lairdo

So, just watched Martin Grubinger‘s John Williams: The Special Edition piece live on the Berlin Phil’s digital concert hall platform. A bit of.a glitchy flow on my brand new AppleTV which was annoying (hopefully my audio recording on my PC captured it cleanly). 
 
Overall, my impression is pretty much what this thread feared - the whole piece was an awkward mash up of themes which were generally well played but transitioned in and out of mostly orchestral moments with the various percussion instruments overlaying or taking over. 
 
The suite started with a relatively large chunk of Star Wars themes from a New Hope up to through sequel trilogy. I loved that a theme from Temple of Doom followed after that, and, not surprisingly, there was a big chunk of Catch Me If You Can (since Martin played on that piece for the Spielberg/Williams III album). Various other themes such as Saving Private Ryan and Harry Potter (with a nice piano intro) were heard. The suite closed with a relatively big rendition 1984’s Olympic Fanfare.
 
Clearly, some of the John Williams themes lend themselves to extensive percussive elements, and when these argument the brass (which sounded great to me - always wonderful to see Sarah Willis blasting out JW notes), they combine quite naturally. I found the results less satisfying when the Percussive Planet band just took over completely from the orchestra. The playing was great - and from the sweat dripping off Martin’s nose clearly they were playing all out. I just found it hard to follow the theme variations and feel connected to the original music in a way that the variations should illuminate the original music. There was one long session that just seemed like percussion riffing. Nothing wrong with this, but given JW’s jazz background, I thought that Martin might take a clearer arrangement path than he did. I think back to Stan Kenton’s work (with whom John Williams collaborated in the 60’s) and what he did with things like West Side Story and even Richard Wagner. Subsequent listenings to this piece, however, might make some of the intention clearer to me. The piece is close to 30 minutes in length which is pretty amazing in itself.
 
The Berlin Phil always sounds wonderful, and I happen to love conductor Wayne Marshall. I’ve seen him play the organ live with the Seattle Symphony, but alas COVID cancelled a follow up Gershwin concert he was going to lead from the piano (as he is doing now in the 2nd half of this concert as I type this). I have a number of his conducted and performed recordings.
 
As always, having John Williams so prominently featured with an orchestra like the Berlin Phil is a treat. Simon Rattle conducted his music a few years ago, and that was fun. And of course, we know the JW is leading the orchestra himself in the fall. Plus, I love the indirect statement of having Bernstein, Gershwin and JW in a concert together. I wish they had programmed a Copland piece too for the perfect American Quartet. Overall though, not a bad American Trio.
 
In summary, I would say that the Grubinger arranged piece was “fine.” At times, quite enjoyable for the treatment of classic themes and at times somewhat lost in the countryside around the Waldbühne. 
 
———
One additional note now that the concert has ended. (The encores were Bernstein’s Candide Overture and the always final piece Paul Lincke's Berliner Luft). I noticed in the credits that EuroArts had done the filming and owned the copyright. My guess is that the concert will be made available outside of the Digital Concert Hall platform either in other streaming services such as the Apple video store or even on Blu-Ray. This has been done for other concerts they produce from this venue with the Berlin Phil. 

Fair point. I too have seen him paired (Schindler’s List for example) with other purely classical composers (vs. Bernstein/Gershwin who had a lot of fame through broadway). 
 
Digressing I guess specifically to this thread, but I suspect the pairing of Violin Concert No. 2 with a Beethoven overture and Bartok’s concerto for orchestra to kick off the BSO 2021-2 Season is a bigger statement then?

So, just watched Martin Grubinger‘s John Williams: The Special Edition piece live on the Berlin Phil’s digital concert hall platform. A bit of.a glitchy flow on my brand new AppleTV which was annoying (hopefully my audio recording on my PC captured it cleanly). 
 
Overall, my impression is pretty much what this thread feared - the whole piece was an awkward mash up of themes which were generally well played but transitioned in and out of mostly orchestral moments with the various percussion instruments overlaying or taking over. 
 
