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Show 5 ARTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com Tuesday January 7, 2014 PREVIEW Organ Loft accompanies Chaplin silent comedies Dylan Griffin STAFF WRITER The Organ Loft, a theater on Edison Street and 3300 South, regularly screens silent films with live organ accompaniment. This year, the art house will kick things off with none other than silent comedian Charlie Chaplin. Screening on Jan. 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m., the first of a four-part series will feature three of Chaplin's Mutual comedies: "The Floorwalker," "The Fireman" and "The Vagabond." Hunter Hale, a programmer from The Organ Loft, pushes the theater's mission to keep silent cinema alive. When talking to Hale, there's no question he holds a true passion for silent film. "It's like stepping back into another time. Just because a film is silent, [it] doesn't mean it's outdated. This is the only art form from the past that can still be experienced in a proper setting ... Anytime you have the opportunity to see something that's close to what it was originally, is special," Hale said. Blaine Gale is the resident organist at the Edison Street venue. Every film he plays for requires study and a different process. "The process starts when [Hale] gives me a copy of the sequence or the program, and I study the film on my laptop at home. I study the themes and flow of emotional content. I study it for contrast," Gale said. "Some things are suggested. For example, Chaplin wrote music for his films, so I have to use his music because that's the iconic Chaplin." The Organ Loft is also open to organ improvisation. When playing, Gale feels the audience's reactions and works their emotions into the score. "The audience is going to be the one who determines what I PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HUNTER HALE COLLECTION Charlie Chaplin serenades Edna Purviance in the film "The Vagabond." The Organ Loft will show 3 Chaplin films this month. play. Their response patterns are different each night. It'll be different on Thursday than Friday because of the audience," Gale said. "A live accompanist is the whole orchestra for the background on screen." He also works on timing, ensuring that certain sounds match with their counterpart detailed actions. "Whether it be a car horn or train whistle, they have to be timed so perfectly that the accompanist disappears," Gale said. Shred Shed hosts local bands To Gale and Hale, the union between film and live accompaniment is entrancing and mesmerizing. Now, films can be seen in IMAX and 3D. But to The Organ Loft, bigger doesn't mean better. To the organist and programmer behind the scenes, epic screenings are incapable of capturing the same intimate energy and immediacy a live organ accompaniment adds to silent cinema. d.griffin@chronicle.utah.edu REVIEW Utah Symphony delivers a night of classic Pixar tunes PHOTO COURTESY OF TREBUCHET "Trebuchet" will be performing this Wednesday at the Shred Shed. Shawna Meyer STAFF WRITER In 2012, City Weekly named the Shred Shed Salt Lake's best new music venue. Since then, the dedicated volunteer staff has worked to ensure the venue's title is not undeserved. An underground hotspot, the Shred Shed pumps out energetic and eclectic shows, hoping to promote small name musicians. On Wednesday, the Shred Shed will feature a handful of local acts. The band Trebuchet is scheduled to perform, alongside Fossil Arms, And I the Lion, and Jesus Christ & the Goddamns. James Miska, Eric Rich, Ian Hazel and Camilo Torres met at the Boing! Anarchist Collective eight years ago. These four rebels, now performing under the name Trebuchet, bonded over a similar desire to make music that differs from society's mainstream. "I think our music is reminiscent of Refused, At the Drive-in and The Faint," Rich said. "We make music that moves people physically, and that also carries a message of personal autonomy and oneness with that which surrounds us." In September 2013, Trebuchet released the EP "The Wilderness." The album's title is meant to reflect the destruction modern society imposes on its surrounding environment and peoples' existences in that environment. "The Wilderness is lyrically rooted in anticapitalist and anti-civilization feelings. [It's] mostly satirical, but also meant to provoke action in the face of injustice," said Miska, Trebuchet's guitarist and lead vocalist. "Our conditioned social-norms conduct us to act a certain way in public, to always be appropriate and not to question authority, religion or institutions like public school, and especially not our capitalist system." The album includes six unpolished yet upbeat and powerful