March 2, 2021 • 33 mins
Many people around the world have been inspired by Kobe Bryant, as an athlete, philanthropist, artist, and father. Whether it was his series of children’s books, his Oscar©-winning film, or the millions he donated to charity, people continue to be inspired by Bryant’s work ethic and creativity. We also meet one of the popular artists who paid tribute to Bryant with a massive mural on the wall of a business in Studio City, CA – painted within 24-hours of the crash.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The morning process for those who admired and loved Kobe
Bryant took on many forms, most of which were in
a very public way. There are hundreds of murals fainted
by artists who were inspired not because he is a
basketball player, but because Kobe was an artist too. I'm
Steve Gregory, and this is the death and life of
Kobe Bryant. Jimmy Kimmel was a close friend of Bryant's,
(00:36):
and Bryant was a frequent guest on Kimmel's late night
talk show. Kimmel would go on to host Bryant's memorial
at Staples Center and spoke about the many murals created
to honor his friend, and not just in l A
across the country and Kobe's hometown Philadelphia, in Italy, in India,
(00:58):
the Philippines, China, York, Phoenix, Boston, for God's sake, in
places where he would be booed on the court, Kobe
has missed. So we're here at Venice Boulevard in Mid City.
(01:20):
Mike Asner says he's a Kobe Bryant super fan, which
includes his love for the murals painted of Bryant. Bryant's
daughter Gianna, the Lakers in Los Angeles. This is a
very well known mural by an artist Gustavo who goes
by g Z dot j R. It's the Leave a
Legacy mural that was done actually with the Lakers before
the playoffs last year and gusted an amazing job. He
(01:44):
added Kobe and the trophies after they won the championship. Um.
So this is one of the most famous murals throughout
the world and people have come here to reflect and
to show their respect and gratitude. I mean, you're looking at,
from my opinion, a beautiful work of art. But there's
a lot of messages here Slee around social justice and uh,
you know what this team has, what the city and
(02:05):
what the world has gone through. But you know, this team,
specifically for me as a huge Lakers fan, means a
great deal overcoming adversity all year, um, pushing for what
I believe is right in the world. And you know,
they won the championship and this reflects them winning that championship.
After learning that Briant's death, Asner says he was so
(02:25):
moved he had to do something, anything, to honor Bryant.
So he decided to create a website which shows the
locations of all the known murals of Bryant around the world.
And it started with an Instagram page at Kobe Mural
uh than at Kobe mural dot com website, and at
this point there's an interactive map with over four murals
around the world. And my whole purpose here is just
(02:48):
to make it easy for fans. It's not money making operation,
it's not a business. It's just purely out of love
for the fans, the families, and obviously Cobe and the Lakers.
So how do you know where the murals are at?
You know, it's funny. In the beginning, it took a
lot of work to find them and just to get
the accurate information because it's hard to get accurate information
sometimes um these days. So in the beginning I would
(03:12):
really dig and scour and try to find these locations.
But over time fans are not reaching out to me,
which is really impressive and beautiful. Um. It's been a
really nice community of fans around the world, every corner
of the world, who at this point, when they're working
on something, they notify me, and then I'm just going
to notify the fans. So you know, there's not a
(03:33):
lot of greater things on social media sometimes, but this
is one nice positive from my perspective, to bring us
together to do something to get back and um, you know,
I'm just grateful to the artists and fans around the world.
I assume l A has the most murals. Yeah, you know,
it's hard to keep track, but um, we're over four
hundred throughout the world. I believe about two d fifty
plus in southern California. That includes Orange County where I'm from,
(03:55):
up to Los Angeles. Um, you know, there's murals all
over the country and United States, but almost every corner
of the world there's a mural. And what's really cool
is we've seen a lot of murals where he grew
up in Italy and he spent time in France. He
would travel to China and Asia in the off season
and left a really big impression there. So I'm just
(04:17):
amazed and humbled and grateful for this work that's being done.
But every artist has their own unique style and perspective,
and that's what makes us really special. It's not the
same thing everywhere. It's really unique. Each time something goes
up and one of those artists goes by our tune,
(04:39):
our tune, whose real name is art Goes to Kochikian,
says he was so moved by Brian's death he painted
an entire mural on the wall of a business in
Studio City within twenty four hours afterward of the fatal
crash went public. I got out of the shower and
when I got out, Um, first thing I noticed my
phone was going off and it was about Kobe and
(05:01):
the first article I see in the second and I'm
opening up different social media's and every single post was
about it. And I just I just lay down on
the bed for a while and I'm you know, obviously
it's a big inspiration for me, and I was just
trying to wrap my head around it and trying to
figure out if it was real or fake. I kind
(05:23):
of first thought maybe it was fake, but then when
I seen all those posts, I was like, oh, oh,
sh this is real. Um yeah, I just and and
and I had a I had a date right then.
That's what I was taking a shower. So I went
to meet this girl in Beverly Hills. And when I
got there, I'm like, you know, I kept on thinking
(05:44):
about Wow, Kobe said, Kobe's did and I'm like, I
gotta do something about this. So I left the date
so I could go start the mirror, and I started
that night, and I pulled the twenty four our session.
I went and took a little baby nap, came back
another two hours, and I finished the whole thing without
even knowing twenty four is without even thinking twenty four
is Kobe's number and two was her number. Gness, So yeah,
(06:09):
I just jumped on it because I thought I something
you had to jump on right away. I mean, I
forget about the inspiration. You know, I've done many murals
about Kobe, but it was just this guy demands the respect.
You know, he's he's all about l a he has
l A he. He brought a lot of pride and
inspiration to the city and the whole Mamba mentality. Millions
(06:32):
of people are talking about it, practicing it. You know,
he had a big impact. He is l a he.
I I looked at him as one of our idols.
I guess if Michelangelo was alive, Kobe would get a statue.
You know, it sounds like he was not only an
inspiration to you as an athlete, but just as a person. Yeah,
he was. You know, he was a good role model,
(06:55):
good father. I just had a baby girl, so I'm
a girl dad too. Now you felt compelled to put
something on canvas, in this case the side of a building.
So where did you paint this and what did you
decide to do? Um? I I had already painted the
whole side of that that wall, that business, and it
(07:17):
was the front facing wall left and I we were
gonna paint something else. They wanted a Marilyn Morrow, I believe,
and I just wasn't really feeling a Marilyn Morow. So
I kind of took the weekend off. I went to Vegas,
got drunk, came back, and that's when Kobe happened, and
I'm like, okay, it's it's almost like you can't make
(07:39):
this up. You know, the signs already pointed where what
I should paint there, so that wall was ready to go.
