Ben Model’s blog

  • I will be rawther busy in June. Here is the schedule for the repeat-showings of nearly all the silent film programs in Charles Silver’s Auteurist History of Film series. It’s going to be a blast revisiting all these, and in three weeks of daily screenings of silent film. This go-round,…

  • Have just gotten the “OK” to announce my performance on Fri May 7 accompanying “The Complete ‘Metropolis’” at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntingotn, NY (that’s on Long Island, folks). This is the new restoration with 25 minutes of lost footage restored. The C.A.C. is doing a one-week run of…

  • Day one of Cinefest 30 has gone well. Played for a pair of features from the late ‘teens this morning – Life’s Harmony (dir Frank Borzage) and The Wild Girl (with Eva Tanguay) – and just played for Charley Chase in The Sting of Stings. I’d played for it (same…

  • A new episode of “Meet Me At The Corner” was posted today on meetmeatthecorner.org, a well-traveled educational website of virtual field trips. The episode is about silent film and its music, and I was the guest in the piece. We shot this last fall, when the Colorado-based producer, Donna Guthrie,…

  • I know, I know, I haven’t posted any video here in a few weeks. To keep you happy, here is a 1929 Mack Sennett short co-starring Carole Lombard that I just uploaded to YouTube. It has a score by Lee Erwin, which he performed and recorded on his ersatz theatre…

  • Here’s episode 3, in which I talk about preparing for and accompanying F.W. Murnau’s “The Last Laugh” on two consecutive days. The theme song (seen briefly at the beginning) was actually shot at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where I was guest speaker/artist (third time!) at Larry Burke and Larry…

  • Here is the latest episode of my video blog. I talk about accompanying Alice Guy Blaché films and the challenges of playing for nickelodeon-era films, about working with Parallel Exit, and some other tidbits. Enjoy! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQ6ceftEZc&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1]

  • I’m going to give video-blogging another go in 2010. Using the FlipVideo camera makes it a little more convenient, and talking-head blogging sure beats writing, and typing and correcting typos (which only seem to appear after I click on ‘publish’). I’m hoping I can be a little more consistent than…

  • This is a theme I came up with for the series at MoMA, which I play as the lights go down and between films (if it’s a double-bill). Gives you a look (and a listen) at the mod-looking Modus digital piano Yamaha has loaned to MoMA for the series. (I…

  • Well, we’re out of the woods, now (meaning films of the ‘teens), and the pictures just get better and better every week. The series screens on Wed/Thur/Fri at 1:30pm; the dates below reflect the fact that I only play on Weds and Thurs. In 2010 I will use the Miditzer…