Mr.Crescendo

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I feel like a great treasure hunter who can now ride off into the sunset.
Seen here is the EXTREMELY rare signature of film music maestro James Horner. I'm planning to have it framed and hung in my home office along with Williams, Zimmer, Silvestri, Shore, Desplat, Glass & R. Newman. To have acquired autographs from Horner & Spielberg in the same month is a true blessing.
Had to share the joy of this rare occasion with my fellow film music patrons.
Anyway... back to reality
- J

I feel like a great treasure hunter who can now ride off into the sunset.
Seen here is the EXTREMELY rare signature of film music maestro James Horner. I'm planning to have it framed and hung in my home office along with Williams, Zimmer, Silvestri, Shore, Desplat, Glass & R. Newman. To have acquired autographs from Horner & Spielberg in the same month is a true blessing.
Had to share the joy of this rare occasion with my fellow film music patrons.
Anyway... back to reality
- J

Heh, that's great. And in a parking lot!
Zimmer's a cool and gracious dude as always.

I had the great privilege of meeting Mr. Hans Zimmer at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) last September -- twice. He was friendly and fun. It should be mentioned that I was prepared for his presence at the Rush & 12 Years A Slave premiers so I came prepared with my Gladiator & Dark Knight cd covers.
The FIRST time I met him was after the "12 Years" premier. He got into his Audi pretty fast so I was unable to approach him from behind the theater (what with all the security guards directing traffic). In these kinds of situations it is best to assume that THIS is your one & only chance EVER, so......I caught Mr. Z on a roll-down. Not my proudest moment (especially as a filmmaker myself) but I can't help but laugh when I look back at it.
Hans (jolly): Okay! Okay! You got me! Alright, we can do this! I think I can sign my name in the dark...
And just like that I wiped out my cell phone and illuminated him while he signed my cd's on his lap. Then I politely said, "Thanks so much, Hans. You've made an admirer very happy tonight. God bless," and trundled away with an ecstatic, almost shit-eating smile. Now back on the sidewalk, I take a peek at my new treasured and discover that the marker didn't dry fast enough on the Gladiator cover & Hans had accidentally smudged it when he switched it up to sign The Dark Knight. Oddly...I wasn't bothered by this, as, in the height of a long awaited fan-boy moment, I realized the maestro had immortalized his finger prints on my cd cover. Did I mention Gladiator is my favorite Zimmer score?
My only regret was that I didn't have more time to properly introduce myself & thank him for inspiring me through his hard work over the year. But then......

The SECOND time I met him was after the "Rush" premier. This time I was with friends. I'd already met Ron Howard, another influence of mine, the day before so I was pretty psyched up. The best thing about Roy Thompson Hall (in situations like these) is that you could see right inside to each floor as the stars came walking down the staircase and out into the parking lot. Boom!--Then Hans appeared with some woman I didn't recognize; probably his handler. He then proceeded to stand off to the side of the parking lot and lit up a cigarette. Boom!--I'm was in business. Security was super tight and it was obvious that NO fans were getting anywhere close to the talent that night....so....I went around to the loading dock area and, looking busy (I think my binder helped), I walked up a small stairs between the dumpsters & the wall and emerged by Hans just as he'd tossed his smoke & was walking back to the car. It was then that I politely and softly got Mr. Z's attention for the second and last time.
Finally I was able to introduce myself as a filmmaker who has been greatly inspired by his music; especially while writing etc. I acknowledged his hard work and thanked him sincerely, to which he responded hilariously, "THANK YOU!!! I work my damn ass off!!!" "Oh I know. It's quite evident," I said with authority. He then went on about stressful & exhausting it can all be, while I jokingly made a "booze drinking" gesture with my hand, to which he grinned. (Hans LOVES red wine). We carried on for a minute before I asked for a photo with him, to which he responded in all his German jollity, "Oh sure! Alright, come on, we can do this! Here we go!" We took the photo, looked it over together to ensure top quality and I said in my best Don LaFontaine voice: "Nice! HAAANS ZIMMER!" It was a cute moment. I let him go with one final thought, "Maybe we'll work together one day." We went out separate ways and THAT was a night to remember.
Looking back on 2013 I had quite a lot of success with film composers. Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, Phillip Glass, Elliot Goldenthal. The teenager in me (who originally initiated this passionate love of film music) is very proud

Here's the pics from my camera!
Marcy and me:

Left to right: Ren, me, Slambodog's mom, Slambodog, Marcy, obiwan79 (Sylvain)

Left to right: me, Jordan, ET&ElliotForever(Justin), Ren, Slambodog's mom, Slambodog, Marcy, obiwan79 (Sylvain)

Left to right: rpvee, Foxfan, Regis, me, Jordan, ET&ElliotForever(Justin), Slambodog's mom, Slambodog, obiwan79 (Sylvain), the guy who came with Foxfan who I didn't meet, and rpvee's mom

Foxfan standing next to the car containing Williams' suit after the show

The meetup was a huge success!
In the afternoon myself, my girlfriend Marcy, and Ren hung out around Boston. We walked to the Trinity Church and then down Newbury street, going in and out of some shops, before returning to the Symphony Hall area and getting a big table for 12 people at Uno's, which they nicely put for us in this kind of side room away from the main area.
There people came in one or 2 at a time for the next few hours: First slambodog and his mother, then obiwan71, then ET&Elliot4Ever with the guy he had bought his ticket from - a guy named Jordan from Ottawa, who used to post around 2004ish apparently. Then foxfan with a guest, then rpvee with someone (his mother?), and finally another frenchman named Regis (I never found out if he posted here).
So there was 4 New Englanders (me, Marcy, Justin/ET&Elliot Forever, and Ren), 2 Parisians (obiwan71, Regis), 2 Canadians (Jordan from Ottawa, and Foxfan), slambodog and his mother from New York..... an eclectic group to be sure! We discussed Williams, Goldsmith, Courage, the new guitar concerto (which we thought was premiering at the concert we were going to), Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and the previous night's concert (which obiwan71 had attended). And a lot of talk about autographs - how to get them, who's gotten them from Williams, what other autograph's people have, whether or not we'd be able to get them tonight, etc. The server, Christopher was awesome, multiple drink and food orders constantly over a 3 hour period, splitting everything into different checks for each group, etc. The food at Uno's seemed to be universally liked (its definitely one of the better American chain restaurants). A super-success over all!
I had the waiter take a bunch of pics of all of us at the table, so I'll be sure to post them asap!
I'll post my thoughts on the concert itself in the concert thread, but the quick version is I thought it was one of the best ones out of the 5 I've been to!