I make mistakes during shows, and usually I’m the only one who notices. As an artist, often that’s all I come away with from a performance. On Tuesday I used the “toy counter” on the virtual Wurlitzer I often accompany… Read More »When a Whistle Isn’t a Whistle
As a fan and proponent of silent films, I’ve enjoyed seeing that every year at Halloween time, more and more shows of silent films are happening. It’s occurred to me that this means there are a lot of musicians accompanying… Read More »How to Play the Piano or Organ for a Halloween Silent Movie
Three Songs You Won’t Hear During My Accompaniment to “Show People” — and Why One of the bugaboos in film accompaniment that my mentor Lee Erwin (1908-2000) had, and one I share, is the use of “song title puns”. In… Read More »Hooray for Hollywood and the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival
Newsday sent a videographer, as well as a reporter and a (still) photographer to last night’s show. The video piece is up on the Newsday website, and I’m posting/embedding it here. We show silent film once a month, always on… Read More »Newsday’s video on Cinema Arts Center’s “Anything But Silent” series
I was interviewed by the one and only Joe Franklin for his radio show a week or two ago, and the segment aired today on his weekly segment on “Bloomberg on the Weekend” on WBBR-AM and on Sirius XM radio.… Read More »talking with Joe Franklin
(scroll down for photos…) Sharing accompaniment duties with Phil Carli at the Fall Cinesation every year is one way I stay fresh as an accompanist. Listening to someone else’s playing – especially someone whose style and philosophy mirrors mine –… Read More »The Fall Cinesation is a great way for me to enhance my bag of tricks.
I’ve found in numerous in Chaplin films that certaiin sequences and routines fit a musical beat and structure, that a bit of business will fit nicely an 8 or 16 bar phrase. It may have been an innate thing with… Read More »was this sequence timed to music? could be…
I know, I know…it’s two months later, but anyway here is my video blog entry for my trip to Boise, ID in September. Enjoy!
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… Read More »the complete “Metropolis” on May 7th
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… Read More »interim post: Lee Erwin-scored short