Memoirs of an undervalued composer: Shirley Walker 1945-2006

'76: Hey Victor
Me: Hi.
'76: you might enjoy this... (picture link to J. Alba)
Me: I usually would, yeah. But I just saw on Intrada's forums that Shirley Walker (Danny Elfman's conductor on Batman and an excellent composer in her own right) passed away yesterday. :(
'76: NO! thats terrible news. i love her score for Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Me: Brain aneurysm, apparently.
'76: thats terrible. i loved her work
Me: She did some excellent stuff for the WB's shows and Carpenter. I loved Memoirs of an Invisible Man too - and Space: Above and Beyond.
'76: never heard her score for Space
Me: The TV series - she did the pilot and all the episodes. Plus her theme for The Others was the best thing about that show.
'76: i love that Invisible Man score. always play it to get in the mood for writing an action scene
Me: Say this for John Carpenter; if he let someone else write the music for him, he made a good call that time.
'76: Well Carpenter is a man of great taste in general for me...this just cinches it
Me: Plus she was the only "outsider" he worked with more than once music-wise; Ennio Morricone and Jack Nitzsche were one-timers, but he used her again with Escape From L.A.
'76: this really is sad
Me: Yeah. November was a bad month for film music with her and Basil Poledouris passing. Not really in the mood for talking much.
'76: yeah
Me: I'm going to dig out my albums of hers and play them in tribute. Too bad she had so few released.
'76: ill do the same tomorrow

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and listen to Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Escape from L.A. and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.