(Recent praise on This Beautiful City from MICHAEL ONDAATJE)
_________________________________________________
Last night in the mainspace at Factory Theatre--the ballroom of an Edwardian mansion converted into a theatre space--we recorded a 10 piece choir, trumpet, and drums for Sunparlour Players stunning tune Bless This City as well as cello, viola, and violin for Shad's currently untitled track.
(Erin Brandenburg and Andrew Penner preparing to sing in the Sunparlour choir)
My dad founded Factory Theatre in 1970, left in 1979, then took over again at its current location in 1997. I've worked there on and off since then (and was subsequently fired in 2000) and have grown to know the space well...I've always had a hunch that the mainspace would be a great room for live music and last night was awesome...the acoustics were a perfect match for full, belting voices. It's really gotten me inspired to arrange some live performance in there.
(Dave MacKinnon engineering the session)
When I heard the rough mix today I honestly felt a cold chill down my spine and was on the verge of tears as the choir erupts. I experimented with adding it into the film today and I think I love it...definitely a stark contrast to what I was trying before...but I think it's totally right. I'll live with it for a couple of days then decide for sure.
We're doing a small test screening on Saturday so I will certainly be curious how people respond to the music and the new ending I've cut.
In other news, The Ghost Is Dancing have sent me three demos of songs written for the film. We're suffering from a bit of an embarrassment of riches as I don't know if I can if all this great material in the film or on the soundtrack...I'm hoping one of the tunes can be a collaboration with Amy Millan (I think her voice would be a perfect compliment to The Ghost Is Dancing). And Buck 65 should be sending me some material any day now.
In the next two weeks I'll also be uploading some sample poster ideas that we're experimenting with...and perhaps a streaming version of one of the songs to whet people's appetite.
