May 28, 2003

Alloy Orchestra Returns to MASS MoCA to Accompany Silent Classic with Live Music

(North Adams, Mass.) In keeping with their heavily anticipated and often sold-out annual MASS MoCA performances, the always-inventive Alloy Orchestra will return to the Berkshires on Saturday, June 28, at 8:30 P.M., to accompany the silent film classic Speedy. Alloy Orchestra will use an assortment of what some would consider backyard junk -- horseshoes, truck springs, radiator pipes, sheet metal, and vacuum cleaner canisters -- to add a lively percussion and a magical musical backdrop for one of the best films of the silent era. This 1928 film includes a cameo by Babe Ruth and substantial footage of a bygone Manhattan of the 1920s, including old Yankee Stadium, Coney Island's Luna Park, Columbus Circle, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge. In fair weather, the movie will be screened outdoors in the Cinema Courtyard, where viewers can stargaze and enjoy food and beverages before and during the movie.

The film stars comedian Harold Lloyd -- at the time a bigger box office draw than Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton -- as Harold "Speedy" Swift, whose fatal attraction to baseball repeatedly inhibits his employment. When he learns of the dilemma of his sweetheart's grandfather, Pop, he tries to help. Pop runs the last horse-drawn trolley in New York City, a route desperately fought over by the railway magnates. When Pop refuses to sell the route to them, they hire thugs to beat him up and keep him from making his required run once every 24 hours. Speedy takes over the route to protect Pop, but when the thugs steal the trolley Speedy has to make a mad dash to find it and complete the route before his 24 hours run out.

Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical group, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films, with Terry Donahue playing percussion, accordion, and vocals; Ken Winokur on percussion and clarinet; and Roger C. Miller on synthesizer. An unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable. MASS MoCA's popular Silent Film/Live Music series is sponsored by Holiday Inn Berkshires.

Lickety Split will be open to serve full dinners and snacks starting at 8 P.M. when the doors open. There will also be a full bar. In case of rain, the film will move indoors where the Hunter Center will have been transformed into a full movie palace.

Tickets to Speedy with Alloy Orchestra are $12 adults and $6 for kids. MASS MoCA members get 10% off. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located on Marshall Street in North Adams from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or online at www.massmoca.org at any time of day.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located on Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org