Hooray for Hollywood Concert
July 9, 2000
Joe Bob Appears with the Metropolitan Winds

[laughter from audience]

What? That's his name. Not Alfred E. Newman. This is not the "Mad Magazine Suite." Alfred Newman the composer. I'm gonna have to watch you people, I can already tell. Alfred Newman was nominated for 33 Oscars, and he won nine Oscars. And the reason we're showing "Airport," to continue the thought I had before you people got the giggles, is that, at the end of the movie, the airplane lands in a field and does NOT explode, even though Dean Martin was the pilot, and even though a crazy guy with a bomb got on and went in the restroom and blew out the side of the aircraft. And IF that happens, to you, tomorrow, on American Airlines, you WILL NOT die. We wanted to make that clear. Are you ready, Randy? The movie's called "Airport," so what's the music have to do? Kinda has to SOAR, doesn't it? Listen to this.

[Metropolitan Winds play "Airport": Main Title: Alfred Newman]

See, what did I tell you? They come in for a soft landing there at the end. Actually, Randy, you may know this. Even though Randy Newman--I mean Alfred Newman--Alfred Newman's son is Randy Newman--even though Alfred scored more than 200 films, including "Camelot," "The King and I," "All About Eve," "South Pacific," "How the West Was Won," there's one piece of his that has been performed more times than any film composition in history. Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, you do?

[Metropolitan Winds play "Twentieth Century-Fox Theme": Alfred Newman]

You DID know. Is that famous music or what? Did you know he didn't even get paid for that? He was on the staff at Twentieth Century-Fox when he wrote that.

Welcome to the Metropolitan Winds. You know, we don't have a full house tonight, so we're going to do something special. Every member of the audience will get a hug from a member of the symphony. So come on down to the front now, but be careful with the bassoon guy. We don't wanna get any eyes poked out. This is the Metropolitan Winds. If you've never seen one of their concerts before, you'll notice there are no strings in the orchestra. Why is that? Because we don't like them. They think they're soooooo cool with their violins and violas and whatnot and they're too SPECIAL to ever stick their instrument in their MOUTH, like God intended. So the Metropolitan Winds are a REAL band. They first got together in Coppell in 1993. Do you know how many great artistic movements have begun in Coppell? Well. Anyway, somebody said they could use the band hall at the high school, but they neglected to give em the key, so they played in the hallway outside the band hall. That was their first rehearsal. Then they did that famous concert that made em what they are today. You know the one. There's the Benny Goodman concert, 1936, at Carnegie Hall. And then there's the Metropolitan Winds, 1993, at Pig Fest. That was their first public appearance, and they've never looked back. But, like I say, they're brass and woodwinds and percussion only. Just think of it as what a really outstanding high school band would sound like if everybody had to repeat the 12th grade their entire lives. In fact, I think about half of em are band directors and music teachers. But anyway, they love movies. And this next piece is composed by the man considered the FIRST great film composer, the guy who invented the language used by all later film composers, and his name was Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and he was a child prodigy in Vienna, one of those guys who wrote a piano sonata when he was 11--I bet he wore knee pants, don't you?--and Mahler called him a genius, and Richard Strauss said he was shocked that he was so good, and he wrote a famous opera at age 23, "The Dead City," and then this little thing called Hitler happened and he had to come to America with his family and he ended up working for Warner Brothers writing the music for Errol Flynn swashbuckling swordsman epics. And he was NOT a happy camper. Even though he was nominated for four Oscars for film scores, and won two Oscars, he couldn't wait to get back to Austria and a serious classical music career, so when the war was over, he wrote a violin concerto that was performed by Heifetz.  And because his name was Korngold, the critic said he was "more corn than gold," and everyone remembered that phrase, and all the critics in American and Europe said he was a big ole romantic sap who should go back to the movies where he belonged. And so he died in 1957 without ever getting his career or his reputation back. A broken man. Isn't that depressing? No, it's not! That's why WE are here. To make him popular again, by playing his last score for a historical epic, the last of his swashbuckling movies, "The Sea Hawk," 1940, starring Erroll Flynn, Brenda Marshall, and Dame Flora Robson. It's the most famous score he ever wrote.