The suite started with a relatively large chunk of Star Wars themes from a New Hope up to through sequel trilogy. I loved that a theme from Temple of Doom followed after that, and, not surprisingly, there was a big chunk of Catch Me If You Can (since Martin played on that piece for the Spielberg/Williams III album). Various other themes such as Saving Private Ryan and Harry Potter (with a nice piano intro) were heard. The suite closed with a relatively big rendition 1984’s Olympic Fanfare.
 
Clearly, some of the John Williams themes lend themselves to extensive percussive elements, and when these argument the brass (which sounded great to me - always wonderful to see Sarah Willis blasting out JW notes), they combine quite naturally. I found the results less satisfying when the Percussive Planet band just took over completely from the orchestra. The playing was great - and from the sweat dripping off Martin’s nose clearly they were playing all out. I just found it hard to follow the theme variations and feel connected to the original music in a way that the variations should illuminate the original music. There was one long session that just seemed like percussion riffing. Nothing wrong with this, but given JW’s jazz background, I thought that Martin might take a clearer arrangement path than he did. I think back to Stan Kenton’s work (with whom John Williams collaborated in the 60’s) and what he did with things like West Side Story and even Richard Wagner. Subsequent listenings to this piece, however, might make some of the intention clearer to me. The piece is close to 30 minutes in length which is pretty amazing in itself.
 
The Berlin Phil always sounds wonderful, and I happen to love conductor Wayne Marshall. I’ve seen him play the organ live with the Seattle Symphony, but alas COVID cancelled a follow up Gershwin concert he was going to lead from the piano (as he is doing now in the 2nd half of this concert as I type this). I have a number of his conducted and performed recordings.
 
As always, having John Williams so prominently featured with an orchestra like the Berlin Phil is a treat. Simon Rattle conducted his music a few years ago, and that was fun. And of course, we know the JW is leading the orchestra himself in the fall. Plus, I love the indirect statement of having Bernstein, Gershwin and JW in a concert together. I wish they had programmed a Copland piece too for the perfect American Quartet. Overall though, not a bad American Trio.
 
In summary, I would say that the Grubinger arranged piece was “fine.” At times, quite enjoyable for the treatment of classic themes and at times somewhat lost in the countryside around the Waldbühne. 
 
———
One additional note now that the concert has ended. (The encores were Bernstein’s Candide Overture and the always final piece Paul Lincke's Berliner Luft). I noticed in the credits that EuroArts had done the filming and owned the copyright. My guess is that the concert will be made available outside of the Digital Concert Hall platform either in other streaming services such as the Apple video store or even on Blu-Ray. This has been done for other concerts they produce from this venue with the Berlin Phil. 

So, just watched Martin Grubinger‘s John Williams: The Special Edition piece live on the Berlin Phil’s digital concert hall platform. A bit of.a glitchy flow on my brand new AppleTV which was annoying (hopefully my audio recording on my PC captured it cleanly). 
 
Overall, my impression is pretty much what this thread feared - the whole piece was an awkward mash up of themes which were generally well played but transitioned in and out of mostly orchestral moments with the various percussion instruments overlaying or taking over. 
 
The suite started with a relatively large chunk of Star Wars themes from a New Hope up to through sequel trilogy. I loved that a theme from Temple of Doom followed after that, and, not surprisingly, there was a big chunk of Catch Me If You Can (since Martin played on that piece for the Spielberg/Williams III album). Various other themes such as Saving Private Ryan and Harry Potter (with a nice piano intro) were heard. The suite closed with a relatively big rendition 1984’s Olympic Fanfare.
 
Clearly, some of the John Williams themes lend themselves to extensive percussive elements, and when these argument the brass (which sounded great to me - always wonderful to see Sarah Willis blasting out JW notes), they combine quite naturally. I found the results less satisfying when the Percussive Planet band just took over completely from the orchestra. The playing was great - and from the sweat dripping off Martin’s nose clearly they were playing all out. I just found it hard to follow the theme variations and feel connected to the original music in a way that the variations should illuminate the original music. There was one long session that just seemed like percussion riffing. Nothing wrong with this, but given JW’s jazz background, I thought that Martin might take a clearer arrangement path than he did. I think back to Stan Kenton’s work (with whom John Williams collaborated in the 60’s) and what he did with things like West Side Story and even Richard Wagner. Subsequent listenings to this piece, however, might make some of the intention clearer to me. The piece is close to 30 minutes in length which is pretty amazing in itself.
 
