🤘🤘

In two weeks, Wed 26 Nov, we are hosting a talk with author @tgreiving.bsky.social and film composer Daniel Pemberton about Tim's new book, John Williams: A Composer's Life. Details on the website here: rai2.web.ox.ac.uk/event/john-w... @oupprimary.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

trying to explain to an alien that you can make a stinky face when music is bad but it’s also normal to do so when it’s good

Omsider har verden fått en ordentlig John Williams-biografi, skrevet av Tim Greiving og med input fra komponisten selv. Redaksjonsmedlem og Williams-ekspert Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen foretar en grundig gjennomgang og evaluering i vår aller første bokomtale: celluloidtunes.no/bokomtale-jo...

My latest order from @portersqbooks.bsky.social along with a trio of biographies I picked up at the Boston Book Festival. In an era of book bans and AI slop, it sure feels nice to chat with authors and buy their books.

tfw you've interviewed the mayor of New York's mom

Dakota "The Rock" Johnson

Ready to read the untold stories of the politicking and backstabbing that went into the design and construction of the Capitol? Wanna hear more about the bombings, gas explosions, fistfights, gunfights, and botched assassinations that occurred within its walls? It's coming your way June 2, 2026.

FWIW: My book is (finally) out in audiobook form today.

When it becomes faux-fall in L.A. (you know, sunny with an occasional leaf on the ground), our thoughts naturally turn to HALLOWEEN's John Carpenter, who @tgreiving.bsky.social caught in a contemplative mood. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

I had a scary good time talking to John Carpenter about music (from Bach to Zevon), human evil... and what happens when we die.

A new "Treehouse of Horror" episode tonight means only one thing: I had to talk to Matt Groening about theremins. (I can't believe the LA Times let me do such a deep dive on Simpsons music, Alf Clausen, and Bleeding Fingers—but this was a blast.)

We sit down with @tgreiving.bsky.social, author of the new #biography, John Williams: A Composer's Life (@oxfordacademic.bsky.social). We discuss the Maestro’s career and the unprecedented access Greiving gained to illuminate this legend's life. WATCH: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhFQ... #JohnWilliams

I’m in this writing about James Horner’s KRULL and the new biography of John Williams by @tgreiving.bsky.social

Still being nerdy over on my Substack, but I'm especially proud of today's post—a comparison of John Williams and Brahms, in which I share some lengthy sections from my conversations with JW. (And heck, if you want to subscribe, I won't stop you!) behindthemoon.substack.com/p/john-w-and...

ONE YADDLE AFTER ANOTHER

Tomorrow night! @tgreiving.bsky.social will be in conversation with Matt Gourley about his new book JOHN WILLIAMS: A COMPOSER'S LIFE, the first biography of the legendary composer. 'Frankly, it’s the book Williams’ monumental talent deserves.” — Empire Magazine youtu.be/LOefJMo9Tz0

Trump just announced that letting a salt lick lie on your tongue while you hold your nose and blow really hard actually reverses peanut allergies

Promise me Trump won't speak at my funeral

This Wednesday innit!

Just heard a Cybertruck honk for the first time, and it sounds exactly as stupid as you would guess

A little Sunday playlist, crafted with love (on the OUP blog)

BEST IN SHOW premiered 25 years ago today. When it turned 20 (right in the dog days of the pandemic), @the-ringer.bsky.social let me off the leash to collect this oral history of one of the funniest movies ever made. I talked to *everybody* www.theringer.com/2020/09/29/m...

Why do toasted bagel places always smell like burnt hair

“John Williams: A Composer’s Life” author Tim Greiving joined us Saturday at the Aero to sign copies of his new book before introducing Spielberg’s A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001) in 35mm 🧸 You can pick up a copy from the Larry Edmunds Bookshop if you weren’t able to make it.

A man in Washington, DC, plays the Imperial March from Star Wars while following patrolling soldiers. One of the soldiers threatens to call the police.

I just finished reading John Williams: A Composer’s Life by Tim Greiving and it was an absolutely wonderful biography of the greatest composer of film music. #booksky

Available now!

Next week in Chicago, I'm chatting it up with his royal film musicological highness, DOUG ADAMS, about JW for a conservatory crowd. Should be cerebral and, just maybe, even a little spicy!

An excerpt from a new biography on the legendary composer shows how he stepped in to score ‘Home Alone’ at the last minute.

Doing another asky-answery thing in 90 minutes over on Reddit. www.reddit.com/r/soundtrack...

Guy who's only read Spiderman and Russo brothers scripts:

Doughboys Double Tuesday! Tim Greiving joins the 'boys to talk film scores and his new book, John Williams: A Composer's Life, before drafting their favorite Johns and Williams. @tgreiving.bsky.social patreon.com/doughboys

Tomorrow on the Double… with Tim Greiving @tgreiving.bsky.social

by @tgreiving.bsky.social

How The Sphere Remade ‘The Wizard of Oz’s’ Famous Score: “All the Numbers Have to Sparkle”

"Just as Lucas was taking archetypes from ancient myths, westerns and Akira Kurosawa films and remixing them...Williams remixed recognisable tropes from the concert hall and old movie scores." The first ever biography of John Williams is available next week: oxford.ly/4mSTlpP #filmsky #musicsky

Thought I'd chime in on this thing.

It’s been a busy weekend for Tim Greiving’s upcoming @oxfordacademic.bsky.social book “John Williams: A Composer’s Life. First up, this extract in @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...

Necessarily sensational, this article does contain the truth about what JW said to me about his low opinion of film music... and yet... I fully believe he treated film scoring as seriously as writing sacred music. Chuffed at all the attention for my book from the British press this weekend!

Is there a MISTER Now? 😉

I interviewed my idée fixe for the @nytimes.com about his new piano concerto (and I smuggled in some salient biographical details for good measure!)

The great John Williams is still composing, and attending a premiere tonight of a new piano concerto of his. A livestream of the concert should start around 8 p.m. EDT on WAMC: www.wamc.org/listen-live-... Background: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/a...

Dear Coldplay, now catch Donald in the act

In LA? Come to my launch event for JOHN WILLIAMS at Village Well in Culver City on Saturday, September 6. I'll be in conversation with the illustrious Gail Eden Eichenthal, and will be signing copies of the book. shop.villagewell.com/events/32520...

I did not like the new Jurassic one bit. But I always welcome the chance to talk to the almighty Alexandre Desplat, who I've been interviewing almost yearly since 2008. Here I tried to place him in the wider context of other French composers who successfully transitioned to Hollywood A-listers.

JAWS is 50 years old this week, so I took a look at this seminal moment in John Williams' career—which was far more significant and also far less preordained and inevitable than it feels in hindsight—from a biographical point of view.

Author @tgreiving.bsky.social is "riveted" by my book Cracking the Kube: "I learned so much new information about Kubrick's personality, working method, and films. It was all done in such a breezily readable but always authoritative voice. I really, truly enjoyed it, all of it." Thank you, Tim! 🙏🏻

I recognize him