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Author
Topic: Meeting Goldsmith and the Dandys
Lorien
Oscar® Winner
Hello, everyone.Very few here know, or have heard of me. I posted to the original FSM board long, long ago before it was transformed into one like this one in January of 1999. My computer then forbade me participation, so I disappeared until a brief time last August. Name’s David, and I‘m from Indiana. I had the delight of seeing Mr. Goldsmith after each of his Detroit performances. I‘m glad to read some of these accounts, because after Thursday my friend and I held back to the end of the lines that would form (since we had seen him already), and we missed some of these exchanges. (Once we realized this we started staying up front, so we could hear/share them after meeting him ourselves)
Thursday morning my friend Mike and I spent some time scouting out our seats for the various performances. See, we‘ve been listening to Goldsmith since we were about 9 years old, with ST:TMP bringing us in (though Mike has earlier memories), and when I found out about the Detroit concerts, so close to home, and me with a relative in Michigan, it just made sense to see all of the performances - to cement the memory of the experiences firmly in mind. It‘s a once in a lifetime thing, you know. Well, the usher (ALL of whom were pleasant, accommodating, all good) who helped us marveled that we would see all of these shows, and were fans from such an early age, and arranged to get us back to see Mr. Goldsmith after the performance, an unexpected perk to the whole thing.
Another perk was that midway through the morning performance we were invited to move from our box seats which were far from the stage to join a very nice couple in their box seats which were quite close. We were to Mr. Goldsmith‘s left, about 30 feet away from him, with a perfect view of him as he conducted.
After the performance we went around to the stage exit to meet him, but we heard over the radios that he had a 1:00 engagement. It was 12:55. This would be brief. He emerged, and we approached. I, never at a loss for words, was at a loss for words. We greeted him with the standard fan greetings, “big fans, love your work” etc. “We‘ve been listening to you since we were nine.” He said, “Ah, you‘re the 9 year old.” He was gracious, and took our stacks of CD covers (we‘d planned on each asking if he might sign one for us, but neither of us could decide which, so we brought a few - and he took them ALL!) He signed about 4 or 5 of Mike‘s, then took mine. I said “These are my personal favorites of your work.” He said, “Oh, really!” and flipped through them, signing as he did. I had MASADA, ST:TMP, POLTERGEIST, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM and then he got to EXPLORERS and he stopped, “Explorers?! That‘s a good one!” I agreed. There wasn‘t much to the morning exchange because he really was in a hurry, but I must say that he didn‘t *act* like he was, or like it was a bother to meet us, and it was neat to see him muse about the various favorites.
Thursday night we went back again, and then after a while a couple showed up. They asked, “Are you the guys from Indiana?” which surprised us. They‘d been instructed to follow us by whomever they’d asked about meeting Mr. Goldsmith. We directed them to preceed us, and the fellow, after asking for an autograph, proceeded to request that Mr. Goldsmith do his outgoing message on his voicemail. You can read the account on FSM. I marvelled at it, and kept saying, “That‘s such a weird thing (his words, initially) to ask!” but what I was looking for was the word “BOLD”, which it was. And Mr. Goldsmith did it, which has got to be cool for the guy!
After they left, Mr. Goldsmith lit a cigarrette and seemed to just be enjoying the fresh air, so my friend Mike, much more comfortable and personable than I was, started chatting. He told him how, as a young kid, he‘d been excited by the opening credits to CAPRICORN ONE. Mr. Goldsmith said, “The best movie Peter Hyams ever made.” Mike laughed, then told him about seeing a movie at a drive-in where the first feature was DAMNATION ALLEY. Mr. Goldsmith laughed, “THERE‘s a bad tv movie! That was an awful movie, just awful!” Then we read (or misread I think, with hindsight) his desire to just smoke in peace, so we excused ourselves and headed home.
Friday night was my night to meet Shaun Rutherford, who I‘d heretofore only spoken with via email, and who mistakenly thinks that I am the more generous of the two of us. We‘d exchanged emails about that night, and where we would be sitting, but I have no printer, and left the paper on which I‘d written his seat #s. I assumed that I could find him easily by just looking for the only person under the age of 50 on the main floor, but that night the dominance of the retirement crowd was under challenge, and I could not pick him out so easily. After the show, Mike and I went to the back door again, and this time there were many people already there. We stayed back, keeping at the end of the line this time. He had more CDs, and I had program inserts listing the shows and times and such. As it was cold, we were asked to form a line and meet Mr. Goldsmith inside.
