John Williams (left) and Gustavo Dudamel (right) shared the stage during an intimate concert series at Disney Hall in January 2019. [photos by Linda A. Rapka/AFM Local 47]

I read the glowing review by Mark Swed of the first night of the Celebration of John Williams in the Times last month, and was moved to have a personal kind of celebration; of knowing John Williams, from our time in Tucson in the 775th Air Force band, through my time as Union VP and President, when I presented both John Williams and Steven Spielberg a commemorative plaque on behalf of Musicians Local 47 at a scoring session of 105 players. The plaques were inscribed with our Local 47 musicians’ thanks for consistently scoring their films here in Hollywood, and thereby using our musicians in the resulting scoring processes. Mr. Spielberg told me at that time that he was genuinely touched by this recognition. Continue reading →