The Berlin Phil always sounds wonderful, and I happen to love conductor Wayne Marshall. I’ve seen him play the organ live with the Seattle Symphony, but alas COVID cancelled a follow up Gershwin concert he was going to lead from the piano (as he is doing now in the 2nd half of this concert as I type this). I have a number of his conducted and performed recordings.
 
As always, having John Williams so prominently featured with an orchestra like the Berlin Phil is a treat. Simon Rattle conducted his music a few years ago, and that was fun. And of course, we know the JW is leading the orchestra himself in the fall. Plus, I love the indirect statement of having Bernstein, Gershwin and JW in a concert together. I wish they had programmed a Copland piece too for the perfect American Quartet. Overall though, not a bad American Trio.
 
In summary, I would say that the Grubinger arranged piece was “fine.” At times, quite enjoyable for the treatment of classic themes and at times somewhat lost in the countryside around the Waldbühne. 
 
———
One additional note now that the concert has ended. (The encores were Bernstein’s Candide Overture and the always final piece Paul Lincke's Berliner Luft). I noticed in the credits that EuroArts had done the filming and owned the copyright. My guess is that the concert will be made available outside of the Digital Concert Hall platform either in other streaming services such as the Apple video store or even on Blu-Ray. This has been done for other concerts they produce from this venue with the Berlin Phil. 

So, just watched Martin Grubinger‘s John Williams: The Special Edition piece live on the Berlin Phil’s digital concert hall platform. A bit of.a glitchy flow on my brand new AppleTV which was annoying (hopefully my audio recording on my PC captured it cleanly). 
 
Overall, my impression is pretty much what this thread feared - the whole piece was an awkward mash up of themes which were generally well played but transitioned in and out of mostly orchestral moments with the various percussion instruments overlaying or taking over. 
 
The suite started with a relatively large chunk of Star Wars themes from a New Hope up to through sequel trilogy. I loved that a theme from Temple of Doom followed after that, and, not surprisingly, there was a big chunk of Catch Me If You Can (since Martin played on that piece for the Spielberg/Williams III album). Various other themes such as Saving Private Ryan and Harry Potter (with a nice piano intro) were heard. The suite closed with a relatively big rendition 1984’s Olympic Fanfare.
 
Clearly, some of the John Williams themes lend themselves to extensive percussive elements, and when these argument the brass (which sounded great to me - always wonderful to see Sarah Willis blasting out JW notes), they combine quite naturally. I found the results less satisfying when the Percussive Planet band just took over completely from the orchestra. The playing was great - and from the sweat dripping off Martin’s nose clearly they were playing all out. I just found it hard to follow the theme variations and feel connected to the original music in a way that the variations should illuminate the original music. There was one long session that just seemed like percussion riffing. Nothing wrong with this, but given JW’s jazz background, I thought that Martin might take a clearer arrangement path than he did. I think back to Stan Kenton’s work (with whom John Williams collaborated in the 60’s) and what he did with things like West Side Story and even Richard Wagner. Subsequent listenings to this piece, however, might make some of the intention clearer to me. The piece is close to 30 minutes in length which is pretty amazing in itself.
 
The Berlin Phil always sounds wonderful, and I happen to love conductor Wayne Marshall. I’ve seen him play the organ live with the Seattle Symphony, but alas COVID cancelled a follow up Gershwin concert he was going to lead from the piano (as he is doing now in the 2nd half of this concert as I type this). I have a number of his conducted and performed recordings.
 
As always, having John Williams so prominently featured with an orchestra like the Berlin Phil is a treat. Simon Rattle conducted his music a few years ago, and that was fun. And of course, we know the JW is leading the orchestra himself in the fall. Plus, I love the indirect statement of having Bernstein, Gershwin and JW in a concert together. I wish they had programmed a Copland piece too for the perfect American Quartet. Overall though, not a bad American Trio.
 
