Topic: THE RELAXED NOTES (Read 12917 times)

bk · « **on:** September 23, 2004, 12:00:29 AM »

Well, you've read the notes, you are now relaxed, you are now at one with the notes, and you are now ready to post until the relaxed cows come home.

Panni · « **Reply #1 on:** September 23, 2004, 12:20:40 AM »

When I lived in Boulder there was a regular summer program of silent films with live accompaniment at the wonderful Chautauqua. It was one of my favorite things about living there. I'm too tired now to write about favorite films. In the morning.

Joey · « **Reply #2 on:** September 23, 2004, 12:27:08 AM »

Well I am shameful but I have not seen a silent film in full as far as I know! How sad is that? I must get on that. I will add it to my list of things to do before I die. I may even add it to my list of things to do before my life is over. (Also known as the day I get married.)

I do have one bit of exciting news, well at least exciting to me. Our new music building here at Ball State is officially finished. I got to go into the new performance hall for the first time today and even got to sing in there a little bit. It is a gorgeous space. It seats 600 and is tunable. You can literally change the acoustics of the room to fit the group performing! I can share more on it if you are interested but I am waiting til I can find (or take) better pictures of it myself. The new building also houses our Music Technology program with three recording studios, and or 9 other studios for the students to work in. Here are some pictures from one of the studios which I think are wonderful also. The wiring of the building is quite astounding. All the performance rooms in the building and the studios are wired through a central server so you can do mixing and such from the sound boards in the studios for concerts being recorded in the hall. I don't even undertand a great deal of it. The performance hall is now one of the best college halls in the nation. They had Midori (Violinist) performing with MacDonald (Pianist and sorry that I do not remember his first name.) The choral room is also in the hall and compared to what we used to have to rehearse in. (A regular tile floor classroom) this is heaven. Even our choir room is tunable! Sorry to ramble so but I am so excited! This is a big step up with us. Our old performance space was basically a glorified lectur hall. We also have Simon Carrington coming to work with us in a few weeks and do a concert. The music we are learning for this is gorgeous and I can't wait for my first performance in this hall.

Joey · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2004, 12:28:55 AM »

I forgot the pictures! Here is the first...

Joey · « **Reply #4 on:** September 23, 2004, 12:32:09 AM »

Here is the other.

Joey · « **Reply #5 on:** September 23, 2004, 01:03:45 AM »

Ok here is one of the inside of Sursa Recital Hall, but it doesn't do the hall justice. Sorry to subject you to my ranting, but I feel like a kid with a new 21 million dollar toy.

Panni · « **Reply #6 on:** September 23, 2004, 01:28:18 AM »

Congrats, Joey. Looks great.

I can't get to sleep, so here are some of my favorite silents...
CITY LIGHTS, of course.
THE GOLD RUSH
SAFETY LAST - love Harold Lloyd!
SHERLOCK JR.
THE GENERAL
THE MARK OF ZORRO

There are at least 10 others that aren't as famous which I saw in Boulder and loved. (Can't think of a single title at the moment -- but it's late.) A terrific piano player named Hank Troy would accompany the films, improvising (for the most part) for an hour or two. It was such fun!

beckon · « **Reply #7 on:** September 23, 2004, 04:23:00 AM »

Favorite Silent Movies:

CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI- Just brilliant, if only for the images. And the twist ending is chilling. I highly recommend the original.

NOSFERATU- Another great horror that I believe can still scare people in this modern age.

Anything with HAROLD LLOYD and BUSTER KEATON. I have to admit I prefer Keaton to Chaplin.

And.....

Mel Brooks' SILENT MOVIE- It took some guts to make a silent movie that 'late' in the history of cinema (can you imagine a major studio greenlighting this movie today?). Plus, it is really funny.

beckon · « **Reply #8 on:** September 23, 2004, 04:24:38 AM »

DR Joey: The theatre looks beautiful. Such a nice intimate space.

William E. Lurie · « **Reply #9 on:** September 23, 2004, 06:04:19 AM »

Despite all the usual suspects (Chaplin,Keaton, et. al.) I love the Joan Crawford trilogy that starts with "Our Dancing Daughters". Compare these with some of the films Mommie Dearest made late in her career and you really se what Hollywood can do to an actress.

Ben · « **Reply #10 on:** September 23, 2004, 07:15:29 AM »

Well, maybe now the site has woken up. It's been annoyingly slow this morning. Very hard to get through, read posts or post. It seems like the problem has cleared up now.

