Wyoming High School students and community members had the special opportunity in November to spend a few hours with Wyoming High School Alumni Doug Yeager. Doug, Class of 1965, was one of the producers of the documentary movie Free to Rock, and students, alumni, and community members were invited to watch the movie in Pendery Auditorium. The movie brought classroom history to life for the students, while the older community members and teachers were reminiscing “I remember when” while humming along to the music of their generation. The film had a lasting and powerful effect on the entire audience to appreciate rock and roll for something greater than its musicality. After the movie screening, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions where Doug revealed some of the challenges in producing the documentary, as well as some of the great rewards of the ten-year project.
Thank you to Doug, the Wyoming School Foundation, and the Wyoming Alumni Association for bringing this experience to Wyoming.
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| The Free to Rock documentary film explores the history of the Cold War and rock and roll’s role in the demise of communism. |
Free to Rock Documentary Film
Free to Rock is a documentary film directed by four-time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Rock and roll spread the sound of freedom across the Iron Curtain and throughout Eastern Europe and the USSR, despite communist attempts to outlaw it and to crush what they perceived was a contamination of their youth. Over the next 30 years, thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western values helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. Free to Rock features presidents, diplomats, spies, and rock stars from the West, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe who reveal how Rock and Roll music was a contributing factor in ending the Cold War.
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| The documentary film Free to Rock was presented during the school day at Wyoming High School for students, alumni, and community members. |
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| Students talked with Alumni Doug Yeager after the film to learn more about Doug and the documentary. |
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| Students in the audience had the opportunity to ask Doug questions after viewing the documentary. |
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| Doug Yeager, Wyoming High School Class of 1965, is a Co-Producer; Co-Executive Producer; Co-Author of the original story; and Author of the Companion Book for the documentary film Free to Rock. |
Where Are They Now?
Wyoming High School, Class of 1965 Alumni, Doug Yeager
Printed with permission from Doug Yeager as provided with Free to Rock Press Kit
Doug Yeager is a Co-Producer; Co-Executive Producer; Co-Author of the original story; and Author of the Companion Book for the documentary film Free to Rock.
As CEO of Douglas A. Yeager Productions, Ltd. for more than 50 years, Yeager has acted as an international entertainment executive, film, television and record producer, concert promoter, special event producer, artist manager, booking agent, and government consultant, with projects on five continents. From 2005 until 2017, Yeager co-authored the original story for the film Free to Rock, while actively working as an Executive Producer, Producer, and film interviewer on the road with the film project, including several trips to Russia and Eastern Europe. As the lead researcher for the film, he is also writing the film’s companion book.
From 1987-1988, Yeager was a consultant to the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Culture and the U.S. State Department for both American and Soviet artists performing in each country. His Soviet productions included Melanie’s first tour of the USSR, and the Paul Robeson Tribute theatrical tour of the USSR. From 1978-1996, Yeager was consultant to Germany’s National TV and Radio network, WDR/ARD, where his stage/TV/radio productions “Harlem Story” and “Deutschland Lied” (about history of Germany and its culture from 1933 to the collapse of communist rule in East Germany) earned him theatrical and television awards; and he co-produced the entertainment segments for the 1991 and 1996 German TV Awards show, TELSTAR.
Prior to producing Free to Rock, Yeager was executive producer of the documentary film DAVID AMRAM: The First 80 Years (2015); was associate producer and talent coordinator for numerous national PBS specials, including Woody and Me; Ramblin’; and Just Folks; and was consultant to the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s ballet ODETTA, which has toured the world. In addition, his stage and concert productions include the 20th Anniversary Woodstock World Tour; the Iron Butterfly 25th Anniversary World Tour, JOSH: The Man and His Music; plus special events for the White House, Congressional Black Caucus, and the United Nations. His concert promotions included many rock and R&B legends of the Cold War era: Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Velvet Underground, Genesis, Eagles, The Band, Allman Bros, James Gang, Yes, Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, Spirit, Edgar Winter, Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Canned Heat, and Spencer Davis. Among the artists whose careers Yeager managed, include: Odetta, Randy Crawford, Richie Havens, Tom Paxton, Josh White, Jr., Les Variations (from France), Bob Gibson, and John Fahey. Today, he still manages Josh White, Jr. and David Amram, and the Estates of Josh White (Sr.) and Odetta.
Since 2014, Yeager has lectured and shared panel discussions with diplomats, professors, historians, and cultural experts on Free to Rock, and the Soft Power of Music and Culture to Transform Societies and Lead to Freedom at universities, high schools, cultural centers, museums, libraries, foreign policy think thanks, and cultural festivals in America and at U.S. State Department sponsored tours overseas.
Yeager is currently developing a documentary film project on the life and career of the civil rights icon and singer, Odetta, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” (New York Times), for which Yeager will write the companion book. Yeager has received Special Achievement Awards from both VISTA and the Peace Corps. He majored in International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, and at the Institute for American Studies, Aix-en-Provence, France.
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