C I P R I A N I

I did a search through my iTunes library for “JOHN ADAMS”, hit shuffle and began to write, driftiing to another place…

The powerful pieces transport you.  They alter your state of mind.

And yet somehow, amongst The Dharma at Big Sur and the Shaker Loops, a piece from a soundtrack came up.

No, not one of John’s pieces selected for Shutter Island.

All For Love.  

From The Three Musketeers movie from the ’90s starring Chris O’Donnell and Charlie Sheen.  I never saw it, but Christ, I remember that confection from the soundtrack performed by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and … wait for it:

All three of them.  All for one.  One for all.  All for love. 

It’s in my library because at some point, over a decade later, when I was washing the dishes or sweeping the floor or doing nothing of real purpose, that song just popped into my brain, like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man or an acid flashback.

And I had to download the sucker and hear it.  Like an addict needing one last fix.

That these things happen to me having never done acid, I really wonder what demons would have befallen me if I had…that’s probably another story.

And as I sit here, the John Adams has begun again.  Mother of the Man.

And having never done acid, but going from All for Love by Bryan Adams to Mother of the Man by John Adams, I imagine it’s at the very least a similar sensation…

I now find myself lost.  Thinking of 1993.  When that pop song was on the radio.  When John Adams was just the second president of the United States to me.

Paul Giamatti hadn’t played him yet in a movie produced by Tom Hanks who until recently had gone from the guy in Splash to the guy in Philadelphia…and I didn’t even know who Paul Giamatti was…

I had not yet met the friend who suggested the composer John Adams to me because I had not yet moved to Los Angeles, let alone the apartment building in which I would meet that friend who would go on to be the only composer I’ve worked with as a director…so far.

Los Angeles.

In fact in 1993 my mind was still fixed on New York…

New York.  The friend from the apartment building in Los Angeles moved back to New York shortly after composing the music for my film…

We kept in touch.  He’s long since back in Los Angeles, a writer in his own right.  

I’m not sure if he’s still composing …

I’m certain he’s still listening to John Adams for he recommended him very recently.  He’s going to the opera next week.  My friend, I can’t speak for John Adams.

Boheme.  My friend is going to La Boheme.

I saw a production of the same opera directed by Baz Luhrmann.  It was the first opera I went to.

I love the opera.  I always get lost in it…

I feel lost now…in Adams’ crescendo.

He calls this Naive and Sentimental music.

John Adams.  Mother of the Man.  Naive and Sentimental Music.

Bryan Adams.  All for Love.  The Three Musketeers Soundtrack.

It’s 10:42pm.  May 17th 2012.

A very long way from whatever time it was in 1993.