The evening's feature is the 113-minute "Touch the Sound," a documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer that follows percussionist Evelyn Glennie on a musical journey around the world.
Glennie, a top classical solo percussionist, is deaf, and uses her own body as a "resounding chamber" in order to experience sound. The film captures her playing a snare drum in Grand Central Station, a guitar case in Cologne, china in her favorite Japanese restaurant and whatever she can find in an industrial warehouse she roams with avant-garde musical icon Fred Firth.
 Lou Solitske peers through his camera at the Coastside scenery he brought to the 'Half Moon Bay Concerto.' |
The evening opens with another sound experience: the eight-minute "Half Moon Bay Concerto," a flowing visual journey of Coastside scenery and people set to music by prolific Half Moon Bay composer George Roumanis against stunning images by recent local arrival, photographer Lou Solitske.
The two met on a casual seaside stroll when Roumanis read some of Solitske's original poetry and the two conceived the idea of the film. Against Roumanis' shifting and multi-layered audio landscape of classical, jazzy and emotive symphonic sound, the photos morph one into the next of beaches, skyscapes, flora and fauna, surfers and colorful Coastside ambience.
That's a shift for Solitske, who relocated to the coast in 2005 after an 18-year career as a nighttime cab driver in Sacramento.
"We used to be toasties in Sacramento. Now we're coasties," Solitske said with characteristic gusto and humor.
He brought his experiences with his fares and cab life into his paperback book "Taxi Tales," which can be found at Bay Book Company and the San Gregorio Store. Alternately funny, moving, scary, touching and profound, the stories offer a revealing cross-section of humanity and the uncertain landscape of late night on Sacramento's streets.
"Every time I thought I saw it all, I was surprised," Solitske said. "Sometimes profoundly."
He fell in love with photography, and now his camera doesn't leave him. "The day I leave my camera at home is the day I see a UFO piloted by Elvis," he deadpanned.
He says he is thrilled to bring his skills to Roumanis' music. "The timing and synergy of the music and photos makes this unique," he said. "I really want to make the concerto worthy of the name of Half Moon Bay."
The church is located at 777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay. Admission is $6 at the door. For information, visit hmbfilm.org.
•
AT A GLANCE
What: Coastside Film Society films
Where: Community United Methodist Church, 777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay
When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 20
Cost: $6 at the door
Information: hmbfilm.org
w