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I'm not going to lie—I was excitedly curious how quickly this news would hit JWFan! For those who don't know me, I've been writing about film music and interviewing composers (and directors and actors) professionally for the past decade. Besides the many liner notes, I also write articles and create radio stories for mainstream news outlets like the L.A. Times and NPR. I teach a film music history course at USC. And I've been a card-carrying member of this site since 2003. I won't divulge too much just yet, because it's still a little early, but I was excited to finally make it public that this book is happening. I've been working on it for three years now, and I've interviewed approximately 150 people. The big kahuna, of course, is John Williams. I plan to share the story of how that happened one day, but not yet. Thanks for your excitement! I can promise you that there are many things (stories, facts, quotes) in this book you have never heard... Tim

I'm relieved the cat is finally out of the bag! I've been e-mail-communicating with Tim for at least a year (maybe two?) regarding this project, and I've given some assistance and some discussions for other issues where I've been unable to assist. But I've been sworn to secrecy all along! I'm (obviously) very much looking forward to this project. As some of you know, I was working on a similar book project myself, but for various reasons that will take too much self-absorbed time to go into here, it fell through. So when Tim contacted me, I was only glad to pass on the baton. My own John Williams book project is not dead, but it will take on a different -- more personal -- form now if it ever comes into fruition. It will NOT be the be-all, end-all biography book that I had originally planned, but that THIS will hopefully be. Looking forward to the release date in a couple of years!

Fitting that we'll only ever get the OST rearrangement of your original intentions!

Where can I pre-order a physical copy in case it is limited and sold out before being released? ;-)

And I'm most worried about him seeing the "DID JOHN WILLIAMS COMPOSE THE IJ DIAL OF DESTINY TRAILER MUSIC?" thread...

Apparently Tim Greiving has just announced the first English biography on John Williams, to be released in 2025: https://timgreiving.com/john-williams-in-his-adventure-on-earth/

My favourite John Williams reunion.

The book's title is a reference to the film's original title, which was used for its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and retained for the novelization published shortly after the release. The name of the OST track is based on the original title. https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-in-his-adventure-on-earth/

You'll have to show him the Star Wars Disenchantment thread too while you're at it

JWfan has never come up. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to ask him about it...

I'm so grateful to you, Thor, and to several other members of this community for help with research, rare recordings and ephemera, and just general kibitzing and commiserating. I fully recognize that I'm living several people's lifelong dream—because it was certainly mine—and I don't take that for granted. Nor could I have done it without help. It's amazing what joining this forum did for my life and future work those twenty years ago...

I guess we'll buy books if we can't buy CDs anymore!

Jhn Wilams in Hs Avenur on Eath JW will micro edit the title.

Nah, just John Williams Park. When he's gone, somebody will have to make that. With lots of differently aged Williams clones (the non-autoerotica versions). There will be different compartments where you can watch John Williams compose the scores for Fitzwilly, Jaws, Star Wars, etc., including the theme for John Williams Park itself (a march, obviously). Visitors will drive around the park in automatic cars with a running commentary narrated by Harrison Ford. The clones will have a gene manipulation so that they cannot reproduce should they escape. (…do we *really* want John Williams to find out about this place?)

Rare footage of JWFan induction ceremony: Karol

Yeah, even I smiled, despite it being from my arch enemy Holko. That's the way to do ribbing!

Ha! I have NO memory of posting that, but it's also no surprise. I've been pursuing this (off and on) for about that long...

That’s awesome! I don’t know if you heard, but I know a good, little heard anecdote for you to include about Schindler’s List and dead composers…

Saw Oppenheimer today. Thought it mostly excellent. A few condensed notes from my initial thoughts: I think I enjoyed the pre-Trinity test half more. I felt it lost its momentum slightly after that, though it does pick up a bit in the final 30 mins. As most have said, the actual Trinity test was not as spectacular as expected and, given the excellent build-up, I feel - as an audience - we deserved better. For a film made up almost entirely of scenes of people talking in rooms, it’s as good as any. Spielberg’s more recent serious endeavours are a benchmark I think most should aspire to in this respect. Score works really well for the most part though it definitely is overscored. Lots of scenes did not need it at all. I’d also forgotten just how many names there are in it. Almost every scene introduced another big star in a very small role. Made it very fun to watch I thought. Cillian Murphy is superb. I hope this proves to be his breakout role as a lead actor outside of the UK and Ireland. Overall I truly believe Nolan has set a benchmark for the ‘big-budget biopic’ genre.

