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I'm Christina Yarlink-Biro, and coming up, I interview Blair Tindall, Obuis-turned-journalist whose memoir Mozart in the Jungle, Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music revealed the steamy goings on backstage of the classic music scene in New York City. The book was picked up by several members of the Coppola family and made into a much talked-about Amazon TV series that just got renewed for a second season. But first, journalist Kim Masters fills us in on how the Church of Scientology has reacted to the bombshells revealed in HBO's documentary Going Clear. Last week, HBO scored a ratings record with their most watched documentary in 9 years. Going Clear, directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney and based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright. The subject is Scientology, a popular religion in Hollywood founded by sci-fi author Elrond Hubbard. HBO has said that they had approximately 160 lawyers whose job it was to review the film in anticipation of challenges from the notoriously litigious Church of Scientology. The book and film feature interviews with prominent former Scientologists such as director Paul Haggis and members of the most inner circle, they allege serious abuses by Church leaders such as David Miscavige himself, allegations that the Church denies. It also covers the involvement of two of its biggest Hollywood members, actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Kim Masters, a prominent journalist, is editor at large of the Hollywood Reporter and host of KCRW's The Business. She investigated and reported on Scientology early on and is interviewed in the documentary Going Clear. I wanted to talk to Kim Masters about what happened since the documentary aired and what the Church's reactions have been. Oh, well Scientology has been very busy denouncing the film, they've given out a number of statements. They've certainly passed my Twitter feed and other people's Twitter feed with ads for Scientology and ads bashing Alex Gibney, the creator of the film as well as the former Scientologists who participated in telling their stories in the film. They've been out there doing the best they can. I don't know that it's particularly effective. Some people are making fun of their propaganda Saturday Night Live just did a thing, sending up Scientology. There's a lot of stuff happening that would not have happened several years ago of just making fun of the Church, just yesterday the LA Times reported a very interesting story about how David Miscavige, the head of the Church of Scientology, the Church had apparently hired a private investigator to follow his father who had left the Church and this story is just extraordinary. It appears that they're following the founder of the current head of the Church. This investigator had a car loaded with weapons when he was stopped by the police and told them the story of pursuing the head of the police actually asked him if he intended to kill David Miscavige's father, which he said he did not, but he also reported that he said that he had seen what he thought might be the father having a heart attack and called the Church and was instructed by the head of the Church not to intervene if it was his father's time to die to let him die. So there's been a lot of coverage of the Church and there he goes, there's my doggy. And this was just recently, they found this out. The report in the LA Times regarding the father, that just ran yesterday as we're speaking, so that ran on Wednesday here in April 8, I guess, here. And also Wednesday, we're recording this on Thursday. John Travolta made a statement about going clear. What did you make of that? Well, you know, John Travolta has, up until now, at least, he has made it his business to support the Church of Scientology, so it doesn't surprise me. I mean, it's sort of interesting because in my perception, John Travolta, I would speculate that he has a sort of an understanding that he does what he likes in his life as far as, you know, he just leads his life the way he would like to lead his life and he supports the Church and the Church leaves him alone. And so he came forward and supported the Church and that was it, you know, and I don't think to the surprise of no one. Right, right. What do you think is surprised U.S. audiences the most after Lawrence Wright's book in the documentary? Well, I think a lot of people, just not aware of the extent to which certain kinds of conduct have been carried out by the Church of Scientology. I mean, they've sort of had a vague idea, but the idea that there is, you know, that there are these kind of de facto prisons that the level of alleged abuse of people, you know, and the fact that people are willing, at this point, you know, to remain despite the alleged abuse. And even the theology, I mean, it really depends on how closely you've been paying attention. You know, if you read Lawrence Wright's book, the documentary going clear didn't necessarily shock you, although it's very compelling to see former members of the Church tell their stories and talk about, you