Press Releases from Agape Media International

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SPIRITUAL TEACHER MICHAEL BERNARD BECKWITH
LAUNCHES AGAPE MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Los Angeles, CA) Michael Bernard Beckwith launches Agape Media International (AMI) on Friday, February 8 with the release of “Supreme Inspiration,” the newest CD from internationally acclaimed singer/composer Rickie Byars Beckwith. AMI will celebrate the album’s release at the exclusive Eleven Sound studio in Santa Monica that evening with a celebrity-filled event featuring a live performance by Byars Beckwith.

Special guests of the Beckwiths will ride to the launch event in a deluxe limobus for what Byars Beckwith describes as “an intimate, soulful gathering of progressive artists, movers, shakers and history makers for a playful visioning.” The bus will also serve as a private VIP lounge adjacent to Eleven Sound.

Under the leadership of Byars Beckwith, the 160 voice Agape International Choir has become known for its signature sectional harmonies, counterpoint, tempo-patterns, devotional power and energetic enthusiasm. Through live performances and CDs, the choir’s eclectic blend of musical styles and genre has earned fans in all parts of the world, including some of the biggest names in music such as musical superstar Michael Jackson. “I really love what Rickie and Michael Beckwith have done in creating the sound of Agape with their beautiful music,” proclaims Jackson.

Michael Bernard Beckwith, perhaps best known to audiences worldwide from his guest appearances on influential television shows “Oprah” and “Larry King Live,” and as one of the most acclaimed teachers in the global phenomenon “The Secret,” is Founder and Spiritual Director of the 10,000 member Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. The Agape community includes a broad cross section of entertainment industry executives and celebrities such as Academy Award winning actor Hilary Swank, Christina Applegate, mega-selling author Mark Victor Hansen, Grammy-winning musician Keb Mo and actor/director Mario Van Peebles.

It was this unique talent pool that inspired Beckwith to create a media company that would bring Agape’s vision of a world that works for everyone to a global audience. “We have such a wealth of creative and artistic talent within Agape’s membership to draw on, that friends and colleagues have been asking me for years when we were going to take this step. We realized that the time is now,” Beckwith announced.

Beckwith and his colleagues have innovative plans for AMI, whose target audience isthe $229 billion “Cultural Creatives” market focused on spirituality, health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living, according to Grammy winning record producer Stephen Powers, who heads up AMI’s music, publishing and online media divisions. “I can’t tell you how excited we are to launch AMI with Rickie’s CD,” said Powers, former media and consumer electronics industry chief who earned numerous gold and platinum awards at Capitol-EMI and as founder and President of Chameleon Records who produced John Lee Hooker’s classic, Grammy-winning album “The Healer.” Powers added, “Rickie is an amazing, transformational artist whose work as both a performer and composer/arranger never fail to inspire audiences in just about every corner of the world.”

“We’re a for-profit business with a non-profit mission dedicated to promoting artists and art forms that uplift the human spirit,” adds veteran motion picture and television producer Mark R. Harris, whose credits include the critically acclaimed film “Gods and Monsters” and the Academy Award winning “Crash.” Harris leads AMI’s film division in developing and producing feature films, television shows and theater.

Powers, Harris and their team have already established numerous channels of distribution for their products including music and book distributors, retailers, spiritual communities, catalogs, direct marketing, the internet, mobile media, internet radio and traditional broadcast media.

Rickie Byars Beckwith, Michael Bernard Beckwith and Agape Media International present a celebration of “Supreme Inspiration,” the new CD by Rickie Byars Beckwith at 8:00 PM on Friday, February 8, 2008 at Eleven Sound (1231 Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica). Press line begins at 8:00 PM.

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