Messages from Brian Bennett~$750,000 Positive Payola Available and A Visit from the Ghost of Debussy

GO HERE TO GET YOUR PAYOLA 

THEN SEND YOUR FRIENDS HERE TO GET CLAIR

Why all of a sudden am I giving away money?  Because I watched Twilight - finally - that's how long it took to get over what might have been done to my Clair de Lune performance and quit imagining the worst.  But you have to understand, I'd worked and waited, recorded and threatened to quit playing th epiano ever again, off and on for nearly 30 years trying for that recording.  

When it finally came, hard-won as it was, it wasn't even from my own efforts, really, but through a kind of mediumistic sleepwalking. Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure it's not repeatable...it felt like the kind of magic I experienced while watching Twilight, actually, magic that spanned more than a century.  I've written a little more about it elsewhere on this site and may elaborate later, but let's just say, I was visited by the ghost of Claude one chilly Spring morning at 3 AM and by 4 AM I had the recording they used in Twilight.

It always happens this way - even my little boy does this - I did not have any reason to torture myself with worry about something I couldn't change anyway for two years!  So let this be a lesson to me - it was quite the opposite, such a relief, it might have been embarassing if I had not experienced it alone.  But so many Hollywood conioscenti had told me how dorky Twilight was I wasn't about to even admit I'd seen it.  And it was so far from what they'd gotten me to expect that I will never believe those people again!  

I was enthralled from the opening credits and it only grew stronger from that point on.  After it ended - way too fast, my only complaint - I put it on again "to see how my scene fit in", then again after I'd again watched it all the way through, then again, until I finally fell asleep in the middle, several showings later.  The next day I put it on again and watched all day.  Finally, I had to admit that I was already a total Twilight addict and I now understood the entire "fan" phenomenon, where I ever had before.

I was humbled by how my performance was used and surprised that Edward and Bella's characters, and the way they were played so halting and fragile, knowing they were not safe, even protected by their intense love.  It is exactly how I had played Clair de Lune, and I'd never heard anyone else play it the same way.  It was in fact the "secret Young Claude in love gave me that night.  HI quoted him - he said it somuch better - in another blog, but basically, he said, "I was ion the whole of love, so there was as much fear as love," and that's what had been missing from my performances, a carefully planned, safe performance that could never be balls-out because it was imbued through every cell (every beat, every frequency choice-we call musical notes) with fear. Edward's performance especially had that fragile quality, but underscored with the same planning, the same confidence and strength one must have wehen staring into the face of suich a powerful force as romantic love with such power.  

In order for Clair de Lune to be played correctly, one could not think about tempo and experssion markings.  One had to be in the moment totally, WITH the melody. How long do I h old onto that note - the single one that must cary over a millisecond longer, in order to just kiss the next phrase, tentatively, not as if you are sure she'll respond.  How hard to I play that two note chord - oh, so soft it barely sounds?  Then there's the fact I could only ever have played it on that piano - the cutom-made 9' Yamaha that three hit shows had paid for (over $100,00!) - no other piano sounded like it. Yamaha had retooled the action, the way the keys respond to my touch, to exactly match the Bosendorfoer Imperial Grand, but kept the same sound. I had listened for two weeks, to every piece I knew how to play, to a Steinway, Bluthner, Bosendorfer and Yamaha - all  conert grands next to each other in David Abell's piano store in Hollwyood.  I couldn't choose - the Yamaha sounde dbest but the Boasendorfer felt the best. Finally I realized I couldn;t buy the Yamaha because of the action.  So if Yamaha wanted to sell me a piano they'd have to fix it.  To even David Abell's surprise, they said yes and almost two years, edlivered my piano.  Another store tried to get it off the boat in New york.  They had cooke dit for 9 months of that time to reduce the moisture in the soundboard to match LA's dry air.  

But back to Clair - although the elephant ivories and broken trees did conceal this performance, the most important part was the communication I had received from beyond the grave.  Don't think less of me for that, every composer communicates with the dead.  Duke Ellington once said he got his melodies from dreams and Sravinky's Rite of Spring was a dictation exersize - he'd gotten the whole thing from a dream.  The list goes on and on, we all do it.  And if you don;t believe in magic, then you tell me where musical ideas come from!  