I just didn't want to paint what I was supposed
to paint. And when Kobe died, I'm like, I'm not
painting anything else but this. And I even told the
guys I was painting for, I'm like, I'm gonna paint Kobe.
(08:00):
And at first they were like, oh, you don't know
let's talk about it. And I'm like, it's either I
paint Kobe. I'm not painting anything, you know, And that's
how pretty much they were like, okay, let's start on that.
What came to you? What was the first image that
came to you that you had to paint. I wanted to,
I really wanted to showing the image of Kobe kind
of looking up in the sky where in a way
(08:24):
saying that here I come. And uh, when I found
a good picture that match said it was the one
where he's biting his jersey. It's iconic picture. Then uh,
you know, I was already planning for the mural. And
that's when I found out Gig died. I didn't I
didn't know Gig died that first. Then when I found
(08:44):
a gig died that, I'm like, wow, there's no way
I can't put her in this. It would almost be
disrespect for their family, you know. So, um, I just
started searchings pictures kind of looking upward, and I on
two images that kind of matched, and and then the
rest I just sorry, I don't know what the mirror
(09:07):
is gonna look like. I never know what my mirror
is gonna look like because chances are while I'm doing it,
I'm gonna get a bright idea and it's gonna shift course,
but the main concept is still going to be there.
That's why I don't like to do a mural knowing
what I'm It's just to me, it's boring because you
want my creativity and spend of an hour or a
(09:29):
couple of hours while I'm sketching it, or you want
my creativity for a whole week while I'm gonna be
painting it. So last minute I could get a bright idea,
and as I'm painting, I'm getting more ideas coming at me.
So it was a very fluid process for you. Yeah,
I never know what it's gonna look like, not not
even the canvas pieces. So twenty four hours. Do you
(09:52):
remember the final thing you painted when you said okay,
I'm done and you step back. It was the shading
on the jersey and I stepped back and I was like,
well that looks good. It's almost life like. And I
mean that experience was so cool. Every time I looked up,
and I mean every time I looked back, there was
(10:13):
like thirty to fifty people were taking pictures. You know,
you could you could see I'm causing traffic. People are swart,
you know, breaking their neck, just slowing down the traffic,
looking trying to swear from the second lane to pull
over so they could come take pictures. People you know,
bringing candles, lighting on flowers, memorials, pictures and just posting
(10:36):
by the wall. It just it just turned into a memorial.
It was. It was kind of cool just seeing that process.
You know, you do a lot of murals and not
too many get that same kind of attention, and that
just tells you the importance of the guy you're painting.
You know, I've done many murals and nothing was really
to that caliber. Because within like that twenty four hours,
(10:58):
I had almost about five six news stations pull up
behind me. When you were I'm sure you were in
the zone. You were doing your thing, you say, you
step back and looked at it, and and then are
you ever completely satisfied with your final product? No, I'm
never satisfied because I always feel like that could be
more done. But sometimes you just gotta learn to know
(11:21):
when and enough is enough. You know, sometimes too much
is too much and it can be overkilled. But um,
you know I got this saying my favorite pieces my
next piece. So I'm never really looking forward to the
one I'm doing. I'm looking for the looking forward for
the next one. I've done many Kobes, but ever since
he passed away, I've done two one the other ones
(11:44):
on las Anega in Venice. It's like high it's Kobe
daughter and he's got angel wings and the angel wings
is turning into hands and wrapping around gianna Um. It's
on Global Motor Sports. Is that satisfaction for you when
people want to take their pictures in front of it
and they look at it. Some got emotional. A guy spoke,
(12:05):
we got teary eyed. Yeah. Matt Barnes pulled up. He
got tear eyed too. Um, you know, he played with him.
A lot of a lot of people got teary eyed.
There was some lady that pulled up Marrow. She had
that Lakers ring and she had some sort of connection
with the family and the Lakers Championship ring. Uh. And yeah,
(12:27):
you see a lot of people tearing up. And they
were coming up to me shaking my hand, thank you
for doing this, and I'm like, thank you for loving it,
you know, like to me, this is more of an obligation,
you know, it's like, you know, I don't want to
keep bringing up Michelisba. We do our part. We just
painting outside and stead inside. When you talk about inspiration,
(12:51):
he were talking a lot about you felt compelled to
do this within twenty four hours. You even broke a
date to do this. I mean, he must have been
a pretty powerful influence on you. Yeah. Yeah, you don't
really get the motivation to jump up and paint too often.
So if I finished that whole wall and matter one day,
(13:14):
I just it's cool, you know, I enjoy it. And
and even though it was like three am, nobody was
around and there was no wind, and then all of
a sudden, these two huge like gusts the wind and
leaves going everywhere, and and then it just stopped again.
And I'm like, was that something? Like? Was that something was?
(13:36):
It was Kobe Angiana just breezing by over here, but
it was it was crazy. My whole body just got
goose bumps. So were you by yourself overnight doing this? Yeah?
I was already Usually during the daytime, at nighttime people
are there, But overnight that's the only time I'll get peace,
the only time I could actually focus. That's what my
(13:58):
phone is off and people are not asking questions, and
you know, I can actually focus on the project the hand.
What's that like when you're by yourself and your thoughts
and you're painting a portrait of someone who just died
hours earlier. Oh, you do do a lot of thinking.
Like I cried throughout that over neither um just thinking
(14:23):
about it. But um, I like it. I mean, I
think most artists are nocturnal. They should be producing artwork
at night. So, like I said, that's the only time
you can actually get some peace, peace and quiet and
peace of mind. Way you know, you have no distractions.
(14:43):
The text message can be a distraction if I'm painting. Um,
so when there's no distractions, you can literally be locked
in your zone for five hours and not notice five
hours just went by. Do you continue to do copy
inspired portraits from your I had like fifty people asking
(15:03):
me to do Kobe stuff, and I just refused them. Um.
I didn't want to just be a generic artist that
just keeps going around doing Kobe for higher I just thought,
if I was gonna do him, I was gonna pick
and choose where I wanted it, what location, If it
was gonna you know, make an impact or not not
to feel right. Yeah. Yeah, And and art it's basically
(15:26):
by feel right. Like recently I did a mural and
it was just a great mural, but I did not
like it because of the location, because it was not
on the big street, even though it's commissioned. It's like,
deep down inside, you're like, this artwork does not belong
on this street. This artwork belongs on somewhere where people
could actually enjoy it, you know, take pictures of it.
(15:48):
So um, yeah, you definitely got to feel it out.
I like the reactions to people. Murals like our Tuns
continue to attract fans. What brought you to this location?