know, terrible stories that had happened to them being separated from their children and so forth and so on. So if you had read the book, it wasn't that, that's shocking, but again, brought it much more into focus. And a lot of people haven't read the book, you know, the book did well, but lots of people don't really read. So I think I found there was a sort of a split reaction among the people who had read the book. They said, yeah, I knew that. And among the people who had not read the book, there was kind of a big surprise. A few things were left out of the documentary, there was less, for example, Tom Cruise divorced to Katie Holmes. There was a lot of things about Nicole Kidman as a judge. Oh, so much. And just to why the documentary? Yeah. Is it just for time or was there an more interesting reason? Well, I did not make this film, but I obviously was in the film, but I did ask Alex Gibney. There was a story that I particularly would have liked to see if everybody has their story. One thing I discovered early on when you write about Scientology, if the word gets out in the community of former Scientologists that you're planning to write about it, they call you with these stories, you know, terrible stories of things that supposedly happened to them. And in order to get a story finished, I found you had to just say, that is terrible. I'm sorry to hear that that happened to you, but I can't do that because I'm doing this story. And if I lose my focus, I will go into a rabbit hole and I'll never come out. There's too much to do. So there was a story about what had been done some years ago to one of the first journalists who tried to write about the Church of Scientology. This woman was framed. They broke into her apartment. They did terrible things to her. And you know, my feeling was, you know, for those of us who write about the church is sort of like there, but for the grace of God go, ah, they could have, if I had been one of the first, you know, that kind of behavior might have happened to me too. But you know, Alex said, I just couldn't do everything and I certainly understand that because when I've written about the church, I have, there have been several times in my career where I thought that would be great to pursue and that would be great to pursue. And either I couldn't because that wasn't what I was out, you know, setting out to do or I had editors at times who were afraid. Right. Right. So have you been threatened? I have not been like, by any means threatened. I'm, you know, the worst that's happened is, you know, sort of these phone calls where they try to tell you that, well, many legal letters, I would say, threatening, you know, and accusing that you're unethical and that you're relying on accounts of apostates, they like to use the language of religion, so they like to say apostates. They like to tell you that your sources were drug addicts or this or that, you know, unreliable people who are known to be X or Y and they turned up at my office once and they said they wanted to give me a book and I wasn't there and they were asking for my home address which was kind of funny because their lawyer has my home address but one of their lawyers. But maybe the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. So you know, there's a sort of a, I would, I'd call it in my case. I've heard much worse stories from colleagues of mine, you know, just kind of, it may be an implied kind of watching and were, were maybe we'll sue you and maybe we'll do this or that. But I've never really felt, you know, you're a little cautious. They, of course, deny everything. Well, they, they deny absolutely everything. They deny even, you know, their own doctrine sometimes they'll say, well, no, we never, we were never anti-gay, you know, whereas in fact they were and they would say, we never denied that autism is a condition that, you know, because there's often a lot of tension with Scientology about whether a psychiatric, you know, illness exists or is really an invention of this, the field of psychiatry, which is the enemy to Scientology. So they will turn around and say, we never saw that, even though they actually did. So you can't necessarily rely on the accounts that they get. But I have the feeling with now that, you know, you started quite early reporting on them, but after lots of more and more reports are coming, more and more films, why is the media not afraid any longer, if I can put it that way? Well, I think that the two things have happened, one of which is that the internet came into being and the internet I think have been very devastating for Scientology, because before there was an internet, people who left the church were isolated and very much afraid. I think that a lot of, you know, the, to this day, the people who are really facing what appears to be the retaliation from Scientology, those are primarily the people who were in the church who are members. So the internet enabled them to find each other, connect, form a community. And I think it emboldened people a great deal to speak. And of course, our jobs in the press are much easier when people are willing to go on the record and tell their