Just launched the website for A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project. The brainchild of composer Christopher Lennertz, the idea was to take 25 film composers and create a symphonic work based on a traditional Haitian melody. Proceeds from sales of the resulting album will be sent to the Hands Together charity to benefit Haitian earthquake victims. I built the site with a WordPress framework, and heavily modified a pre-existing template. The biggest challenge on the site was to connect …
Heading to the Airport
I got up at 6:30am, cleaned up, packed, and headed down to breakfast at 7am. It was pretty quiet in the hotel, but Randy Edelman showed up (apparently he had a flight near the time I did as well) so we chatted a bit over coffee before I headed to my taxi to the airport. It was an uneventful ride; I checked in with Aer Lingus around 8:15am, and then was at my gate by 8:50am, with just under two …
Symphonic Concert of Film Music
The concert – as most things in Ubeda – started late, around 9:40pm. Giacchino kicked things off (literally) by giving the mayor of the city a soccer ball autographed by all the composers, and then tossing two more into the crowd to the fans. He played music from The Family Stone, Lost, Medal of Honor, and Up. He was followed by Lennertz, who played music from Medal of Honor: European Assault, The Comebacks, Warhammer, and Meet the Spartans. Spanish composer/conductor …
Orchestra Rehearsal and Lunch
I slept in a bit, and then after a late breakfast headed to the Hospital to check out the symphony rehearsal for the evening’s concert. Watching Grusin play On Golden Pond was great, as well as the Spartacus suite. There were a few tense moments, like when the percussionist didn’t have the right sheet music during Randy Edelman’s segment, and apparently the musician’s union representatives were very unhappy about the lack of breaks. But still, everyone got a shot at …
Recital of Film and Non-Film Music
The evening’s concert was different than one I had seen before in Ubeda three years ago. Back then, it was a very long symphonic concert all on one night; this time they had a smaller “recital” where the guest artists would perform their own music on stage, themselves, or backed with a small group. Vocalist/pianist Lisbeth Scott sang two Alex North songs, and then a song from Munich, which she provided vocals on in the original score. Randy Edelman played …
True Blood in Concert
After a brief rest post-lunch, and after the Jerry Goldsmith Awards presentation (to up-and-coming composers who submitted their material to be voted on), we walked to the main hotel for the composers, Las Casas del Consul. There we all relaxed for a bit, had a drink, and then eventually it was time to head out for the True Blood concert, with Nathan Barr and Lisbeth Scott performing. The concert was held in a beautiful newly restored courtyard of some old …
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
1999’s The Mummy revitalized an old Universal franchise, and brought us the swashbuckling adventures of Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and the bookish Evie Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) as they battle the resurrected corpse of cursed Egyptian priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). They did it twice – the second time in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, this time taking place twelve years later (1933), with their son Alex (Freddie Boath) joining in the adventure. Now the O’Connells return yet again in The Mummy: Tomb …
xXx
Today I went to go see xXx with Messrob. What an incredibly silly film. It constantly approaches the line of “absurdity”, and crosses it. I had a blast, certainly, but it wasn’t as good as The Fast and the Furious. I also felt, at times, like this was one of the best James Bond satires since Austin Powers. Still, the stunts were cool to watch, even if they were loosely tied together with a rudimentary Bond-esque plot. Musically, Randy Edelman …