Great list. Love that you mentioned Mark Hamill. I adore the actor and agree with that inclusion. He’s always been more attuned towards the details of what made SW filmmaking special, more so than most actors.

Here's me playing my own arrangement of Helena's Theme for piano: Note: if you have perfect pitch, or an excellent musical memory, then this arrangement may drive you crazy as I mix and match elements from the standard version and the violin version (including some key changes). Though hopefully the final result is coherent enough.

And there's a quote in the back: "Oh, you must be Mr. Spielberg's son. Where's Mr Spielberg?"

nah (for me, in the context of describing a show) girly means it targets girls, which it does

John Williams and the Temple of Doom

Fantastic news. And congratulations @Maestro. I've been enjoying reading your liner notes over the years, I am sure you will absolutely smash it. 😀 I love the title! Karol

You're not alone in that, @Maestro! Happy to be openly celebrating your incredible achievement. 2025 can't come soon enough. Maybe this is a silly question, but: based on your conversations with him, do you think Williams knows about JWfan, or might care to know? Maybe he'd be embarrassed, but I bet part of him would be pleased that there's this incredibly active and long-running internet community dedicated to his legacy. And that it's been a source of sustenance and inspiration for many of us now involved, in one way or another, in the study and performance of his work?

I have a good reason why I've been unable to do so (or even START on it yet), but that reason might be over now, and I might be able to start this weekend!

At the Disney Music Euphorium.

Sure, as long as she keeps sending those cookies.

Ok, I'm way late to the party, but I finally bought Across the Stars. Giving it a first listen right now. I LOVE IT. The arrangements feel truly inspired—like, the furthest thing from phoned in. The mutual artistic admiration between JW and ASM comes through viscerally in the writing and performance.

The John Williams Scene and Finale

That's probably because you're old wise.

That doesn't seem in line with the movie Kubrick made. At most maybe a producer pitched the idea at the early stages Had Kubrick temped it with Images, half the finished film would probably still have the Images score in it.

The real winner

That's actually a great idea.

Might be, but I am bad at titling anyway. I would probably call it "Apart from Cookies and Dead Composers", which would be even worse.

Or it could put them off buying. And the title has nothing about music in it, so it could just as well be about John Williams the actor. But I guess in this day and age it will have a long under-title to explain everything. With a picture of JW flying on a bicycle.

I’m more worried about him seeing the Plagiarism/Homages thread… Also, I must say, the inclusion of Williams interviews instantly and vastly outweighs any gushing from collaborators. I’m sure all those other sources will have nice things to say, but bring on the beard!

Post of the year!

I am BEYOND excited for this! I never thought Williams could be persuaded let himself be interviewed for a biography - let alone multible times! I'll be first in line to pre-order - please let us know, when that'll be possible, @Maestro.

Can we get Mike Matessino to narrate the audiobook?

Great news. And also this one with a foreword by John Williams.

Wenn sie keine CDs haben, dann sollen sie doch Bücher kaufen!

Great news, but weird that he's not interviewing George Lucas, Christopher Columbus, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Mark Hamill.

This is sensational news! Arguably a bigger deal than the Bouzereau documentary. I love the description: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, A.I. and BotFoJ. Yep, that’s pretty much the big five.

To be frank, I'd appreciate companies offering FLAC downloads as compensation for faulty CD pressings in situations like that. I'm only getting the CD for the collector aspect anyway, I *listen* to the music from ripped FLACs on my computer. Obviously, they can't please all customers with such a solution (and understandably so), but it would probably make things much easier for a lot of them (and the label, too). (I haven't ordered the new City Hall yet myself, but I will with my next batch)