stories, which is really what happened. And then I think the posture of the church somewhat changed. I mean, I think it seems to me that the current leadership of the church is a lot more focused on preserving the church's wealth and not getting into protracted, expensive, public battles that, you know, just really further damage the church's reputation in the past, you know, has led to people with the involved with the church to go to prison for things that they did. But, and then, you know, subsequently, there was much more, they were focused on lawsuits. But I think they just seem now, it's almost the feeling is, just let us do what we do and we won't necessarily spend our time suing you in the media. So, you know, it's just become a matter of time and internet and maybe a changed posture on the part of the church. And you're reporting, have you come to a conclusion why Scientology has been so attractive to Hollywood types? Well, yeah, as I said in the film, you know, Hollywood is a place where there's not a formula for success, you know, and there's not a pattern for, oh, you have these elements, so you're a movie star. I mean, there are a lot of very good-looking people and they're not movie stars. There are a lot of talented actors, they're not movie stars. So everybody operates with a level of insecurity unlike other businesses. I mean, you can, you can design a car that doesn't catch on. The chances are, if you build a really good car, you will have some kind of, you know, success-selling cars, whereas in the industry here, nobody really quite knows what makes things work. So, when somebody comes along and tells you that they have a science-based religion or whatever that will, any kind of formula, I mean, Scientology is hardly the only thing of that type to catch on in Hollywood, where you've got a lot of very insecure people looking for some kind of guarantee that things will go well for them, you can understand how that's appealing and creates a community, you know, and it certainly stars. Once you are a star, you get a tremendous amount of coddling and support from the church. So once you're in, it's extra attractive. I have a quote from author Lawrence Wright regarding the celebrity thing, sort of why he, he says, "The reason I single out Tom Cruise and other celebrities is that they have a moral responsibility to demand change inside their church, which is committing abuses, and they know about it. It's not a secret." Do you think that any of these stars will ever, the big ones, the visible ones, Tom Cruise and John Dravolt and such, will ever do that question their own church from within? No, it's the short answer. I don't, I mean, some have come out, Paul Haggis and Leah Rumini have come out and denounced Scientology. I don't think Tom Cruise knows about or if he knows about it, believes these allegations. You know, in Scientology, they are counseled not to go on the internet, not to read this stuff. This stuff is considered to be what they call and theta. You know, Scientology has a kind of religion, a language of its own. And theta is like negative energy that it would, it would mess up the practice of Scientology for you to engage with this kind of material, to read Lawrence Wright's book or to watch Alex's film. So I think they live in a kind of bubble where they don't know about it and if they do know about it, they think that suppressive persons, SPs, as they call them, are trying to put and theta on their lines, sort of talking about going into church jargon. But you know, that is the attitude. You know, maybe, you know, also if you're, as you might know, you know, if you are auditing, have been audited over a course of years, they've got a big fat file with absolutely everything you've ever done in it. And it takes a lot of, you know, you're putting all of that stuff potentially out into the public if you step away from the church and denounce it. But I mean, in this day and age, sort of the audiences and fans of these stars, after these documentaries, I mean, whether the stars believe it or not, but I'm thinking the fans would question even more that they're Scientologists and pretty much anything they could come out and say, I did this in my life or I've had this or, I mean, is it really so bad the secrets they can have in that auditing process is what I'm... Well, it may not seem so bad. We don't know. It may not seem bad to you or me, it may seem really bad to them. People are ashamed of all kinds of things and we don't know what it is. And obviously, I don't think we should know whatever they told somebody in confidence. But it seems, I mean, I think there's a difference. I think there are certain people who might... You know, right now, I'd say that the Hollywood talent who's involved in involved with Scientology, I don't think they've been recruiting that well. I think the ones who are still in are ones who grew up in the church, which we have a generation now, you know, of people who did grow up in the church. And other than that, they're not mega stars. Is that, for example, Beck? He grew up... Beck, right. Or... I'm blanking on her name. Elizabeth Moss? Yes. Elizabeth. Yeah. People