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I had planned to devote an entry on the San Diego Comicon, but something else came up... so, a little diversion, if you will (featuring tons of interactive do-dads). Comicon highlights later.

One of the things that bugs me is trying to explain or use music with the written word. I first noticed it as a kid, reading the early novels of Stephen King. King has a habit, like a lot of authors I discovered, of using song lyrics to open chapters. Im sure they have some kind of personal meaning to King, and the other authors, and Im sure that somehow there is this collective consciousness that it some how sets the mood. But it doesnt. Reading lyrics are a pain and I dont hear the tune when I read them. Most of the time, I havent heard the song to begin with, so its just bad poetry keeping me from the real story.

Besides, music, for some reason more than books, movies, or anything else collectively known as entertainment, is too personal to make anyone else fully comprehend what you are feeling.

Songs, except for scent, are the best touchstones for personal emotions and points of our lives. We have songs that remind us of childhood, songs that we identify with lovers, with family, with events that shaped our lives. Thats why advertisers use them; in some arrogant attempt to pretend they know you, identify with you, when all they want to do is reprogram your connection to that song, to their product. And get you to buy it.

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay is my first memory as a human being, round about the age of 2 or 3. I can tell you that, but I cant possibly expect you to empathize with it... only recall whatever song is your first memory, which may or may not be as important to you as it is me. Total Eclipse of the Heart pulled many a tear for many a person or couple back in its day; but of those thousands of people or couples that chose that as our song, none can share anything more than yeah, we loved that song. Anything deeper and our stories start to part ways... lost in our own personal fog of experience.

Music, except for dreams, is the hardest thing to try and explain to another person. So many different kinds and so many different tastes. More than any other form of entertainment, we argue over the good and bad. More than any other form, we chose to love certain types (for example, jazz, swing, mainstream rock) and hate fully others (country, rap, easy listening). And we argue passionately about it.

Most people listen to one type of music. Dont deny it, you know its true. Maybe youre the exception in your group, but unless music is your living, you pretty much think youre *eclectic* (one of the dumbest words in the English language, dont get me started), but youre not.

Me personally, Im right there. I think Im diverse. I have CDs from Eminem, Dixie Chicks, Cash, Counting Crows, various women with great voices (Jewel, Mindy Smith, Tori Amos), Sinatra, Swing from the 20s and 30s, Leadbelly, Bach, Mozart, Mark Knofler, Megadeath, Alicia Keys, on and on and on. And you know what got me into music? It wasnt Otis Redding. It was movies.

Describing movie themes in print is nearly impossible. You can mention the name of the movie (Jaws, Star Wars, Bridge Over River Kwai) and if youve seen the movie, you might be able to pull the theme out of memory. A good movie has music which is both memorable, and invisible when watching. Ive disliked movies because of the music. Ive loved movies more than they deserve for the same reason.

Each movie has a main theme, then usually several lesser themes for characters. There are variants to the themes for when its scary, happy, suspenseful... all meant to cue a certain emotion. Good movies have rules. Jaws, for example, only used the main theme when the shark was actually around. When you were meant to think the shark was around, there was no music or a different theme. Not immediately noticeable, but in the back of your mind, there it was. There was a nice boating theme for when they went out to sea, and a dark foreboding theme when Quint launched into his famous speech about the USS Indianapolis.

I love movie music. Not the crappy hundred stars doing stupid songs or covers, bundled together during the credits to sell a pop album movie music. I mean real movie music. I could (and may) write a whole essay just on that subject. But, this essay is about one man only.

Jerry Goldsmith died last Wednesday. Like Jullius Schwartz, most people on this site wont realize his significance in their lives. Most people wont realize what was lost or missing. Jerry Goldsmith was one of what I considered the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost of movie music: John Williams, Goldsmith, and James Horner. Horner could be replaced with a number of classic composers (John Barry pops to mind) and some people would argue Danny Elfman or Hans Zimmer should be on any list of music masters; but, to me, and my childhood, those guys are the.

Williams and Horner I could always spot. Thanks in part to his lifetime collaboration with Steven Spielberg, Williams created some of the most classic themes in Hollywood history. Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Superman (ripped off of his own Star Wars theme), Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, ET... going even further back, movies that helped define my movie watching childhood, such as Black Sunday and The Poseidon Adventure, and classic TV themes such as Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, and some little sitcom you might of heard of called Gilligans Island.

Horner was a classic movie sound, as well, but specialized in brass. As a former trumpet player, I could spot his work easily in such movies as Wrath of Khan (which he ripped off for Troy), Field of Dreams, Braveheart, Aliens, and the biggest money making movie of all time, Titanic. My personal favorite of his was the little seen Glory.

And then there was Goldsmith. Jerry Goldsmith was one of the first guys to break away from traditional sounds and get a little nutty with his themes. Goldsmith burst on the scene with the original Planet of the Apes. Like Williams, he had done his share of early TV work (Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Man From UNCLE), but Apes was and is a masterpiece of movie music. Bending instruments in unique ways (such as using the wood side of a violin bow or wind instruments without mouthpieces), the themes in Apes appeared as primitive as the apes themselves; but made images like the gorillas in the corn field, a classic movie moment.

Goldsmith never let himself be tied down to any one feel or sound. I played the hell out of a record from the little seen Nick Nolte movie Under Fire. As a northern kid, it was my first wonderful taste of Mexican/Spanish style music. It, along with Jaws, remains two of my favorite soundtracks of all time. I played the cassette tape of the The Blue Max (which I had recorded off of classic Classic King FM), until it broke.

He defined the sweeping sci-fi epic sound of the Star Trek movie series and Next Generation theme, easily switching gears for the militaristic Rambo series or tongue in cheek sound of Gremlins. The sharp staccato violence of LA Confidential, and back to a 70s sci-fi feel of one of my favorite childhood movies, Logan's Run. The feel good theme of The Waltons to the slick beat of Chinatown. The wonderful sweeping themes of The Secret of Nimh.

I can tell you what Goldsmith meant to me, but I cant describe to you what Jerry Goldsmith sounded like. All I can do is remind you of what you felt like when Carol Ann touched the TV screen and matter of fact stated Theyre heeere. Or when Gregory Peck and David Warner pulled open that dirt covered casket to reveal jackal bones where Damians mom was supposed to be. The theme from Patton. Or the haunting low notes as the Nostromo banked into orbit and Tom Skerritt prepared to lead poor Kane to his horrifying death.

So, while I hoisted a drink to Goldsmith at Comicon, this is my public toast. 17 Academy Award nominations and a long list of making people scared, happy, in love, sad, and all the things we go to the movies... and listen to music... for. Thank you for a lifetime of memories and a handful of shared experiences.

Jerry Goldsmith, God bless!