[Metropolitan Winds play "The Sea Hawk": Suite: Erich Korngold]

Okay, if you remember "Bride of Frankenstein," then you probably remember it all took place basically on one set, which was this dark dank castle, in a style called German Expressionism, which is where you make everybody look pasty-faced, and it's real talky, and you wait the WHOLE movie to see em CREATE the bride. As a result, the most memorable part of the whole movie is the music, which was the very first original score by a very famous guy named Franz Waxman.  

[VOICE FROM ORCHESTRA: "Franz Waxman!"]

Oh, sorry, I was using the Texas pronunciation. "Franz Waxman." You know, nobody likes a surly bass clarinet. So Franz was a German guy who ALSO came over here in the thirties--these Austrians, Germans, Hungarians were just flooding into Hollywood--and he was a jazz piano player in Berlin who kinda fell into film composing and went on to score films like "Magnificent Obsession," "Diamond Jim," "Captains Courageous,"  "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "Rebecca," "Sayonara," "Peyton Place," and the two he's probably best known for are "Sunset Boulevard" and "A Place in the Sun." But we're going back to his beginnings, when he wrote what is the very FIRST full orchestral score for a horror film, and it was SO good that he was instantly given a permanent job as head of the Universal music department. The soundtrack to the movie became so popular that it was later used again in all the Flash Gordon serials starring Buster Crabbe.  Anyway, the most interesting sound effect they used in "Bride of Frankenstein" was created by a contraption known as--voila!--a theremin. See that strange-looking box with the antenna sticking up out of it? And we're very fortunate to have with us today Robert Froehner, of Grand Prairie--come on out, Robert. And Robert is one of the few theremin-playing doctors IN Grand Prairie, and he will manipulate radio waves with his hands in order to do the "scary theme" from the movie, which, to tell you the truth, sounds to me like "Bali Hai," which would make this "The Bride of Don Ho." But anyway, he's gonna manipulate two oscillating radio frequencies--I don't really understand it, even though Dr. Froehner explained it to me, but you'll notice he never actually touches the instrument. His hands move in the air, manipulating the radio frequencies. The best way I can explain it, it sorta works like an elaborate out-of-order TV set where you're trying to stand in just the right place to pick up the Cowboy game--and the result, as you'll see, starts out with some dank castle music, then some rats in the belfry kinda sounds, then something beautiful and terrible appears, and then it just gets more and more strange until The Bride of Don Ho . . . I mean, Frankenstein appears.

[Metropolitan Winds play "Bride of Frankenstein": Creation of the Female Monster: Franz Waxman, with guest soloist Robert Froehner]

Isn't that thing great? "Bali Hai," right? But you know who watched "Bride of Frankenstein"? Mel Brooks. And you know who rebuilt the set of "Bride of Frankenstein" in every detail? Mel Brooks. And then he hired John Morris to do a PARODY of the musical score from "Bride of Frankenstein" for his movie "Young
Frankenstein." And the result is in most ways more beautiful than the score it parodies. Unfortunately, we're going to have to allow a violinist onto the stage in order to show you this. So ... oh, Bruce, there you are. Come on out here, and bring Belinda.

Bruce Broughton, ladies and gentlemen, big shot film composer, star of the SECOND half of our show. We'll talk about Bruce later. But Bruce brought our guest violinist. Belinda Broughton happens to be married to Bruce. Belinda has been recording film scores for most of her career. Can currently be heard on the
soundtrack of "The Perfect Storm." Besides appearing with the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic--she's a New Zealander, but spent much of her life in London--she has performed the scores on "Star Wars," "Tombstone," and she was in the studio orchestra for "Young Sherlock Holmes," which Bruce conducted back in 1985. And Bruce noticed her in that orchestra, but it took him eleven years to actually marry her. So DUH.  Bruce! And now the two of them will work together for us, in what is the first public performance by a band of John Morris's beautiful main title theme for Mel Brooks' version of the story of Frankenstein.

[VOICE FROM ORCHESTRA: "Fronkenshteen!"]

What are you saying now?

[ENTIRE ORCHESTRA: "Fronkenshteen!"]

