Cerebral Cortex

3:24 - 3:29
 
 
One of my two favorite moments in the piece, the other being:
 
1:41 - 1:58 (it actually sounded better on the OST)
 
 

One of the best moments of Williams' career? Yes, I think so.
 

Can we take a moment here to just appreciate the sheer brilliance of this cue. All the themes which are woven together, even a new theme for the falcon, snowy's theme, Tintin's theme. The change in metrum when Haddock falls through some laundry, the flute when the falcon flies through the building, the climatic version of Tintin's theme at the end. I cannot recall a cue by another film score composer that has this level of complexity!
 
 
 

Any JW track with the word "falcon" in the title is bound to sound awesome!

https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/concert/2017-an-evening-with-john-williams
 
 
Tickets go on sale to the general public on July 21. 
 
Man, JW is really getting around! I guess this is how it usually is but in my whole time as a fan prior to this year he has a had a very limited concert schedule (Boston and Tanglewood only). Wow, 85 and still going strong!

Very cool!
 
I keep thinking back not too long ago to 2015 when we had so much concern for his health. He was cancelling things left and right, looking and sounding a little frailer than usual. I was definitely coming to terms with the idea that he may be about ready to quit conducting by 2016, and keeping my fingers crossed that the same wouldn't be true about composing.
 
Two years later, look at him. Not just physically, but mentally he continues to have the endurance and enthusiasm to multitask that has always inspired me. What are the odds that somebody with that much talent would ALSO have pretty much unlimited monster success leading to the greatest musical resources at his fingertips AND a variety of opportunities and projects to utilize them AND blessed with longevity in life AND a passionate work ethic that has kept him even wanting to give music to the world in his "retirement years" AND an amiably grounded and humble attitude throughout it all?
 
Seriously, what the fuck? I can't help but think about Jerry, James, Basil, Kamen, and too many others who died too soon. Elliot Goldenthal, Don Davis, Bruce Broughton et al who should be working more with better film opportunities and aren't. Thank god Ennio's still going strong, of course it'd be nice if he were a little more high-profile but who's complaining?
 
And then there's John Williams. Every year he's looking more and more like some miracle man. A superhuman! But in a way that cheapens the remarkable career achievements and life's blessings on this sweet, unassuming man, and the struggles that he's had like anyone else. At any rate, he is rather special and I've been feeling grateful to call myself a fan lately. When I was 10 years old, one of my favorite things to daydream about on the bus and in school was the new John Williams CD coming out. Now I'm 26 and it's one of my favorite things to daydream about in the car and at work. 
 
Man I just love this guy! John Williams is awesome.
 
Anyway
 

Really? Whenever I watch Alien I see Police Academy 3.

Here's another video from the same event:
 
 
I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with Williams' air force stint, but I can't stop being fascinated by this. It's the first time I've heard Don talk, and once again I'm struck by the similarity in voice and mannerisms, yet WHAT he's saying is far more 'acerbic' and gutsy than what John would say in similar settings. Maybe it's the age difference; Don is my dad's age. I've not been able to find his exact birth date, but he's a native of LA, which means he must have been born after 1948, when the family moved there. My dad was born in 1950.

I keep forgetting that in a few months, we'll have a new Star Wars score and (hopefully) a new Spielberg drama score, and (hopefully) another sci-fi score a few months after that!

Actually, I'm not so sure that we can count out this possibility. George Lucas has said this about his sequel trilogy (most of these comments were made a while ago - 80s, I think - and Lucas may well have revised his ideas significantly since, but you'd think a lot of the basics still remained when he handed his short sequel trilogy treatment to Disney a few years ago).
 
 
 
And early in the Force Awakens concept art book, there's a painting of a "Jedi killer" (which evolved into Kylo Ren) holding a lightsaber with one end blue and the other red, showing the struggle between light and dark. 
 
While of course Lucas has claimed that his story ideas were thrown out, that's not true according to Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group - rather, the treatment was used as a starting point for continued development (for instance, he has said it was Lucas' idea to have the trilogy be about a young woman who wants to become a Jedi). 
 
So it's plausible that this theme of moral ambiguity could have carried into the final films that are being made, and specifically into Kylo Ren's character (I was reading a complaint about how Kylo Ren was too "on the verge" and not clearly evil enough once, and it just kind of clicked that maybe, just maybe, this could be a major theme of the trilogy, one that came from Lucas' treatment). 
 
Or this could still be a theme of the trilogy even if Lucasfilm came up with it entirely independently of Lucas, who knows. 
 
Obviously this is all somewhat wild speculation, of course, but that's the fun of being a Star Wars fan. 

Imagine the shit storm here if this mistake happened to John Williams and his Oscar taken off him mid-speach and given to some sound design score!

The true hero of last night:
 
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/27/hacksaw-ridge-sound-mixer-kevin-oconnell-record-losing-streak
 
Tommy Newman, you may still make it one day! Never give up!

Captain Fantastic was the best film of the year.

LOL now that's what you call a real upset...

I just want Moonlight to win Best Picture so it goes nicely next to Spotlight.

The Newt theme from Fantastic Beasts played live by the orchestra sounded outstanding.
 
JNH was robbed of an Oscar nom.
 
 

Zelda is better because at one time, it had the incorrect honor of being written by John Williams back when Napster was legal. 

"55 years of material"?!
Geez! That's a fucking long concert! 

Q: How is John Williams scoring The Last Jedi?
A: Chances are, very well. 

I think a lot of people were expecting more percussion in general, which does affect the sound of the orchestration quite a bit. As it is, there was hardly any snare drum or pitched percussion in the score (both of which featured very heavily in the prequel and OT scores), at least not in a prominent position in the mix. That threw a few people off. There's so many subtle colours going on in TFA that repeat listens illuminate; a lot of brass and string combinations, blended woodwinds etc. At first listen it doesn't sound like a very wide palette of orchestrations but when you listen closer there's so much going on.

His Nike workout clothes.
 
It, Just Do.