Kobe Bryan was one of my favorite players. One of
(16:08):
the most visited murals is tucked away in an alley
about a block away from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A group of four friends recently traveled from Detroit, Michigan,
to visit l A and one of the things on
their list a visit to this mural. Meet Gabby, Marcel Milano,
and a guy who calls himself Cheese. They all agree
that Bryant was an inspiration, and here's how they felt
(16:29):
about seeing the mural. For the first time, told as
best as possible through their face coverings home. Just like
being able to like to take his drive from like
how he was on the court and put it into
his family now. It was really just like the most
important thing I just liked about the man um. I
just see a man that was passionate about his craft
and what he does and put his all into it.
I see greatness. Kobe Bryant. Was this the epitome of
(16:52):
hard work and dedication and definitely an inspiration even like
someone I thought was like I just broke my hands.
So I remember a photo with him when he was
shooting with his broken wrists and like still practicing, like
in his pajamas, you know what I'm saying, So he
feels inspiration even to this day. It was it was
the drive. He had everything you've seen him do, he
put his heart to it, like he literally left everything
(17:13):
on the floor every night. People hated him and practice
because he worked so hard. He literally would cut you
out if you wouldn't work in his hard ast him.
If you didn't work as hard as him, you couldn't
play with. For me, it's like how many people really
looked up to him from the kids to the adults,
he really had a lot of Like even if you
look on this wall, you got millions of people signing
autographs and sending their piece to Kobe. It's a dope man,
(17:34):
Like he did he did this thing while he was here.
Everything that he did outside the basketball, he still applied
the same drive, the same determination. He's still put in
the same amount of efforts. So the fact that that
was just his mentality overall was definitely inspiring. And to
let you know, like you don't have to just stay
focused on one thing. You can apply the same pressure
to everything aspect of your life and you know, just
(17:55):
watch it blossom. So he's definitely that guy. Just watching
and watching his legacy, And honestly, I've never been like
a huge basketball fan, but seeing like when he passed
in how he affected so many people around the world.
You know what I'm saying, they kind of like put
something on me like, oh, I gotta go harder. You
know what I'm saying, I gotta I gotta credit legacy
just as just as good as his. And the feeling
(18:17):
of seeing Kobe Bryant for the first time on a
larger than life mural almost crying literally like that was
just how much of an inspiration, how dope he was
to everybody. And it's just like it's an energy right
here or wherever you see him, it's like it's an
energy in l a Like honestly, you step here, you
know him, and like you know everybody that passed that
(18:38):
was from here, you can feel the energy. Like standing
in right here, I can feel his energy coming up.
Another artistic homage to Bryant, and the mayor of Los
Angeles talks about Bryant's inspiration in philanthropy. As the death
and life of Kobe Bryant continues, the mural has become
(19:14):
one of the most popular ways to show love and
respect to Bryant. The website Kobe mural dot com currently
lists more than four hundred around the world, most of
which are in southern California, But within hours of the
crash that killed Bryant, another type of canvas would fast
become the place for portraits of Bryant, Bryant's numbers twenty
(19:35):
four and eight, Bryant's daughter Gianna, and the Black Mambas
for artists. We're doing about four a day each of us,
so maybe anywhere, like for sure from ten to twenty
tattoos a day just for Kobe. Mikey Montoya owns and
operates Sunny Days Tattoo Parlor and Arcadia that's about an
hour east of Los Angeles. He and his artist Ricky
(19:56):
remember learning about the crash ms actually flying in from
New York and um, we had landed, we had got
in our vehicle, and then um, we saw it. Actually
he saw it on social media, so he's like, hey,
guess what happened. And we just kind of took a pause.
We were on the freeway and we both like kind
of silent for a while, and um, kind of in shock.
(20:19):
That's where it took me. Montoya says, as soon as
he opened his shop, he knew things were going to
be different. It seems like every walks of life was
coming in and wanting to get something, even if they
couldn't actually afford a tattoo. They were, you know, getting
the money together to get this number eight or twenty four,
just a little mamba or anything. The colors. It was
(20:40):
pretty wild, you know, the people showing their um kind
of their emotional outlet towards it all, in which I
had a little bit myself and I these people getting
it permanently. It was. It was very I don't know,
like um kind of sad, kind of the most as
were all over the place, even tattooing it. Not knowing
(21:03):
these people tattooing it. It's not like their father and mother.
But to me, um, some of my customers were like
saying that Kobe was like their father, mother or brother
or whatnot, no matter the gender, it's just the role
he played. Which I didn't see it like that, but
now I do, now, you know. It was it was
(21:23):
pretty cool. We were doing like each artists, say, there
was four artists. We were doing about four a day
each of us. So maybe anywhere like for sure, from
ten to twenty tattoos a day just for Kobe or
making appointments or just um, even just Laker tattoos they wanted,
you know, not necessarily just the eight. They wanted Lakers.
(21:46):
And usually like kind of couples came in either friends
or a group of friends or you know. Yeah, so
they were all talking about it and it um. It
struck everybody a little bit differently. It was weird us
especially the younger age people, like I would say, anywhere
from like thirty down down. They were really into getting
(22:09):
the little Kobe tattoos. Montoya's friend Ricky is a tattoo
artist at the shopping is also a big Kobe Bryant fan.
Probably his logo itself, the mamba symbol of the one
of the snake, his his main logo for the night
for Nike. That was probably the most popular one for everybody.
The snake itself, the amount of scales, on the amount
(22:30):
of different shades and and just a very intricate logo.
Popular requests would have to be his portrait, the one
especially when he's grabbing his jersey and waving around. I
forgot which game it was, but anyways, grabbed his jersey
and he shakes it. That's like probably the most popular
one that everyone gets. The largest one was probably like
(22:52):
ankle up to up to the knee. I think it
was behind the back pass to shock when he was
number eight. And because Ricky is a big fan of Bryant's,
he says, doing tattoos of the superstar over and over
got a little emotional and they'll come in. Yeah. I
would want to put like an extra effort to a
little bit more extra time to it just because of
the emotional connection, just to make sure it comes out
(23:14):
hundred and just better than the usual tattoo. You know.
Montoya says people were willing to pay the price most
simple tattoo for like say the Kobe it would be
like a hundred dollars and that's like super simple. Maybe
one color black and a color, and um it could
go up to like a thousand dollars for the portraits. UM,
(23:36):
I would say I did more the smaller ones because
people didn't have that type of money, you know, on
the spot. But everybody wanted to represent or show their love.
So a hundred bucks is way easier to come up
with then a grand, depending on the placement, if it's
on the neck or which these young kids even we're
getting them on their neck because they wanted to show,
(23:59):
you know, the Kobe eight or twenty four or just
in l A and purple or yellow or gold. You know,
a lot of people were getting the Kobe signature too.
