''Nosferatu' is probably harmless.' Nate Butler kicks off Halloween month with silent film series
Plus, Fresno singer Alyssa Witrado lands a spot on "the Voice" and a sold-out Valley Music Hall of Fame ceremony.
Nate Butler’s foray into silent films was mostly an accident.
He was playing happy hour piano at The Full Circle Brewing Co. (the original location) and the owners threw an old silent movie up on the wall.
It was unrelated thing, “just to provide an interesting distraction” as bar owners are sometimes wont to do.
But it got Butler thinking.
“Y’know, I could do a whole thing with this piano and those movies,” says Butler, who’s been playing live accompaniment at monthly silent movie nights for more than a decade now; at Full Circling Brewing Company and then back room at Mia Cuppa Cafe/Revue.
He currently performs at the VISTA Theater at Fresno Music Academy and Arts, where he will screen the gothic horror classic “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1.
Happy Halloween, y’all.
Admission is pay what you want. So, you can get in for free, but you should drop some cash in the bucket on the way out if you enjoyed the show.
In advance of the screening, I asked Butler to walk us through his silent movie nights.
“I’ve been fascinated by silent movies since I was a child, when I would read books about them long before I actually got to see most of them. So, I already had a life-long passion for the era and the medium.
As you know, the earliest movies didn’t have any soundtrack, and so in the old days a live musician or orchestra would provide a musical soundtrack while the movie played. So, I’m really just following an old tradition.
The music I play is largely from the 1940s, Broadway showtunes, and some contemporary classics. In a way I’m doing exactly as the 1920s moviehouse musicians did, drawing from the catalog of popular music.
A note about my musical approach: In the beginning, I would often ‘take the Mickey out of’ the movies. That is, I would create a musical soundtrack that commented upon the movie in a meta way, sometimes drawing laughter during what was supposed to be a dramatic scene. I quickly learned to steer away from that approach, and instead provide a soundtrack that compliments what’s onscreen, and doesn’t draw attention to the music.
If I’ve done my job correctly, the audience will forget that I’m even there. They’ll just get immersed in the movie. The biggest compliments I’ve ever gotten have been along the lines of: ‘Hey, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but during the movie I forgot you were even there.”
I was unaware that you had done such a massive number of films over the years. How do you decide on which films to show and how you go about getting a usable version (I would assume these aren’t all readily available to just anyone).
“The process of choosing and acquiring the films has evolved a lot over the past 12+ years. In the beginning, I simply chose the movies I’d always wanted to see, or that I thought everyone else needed to see.
I would buy them off the shelf if I could find them, although the quality was often questionable. I also had a good friend who would seek things out for me on the internet, and then present me with a handful of home-burned DVDs like, ‘Have you ever thought of this one?’
Today, most silent movies are in the public domain, and in recent years they’ve become easier to find than ever. For years, there have been a number of nifty archives/databases online with hundreds of silent movies available to download for free, but often the quality is only so-so. You can also find many of the classics on YouTube, but again, the quality varies from great to poor.
The key is to look for film restorations, and fortunately there has been a lot of silent film restoration happening in just the past 10 year. Even some of the versions you can find on YouTube now are amazing.
I’ve built a digital collection that now encompasses most of the major silent movies ever made, plus a lot that are more obscure.
My process of choosing the next movie is to go through my collection and find one that I haven’t shown in a long time. All of the movies I’ve shown this year are ones I’ve shown before.
What is the process once you've figured out which film to show?
“In the silent movie era, usually a single live musician would either play a predetermined musical score or improvise one on the spot as the movie played. If they were improvising, they would choose music from the current popular catalog, which would include ragtime, classical and opera/operetta.
To prepare for my performances, I watch the movie and imagine what music might best fit each scene and mood. Most silent movies come with an attached soundtrack, but I always mute that.
Then, I create a flow chart that lists the significant action in a column on the left, and my suggested music in a column on the right. I go through the movie and see if that music works, pausing and restarting the movie constantly to see if the music matches, and where the music needs to change. This can take several hours to do.
Incidentally, I do this musical arrangement in my head. I’m not actually playing my piano when I do this process, because I don’t need to. I’m drawing all the music from my existing repertoire, and I can simply hear myself playing it in my head.
I print out the flow chart, and I use it as my ‘script’ when I’m performing and create all the transitions ‘live’ in my head as I go. But it’s not unusual for me to ‘go off script’ during the show and play music that’s not in the chart. That’s why every performance is unique and unrepeatable.