In summary, I would say that the Grubinger arranged piece was “fine.” At times, quite enjoyable for the treatment of classic themes and at times somewhat lost in the countryside around the Waldbühne. 
 
———
One additional note now that the concert has ended. (The encores were Bernstein’s Candide Overture and the always final piece Paul Lincke's Berliner Luft). I noticed in the credits that EuroArts had done the filming and owned the copyright. My guess is that the concert will be made available outside of the Digital Concert Hall platform either in other streaming services such as the Apple video store or even on Blu-Ray. This has been done for other concerts they produce from this venue with the Berlin Phil. 

I guessed (correctly) that he must have brought the Boston Pops there in the 80's. Here's a brief mention in the New York Times from May 3, 1988. Cover your eyes for paragraph 3, sensitive folks!
 
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/03/arts/boston-pops-at-carnegie.html
(You might need a subscription to read it. However, it is short, so I will paste it below.)
-------
It will not do to be severe about the current provision of music from the Boston Pops Orchestra, which came to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night with John Williams on the podium and on the program. The organization exists for listeners who like the sound of a large, expert symphony orchestra and who prefer, among the various kinds of music to which that sound can be applied, Broadway and other popular songs, light-spirited concert music and scores composed for television and cinema.
 
The emphatic success with which this mandate is being filled could be gauged by many measures, among them the enthusiasm of Saturday's audience. The sound of the playing was full, rich, luminous. The program included very effective scores of Samuel Barber (the ''School for Scandal'' Overture) and Peter Maxwell Davies (''An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise'') as well as Mr. Williams's ''Jane Eyre Suite,'' ''Liberty Fanfare'' and music from ''The Witches of Eastwick,'' plus show tunes.
 
Any objections could only center around a vague kind of regret, not that middlebrow taste is being courted, because that is the orchestra's legitimate and tradition-honored purpose, but rather that middlebrow taste at the moment doesn't seem to call for much in the way of wit, zip or finesse. Bloated scoring with big dollops of climax, on Saturday's evidence, are more in order. The ''Jane Eyre'' music has some pleasant though vacant-sounding strains of melancholy to it, and Mr. Davies scatters some deft and humorous ideas on his way to the big finale. This listener can find nothing to enjoy in the kind of ''Fiddler on the Roof'' sampler that began the second half; there is no questioning the merit of the tunes themselves, but this was more a pro forma reminder of their existence than a fresh experience of them.
 
-------
Addendum. According to our friends at jw-collection.de, the very first JW led Pops concert in 1980 was at Carnegie Hall.
 
"1980 - On January 10, John Williams accepts the conductorship of the Boston Pops, ushering in a new era in Pops history. His first concert takes place twelve days later at Carnegie Hall in New York."
 
http://www.jw-collection.de/misc/BPO_125_timeline.pdf
 
And here's a Washington Post article about Williams' appointment in Jan 1980 which references the Jan 22 upcoming concert.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/01/11/boston-pops-goes-hollywood/9bade54a-f9ca-4a7c-b398-4fd31a817f38/
 

I guessed (correctly) that he must have brought the Boston Pops there in the 80's. Here's a brief mention in the New York Times from May 3, 1988. Cover your eyes for paragraph 3, sensitive folks!
 
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/03/arts/boston-pops-at-carnegie.html
(You might need a subscription to read it. However, it is short, so I will paste it below.)
-------
It will not do to be severe about the current provision of music from the Boston Pops Orchestra, which came to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night with John Williams on the podium and on the program. The organization exists for listeners who like the sound of a large, expert symphony orchestra and who prefer, among the various kinds of music to which that sound can be applied, Broadway and other popular songs, light-spirited concert music and scores composed for television and cinema.
 
The emphatic success with which this mandate is being filled could be gauged by many measures, among them the enthusiasm of Saturday's audience. The sound of the playing was full, rich, luminous. The program included very effective scores of Samuel Barber (the ''School for Scandal'' Overture) and Peter Maxwell Davies (''An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise'') as well as Mr. Williams's ''Jane Eyre Suite,'' ''Liberty Fanfare'' and music from ''The Witches of Eastwick,'' plus show tunes.
 
