Well, I’m off (via Amtrak) this morning to Arlington, VA for the fifth annual Slapsticon where I’ll spend 4 fun-filled glorious days and nights watfching — and playing for — classic comedy shorts and features from the ’10s, ’20s and ’30s. I’ve been one of their accompanists every year since the fest started, along with Philip Carli. It’s pig-heaven for a silent comedy fan like myself and this year’s line-up of rarities should be pretty exciting.
The fest starts on Thursday, but I’m travelling a day earlier with Steve Massa (silent comedy film historian), because we’ve set up a day’s worth of screening time at the Library of Congress to watch rarities from their collection there. In the middle of the day, I’m going to have to duck out and run over to WAMU, which is D.C.’s NPR affiliate, to appear on the Kojo Nnamdi show. Our segment airs at 12:32pm and will be available later in the day as a podcast. I’ll be on with Slapsticon founder Rob Farr and Slapsticon programmer and event coordinator. We’re schlepping in a digital keyboard so I can talk and play during the segment.
I plan to post reports on Slapsticon daily here, along with photos (if I can get some), so stay tuned!