Ben Model’s blog

  • May 6 – I was back at Radio City Music Hall for some practice time on the Wurlitzer today, in prep for next week’s SVA graduation. Turns out I won’t be using the organ at the ceremony — nothing to do with RCMH, it’s just that the sample recordings I’d…

  • May 4, 2009 – played for “Poil de carotte” again at MoMA this afternoon, without incident. Score went better (for me, anyhoo) as expected. Recorded blogcast and my score, as I did yesterday (see below). Here’s a chance to see how when I play for the same film twice in…

  • May 3, 2009 – played for Poil de carotte (“Carrot Top”), the 1925 silent directed by Julien Duvivier. I recorded my blog entry as a blogcast/podcast on my digital recorder while walking home from MoMA after the show (so that’s why I sound a little out of breath), rather than…

  • Today Steve Massa and I were at MoMA screening Thanhouser films with Charles Silver for a program we’re working on for October. The program will help the Thanhouser Film Corp. celebrate the company’s centenary; Ned Thanhouser will be doing a program with the LOC as well as at MoMA during…

  • Just got the PDF of MoMA’s May/June 2009 members calendar, with the full listings for Cruel and Unusual Comedy in it. Am posting the pertinent pages from the calendar here; click on the images below to see them larger. Unfortunately, due to space restrictions, there was no way to include…

  • Margaret Pickering interviewed me after Wednesday’s show of Wild Bill Hickok. She’s a blogger on WNYC’s culture page. This podcast appeared on their page today and runs about 10 mins 20 seconds. The segment with me is brief, and starts at around 08:40. http://www.odeo.com/flash/audio_player_standard_black.swfClick on the image below to go…

  • Just played show #2 of Wild Bill Hickok (1923) will William S. Hart. Yesterday’s show went well, and today’s went a little better. I was a little more focused and also backed off a little more. On the second pass I was also able to get a better handle on…

  • This is an article/interview from 3/19/09’s issue of Newsday promoting the Cinema Arts Centre show of The Passion of Joan of Arc which we did on 3/24/09. Click on the image to see it larger.

  • Tuesday morning, after a day off to rest and recover from Cinefest, I was at MoMA for a press screening of Wild Bill Hickok (1923) starring William S. Hart. At right is a still I found online of Hart as Hickok, with Abraham Lincoln and General Custer (well, actors playing…

  • March 20-22: Syracuse, NY – I’m killing some time before my JetBlue flight outta Syr, and thought I’d post here. Just finished 3 days at the 29th annual Cinefest here in Syracuse. The festival runs 4 days, but I couldn’t get here for the first day, because I had a…