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2004-2005 Performing Arts Season News Release
For Immediate Release

January 4, 2005
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival and UCSB Arts & Lectures present Alloy Orchestra performing brilliant live scores to silent films by Buster Keaton and Alfred Hitchock at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) co-present Alloy Orchestra, a favorite at film festivals worldwide, performing live scores to Buster Keaton’s The General and Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail on Saturday, February 5 at UCSB Campbell Hall. One ticket price admits patrons to a screening of The General at 4 pm and Blackmail at 7:30 pm. The three-man Alloy Orchestra—Roger C.Miller, Ken Winokur and Terry Donahue—creates brilliant live scores using its famous “rack of junk” percussion and synthesizers, generating beautiful music in a spectacular variety of styles. It will accompany Keaton’s The General, a classic comedy about a mild mannered man who becomes a Civil War hero, and Hitchcock’s rarely screened Blackmail, a suspenseful tale of murder, hush money and love. Roger Durling, Artistic Director of SBIFF, asserts, “Alloy Orchestra breathes new life into silent films! After seeing it perform, you will think of silent films in a totally different light.”

While their unusual instrumentation attracts attention, it is their unique sensitivity to the films themselves that makes Alloy performances so emotionally satisfying. Now in their 14th year, Alloy began its aural onslaught with its original score for Fritz Lang’s monumental Metropolis in 1991. For the each of the last 11 years, the group has composed a new score and premiered it at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival. Alloy collaborates with archives and collectors such as the Film Preservation Associates, The Rohauer Collection, and George Eastman House to present extraordinarily beautiful prints of some of the 20th century’s greatest films. This multimedia experience lends silent films a power and excitement that hasn’t been seen since the arrival of talkies. The New York Press writes, “Performing their own scores to classic silent movies, Boston’s three-man (but truly symphonic) Alloy Orchestra have built a fervent following by being just as smart and imaginative as the films they accompany.”

In addition to their work with silent films, the Orchestra has contributed soundtracks to commercial videos for IBM, UPS, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Park Service and other projects. Their work has been featured in contemporary films and videos by directors Errol Morris (Fast, Cheap and Out of Control), Jane Gillooly (Dragonflies, the Baby Cries), Ben Meade (Vakvagany) and others.

The group is composed of Roger C. Miller on synthesizer, Ken Winokur on junk percussion and clarinet, and Terry Donahue on junk percussion, accordion, saw and banjo. All three members have performed with chamber-rock band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, about which Billboard wrote, “Cacophony meets classicism in a mesmerizing instrumental venture into the space-age jungle. Boston-based quartet breaks new ground without breaking eardrums.” Miller has had a wide-ranging musical career, having founded the pioneering and influential Boston punk band Mission of Burma, performed with Terry Donahue in the duo Binary System, and released numerous solo recordings under his own name and as No Man. Winokur has also performed percussion with cult band Morphine in addition to working as a photographer in the music business. Donahue has also performed with Concussion Ensemble and Sugar Twins.

Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) is often acclaimed the pinnacle of his career. Based on a true incident, this Civil War tale concerns Confederate Keaton going deep behind Union lines to save his beloved train The General and his girl. Filled both with hilarious sight gags and battle scenes based on Matthew Brady photographs, this film was named one of the Ten Best Films of All-Time in the prestigious Sight & Sound critics’ poll.

Blackmail (1929) is actually Alfred Hitchcock’s, and Britain’s, first full-length sound film. According to legend, the studio gave Hitchcock the go ahead to shoot a proportion of sound footage, but the director surreptitiously shot almost the entire film in sound, back-to-back with a silent version for distribution to the many cinemas still not equipped for talking pictures. Alloy performs along with this version of a fascinating tale of a woman trying to extricate herself from punishment for a murder she commits in self-defense.

Alloy Orchestra is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Tickets for the event are $25 for the general public and $15 for UCSB students, who must show valid ID when purchasing tickets and at the door. One price includes admission to both films. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.

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