An Evening of Animated Films and Live Music

Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 7PM Mattress Factory Lobby $15, $10 (members) Members e-mail caitlin (at) mattress.org for discount code. Tickets may be purchased at the door for $15. 

Join us as we celebrate an evening of Animated Films by Ladislaw Starewicz with original live music performed by Little Bang Theory (featuring Frank Pahl, an artist in our DETROIT: ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE exhibition) in their Pittsburgh debut. The films are mind-boggling and the music will surely make you smile, as this promises to be an unforgettable evening.

The stop motion animations of Russian animator, Ladislaw Starewicz (1882 - 1965) have to be seen to be believed. Starewicz is recognized for having made the first puppet-animated film and for his visionary usage of insects and other animals as protagonists of his films. He wrote or adapted stories, designed and built the puppets, sets and costumes, articulated every movement of the puppets, and shot each film frame-by-frame, with great patience and unmatched attention to detail. His style has been hugely influential on many directors such as Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. Starevich's 1934 film, The Mascot (also referred to as Duffy the Mascot, Puppet Love, or The Devil's Ball) was selected by Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time.

Little Bang Theory, the brainchild of Detroit composer/sonic artist, Frank Pahl, performs entirely on children's instruments and toys. The three members (Pahl, Terri Sarris & Doug Shimmin) sit around a game table covered with brightly colored hand bells, crank-operated music boxes, toy pianos, xylophones and more. Little Bang Theory's members are constantly picking up new instruments, so the music is always shifting. It's not unusual for something to be playing a melodica with one hand, a metallophone with the other, and stomping on percussion under the table with the feet. Little Bang Theory has performed at festivals, galleries, and other venues across the country, including "The Three Drops of Blood" series in San Francisco, The Detroit Film Theater, The Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the "Who Fest" in Chattanooga. They have also performed as the opening act for independent rock bands, Deerhoof and Danielson.

"...probably the best silent-film / music program ever presented in the DFT...can't wait to get LBT back for more..." --Larry Baranski, Detroit Institute of Arts, Director of Public Relations

"The result could have been the soundtrack of a Dr. Seuss story. Between these three imaginative minstrels there was more soul than the Chicago Symphony Orchestra mashed up with the whole of the Disney repertoire." --Kat Bawden, The Michigan Daily

"It's impossible to listen to Little Bang Theory and not be in a good mood!" --Ernest Paik, Chattanooga Pulse

"Pablo Picasso once called himself the king of ragpickers. Straddling the worlds of visual and aural arts, embracing old music boxes, tube amplifiers, rotisserie grill motors, toys and such, Frank Pahl is, at the very least, among the bric-a-brac royalty." --W. Kim Heron, Metro Times

"(Little Bang Theory's 'Elementary') as a whole is gorgeous, of a disarming level of complexity, yet so simple at the same time..." --Francois Couture, Monsieur Delire