Episode 412 - Paul Heck on No Alternative... and more.

With Geoff out after a bizarre curling incident (long story), Keith flies solo this week as he welcomes Paul Heck into Thunderlove Studio for a chat.

Paul Heck created the AIDS Music Project to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and normalize discussing safe sex. In this endeavor, Heck pursued the idea of an AIDS-benefit alternative rock compilation.

He partnered with fellow Brown alumni Chris Mundy (a Rolling Stone senior writer) and Jessica Kowal (a freelance writer for Newsday) to produce the album No Alternative, the third album in the Red Hot Organization's (RHO) AIDS Benefit Music series.

No Alternative, released on Arista Records in October 1993. The album received an A+ review in Entertainment Weekly and was described by Rolling Stone as "a jaw-dropping compilation of musical gems."

A No Alternative MTV special featured a mix of live performances by Smashing Pumpkins and Goo Goo Dolls, music videos, short films by directors Hal Hartley, Tamra Davis, Michael Stipe, Jim McKay, and Matt Mahurin.

No Alternative raised over $1.5 million, and the proceeds were donated to AIDS relief organizations across the US.

Following No Alternative's commercial and critical success, Heck has produced other HIV/AIDS awareness-raising albums and a series of concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Heck's subsequent productions include:

Red Hot + Bothered
Offbeat
Red Hot + RIO
Red Hot + Rhapsody
Red Hot + Indigo
Red Hot + RIOT
Red Hot + RIO2
Red Hot + FELA
Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell

In 2004, Heck was honored by Brown University as the recipient of the John Hope Award for Career Public Service.

Paul co-produced Dark Was The Night (2009), an AIDS benefit album that raised over $1 million and featured artists like The National, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, My Morning Jacket, and Jose Gonzalez.

In 2013 Heck produced a 20th Anniversary reissue of No Alternative on vinyl (Sony Legacy) for Record Store Day.

In 2019 Heck produced Love is the Drug, a campaign in N. Carolina featuring live music pop-up events with video storytelling focused on raising awareness around Harm Reduction and Opioid Addiction.

In 2020 Heck invited another Brown alum, fine artist Keith Mayerson, to create a portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci as a part of a limited art edition fundraiser for Treatment Action Group (TAG).

Heck worked as an A&R for Arista Records and Warner Bros. Records in the mid-1990s.

Paul has produced the compilation albums:

Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information (Luaka Bop, 2002)
Fela Kuti The Underground Spiritual Game Mix (with Chief Xcel of Blackalicous - Quannum Projects, 2004)
Tim Maia Nobody Can Live Forever: The Existential soul of Tim Maia (Luaka Bop, 2011)
In The Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 a project featuring African artists reinterpreting the songs of U2 (Shout! Factory Records, 2007)

With his company Cobeep, Heck has produced video projects and live events for Steve Martin, Yo-Yo Ma[32] and Joe Walsh's annual VetsAid benefit concerts and livestreams.

LINKS

Paul Heck

Jujulele - Short Songs About The Universe

Paul Heck on Substack

No Alternative

Red Hot Organization

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell - documentary