here is the composer & conductor john williams:
at this point in my life i was heavy into classical music... i wasn't really interested in film music at all. i didn't consider it "classical." i don't know why. i was just a teenage snob that way. i preferred mahler to indiana jones.
i went to this concert with my step-mom. actually, in retrospect i'm a little amazed that she was interested in the show... she wasn't into film music at all, either. perhaps it was just because a famous person was coming to indianapolis.
regardless of our feeling about the music itself, the lure of celebrity is powerful... we both decided to go backstage afterwards and crash the reception. my step-mom nudged me towards mr. williams at one point, pushing me through the throng of people surrounding him, and she got his attention and said "this is christa... she wants to be just like you when she grows up!"
i was mortified. i wanted to be a professional french horn player.
i didn't want to be anything like him when i grew up. he wrote film music!
(besides, i was 18 and was pretty sure i was already grown up.)
still, i shook his hand politely as my step-mom foisted the program towards him for an autograph.
he already had his pen out. (my opinion of celebrities, from time to time, has probably been largely determined by whether they have a pen at the ready.)
this was probably the least climactic autograph of my life.
Posted by xta at April 26, 2005 02:52 PM | TrackBackMAHLER! Remember our lust for Chuck, and the big signs about MAHLER we used to hang on his apartment?
Seriously, we were strange kids.
There is one thing I think about when I hear the name "John Williams." Money. Lots, and lots, and lots of money.
Posted by: pinky at April 26, 2005 07:31 PMFrom looking at your collection, I'm coming to believe that the critical feature of autographs is the size of the pen nib in relationship to the signature and the program that's being written on. In this, John Williams definitely excels.
Posted by: Phil at April 26, 2005 08:49 PM