Actually, if you've seen the movie, you know they're right.  The movie is actually called "Young Fronkenshteen."

[Metropolitan Winds, conducted by Bruce Broughton, plays "Young Frankenstein": Main Title: John Morris, with guest soloist Belinda Broughton]

Wasn't that beautiful? Bruce will be back later. Bernard Herrmann is best known as the master of tension and nervousness, the composer who created the score for "Psycho"--he did those frenzied violins--and many other Hitchcock films, and Orson
Welles' famous radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds," and "The Day the Earth Stood Still," but to his fellow composers he was known as the conductor of the CBS Symphony from 1938 to 1959 and, incidentally, NOT a very nice guy. For example, one time he stopped the CBS orchestra during a rehearsal and singled out one of the players and said "Who told you you could play the clarinet?" And the clarinet player snapped back at him "Who told you you could conduct?" Which wouldn't be THAT interesting a story, except that the clarinet player was Benny Goodman.  Herewith, one of Bernard Herrmann's finer nervous moments, from the Hitchcock classic "North By Northwest."

[Metropolitan Winds play "North By Northwest": Main Title: Bernard Herrmann]

Mel Brooks ALSO watched "North By Northwest," and when he got around to doing his parody of all Hitchcock films, "High Anxiety," he once again called on his friend John Morris to compose the score, and Morris chose the "North By Northwest" theme for his parody. It was Mel's idea, however, to add a theremin. Not just in the theme, but throughout the movie. And to show us just how funny that can be in a movie about psychoanalysis, Dr. Froehner, the Grand Prairie thereminist physician, will now be rejoining us. Come on out, doctor. And please pay special attention to the big theremin finale, in the world premiere of the main title theme from "High Anxiety." This is the first time it's been played since it was recorded in the studio for the movie. Oh, almost forgot. This is associate conductor Kevin Kasper, who will be conducting because Randy has to play piano.

[Metropolitan Winds play "High Anxiety": Main Title: John Morris, with guest soloist Robert Froehner]

That thing just cracks me up. Wasn't that great? When I asked Bruce Broughton who his favorite film composer is, he said, without hesitation, Jerry Goldsmith. Jerry Goldsmith has scored over 200 films and is still going. Just recently he scored "The Haunting" and last summer "The Mummy." He has 17 Oscar nominations and one Oscar--for "The Omen." Among MY friends he's best known for his score to "Planet of the Apes," where he used every weird sound in the book, including having members of the orchestra play their horns without the mouthpieces. His first film was "Lonely Are the Brave," and two others of my favorites, if you get a chance to listen to them, are "Chinatown" and "Rudy." At any rate, we've elected to play his score from "The Wind and the Lion." Now. Unfortunately, some of the greatest of  all film scores have been written for some of the worst of all movies. You probably don't remember "The Wind and the Lion." It was "Lawrence of Arabia without Peter O'Toole and without a script." As often happens, they try to cover up the lack of real movie with exciting music. So sometimes this can be an opportunity for a composer. This has been called "the most exciting film score ever" AND "the LOUDEST film score ever."  There's a main theme, a love theme, a lot of Moroccan horsey-horsey music, and you'll have no trouble noticing the extended battle scene, featuring a number of ethnic Moroccan instruments including something called a sword stick.  Actually, we couldn't FIND an authentic Moroccan sword stick--this sometimes happens when you play Jerry Goldsmith music--and so associate conductor Kevin Kasper left the building during a recent rehearsal, found a nearby construction site, and stole a piece of metal pipe that he will proudly perform on--could we see your pipe, Kevin? there it is-- and I understand we're also using an ice bell, antique cymbals and a fire bell--I don't know what all, but the percussionists have a big toy box full of crapola back there, so that we can bring you the full fury of Jerry Goldsmith's "The Wind and the Lion."

