Number 63

Well another one has just wrapped and they just keep getting better and better! This year’s Fans of Film Music weekend in Los Angeles was fantastic from start to finish. Event organizer and FSM board regular Peter “drivingmissdaisy” Hackman worked tirelessly for months to bring this event to life and the result speaks for itself in a weekend filled with all sorts of great activities for the film music fan.

Taking over for FSM’s Lukas Kendall after putting on 2 similar such weekends in 2008 & 2009, Peter’s goal was to continue the tradition of having a yearly event where film music fans from across the globe could come together in one place to spend time with each other socially and attend events that cater to the interests of the film music crowd. In 2010 he made that goal happen in the 1^st Annual Fans of Film Music Gathering. The last weekend in August was chosen for the event in order to coincide with the John Williams concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. Building the weekend around a key event such as that makes not only for a richer experience, but one that might help draw more out of town participants looking for a full weekend of events to attend, perhaps to help justify the cost of an expensive trip. The main event though for the weekend was the composer panel and composer signing held at Dark Delicacies in Burbank.

The success of that first gathering was a clear indication that people really desire this type of weekend of events and it paved the way for a second gathering in 2011. The same plan was followed building the weekend‘s events around the Williams concert, again this year in the last weekend in August. In addition to the composer panel and signing event, a social gathering was added this year on Friday night at a local restaurant/bar. This grew out of an impromptu invitation by yours truly to meet up with others at a bar for drinks Friday night last year, one which a small group of 5 people attended. This year it became an official event of the weekend and was very well attended.

Following is a rundown of those weekend events that I attended, both official and informal. As your roving reporter I offer up this blog for those who were unable to attend the weekend’s festivities!

Friday

We met up starting at 7:30 at the Home Restaurant in Silver Lake strictly for an evening of socializing. An entire area in the restaurant’s outside courtyard was reserved for us and it turned out we needed every bit of it as the turnout was so great. I would estimate around 25 people came out for the evening which was truly a fantastic crowd! We spent the evening meeting with new folks and connecting with others we had met before at previous events. The conversation flowed nonstop in little groups as we made the rounds to visit with different people. The talk was as much about non-film music as it was film music. Some of us felt that this social time was well served to get to know each other better and figured we could talk more about film music on the boards or other forums. That didn’t mean however that we didn’t talk a lot about film music. For many of us, this could be the only chance we might get for a while where we can talk about it with other people in person. The evening ended around 1:30 as the last little group of us left when the valet parking guys wanted to get paid and give us our car keys back.

I’ll try to list those who attended and I will probably forget some or may not even remember everyone’s names since there were so many of us, so please forgive me if I left you out. Post a comment and I’ll add you to the list!

Marshall ”CLaFong99” Harvey, Henry “Morricone” Stanny & his wife Nancy, Mike “MikeJ” Joffe, Holly and Josh Mitchell, Lori Magno, Kevin “Advise and Consent” Schwankner, Scott ?, Mike “manderley” Lonzo & his partner Rick, Tiziano Gaiotto, Neil S. Bulk, Daniel “On the Score” Schweiger, Chad Frye, Matthew Price, Peter Hackman, Marcus “Superman1701” LaCroix, Todd Turner and Gareth & Adina Hughes who came all the way from the UK for the event. I know there are probably a couple more and I just can’t remember off hand who they were.

Saturday

This was the day when most attended the Williams’ Hollywood Bowl concert, but I didn’t go so I can’t cover it this year. Prior to the concert however, several of us got together for dinner at Koji’s Sushi and Shabu Shabu in Hollywood. We had a small private dining room for the group which included Josh & Holly Mitchell, Lori Magno, Kevin Schwankner, Aram “Sarge” Sarhadian, Mr. FSM, Lukas Kendall and his date Katie, and last, but not least, Mr. Kritzerland, Bruce “haineshisway” Kimmel. Bruce entertained throughout, on top of which he graciously and unexpectedly picked up the entire tab. What a gent!

Sunday

The weekend’s main event was held at 2:00 p.m. at Dark Delicacies in Burbank again and the house was packed. 8 composers attended the panel discussion and signing: Brad Fiedel, Charles Fox, Lee Holdridge, David Newman, Nicholas Pike, Ken Thorne, Brian Tyler & Christopher Young. Aaron Zigman unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute in order to attend to serious family matters. We wish him all the best.

