Greetings, folks! Welcome to my new home on the Web! This blog will serve as "home base" for my various freelance writing gigs. I decided to launch it when I realized that Google wasn't doing the best job of providing a thorough overview of my professional work! So you can check-in here to read the latest news about my contributions to the magazine Film Score Monthly Online; my liner notes for specialty record labels like Intrada, La-La Land and FSM; book and film reviews; and anything else that happens to escape my keyboard. You'll also find a (mostly) comprehensive list of my published work in the sidebar to your left, with the most recent entries on top.
In case you're a friend who is unacquainted with my writing, it should be apparent from the links around you that the art of film and television music is what you might call a "consuming interest" of mine. It has been from a very young age, and my passion only intensified when I was old enough to start spending my money at record stores. Around the time I was graduating high school, I discovered the online film music community and became active in the "fandom" (posting under my real name -- hey, it was the '90s!). In 2000, I sent a letter to Lukas Kendall, the publisher of Film Score Monthly (still in its "print" phase). He surprised me by asking if I was interested in contributing to the magazine ... which, of course, I was!
For the next eight years, I cut my teeth writing reviews and articles for FSM, and conducting the occasional interview. In 2008, I began to work regularly for the Intrada record label, contributing liner notes to their outstanding soundtrack releases. Recently, I have begun accepting assignments from other prominent labels in the industry. It has been my immense privilege to work on CDs from such prominent composers as Les Baxter, Bruce Broughton, Jay Chattaway, Bill Conti, Carmine Coppola, Georges Delerue, Dominic Frontiere, Danny Elfman, Elliot Goldenthal, James Horner, Maurice Jarre, Trevor Jones, Henry Mancini, Laurence Rosenthal, Lalo Schifrin, and (dear to my heart) the late Shirley Walker. Through it all, I have made friends and acquaintances who have enriched my life in ways too numerous to list here.
So here we are. As freelancing is a part-time occupation at the moment, the frequency of my posts will vary from month to month. I may also occasionally post something "just for the heck of it" -- I'm new to the whole "blog" thing, so we'll see how it all plays out! In the meantime, anyone who wishes to join in the conversation is more than welcome to do so!
-- John Takis