And I had a young, uh guy, maybe like twenty
years old, and he said that Kobe helped him get
through high school, that he he like had low self
esteem and he looked up to Kobe and I guess
(24:22):
his interviews and and this kid really was the only
one out of most of them that I tattooed that
it seemed like it personally really affected him. Not ever
meeting Kobe or anything, but he told me that this
guy is like a father to me. So I was like,
WHOA like after the tattoo, is like, I even kind
(24:43):
of forgot what I was doing, just listening to this
kid more interested in his story, you know. Montoya says,
even more than a year later, he still gets a
steady stream of requests of Bryant or anything Bryant related
coming up. The Mayor of Los Angeles talks about Bryant's
work to end homelessness among young people and Briant's creative
side would be validated with Hollywood's highest honor. As the
(25:06):
death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. The grieving process
for Kobe Bryant's death hit everyone differently with equal emotion.
(25:29):
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have written
songs about Briant, painted murals, tattooed themselves, and even named
their kids after the superstar. And while these people honor
Briant for what he gave them, a lot of people
may not realize how Bryant gave back to others, you know,
And this issue is one that kind of gets pushed
on the back burner because he's easy to point the
blame at those who are homeless and saying, well, you
(25:50):
made that bad decision, this is where you are, it's
your fault in life. We all make mistakes. What a
lot of people never saw was that for his philanthropy
and for his business careers, there was all about making
something that would make a difference. Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti remembers the day he met Bryant. I was a
council member now and Ronald McDonald House when he was
(26:12):
there very kind of quietly visiting UM to see the
expansion of this place that helps families whose kids are
being treated for cancer at Children's Hospital and some of
the other hospitals in Hollywood. UM. He was there to
just kind of give them some inspiration and say, hey,
this trademark gret that I got, I'm gonna give some
to you to help you get through this tough moment.
I got the impression the very little I knew about
(26:34):
Kobe Bryant and watching him, I got the impression he
was sort of the real deal. When it came to
helping those that needed help and especially the youth. He
never wanted to rest on the laurels of hey, I'm
just a sports star. Anything that he was going to
put his name to anything he was going to help with.
He and Vanessa were going to give it there. All.
My Friend's place is at a place where youth who
(26:55):
are homeless in Hollywood go during the day, and that
was the second place I saw Vanessa's real kind of
passion in Kobe's support of these kids who are you know,
going through the worst things and been through the worst
things you could imagine in the foster care system, UM,
you know, being kicked out of households, lgbt Q youth, UM,
(27:15):
folks who have been abused, and they really just quietly
poured their love into that place. UM step up on
Second which is a place just around the corner and
down the street on on Vine, and other places where
you have UM homeless housing and services. They gave a
lot too. And then Homewalk, which was the signature, you know,
(27:37):
bringing together of over ten thousand people a year to
walk and raise money against homelessness. UM. Kobe lent his
name to be the chair, but he wasn't just kind
of a chair in name only. He really wanted to
know the issue, wanted to know how he could help.
And they put their money and their time where their
mouths were. Only meeting twice, and he always seemed to
(27:58):
me the most humble. He had a firm handshake, I remember,
and I remember that he seemed like he genuinely cared
about meeting you. He he focused match your eyes with his.
He came in to visit me after I was mayor
to tell me a little bit about what he was
doing on the business side and the studio, the animation
studio that he was starting, and he was so pumped
(28:22):
up about it. I mean, his enthusiasm. You could see
that he had done his research. He wasn't coming to
meet with the mayor at the beginning. He had done
his research, He had his pitch. He wanted to bring
that animation back to Los Angeles where Walt Disney and
all these great animators had started, and much of it
had gone to other states or other countries. And so
he had this deep loyalty too. I mean that's the
(28:43):
other thing. What other player has played for one team
their entire career. He loved l a and he gave
everything to this town. He invested here, he invested time here,
he gave back here, and he did have just that.
You know. I don't know that he was shy, but
he was. There was a certain humility where he didn't
really care what other people thought. He wanted to connect
(29:04):
with you, and when you're with him, he was focused
on you. Is the most important person in the room.
And he won an Oscar. Who knew, well, if anybody
could go from we have to come up with a
new category, because you know, folks who win the Oscar
and the Tony and the Emmy and everything else. I
(29:24):
don't think anybody's won a championship in an Oscar. Maybe maybe,
maybe it can be corrected, but that's a pretty big
jump to go from winning a number of championships, five
championships and then an Oscar. That's a pretty phenomenal run.
And the oscar goes to Dear Basketball Glen Key. March four,
(29:53):
Kobe Bryant wins an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The six minute film is based on a poem Bryant
wrote and was published back backstage, I had the chance
to ask him about his win and about his collaboration
with award winning composer John Williams. Former Disney animator Glenn
Keene also shared in the honor and talks about working
on the project. Kobe Congratulations and Steve Gregory with my heart.
(30:17):
I wanted to ask you about how much of this
project put you out of your comfort zone and what
was it like working with John Williams. All of it
put me out of my comfort zone. Um. My, my
daughter gave me the best piece of advice. I was
a little word about turning us into a film. I've
never done that something like that before. And uh, we're
(30:37):
in a house and we were talking about as a family,
and my little eleven yeard gihna go as well, Dad,
you always tell us to go after our dreams. So
man up. She's eleven. Man up. So I had the
man up and and go for it. Um. And then
working with John was incredible. You know, John speaks about
music as if they're they each key has its own soul,
(31:01):
and it was amazing to sit with John and to
sit with Glenn throughout this entire process and here the
same attention to detail that we each half of our
craft craft. Um, it's just Um, it's just an amazing
experience to be able to to work with. I can't
even mean the guys like he's a real life Obi
wan kenobi to me. You know, John had written the score.
(31:22):
He's eighty five years old and wrote the whole thing
out by hand and pencil, just like the film itself
has been pencil. Um. He's a he's an old school
craftsman and with eighty instruments. He wrote that. And the
day that we were recording it, he was like this
(31:43):
little kid just so energized, supercharged. What is going on
with Johnny? He gave me a hug, almost knocked me over.
I was like, damn, I know I've been retired, but
I've retired that long man almost knocked me over. And
he stood up in front of the orchestra and Kobe
and I sat there. I suddenly realized he's never heard
the music. He just been hearing it in his head,
and he wrote it with eighty instruments and recording it
(32:04):
and he lifted his arms and it was this beautiful
score of the score that you hear and Kobe, Kobe
wanted to shout and the red Lake and when it
was done, John turns to us and says, I promise you,
it's going to get better. I said, mat, I thought
we were done. I thought we were done. It was John.
John was incredible. Boy yeah coming up in episode seven.
