TownerFan

Here I am. Hello everyone, Maurizio aka TownerFan here, I got a notice about this drama related to me by one of the admins, who reached out to me a few days ago privately. As all of you might have noticed, I didn’t log in on JWFan for more than a year now and I didn’t even visit the place for a long time. I only lurked for a while when Indiana Jones was released because I was curious to read some of the commentary, but after that I didn’t come back, so I was completely unaware of what happened. First of all, I didn’t ask any of the moderators to speak on my behalf. I didn't ask them to ban you @JTN because of your vicious private message you sent me on December 2022. It was a message full of useless vitriol and insults. For reasons I still cannot understand, I rub your feelings very badly. I cannot help if you don’t like me or what I do (and honestly I don’t care, I cannot please everyone), but I don’t accept being called “pathetic little wheedler” (or other unpleasant adjectives you used) by someone who I don’t know nor I never interacted with before. I could’ve simply ignored you and move on, but the level of hate in your message was frankly too much so it was my duty to report what happened. I was told that you were then banned for a month because of that, but as I said I didn’t ask Jay or Ricard to do so on my behalf or to “protect me”. This is their place and it was completely their own decision. I decided to step away from JWFan nonetheless after that because I felt uncomfortable being around here, so for me it was case closed. I was befuddled to discover this was still going on and after reading all the trash you kept posting about me in this and other threads, I think a response is due. I hope this clarifies everything for you—and also for anyone else who think I am shit. Enough is enough. All the stuff I did so far with my project (The Legacy of John Williams) always had one single aim: celebrating the music of John Williams. It’s certainly a project where flattery is very strong (and perhaps even a tad too much), but believe it or not, I do not worship Mr. Williams. I admire his music profoundly and sincerely, and I always felt deeply grateful for the joy he brought to my life, but he is not my hero or my idol. The project is my own very little and very modest way to pay the debt of gratitude I feel toward Mr. Williams and his art. I did it the only way I knew I could do: creating something where I could invite people to talk about Mr. Williams’ musicianship and celebrate his art. It was never about myself or my own story. I always tried to do my best to avoid putting the spotlight on me and I also felt uncomfortable whenever I had to show up on camera for podcasts or in person; during the event in London last year, I blabbered something at the beginning, but I felt so awkward because I am bad at public speaking so I immediately left the word to Tim Burden, Mike Matessino and the other guests, who were the eloquent guys there, I was just the useful idiot. I also never used the project to obtain a privileged access to Mr. Williams, or any other people in his inner circle, just to make myself look cooler than anyone else. I felt honoured and privileged of being given the chance to meet him backstage a couple of times for a few minutes, first in Vienna in 2020 and then in Milan in 2022, but in both cases it was an invite I received from his personal assistant after I asked for a reception to present formally the project, which he was happy to be informed about. In both cases, I simply said thank you and tried to express him my gratitude. I am well aware that it was truly a rare privilege, as access to the Maestro backstage is usually restricted to a very few people he knows and who he’s glad to greet, so I was really the exception to the rule and I am very thankful to his manager that they granted me the access. I know this is something that fuels a lot (and I mean a lot) of envy from many fans. Sadly, this is hardly the first time another fan manifested resentful feelings to me directly. I don't know what to do with it. Ask yourself why such a thing generates so much hate in you. That being said, I never considered Mr. Williams a friend or a personal acquaintance. I don’t call him “John” like other people do. I always refer to him as “Mr. Williams” or “Maestro”, because he’s not my buddy and I don't know him personally. Again, I am sorry if this rubbed JTN the wrong way and made him think that I bribed someone to meet him or snook my way in using some shady subterfuge. What happened is exactly what I wrote above. Everything I did for this project was always done without expecting something back and whatever came was just an act of generosity from truly nice people. Back to your point here, I do not consider myself an obsessed fan. I never wanted to look, speak, or behave like Mr. Williams. I think I have a healthy relationship with my love for his music. I certainly spend an awful lot of time listening to it, but also thinking, writing, pondering, doing something about it because it’s something that just gives me joy. I take my love for the music seriously, but I'm not a priest with the mission of evangelizing people to the gospel of John Williams. I just like his music. That's it. Since my personal life was also put in question, let me just say that I am a happily married man, I have a good job and I am blessed with other great fortunes in life such as a wonderful family and many friends, including several with whom I share the same love for John Williams’ music. Perhaps I wear turtlenecks too much, but my wife says I look good in it, so that’s what she said Anyway, work and family obligations always have precedence and I never put anything about John Williams or any other of my hobbies before those. However, I concede one argument to you @JTN: you’re correct when you say that perhaps too much time is spent in talking, thinking and analyzing music, when the principal activity should be just listening to it and enjoying it. By talking with musicians who played for him, I learned a lot about Mr. Williams’ music, and also a little about his personality, and nowadays I have possibly an even greater and fuller appreciation for it. That was perhaps the most wonderful outcome of this project, in addition to make the acquaintance of some truly lovely and generous people. That’s why I think what I did so far is more than enough. I will keep running the website, but it will be mostly written articles and the (slow) ongoing building of a well-researched database of information about filmography, discography and other pieces of material that I hope will be useful for scholars, historians and researchers. The podcast has been a great fun, but also time-consuming and a lot of work completely on my shoulders. I will do the occasional episode once in a while (I have a couple almost ready to go which I hope to post soon), but it won’t be the main activity anymore. What I contributed to the studies of Mr. Williams’ music is already enough, I think. I have other obligations going on at the moment that have precedence so I won’t be able to give much time to this side project of mine. On top of that, there are much better people out there equipped with incredible scholar knowledge about John Williams, and some of them (Mike Matessino, Tim Greiving, Frank Lehman, Emilio Audissino) are also writing books and working on great projects devoted to his oeuvre. I cannot achieve that level of scholarship in my whole life and, like Mike once said, I feel happy enough to be just a student of his work. I hope this clarifies everything once and for all. I don’t want to be the subject of any discussion anymore and I hope people will respect that. I will go back in the shadows and won’t return again. I’m not interested in arguing anymore and justify about who I am or what I do. I won’t come back to defend myself nor I will ask moderators to act on my behalf. We’re all grown men here and I hope we know what a good behaviour is. Just be respectful of the people around you. This is certainly a long goodbye. Thanks goodness it doesn't happen every day Peace out. Maurizio

