The FSM Shipping News
by Lukas Kendall
Hello, everyone!
Isn't Scott Bettencourt doing a great job with the daily columns? Let's
all give Scott a big hand. And Jon Kaplan too, who has been editing the
reviews that appear online for at least a year now. Wow!
A few people (very few) commented that they missed my presence. I cannot
help but be touched. But I am still so very tired from doing the web column
virtually every day since May 1997 that I am happy to turn things over
to Scott and Jon for now.
Still, I'm never too tired that I cannot push our merchandise!
A few items, then, to bring you:
The Turner Film Library
A few people have jumped to the conclusion that because we have begun
licensing albums from Turner (which includes the pre-1987 MGM film library)
that somehow Rhino is dropping the ball on the catalog. That could not
be more wrong!
Rhino is in fact stepping UP their production from the MGM library and
view FSM as an additional outlet to make their titles available with the
best possible tender loving care. In general, fans should expect Rhino
to be releasing a full slate of movie musicals and selected high-profile
dramatic scores (both through their retail line and their special, limited
edition Rhino Handmade line), while FSM will be releasing a number of previously
unreleased, first-rate dramatic scores from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Check
out www.rhino.com and www.rhinohandmade.com.
I want to take this opportunity to thank George Feltenstein at Turner.
George is the executive who has been with the MGM film library since it
was still a part of the MGM film company and has overseen its restoration
from the vaults, producing dozens of top-notch albums for Rhino. He loves
this material and has been a dream to work with. I am greatly impressed
with the organization and the high quality of preservation that has been
undertaken with the MGM catalog and I am positive George is responsible
in a very big way.
I also want to thank the hard-working personnel at the AOL Time Warner
behemoth, from the Warner Bros. legal department to the Turner legal department
to the Rhino production staff. It goes to show that it does not matter
how large or small a company is, as long as they have people who care about
what they are doing and go about it in smart ways.
So stay tuned for more terrific albums!
Two Horrible Weeks of Waiting
Thankfully it's now over, but a few people were beginning to fret, and
understandably so, that we took some two weeks to ship out orders for the
new CDs, Logan's
Run and Lust
for Life. The explanation is simple: we did not have the CDs until
last week, and were not exactly sure when they would be arriving. This
was our first time manufacturing with Rhino, and it just took a little
bit longer than usual to follow procedure, as we had to learn it. We should
have let people know, but we were afraid that would have created an even
bigger ruckus. In the end, all's well that ends well, but we sincerely
apologize for keeping people waiting, and will take greater care in the
future to alert our dear customers of delays.
New Earle Hagen Book
We've cut down on a number of new film music books we carry (mainly
for logistics reasons), but Earle
Hagen's new memoirs was one we could not resist. It's a terrific read!
DO NOT be alarmed if the picture you see is of John Barry at the book's
web page -- we just need to update the graphic.
That's it!
Back to packing boxes!
Take care,
Lukas
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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