(32:32):
Aside from being a great professional basketball player, a great
human being that was also African American. Brian's death leaves
a large void in the African American community and still
to come Bryant's legacy. The Death and Life of Kobe
Bryant is a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media,
(32:53):
Los Angeles for the iHeart podcast network.
The morning process for those who admired and loved Kobe
Bryant took on many forms, most of which were in
a very public way. There are hundreds of murals fainted
by artists who were inspired not because he is a
basketball player, but because Kobe was an artist too. I'm
Steve Gregory, and this is the death and life of
Kobe Bryant. Jimmy Kimmel was a close friend of Bryant's,
(00:36):
and Bryant was a frequent guest on Kimmel's late night
talk show. Kimmel would go on to host Bryant's memorial
at Staples Center and spoke about the many murals created
to honor his friend, and not just in l A
across the country and Kobe's hometown Philadelphia, in Italy, in India,
(00:58):
the Philippines, China, York, Phoenix, Boston, for God's sake, in
places where he would be booed on the court, Kobe
has missed. So we're here at Venice Boulevard in Mid City.
(01:20):
Mike Asner says he's a Kobe Bryant super fan, which
includes his love for the murals painted of Bryant. Bryant's
daughter Gianna, the Lakers in Los Angeles. This is a
very well known mural by an artist Gustavo who goes
by g Z dot j R. It's the Leave a
Legacy mural that was done actually with the Lakers before
the playoffs last year and gusted an amazing job. He
(01:44):
added Kobe and the trophies after they won the championship. Um.
So this is one of the most famous murals throughout
the world and people have come here to reflect and
to show their respect and gratitude. I mean, you're looking at,
from my opinion, a beautiful work of art. But there's
a lot of messages here Slee around social justice and uh,
you know what this team has, what the city and
(02:05):
what the world has gone through. But you know, this team,
specifically for me as a huge Lakers fan, means a
great deal overcoming adversity all year, um, pushing for what
I believe is right in the world. And you know,
they won the championship and this reflects them winning that championship.
After learning that Briant's death, Asner says he was so
(02:25):
moved he had to do something, anything, to honor Bryant.
So he decided to create a website which shows the
locations of all the known murals of Bryant around the world.
And it started with an Instagram page at Kobe Mural
uh than at Kobe mural dot com website, and at
this point there's an interactive map with over four murals
around the world. And my whole purpose here is just
(02:48):
to make it easy for fans. It's not money making operation,
it's not a business. It's just purely out of love
for the fans, the families, and obviously Cobe and the Lakers.
So how do you know where the murals are at?
You know, it's funny. In the beginning, it took a
lot of work to find them and just to get
the accurate information because it's hard to get accurate information
sometimes um these days. So in the beginning I would
(03:12):
really dig and scour and try to find these locations.
But over time fans are not reaching out to me,
which is really impressive and beautiful. Um. It's been a
really nice community of fans around the world, every corner
of the world, who at this point, when they're working
on something, they notify me, and then I'm just going
to notify the fans. So you know, there's not a
(03:33):
lot of greater things on social media sometimes, but this
is one nice positive from my perspective, to bring us
together to do something to get back and um, you know,
I'm just grateful to the artists and fans around the world.
I assume l A has the most murals. Yeah, you know,
it's hard to keep track, but um, we're over four
hundred throughout the world. I believe about two d fifty
plus in southern California. That includes Orange County where I'm from,
(03:55):
up to Los Angeles. Um, you know, there's murals all
over the country and United States, but almost every corner
of the world there's a mural. And what's really cool
is we've seen a lot of murals where he grew
up in Italy and he spent time in France. He
would travel to China and Asia in the off season
and left a really big impression there. So I'm just
(04:17):
amazed and humbled and grateful for this work that's being done.
But every artist has their own unique style and perspective,
and that's what makes us really special. It's not the
same thing everywhere. It's really unique. Each time something goes
up and one of those artists goes by our tune,
(04:39):
our tune, whose real name is art Goes to Kochikian,
says he was so moved by Brian's death he painted
an entire mural on the wall of a business in
Studio City within twenty four hours afterward of the fatal
crash went public. I got out of the shower and
when I got out, Um, first thing I noticed my
phone was going off and it was about Kobe and
(05:01):
the first article I see in the second and I'm
opening up different social media's and every single post was
about it. And I just I just lay down on
the bed for a while and I'm you know, obviously
it's a big inspiration for me, and I was just
trying to wrap my head around it and trying to
figure out if it was real or fake. I kind
(05:23):
of first thought maybe it was fake, but then when
I seen all those posts, I was like, oh, oh,
sh this is real. Um yeah, I just and and
and I had a I had a date right then.
That's what I was taking a shower. So I went
to meet this girl in Beverly Hills. And when I
got there, I'm like, you know, I kept on thinking
(05:44):
about Wow, Kobe said, Kobe's did and I'm like, I
gotta do something about this. So I left the date
so I could go start the mirror, and I started
that night, and I pulled the twenty four our session.
I went and took a little baby nap, came back
another two hours, and I finished the whole thing without
even knowing twenty four is without even thinking twenty four
is Kobe's number and two was her number. Gness, So yeah,
(06:09):
I just jumped on it because I thought I something
you had to jump on right away. I mean, I
forget about the inspiration. You know, I've done many murals
about Kobe, but it was just this guy demands the respect.
You know, he's he's all about l a he has
l A he. He brought a lot of pride and
inspiration to the city and the whole Mamba mentality. Millions
(06:32):
of people are talking about it, practicing it. You know,
he had a big impact. He is l a he.
I I looked at him as one of our idols.
I guess if Michelangelo was alive, Kobe would get a statue.
You know, it sounds like he was not only an
inspiration to you as an athlete, but just as a person. Yeah,
he was. You know, he was a good role model,
(06:55):
good father. I just had a baby girl, so I'm
a girl dad too. Now you felt compelled to put
something on canvas, in this case the side of a building.
So where did you paint this and what did you
decide to do? Um? I I had already painted the
whole side of that that wall, that business, and it
(07:17):
was the front facing wall left and I we were
gonna paint something else. They wanted a Marilyn Morrow, I believe,
and I just wasn't really feeling a Marilyn Morow. So
I kind of took the weekend off. I went to Vegas,
got drunk, came back, and that's when Kobe happened, and
I'm like, okay, it's it's almost like you can't make
(07:39):
this up. You know, the signs already pointed where what
I should paint there, so that wall was ready to go.
I just didn't want to paint what I was supposed
to paint. And when Kobe died, I'm like, I'm not
painting anything else but this. And I even told the
guys I was painting for, I'm like, I'm gonna paint Kobe.