[Metropolitan Winds play "The Wind and the Lion": Suite: Jerry Goldsmith]

See that guy walking across the stage? That's a tenor saxophone. Look at that thing. Here's another one. The tenor saxophone is a huge honking beast of a musical instrument that looks like a cobra that's about to strike. I spent about six
years trying to play it. In fact, me and Tommy Withrow were the only two white guys in Little Rock, Arkansas, who could swing a tenor side-to-side, arch our backs, high-step, and pop the thing into our mouths right on the first downbeat. Which we learned from studying the sax section in the Grambling State University
band. If you missed by a half-beat OR a half-inch, the tenor sax would dig a two-inch scar in your face. That's why it was so macho. Anyway, it's been my experience that all band directors HATE the tenor sax. They like the little midget wimp ALTO sax.  Sorry, altos, but it's true. You know who plays an alto sax?
David Sanborn. I rest my case. There's even a worse one. Soprano sax. Kenny G! Get my point? The tenor sax was invented by some guy who wanted to make an instrument that was half brass, half woodwind, so it's a mutant! This ugly monster mutant that sounds like what a grizzly bear would wanna say musically. In your
average high school band, where you're playing Bach or Beethoven, the tenor is like a next-door neighbor working on his Monster Truck engine all day. I had one band director who forced us to stuff towels in the bells of the sax in order to muffle the sound. But there was ONE man who appreciated the tenor sax.  

[Metropolitan Winds begin the five-bar introduction]

One film composer, who liked to appear in a white dinner jacket, a man whose first film was for Abbott and Costello, who arranged for the Glenn Miller-Tex Beneke band and scored "The Glenn Miller Story," a man who wrote the music for "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "The Days of Wine and Roses," a man who composed over 500 works, 50 albums, won 20 Grammys, was nominated for 18 Oscars and won four, a man who wrote the greatest tribute to the big honking hulk of an instrument called the tenor sax ever composed--and I hope you guys will whale on it, okay?--the man who wrote one of the most beloved and recognizable film themes of all time.

[Metropolitan Winds play "The Pink Panther": Theme: Henry Mancini]

That was David Oakley on solo tenor sax. It's the policy of the Metropolitan Winds not to name individual soloists, but I did that one because . . . he plays tenor sax. The most popular film composer of our own era is, of course, John Williams, who was featured at last summer's concert by the Winds, and whose life has never been the same ever since he wrote the "Jaws" theme in 1975 and then "Star Wars" in 1976 and became the favored composer of both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Home Alone," "Jurassic Park," "Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan"--he's the Microsoft of film composers, and he does do sequels, especially to those "Star Wars" movies. Here's his latest one, the rousing "Duel of the Fates" sequence from "The Phantom Menace." 

[Metropolitan Winds play "The Phantom Menace": Duel of the Fates: John Williams]

Randy, come over here a minute. Stand by that mike. Randy Bass is the music director and a composer in his own right. He is, in fact, the greatest composer in the history of Midland. Do you know what a brave kid you have to be in MIDLAND to say "Uh, sorry, can't play football today--singing and piano lessons"?  Randy just composed a big Fourth of July piece for the Boston Pops. Also, didn't you write something for the Olympics?  

RANDY BASS: Noooo.

Something you wrote with Vangelis?

RANDY BASS: I arranged something BY Vangelis for the Olympics. Actually it was John Williams who commissioned it.

Okay, you're off the hook. But he arranges and transposes and sometimes composes everything the symphony plays. He's a singer. He plays piano. And he's a big fan of Alfred Newman. Right? What's the big first half closer, Randy?

RANDY BASS: Well, I wanted to do something that was true band music. And this is an Alfred Newman piece called "Conquest" that is frequently played by military type bands, and it's just a good strong virile piece. Can I say that?

You can say "virile." Just don't look at me when you say it.

RANDY BASS: Oh, okay.

Isn't this the piece the USC marching band uses?

RANDY BASS: Yes, Bruce was telling me that.

In their Roman gladiator costumes?

RANDY BASS: Yes. I guess it's one of their fight songs. But it's originally from a movie called "Captain from Castile."

Okay, Randy let's hear it. And by the way, anybody can give money to the Metropolitan Winds, you know, but the people who actually PONIED UP with sponsorships this year are Centex, GTE, the Five Hundred Inc., WRR Classical 101.1, Target stores, JPI Lifestyle Apartment Communities, the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, the Hyatt-Regency, and American Airlines. All you other people are slackers. So go out in the lobby at intermission and stock up on CDs, posters, prints, T-shirts, and other stuff that'll clutter up your house until
it's time to move again. I did that, Randy, so that you don't have to.

