Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society

Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society . . . .


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Pandora's Box rock the house in Kentucky

Musician Ben Model, who accompanied Pandora's Box last night in Huntington, Kentucky tweeted following the event: "Wow, never had Pandora's Box rock a house like it did tonight. I may have finally found the key to playing for it, for me."

We wish we were there. Were you? If so, leave a comment in the comments field and tell us all about it!

Check out Ben Model's website at www.silentfilmmusic.com/

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks and Ben Model in Kentucky

Pandora's Box will be shown TONIGHT in Huntington, Kentucky at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by the great Ben Model. Here below are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Louise Brooks stars in G.W. Pabst’s stunning film of Frank Wedekind’s classic about the fiery showgirl Lulu, whose explosive sexuality has a devastating effect on everyone. (Germany, 1929, 131 min., B&W, Director:  G. W. Pabst Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner,  Francis Lederer)


Live Organ Accompaniment by Ben Model
Members $9 • Public $14

One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst (The Threepenny Opera) had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box.

Based on the Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening has just been adapted into a hit Broadway musical, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

Ben Model is one of the USA’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silents at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the past 27 years. Ben co-curated MoMA’s “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” series and  Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle retrospective, and also curated Shout!Factory’s new “Ernie Kovacs Collection” DVD box set. A five-time recipient of the Meet The Composer grant, Ben is a regular accompanist at classic film festivals around the U.S.A. and in Norway, and performs at universities, museums, and historic theaters. Ben is the producer and co-founder of The Silent Clowns Film Series, now in its 14th season in NYC. Ben’s recorded scores can be heard on numerous DVD releases from Kino Video and others. Ben’s composed ensemble scores for films by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd are performed around the U.S. every year by orchestras and by

Monday, October 28, 2013

Homage to Lulu: Lou Reed has died

Rock musician, former Velvet Underground singer, and poet Lou Reed has died. Follow this link for an excellent, extended obit. In 2011, Reed had collaborated with Metallica on a concept album called Lulu. It is an obtuse homage to the Lulu archetype, and Louise Brooks - notice the bobbed hair worn by the Venus-like mannequin. All-in-all, fans had a hard time relating toits  dissonant lyrics and music. The album was praised by some, but mostly panned.


Lulu was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wedekind's plays Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box, which tell a story of a young abused dancer's life and relationships and are now collectively known as the "Lulu Plays." Since their publication in the early 1900's, the plays have been the inspiration for the Louise Brooks silent film (Pandora's Box, 1929), an opera, and countless other creative endeavors.

Originally the lyrics and musical landscape were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but after coming together with the Metallica for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009, each knew they wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that performance to ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical Lulu piece to the next level.
In early May of 2011, they camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California (not far from where Frank Wedekind was conceived), and complete ten songs. A deluxe packaging of the Lulu CD is pictured below.


 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Louise Brooks fan Mike Doughty (ex Soul Coughing) on tour

Mike Doughty and his band of musical samurai are touring the United States playing the best of Soul Coughing, including their tribute to Louise Brooks, "St. Louise Is Listening." Get tickets and more info: https://www.facebook.com/mikedoughty/events


The above is from Mike Doughty's album of reimagined Soul Coughing songs, "Circles Super Bon Bon...". Available Now at http://georiot.co/21yW

M. DOUGHTY ON TOUR
ALL SONGS FROM RUBY VROOM, EL OSO, IRRESISTIBLE BLISS

Oct 16 2013 -- Teaneck, NJ http://tktwb.tw/11RRuF2
Oct 17 2013 -- Philadelphia, PA http://bit.ly/1ckbJ51
Oct 18 2013 -- Burlington, VT http://bit.ly/14drmBl
Oct 19 2013 -- Boston, MA http://bit.ly/17CCAl3
Oct 20 2013 -- Portland, ME http://bit.ly/1bigUP4
Oct 22 2013 -- Cleveland, OH http://tktwb.tw/13MaiXE
Oct 23 2013 -- Detroit, MI http://bit.ly/13Uhe1k
Oct 24 2013 -- Chicago, IL http://bit.ly/19gYqkC
Oct 25 2013 -- Minneapolis, MN http://bit.ly/16FdXHo
Oct 26 2013 -- St. Louis, MO http://bit.ly/16Fe1Xx
Oct 27 2013 -- Milwaukee, WI http://bit.ly/17cLZkm
Oct 29 2013 -- Boulder, CO http://bit.ly/16Fe6u9
Oct 30 2013 -- Salt Lake City, UT http://bit.ly/13UhtJM
Nov 1 2013 -- Vancouver, BC http://tktwb.tw/19gYyAE
Nov 2 2013 -- Seattle, WA http://bit.ly/1cR2J5d
Nov 3 2013 -- Portland, OR http://bit.ly/1cR2M0W
Nov 5 2013 -- Santa Cruz, CA http://tktwb.tw/16A7GL2
Nov 6 2013 -- San Francisco, CA http://bit.ly/1cR2QOa
Nov 8 2013 -- Los Angeles, CA http://bit.ly/19gYGQT
Nov 9 2013 -- Santa Ana, CA http://bit.ly/16FekS6
Nov 10 2013 -- Phoenix, AZ http://bit.ly/13p2XK6
Nov 12 2013 -- Dallas, TX http://bit.ly/1exVa1n
Nov 13 2013 -- Austin, TX http://bit.ly/1bihpIT
Nov 14 2013 -- Houston, TX http://bit.ly/19gYQrr
Nov 15 2013 -- New Orleans, LA http://tktwb.tw/14t6yds
Nov 16 2013 -- Tampa, FL http://tktwb.tw/198nAyy
Nov 17 2013 -- Orlando, FL http://ticketf.ly/13p33RT
Nov 19 2013 -- Nashville, TN http://bit.ly/14Ct5Y1
Nov 20 2013 -- Atlanta, GA http://bit.ly/19gYXmO
Nov 21 2013 -- Carrboro, NC http://bit.ly/17cMlY7
Nov 22 2013 -- Washington DC http://ticketf.ly/14GIVdh
Nov 23 2013 -- New York, NY http://bit.ly/19SwrXU

Here is video of Mike and his musicians rehearsing "True Dreams of Wichita."



Get the album:
iTunes: http://georiot.co/21yW
Amazon: http://georiot.co/3uUN
Direct: http://merchdirect.com/mikedoughty
From a local record store: http://recordstoreday.com/Item/900508...

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Video: Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (clip)



Pandora's Box will be shown in Huntington, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 29th at 7:30 pm with live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. Here are the details from the host venue, the Cinema Arts Center. (Follow the link to purchase tickets or for more information.)

Friday, October 25, 2013

Sammy Tramp's Traveling Flicker Factory

One time stage Lulu, now Chaplinesque hobo Sammy Tramp is traveling the world performing in venues large and small, and all the while making delightful short films. Here is her latest, "Hats a Plenty."


Sammy Tramp's Traveling Flicker Factory is a one-of-a-kind old fashioned, moving picture company that creates "instant" silent films featuring local vaudevillian and burlesque performers and original story lines. Sammy Tramp, one of the nation's premiere vaudevillians and the artistic director of The Beggar's Carnivale, travels from town to town, works with locales and performers within that location and puts together a delightful, comedic and clever silent film. Taking the silver screen to the the modern age and then taking it back in time again.

In this edition Sammy goes down under in Melbourne Australia. Sammy is also available for bookings. For more information please visit SammyTramp.tumblr.com
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