By this time, Mike and I had discussed all of these questions we wanted to pose, “What was your second oscar, besides OMEN” (he mentioned having been nominated X # of times, and having lost 2 less, so frequently and differently throughout the shows that I doubted that he was mistaken, and I assume he must now have 2 statues, but I don‘t know the other) “Which came first, the visuals of the music for the opening of VOYAGER” . . . things like that. Well, I never got even one question out, but Mike did. In what would be his favorite moment of the whole weekend,
Mike asked “You know in the VOYAGER theme, in the middle -“
Mr. Goldsmith smiles “Where it swells up?”
Mike “Yes!”
Mr. Goldsmith “Remind you of something?”
Mike “It reminds me of Ilea‘s Theme!”
Mr. Goldsmith smiled and nodded, eyes closed.
Mike “Was that on purpose?”
Mr. Goldsmith “Oh yes!”Then, as Mike and I went out to the gathered crowd, some guy called out quite loudly “Hey, anyone heard the FIRST KNIGHT 2CD bootleg? It’s great!” Everyone said no, and denied knowledge of its existence, then I blurted out “Anyone here named Shaun?” Shaun‘s friend Tony said “Yes! He‘s Shaun.” And I finally met the fine Mr. Rutherford. “Are you David? I‘ve been looking for you! I‘ve asked all of these people ‘Are you David?‘ “ So we met, and he had an entourage with him. Very pleasant, amiable fellow Shaun is, and his acquaintances seemed so as well, but I didn‘t find out until most of them were in their van who they were. Shaun introduced a gentleman as Howard L, and I gasped, “Liverance?!”
He said “yes, who are you?”
I said “I‘m W. David Lichty and I-“
and he said “Oh, yes! We‘ve talked before!” and 1776 was mentioned, it was wonderful! Shaun introduced Wedge and H. Rocco, who I‘ve seen on the boards but not met (even online) as well as Mark, who was wholly new to me. What a nice buch of chaps!Saturday night Mike and I dashed to the back so that we could witness the exchanges a bit more, and suddenly Mike said ”They‘re taking the hill!” as Mark, Howard and H. Rocco ascended and approached. They all waved amiably, and we greeted one another. I don‘t remember the Goldsmith moments as well as I do Mike and Mark talking about our first Goldsmith scores on the way in. Mr. Goldsmith did remark on my handing him FIERCE CREATURES to sign. You know, I‘m kind of with Howard on the whole autographing thing (and tried to ask Howard about it on Sunday, but he seemed very focused). I‘m not into it enough to justify my going back again and again with more CD covers as I did, but I kept finding myself not saying so much, due a little to starstruckedness, but more to feeling in the way of others - so I took things if only to give myself a pause in the line in case I might actually speak. Plus, I really liked seeing him pick through the scores, being selective and commenting on the different ones.
So FIERCE CREATURES. He looked at it and said, “Oh, I‘m so glad somebody bought this.”
I said, “Are you kidding? This is great! You haven‘t done anything else that sounds like this either, that I know of.”
And he said, “Well, I really like it.”
I said, “I hear you wrote 10 extra minutes for the CD, thanks!”
He said “Thanks? I had to, they wanted a CD, I had no choice.” He wasn‘t at all irritated about it, but was being jovial. He also remarked on my Japanese IN LIKE FLINT/OUR MAN FLINT disc, which I‘d just found that day, never having located a U.S. Varese one. It‘s packaged quite differently, in cardboard, all white and it unfolds. Very swanky. He thought it was a bootleg until I mentioned Nick Redman‘s name.Then as we headed out, some Detroit folks came in with programs, just marvelling at the music they‘d just heard as it was so different from what they usually heard there. They said with city pride “We just have the best orchestra in the world.” I interjected, “You know, they‘re handling this music wonderfully.” Mr. Goldsmith turned and looked me right in the eye with a thoughtful look on his face and said, “Yes, they are, aren‘t they?” I said “Yes, some of the pieces are just spot on.” And he said “I agree, they‘re really quite good here.” Which the Detroit ladies loved.