(08:00):
And at first they were like, oh, you don't know
let's talk about it. And I'm like, it's either I
paint Kobe. I'm not painting anything, you know, And that's
how pretty much they were like, okay, let's start on that.
What came to you? What was the first image that
came to you that you had to paint. I wanted to,
I really wanted to showing the image of Kobe kind
of looking up in the sky where in a way
(08:24):
saying that here I come. And uh, when I found
a good picture that match said it was the one
where he's biting his jersey. It's iconic picture. Then uh,
you know, I was already planning for the mural. And
that's when I found out Gig died. I didn't I
didn't know Gig died that first. Then when I found
(08:44):
a gig died that, I'm like, wow, there's no way
I can't put her in this. It would almost be
disrespect for their family, you know. So, um, I just
started searchings pictures kind of looking upward, and I on
two images that kind of matched, and and then the
rest I just sorry, I don't know what the mirror
(09:07):
is gonna look like. I never know what my mirror
is gonna look like because chances are while I'm doing it,
I'm gonna get a bright idea and it's gonna shift course,
but the main concept is still going to be there.
That's why I don't like to do a mural knowing
what I'm It's just to me, it's boring because you
want my creativity and spend of an hour or a
(09:29):
couple of hours while I'm sketching it, or you want
my creativity for a whole week while I'm gonna be
painting it. So last minute I could get a bright idea,
and as I'm painting, I'm getting more ideas coming at me.
So it was a very fluid process for you. Yeah,
I never know what it's gonna look like, not not
even the canvas pieces. So twenty four hours. Do you
(09:52):
remember the final thing you painted when you said okay,
I'm done and you step back. It was the shading
on the jersey and I stepped back and I was like,
well that looks good. It's almost life like. And I
mean that experience was so cool. Every time I looked up,
and I mean every time I looked back, there was
(10:13):
like thirty to fifty people were taking pictures. You know,
you could you could see I'm causing traffic. People are swart,
you know, breaking their neck, just slowing down the traffic,
looking trying to swear from the second lane to pull
over so they could come take pictures. People you know,
bringing candles, lighting on flowers, memorials, pictures and just posting
(10:36):
by the wall. It just it just turned into a memorial.
It was. It was kind of cool just seeing that process.
You know, you do a lot of murals and not
too many get that same kind of attention, and that
just tells you the importance of the guy you're painting.
You know, I've done many murals and nothing was really
to that caliber. Because within like that twenty four hours,
(10:58):
I had almost about five six news stations pull up
behind me. When you were I'm sure you were in
the zone. You were doing your thing, you say, you
step back and looked at it, and and then are
you ever completely satisfied with your final product? No, I'm
never satisfied because I always feel like that could be
more done. But sometimes you just gotta learn to know
(11:21):
when and enough is enough. You know, sometimes too much
is too much and it can be overkilled. But um,
you know I got this saying my favorite pieces my
next piece. So I'm never really looking forward to the
one I'm doing. I'm looking for the looking forward for
the next one. I've done many Kobes, but ever since
he passed away, I've done two one the other ones
(11:44):
on las Anega in Venice. It's like high it's Kobe
daughter and he's got angel wings and the angel wings
is turning into hands and wrapping around gianna Um. It's
on Global Motor Sports. Is that satisfaction for you when
people want to take their pictures in front of it
and they look at it. Some got emotional. A guy spoke,
(12:05):
we got teary eyed. Yeah. Matt Barnes pulled up. He
got tear eyed too. Um, you know, he played with him.
A lot of a lot of people got teary eyed.
There was some lady that pulled up Marrow. She had
that Lakers ring and she had some sort of connection
with the family and the Lakers Championship ring. Uh. And yeah,
(12:27):
you see a lot of people tearing up. And they
were coming up to me shaking my hand, thank you
for doing this, and I'm like, thank you for loving it,
you know, like to me, this is more of an obligation,
you know, it's like, you know, I don't want to
keep bringing up Michelisba. We do our part. We just
painting outside and stead inside. When you talk about inspiration,
(12:51):
he were talking a lot about you felt compelled to
do this within twenty four hours. You even broke a
date to do this. I mean, he must have been
a pretty powerful influence on you. Yeah. Yeah, you don't
really get the motivation to jump up and paint too often.
So if I finished that whole wall and matter one day,
(13:14):
I just it's cool, you know, I enjoy it. And
and even though it was like three am, nobody was
around and there was no wind, and then all of
a sudden, these two huge like gusts the wind and
leaves going everywhere, and and then it just stopped again.
And I'm like, was that something? Like? Was that something was?
(13:36):
It was Kobe Angiana just breezing by over here, but
it was it was crazy. My whole body just got
goose bumps. So were you by yourself overnight doing this? Yeah?
I was already Usually during the daytime, at nighttime people
are there, But overnight that's the only time I'll get peace,
the only time I could actually focus. That's what my
(13:58):
phone is off and people are not asking questions, and
you know, I can actually focus on the project the hand.
What's that like when you're by yourself and your thoughts
and you're painting a portrait of someone who just died
hours earlier. Oh, you do do a lot of thinking.
Like I cried throughout that over neither um just thinking
(14:23):
about it. But um, I like it. I mean, I
think most artists are nocturnal. They should be producing artwork
at night. So, like I said, that's the only time
you can actually get some peace, peace and quiet and
peace of mind. Way you know, you have no distractions.
(14:43):
The text message can be a distraction if I'm painting. Um,
so when there's no distractions, you can literally be locked
in your zone for five hours and not notice five
hours just went by. Do you continue to do copy
inspired portraits from your I had like fifty people asking
(15:03):
me to do Kobe stuff, and I just refused them. Um.
I didn't want to just be a generic artist that
just keeps going around doing Kobe for higher I just thought,
if I was gonna do him, I was gonna pick
and choose where I wanted it, what location, If it
was gonna you know, make an impact or not not
to feel right. Yeah. Yeah, And and art it's basically
(15:26):
by feel right. Like recently I did a mural and
it was just a great mural, but I did not
like it because of the location, because it was not
on the big street, even though it's commissioned. It's like,
deep down inside, you're like, this artwork does not belong
on this street. This artwork belongs on somewhere where people
could actually enjoy it, you know, take pictures of it.
(15:48):
So um, yeah, you definitely got to feel it out.
I like the reactions to people. Murals like our Tuns
continue to attract fans. What brought you to this location?
Kobe Bryan was one of my favorite players. One of
(16:08):
the most visited murals is tucked away in an alley
about a block away from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A group of four friends recently traveled from Detroit, Michigan,
to visit l A and one of the things on
their list a visit to this mural. Meet Gabby, Marcel Milano,
and a guy who calls himself Cheese. They all agree
that Bryant was an inspiration, and here's how they felt
(16:29):
about seeing the mural. For the first time, told as
best as possible through their face coverings home. Just like
being able to like to take his drive from like
how he was on the court and put it into
his family now. It was really just like the most
important thing I just liked about the man um. I
just see a man that was passionate about his craft
and what he does and put his all into it.
