Hey folks, hope all is well. I am just on route to Montreal to take in the 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival. The festival kicked off a few days ago and they have already screened 2 of  my favourite features from the 2016 EFM Berlinale: A Conspiracy of Faith (Denmark 2015) and Dark Side Of The Moon (Germany 2015).

As well the highly acclaimed Polish mermaid/zombie flick: The Lure had it’s NA premiere yesterday, and it was a definite buzz film at Berlin this past February.

I have a couple of interviews lined up already and a slate of films to try and get to, so I will update the blog every few days for the duration of Fantasia.

I just returned from a 3 day jaunt down to Motown to see  a couple baseball games, and take in the Eastern Market. As an added bonus I was able to catch John Carpenter and band in concert at the Masonic Temple Auditioriun.

This is a very old and very cool old theatre that is part of a large Masonic Order complex-the largest in the USA. During the City Of Detroit’s recent bankruptcy  this beautiful hall almost met the wrecking ball, but was saved by local musician and icon: Jack White. He came forward with a last minute donation of 1 Million $ to fund the restoration of the hall.

And I’m glad he did ,as it was a perfect venue for horror maestro John Carpenter to weave his synth laden themes and songs to a packed house of fans. A full house it was, and as the lights dimmed at 8 pm the screen on stage lit up with the opening of Carpenters famous film: Escape from New York.

As the opening continued however, it became clear the movie was going to continue, so we all sat back and enjoyed the show for 90 minutes.  After a short intermission the  house lights dimmed again and this time the concert began .

Escape From New York kicked off the show, quickly followed  by the theme from: Attack on Precinct 13. Clips of the films filled out the experience as the group ran through a wide variety of movie themes and tracks including: The Fog, They Live, and Christine.

Interspersed with the film stuff where a variety of tracks from Carpenters recent LP releases: Lost Themes and Lost Themes II.

Overall a really cool and creepy show, a lot of fun as well with a really great and vocal crowd. Carpenter continues his tour through the USA and Europe, so do yourself a favour and catch a show if you can, and look for his album releases on Sacred Bones Records.

Iconic Japanese music and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has dabbled in film music throughout his long career. He is most well know for the beautiful sweeping score for : The Last Emperor, and the electronic tinged music for; Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

This October as part of the Ghent Film Festival in Belgium, the organizers presenting the World Soundtrack Awards and their annual concert of film music highlighting tunes from a specific composer.

This years lucky  recipient is Ryuichi Sakamoto and a live concert of his film music is being compiled and a recording and CD release is hoped for as well.

The fest is currently raising money to help realize this concept through crowdfunding. SO check it out and send in some $ if you can: Indie go go-Sakamoto

They have released concert CD’s of  live shows featuring the music of Cliff Martinez and Alan Silvestri in the past. Check out the GFF website for more info on the events and recordings available:) oh and there is a Spotify stream of film music as well!

Ghent Film Fest

Ok well I’m in a post diner food-coma courtesy of Via Rail Canada, so I will ign of for now, talk to you form Montreal…