YouTube Link>

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Should also be noted that the reviewer is the esteemed Christopher Palmer, i.e. a distinguished film music historian and also a fabulous composer, arranger and orchestrator--he collaborated with Miklos Rozsa, Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein among others. His book The Composer in Hollywood is an essential reading for any true film music aficionado. I also love the notes he wrote for the TESB re-recording by Charles Gerhardt as printed on the Varèse Sarabande release, it's a sort of mini-essay on JW:

I saw the film last Saturday and I liked it a lot. Is it a masterpiece? No. But it's perhaps Spielberg's most sincere and heartfelt film so far, possibly unlike anything he ever did before. The closest in tone and style is perhaps Catch Me If You Can, but the level of poignancy in The Fabelmans is imho on a different league. Imho, it's a profound film that touches deeply anyone who decided to follow the muse and tried to create something with it, and how all of this inevitably ties with your own story and your own roots. It's a film that speaks truthfully about many things. I was touched about the feeling of nostalgia for things that now belong to the past and that we miss dearly. Plus, I loved how the references to virtually each of his own films throughout all of it (some of them very clear, others very subtle). In this way, it almost felt like his own swan song, even though Spielberg stated clearly that it's not. John Williams scores the film in the only way he could have possibly done, i.e. with the utmost respect toward the personal story of Spielberg, who is first a friend for him and then a colleague. It's his most restrained score in decades and yet it's touching and very poignant. He let source music, classical pieces and also classic film music bits have the more prominent role, and reserved for the original score a minimum role mostly to offer a comment on the emotions of the characters. I found this choice very moving and also very humble in how Williams decided to stay out of the way most of the time. I only detected one cue that isn't on the album, but I'm trying to figure out if it's actually JW because it didn't sound like him at first glance. I'm referring to the cue that accompanies the moment where Sammy is filming the "long walk" of the final scene of Escape to Nowhere. It features a Morricone-esque solo electric guitar, and later strings and horns join in. It's almost a source music-like moment and initially I thought it was a selection from a classic score, but the recording was too clean and crisp as all the classic film score selections that appear in the film are used when Sammy is actually showing the films to the audience and they're clearly sourced from the original recordings.

