Light of the Seven Light of the Seven, by composer Ramin Djawadi, is the music at the very beginning of the Game of Thrones (season 6 finale) The Winds of Winter. Upon watching the episode in 2016, the music immediately stood out to me. Light […]

Theme From a Movie That Never Happened Eric Clapton’s Theme From a Movie That Never Happened is a B-Side rarity that was first released in 1998. There’s not much info about this piece — so I believe that it’s actually ‘a theme from a movie […]

Unchained Melody Unchained Melody is nearly 70 years old. It was initially written (by Alex North and Hy Zaret) as a theme for a prison film entitled, Unchained (1955).  The song was popularized by The Righteous Brothers a decade later in 1965. My favorite is […]

The Ecstasy of Gold The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the best of Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The film is considered the definitive Spaghetti Western — with it’s use of long shots and close-up cinematography. Even though it’s the last […]

Marion’s Theme The score for Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the subsequent Indiana Jones movies) is one of my childhood favorites. The collaboration of John Williams and Steven Spielberg created truly everlasting music. ‘Marion’s Theme’ from Raiders of the Lost Ark, is one of […]

The Mandalorian Set in the Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian takes place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi and follows a bounty hunter beyond the reaches of the New Republic. It’s filmed as “a Western” and it’s the best Star Wars […]

Never Let Me Down Again Never Let Me Down Again, is a song by the English band Depeche Mode, who were pioneers of electronic and “alternative” music in the 1980’s. This song is from their 6th album, Music for the Masses (1987) My arrangement is directly […]

Video Games I’ve always loved the song, Video Games by Lana Del Rey. With her usual deft lyricism and poetry — Lana sings about the relationship she has versus the relationship she fantasizes. It’s all stylized with her signature ‘longing in California’ vibe. Composer Ramin […]

The Last of Us (HBO) HBO’s The Last of Us is being heralded as “the greatest video game adaptation ever”. No surprise as Craig Mazen is the executive producer and showrunner. Mazen’s Chernobyl mini-series (on HBO) was one of the greatest shows I have ever […]

Adagio in C Minor HBO’s Succession has definitely been on my list to watch. A friendly listener suggested Impromptu No. 1 from the soundtrack of Season 3. I had no idea the classically inspired music was from composer, Nicholas Britell. He’s one of my all […]

Yellowstone Yellowstone is a Paramount TV series written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River). Kevin Costner plays John Dutton, a father trying to protect his ranch, the largest in the United States, from land developers, and a neighboring Indian […]

All Quiet on the Western Front This film has instantly become one of my all-time favorites. While based on a literary classic, All Quiet on the Western Front is not your “classic” war film. It has more in common with HBO’s Chernobyl, than 1917. There […]