Sun. Feb. 18

Today's the final day for the foui-day stand at the new Institute of Contemporary Art by Alloy Orchestra.  perhaps the country's best-known silent movie accompaniasts. The Alloy Orchestra wrote and will provide live the soundtrack to "Phantom of the Opera" (starring Lon Chaney) and "The General" (starring Buster Keaton). The 14-year-old Alloys are keyboardist Roger Miller and percussionists/junk-etc. Ken Winokur and Terry Donohue. (Miller, who also plays guitar for Mission of Burma replaced the late Caleb Sampson nine years ago.) Says Miller: "Putting together a score, it's not incredibly diffcult because we have a system we work out. The hard part isn't coming up with themes; it's who's gonna come up with how we're gonna make it smooth and seamless for 120 minutes. There's the rub. How do we put the accordion down, to get to the drums, to warm up the clarient ... I program 50 different sounds into my keyboard and I have a 'next' button for the next scene. Terry and Ken are figuring out what pecucsion instrument works, who's gonna catch the pratfall. Some movies call for a massive bombastic, over-the-top sound, but 'Phantom,' when Lon Chaney has the singer in his lair, it calls for  slow organ and a little bit of gong. In'The General,' the train is always going and so is Ken, with all the chase scenes and fights. 'The Eagle' and 'Phantom' are less percussive, with more slower, romantic, pastoral stuff, with us using piano, clarinet and accordion."
 

"Typically," says Miller, "we premiere at Telluride every summer, after, in June and July doing the equivalent of two months of part-time work. The films they score, become are added to their repetoire and done throughout the world throughout the year. The Alloys don't always take the films seriously. "Occasionally, we poke fun," says Miller, "but only if the film is making fun, intentionally. Our goal is always to merge with the film. The greatest honor we can achieve is if (the audience) forgets you were performing. We're usually off stage right, lit just slightly. We like to believe the spectacle of it; the sum of its parts is greater than the indivdual. It turns into something else."

How does playing with the art-punk band Burma compare with the Alloy Orchestra? "Burma is more an ecstatic, transcendental experience - we're doing and I'm wiped out, I've done some really crazy stuff, and people are wildly into it. With Alloy, it's not as much total involvement. It's common to get a standing ovation and then people come up and talk to you. Then you go home, and say 'What are we gonna do?' But for someone getting older this is very practical; you can do it forever."
 
Today's the last day: "The General"  Feb. 18 at 2 p.m, "Phantom of the Opera" up at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20

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