Pere Ubu accompanying a 1963 Roger Corman Film X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

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This could be worth a road trip--

Pere Ubu Live with Roger Corman’s X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963, color, 80 min.)
9:30 p.m., Byrd Theatre,as part of the James River Film Festival, April 4-10 near Richmond, Virginia

Visit http://www.rmicweb.org/jrff

Legendary avant-garage Cleveland rockers Pere Ubu (Modern Dance, Dub Housing) return to Richmond after nearly 20 years, playing live to Roger Corman’s 1963 cult classic starring Ray Milland as the scientist with the privileged, and finally cursed, X-ray eyes. Many consider it Corman’s finest production and Milland fancied the role one of his favorites—more reasons why it’s a real B-flick classic. But throw in Pere Ubu’s “signature mix of driving rock and synthesized sound” (Argus) and you are part of a total live film/music experience at the historic Byrd Theatre. “I grew up addicted to Friday night sci-fi flicks,” Pere Ubu’s David Thomas says. “The genre had an incalculable effect, and now it’s time to honor our debt.” What the band does, he explains, is a kind of “underscoring”—sound effects, dialogue, and additional score. During a performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the band’s recent UK tour, musical director Glenn Max declared, “Pere Ubu has raised the standard for live soundtracks.”

― Steve-k (Steve K), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

The movie w/ Ubu thing is on Saturday April 9th

― Steve-k (Steve K), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw them doing the soundtrack to it came from out of space last year.

amazing

― Drew Symes, Wednesday, 23 March 2005 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I saw 'It Came From Outer Space' last year too. It was the freaky 3-D print as well, my first experience of that. Awesome looking around the theatre and seeing everyone sitting there in cardboard 3-D glasses. Soundtrack parts were a great mixture of subtle sonic punctuation and flat-out rock, with Thomas adding a few verbal parts to the scenes in places but not overdoing it. I thought it worked tremendously well.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Crocus has obviously got an affinity for Ray Milland movies, since the title of the Ubu EP (and later, boxed set) Datapanik In Year Zero, was taken directly from his '63 movie "Panic In Year Zero."

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Pere Ubu playing accompanying music for the film The Lost Weekend is definitely something I'd pay to see!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 23 March 2005 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw them play with this same movie in Prospect Park last summer and it was incredible.

― J.D. Forgang (Jonathan Forgang), Thursday, 24 March 2005 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely Bauhaus doing "The Man With X-Ray Eyes" would be better?

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Friday, 25 March 2005 03:11 (twenty-one years ago)

this sounds cool

― latebloomer: AKA Sir Teddy Ruxpin, Former Scientologist (latebloomer), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Who's in the band at this point?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

For anyone who cares (and how could they NOT?!), ILM's only previous Ray Milland namedrop can be found here

Do you dream about music?

wherein I recount a silly dream that he appeared in.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

this is one of my dad's favorite movies, I've still never seen it

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Who's in the band at this point?

I hear that Cutler's back in, for now

― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Babylon Zoo should do it. They rule.

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought this show was fantastic. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but the band played almost constantly, comming on the action w/ music. At first it was distracting but then it settled into this other thing, more like a musical event with a film being projected. At a few points the film's soundtrack dropped out completely and Pere Ubu would narrate the montage with an extended passage of music, which was often pretty noisy and intense. Cool idea + excellent execution, IMO.

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 10 April 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

'commenting" on the action...

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 10 April 2005 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

yeh, i saw this at prospect park in bklyn last summer, too...it was completely great.

my contact lenses were drying up while watching it, then i biked home to w'burg thru fog w/ blurry eyes.

THEN WHEN I GOT HOME I COULD SEE THROUGH MY CAT'S FLESH.

― bangor, Sunday, 10 April 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

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