalties, advances, guarantees, and license fees for programs and

2337-456: The personal and inner visual experience of Michael "Papa Nez" Nesmith's novella with the aural medium of an equally original soundtrack." Robert Christgau called it a "ghastly boxed audio-allegory-with-book." "The Prison" was dramatically remixed by Michael Nesmith for CD release on "Rio Records" in 1990, and again in 2007 on "Edsel Records". Some changes on both remixes include the removal or addition of drum machines, extra reverb on vocals (in

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2394-405: The quilts from his personal collection were displayed at The International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska from January 19 to May 13, 2018. When asked if he would ever make a film regarding his mother Lyla, Burns responded: "All of my films are about her. I don't think I could do it directly, because of how intensely painful it is." Burns is a regular solver of

2451-464: The second-phase of multimedia via the internet by launching Videoranch 3D (VR3D), a 3-D virtual world as a test bed for technologies which could deliver live content into virtual environments. VR3D is a virtual world that is the most active of the Pacific Arts enterprises. In 2004, Nesmith developed a process for seamlessly embedding live video in virtual worlds and a companion production technique that allowed live performers to interact in real time with

2508-515: The shared name of Florentine Films. As such, their individual "subsidiary" companies include Ken Burns Media , Sherman Pictures , and Hott Productions . Burns's oldest child, Sarah , is also an employee of the company as of 2020. Burns initially worked as a cinematographer for the BBC , Italian television, and others. In 1977, having completed some documentary short films , he began work on adapting David McCullough 's book The Great Bridge , about

2565-493: The time a graduate student in cultural anthropology at Columbia University in Manhattan. The documentary filmmaker Ric Burns is his younger brother. Burns's academic family moved frequently. Among places they called home were Saint-Véran , France; Newark , Delaware; and Ann Arbor , Michigan, where his father taught at the University of Michigan . Burns describes growing up as "hippies" in Ann Arbor. Burns's mother

2622-449: The use of the PBS logo from the defendants Pacific Arts and Nesmith. Due to the cost of the litigation, Pacific Arts was forced to cease distribution operations, and suspended the use of the PBS logo on the Pacific Arts videos. Though Pacific Arts distribution system had ceased operating, the various plaintiffs were counting on capturing a personal financial guarantee Nesmith had made to PBS in

2679-417: The video arm since the early 1980s, and he would be replaced as president by George Steele, who had been at the home video arm since 1984, and when owner Michael Nesmith was soliciting bids for a sale portion of the Pacific Arts video arm, which involved lawyers were Paramount Home Video and Nelson Entertainment . In 1990, Pacific Arts secured a contract with PBS to distribute the PBS video catalog under

2736-462: Was Tapeheads (1988). Following its release, Pacific Arts turned its attention to home video and later, at the turn of the century, the internet. Throughout the 1980s, Pacific Arts acquired what was at the time the world's largest catalog of non-theatrical video titles, and set up its own independent distribution system. By 1987, former Pacific Arts Video Distribution (a.k.a. Pacific Arts Video Classics) president Robert Fread had quit, who had been at

2793-455: Was a brief social encounter resulting from Charles Koch 's support of PBS programming. Altogether Burns's work has garnered several awards, including two Oscar nominations, two Grammy Awards and 15 Emmy Awards. The Civil War received more than 40 major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards , two Grammy Awards (one for Best Traditional Folk Album ), the Producer of

2850-499: Was also executive producer of both The West (1996), and Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015). Burns's documentaries have earned two Academy Award nominations (for 1981's Brooklyn Bridge and 1985's The Statue of Liberty ) and have won several Emmy Awards , among other honors. Burns was born on July 29, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, to Lyla Smith (née Tupper) Burns, a biotechnician, and Robert Kyle Burns Jr., at

2907-491: Was borrowed from Mayes's hometown of Florence , Massachusetts. Another Hampshire College student, Buddy Squires, was invited to succeed Mayes as a founding member one year later. The trio were later joined by a fourth member, Lawrence "Larry" Hott . Hott did not actually matriculate at Hampshire, but worked on films there. Hott had begun his career as an attorney, having attended nearby Western New England Law School . Each member works independently, but releases content under

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2964-481: Was found to have breast cancer when he was three, and she died when he was 11, a circumstance that he said helped shape his career; he credited his psychologist father-in-law, Gerald Stechler, with a significant insight: "He told me that my whole work was an attempt to make people long gone come back alive." Well-read as a child, he absorbed the family encyclopedia, preferring history to fiction. Upon receiving an 8 mm film movie camera for his 17th birthday, he shot

3021-428: Was its haunting, repeated violin melody, whose thin, yearning notes seemed somehow to sum up all the pathos of that great struggle." Burns often gives life to still photographs by slowly zooming out subjects of interest and panning from one subject to another. It has long been used in film production where it is known as the " rostrum camera ". This technique, possible in many professional and home software applications,

3078-506: Was narrated by David McCullough, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and ran on PBS in the United States. Following another documentary, The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984), Burns was Oscar-nominated again for The Statue of Liberty (1985). Burns frequently collaborates with author and historian Geoffrey C. Ward , notably on documentaries such as The Civil War , Jazz , Baseball , and

3135-409: Was released exclusively through Videoranch as a test of its download sales. Following the test, the Videoranch download sales site was made operational with most of the Videoranch software catalog available for purchase and download delivery. In 2010, a first revision to "Helen’s Eternal Birthday" resulted in it being re-titled as "January." Nesmith had suggested that he would continue to release songs on

3192-550: Was residing in Walpole, New Hampshire. He and Julie Deborah Brown, daughter of Leslie Mundjer and the Smith Barney senior vice president Richard Brown and stepdaughter of Ellen Brown, married on October 18, 2003. Julie Deborah Brown founded Room to Grow, a non-profit providing aid to babies in poor families. They have two daughters. Burns is a descendant of Johannes de Peyster Sr. through Gerardus Clarkson, an American Revolutionary War physician from Philadelphia , and he

3249-474: Was then structured to oversee various anticipated subsidiaries for managing different types of media which included Pacific Arts Records. There have been several Pacific Arts subsidiaries over the years, including, but not limited to, Pacific Arts Productions, Inc., Pacific Arts Pictures (merged out), Pacific Arts Publishing (merged out), and Pacific Arts Audio Inc. (dissolved). Following the creation of PAC in 1981, Pacific Arts Video (a subsidiary of PAC) released

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