The panel session began by panel moderator Daniel Schweiger asking each composer a question chosen specifically for each of them and they were excellent ones. Following this was audience question time. The entire session was 1½ hours, but it could have easily gone on for much, much longer for most of us. The discussions amongst the composers in response to some of the questions was fascinating and often funny. It was very much like being a fly on the wall in the room of a composer club and hearing them talk about the trials and tribulations of their day. It was an outsider’s glimpse into an insider’s world and just priceless.

Some of the same issues were brought up by the composers this year that were brought up at last year’s panel, so it’s a pretty representative sample on these issues. Chief among these that I recall were:

1. Temp tracks and how they limit the creativity and latitude a composer may have in writing music for a film.
2. In the past collaborating used to be mostly with just the director and/or producer, nowadays however it‘s just as likely to be with a host of producers all with different ideas about the music and/or a committee of perhaps unknown people in the corporate structure who make decisions based on marketing, focus groups or other non-artistic factors. That makes collaboration very difficult and often compromises the appropriateness, originality and quality of the music in a film.
3. Synth mock ups require too much time in the process of scoring a film and quite often will hinder the ability of the composer to deliver a quality project because of the time it takes away from actual composition. In addition, synth mockups are not always capable of rendering an acceptable sound when it comes to reflecting the actual sound of the orchestration and playing of a live orchestra. Some things that sound good when recorded by an orchestra just don’t sound good when done as a mock up. Add to that, many producers and directors get so used to the sound of the mock ups after multiple listenings during the editing process that they are often dissatisfied with the actual recording simply because it sounds different than what they have grown used to.

Many other things were covered during the course of the 90 minutes and the composers, especially good old Chris Young, wanted to make perfectly clear that no matter any negative issues spoken of in the session, which all professions have to deal with, they feel blessed to be able to compose music for film and TV. They love what they do and these are just the things they must deal with in the course of working in a business where "a bunch of people that hate collaborating are forced to collaborate" - David Newman.

Most of the the panel discussion is now available on Film Music Magazine's website located here: http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=8416
 

Next came the composer signing which is when you get to talk to each composer individually as they are signing. This is a great time to share your thoughts about their work and ask them questions about it. They are all so accessible and if the line is slow catching up behind you, you can spend several minutes talking to some of them. I’m not really all that big into collecting autographs myself, but I do like to get them as mementos of the experience of personally talking with each composer. And let’s face it, while you’re there; why not get some things signed since it is a SIGNING!

Every year I seem to find several composers that stood out for me as being the friendliest or most fun to talk to. In 2009 it was Ken Thorne, Ron Jones, Michael Giacchino and Chris Young. Last year it was Daniel Licht, Tyler Bates and John Debney. This year it was Chris Young and Ken Thorne again, Nicholas Pike, and most especially Lee Holdridge. Mr. Holdridge is warm and very funny and we got to talk quite a bit during the signing. When I told him his theme to the TV series Beauty and the Beast was mine and my wife’s “song” since the show was a favorite of ours airing at the beginning of our marriage, he very thoughtfully asked me her name and signed the cover of the score personalizing it to both her and I. A very nice gesture!

This was the last official event for the weekend, but a group of us did get together for dinner afterwards. We headed to the Elephant Bar and had a drink at the bar while waiting for our table and then sat down to a nice dinner with conversation to close out the weekend. Those attending: Jon Broxton, Peter Hackman, Henry Stanny, Marshall Harvey, Tiziano Gaiotto, Edina and Gareth Hughes, Craig Lysy, Marcus LaCroix and Oscar Flores. After dinner we went our separate ways as we exchanged hugs and said goodbye to some until we meet again next year.

The entire weekend was truly fantastic and provided so many great memories for those who attended. Personally I can’t thank Peter enough for doing this. He does it purely out of his love for film music and for the people who share that same love with him. He proves one person can make a difference in other’s lives. The sheer number of hours he puts into staging this once a year event is just staggering.

Not only does he do the arduous groundwork of getting the composers on board, procuring a venue and doing many, many other things necessary to put on a quality event like this, but he goes the extra step in providing a special keepsake memento of the weekend. Last year it was a poster that all of the composers could sign. This year he outdid himself by producing a special ultra-limited CD to give to each attendee. He had each composer hand pick a few cues that they wanted on the CD, some of which have never been released before. Definitely something to treasure always and when listened to, will always remind the listener of the great time they experienced.

Once again, because it truly can’t be said enough, THANK YOU PETER!!!