[Metropolitan Winds play "Captain from Castile": Conquest: Alfred Newman]

RANDY BASS: Thank you very much. We'll take a fifteen-minute intermission and then we'll be back.

INTERMISSION

[Metropolitan Winds play "JAG": Theme: Bruce Broughton]

Ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Broughton. Do you know that Bruce gets money every time the "JAG" theme is played on TV? In fact, we have to give him five dollars for playing it just now.  Here you go, Bruce. Well, I tell you what, I'll just keep this in your "envelope." Bruce Broughton is one of the few film composers
who is actually FROM L.A. He grew up there, among those other great composing names we talked about in the first half of the program, and like most aspiring young composers, he got his start in TV. He was at CBS and he worked on the music for "Gunsmoke," "Hawaii Five-O," and "Dallas." And then his big breakthrough movie was "Silverado" in 1985. You're gonna play "Silverado" right now, aren't you, Bruce? No? Well, we all came to hear "Silverado." Anyway, everyone loved the "Silverado" score so much that he's been doing major films ever since. And one of the directors who loves him is John Hughes, who hired him to do the music for "Miracle on 34th Street." Not the original one, of course, because you were how old when that came out, Bruce? Two?  But you worked on the remake, the one with Sir Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle. Whose idea was that? "Who can play Santa Claus? Wait! That guy who directed Gandhi'! Is he available?" And the first thing John Hughes says to Bruce is "I don't want this to sound like a Christmas movie." And so Bruce says "Well, but Santa Claus is in it." And John Hughes says, "Yeah, but I want people to be able to watch it all year long."  And so Bruce had the difficult job of trying to get the sound of Christmas into a movie without offending the Fourth of July or Washington's Birthday. It was the first politically correct Christmas movie! But if you'll notice, he does manage to slip in a familiar four-note theme that kinda gives it away. The concert premiere of selections from "Miracle on 34th Street."

[Metropolitan Winds play "Miracle on 34th Street": Selections: Bruce Broughton]

I think one sign of truly great film music is that you can listen to it WITHOUT the film and you still know what's going on.  This next piece is from another John Hughes movie, "Baby's Day Out," and it's music that, when you listen to it, you go "that's baby music, that's an INFANT doing something." But then things get complicated. And you realize that in this title theme, Bruce has told the whole story of the movie, which is: baby starts crawling down the street, three bad-guy morons try to do things to the baby, baby triumphs. And then we're gonna play "Silverado" after this, right, Bruce? Well, you'll see what I mean, as you listen to the premiere performance of "Baby's Day Out."

[Metropolitan Winds play "Baby's Day Out": Main Title: Bruce Broughton]

Bruce, that was so CUTE! We have to do the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" thing before "Silverado"? You didn't reconsider? Okay. You guys know how much I love "Hallmark Hall of Fame." Especially stories of hardy pioneer women redeeming the land with their hard work, setting down roots in a new land. Especially when it's
based on a novel by Willa Cather. Jessica Lange starred in "O, Pioneers!" and you know who else was in it? Anne Heche. She apparently followed Jessica Lange into the wilderness. Anyway, last night I was telling Bruce Broughton that I thought one of the common themes in his music was optimism. He writes about hope, and goodness, and nobility, without irony. And he said he'd never thought of it that way, but kind of agreed with me. And I think this is one of his pieces that's just as American as Aaron Copland, and it really shows just that quality. The premiere of
his three-part suite from "O, Pioneers!"