Stuart · « **Reply #11 on:** September 23, 2004, 07:17:07 AM »

Quote from: Joey on September 23, 2004, 12:27:08 AM

...We also have Simon Carrington coming to work with us in a few weeks and do a concert.

I loved him on DYNASTY....

Congrats on the new Hall and rehearsal spaces, Joey.

I must confess that I too don't think I have ever seen a silent movie all the way through, save Mr. Brooks' SILENT MOVIE. Therefore, I will be abstaining (courteously) (oooh, a 1776 reference!) from the TOD.

I was not going to be suckered into LOST. But I did find that one of the movie stations was running THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES last night, and started watching that. Unfortunately, I was also doing some laundry, and since I couldn't devote my full attention I kind of lost track of it. I do remember it as being a really terrific film, and was sorry I got lost in the middle of it. However, abandoning TBYOOL allowed me to watch "Good Eats" and take my 10:15 nap just as he was getting to the Bananas Foster (at least I think that's what Alton was up to....)

MBarnum · « **Reply #12 on:** September 23, 2004, 07:42:20 AM »

Yes, lots of troubles trying to post this morning but now all is well with the world (and with HHW).

Now to the topic of the day. Favorite silent movies:

Mysterious Island (1929)

The Lost World (1925)

King of Kings (1927)

A Christmas Carol (1910)

The Ten Commandments (1923)

Matt H. · « **Reply #13 on:** September 23, 2004, 08:18:35 AM »

Favorite silent movie by far is CITY LIGHTS which I think leaves all others standing in the dust. I do like THE GENERAL but need to watch it again. I have a videotape of it made by a reputable company which will have to do until a pristine Region 1 version of it comes along. Seems like I read that one is on the way. I know Keaton's first three MGM films (two silents and his first talkie) are coming from Warners, but none of them show him at his best.

I do love SUNRISE and think WINGS is grand entertainment. Garbo's silents, while lavishly praised and great crowd pleasers in their day, bore me to tears. I do like Valentino's THE EAGLE a lot. I'm not sure I've ever seen any of Gloria Swanson's silents.

All of Chaplin's silent features are wonderful (I've written here extensively about my growing enthusiasm for THE CIRCUS), and I've only seen a few of Keaton's (SHERLOCK, JR. STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.); once we get as good a versions of them as we have of Chaplin's output, I'll be more eager to watch them.

There are lots of terrific silent action films: those of Fairbanks and Gilbert and Valentino and Lon Chaney's films are certainly worth watching.

Those of you haven't experienced the wonder of silent movies should rent one and treat yourself to a new experience.

Matt H. · « **Reply #14 on:** September 23, 2004, 08:21:30 AM »

Oh, I failed to mention a marvelous comedy: SHOW PEOPLE with Marion Davies and the wonderful William Haines. Definitely worth waiting for TCM to show again.

Do they still have Silent Sunday Night at TCM?

Matt H. · « **Reply #15 on:** September 23, 2004, 08:26:59 AM »

Those of you who were a little critical of LOST's opening episode last night might be interested to know that the pilot episode was actually two hours long. ABC (in its infinite wisdom) decided to divide the pilot into two episode rather than showing it in one two hour slot. Maybe that's why some of you felt the storytelling of the episode wasn't complete enough for you. The truth is that you've only seen half of the first episode.

Matt H. · « **Reply #16 on:** September 23, 2004, 08:27:55 AM »

Those of you who were a little critical of LOST's opening episode last night might be interested to know that the pilot episode was actually two hours long. ABC (in its infinite wisdom) decided to divide the pilot into two episode rather than showing it in one two hour slot. Maybe that's why some of you felt the storytelling of the episode wasn't complete enough for you. The truth is that you've only seen half of the first episode.

bk · « **Reply #17 on:** September 23, 2004, 09:05:15 AM »

I myself had trouble getting to the site this morning via aol but got here pretty quickly (although not the usual speed) via IE.

bk · « **Reply #18 on:** September 23, 2004, 09:06:13 AM »

And it just took a good thirty seconds for that post to go through, so I'll drop the host a line and see if there's anything they can do.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #19 on:** September 23, 2004, 09:11:48 AM »

I thought it was just me having problems with this here site this morning (the network people at my place of work have sneakily installed McAffee Virus Scan on my laptop and it's scanning every friggin' little file my machine comes across.) But even so, the site seems slower than normal to me.

bk · « **Reply #20 on:** September 23, 2004, 09:28:42 AM »

I received this reply from our host:

Another user on the server was abusing their cpu limits and has been rectified.

So, apparently we're back to normal and the postings can fly free and easy. As to the user who's been rectified - well, the image that conjures up isn't pretty.

