pete

My mind went to so many strange places (don't ask) trying to figure out what MMF stood for before finally realizing it was More Music From

That's crazy talk! Oh my God, Jay made a mistake! The slightly revised Scherzo was on "The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration", not their second compilation "Williams on Williams"

Shore's guitar concerto "The Forest" was performed, and that hasn't had an official release yet. And also his Fanfare for Organ and Brass. I'm not sure what else was performed. I was really hoping for a release of the guitar concerto.

There's a Theme and Variations playlist (that's the name of the tour) at the bottom below the dates: https://bearmccreary.com/events/ And he posted a video rehearsing the Black Sails theme (that's on the playlist), and it makes sense there are a few pieces for Raya to sing: Sky Boat, Dance of the Druids, and Apocalypse - I assume his family are along for the ride. So that looks to be the set list apart from encore pieces. Six out of the 20 songs/pieces listed are from The Singularity - I can live with that!

After a few days of agonizing over the decision, I finally opted for the VIP package. VIP Package * 1 x Platinum Reserved Seated Ticket (Best in category) or General Admission Standing Ticket (Melbourne only) * Special intimate acoustic Performance by Bear McCreary, sharing insights into his creative process * Q&A with attendees about the music, the tour, or whatever else is on fans’ minds * Meet & Greet with Bear * Photo-Op with Bear * Commemorative VIP Laminate The price was cheaper than I expected. AUD $130 extra, which is cheaper than some other meet and greets that have tempted me in the past. The accoustic performance sold me as well as did seeing that there are more pieces and existing songs from his scores on the set list than I was expecting. I thought it would mostly be songs from Singularity. Black Sails Theme, Dance of the Druids, Apocolypse from Battlestar, Masters of the Universe, Walking Dead. Old Tom Bombadil, Sky Boat Song, and All Along the Watch Tower. And some pieces from his movies etc I'm less familiar with: Godzilla, God of War, and a few others. I should try get to know those better. My dream encore pieces: Wander My Friends and Prelude to War. I'm really looking forward to hearing Raya sing live. The clips of her singing from his BSG concert - just chilling. And also my favorite piece from his solo album, Escape from the Machines, partly because Joe Satriani, one of my favorite guitarists, plays on the recording. His meet and great at his last show I attended back in 2017 I think was about $US 200. That's one I passed on. And years ago, I entered his Battlestar Piano competition and he gave me a very special award. So I think it'll be fun to meet him and ask him if he remembers writing this: Amd I thought I would bring something to sign so I because of that award I was thinking of the piano book or the CD booklet, and low and behold, I already have a signed CD booklet. I totally forgot as I'm not really into collecting autographs. I think it must have been one of those "first 100 orders get a signed booklet" deals. So I'll bring that and ask him to sign it again! And strangely, there's been no mention of Bear's Australian shows on his social media. Correction, he did mention it, but I missed it. Oops. Useless stupd Facebook algorithm! I only heard about it from my nephew in Australia who was rewarded with a second row ticket. He opted out of the VIP package for himself (thankfully!) For the Q&A. I was thinking of asking Bear something how touring compares with writing at home (and smetimes getting burned out ala The Rings of Power). And if Raya is there, her favorite Bear piece to sing and Bear piece in general. I'd like to ask about possible releases, but that I think is kind of boring. If I do decide to ask, I'd ask about the possibility of any more Agents of SHIELD. Or at least just mention I enjoyed the music in the laer series. I'm open to suggestions for questions.

Patriotic?

The Singularity. His tour is based around that with some film/tv score selections https://bearmccreary.com/thesingularity/

Bear's added Australia to his tour. Tickets for the late July shows go on sale next week. Luckily, I'll be visiting home from Korea, and just by chance my flight arrives in Sydney the day before his Sydney show. I can't see any prices yet for the meet & greet/Q&A, but I could be interested depending on the price. https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=BEARMC25 If I get tickets - my nephew is interested as well, I guess I'll have to try listening to his solo album again! Another concert link: https://www.destroyalllines.com/tours/bear-mccreary

Ronald Moore talks about being involved in this, and he wrote two of the scripts

There's no way of knowing unless someone in the know spills the beans when they shouldn't. Intrada did say last year or a little before then that they were working on two Williams releases. So there is one more from them in the works, but no time frame was given. We just have to wait of official announcements. I don't think any other hints of upcoming projects have been given. The Patriot, The Reivers, and a new concerto still makes for a good year!

