• DECONSTRUCTING DAD •

On Tuesday September 27th, the film is being shown at the 8th annual Jackpot Music and Film Festival in Portland, OR.  The free fest is sponsored by Jackpot Records, a wonderful Portland record store (there are actually two) that are a great resource for records of all kinds, and also sponsor this very special festival:

We spend months wandering the celluloid highway looking for masterpieces. We’ve landed some genuine Portland premiers, had extremely colorful director appearances, and evaporated the minds of young and old alike with features that genuflect before no genre. We hope that you get as excited about this year’s week of wonders as we are.

The Bagdad Theater: “This marvelous relic of Hollywood’s Golden Age is a movie palace full of wonder and surprises. For nearly four generations now, the Bagdad’s Mediterranean/neon persona and daily films have made it an icon of Portland’s vibrant Hawthorne District. The interior is an attraction in and of itself, with barreled arches, ornate wrought-iron fixtures, brilliant mosaics and painted Mediterranean designs and characters.”

“Music and film often have a symbiotic relationship, as legions of great music documentaries attest. This stuff is priceless, and not only that, it’s free. Get to these screenings early if you want a seat.” —THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE

I will be there, so if you’re in that part of the world hope to see you, and also expect to have some other exciting news from my Portland visit, but not quite ready to write about it just yet!

Many thanks to Isaac Slusarenko of Jackpot for making this all happen!

—Stan Warnow

Yup, today’s the day, Raymond Scott was born 103 years ago on September 10, 1908.  A while ago Jeff Winner noted on the Raymond Scot Blog that “On September 9, 1908, Orville Wright made the first experimental powered flight in a heavier than air machine.  The following day, coincidentally, Raymond Scott was born.”  Have to admit I hadn’t previously been aware of that coincidence, but it sure seems like an appropriate juxtaposition as like the Wright Brothers, my dad was always looking for ways to move technology into the future as well as being fascinated about what the future would bring in all fields of endeavor.  And as Jeff pointed out, “in 1949 he would write ‘Dedicatory Piece to the Crew and Passengers of the First Experimental Rocket Express to the Moon,’ while aviators progressed from Kitty Hawk to the moon,” my father went from a player piano to synthesizers and sequencers.

(A bit of a digression is tempting here-there is some controversial but fascinating evidence that a farmer/inventor in New Zealand named Richard Pearce achieved his own heavier than air powered flight 8 months earlier, though that’s another story–but one with definite parallels to Raymond Scott’s i.e. — not being recognized for being the first).

Anyhow, back to the future, hope all Raymond Scott aficionados will note the date and raise a toast to the man born Harry Warnow as I will do later today…. and stay tuned for news about upcoming screenings!

On Thursday August 25th at 21:00, the film is being screened at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (Köln) Germany during an event that’s part of the reiheM concert and film series.  Here’s a link to reiheM, and a link to the museum listing for the film.

 Museum Ludwig is devoted to post 1900 works of art — from their website: “Roy Lichtenstein‘s M-Maybe, Andy Warhol‘s Brillo Boxes and George Segal‘s Restaurant Window, all icons of American Pop Art, had all just been completed when in 1969 they arrived as a loan at Wallraf-Richartz-Museum.  The works came from Peter and Irene Ludwig, who had put together the largest Pop Art collection outside of the USA.  The donation of 350 modern artworks by Mr and Mrs Ludwig marked the founding of Museum Ludwig in 1976.  It was to be

the first museum to exhibit contemporary art in Cologne.  Apart from Pop Art, the Ludwigs also made a permanent loan to the new museum of their Russian Avant-Garde collection from 1906 to 1930, as well as several hundred works by Pablo Picasso.”

Of course I’m thrilled to be having the film shown there, and in fact I will be attending — really looking forward to visiting Cologne, and seeing the museum — will definitely be looking at some of the art.

This has all come about through the efforts and enthusiasm of Frank Dommert from A-Musik, and reiheM.  Many thanks to him and to Museum Ludwig for staging this event.  Hope to see you there!

—Stan Warnow