like that. But you don't... You don't... I mean, first of all, the nature of stardom has changed so that the kind of star... We don't even have that many stars right now who are in the magnitude of a Tom Cruise in the... in his day. The businesses changed, you know, to some degree. But I don't think it's drawing in new star recruits that didn't grow up in the church much. I just think that for both Cruz and Travolta, the biggest star is in there, you know, I think Travolta is a little bit like he's sort of Switzerland. I don't... I don't know that he's still totally committed truly to Scientology. There were people who thought he might leave and he... he obviously hasn't. But that certainly a lot of former Scientologists, a few... in the past few years have had this idea that Travolta might leave. And Cruz, I think Cruz is 100% committed. I just think he believes and he thinks everything negative is... is fabricated and that's where he is. That's what I guess is so hard to believe with someone who meets so many people on film locations and all that. And no one... I mean, whether he thinks it's true or not, but no one is telling him about the documentary or what's in it or it just seems... I think he knows it exists probably and then... and probably thinks, you know, the bad people are at it again. You know, that's what he probably thinks. Well, lastly, do you think things will be different for the church now that so many people have seen this documentary and it's a little bit more public? Things are going... Well, the big question, you know, would be whether the church loses its tax exempt status. And there's a petition to press the government to open this up again. And I have to think at some point, it is a little embarrassing, the kind of allegations that I mentioned about David Miscavige, the church having a private investigator chasing his father around and the kind of... This whole debacle, it just seems like at some point the federal government might sort of take a look, but that might open up this volley of litigation again. And it's kind of an amazing thing that the government cannot seem to take on as well funded an adversary as the church of Scientology. It's the legal resources to fend them off, you know, they are not available to the United States government, it appears. So that would be the next... I think if Alex Gibney were to be asked, what would you like to see happen? That would be his answer, but I don't know that it will happen. But if it would happen, if they would get their tax exemption revoked, would the church just collapse in terms of money then? I think it would be devastating from what I understand. I don't think they have so many members right now, you know. I think they're sitting on a huge amount of property and money. And you know, that it's kind of... If the church of Scientology actually hired a private investigator, to chase the church leader's father, you know, it's kind of a weird thing to think that that is subsidized by American taxpayers, but you know, I mean, look, as Scientology would point out, I will say, you know, there has been a lot of criminal activity inside the Catholic church, and nobody talks about them losing the subsidy that they get. So if you're sitting there in their chair, they say, hey, what are you picking on us for? Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thank you so much, Kim Masters, for taking your time. My pleasure. Switching over to a very different world, the TV series Mozart in the Jungle by creators Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, and Alex Timbers is about the inner workings of the classical music scene in New York City. And it made quite a splash when it premiered on Amazon this January. In it, Malcolm McDowell plays a retiring conductor being replaced by the fiery new Maestro Rodrigo, played with bravado by Gayal Garcia Bernal. Many have speculated whether the Rodrigo character is based on, or even a parody of, the real conductor in the L.A. Philharmonics, Venezuelan Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. Dola Kirk, who's the real life sister of girl star Jemima Kirk, plays Haley, a young, very talented oboist just starting out. The show follows the intrigues, backstabbing, love affairs, wild lives, power struggles of the musicians, conductors, and administrators at the New York Symphony. The first violin, played sharp 17 times in the first movement alone, and we weren't able to perceive Tchaikovsky's desired dynamic shift from March 27th to 34. Changes will be made. I thought I knew every oboist in town, I'm Cynthia. Cynthia Taylor, I know you're a second cello in the New York Symphony. You're really good. Thank you. All I spend my time doing is like figuring out how to make money, and none of it is about the art. I don't care what the hell you're doing right now, drop in and get over to the symphony hall. Rodrigo is holding auditions. Get in here from me. I saw you. You have talent. The show and oboist character, Haley, are based on Blair Tyndall and her very revealing memoir called Mozart in the Jungle, Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music. Miss Tyndall