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Launch 2012 Festival
Topic Started: Jul 25 2012, 07:27 AM (502 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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My contribution to this week-long event was last night, an evening of silent films accompanied by live music.

The venue: Bows and Arrows, a boutique, bar, restaurant, club.

The crowd: Probably about 75 people, all the place could hold.

The films:

The Fall of the House of Usher (U.S., 1928)
Joie de Vivre (France, 1934)

Two avant-garde classics to start the program, accompanied by improvisational jazz that impressed me so much I think I sat through the films with my mouth wide open.

His Marriage Wows (1925)

This Harry Langdon film was a smash. I'd never seen Langdon with an audience, and they liked it very much. We had one musician for this one, and he not only performed live, he had accompanied sound effects (breaking glass, auto horn, etc.) and he was wonderfully creative and probably not more than 27 or 28 years old. He did this all by himself. Again, just amazing, amazing work.

The Tantalizing Fly (1919)
Neighbors (1920)

For this one, we had a rock band and they did a great job. They used only percussion for the Max Fleischer cartoon, and then had written an entire score for the Buster Keaton film, a score that included a remarkable "theme" for whenever Buster would run from the cops or his father-in-law-to-be (he runs a LOT in this one). Folks, we truly did save the best for last... Everybody roared and applauded at every move Buster Keaton made. I have never seen anything like it.

I introduced the films in my usual wacky way, and got some nice questions, and was interviewed by a couple of different media people, and I want to spell the names of the musicians properly so I'll get back to you on that.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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This is great news. Live music changes the whole silent film experience. It is more fun with a big audience, isn't it?
Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Aug 2 2012, 01:08 PM.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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mort bakaprevski
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Sounds like a great evening.

Wish I'd been there!!
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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