I see greatness. Kobe Bryant. Was this the epitome of
(16:52):
hard work and dedication and definitely an inspiration even like
someone I thought was like I just broke my hands.
So I remember a photo with him when he was
shooting with his broken wrists and like still practicing, like
in his pajamas, you know what I'm saying, So he
feels inspiration even to this day. It was it was
the drive. He had everything you've seen him do, he
put his heart to it, like he literally left everything
(17:13):
on the floor every night. People hated him and practice
because he worked so hard. He literally would cut you
out if you wouldn't work in his hard ast him.
If you didn't work as hard as him, you couldn't
play with. For me, it's like how many people really
looked up to him from the kids to the adults,
he really had a lot of Like even if you
look on this wall, you got millions of people signing
autographs and sending their piece to Kobe. It's a dope man,
(17:34):
Like he did he did this thing while he was here.
Everything that he did outside the basketball, he still applied
the same drive, the same determination. He's still put in
the same amount of efforts. So the fact that that
was just his mentality overall was definitely inspiring. And to
let you know, like you don't have to just stay
focused on one thing. You can apply the same pressure
to everything aspect of your life and you know, just
(17:55):
watch it blossom. So he's definitely that guy. Just watching
and watching his legacy, And honestly, I've never been like
a huge basketball fan, but seeing like when he passed
in how he affected so many people around the world.
You know what I'm saying, they kind of like put
something on me like, oh, I gotta go harder. You
know what I'm saying, I gotta I gotta credit legacy
just as just as good as his. And the feeling
(18:17):
of seeing Kobe Bryant for the first time on a
larger than life mural almost crying literally like that was
just how much of an inspiration, how dope he was
to everybody. And it's just like it's an energy right
here or wherever you see him, it's like it's an
energy in l a Like honestly, you step here, you
know him, and like you know everybody that passed that
(18:38):
was from here, you can feel the energy. Like standing
in right here, I can feel his energy coming up.
Another artistic homage to Bryant, and the mayor of Los
Angeles talks about Bryant's inspiration in philanthropy. As the death
and life of Kobe Bryant continues, the mural has become
(19:14):
one of the most popular ways to show love and
respect to Bryant. The website Kobe mural dot com currently
lists more than four hundred around the world, most of
which are in southern California, But within hours of the
crash that killed Bryant, another type of canvas would fast
become the place for portraits of Bryant, Bryant's numbers twenty
(19:35):
four and eight, Bryant's daughter Gianna, and the Black Mambas
for artists. We're doing about four a day each of us,
so maybe anywhere, like for sure from ten to twenty
tattoos a day just for Kobe. Mikey Montoya owns and
operates Sunny Days Tattoo Parlor and Arcadia that's about an
hour east of Los Angeles. He and his artist Ricky
(19:56):
remember learning about the crash ms actually flying in from
New York and um, we had landed, we had got
in our vehicle, and then um, we saw it. Actually
he saw it on social media, so he's like, hey,
guess what happened. And we just kind of took a pause.
We were on the freeway and we both like kind
of silent for a while, and um, kind of in shock.
(20:19):
That's where it took me. Montoya says, as soon as
he opened his shop, he knew things were going to
be different. It seems like every walks of life was
coming in and wanting to get something, even if they
couldn't actually afford a tattoo. They were, you know, getting
the money together to get this number eight or twenty four,
just a little mamba or anything. The colors. It was
(20:40):
pretty wild, you know, the people showing their um kind
of their emotional outlet towards it all, in which I
had a little bit myself and I these people getting
it permanently. It was. It was very I don't know,
like um kind of sad, kind of the most as
were all over the place, even tattooing it. Not knowing
(21:03):
these people tattooing it. It's not like their father and mother.
But to me, um, some of my customers were like
saying that Kobe was like their father, mother or brother
or whatnot, no matter the gender, it's just the role
he played. Which I didn't see it like that, but
now I do, now, you know. It was it was
(21:23):
pretty cool. We were doing like each artists, say, there
was four artists. We were doing about four a day
each of us. So maybe anywhere like for sure, from
ten to twenty tattoos a day just for Kobe or
making appointments or just um, even just Laker tattoos they wanted,
you know, not necessarily just the eight. They wanted Lakers.
(21:46):
And usually like kind of couples came in either friends
or a group of friends or you know. Yeah, so
they were all talking about it and it um. It
struck everybody a little bit differently. It was weird us
especially the younger age people, like I would say, anywhere
from like thirty down down. They were really into getting
(22:09):
the little Kobe tattoos. Montoya's friend Ricky is a tattoo
artist at the shopping is also a big Kobe Bryant fan.
Probably his logo itself, the mamba symbol of the one
of the snake, his his main logo for the night
for Nike. That was probably the most popular one for everybody.
The snake itself, the amount of scales, on the amount
(22:30):
of different shades and and just a very intricate logo.
Popular requests would have to be his portrait, the one
especially when he's grabbing his jersey and waving around. I
forgot which game it was, but anyways, grabbed his jersey
and he shakes it. That's like probably the most popular
one that everyone gets. The largest one was probably like
(22:52):
ankle up to up to the knee. I think it
was behind the back pass to shock when he was
number eight. And because Ricky is a big fan of Bryant's,
he says, doing tattoos of the superstar over and over
got a little emotional and they'll come in. Yeah. I
would want to put like an extra effort to a
little bit more extra time to it just because of
the emotional connection, just to make sure it comes out
(23:14):
hundred and just better than the usual tattoo. You know.
Montoya says people were willing to pay the price most
simple tattoo for like say the Kobe it would be
like a hundred dollars and that's like super simple. Maybe
one color black and a color, and um it could
go up to like a thousand dollars for the portraits. UM,
(23:36):
I would say I did more the smaller ones because
people didn't have that type of money, you know, on
the spot. But everybody wanted to represent or show their love.
So a hundred bucks is way easier to come up
with then a grand, depending on the placement, if it's
on the neck or which these young kids even we're
getting them on their neck because they wanted to show,
(23:59):
you know, the Kobe eight or twenty four or just
in l A and purple or yellow or gold. You know,
a lot of people were getting the Kobe signature too.