JMK · « **Reply #21 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:04:43 AM »

Quote from: Matt H. on September 23, 2004, 08:27:55 AM

Those of you who were a little critical of LOST's opening episode last night might be interested to know that the pilot episode was actually two hours long. ABC (in its infinite wisdom) decided to divide the pilot into two episode rather than showing it in one two hour slot. Maybe that's why some of you felt the storytelling of the episode wasn't complete enough for you. The truth is that you've only seen half of the first episode.

But we have twice as many posts from you to make up for it!

I actually enjoyed "Lost" last night and will tune in to at least a few more episodes before deciding whether it will be regular viewing or not. It reminded me not so much of "Lord of the Flies" or "Jurassic Park" as it did that great short-lived 45 minute experiment half-season ABC drama "The New People." Does anyone remember that one?

And I, too, am experiencing slowness at HHW, so to speak.

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #22 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:05:37 AM »

Quote from: Stuart on September 23, 2004, 07:17:07 AM

I loved him on DYNASTY....

So did I.

(Blake's twin brother, right? And the father of Ted Dinard?)

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #23 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:15:24 AM »

Quote from: JMK on September 23, 2004, 10:04:43 AM

I actually enjoyed "Lost" last night and will tune in to at least a few more episodes before deciding whether it will be regular viewing or not. It reminded me not so much of "Lord of the Flies" or "Jurassic Park" as it did that great short-lived 45 minute experiment half-season ABC drama "The New People." Does anyone remember that one?

Yep. It shared it's 90 minute slot with Music Scene, hosted by David Steinberg and numbering Lily Tomlin (in her TV series debut) amongst its regulars.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #24 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:24:27 AM »

Quote from: bk on September 23, 2004, 09:28:42 AM

I received this reply from our host:

Another user on the server was abusing their cpu limits and has been rectified.

So, apparently we're back to normal and the postings can fly free and easy. As to the user who's been rectified - well, the image that conjures up isn't pretty.

That certainly sounds painful. I'm always up for punishing abusers, but "rectification" sounds a tad invasive!

JMK · « **Reply #25 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:31:25 AM »

Dan, remember the Music Scene sign off each week? "Check, please." My childhood favorite Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 performed semi-live on that show--Lani looked like she was having a little snit-fit. They lip synched but for some reason Sergio played live acoustic piano over the pre-recorded Rhodes. The thing about Music Scene was they advertised only live performances, but I distinctly remember a lot of lip-synching goin' on.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #26 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:43:32 AM »

That last post took over a minute to, uh, post. Somebody's still abusing their limits around here. They need a good rectifying, I tell ya, a good one!

Silent Movies: I've always been a sucker for the silent melodramas such as Orphans of the Storm, Broken Blossoms, Greed and Flesh and the Devil (would love to see Queen Kelly someday.) I also like the horror movies--Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. And Chaplin and Keaton, they go without saying (but i guess I did, anyway.)

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #27 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:50:54 AM »

Quote from: JMK on September 23, 2004, 10:31:25 AM

Dan, remember the Music Scene sign off each week? "Check, please." My childhood favorite Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 performed semi-live on that show--Lani looked like she was having a little snit-fit. They lip synched but for some reason Sergio played live acoustic piano over the pre-recorded Rhodes. The thing about Music Scene was they advertised only live performances, but I distinctly remember a lot of lip-synching goin' on.

The one live number I remember from MS was when the producers, evidently dismayed that The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" was the number one song for the third week in a row, had it performed by the Staple Family backed by a large gospel choir. My sister and I were rolling on the floor. (Rolling on the floor laughing, you pervs!)

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #28 on:** September 23, 2004, 10:54:17 AM »

Good Morning!

-It took quite a while on my end for the posts to come up just now too.. Just FYI...

Otherwise, sorry for being errant and truant last night, and not in my usual late-denizen mode. I started working a project that ended up taking a little longer than expected... Next thing I knew, it was past 1:00AM, so... And I've been going through some more mail this morning just to make sure I haven't overlooked anything - such as bills - while I've been out here in L.A. So far, so good. Whew!

Well, I need to get back to my work, and then it's over to Museum Row...

Laters...

JoseSPiano · « **Reply #29 on:** September 23, 2004, 11:00:17 AM »

OH...

DR Joey et al et frank et vince... Robert (Bob) McDonald is Midori's accompanist. Although there's something interesting about having a single-named accompanist accompanying a single-named violinist.

News:

Author Topic: THE RELAXED NOTES (Read 12917 times)

Ben

MBarnum