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Posted: |
Jun 27, 2018 - 7:28 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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Only in my everloving FSDreams.
Owing to a pair of links in the "Goldsmith/Detroit, 2000" thread that described a surprise encounter with Maurice Jarre but a week before a "planned" one with JG, I'm wondering what if I met up with JW in these his twilight years.
With Jerry I had time to think ahead. Not as much time with Maurice but there was time. With JB years later it was spur of the moment, with Bill C there was a chance to do a little canvassing in advance here at el boardo.
As to Maestro Williams, what would I say to him if he were really here?
I'd start off with the tale of being a 5th grader and a devout Time Tunnel watcher and an opening theme that resounds in the mind's ear to this day. And same (those french horns--they were french horns, right?!) for Land Of The Giants and oh the 2nd Lost In Spacer with the french horn (for sure!) esp. with the dazzling Angela Cartwright intro that remains in the mind's ear and eye to this day. And I'm sure the stock score to the episode, one of the few I watched but it's also indelible, the one when Will Robinson ends up in a wintry Hatfield, VT, yeah I'm sure the stock score was fine but oh man I can only dream what you would have done with that picture.
Oh yeah I learned like I had with Goldie in my ultra-youth to take note of the name so when you showed up later during my appreciable film loving years, I could say aha! I know that name.
This is where it gets a little tricky. So much to expound upon. So I would hone in on the two masterpieces of masterpieces. The Kansas scenes...oh man perchance did you think of them when it came to scoring Iowa in SPR?...oh man the "Fortress of Solitude" sequence and the way you shifted gears when Jor-El/Brando says "Come my son..." and your approach to scoring the passage of time as they "journey" back to Krypton and the marvelous contrast you employed earlier with the baby's journey to Earth...great traveling music, but at the Ziegfeld in NY the much smaller scene of Neary traveling in a station wagon and the precise portion of the cue just prior to "Moorcroft, Wyoming" on the screen...forgive me, Mr. W but that's the way it's been for as long as I can remember, the precision of it all, yeesh...and then the inevitable discussion of the last half hour over on the dark side of the moon...
...Yeah this is how it would go. Superman and CE3K. Probably have to throw in Elliot and The Thing on the bike and the moon and then all the kids on their bikes and then back to Kansas and Clark running next to the train--just to round out this traveling scoring business, that is.
And oh, btw, you and Spielberg together. Wordless chorus. Gotta throw in the Map Room. And Cadillac. And I-Can-Bring-Everyone-Back. You and Spielberg together. Hmm. [speaking of twilight years]--Tell me, I've always believed he was influenced by TV and Serling and Hollywood's composing-best together just like I was as a kid, more than he's ever admitted. And you're from TV, too. He ever mention that's the same thing he wanted from you, when you guys first got together?
Such would I say to him if he were really here.
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Posted: |
Jun 28, 2018 - 2:52 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Eloquent as always, Howard. Thanks for your words! I think it's fascinating how you always have these two handfuls of titles (of JW and beyond) that you keep circling around in various forms and shapes throughout the years.
After two failed attempts at getting a JW interview in LA, 2012 and Boston, 2014, I pretty much gave up. Not sure I'm even going to bother when I'm seeing him again for the third time in London in October.
But man oh man, do I have my questions laid out if I were to make it. It would be a bit different than his other interviews. Not so much about Spielberg and all the tried-and-true stories that he keeps repeating to big-time broadcasters that have limited knowledge (sadly, Williams only seems to accept interviews from these big US media corporations these days, like NPR, NBC etc.).
I would ask about his early years -- the 'noisy' house in Flushing, the air force days, the early TV gigs. And then his relationship to Robert Altman. Perhaps Oliver Stone. His relationship to contemporary music trends (he was quite 'pop' in the 60s, not so much these days). Etc. The list is long, and I don't want to reveal it all.
Alas, as it sits I think this is the closest I'll ever come to the man: https://scontent.fosl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10431408_10152458663311278_1785704468682612642_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=5448688c1e5efe636b9020909f524b41&oe=5BADE56B
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Posted: |
Jun 28, 2018 - 4:24 AM
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By: |
McD
(Member)
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An interview I did with him hit the stands on 30 June 1998. Just two days short of being exactly 20 years ago. I could work out the date as it appeared on the same night Argentina knocked England out of the World Cup. It was a telephone interview which lasted about 25 minutes from about two weeks earlier.
I’d actually met him two years previously very briefly. He played at London’s Barbican in the summer of ‘96. I didn’t meet him again in ‘98. He told me which night (he was playing four shows at the Barbican) to come say hello with a copy of the interview. As memory serves I, um, had a better offer that night (I was in my early 20s, what can I say), and decided I’d just see him the next night. But the next night, no dice. His people wouldn’t let me near him. I was annoyed at the time but looking back I got the treatment I deserved. Instead, Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars, was ushered back stage.
Bizarrely when I met the composer who replaced Williams at the top of my affections from around ‘96 on, Gabriel Yared, back in 2016, Gary Kurtz was stood next to me again! Weird.
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Posted: |
Jun 28, 2018 - 6:49 AM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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But man oh man, do I have my questions laid out if I were to make it. It would be a bit different than his other interviews. Not so much about Spielberg and all the tried-and-true stories that he keeps repeating to big-time broadcasters that have limited knowledge (sadly, Williams only seems to accept interviews from these big US media corporations these days, like NPR, NBC etc.).
I would ask about his early years -- the 'noisy' house in Flushing, the air force days, the early TV gigs...