And I had a young, uh guy, maybe like twenty
years old, and he said that Kobe helped him get
through high school, that he he like had low self
esteem and he looked up to Kobe and I guess
(24:22):
his interviews and and this kid really was the only
one out of most of them that I tattooed that
it seemed like it personally really affected him. Not ever
meeting Kobe or anything, but he told me that this
guy is like a father to me. So I was like,
WHOA like after the tattoo, is like, I even kind
(24:43):
of forgot what I was doing, just listening to this
kid more interested in his story, you know. Montoya says,
even more than a year later, he still gets a
steady stream of requests of Bryant or anything Bryant related
coming up. The Mayor of Los Angeles talks about Bryant's
work to end homelessness among young people and Briant's creative
side would be validated with Hollywood's highest honor. As the
(25:06):
death and life of Kobe Bryant continues. The grieving process
for Kobe Bryant's death hit everyone differently with equal emotion.
(25:29):
Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have written
songs about Briant, painted murals, tattooed themselves, and even named
their kids after the superstar. And while these people honor
Briant for what he gave them, a lot of people
may not realize how Bryant gave back to others, you know,
And this issue is one that kind of gets pushed
on the back burner because he's easy to point the
blame at those who are homeless and saying, well, you
(25:50):
made that bad decision, this is where you are, it's
your fault in life. We all make mistakes. What a
lot of people never saw was that for his philanthropy
and for his business careers, there was all about making
something that would make a difference. Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti remembers the day he met Bryant. I was a
council member now and Ronald McDonald House when he was
(26:12):
there very kind of quietly visiting UM to see the
expansion of this place that helps families whose kids are
being treated for cancer at Children's Hospital and some of
the other hospitals in Hollywood. UM. He was there to
just kind of give them some inspiration and say, hey,
this trademark gret that I got, I'm gonna give some
to you to help you get through this tough moment.
I got the impression the very little I knew about
(26:34):
Kobe Bryant and watching him, I got the impression he
was sort of the real deal. When it came to
helping those that needed help and especially the youth. He
never wanted to rest on the laurels of hey, I'm
just a sports star. Anything that he was going to
put his name to anything he was going to help with.
He and Vanessa were going to give it there. All.
My Friend's place is at a place where youth who
(26:55):
are homeless in Hollywood go during the day, and that
was the second place I saw Vanessa's real kind of
passion in Kobe's support of these kids who are you know,
going through the worst things and been through the worst
things you could imagine in the foster care system, UM,
you know, being kicked out of households, lgbt Q youth, UM,
(27:15):
folks who have been abused, and they really just quietly
poured their love into that place. UM step up on
Second which is a place just around the corner and
down the street on on Vine, and other places where
you have UM homeless housing and services. They gave a
lot too. And then Homewalk, which was the signature, you know,
(27:37):
bringing together of over ten thousand people a year to
walk and raise money against homelessness. UM. Kobe lent his
name to be the chair, but he wasn't just kind
of a chair in name only. He really wanted to
know the issue, wanted to know how he could help.
And they put their money and their time where their
mouths were. Only meeting twice, and he always seemed to
(27:58):
me the most humble. He had a firm handshake, I remember,
and I remember that he seemed like he genuinely cared
about meeting you. He he focused match your eyes with his.
He came in to visit me after I was mayor
to tell me a little bit about what he was
doing on the business side and the studio, the animation
studio that he was starting, and he was so pumped
(28:22):
up about it. I mean, his enthusiasm. You could see
that he had done his research. He wasn't coming to
meet with the mayor at the beginning. He had done
his research, He had his pitch. He wanted to bring
that animation back to Los Angeles where Walt Disney and
all these great animators had started, and much of it
had gone to other states or other countries. And so
he had this deep loyalty too. I mean that's the
(28:43):
other thing. What other player has played for one team
their entire career. He loved l a and he gave
everything to this town. He invested here, he invested time here,
he gave back here, and he did have just that.
You know. I don't know that he was shy, but
he was. There was a certain humility where he didn't
really care what other people thought. He wanted to connect
(29:04):
with you, and when you're with him, he was focused
on you. Is the most important person in the room.
And he won an Oscar. Who knew, well, if anybody
could go from we have to come up with a
new category, because you know, folks who win the Oscar
and the Tony and the Emmy and everything else. I
(29:24):
don't think anybody's won a championship in an Oscar. Maybe maybe,
maybe it can be corrected, but that's a pretty big
jump to go from winning a number of championships, five
championships and then an Oscar. That's a pretty phenomenal run.
And the oscar goes to Dear Basketball Glen Key. March four,
(29:53):
Kobe Bryant wins an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The six minute film is based on a poem Bryant
wrote and was published back backstage, I had the chance
to ask him about his win and about his collaboration
with award winning composer John Williams. Former Disney animator Glenn
Keene also shared in the honor and talks about working
on the project. Kobe Congratulations and Steve Gregory with my heart.
(30:17):
I wanted to ask you about how much of this
project put you out of your comfort zone and what
was it like working with John Williams. All of it
put me out of my comfort zone. Um. My, my
daughter gave me the best piece of advice. I was
a little word about turning us into a film. I've
never done that something like that before. And uh, we're
(30:37):
in a house and we were talking about as a family,
and my little eleven yeard gihna go as well, Dad,
you always tell us to go after our dreams. So
man up. She's eleven. Man up. So I had the
man up and and go for it. Um. And then
working with John was incredible. You know, John speaks about
music as if they're they each key has its own soul,
(31:01):
and it was amazing to sit with John and to
sit with Glenn throughout this entire process and here the
same attention to detail that we each half of our
craft craft. Um, it's just Um, it's just an amazing
experience to be able to to work with. I can't
even mean the guys like he's a real life Obi
wan kenobi to me. You know, John had written the score.
(31:22):
He's eighty five years old and wrote the whole thing
out by hand and pencil, just like the film itself
has been pencil. Um. He's a he's an old school
craftsman and with eighty instruments. He wrote that. And the
day that we were recording it, he was like this
(31:43):
little kid just so energized, supercharged. What is going on
with Johnny? He gave me a hug, almost knocked me over.
I was like, damn, I know I've been retired, but
I've retired that long man almost knocked me over. And
he stood up in front of the orchestra and Kobe
and I sat there. I suddenly realized he's never heard
the music. He just been hearing it in his head,
and he wrote it with eighty instruments and recording it
(32:04):
and he lifted his arms and it was this beautiful
score of the score that you hear and Kobe, Kobe
wanted to shout and the red Lake and when it
was done, John turns to us and says, I promise you,
it's going to get better. I said, mat, I thought
we were done. I thought we were done. It was John.
John was incredible. Boy yeah coming up in episode seven.
(32:32):
Aside from being a great professional basketball player, a great
human being that was also African American. Brian's death leaves
a large void in the African American community and still
to come Bryant's legacy. The Death and Life of Kobe
Bryant is a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media,
(32:53):
Los Angeles for the iHeart podcast network.
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