Zorro!

I met up with John, Kathy, Heather, and Jason at the Portland Symphony Hall for a special Halloween program. They were showing the silent film "The Mark of Zorro" and an organist would provide the soundtrack. For those of you who don't know, this is how it was done in the Old Days! Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. played the well to do sly fox in the 1920 version of the masked vigilante. It was an incredible athletic and witty performance. He did his own stunts, which were daring and many, and had a certain ironic charm. It was not at all what I expected from an old silent film. Paired with the outstanding live accompaniment by Tom Trenny at the Mighty Kotchmar pipe organ - at times thundering away on a rapid theme to a horse chase with the 8' trumpets, at times gliding over the flirtations of the protagonist and Lolita, the love interest of the classic story, with the 4' flutes - it was one of the most entertaining events I've been to. The Kotchmar organ, impressive wit its largest ranks of 32 feet, had an incredible amount of variety in its sounds and impressive power. It was a real treat to hear such an instrument. I'm a big fan of the pipe organ. This one is one of the best! You can check it out if you like at http://foko.org/