red seedless grapes

Oh man, it's so hot outside.
Oh man, I remember when it was really cold outside too.
Thank God it's hot.



6/24 @ 8pm
The Magician (with live accompaniment)
Presented by Process Books
In celebration of the new Manly P. Hall biography “Master of the Mysteries” by Louis Sahagun, Process Books presents a special screening of Ingmar Bergman’s 1959 supernatural classic The Magician with an original score composed by string arranger Ysanne Spevack and a live ensemble of improvising musicians. Bergman’s film is a mystical contemplation of a magician and his vagrant troupe of medicine-show performers as they travel through the country in the mid-nineteenth century and are hounded by a skeptical public. Utilizing a combination of traditional orchestral string instruments, electric guitars, keyboards, accordion and electronic beats, the ensemble will be led by Ysanne on acoustic and electric violin, musical saw, midi-synthesized electronic textures and processing. The Magician marks the second time Ysanne has scored a film and performed it live, the first being Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle Of Algiers. “Master of the Mysteries” author Louis Sahagun will be present before and after the show to meet guests and sign books.

Musical personnel for this screening:
Ysanne Spevack - violins / viola
Richard Stein - guitar
Doug Lunn - bass / percussion
Isaac Schankler - keys / accordion
Peter Johnson - sound engineer
and beats from FreQ Nasty

Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 35mm, 97 min.
Tickets - $12/ $8 for members

John Cohen Films
John Cohen, founding member of the ‘50s folk troupe the New Lost City Ramblers, started making films in order to bring together the two disciplines he was heavily active in: music and photography. His first film, The High Lonesome Sound, is a love letter to Appalachia and features the amazing banjo picker Roscoe Holcomb as the anchor for this gem of cultural anthropology. Next, The End of an Old Song brings us to North Carolina, and demonstrates the power of old English ballads sung with gusto while soused in a saloon. Sara and Maybelle is a rare filmed performance of the two titular members of the Carter Family, Musical Holdouts is an expansive survey of American musical subcultures that steadfastly refuse to be blanded by mainstream consciousness, and Post Industrial Fiddle explores the importance of music-making in the life of a pulp mill worker in rural Maine. All deceptively simple, but profound stuff.
Dir. John Cohen, 1962-82, various formats, 120 min.
Tickets - $10



6/27 @ 10:15pm / SERIES: high school hell
If...
One of the first and greatest adolescent revenge fantasy films, this landmark entry in Lindsay Anderson’s “Mick Travis” trilogy with Malcolm McDowell is the cinematic equivalent of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” and still one of the most subversive films ever released by a major studio. (It was one of the first features to get slapped with an “X” rating, though it’s easily an “R” today.) Surrealism and experimental touches add further juice to this rallying cry against the oppressive hell of Western education, as Malcolm and pals take arms against the oppressive regime designed to turn them into dutiful grist for the British governmental mill. Even more potent for Americans now in the wake of real-life high school shooting sprees, this excellent late-’60 pop culture milestone can still be appreciated as a rousing absurdist comedy or a gut-wrenching glimpse of things to come.
Dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1968, 35mm, 111 min.

5/31 @ 6:30pm / SERIES: maysles: direct cinema
What's Happening! The Beatles In The U.S.A. & Gimme Shelter
Amazingly, the Maysles were present, with cameras rolling, for two of the quintessential moments of the 60’s — arguably the beginning and the end, at least musically. First up is What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., a candid account of The Beatles' 1964 arrival in America, from the crazed JFK airport reception to unguarded moments inside the Plaza Hotel in preparation for their landmark Ed Sullivan Show appearance, to their equally frenzied homecoming. A humorous and freewheeling film, What’s Happening was a direct inspiration for Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night. Then, we fast-forward to the end of the 60s, and the definitive document of the hippie dream’s brutal demise. When the Rolling Stones hired the Maysles to film their own “Woodstock”, no one knew that the final result was doomed probably from the moment the Stones hired Hell’s Angeles as bodyguards — and decided to pay them in beer. The ultimate outcome was the murder of a concertgoer just a few feet away from the stage. In the Maysles’ capable hands, Gimme Shelter captures the intensity and terror of every moment of this ill-fated rock festival, making it a special case of history being recorded on the spot by major artists. Two great films, two great bands, one night at the Cinefamily.
What’s Happening! The Beatles In The U.S.A. Dirs. Albert and David Maysles, 1964, DigiBeta, 81 min. Gimmie Shelter Dirs. Albert and David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin, 1970, 35mm, 91 min
Tickets - $10

wolf eyes at spaceland
Times New Viking at Echo Currio