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When I spoke with people of La Scala last week, they told me no audio or video recording was planned. The theatre always has an audio/video feed grabbing the performances for internal archival documentation (usually a single-camera wide shot of the orchestra and a stereo mic over the podium), but that doesn't account as a proper recording. Now, a crew with multiple cameras was actually in the theatre on December 12 as evidenced from footage now available, but from what I gather it was not meant for an actual filming of the concert like Vienna 2020 or Berlin 2021, but just to have material to be given out to press for articles and specials etc., and also for the Filarmonica's social media channels and internal documentation for future usage. Of course they grabbed the whole thing, but it doesn't look like it was actually live-directed, as you need a larger crew and many more cameras to edit everything properly. From what I was told, the RAI OB-van outside the theatre wasn't used for the Williams concert. That's all I know.

Official Video of Theme from Schindler's List

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First of all, I just want to say that I am deeply sorry for not being able to set up a proper fan gathering in my hometown. I had a very intense and busy 6 weeks leading to the concert on many fronts (busy work schedule, house renovations, extra activities tied to Legacy of JW, family issues, even Covid got in the way) and it really didn't come to me until Jay started poking me here that something should be done. I am sorry the original plan to go that pub-restaurant screwed up at the last minute and that the Park Hyatt replacement didn't work for everyone. So please accept my sincerest apologies! I just hope Milano treated well all of you who came to visit, that you weren't overcharged for any service and that you got to do some nice sightseeing around while waiting for the Maestro to lead the Filarmonica and that maybe one day you will come back for more concerts or perhaps just to visit more of the city. I wish I was be able to say hello to each one of you who was there and I am sorry I didn't catch so many of you. Since my face now is pretty well known I guess (lol), next time you'll see me just don't be afraid to stop me to say hello Everyone who did said some very nice things about Legacy of JW and it really warms my heart that people appreciate the work we're doing and want to say it in person. Having John here was really the realization of a dream. I wished to see him performing at La Scala since I was a kid and to see this happening was really magical. Dreams can really come true, especially when there is someone so special like John Williams involved.

Grazie!

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My two cents: https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/12/14/john-williams-in-milan-2022/ I needed a couple of days to collect thoughts, I hope it's worth your reading time.

Saying that the orchestra played badly is totally unjust. I don't know what the standard references of these people are, but the orchestra was absolutely great. Was everything perfect? Of course not, as virtually any live performance is. It's known that London or US brass sections are always more powerful and precise than any European orchestra, but the brass of the Filarmonica yesterday did a great job nonetheless, especially the horn section, whose principal did some tearjerking playing on the Love Theme form Superman and the big Princess Leia solo. The trumpets perhaps weren't as powerful as Berlin or Vienna, and played in a more "Italian" fashion during the Raiders March, but that's one of the perks of hearing these pieces performed by orchestras who are not used to them. It should also be said that the theatre has a characteristic opera house acoustic (i.e. very dry, without virtually any reverb, but with lots of low-end frequencies becoming very prominent) and that's something that surely made the music sound a bit different than usual, especially if compared to Berlin's Philharmonie or Boston's Symphony Hall.