There have been many nights when for some reason or another I haven’t had time to do my usual prep, and when that happens I resort to my ‘mood sheets’. I have various pages of ‘mood sheets’ that will have a column of a dozen songs marked ‘ANGRY,’ another marked ‘SAD,’ ‘ACTION,’ etc. Using this method I can wing it on the fly by improvising a soundtrack in real time as I watch the movie.
It’s a lot more difficult (and stressful) because I don’t know what’s gonna happen next, so I try to avoid having to use that method.
Are there particular films that have been better/easier/more fun to do?
Comedies are definitely easier than dramas and horror films. With a comedy by Charles Chaplin, or Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, I can throw down a fun li’l ditty like ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ or ‘Shine On Harvest Moon’ and it will almost always work with the action onscreen.
But in a movie like ‘Nosferatu’ you want the music to create a creepy and eerie mood, and, as a cocktail-lounge pianist, I obviously don’t have a lot of those kinda songs in my daily repertoire. So, I’ll have to dig deeper to find music that will fit this movie.
Another reason comedies are better: Hearing the audience laugh and applaud for an onscreen performance that was filmed almost a century ago is a very rewarding feeling. I’d like to believe that I’m helping keep those performers and their work alive for a new generation.”
Talk about the October film.
“‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’ is considered to be a landmark in early silent cinema, partially because its influence set the tone for Gothic Horror for the following decades. That being said, it might appear rather silly to horror fans of today, because the modern film-going audience’s sensibilities are so different from the 1920s audience, having been informed by a century of horror movies.
That’s why I think it’s important to view this film within it’s context, because the original 1922 audience was quite astonished by it.
It’s really creepy.
Also, ‘Nosferatu’ is an unauthorized and unofficial German adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ‘Dracula,’ and Stoker’s widow was horrified by the film, which she never saw, and filed a suit that resulted in a court ruling that all copies be destroyed.
Somehow a few copies survived. And fortunately, the print we’ll be seeing is a remarkable restoration, the best available.
Even if you haven’t seen ‘Nosferatu,’ many of the images from the film have been used so often in pop culture—on everything from music videos to T-shirts—that they are instantly recognizable. Yet, most people have never actually seen the movie.
The movie includes some esoteric occult imagery, which is not surprising when one learns that the production designer and his company were avid occultists. But I’ll address that subject in the documentary footage that I’ll be showing along with the movie.
Here’s my fave fun fact: According to Wikipedia, in March 17, 1995, the Vatican added ‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’ as one of the 45 films that are ‘Some Important Films’ that people should watch. Incidentally, ‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’ premiered in March of 1922, which makes this year the 100th Anniversary of the film! I’d like to think that adds some gravitas to this month’s showing.
‘Nosferatu’ is probably harmless, but there ARE some spooky and creepy images, so parental guidance is suggested.”
Alyssa Witrado reps Fresno, Team Stefani on NBC’s “The Voice”
If you’re not a fan of NBC’s “The Voice” you might have missed Alyssa Witrado’s big reveal on the show this week.
It was kind of a big deal on the entertainment sites.
Not only did the 19-year old Fresno native land a spot in the blind auditions (which premiered Monday night and will continue over the next two week) she got to sing No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” in front of Gwen Stefani (who returned as a judge this season).
Both Stefani and fellow judge Camila Cabello turned their chairs and offered some rather gushing comments about Witrado’s take on the hit, before she ultimately chose to be on Team Stefani.
Stefani did say Witrado was “like, the perfect ideal, dream girl for me to work with on ‘the Voice.’”
Battle Rounds for the show begin mid October. You can follow Witrado on Instagram @alyssadaniellew.
Witrado got her start singing in the choir at Reyburn Intermediate School (though she never quite scored the solo spot she wanted).
Those with a keen eye (and knowledge of Fresno’s music scene) will recognize bassist Patrick Olveras chilling out backstage with Carson Daly. It was Olveras who convinced Witrado to take the show’s virtual audition.
Valley Music Hall of Fame formally inducts 2nd class
File this under stuff you like to see: The Valley Music Hall of Fame had a full house for its 2nd annual induction ceremony last Wednesday.
This was the first ceremony done in person with a live audience (the pandemic kept the inaugural ceremony online) and the event was a sell out.
The formal event featured food and performances along with the installation of honorees, which this year included Gene Bluestein, Ray Camacho, Allen and Faye Harkins, The Fresno Musical Club and Richard Hagopian.
They join Russell Howland, James Winter, Dave Stogner, Dick Contino and Audra McDonald, who were inducted last year.
Nominations are now open for the 2023 class. The deadline to submit is Dec. 31.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com