Two weeks in Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 2-The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of writing songs with hundreds of 2nd-4th graders in Virginia under the banner of Paul Reisler's wonderful Kid Pan Alley program. The first week I worked with Nashville singer-songwriter Kathy Hussey at the Leslie Fox Keyser School in Front Royal, where we turned out eight songs in four days and performed them for a screaming throng on Friday. Titles included "I Wish I Was a Wild Pony" and "Mummies Have Mommies Too."

Then I moved down to Charlottesville and worked with Paul and another fine balladeer, Terri Allard, with whom I had worked last year. At the extraordinary Jackson-Via Elementary School we worked from 8:30 to 2:30 every day, with little time to catch our breath. The kids were terrific, and were jumping all over with some dance songs. By Friday we had 10 fine songs and the school's superb principal, Dr. Elizabeth McCay, joined us onstage for some of the shenanigans. "What Makes Scary Things Go Away," another appropriate Halloween song, was a big hit, as well as "Why Can't My Pets Do My Chores?"

As we did last year, we also wrote songs to present at the program of silents Jo and I brought to the Virginia Film Festival. While in 2007 the kids sang during the screening of PETER PAN, we decided to try having them write songs about the films in question but sing them as preludes. This worked very well and we would repeat this approach again.

Back for our 6th year at the festival, Joanna and I created a show we called "Strangers in Strange Lands" to tie in with this year's festival theme of aliens and immigrants. So the films were JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THE IMMIGRANT. About 35 kids were onstage, with Terri singing, and the accompaniment of Paul's guitar and my synth. The family audience at the splendid Paramount Theatre loved the program, sang along with Jo on the chorus of "East Side, West Side" and other bits in the show. Jo wrote some very sweet rhymed couplets for JACK, and we took turns reading the titles in ALICE to save the parents having to do the same thing to their toddlers. People said they really enjoyed all our different character voices, so we might look for other films to treat this way.

With that behind us, we could relax. We didn't see many films this year, but the ones we did get to were exceptional: the new Sissy Spacek movie, LAKE CITY, about a dysfunctional family in rural Virginia and the consequences of a drug deal gone bad. Great acting by her and co-star Troy Garity (Jane Fonda's son...she was there but we didn't get to see her). Paul introduced us to Sissy, who had recorded a song for him, and we spent a few minutes talking with her. Very charming and a soft presence. Talked with Troy, and the writers/directors of the film whose other credits include producing the Narnia films.

After our show Saturday we saw TERRA, a very cool computer-animated film about refugees from Earth attempting to colonize a distant planet, at the expense of the peaceful inhabitants. In the evening, THE BURNING PLAIN, a deeply moving story by Mexican writer/director Guillermo Arriaga (21 GRAMS). He spoke humorously at the Q & A, moderated by insightful film professor Hamid Naficy from Northwestern whom we got to know at our inn. At the closing night party we munched croissants, had a beer and talked for several minutes with Arriaga about the film and the production in general. Our stay ended with a chat at breakfast with Gregory Nava (EL NORTE) who spoke to us about his love of silent films, and we discussed the possibility of presenting something in LA for him.

All in all an amazing, exhausting, happy two weeks.

More soon from the NY film world.

2008 in the Silent Film Music world

Well, I intend to write more often this year! That's my first New Year's resolution on this page. The fall was a whirlwind of silent film performances and workshops, including appearances at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in September, talking to composition students, then a trip to Syracuse NY to work with local high school and Le Moyne College music students. Joanna and I demonstrated different ways of treating the same film scenes, and then the students had a chance to join us and create their own music for a Keaton clip and some avant-garde shorts. We had a great crowd at the Palace Theater for our presentation of the original KING KONG, using the DVD with subtitles and replacing the wonderful Steiner score with our live synth, screaming and Tyrannosaurus snarls (thanks to our friend Aaron Pichel who came down from Ithaca to help out with that!)

We went next to the College of Staten Island and after the workshop, showed TABU with our music. Joanna's percussion and singing blended with my synthesizer orchestra.

Then I was off to Pordenone for the annual festival there, and played for a few Griffith films (AMERICA, THE WHITE ROSE) and a great Dupont film, DAS ALTE GESETZ, which would be wonderful to show here this year.

The Virginia Film Festival invited us back for the 5th time at the end of October, and I had the chance to bring together two of my friends to enliven the proceedings. Stewart Stern, who wrote REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, came to introduce that fabulous film, as well as PETER PAN, which is the basis for his story. I had met songwriter/teacher Paul Reisler, director of Kid Pan Alley, early in the summer, and he and I, along with Charlottesville songwriter Terri Allard, worked with 200 kids during the week before the festival, writing songs, three of them for the film. We put this all together in a spectacular show at the Paramount Theater for 500 people. Joanna introduced Stewart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwBP237fWBU), who spoke about his lifelong love of Peter Pan, then Paul and Terri led the kids in one of their songs, Joanna sang "Never-Never Land" and we showed the 1924 film by Herbert Brenon, with Betty Bronson in the title role. The kids were great and the festival would like to have us to a similar event every year, they said.

A week later Joanna and I brought Layne Longfellow and his cousin Ann Hutchinson Guest to the National Gallery for a 200th birthday celebration of Longfellow poetry, read by Layne, and the silent film EVANGELINE, with Joanna singing and my music. This was a memorable occasion for all of us. Vicki Toye, the great-great-granddaughter of the village blacksmith Longfellow wrote about, actually works at the National Gallery, so for her to share the stage with Ann, Longfellow's great-granddaughter, was quite a moment.

A few other films rounded out the year. There were Danish films at BAM, including the curious A TRIP TO MARS, and HELEN'S BABIES with Baby Peggy and Clara Bow at Lincoln Center.

Clara and I made a trip to Port Townsend, Washington's delightful Rose Theatre last weekend, where I played for two screenings of IT. And in Kenyon Hall, a jewel of a little theater on Seattle's West side, BLOOD AND SAND (Valentino) followed by MUD AND SAND (Stan Laurel) made a great double bill.

Back in NY, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is in the middle of a Russian film program, and I contributed my score for POTEMKIN last night. More news on these programs on my website: http://www.oldmoviemusic.com. Coming events: SAFETY LAST in Germantown, NY, and two Vertov films in March at the Harvard Film Archive. Hope to see you there! Best, Donald