[Metropolitan Winds play "O, Pioneers!": Suite: Bruce Broughton]

I guess we're gonna do the dog and cat thing now? When people would ask Robert Mitchum who he thought was the greatest actor in the history of the movies, he would say "Rin Tin Tin."  And he was serious. Great photography, great direction, and especially great music can turn animals into major movie stars, and so it's quite a responsibility when you're asked to do an animal movie. Bruce Broughton got the job on "Homeward Bound," the story of a young dog, an old dog, and a cat who think they are abandoned and so set out on a cross-country journey to find their home. Hundreds of musical cues later, they survive--and, if  any animal movie is worth its salt, everyone cries at the end. I  think one reason that women, especially, love animal movies is that they REALLY believe their cats understand every single thing they say. And one reason they believe that is that you can take a picture of a cat with its head cocked to the side, put that with the perfect piece of music, and you'll think "Oh, look, she agrees with me. I should lose five pounds." Bruce's music for "Homeward Bound" is so perfect that you can hear the dog in there, you can hear the cat, you can feel the running and the tumbling and the friskiness, and if you realize that they just travelled hundreds of miles, you'll probably end up crying when we play this. Men in the audience, this might be a good time for a smoke, as we listen to the end credits from "Homeward Bound."

[Metropolitan Winds play "Homeward Bound": end credits: Bruce Broughton]

Sorry. I'll get control of myself. Okay, I want to mention one more time that the Metropolitan Winds are all volunteers. In fact, they pay dues to belong to the band. They're music teachers, CPAs, dentists, SEVERAL software engineers, insurance adjusters, human resources specialists, housewives, secretaries, and some very serious music students in conservatories. And some of the most well known foundations in America have refused to give them money. Don't be one of them. We talked about how much Steven Spielberg loves John Williams. Spielberg also has quite a liking for Bruce Broughton. One of their most successful collaborations was on a less than successful movie called "Young Sherlock Holmes." Here is the music that Bruce Broughton was conducting when he met his wife, the future Belinda Broughton, in a studio somewhere in London. What studio, Bruce? Abbey Lane? Are we doing the short version? Because, frankly, at this point--Bruce, do you know there are two guys sitting here in the front row with CDs of "Silverado"? How long are you going to keep them waiting? All right, it's time for "Young Sherlock Holmes."

[Metropolitan Winds play "Young Sherlock Holmes": Suite: Bruce Broughton]

Well, we always save the biggies for last, and Bruce writes a lot of BIG music. When I first heard this selection from "Lost In Space," I thought, hmmm, sounds kinda HAPPY for people who are lost. Kinda fun to be lost in space. But this is not so much the lost-in-space part of the movie, but the breaking-out-of-space part of the movie. It's a bunch of space cowboys shooting their way out of hell. The planet's about to explode, so they decide the best way to get out is to wait till it explodes and then go THROUGH the planet. Because . . . uh . . . well . . . because that's what happens in a space movie. You DODGE THOSE ASTEROIDS and haul buns. And that's why this "Lost In Space" music is so much fun. The premiere of selections from "Lost in Space." 

[Metropolitan Winds play "Lost In Space": Main Title: Bruce Broughton]

Doesn't he write great music? You guys remember "Harry and the Hendersons"? Well, everyone else wants to forget it, too. But sometimes people ask Bruce "Why does your score for that weird Bigfoot movie sound like Mozart?" And the answer is that it was influenced by the BANE of all composers, something called the temp track. When a movie is first assembled by the editor, he or she or the director gets some music out of the library, and when all the studio executives see the film for the first time, they see it with this "temporary" music. The problem is, some of those executives, and sometimes the director himself, don't have much imagination, and so they see the film several times, and they start to LIKE the temporary music. Which is especially bad when the music is straight out of another film. And so by the time the poor composer shows up, they say "We want music that sounds exactly like this. Or we know you can't do that, but SORT OF like this." And he has to sort of work with existing rhythms and tempos and themes. Well, the temp track on "Harry and the Hendersons" was an obscure work by Mozart. The director fell in love with it, and by the time Bruce showed up, there was nothing to do but to use Mozartean themes on what turned out to be a score much better than the movie it serves, and a particular favorite with the members of the band. Our premiere of the main title score for "Harry and the Hendersons."

[Metropolitan Winds play "Harry and the Hendersons": Main Title: Bruce Broughton]

Bruce, WILL you play "Silverado" now? THANK YOU. In fact, come over here and stand by that microphone. Bruce, you've written CD rom games, and one of the attractions at Epcot, and a lot of stuff, but this score is SO big, it's impossible to put anything AFTER it. What were you going for here? 