Oh yeah that's the key, finding a different angle, and it relates very much to a question you asked in the Conti thread ("Jesus Christ, Howard, how do you hook up with all these celebs?") and to a reply GM Tucker a/k/a H Rocco gave to a remark of my own ("The whole thing's rather funny and damn me if I can figure out why!") in the Jarre thread a few years earlier:
It's a HUGE kick in the head meeting your idols and finding out they find you likable, that's why, Mr. L. When I first interviewed Akira Ifukube in 1987, I kind of assumed that would be my last-ever shot at it, so I went a bit nuts, taking endless photographs and finally, at the gate, blurting in extremely broken Japanese what my favorite works of his were (at the time). He's a shy fellow, but he was bemused by this kid, I guess (I was just eighteen), and just over a year later, a record producer mentioned that he had just met Ifukube for the first time himself, and Ifukube actually MENTIONED ME!
I think I must have glanced over this when it first appeared but seeing it now almost two decades later...wow.
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I did meet him several times. One time I asked him at the Hollywood Bowl in 1984 to sign an old album called John Williams Orchestra plays Sounds and Screens Spectaculars. He was surprised, laughed and asked where we had gotten this and signed it. I have a photo of this.
I have met him several times. One time he signed an LP of Images which I gave to Dogplant as a Christmas gift. I wanted to pass it on to a great friend.
Wonderful man and willing to speak with fans.
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John Williams came to Tucson as a request of the daughter of Lionel Newman who lived here. I saw the information in the paper and immediately bought three tickets at $100 each one for me, my husband Don Archer and Joe "Dogplant" Fordham who came from England, who stayed with us and to move to the USA. Believe me we were in hock but still made the effort. After the concert at the Tucson Community Center, we had access to meet him at the tallest building in Tucson (remembering of course Towering Inferno). Because we had been the first to have purchased that high amount we had our picture taken with the great composer.
That amount of money was nothing. What a joy to have met him in 1984, and 1989 and later on.
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Posted: |
Jun 28, 2018 - 1:26 PM
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By: |
governor
(Member)
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A gentleman.
Had the HUGE chance of having several meetings with him.
Always focused on music, work, doing better.
Like Georges Delerue, Hank Mancini, David Raksin, Michel Legrand, Frederic Talgorn, Michael Kamen or Gabriel Yared, a sweet, smart and humble human being.
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Posted: |
Jun 29, 2018 - 6:05 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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I did meet him several times.
Wonderful man and willing to speak with fans.
What a joy to have met him in 1984, and 1989 and later on.
That a nice story, judy. The more intimate the setting the greater the likelihood of walking away with a satisfying and lasting experience. In your case, multiple experiences!
Alas, as it sits I think this is the closest I'll ever come to the man: https://scontent.fosl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10431408_10152458663311278_1785704468682612642_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=5448688c1e5efe636b9020909f524b41&oe=5BADE56B
So much for intimacy, it looks like a mob scene. And I think that's when the autograph crush takes over and renders an intimate chat of more than a few moments impossible. Thor, is this an accurate read of that day?
I'd like to think I'd ask him a very intelligent and sharp question, but I know I'd ask him to sign my copy of Spacecamp while acting like Beaky Buzzard.
Luv it, Lehah. Indeed, why not do both? Setting has so much to do with it. John Barry sat but a few rows in front of me and the night we connected he was a member of the audience no less than Yours Truly. The slight difference was that his presence was announced with a spotlight.
Can't recall if I was the first or among the first to approach him at festivities' end but it wasn't like a crowd closed in. There were both plenty of autographs and discussion. When we conversed I wasn't about to monopolize the evening yet asked if I might stand beside him for the duration and he consented without hesitation. I had done the same thing with Goldsmith. It is fun to watch the give and take and hear the variety of scores mentioned and listen to heartfelt expressions of admiration and gratitude. Mrs. B approached and it was easy to tell she was picking up the same vibe. Our ensuing conversation confirmed it.
If I were to speak with JW, I'd probably ask when and how it all gelled together, when he realised and what it took to make it all happen.
In a nutshell.
Back at'cha, Grecchus. 
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Posted: |
Jul 14, 2018 - 3:34 PM
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By: |
edwzoomom
(Member)
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Eloquent as always, Howard. Thanks for your words! I think it's fascinating how you always have these two handfuls of titles (of JW and beyond) that you keep circling around in various forms and shapes throughout the years.
After two failed attempts at getting a JW interview in LA, 2012 and Boston, 2014, I pretty much gave up. Not sure I'm even going to bother when I'm seeing him again for the third time in London in October.
But man oh man, do I have my questions laid out if I were to make it. It would be a bit different than his other interviews. Not so much about Spielberg and all the tried-and-true stories that he keeps repeating to big-time broadcasters that have limited knowledge (sadly, Williams only seems to accept interviews from these big US media corporations these days, like NPR, NBC etc.).
I would ask about his early years -- the 'noisy' house in Flushing, the air force days, the early TV gigs. And then his relationship to Robert Altman. Perhaps Oliver Stone. His relationship to contemporary music trends (he was quite 'pop' in the 60s, not so much these days). Etc. The list is long, and I don't want to reveal it all.
Alas, as it sits I think this is the closest I'll ever come to the man: https://scontent.fosl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10431408_10152458663311278_1785704468682612642_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=5448688c1e5efe636b9020909f524b41&oe=5BADE56B
Thor, I hope the third time is the charm for you on that interview. I would love to hear about those early years as well.
Awesome photo btw.
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