Hollywood in Vienna (October 4th, 2013) with James Horner

The Celluloid Tunes episode is now up:

http://celluloidtunes.no/celluloid-tune … l-edition/

Oh my... what an extraordinarily wonderful concert. I'm sat here with tears in my eyes. And how beautiful to see Horner wipe away a few himself.

Thank you for sharing!

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Just an edit - the concert is still available on the website:
http://tvthek.orf.at/programs/4420535-E … ne-Spezial

So here's a loooong write-up of the Vienna-Horner and London-Elfman events.

VIENNA

After arriving in Vienna on Wednesday afternoon, I checked in and walked the streets a bit, before interviewing director Joe Dante in a 1-hour group interview at a hotel (to be published soon). After that, I tried to hook up with others, but it seems like I was almost the first to arrive. I had a Wienerschnitzel at a local place (not the best place, to be honest), watched some Champion's League in a local pub and went to bed relatively early.

Next morning, I met Marian Schedenig for the first time. Strange that we've known each other for 15 years or so, but never actually met. Marian was "playing" my photographer for the interview with James Horner at the rooftop restaurant of a fancy hotel. The interview was great -- Horner is such a modest, shy person who has no Hollywood quirks at all -- but I was a bit stressed out by the PR people who constantly pointed at their watches to make me quit the interview (even after just 7 minutes, and I was promised 10). Eventually, I got 11 1/2 minutes, and I'm sure most of you are aware of the radio program I did, available here (which also includes interviews with David Newman, Sandra Tomek and recordings from the actual concert):

http://celluloidtunes.no/celluloid-tune … l-edition/

Anyway, after that Marian and I split up. This was the day for Vienna exploration. I took the subway to the gorgeous Schönbrunn palace otuside the city, and while it was swarming with tourists, I was really taken aback by the architectural beauty. Reminded me of Von Trier, Resnais and Antonioni. Spent 3 hours there, also taking an inside tour (expensive!). I took another subway to a remote graveyard just by the freeway to see Mozart's grave. Then I returned to the city centre, catching some other sights (the St. Stephan's Catedral, Mozart's house, the townhouse and other great buildings).

In the afternoon, I met up with John Chambers, Tim Burden, Mark Langdon, Petr (Lokutus) and Francis who were all attending the Joe Dante screenings with Q&A. I skipped the first screening (of THE HOWLING) because I was starved. Ate a great Viennese dinner in a place for locals that I found. Then I returned to the Cinemateque for the screening of SMALL SOLDIERS, preceded by a Dante Q&A. Since I had already interviewed him, this was just a bonus. It was already getting late by the end, so we all went back to our hotels. Long today tomorrow!

On Friday, I explored some more of the city. I also visited the Museum of Modern Art to see an exhibition on 'angst' (of all things). I went back to the hotel to change into a suit, then walked to the Gmoakeller restaurant by the concert hall. I had arranged the get-together there, so I had to be early. We had two long tables in the basement of the restaurant. Eventually, most of the people came -- 25 people, including James Southall and wife, 3 Norwegians(!) and many more from FSM, Maintitles and JWFAN. A great dinner, and I tried my best to avoid drinking too much (but failed somewhat).

Then followed the actual concert, which has been covered extensively elsewhere. I was sitting just a couple of rows behind Horner; which was great, because I could witness his reactions to the performances.

After the concert, many of us crashed the VIP reception where Horner, Newman and others were roaming about. I interview Newman there, and took plenty of the free drinks! After that, some of us continued the party in various bars in the vicinity. I think we kept it going to about 4 in the morning, at which point it was either karaoke or nothing for me. I even asked the receptionist in James' hotel if we could use their PA system for karaoke! Oh, God. There was no karaoke, however, and I went back to the hotel.

Unfortunately for me, I was flying to London the following day. I wake up with an insane hangover, had some brunch and checked out. When I was standing on the train platform to the airport, I realized I had forgotten my passport, keys and wallet in the hotel room's safe. So I had run back to the hotel with a huge suitcase, with pounding headache and nausea, to retrieve them. At that point, I was already pressed for time, so I had to take a 45 Euro-taxi to the airport. Once there, I realized Robert Townson and David Newman were taking the same plane as me. I think I managed to utter an 'hello' or something, but I was too hung over to engage in any conversation.

