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Posted: |
Jul 21, 2016 - 4:48 PM
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By: |
TJ
(Member)
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As someone who cares deeply about composers and their lives, it is NEVER okay to show up to their house uninvited, film that encounter and then post it online.
Every part of that is a disrespectful, and potentially dangerous, invasion of their privacy.
Motives don't make it alright. Living in the neighborhood doesn't make it alright. Having the outcome of one particular encounter appear to having been handled graciously doesn't make it alright.
Celebrities, including composers, are people first.
Their homes are off limits. ALWAYS.
--Richard Kraft
This has to be the most hypocritical comment I have read on this forum. How many times have you mentioned the story about how you looked up composers home phone numbers in the phone book, called them up, and had your parents drop you and your brother off at their house!?!? Would you even be in your career if you didn't intrude on famous people's lives in your childhood?
BUT Richard and his brother got PERMISSION from the composer to stop by. They didn't just show up and say, "remember me we talked on the phone last week."
So he was fortunate? He still looked somebody up who he didn't know in a phone book and called them up in their home.
Calling someone on the phone back in the day and going to someone's house, filming it and then putting it online for millions to view are different things. Sorry, but it's true.
You're assuming that it was distributed online without permission. There's no reason to assume that.
It's actually not all that different. It's just another case of people in the world not recognizing the privilege that they have had while simultaneously putting down others with similar-ish experiences.
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Appreciate people offering their various points of view on this.
In the past there was no internet, no composer websites, no emails. Mail and phone were basically the two forms of communication.
Back then people had the option of having their phone number published in the phone book/directory information or for that info to be private and unlisted.
Back then, those who chose public numbers had an expectation of receiving some calls from people they did not know. In those days many people had answering machines. They frequently used those to screen their calls.
It was in that context I called Poledouris to leave him a message saying that I was a fan of his work and would love to discuss it with him. That left him the option of ignoring it, picking up or calling back if he wished.
Fortunately for me, Poledouris not only replied, but ended up inviting me to his home for dinner. That was the start of an amazing relationship.
If memory serves me correctly, I believe I wrote a fan letter to Elmer Bernstein at the business address of his Film Music Collection. He got back and we struck up a conversation which led to an invite from him to visit his home... and the start of another great relationship.
Nowadays, there are many more paths for fans to reach out to composers including email, Facebook, Twitter, messaging via their websites and seeing them at the increased number of public events like concerts, panels and conventions.
Never in the past or in current times is going to a composer's home uninvited automatically acceptable.
While there may be some composers who might welcome that, a number of them, because of this video, have told me they are extremely worried about "fans", who might not be as seemingly benign as these, showing up at their homes uninvited.
Social media and societal attitudes towards celebrities has created a heightened sense of concern for celebrities and their privacy and security.
Many composers, and not just the ultra-famous ones, have had troubling encounters with "fans." Some have escalated to the need for legal actions.
There is also a general increase in "fan" interactions with celebrities that have lead to stalking, threats and even deaths.
Very few of us have "fans." We do not know the many facets of what that entails. Being concerned about privacy and safety are among the issues.
Composers are people.
Many of those people are very sensitive to their privacy and security, especially those with children.
Since there is no blanket assumption about how all composers would feel about fans coming to their homes uninvited, the simple, reasonable and respectful answer is to ASK THEM FIRST.
Why would anyone, especially a fan of film music, want to ever risk making the very people they admire feel uncomfortable or unsafe?
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What do you guys like more, On John Williams' Front Lawn, On the Waterfront, or On Golden Pond? Discuss.
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Do you think Goldsmith (either one!) wouldve been this charitable?
Jerry hated score fans, so you are probably right.
I cannot support this one bit. JG himself spied me listening in on a mixing session, and immediately INVITED ME IN.
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TJ please read Richard Kraft's comment so it can set the record straight. What he did is WAY different than what these people did recently to Williams. GETTING permission first to come is one thing, then just showing up. I do hope you have enough common sense to actually see this logic as it's really quite simple.
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For goodness' sake, is anyone here going to emulate this? Unlikely.
So why all the fuss? Whilst courtesy and security are paramount, the bottom line is, they did it, they got away with it, and maybe Williams even liked the surprise. Risks get things done.
Is there anything more toady and off-putting than:
'Oh, Mr. Williams, I'm not like those bad, bad boys who transgress on your privacy. I would never do that. You can be sure I don't approve. I'm sure you and I are two of a kind, Mr. Williams, we understand this agony of creating, not like those cheeky boys. If only we could meet, I'm sure we'd get on. Not like those plebeian upstarts who play instruments and think they can know you. I'm sure you could rely on me if you ever wanted to release some rare soundtrack, not like those other nasty labels. Can I hold your baton for you, Mr. Williams?'
Williams has a long history of being supportive and educative of youth and musicians and generally getting them involved. He probably rates more highly those young folk who are actually learning and playing music or even composing than people who, LET'S FACE IT .... are out to make a buck off old scores. If JW wants to release a score he will, he can, nobody will stop him, and he'll know how to make money from it. He doesn't need any of us. His love is MUSIC, and he cares about that. If he was angry he'd complain. He didn't.
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Just look at all the celebrities he's harassed! Frank Sinatra! Dionne Warwick! Henry Mancini! William Blake!
Will it never end???
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I hate it when people I don't know knock on my door, and it happens pretty often in the summer time. I'm free to ignore them, though I usually don't. ("Buy this!" "Vote for that!") I felt John Williams was free to ignore these guys, but he chose to come out and say hello to them. Video recording it and then posting it on YouTube was crass and narcissistic, but that's pretty much the definition of the culture we live in today.
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In fact, in the last photo in the link above he's wearing the same blue shirt that he's wearing in the Williams' front lawn video."
That's his calling card. He's known as the Blue Bandit.
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I don't see what all the fuss is about.If it was where I live they would have been more likely to push some dog shit through the letter box than play a trumpet!
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). So if I wanted to impress Mr. Williams I'd have to find another way that wouldn't be intrusive to his privacy but would also stand a chance of success. It certainly wouldn't be by making noise outside his house. 