Any objections could only center around a vague kind of regret, not that middlebrow taste is being courted, because that is the orchestra's legitimate and tradition-honored purpose, but rather that middlebrow taste at the moment doesn't seem to call for much in the way of wit, zip or finesse. Bloated scoring with big dollops of climax, on Saturday's evidence, are more in order. The ''Jane Eyre'' music has some pleasant though vacant-sounding strains of melancholy to it, and Mr. Davies scatters some deft and humorous ideas on his way to the big finale. This listener can find nothing to enjoy in the kind of ''Fiddler on the Roof'' sampler that began the second half; there is no questioning the merit of the tunes themselves, but this was more a pro forma reminder of their existence than a fresh experience of them.
 
-------
Addendum. According to our friends at jw-collection.de, the very first JW led Pops concert in 1980 was at Carnegie Hall.
 
"1980 - On January 10, John Williams accepts the conductorship of the Boston Pops, ushering in a new era in Pops history. His first concert takes place twelve days later at Carnegie Hall in New York."
 
http://www.jw-collection.de/misc/BPO_125_timeline.pdf
 
And here's a Washington Post article about Williams' appointment in Jan 1980 which references the Jan 22 upcoming concert.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/01/11/boston-pops-goes-hollywood/9bade54a-f9ca-4a7c-b398-4fd31a817f38/
 

I guessed (correctly) that he must have brought the Boston Pops there in the 80's. Here's a brief mention in the New York Times from May 3, 1988. Cover your eyes for paragraph 3, sensitive folks!
 
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/03/arts/boston-pops-at-carnegie.html
(You might need a subscription to read it. However, it is short, so I will paste it below.)
-------
It will not do to be severe about the current provision of music from the Boston Pops Orchestra, which came to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night with John Williams on the podium and on the program. The organization exists for listeners who like the sound of a large, expert symphony orchestra and who prefer, among the various kinds of music to which that sound can be applied, Broadway and other popular songs, light-spirited concert music and scores composed for television and cinema.
 
The emphatic success with which this mandate is being filled could be gauged by many measures, among them the enthusiasm of Saturday's audience. The sound of the playing was full, rich, luminous. The program included very effective scores of Samuel Barber (the ''School for Scandal'' Overture) and Peter Maxwell Davies (''An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise'') as well as Mr. Williams's ''Jane Eyre Suite,'' ''Liberty Fanfare'' and music from ''The Witches of Eastwick,'' plus show tunes.
 
Any objections could only center around a vague kind of regret, not that middlebrow taste is being courted, because that is the orchestra's legitimate and tradition-honored purpose, but rather that middlebrow taste at the moment doesn't seem to call for much in the way of wit, zip or finesse. Bloated scoring with big dollops of climax, on Saturday's evidence, are more in order. The ''Jane Eyre'' music has some pleasant though vacant-sounding strains of melancholy to it, and Mr. Davies scatters some deft and humorous ideas on his way to the big finale. This listener can find nothing to enjoy in the kind of ''Fiddler on the Roof'' sampler that began the second half; there is no questioning the merit of the tunes themselves, but this was more a pro forma reminder of their existence than a fresh experience of them.
 
-------
Addendum. According to our friends at jw-collection.de, the very first JW led Pops concert in 1980 was at Carnegie Hall.
 
"1980 - On January 10, John Williams accepts the conductorship of the Boston Pops, ushering in a new era in Pops history. His first concert takes place twelve days later at Carnegie Hall in New York."
 
http://www.jw-collection.de/misc/BPO_125_timeline.pdf
 
And here's a Washington Post article about Williams' appointment in Jan 1980 which references the Jan 22 upcoming concert.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/01/11/boston-pops-goes-hollywood/9bade54a-f9ca-4a7c-b398-4fd31a817f38/
 

I believe the clips were recorded for the May 2017 2019 concerts tied to Film Night the release of the Boston Pops JW album "Lights, Camera, Music." They were played live on the Symphony Hall screens and were explained at the time that Williams was too busy working on RoS to travel to Boston for the concert. However, some of the clips were not part of that concert. I have the audio from the May 2429, 20172019 concert and about half of the interview segments included in this 2021 release were not part of the 2017 one.

