The first time I saw Lon Chaney in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) It was an 8mm print I had ordered from an ad I saw in Forrest J Ackerman and James Warren’s FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. I had read the book. The movie was the first I saw (and one of the very few) that surpassed its source. I saw the film completely silent. I was 18. This film caused me to fall in love with the potential of the movies. Unlike most who score this with The Phantom as the villain I have scored it with The Phantom as the hero. Film buffs generally tell me they won’t come to my programs because I talk. One of my long standing patrons was Jane Jacobs, the author of the pivotal book THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES. Her last book DARK AGE AHEAD came out in 2004. She nailed the moment we now live in. In 2002 she invited me into her home for a coffee or tea. Inside she produced6 beer. She said, “I think you would prefer this.” Then she said, “The best part of what you offer is what you have to say.” I said, “Hearing that, from you, is better than getting an Academy Award.” She replied, “I would not say that.” I answered, “I would. I know the calibre of the people who vote on those things.” I reflected that had I chosen to please all those folk who say they’d prefer me silent I would not have heard her say what she said. We all must have the courage to turn a deaf ear to our detractors. “Can’t you weave your poetry out of the air like Milarepa?” Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said to Allen Ginsberg who accepted the challenge. David Selznick wrote, “When we make a B movie we use a script. When we make an A we improvise.” That means we weave it out of the air. B poets rely on words on paper. A poets weave our poetry out of the air.
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