[Sound+Vision] — Beau Dixon and Hiscox Bros. perform a live score to “The Empty Gallery” by David LaRiviere (8 min. 2005) Produced and edited by Lester Alfonso.
Day 60. Talent shows today in the art of the improvised film score. How can one really appreciate the importance of music and sound to film? The [Sound+Vision] project aimed to show audiences how it worked by separating the music from the film and inviting people to witness how it all comes together again. When a silent film gets a live musical score, the audience gets to see time and site-specific performances that don’t happen the same way twice. Witness the work evident in today’s archive video post.
This was for a [Sound+Vision] project called SIDEWALK MOVIES which I helmed for Artsweek Peterborough 2005. I asked Beau Dixon to help out. Random crowds gathered every night for a week to witness new silent films given a live performance of a musical score right from the sidewalk. In this example, Beau Dixon (playing the drums) literally uses the sidewalk for part of the soundtrack!
The Hiscox brothers and musician/playwright Beau Dixon recently collaborated in last summer’s Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable for 4th Line Theatre. Dixon was just honoured at a Black History Month proclamation ceremony here in Peterborough. Their musical improvisational genius is captured in this a video and I’m pleased to give it a digital premiere today.
David LaRiviere, an artistic force himself, agreed to show his short film The Empty Gallery without the score that he himself created so that we could invite others to do their musical interpretation. Enjoy this full movie and performance presented in split-screen.
It was fun to share the limelight for a tiny bit of time as a co-finalist with Beau, Patti Shaughnessy, and Justin Million for the 2019 Peterborough Arts Awards in the Outstanding Mid-Career Artist category. I felt like a rock star. This reminds me of Beau Dixon’s song called All My Friends (Rockstars) which is really interesting because the message of the song is one of comparison. This split-screen comparison of my career with others is something I’m trying to work through so I can relate more to this song today than ever. Hear it and more on the Beau Dixon Website.
More soon! —LA
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