Who would ever have guessed, for instance, that the key that I had been missing for 30 years was that Clair de Lune had to be filled with fear - tentative expressions of an achingly beautiful melody.  Just like when Bella presses play and Edward shrinks back almost imperceptively apologizing, "It's Debussy" and Bella as quickly reassures him, "I love Clair de Lune."  But then there is another moment, equally tense, and those moments are nothing compared to what happens later.  We know all this from the way the music interacts with the dialogue in the scene in Edward's bedroom where they listen to Clair de Lune and try to dance to it, something they do at the end of the movie, too.  But why is this scene different from every other scene that uses romantic music to set a mood?  Because this beautiful melody sets up as much tension as it does romance, more maybe.  And one of the truths Claude gave me was that the more confidence you have as a performer - and I'm speaking of the author, the actors and my playing of Clair de Lune - the more you can stray from the center of the performance. So my Clair is NOT just beautiful, there is fear in it - it is not just about how much love I can show - there is an awkwardness and tentativeness, so that it comes across almost fragile and brittle.  AND WHAT AMAZED ME is that Edward's character makes the exact same choices (and I don;t think Stephanie Meyers had heard my performance when she added Clair de Lune to the story as Edward's favorite music).  The music works almost opposite of the way music usually works, which is what makes it s fascinating as a case study for composers working in any kind of dramatic context.  For once, music does not supply most of the emotional foreshadowing.  In fact, this time, the characters do more to explain my fragile, hands-off performance of such an outwardly beautiful melody - first slow, then fast-then-quickly-slow again, apparently never quite sure how to speak of love, just like Edward, playing the scene over the CD player in his bedroom.  How did author Stephanie Meyers know there would be a performance like this one of Clair de Lune? I've never heard one - and none of the ones I have heard would have matched her character like that - more magic.  

All this is the long way 'round to explaining why I am to giving all this money to Twilight fans.

They understand Atlantic's product more than Atlantic does.  They know how important this one piece of music is to Bella and Edward and to Twilight.  And because Atlantic doesn't, they have abused Twilight fans, in my opinion.  Even before I saw the film, I thought they should have included Clair de Lune on the CD, then when they failed to realize how important it was to the story, should have at least made it available as a separate track. When I found out they hadn't a year before I saw the film, I started the process of offering it myself, believing it would be moot and they would have released a separate download by now.  In a way I'm glad they didn't because after I saw the movie, I was filled with rage against the machine that was making my fellow Twilight fans pay for the score twice in order to get Clair de Lune.  It isn't fair.  

So I made sure Twilight fans did not have to buy the same music twice and when they downloaded the separate track, they would get a FAR better copy - the 24-bit master, which is 10,000 times the quality of the copy they took their copy from.  Problem is, I don't know how to get word out to that many people.  

Three million buyers of the CD don't have Clair de Lune and don't know they can get it here for a buck.  So as I was trying to figure out this new puzzle, the guy doing the coding for the player to let people download directly from the original master called me from Vancouver and said he might have a solution. We could at least make it worthwhile for people to mention it to their friends by giving them a cut.  "Oh," I said, "Payola!"  We both laughed but I guess it is just that, but not illegal.  He had figured out how to use Paypal and the Internet to streamline "kickbacks" to Twilight fans who tell other Twilight fans where they can get Clair de Lune.  

I can give money to anyone who refers anyone paid automatically to whatever email address they say.  It's the first time I've ever had the chance to give back to the people who matter in this business, instead of the managers and agents who grab their commission for themselves!  The timing couldn't have been better.

Twilight fans are the most amazing people I know of.  They understand what I feel, which is that Twilight is an amazing work of cinematic mastery and a story without equal.  The performances are not good, they are perfect.  Edward especially, but he needs Bella to shine.  Still, he is the most alluring, romantic and vibrant character to hit the silver screen, as I said in another post, "Since before they started calling it a silver screen" and without Bella's sweet strength he would have had nothing to play that allure off of, no way to show the underlying strength that makes his hesitance possible.  His star turn belongs partly to her as he depends on her subtle, gorgeous portrayal of the rare combination of strength and innocence she elucidates for us, and it looks like girls are taking her seriously, internalizing a heartfelt artist, a huge personal relief, being dad to a tweenager myself.

