Stan Warnow is not a professional musician. He’s a filmmaker and editor whose resumé includes the Woodstock documentary, the No Nukes concert film, the classic B-movie Honeymoon Killers, Saturday Night Live and tons more.
But even though he’d probably be more at home at the Oscars or Emmys, Stan will be at the 66th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles this year. He’s going because his late father — a musician, composer and inventor named Raymond Scott — is up for an award. If you’ve ever watched an old Warner Bros. cartoon featuring the likes of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck or Wile E. Coyote, you’ve heard Scott’s music.
But he’s not nominated for that. He’s up for Best Instrumental Composition for a song called Cutey & The Dragon, which he started writing back in 1982 — and which bandleader Gordon Goodwin recently completed and included on his 2023 album Raymond Scott Reimagined. You should definitely check it out — along with the 2010 documentary Deconstructing Dad, Stan’s tribute to his fascinating father. On the day onetime Woodstock performer Melanie died, Stan and I got on Zoom to talk about the Grammys, his dad, contemporary filmmaking and plenty more. Enjoy.