I'm so glad the Back Home track has been separated from the combined OST track. I listened to the soundtrack a couple of nights ago, and I'd forgotten what a gem that piece is. It's been so long since I've listened to the whole soundtrack. Well over ten years I think for some of the tracks. My normal go-to tracks are the main theme and finale, the three sections of the suite without narration, and some of the softer pieces like Carrie's Entrance & The Picture and Prayers at Bedtime. I'd forgotten that what a great ending the track The Sheriff Departs.... Ned's Secret has. And it just occured to me that this is one of the rare times the sound of a banjo doesn't make me want to buy one so I can burn it. Harmonica too to a lesser extent - sometimes I like that sound in certain scores and songs (Springsteen comes to mind), in other scores and songs, it drives me nuts. And I've never thought about wanting the suite without narration. I'm in agreement with those that consider the narration just too integral to the piece. However, the final instrumental section that begins after the horse race piece and ends the suite would be nice to hear by itself. As I mentioned earlier, I saw Williams conduct the suite in London, and not once did I wish the narrator would be quiet. And I usually cry when narration is included on soundtracks. I remember being devastated when I got the first Angela's Ashes CD, and I was in heaven when the version without narration was released - was it the European version? I think it was. Anyway, the US had one version, the European the other. And I had no idea the two Reivers CD releases were slightly different - apart from the bonus track. I digitalized my collection long ago, but it didn't occur to me to digitize both. And now I'm living far from where my CDs are. So I'm not sure what I have on my computer. I seem to recall the Varese had much better sound quality? If that's the case, I think I have the Varese version with the bonus track from the one with the terrible Steve McQueen cover that is the stuff of nightmares - no offence to Steve.

I just finished the show yesterday, and wow, I have to admit to a few tears in those last two episodes! And I loved the Rocky references. The hospital scene (Rocky 2 - "there's one thing I want you do to for me - win, win!) and the beach training and jumping in the waves (Rocky 3) and the Rocky 4 mentions. And the Back to the Future reference in final restauarant scene. I wonder if that was the restaurant in which the show was first pitched to William Zabka? Regarding Hillary Swank, I was browsing her Wiki and she gave birth to twins in April 2023, so perhaps that had something to do with her non-involvement? And wow, I never would have guessed the actress who played Kim Da-eun grew up in Australia. Damn, I'm from Australia and I live in Seoul. How is it we've never met? I liked the scenes in which the softer side of her character came through. She looked totally different when she wasn't being the cold harsh teacher. I expected her character to be more involved in those final episodes. And regarding Korea, I noticed when her team were training in Korea, the Koreans used the word "sensei" instead of the Korean word. That wouldn't happen. Just an observation more than a nitpick. And I had an odd relationship with the show. Several times I took long breaks from the show - over two years I think at least once. Yet I always enjoyed it - but I think I did lose a little interest around season 3ish. I watched the end of season 4 and the rest of the series over the past month couple of months. And I have fond memories of watching some of the first episodes on a beach in Vietnam in Feb. 2019. I had a few chill days doing nothing except beach days - swimming, and on a beach chair: napping, listening to music, reading, and watching some TV on my laptop. Good days! I remember just loving in those first episodes seeing what became of Johnny and seeing him return to some of that form when he's talking to his new students "dork" and "four-eyes" etc. And overall I think that was one of my favorite series endings. I'm kind of bummed it's over for now, but I'm excited about the strong possibility of spin-offs. I'm curious what kind of vibe the next movie will have. I guess less of the show's vibe. Ralph's involvement will be the main reason I'll watch it. Strangely, I never really explored the music outside the show, but I certainly remember noticing some pretty cool, sweet, and epic pieces as well as the quotes from Conti's original scores.

Just checking, I think the track "Reflections" which was added to the second CD release (it wasn't on the Varese release) is track 10 on disc 1 Lucius and Corrie. Regarding the concert suite, I long ago made some edits to have the three main instrumental sections as their own tracks, and I also kept the suite as a whole. Not the most cleanest of edits, but I was satisfied with them. I partricularly love the piece that follows the words: The first car in town. And I just couldn't imagine agreeing to seperate the orchestra from the narration for this in a million years. The whole piece was conceived around the narration, and Williams loved he words. I wouldn't mind if he did though, but I think he would rather create a new suite than just allow the removal of the vocal. I also heard this live - with a different narrator - in London at William's 1998 concerts. It sounded just so fresh and vibrant live with a few very minor differences. I think just in terms of some of it sounding a little faster in parts. The narrator did a good job, but I prefer Rocky Balboa's coach/The Penguin.

I'm sure Williams/his team would tell the orchestra as soon as that decision is made - if it's made. Williams is just too classy to delay informing once when's certain he can't go either because of doctor's orders or his own decision. And then he'd leave it up to the orchestra to announce, and I would hope they'd do that immediately?? I'd be curious to see some statistics on how many people well into their 90s take flights of that length. I'm guessing not many!

The YouTube algorithm just threw up this interview. He did pretty well from two episodes!