John Williams Teams With Boston Pops Orchestra In May!

A galaxy far, far away will be brought a little closer... TO BOSTON THIS MAY! John Williams will take the baton on May 12th and 13th for two of the Pop's Film Nights.

Clips will be shone of some of the film classics that Williams has scored. Films to be featured will include:  Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, and the Harry Potter series. I'm not kidding when I say that I wish I lived closer to Boston :)

Some of the rest of their 2016 lineup is just as exciting. Check it out below.

WWLP Reports:

“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, a baritone crooner on the side, also will perform during the spring season, which kicks off May 6 and runs through June 18. So will the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, guitarist Tom Scholz of the band Boston, and Broadway star Sutton Foster.

“We couldn’t be happier with the terrific lineup of guest artists joining us for the 2016 Boston Pops season,” Lockhart told The Associated Press. “I can’t remember a more diverse season with such great potential, both to please our loyal audiences and reach out and entice music lovers of all ages.”

Williams, the Pops’ conductor laureate, was the force behind the music for all seven “Star Wars” films. He’ll take the baton on May 12-13 for the Pops’ Film Night appearances, which will screen clips from those movies as well as other film classics Williams wrote music for: “Jaws,” the “Indiana Jones” movies and the “Harry Potter” series.

On June 4, Lockhart — now in his 21st season as conductor of the group nicknamed “America’s Orchestra” — will take the stage for a performance of Williams’ entire score from the 1981 blockbuster film “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

The Pops also will pay tribute to rock legends David Bowie and Eagles frontman Glenn Frey, who both died last month, in “Beatles to Led Zeppelin” concerts on May 10-11 featuring Scholz and devoted to classic rock.

For the first time, the orchestra is teaming up with the University of Connecticut’s popular puppet arts program — whose graduates have created marionettes for “The Lion King” and “The Muppets” — for a May 21 concert dubbed “Puppets with the Pops.”

MacFarlane kicks off the spring season with a May 6 presentation of American classics from the 1940s and ’50s. Wilson closes it out June 17-18 with a 50th anniversary performance of hits from 1966’s “Pet Sounds,” widely considered one of the Beach Boys’ best albums.

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Source:  WWLP

Galaxy Wars: An Art Show Tribute To Star Wars & Star Trek

The Place: Pasadena, CA. It was Saturday September 5th. #ForceFriday had come and gone, but there was another celebration that was about to begin. One that would bridge two galaxies that are usually at odds with each other...

Galaxy Wars! Original artwork, T-shirts, hand crafted jewelry, accessories, souvenirs and trinkets, coupled with shaved ice from RAPsados, beer and live music. That was the atmosphere at the Old Towne Pub that night. The art show was presented by Le Beauty Exorcist and Dr.Graves Productions. The event was sponsored by a handful of companies including the local Guitar Center, which raffled off a guitar, and HorrorCon.

Inside the venue, bands were playing non-stop. You could hear the music out in the courtyard throughout the night. Power metal as the background to a Sci-Fi art show! It was a perfect fit. The night capped off with the arrival of the evening's headliners, Du Hast - A Rammstein Tribute band.

The courtyard was dotted with vendor tables displaying their wares. Everything from pop culture to sci-fi and then some. However it was quite obvious that the atmosphere was dominated by Star Wars and Star Trek on this night.....and it was evident that Star Wars had a superior influence. That didn't stop fans of both franchises from getting along though. 

There was also Der Wolfskopf. A beer garden that had some amazing brews & an assortment of German food that was also located in the courtyard. My personal favorite brew was the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Radler. It had a good citrus flavor without all the bitterness that usually comes with grapefruit, making for one very refreshing drink.   

As I mentioned before, Star Wars was clearly the winner here. Star Trek was only visible at a couple of vendor tables. There were a couple of Spock stencil paintings among a sea of Rebel & Imperial characters. (See below) and the other was by way of some T-shirts that combined the 2 galaxies. 

The Sithfits table, with plenty of T-Shirts to go around

There were some incredibly detailed works of art up for grabs as well. Some were intricate wood burned images, while others utilized watercolors, paints, color pencils, you name it!

Look at the workmanship on Fett, Maul, Trooper & of course, Han & Chewie

Various media art by Eliassar Gonzalez. Some were on Canvas (not shown)

I purchased this 11 x 14 print for my personal collection:
Trooper, Mando & Imp. Guard done in watercolor

There were also plenty of hand crafted items like key chains and magnets. 

There were even a couple of people in cosplay, along with myself. I found myself face to face with a Mandalorian out for a bounty......but we came to a mutual agreement. His armor was made of Sintra, with a modified Rubie's Boba Fett helmet. It was very well done!

Kiefer Jenkins in his Mandalorian armor

I also ran into Kylo, who was apparently getting ready to head inside to checkout the bands. I tried to get some information out of him about the knights of Ren, but he was too strong for mind tricks.

All-in-all it was a fun experience that was more like an awesome fan gathering than an art show. Vendors, attendees, and band members all hanging out eating, drinking, and talking Star Wars & a little bit of Star Trek.

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John Williams WILL NOT Score Every New Star Wars Film

Fear not my friends! For as you know, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate to... well, you get the idea.

Let's look at this logically. John Williams is synonymous with Star Wars, but he's also pushing 83. While he will be scoring Episode VII (and maaaaaaybe VIII & IX, but only time will tell), He's already made steps to have a replacement ready. What better way to test the "new guy" than to let him score the first stand alone Star Wars movie.

This is where Oscar winning composer Alexander Desplat comes in. Desplat will be the one responsible for the musical score of "Star Wars: Rogue One", as he revealed during an interview on the French program "Radio Classique's Culture Club".

Hypable and Film Music Reporter have confirmed this to be true.

His most recent works can be heard in "Godzilla" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel". He's very good at creating music to help set the tone of a film. As it's been recently reported that "Rogue One" is going to be a grittier and somewhat darker addition to the franchise (Excluding ROTS), could this mean we are in store for a lot of dark, ominous music this time around?

We'll all have to wait and see, but LucasFilm & Disney seem to be quite sure of their decision to bring him on to this franchise.

How do you feel about this move? Chime in on our FB page.

Music Video Tribute To Lightsabers! I Love This!

From Eclectic Method -- led by Jonny Wilson -- known for their danceable audio-visual remixes that gained acclaim in the 2009 documentary "Copyright Criminals," which celebrated the creativity of music sampling.

Read full article on Cnet.com.  Make sure you share it on your wall!