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Well, the director Larry Kasdan came to me and said he wanted to make a western for people who had never seen a western. And I said "Well, who is that? Who hasn't seen a western?" And he said "Think about it. There are young people who have never seen an old-style Hollywood western." And so he wanted me to make it a big score. He was very clear about that. After
looking at it, I thought it could have been scored with a banjo and a harmonica, but he wanted something huge.

He was trying to do a tribute to the old-style western, right?, in the same way that "Body Heat" was a tribute to the old-style erotic thriller?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Correct.

And, well, first, do you like the film?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Uh.

Good answer! Okay, I understand. So I have a question. You know how Jeff Goldblum is just wandering around the movie for no reason?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Yes.

Did you have a Jeff Goldblum Wandering Around the Movie Theme? Did you have to write music for that?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Just when he dies. The only music I wrote is for the death of Jeff Goldblum.

Well, that's VERY appropriate. Okay. And do you know remember how Linda Hunt is the midget saloon manager with a crush on Kevin Kline? I didn't quite understand their relationship, but they were really close, so, did you write a Linda Hunt-Kevin Kline Love Theme?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: No.

No music for Kevin and Linda?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: None.

Well, what themes do you have?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: There's a main theme, kind of a heroic theme, and then there's what I call the settler's theme, which is a quiet movement.

What part of the movie was that?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: It was written for the scenes with Rosanna Arquette.

Who was in the movie for about 30 seconds!

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Yeah, I think they only used one short phrase from it, but you'll hear the whole thing in the suite. And then the final theme is when they come together in Silverado and then leave again.

Okay, and this was your first film score, right?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Actually I did one before that. A film called "The Prodigal," for Billy Graham.

It's still playing! Right down the street at First Baptist Church. They run it twice a year!

BRUCE BROUGHTON: I'm sure it probably is.

All right, so why don't I see "Ice Pirates" on your resume?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: You saw "Ice Pirates"?

That was a GREAT movie!

BRUCE BROUGHTON: I don't think I even remember it. You liked it?

Sure! It had the whole "Babes of Bagdad" roller derby sequence. All those guys in "Captain from Tortuga" costumes bouncing around the universe trying to find ice cubes to carry back to their galaxy.

BRUCE BROUGHTON: You remember all this? 

The evil Templars control the water supply and they have a robot army and they're trying to put Robert Urich in jail.  Remember that human-body assembly line?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: I don't think so.

Yeah, you know that enormous bear-claw steel trap thing that gets em between the legs and turns men into women?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: I don't remember that.

That movie has everything! Midgets. Bikers. John Carradine is in it. Anjelica Huston slices a guy's head off with a bullwhip?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: Anjelica Huston is in it?

Bikini-clad Samurai women on horseback. The robot gang fight. These are the kinds of things you can write real music for! I'm surprised we're not playing this! Why isn't this on the program?

BRUCE BROUGHTON: I don't even know where that music is.

You lost "Ice Pirates"? Well, come on, Bruce, play "Silverado." You guys are gonna love this one. And by the way, Bruce, some of the trumpet players were complaining about the way you wrote this score. You put in about seven high E's in a row here in the first part. Well, Tom Cox. Tom, where are you? Tom, stand up! Tom is the guy who was complaining. Tom, stand up! Tom Cox, ladies and gentleman, president of the Metropolitan Winds.  There's some SERIOUS trumpet work here. I want everybody to watch Tom, and if he starts turning red and his eyes bulge out, it means he's NOT HITTING those high E's. But it's your fault, Bruce.

Okay, "Silverado Suite," from the Lawrence Kasdan movie that turned out to be smaller than the music he wanted for it. But what the heck? WE have the music!

[Metropolitan Winds play " Silverado ": Suite: Bruce Broughton]

Go back, Bruce. Stay up there. Wow! You know, there is one more thing we could do. It's music Bruce wrote that's so familiar--well, it will be instantly recognizable to anyone in the audience under the age of six. From two of the most popular children's shows on TV. And if any of you feel the urge to get up during this music and chase each other down the aisles, hitting each other over the head with mallets, this would be the time to do it . . . well, you'll see.

[Metropolitan Winds play "Dinosaurs/Tiny Toons" montage:  Bruce Broughton]