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LONDON

Arriving at Heathrow, I hooked up with fellow Norwegian Eirik Myhr, a film composer. We took the 1-hour subway train to King's Cross and checked in (a tiny apartment in the basement of a building, right from the trash cans!). Then we met Bregt and Thomas for dinner. They were staying in a hostel nearby. We chose an Indian restaurant, but the place was rather terrible. Tiny portions, poor taste, shoddy service and some drunk, noisy guys on the table next to us. Initially, my plan was to go all out this evening, but I was still hung over from Vienna, so we just had a couple of beers in a pub after that (a German-Norwegian couple I know was also joining us) and went back to the hotel.

On Sunday, I joined Bregt and Thomas for some sightseeing. We went to Primrose Hill for a stroll through the park and to see the views, then headed to the London Museum. I was not really in a museum mood this day (neither was Thomas, I think), so I kinda rushed through it. I think this annoyed Bregt a bit, who wanted to spend more time there. After that, it was time for the famous Thor's Torture Tour, which was basically a walk through the famous sites of downtown London -- Trafalgar Square, St. James' Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben etc. As I've seen all of these before, it was really more for Thomas' sake. Bregt provided the wacky guide audio. We also had lunch at Baker Street at some point.

After that, we returned to the hotel for a quick shower, met up again and returned to Charing Cross for dinner at a Mexican place called Lupita. Great food, although the selection of beer was limited and the bill quite steep in the end (29 quid for me). Joining us were Eirik, Alex (a Spanish acquaintance of Bregt's) and a Norwegian-English couple I know -- the guy had run a marathon earlier in the day, finishing 10th out of 16.000!

After the dinner, some of us walked towards Soho for drinks. We eventually found an OK pub, but they closed just 20 minutes later! After that, none of us were really in the mood for heavy partying (except maybe Alex) since we had the big concert the next day, so we went back to the hotel. I think Alex was disappointed, but hey -- whatcha gonna do? We had an itinerary to take care of.

On Monday, Eirik, Bregt, Thomas and I went to Camden. Bought a couple of T-shirts, and said goodbye to Bregt and Thomas who wanted to go on another sightseeing rampage. I just wanted to relax and hang around, so Eirik and I remained. Whenever I'm familiar with a city, I really prefer to just relax and avoid all the heavy sightseeing. Eirik and I had lunch in Camden, took the sub to a random place none of us had been before (Old Road?), which wasn't particularly exciting. We found a pub and ordered one of the worst-tasting coffees I've ever had. Then again, who orders coffee in a British pub, right?

Back to the hotel to change, and on towards High Street Kensington and The Spaghetti House for the get-together. This was great. We were about 15-16 people -- some I had met before, others not. At one point, Richard Kraft (Elfman's agent and the producer of the concert) rushes in and exclaims "Where is Thor?". He gave us a concert program and allowed to ask questions about the upcoming event. Then he was gone again. A nice surprise.

Then was the concert itself, which has been covered extensively elsewhere. One of the most amazing concerts of my life, and I was sitting just 5-6 meters from the stage. To see Elfman live, singing on-stage. Well, I tried to put it into words here, in Norwegian:

http://montages.no/2013/10/danny-elfman … bert-hall/

After the concert, a rather large group -- including Jordi, who had now joined us -- strolled back towards High Street Kensington to find a pub that was still open. I managed to find one -- more of a cocktail bar that didn't even have beer on tap -- and we all crammed together. Stayed there untill about 2-2:30, and then we split up. Some went on to Soho, others went back to the hotel. I went back, as I was really feeling the days of heavy drinking and partying.

I got up on Tuesday, checked out, met Bregt and Thomas again for lunch, as well as the longtime FSM acquaintance Tim (aka Ahem). Then Eirik and I returned to the airport at about 2.

So that's it, basically. Another SUPERB film music week in Europe. You can see some pictures here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set … 3b03991f26

Together? I didn't see those pictures on Facebook. Did Demetris send the oil via FedEx?

My interview with Joe Dante is finally up (from 08:40) here:

http://montages.no/2013/11/filmfrelst-1 … joe-dante/

I doubt it. I told Marian he should visit this forum when I met him in Vienna, but I think he has enough with JWFAN.

Yeah, I only ask the "good ones" to come, like Marian. I've tried to get Chris/Tall Guy here too, but he seems content with FSM (his online time is limited anyway as his daughters crave the computer).

Marian is a bit private and shy and prefers to stay in surroundings where he's comfortable. That's why he quit FSM some years ago, and now only posts once in a while at JWFAN.