So in the middle of wrestling with the technology, trying to get Clair out there with Atlantic Records still refusing to make it available unless you bought the whole soundtrack from them, I was handed a small victory that could be large - that I hope will be large.  It will be a succor punch to the face of corporate America if I can help my friends and Twilight's fans, who I consider one and the same, to stuff their pockets full of cash while undermining and embarrassing Atlantic Records for mistreating their customers this way.  They have showed beyond a doubt that they are content to rake in millions unfairly to add to the millions they've already made.  I believe they should prosper for making such a great artistic achievement available, but for being unfair, they should pay, and the way I know of to make any corporation pay is to show them a pile of money they DIDN'T make!  It will be interesting to see if they really don't give a rats ass how badly they piss off their own customers!  Over 3 million CDs have sold, none with Clair de Lune, the only music Edward and Bella talk about through a whole scene, and which is likely to be "their song" at the wedding in the last film.  And they still don't appear to care that people feel abused by them for having to buy the soundtrack twice.

Well, the verdict is in and it didn't take that long, really.

The download is already available here.  So not only can you now download the single track, you get a better copy than Atlantic's own executives can get their hands on.  I own the master so I get to say who gets a copy of it: My fellow Twilight fans, not corporate America.

Then, because my friend at websitemusicplayer.com coded the player to let people purchase it without going to iTunes, adding ingenious coding that allows my friends to get 25% of every download (in the 3 minutes it takes to fill out the form) and I get to put $750,000 cash (at least!) into the pockets of the very customers Atlantic Records would have screwed (tried to screw, even succeeded in screwing 500,000 just the first week of the digital release of the -16-bit Claire, making it the most-downloaded music in Internet history).

Please take advantage of this - it only takes three minutes - I tried it, and automatically pays whatever email address you type in, so your grandma or your favorite charity can get your share, if you don't want or need the money.  I am making all this available entirely because of the immense respect I have for my fellow Twilight fans, who are loyal because they recognize an artistic creation with incredible worth and generosity of spirit, and have responded with their hearts.  Those are the kind of people I like to have in my life and am glad I get to share this world with.  Most importantly, I am at peace knowing my son gets to live among you.

I invite you all in!

From my heart, expressing the undying devotion Claude Debussy left for his Clair in that haunting melody, to my fellow Twilight fans, and to my twelve-year-old son, Skye, the light of my life, I dedicate this recording, the site and $750,000!

PLEASE come and get it.  I like to think we can make "payola" positive in the internet age. 

Paypal's Positive Payola

A $750,000 Kickback delivered direct to your email box!

You've probably seen the headlines, 'PAYOLA RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD!" And it's true.  Brian's Facebook, MySpace and Real Life friends are going to receive upwards of $750,000 just by taking a few of their friends by the neck and directing them toward where someone has finally given them Clair de Lune for a dollar.  Nearly 4 million fans have bought the Twilight CD that is missing the most important song int he film and fans get 25% of the cash when they finally figure out they can download it for chump change at the tiny blog site the song's arranger and performer set up just for that purpose.

But they also can hear other piano pieces Edward probably also considered when deciding Clair de Lune was his favorite.  It reads like a hit parade of the past millennium - at least as far as piano music is concerned.

Consider it retribution for Atlantic Records' refusal to let any of the 3 million fans who bought the CD, making it quadruple platinum the first week and setting fire to all "box office" records, then refusing to give a inch and make the song downloadable on its own.  Bennett is giving Twilight fans access to the 24-bit original master he owns and controls, and Atlantic Records didn't spring for.

"Most of my friends need the money," said Bennett, "Even if they didn't a few years ago. But those who don't those that don't can give their 25% - that comes out to 3/4 of million dollars, automatically to any email address.  They don't even have to do the footwork to find out where they live," Bennett says, then immediately suggests the girl scouts, "So I can keep getting those cookies every year!"

It only takes three minutes to divert those funds into yours, or anyone else's private email account.by signing up at the website belonging "to the guy who did the coding", says Bennett."

"Then," he continues, a twinkle never once leaving his eye, "If you like what you hear, please email Stephanie Meyers and tell her.  The wedding scene is coming up and if any song could be called 'Their Song', it is my performance of Clair.  I have a few surprises, too - three different versions, all faithful to the original but in different styles of music.  Who would have ever thought you could dance to Clair de Lune."

Enjoy the music, then go here and get your share of the cash - please!