tracks. The songs are energetic and memorable. Stand-out tracks include "Defeatism is for Losers," and "Lad- ders." Both feature Miska's howling vocals. "Deafeatism is for Losers" is fast-paced, full of funky guitar riffs and packed with pounding drum lines. "Ladders" begins with a drum solo and gradually picks up speed and energy, which crescendoes into a head-banging dance party. "Songwriting is circumstantial. There are no formulas that we follow. Some take a long time to write. Some write themselves. The biggest challenge is being opinionated and sensitive at the same time," Rich said. Fossil Arms consists of Chaz Costello and Melody Maglione. This local duo, accustomed to performing at house parties, produces songs that are gritty, synthesized and dark. "The band started as a joke — an homage to the noisy dance punk we listened to in 2002 and 2003, such as Le Shok, Die Monitr Batss, Hint Hint and Thunderbirds Are Now! After writing a few songs, it naturally evolved into something a bit different," Costello, the band's bassist, vocalist and drum programmer, said. "We're now essentially drawn to anything ending in 'wave' — new wave, cold wave, dark wave. The front-runners of our influences and current playlists are O.M.D., Depeche Mode, Black Marble, Tuxedomoon, Comanechi and Grave Babies." In 2012, the band released an EP titled "Tyrannosaurus Flex." These six songs rely on outside noises, strange keyboard elements, heavily synthesized sounds and desolate lyrics. These elements combine to create a sense of chaotic distress. "Chaz comes up with the general blueprint of a song and constructs the drum pattern and chord progression. [Then I] add the synth leads and creepy bits. We deconstruct and add noise, patterns, dramatic pauses, drum breaks and random nonsense until the song becomes something entirely different," Maglione, the band's keyboardist and drum programmer, said. "Each song takes a long time to work through." s.meyer@chronicle.utah.edu PHOTO COURTESY OF UTAH SYPMPHONY / UTAH OPERA Dylan Griffin STAFF WRITER Last Friday, a cinematic experience unraveled in Abravanel Hall with the Utah Symphony. Conducted by associate conductor Vladimir Kulenovic, the symphony journeyed through the music of Pixar's films. Reproducing the masterful cornpositions of artists such as Thomas Newman, Randy Newman, Michael Giacchino and Patrick Doyle, symphony musicicans pushed out scores to scenes and montages playing on screen. The evening began with "Toy Story." The audience was immediately wrapped up in the images on screen. It felt as though the movie's dialogue jumped from the screen and into the instruments of the group's artists. You could hear Woody exclaiming, "Buzz, you can fly!" and the little Green Aliens chanting, "The claaaaw." After the opening piece, Kulenovic decided to have some fun with the audience when introducing the performance's next musical work. "[With] this next piece, we hope to find Nemo. I'm sure we will with such great musicians on the lookout," Kulenovic said. The Utah Symphony spent the evening hopping around the wondrous world of childhood. They went to the ocean with "Finding Nemo," Paris with "Ratatouille," to an insect society with "A Bug's Life," to outer space with "Wall-E" and to the highway with "Cars." Before intermission, the musicians played the tear-jerking opening sequence of "Up." The live symphonic touch made it difficult for audience members to hold back tears. The joy and energy coming from the audience was reciprocated by members of the symphony. Principal flutist Mercedes Smith talked about the highlight of her evening. "There's a flute solo in 'Ratatouille.' Usually when a flute is used to depict an animal, it's a bird. However, here I'm the rat. I'm the rat scurrying all around through the pipes to the kitchen," Smith said. "It's my debut as a rat instead of a bird." After a brief intermission, Kulenovic and company brought the energy right back with Giacchino's explosive score to "The Incredibles." Kulenovic then had another fun quip for the audience, drawing laughter from all ages. "Let's come back to our childhood and fantasize about scary monsters — scary stuff," Kulenovic said. After "Monsters, Inc.," the symphony returned to a previously visited world with "Cars 2," and followed with a journey through Scotland in "Brave." The evening was capped off with "Toy Story 3," with the brave toys facing death together to a booming accompaniment. There was much laughter throughout the event, and emotion filled the hall. To the audiences' delight and surprise, the symphony concluded with an encore of Randy Newman's Pixar-defining "You've Got A Friend In Me" — the perfect send-off to a magical night. d.griffin@chronicle.utah.edu |