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

I have tried for years to encourage this to happen. I know Joel McNeely would like to see them come out too. I would be willing to contribute money to the project. Alas, once the acquisition happened, momentum dried up. I am hopeful that Lucasfilm/Disney will move forward in line with Indy 5 and get these out. Beyond the 4 official releases, there are a few more score pieces floating around - but there is so much more. I cannot believe I did not keep a copy of everything when I was working on this stuff. Never occurred to me - but heck I was 25, so what did I know? 
 
And I agree - Mike liking/loving these shows is a big plus! There is hope!

Mike was incredibly generous with his time and stories, and he was kind enough to listen to my first edit pass to ensure we had everything as he liked it. As you can expect, he gave good notes to ensure the most intelligibility and clarity. (Nothing was lost in some big cut! There is not some story he gave us that I had to remove. And we never asked him what soundtracks were coming out soon since he would not have been able to tell us anyway.)
 
I thought about actually releasing the interview in two parts, but I did not feel there was an obvious break to do so. Everything just flowed from one topic to another. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday! I am glad the reaction is positive!
 
And thank you for the kind words about Ron and me as interviewers. Happily, we mostly just asked a few decent questions and let Mike take it from there.
 
The source of the TLC tracks is from something I found at a fan show (it might actually have been the big annual Star Trek show that used to be in Pasadena - maybe this was 2000 or thereabouts). The title is "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Complete Film Collection." This is noisy but not bad overall. I left the noise in both due to time and just not wanting to fuss with it. I also have the "vol 2" bootleg as well that is pretty hard to listen to. I think that is the one which originated from the Spain tracks? Not sure where this "Complete" one is sourced from.
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

So glad this played well for you (and thanks for listening to the rest). We knew we wanted to bring in Mike's thoughts on Indy 5, and we discussed how best to fit that in. Our initial thinking was to record the piece and then drop it into the original interview. But after I had gone through the material, there was not a clean, natural way to do this and keep the integrity of the discussion. Then we debated where to put the coda, and Mike and Ron both agreed to do what we did vs putting it after all of the music because we know not everyone listens to that far. (I was actually going to play all 11 minutes of the Young Indy music from Cairo all the way through the Pyramids which would have added 5 more mins.) In the end, we went for the podcast scherzo which I think worked out.
 
After over 10 years of podcasting this interview stands out to me as the best. We've had Anne Sophie-Mutter, Keith Lockhart, Gloria Cheng, Tom Hooton and a few others. But this was the most conversational of them all thanks to Mike's openness and deep thinking. 
 
Also, as Falco said, we always play those two cues from ToD for our "Club Obi Wan" segments. The difference is that when they are the main show, they are from the film's track and include the club noises. When I put them in the JW Specials, despite the crowd noise makes sense for the fiction of the club, I just use the unreleased material as I like it better!
 
We'll definitely try to get Mike back on in a few months. 
 

I have tried for years to encourage this to happen. I know Joel McNeely would like to see them come out too. I would be willing to contribute money to the project. Alas, once the acquisition happened, momentum dried up. I am hopeful that Lucasfilm/Disney will move forward in line with Indy 5 and get these out. Beyond the 4 official releases, there are a few more score pieces floating around - but there is so much more. I cannot believe I did not keep a copy of everything when I was working on this stuff. Never occurred to me - but heck I was 25, so what did I know? 
 
And I agree - Mike liking/loving these shows is a big plus! There is hope!

I have tried for years to encourage this to happen. I know Joel McNeely would like to see them come out too. I would be willing to contribute money to the project. Alas, once the acquisition happened, momentum dried up. I am hopeful that Lucasfilm/Disney will move forward in line with Indy 5 and get these out. Beyond the 4 official releases, there are a few more score pieces floating around - but there is so much more. I cannot believe I did not keep a copy of everything when I was working on this stuff. Never occurred to me - but heck I was 25, so what did I know? 
 
