Mike Alvarez directs Helen Estrada
in the Head Shop video "Don't
Fall Down" (2001)
In
1984 Alvarez formed the independent music label
Not Records Tapes (NRT) in Austin, Texas. Alvarez quickly
built a reputation of recording artists that went directly from
NRT's living room studio to major recording labels, including
The
Reivers ("Freight Train Rain",
Capital Records), Haunted
Garage (Metal Blade), Daniel
Johnston (Electra Records), The
True Believers, with Alejandro
Escovedo (EMI). In 1988 Alvarez relocated
to Los Angles to serve briefly as in-house music producer at the
legendary music recording studio Paramount Recording Studios.
From 1989 to 1995 Alvarez worked in management at The Sony Video
Institute, a world leading audio/video production training facility
located until 1995 on The American Film Institute campus in Hollywood
California. In 1995 Alvarez began working in television as an
audio professional. He has worked for NBC, ABC, CNN
and other U.S. and foreign cable networks. Alvarez produced
and directed the documentaries, Demon Angel, A Day and
Night with Roky Erickson about the music legend
Roky Erickson,
and Virginia
Robinson, Her Home and Gardens (Virginia
Robinson was the CEO and co-founder of Robinson's department stores)
and was co-producer of the 2007 Tom
Koester
3D documentary 2324
The Making of an Underground Album, a documentary
about the making of Alvarez's full length LP that was written
and tracked in two days. Alvarez also has produced and directed
several music videos under the NRT umbrella. Currently, in addition
to producing the first film project for NRTEG and 4HG,
The Greatest Escape, Alvarez continues
producing his own and others, independent music and documentaries
for the NRT catalogue and works as an finance and distribution
executive on several independent film projects. Before entering
the entertainment world, Alvarez was a restaurant owner at 19
years old, an accountant for the city of Austin, a Texas State
Senator's assistant and a Federal Bank Examiner for the U.S. Department
of Treasury. Alvarez was born in Hammond, Indiana, raised in Texas
and has lived in Los Angeles since 1988.
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