The Official Peter Coyote Web Site

Coymoon Creations


SUMMER 2009
NEWSLETTER

August 9, 2009

On Thursday, August 20th, Peter will be doing a reading and book signing at the Booksmith in San Francisco. An expanded version of Peter's sixties memoir, SLEEPING WHERE I FALL, was released by Counterpoint  Press on July 1st. Originally published in 1998, the new edition includes a 25-page afterword with additional photos. The free event will be held at 7:30 pm.

Last week ADOPT A SAILOR was screened at the Sedona International Film Festival. Actor Ethan Peck was in attendance along with the film's writer/director Charles Evered and producer Kim Waltrip. Festival director Patrick Schweiss commented, "It is an incredibly poignant, timely and entertaining film."

We finally have a date for the Ken Burns documentary series, "The National Parks: America’s Best Idea" narrated by Peter. It will be featured on PBS from Sunday, September 27 through Friday, October 2. A new episode will debut each night at 8 pm with episodes immediately repeating on the same night they premiere. The series will be available in high definition with surround sound.   The 12-hour, six-part documentary series, which will be rebroadcast on PBS in early 2010, is directed by Burns and co-produced with his longtime colleague, Dayton Duncan, who also wrote the script. Filmed over the course of more than six years in some of nature’s most spectacular locales - from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska - the documentary is a story of people from every conceivable background: rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so, reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

In addition to Peter's narration, the series features first-person voices read by Tom Hanks, Andy Garcia, Josh Lucas, Eli Wallach, Campbell Scott, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, George Takei, Philip Bosco, Carolyn McCormick, Adam Arkin and Kevin Conway. The DVD, book and bonus CD soundtrack will be released on October 6th  and can be pre-ordered now at this link.

On April 26, 2009, the Dalai Lama was the honored guest at a luncheon at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. He acknowledged and thanked 49 individuals who were the honorees at the Unsung Heroes of Compassion event, hosted by Peter. The honorees were comprised of 25 women and 24 men from 13 countries ranging in age from 12 to 77 and came from a variety of ethnicities, cultures, religions and backgrounds. Each had demonstrated timeless and universal human goodness. The Dalai Lama has written extensively and worked tirelessly throughout the world to promote compassion, which is a virtue honored by all cultures and spiritual teachings. He has taught meditations helping people to see that all people experience pain, hunger, sickness, and death, and all of us are equally worthy of compassion.You can view some of the video of the event at youtube - Part 1 - Peter's Welcome and Part 2 - Introduction of His Holiness. It was just two years ago last April that Peter celebrated his lay ordination as a Buddhist priest. He was given the name Hosho Jishi - Dharma Voice, Compassionate Warrior.

July 2, 2009

ADOPT A SAILOR was screened in June at the Reno Film Festival. You can view some clips from the film at this link. According to People magazine, co-star Bebe Neuwirth had Peter officiate at her wedding in May to California wine connoisseur Chris Calkins. In an intimate New York ceremony in front of nearly 80 guests at the Players Club in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, Peter presided over the Buddhist/Christian ceremony. This is the second marriage for the "Frasier" actress.

The death of Farrah Fawcett last week reminded me of the 1996 TV movie DALVA that Peter co-starred in with both Farrah and Powers Boothe. It is currently being offered at Amazon.com as a bonus DVD if you purchase the Diane Keaton/Sam Shepard comedy "The Only Thrill" for $9.99. Sounds like a bargain. It was also 13 years ago when Farrah posed nude for Playboy at age 50. Peter commented, "Let's not lose sight of the fact that this is a damn fine-looking women who's no longer 25. She wanted to make some kind of statement like, 'It's not over, kids.' And I think she did it in spades."

Here's another photo of Peter taken in February at the Havana Festival, which celebrates the famous Cuban cigars.

I recently came across this funny story called "Coyote - a Little Lamb". Apparently, actress Michelle Lee was a bit nervous about meeting Peter ten years ago when they were both cast in the CBS movie, "A MURDER ON SHADOW MOUNTAIN." She was aware of his past reputation for living in communes and befriending Hell's Angels. To break the ice, she sent him and his then 13-year-old son an Easter basket. The next day on the set Peter slipped Lee a note: "Three fluffed chickens bob on a flowered sprig in freshers of a gusty spring day. For Michelle and her Easter flowers. Peter Coyote 1999." Michelle told columnist Nancy Perry Graham, "I'm shaking like a leaf, and he hands me little chicky poos. The other side of Peter Coyote is this very male man's man with a feminine heart."