Last evening a friend of mine was front and center (literally) for an event that was a first for me. I love watching old silent movies (my wife hasn’t quite figured that one out) but I’ve never seen one in a theater. Well Jim Boston let me know he was playing piano at the Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater to accompany Buster Keaton’s The General.
While already one of my favorites and this time with live music, it was great fun to watch again the civil war train chases, the battle to save the South, and of course mishaps galore as the rejected Keaton’s character rescues his damsel from the Northerners. The showing was part of the Silents in Concert series in the theater near downtown Omaha. Jim plays ragtime piano and has participated in a number of contests over the years. In 2006 he helped found the Great Plains Ragtime Society – which among other activities hosts a Ragtime to Riches Festival every summer in the Omaha area. So, let the silents roll.
Very nice! Wish we had seen some of his earlier show so that I could have come watch as well!