played obo professionally for 25 years, under conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta. She played with the New York Philharmonics, the San Francisco Symphony, and in the Broadway pits. I'm very happy to speak to Blair Tyndall, who not only wrote the book, but is a consultant on the TV series Mozart in the Jungle that just got greenlit for a second season on Amazon. Thank you so much for having me. Have you ever played in Scandinavia? Actually, I have not ever been to a Scandinavian country and I was going to come this summer. Oh, good. Oh, you were or you are? I'm just starting to put it together now. You definitely have to come to Stockholm. It's beautiful. Well, this will be my 49th country. I'm almost up to 50. Oh, wow. Well, then you really saved us for last. When did you start playing an instrument? I started playing piano when I was four or five, and then obo is something that you can't play when you're that small because you just can't reach the keys. So I took up the obo at 11. Why the obo as a child? It's like an interesting choice. Well, remember, I'm not from a big city. I'm from a university town in the southern U.S. and from North Carolina. We didn't even have an orchestra program, but we had a band class, and they put us all in the sixth grade, so we were 11 and 12, in a room and gave us a test very complicated. Is this note louder or softer, higher or lower? And then they went through all of us in alphabetical order and let us choose our instruments. I was third from last, and they only had obos and bassoons left. Okay. So that's what I got. But you actually stuck with it. I mean, you enjoyed it. I'm not sure I enjoyed it, but there, obo is an unusual instrument. It's very difficult to play, and you kind of become teacher's pet if you play it fairly well, and it makes you stand out. There are hundreds of flutists, but there are very few obos or bassoonists. What is special about the instrument, beside it being unusual, but there's not too many? Well, I think, you know, a lot of little girls dream of playing the flute. You look very angelic and beautiful. The obo is just this kind of gray zone. It looks so much like the clarinet. I don't think people are really aware of what it is, which makes it extra specially exciting that there is now a television show based on my book, where the main character plays the obo. Yeah. So playing the flute, you really can look fairly attractive. Playing the obo, it's very high pressure. You're blowing air very, very fast into this tiny hole, the size of the head of a pen. And you know, veins start popping out, your face gets red, you look ridiculous. So not that popular. You also have to make your own reed mouthpieces. So that adds a whole dimension that a lot of people lose patience with pretty quickly. What do you mean make your own, you get some, I mean, you actually construct it? Yes, you buy cane. It's a type of bamboo called Orundo Donax. It grows in the south of France. So I, you know, will order a couple of kilos of the stuff from Antebbe. And then you have this whole factory set up at home where you end up making them into a double reed mouthpiece. Wow. That's fascinating. Things you don't know. And as a small, as a kid, how much of your life was music in practice? Well, we spent some time in Vienna when I was really small. So I was exposed to opera and ballet and things that I never would have been able to see back home in North Carolina. And I got interested in music at that point. And when I got to high school, which was in my state, the 10th grade, I went away to a state boarding school for the arts called the North Carolina School of the Arts. And so it was just, you know, music 24/7 from then on and went on to college at a conservatory. Well, Mozart and the John Glamy, both your book and the series that's based on your book, it really sort of dives into the inner workings of the professional classical music world. And sort of like any other contained world, I guess you have intrigues and power and power struggles and love affairs and drugs and everything. But can you paint this a picture of your life as a young oboist starting out professionally in New York City? Well, I was very fortunate. My teacher from the North Carolina School of the Arts had won the principal obo job in the New York Philharmonic just as I graduated from high school. So when I went to college at the conservatory, he fairly quickly, I was his best student, and he fairly quickly got me onto the substitute list at the New York Philharmonic. So, you know, somebody's sick or they need an extra obo for something like the right of spring that has five obos instead of the usual four, I would get called to come in and play from, I think, I started when I was 22. And then once you're seen there, people ask you to play all kinds of freelance jobs. So this was in the early '80s, and it was a certain time and place. It was, things were very freewheeling in New York. I never did drugs, but I was certainly around a lot of people who did drugs. And it was that parcel of time where women had the pill, so you didn't have to worry about pregnancy, but we didn't know that AIDS