And I agree - Mike liking/loving these shows is a big plus! There is hope!

Mike was incredibly generous with his time and stories, and he was kind enough to listen to my first edit pass to ensure we had everything as he liked it. As you can expect, he gave good notes to ensure the most intelligibility and clarity. (Nothing was lost in some big cut! There is not some story he gave us that I had to remove. And we never asked him what soundtracks were coming out soon since he would not have been able to tell us anyway.)
 
I thought about actually releasing the interview in two parts, but I did not feel there was an obvious break to do so. Everything just flowed from one topic to another. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday! I am glad the reaction is positive!
 
And thank you for the kind words about Ron and me as interviewers. Happily, we mostly just asked a few decent questions and let Mike take it from there.
 
The source of the TLC tracks is from something I found at a fan show (it might actually have been the big annual Star Trek show that used to be in Pasadena - maybe this was 2000 or thereabouts). The title is "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Complete Film Collection." This is noisy but not bad overall. I left the noise in both due to time and just not wanting to fuss with it. I also have the "vol 2" bootleg as well that is pretty hard to listen to. I think that is the one which originated from the Spain tracks? Not sure where this "Complete" one is sourced from.
 

I have tried for years to encourage this to happen. I know Joel McNeely would like to see them come out too. I would be willing to contribute money to the project. Alas, once the acquisition happened, momentum dried up. I am hopeful that Lucasfilm/Disney will move forward in line with Indy 5 and get these out. Beyond the 4 official releases, there are a few more score pieces floating around - but there is so much more. I cannot believe I did not keep a copy of everything when I was working on this stuff. Never occurred to me - but heck I was 25, so what did I know? 
 
And I agree - Mike liking/loving these shows is a big plus! There is hope!

Mike was incredibly generous with his time and stories, and he was kind enough to listen to my first edit pass to ensure we had everything as he liked it. As you can expect, he gave good notes to ensure the most intelligibility and clarity. (Nothing was lost in some big cut! There is not some story he gave us that I had to remove. And we never asked him what soundtracks were coming out soon since he would not have been able to tell us anyway.)
 
I thought about actually releasing the interview in two parts, but I did not feel there was an obvious break to do so. Everything just flowed from one topic to another. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday! I am glad the reaction is positive!
 
And thank you for the kind words about Ron and me as interviewers. Happily, we mostly just asked a few decent questions and let Mike take it from there.
 
The source of the TLC tracks is from something I found at a fan show (it might actually have been the big annual Star Trek show that used to be in Pasadena - maybe this was 2000 or thereabouts). The title is "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Complete Film Collection." This is noisy but not bad overall. I left the noise in both due to time and just not wanting to fuss with it. I also have the "vol 2" bootleg as well that is pretty hard to listen to. I think that is the one which originated from the Spain tracks? Not sure where this "Complete" one is sourced from.
 

Mike was incredibly generous with his time and stories, and he was kind enough to listen to my first edit pass to ensure we had everything as he liked it. As you can expect, he gave good notes to ensure the most intelligibility and clarity. (Nothing was lost in some big cut! There is not some story he gave us that I had to remove. And we never asked him what soundtracks were coming out soon since he would not have been able to tell us anyway.)
 
I thought about actually releasing the interview in two parts, but I did not feel there was an obvious break to do so. Everything just flowed from one topic to another. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday! I am glad the reaction is positive!
 
And thank you for the kind words about Ron and me as interviewers. Happily, we mostly just asked a few decent questions and let Mike take it from there.
 
The source of the TLC tracks is from something I found at a fan show (it might actually have been the big annual Star Trek show that used to be in Pasadena - maybe this was 2000 or thereabouts). The title is "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Complete Film Collection." This is noisy but not bad overall. I left the noise in both due to time and just not wanting to fuss with it. I also have the "vol 2" bootleg as well that is pretty hard to listen to. I think that is the one which originated from the Spain tracks? Not sure where this "Complete" one is sourced from.