It's A Capitol Time!

If you like movies -- old movies, classic movies, rare movies, silent movies -- you might want to check out CapitolFest in Rome, NY. TV Stevie and Y-Chromo have been going to movies and CapitolFest for years, at least until Y went off to college.

Original installation, 3-manual,
9-rank Möller Grand Theatre Organ.



 I was leary of going in Y's place. In 2006, TV Stevie dragged the whole family to a film festival in central Ohio. Other than the 2 Columbus Clippers games we attended and listening to Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation both ways, the trip was hideous. I attended one movie. It was in a musty hotel conference room with rows of folding chairs. The only good thing about the festival experience was hearing (and meeting) Dr. Philip Carli for the first time, as he accompanied Don Q, Son of Zorro on the piano. (Actually, the movie was pretty good, too. I just don't like musty hotel conference rooms, folding chairs, and flat seating.)

So I wasn't real thrilled when TV asked me in 2008 to go to the Capitol Theater to see a local theater production of Man of La Mancha, but I went. That was my first time at the Capitol Theater. And it was a good production. And they had real theater seats. And sloped floors. And a theater cat. Gotta love a place with a cat.

In 2009, our wedding anniversary fell during CapitolFest, plus we had tickets for the Glimmerglass Opera on that date. Steve suggested we stop at the Capitol on our way home from Cooperstown. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra would be accompanying a movie that evening. I said, "sure, why not."

They were amazing. Plus, I wanted to see the movie that followed their performance.

I was hooked.

Last year, TV Stevie and I went to every session. I took many photos of their amazing, original installation Moller organ.

And we were part of an exciting bit of cinema history. Paramount on Parade, a showcase of Paramount contract players, is a "partially missing" film. Several of the shellac sound-track discs are missing, footage is missing (from the movie being edited-for-TV): it's a hodge-podge of audio and video. But it turns out that the projectionist had in his possession of of the "missing" sound track discs. We were able to hear it (altho' it wasn't synced up with the film). And no, he didn't steal it. Missing sound track discs is a common problem, but thanks to the Vitaphone Project, some movies are being restored using new technology.

In a bit of trivia, we were watching a short about dental hygiene, and the bureau in boy's bedroom is the same bureau I use. Well, not quite as beat up as mine is, but that was weird and memorable. I knew my bureau was old, but not that old!

This year, Y-Chromo doesn't head for college until after CapitolFest. He and I have been arguing over who gets to accompany TV Stevie this year. Probably both of us.