existed yet. So there were sex clubs all over town, like Plato's retreat, and all this crazy stuff was going on. It was still sort of the tail end of Studio 54 and everything, wasn't it, that era? Exactly. That sums it up, and cocaine was everywhere. But did you, like, go as an orchestra family around and do all these things? No, not really. The partying existed mostly in people's homes. People really would. There's a scene that a lot of people claim would never happen in the pilot episode of the show, where people are drinking and getting high. They've actually rigged up in the show something called a gongenome, where there's a marijuana joint attached to one of those old-fashioned metronomes that ticks back and forth. Right. People are very funny. But they're having a drunken spin-the-bottle playoff, where a flutist and the oboeist who is playing me spin the bottle, and it lands on a type of music, like contemporary, romantic, classical, and then they have to play an excerpt, drunk. I see these funny comments online, "Oh, a real musician would never do that." Well, if we'd only thought of the spin-the-bottle game, we certainly would have used that. I mean, everybody I know wants to play the spin-the-bottle game, and, you know, we would have parties with all the usual drinking, and we'd just have a great time and play chamber music, and it was tons of fun. But can you actually play a concert the day after the night like that at your level at the New York Philharmonics? Well, it's certainly been done. Did you? I did. I'm sure I would have sounded much better had I not done that the night before. And that's for somebody at the level of the New York Philharmonic, you know, these people are. It's a big job. They really don't behave that way. The freelance world is something different. I mean, to keep your job at a major orchestra like that, you really do have to take care of yourself and behave and be on the top of your game. I know that you've said that you're particularly proud that your book sort of highlighted the unsung heroes of the sort of union musicians. That was my intent. And there was a lot of backlash from people who I do not think actually read it. A lot of musicians read the jacket cover, which I didn't write. My editor wrote to, you know, he read it in a way to sensationalize the book to make people buy it. It's a business. And I think a lot of musicians thought that I had, if somebody's name was in it, I was saying something negative about them when in 90% of the cases, the opposite was true. I was trying to celebrate my colleagues because I don't think people realize how hard they work and how much sacrifice. Well, actually you were blacklisted, right, from the YouTube to working professionally. Blackwasting is kind of an informal term. You know, there are no rules about how you get hired or not hired, really. And when I moved to, for example, I was very busy in New York my whole life. When I moved to San Francisco to go to journalism school, I was immediately playing in the San Francisco Symphony and, you know, teaching at Oboe at Berkeley and I worked all the time. Moved back to New York, wrote the book, came out here to Los Angeles, which has a very much thriving musical scene. Just, you know, I did all the usual things that I had done before when I moved to San Francisco, nothing I got, I have had one union job in 10 years. But I continue being a member because there are a lot of great benefits. They give us lots of music technology classes for free, so it's well worth paying the union dues. So after 25 years of so, of being a freshman, you made a pretty big career change. You got a full scholarship to Stanford and became a journalist and you've written for New York Times and such. In your first book, if I understand this correctly, most sort of the joke, right off the bat, who calls but the copola family? How did this happen? Well, the book was, I was such a Hollywood outsider, I'm not anymore. No! Who would have thought that? You know, when I'm 55 years old, these things don't happen for people like, I had had the first review of the book was in publication called Entertainment Weekly. It's a Hollywood trade publication that everybody reads every week. And I didn't know what it was. I thought it was, you know, I lived in New York, sheltered my whole adult life. I thought it was a free giveaway in a doctor's office or something. It's like the main industry, magazine, that and variety and Hollywood reporter. So I was the book of the week. There's a picture of me and I guess Jason Schwartzman saw it. He's Francis Ford copola's nephew and cousin of Roman and Sophia copola. And the family has a couple of, the grandfather and great uncle of Jason were very, very famous musicians. The great uncle is still alive, he's 98 and he was at the premiere acting like he was 30. That's great. He attributed a lot of funny stories. So they know music and, you know, there's been a lot of grumbling in the music community about this little thing isn't correct. Well, they know. I mean, they really know music. But it's, you know, it's meant to be entertainment and you have to use a certain shorthand to get the drama and the comedy across. So this was very close to their heart than the copola family, considering their, the musical background. His grandfather was actually a big conductor, right? The grandfather was Carmine, so he was a flutist, principal flutist in the NBC symphony. Right. He's no longer with us, but the great uncle is Anton Copa when he's the conductor, both of them composed too. And was Anton, was he involved in the production at all or is he? Yes, he contributed a lot of stories and little insider jokes and things. There's a funny scene where the younger conductor Rodrigo is going on and on about, you know, I want this nuance and that nuance and one musician turns to the other and says, does he want it faster? Well, which is a kind of Hackney musician joke if you're in the business, but it is funny. Right. Right. Right. So I just have to ask when we're talking about Rodrigo. He's so incredibly special, fantastic character and he's so hands on. First of all, Rick, is it a little bit due to Mel? I think it's 100% due to Mel, that's what I was thinking. But to a total amateur like me who doesn't, can you actually explain the difference for you as a musician between different, like what would be the difference between like a Bernstein, Ameta and a Duda Mel? I mean, is it their style? Is it the way they work with you before? I mean... Well, I haven't worked with Duda Mel, but I've worked with the other two. Right. I think there's one common thread there that's rather unusual among conductors, which is they are all of those three guys are respectful of the musicians, which we don't encounter much. And if you feel trust from the conductor that you're going to do a good job and if you feel like you're being valued, you're going to do a much better job because you're not terrified. Bernstein I only worked with at the end of his life and he was pretty, well, he was all as a character, but there was just something internal about Bernstein that was, it's hard to describe. He could almost not even use his hands and you would play like a God for him. He just, there was something very special in his spirit. Mel is a terrific conductor technically and he's just a wonderful man. He's a terrific guy. He's always a real supporter of the musicians. But technically, he was fantastic and I hope I play under him again. He's still quite active. And when you say that there's conductors that would instill fear, how would they do that? Just make you nervous and that you were playing wrong or is it? Well, there's a, there are a couple of things. There's the glare and there's the hand. When you see the hand like a traffic cop coming at you meaning softer and you can't play any softer because you're in a low register or something that you just can't play any softer, or you're coming up to an entrance that's very difficult to do deaf. It's very hard to play in a lower register on the oboe softly, because I played second oboe mostly in the Philharmonic. I saw the hand a lot and I saw the upcoming entrance glare a lot. I was just, they're just quaking in my boots. I mean, it can be terrifying, it sounds silly, but... No, I've seen whiplash. I think. That was a terrific movie. You do like it as a professional musician because that was terrifying. We go through the same sort of thing. And I have to say one of the, this isn't conductor related, but one of the more terrifying moments for a young musician, young oboist, is the audience goes silent after the concert master walks out. He stands, looks at you, the oboist, and you have to give the A. It's like the solo of your life. And it is possible to give the A is the tuning note. It's possible for it to just, you can really butcher that. Oh, no. Has that happened to you? It's happened to everybody. As life goes on though, it's kind of second nature now. But getting back to the series, so you spent time on sets, you've been the writer's room and advisor and contributed to the stories, you even have a cameo. How important has authenticity been to the filmmakers, to Roman Copeland, them? Oh, my gosh. Very much so. One of the things that pleases me no end is that they, I think about 350 musicians were hired either to be on screen recorded or be coaches. All of the actors had an instrumental coach who was there full time. That's amazing. Yeah. And I think string instruments, I don't want to devalue anybody's performance, but string instruments are just very, very hard to mine unless you really play one. Safran Burrows, who plays the cellist, actually does play the cello. It's her third cello role and she studied with the principal cello of the New York Philharmonic to get ready for it. Social. Oh, real? Yeah. And when instruments are pretty easy to fake. Well, I have two friends here in Sweden who are professional musicians for 20 years and they were extremely impressed, but not, I mean, also just of how Lola Kirk will just pick up the oboe and just little tiny little details that you seem to have thought of. I agree. That's very astute. She, one of the first things that I noticed was that she really had all the quirky little weird characteristics of even how you pack up the oboe or, and one of the stranger things there is no reason she had to look like me, but she is a dead ringer for me when I was that age. Oh, that's amazing. And even her mannerisms and everything, it just, it's just a coincidence. Wow. And who trained, who trained her, did, were you, did you, could you work with her since it's your instrument? No, because it was shot in New York and I was on the west coast. So I didn't. They hired a young lady named, I can't remember her name. I hadn't known her before, but she had a, you know, a professional oboeist as a coach. And she can play a little bit. I think she kind of, she didn't really need to play, but she, she learned enough so that she can do a pretty good job. And what about Gabriel Garcia Bernal, who, who trained him, I mean, who worked with him? Oh, well, this is interesting. A friend of mine named Conrad Harris was his violin coach. And I have to say, he did really well. I thought. He looked quite, I wasn't even aware he wasn't really playing. So and for conducting, he had the flutist conductor, Ransom Wilson, as a coach, very well American conductor. I love the way they tied the administrative stuff in, because it's such a big part of our world. But they have the, you know, cheesy PR, I don't, does that make sense, cheesy? Oh, yeah. The hair, the, what was it? The, yeah. Yeah. Feel the hair? What was it? Hear the hair. And it's, I mean, that's an old musician joke too. We all say, we see some new conductor and he's got a great head of hair. Well, he's got to be good. He's got the hair. Has, has Duda Mel commented at all, you know? Yes, I do. I'm friends with the woman who runs the LA Phil, who's actually appears to be the basis for Bernadette Peters' character, Deborah Borda. Oh, she said he's afraid to watch it. Oh, I'm sure he's watched it. She just doesn't want to say anything. I don't know. I would be afraid too, but I mean, I think that the, I think that the Rodrigo character is just so human and real and obviously great musician, I think he'll really be flattered. I think they've taken the best parts of your book, but since, of course, Duda Mel wasn't during your time. They've also made some really, really cool auditions. Do you feel the same way when you see it? 110%, I am so happy with every last thing they did. How involved are you in season two? Congratulations, by the way, for... Well, I couldn't imagine that we weren't going to get a season two. They did such an amazing job. They're just putting it together now, and I, I just got new representation with one of the big Hollywood agencies, the GERSH agency. So we're working on getting me into a more active role. I don't want to interfere, but I do have a lot of knowledge that could come in handy. Okay. And you may be writing even more for them, for that, for season two. I would love to. Well, this was so much fun. Thank you so much, and we really enjoy the series, and it was so great to get to talk to you and hear behind the scenes, and good luck with everything else. Thanks for reaching out. I really appreciate it. And that's it. Oh, please join me again next week when I interview one of the coolest writers, producers in television. She's worked on everything from Colbert to Portlandia to Kimmy Schmidt. Alison Silverman will be one of my guests. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and I'd love to hear from you. Production engineering and editing by Tom Hanson. Web design by Andreas Knudson and music by Carl Bohr. Producers Renee Witteschteth, thanks to Tumasil, Albin Vikander, and Piedtobero. I'm Christina Yurlingbero, and thanks for listening. Hello podcast fans, it is I, Bruce Vellanche. For over 25 years, I worked on the Academy Awards, so you didn't have to. During that time, I've seen and heard things that should not be seen or heard or certainly felt. And now, for the first time, I'm sharing all my behind the scenes stories and firsthand knowledge about the Oscars. The blood, the sweat, the tears, the slap, all the things you didn't see. So join me as I use humor and insight to break down the Oscar Awards of the past to explain how and why your favorite movie didn't win. Why some actors and some directors had to fire their agents and how the whole process works or sometimes doesn't work. This is the Oscars, what were they thinking? Available wherever you get podcasts. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Exploring the Church of Scientology’s reaction to the revealing new documentary ‘Going Clear’ and diving head first into the world of sex, drugs and classic music of ‘Mozart in the Jungle’. Guests: In this episode we speak with Kim Masters, Editor-at-Large of the Hollywood Reporter and host of KCRW's The Business, to get insights into how the Church of Scientology is reacting to the controversial new documentary on HBO – ‘Going Clear’. Blair Tindall, oboist and author of the memoir "Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music" talks about her experiences in the New York City classical music scene and working with Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman on the TV series based on her book.
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