SCOTT BROCATO:
Talk about the event. What can audiences expect from this?
FRED BUGBEE:
Well, the idea we started five years ago, just improvising a score to a silent film. We started with Nosferatu, the famous 1920s film. And then we did The cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well. And we've kind of rotated those two. We've done each of those twice and wanted to venture out. And one of the other people that is on this project, Jacob Gallagher, who teaches trumpet and jazz studies at NMSU, had found this. And so we reached out, or I reached out, to the director and he gave us the performance rights for the performance. And I'm actually interviewing him before the film airs.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Mike, who are the musicians, besides yourself, involved? And what will you be playing?
MICHAEL MAPP:
So I play prepared piano, and so I take one of the grand pianos that we have on stage and I throw a lot of stuff inside of it, like screws and bolts and erasers, to make different sounds with it. It doesn't damage the piano.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Who gets to clean that out?
MICHAEL MAPP:
I have to do that as well, yeah. (Laughs) But this kind of started originally with Fred and myself and Rhonda Taylor and Jim Scheer doing this; and right now, Jim Scheer is on sabbatical. And so when Jacob Gallagher was hired, we asked him to join us and Christian...oh, I can't think of his last name right now, but he's he's a bass player in the in the El Paso area and he's helping out with Jazz band a little bit with Dr. Gallagher. (Note: the bass player is Christian Chesanek.) But he's going to be joining us this year too, so we're going to have a string bass, trumpets, piano, saxophones, percussion. (To Fred Bugbee) I don't know if you're going to bring anything else special or...?
FRED BUGBEE:
Well, this year I'm adding a theorem.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Are you playing that?
FRED BUGBEE:
Yes. So I play mostly on this, it's all electronic percussion that I've done with this group. But this year I got a mini theorem.
SCOTT BROCATO:
That’ll give it a nice spooky touch.
FRED BUGBEE:
Yeah, yeah.
SCOTT BROCATO:
What is the story about, the call of Cthulhu?
FRED BUGBEE:
It's a really interesting story. This statue is found, and it's kind of this unveiling of madness. I would say these horrors kind of follow this statue as well. But it also embodies this giant monster and that kind of Lovecraftian kind of science fiction meets horror. I think there's kind of this contact with aliens, and you get the feeling that there's this just whole other dimension.
SCOTT BROCATO:
And the score is going to be improvised?
FRED BUGBEE:
Yes. So we normally get together for a sound check and run through. I don't know if we will do a full run through. I always, like when I'm preparing for this, I watch the movie a number of times, and have kind of ideas of what I want to do at different points. And because I'm doing a fair amount of melodic percussion and different things. So I get an idea of what I want to do. But then, and I think we all can do that, but then we all play off of each other as it's going.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Do you enjoy that challenge?
MICHAEL MAPP:
I do. I think we all kind of take our own approaches a little bit, and that's what's really great: when we perform, we throw all those things together, but then we start to play off of one another as well. I might hear Dr. Bugbee do something that I'll start to incorporate into my playing, or Dr. Taylor doing something that she'll incorporate through the saxophones. And I know my approach is, I generally prepare the piano. I'm looking for certain sounds to try to create, sounds that I feel fit into the film. And then I actually create a score from that, a graphic score, that's kind of in a timeline that charts out the film, just reminding me of where I thought those sounds might fit. And that's why I'm excited that we're doing a different film this year, because I think we could all keep playing Nosferatu and The Cabinet Dr. Calligari, we could keep doing that a lot. So this is kind of new for us to throw this into the mix.
SCOTT BROCATO:
So is this family-friendly? The movie, not your score.
FRED BUGBEE:
Absolutely. Yeah, I think the movie is. There's a couple of things that are a little disturbing, maybe. But there's no graphic violence or anything like that that could see. It's not gory at all.
SCOTT BROCATO:
So tickets, are they at the door? Can people buy them in advance? How are tickets worked out?
FRED BUGBEE:
So we don’t actually have tickets. We encourage a donation. It's for the Partners of Musical Excellence fund. But if you don't have anything to give, that's okay, too. We would rather you be there, and we encourage everybody to wear costumes as well.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Sounds like a lot of fun. It's going to be at Atkinson Recital Hall at 7:30 on the 30th? On Halloween Eve?
FRED BUGBEE:
Yes, it is.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Fred Bugbee, Mike Mapp, this sounds fun. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for coming in and talking with KRWG Public Media.
FRED BUGBEE:
Thanks so much for having us, Scott.
MICHAEL MAPP:
Thank you.