Sunday Mike and I searched out the three guys in the auditorium, and finally found them in their excellent balcony seats. Gentlemen, I was told that day many times that the Dress Circle, from which you were not at all far, was the most acoustically perfect place from which to hear the orchestra. It sounded great to me! After the performance, again, out we went. This time there was a veritable crowd of fans and regular symphony-goers, and we knew that Mr. Goldsmith was going to be in a big hurry. Mark had his “James” sign, and Howard had “something” rolled up in his hand. Everyone got the briefest of times with the composer on Sunday, as he really was in a rush. James got to experience Mr. Goldsmith being delighted at the choice of CDs to autograph. It really is nice, isn‘t it? Howard gave Mr. Goldsmith something, and I still wonder what it was, though many here appear to know. Mr. Goldsmith was driven away, waving, and many departed.
Mike and I needed to leave, a 5 hour drive home, and he wanted to see his children, but we overheard Mark and James talking about dinner. I almost had Mike talked into us inviting ourselves along, which I had no doubt would have been welcome given the demeanor of these nice fellows, but then we heard Mark trying to describe to James how exactly to get to the place. Not to disparage Mark at all, but Mike and I didn‘t have a single day of good driving, with roads closing almost behind us each day, and on Saturday me blowing a tire that I had to change after the performance. We instead said our parting greetings and headed off.
Now I‘ve read the DETROIT DANDY‘S thread, and everybody seems to have thought everyone else wonderful, so now I wish we had just gone ahead and crashed the dinner.
This was inordinately long for a new fellow, but I wanted to share it, since people seem to enjoy reading of the backstage goings on, as I did. I will be gone immediately to the fair city of Boston, near Fenway, training employees at a new General Cinema theater (so I cannot reply to anything for a few weeks), and I did not want to allow time to steal the details. The guys I met seemed like good chaps. You ALL seem like quite nice folks, and I look forward to future chats and such.
posted 06-10-2000 11:10 PM PT (US) dantoris
Oscar® Winner
ARGH!!I knew I would be missing out on such a wonderful experience! I wanted to go sooooooooooooooo bad, but Detroit is very far from me, and travel money/hotel expenses is another matter.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Jerry, PLEASE come to San Francisco!!
posted 06-11-2000 12:17 AM PT (US) Howard L
Oscar® Winner
Well "Lorien", you beat me to the punch. Was going to save our surprise encounter for some upcoming posts (Rocco, start serializing the review, I'm ready to play Ebert to your Siskel) but it'll be hard to top your account, that's for sure! Oh, and if you were wondering who it was that let out the West Side Story "Jets whistle" in the garage...TILTAnyway, remember Mr. G waxing giddy over his 3 "acting" stints? The papers he received contained a '4th', so to speak. It was a play both he and a deceased film score aficionado of the highest repute greatly inspired, albeit unwittingly. If you'd like a hard copy, feel free to email the author via 'willardknight@yahoo.com' and as I mentioned to dantoris, "tell 'em Large Marge sent'cha."
BTW, our chance meeting that Friday night in the garage helped make my weekend just that much more surreal. And neat! You'll understand why if you read the play. Again, great meeting you & Mike, W. And stick to public transportation in Boston if you know what's good for ya.
posted 06-11-2000 05:10 PM PT (US) Howard L
Oscar® Winner
Oh, sorry:About the autograph thing, I was big on it myself when it came to sports figures. Later on my coaching days helped make contacts in the baseball world with plenty of Major League ballplayers and other notables. I grew to enjoy a good hearty handshake and the intimacy of surprise conversation and as such the thrill of getting an autograph just went by the wayside. Doesn't mean the giddiness that James alluded to goes away completely. About 15 years ago I was at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL and almost gasped when Roy Campanella came tooling by in his motorized wheelchair. And later my knees almost buckled when I turned to my left and discovered that I was literally standing next to Sandy Koufax.
This doesn't mean that I can't still appreciate what real autographs are about. The sight, again, of everyone else with their CDs and pens with different-colored inks and all the excitement before and after is one of my favorite lasting images of the whole weekend.
posted 06-11-2000 05:32 PM PT (US) Shaun Rutherford
Oscar® Winner
HEY W!!!!!!
I was off the net for a while, and didn't even know you had signed onto the board until Howard's latest "Templeton" thread (you'll learn to love them, my friend) mentioned your screen name! I'm glad that I got to meetcha, man! It was a great experience for one and all.Email me, man!
Shaunposted 06-23-2000 03:35 PM PT (US) Marian Schedenig
Oscar® Winner
Speaking of Goldsmith... Did I miss it, or are we still all waiting for his H'ness' report?NP: Jaws Expanded
posted 06-24-2000 07:41 AM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB