...and methinks that I won't be doing business with anyone else after this!
I wish I could relay in words just how wonderful a gang the Intrada hamsters are. I'm in San Francisco for a conference and was hell-bent on making it over to Oakland and the Intrada offices while I am in town (which is superbly lovely...why the
didn't my life lead me to this city, eh?!). I arranged for a short visit and to pick-up a couple of CD, about 30 minutes max.So I hopped on the train and then a bus to Montclair and the location of the Intrada office is in a small, village-like part of Oakland nestled on a hill, lots of trees and bushes (all green...it's Dec. 4!). Jeff J., chief hamster and mail handler welcomed me and we talked shop for a bit before he put my order together. He offered me to look through Intrada's inventory and I added some more CDs to my order (which included Rise of the Guardians, The Shadow and the new Conan), after which I personally oversaw his charging my credit card. A job well done!
While waiting for Doug Fake to arrive, I met George Ch. and Steve M., i.e. the guys who wrap up and package all of (y)our orders. At one point, I even carried out a box of orders to the post car! (If those orders inexplicably don't arrive, you can blame me!) Had a lovely chat about geology and the world with George...who at first I probably freaked out by just apparently being in the office on my own!
Eventually, Doug F. and his daughter Regina arrived and the next thing I know is that I'm being bear-hugged by Doug Fake!
Needless to say, my day was made after that. Talking with Doug about this and that, who shared a lot of anecdotes about working on projects and his dealings with grumpy composers on one hand and disgruntled fans on another, was truly a treat. I'm incredibly thankful for having been given a look into some of Intrada's future releases and oh boy, I grinned my ears (?) off at them. You all should go buy next Monday's big release, because if you don't, I'm gonna do it for you! Doug is an incredibly sweet and soft-spoken person and it was great to see the easy camaderie in the Intrada office. They are where and what they are for a reason; Jeff swears a lot, though! 
Doug and Regina invited me for lunch and over it, we talked some more about the state of the art, instruments, a bit about the situation the world is in, that Gustavo Santaolalla should never have won any award and that we share the hope that before long, the recent "drought" in film music may turn around for better before long. We also agreed on that French Horns are fantastic instruments...
Anyhoo, after that it was close to five hours I had spent at Intrada and I had to get back to SF. I gave the Intrada staff a small gift from Canada, thanked them truly, really and honestly for both their great work, past, present and future, their patience in dealing with this bunch of malcontents and misfits (shut up, you over there. Yes, YOU!) and for allowing me to visit them and being so very generous with their time in "entertaining" this particular gay European socialist. And now they have my thanks in writing! (And continually in my signature...) I hope I didn't make too much of a fool of myself...
Oh yeah, visual proof that this happened (and some more photos will be coming soon):
(George Ch., Regina F., Jeff "DA BOMB" J., Doug F., CK, Wendy C., Steve M. and Kerry [?] {Roger F. is AWOL])
Ta & tata, Christian (still elated, though slightly embarrassed that my little Intrada appreciation video from 5 years ago is still fondly remembered by these guys
)
