THE FIRE ORGAN NEWSLETTER  • Winter 2005-06  •  Issue  #13
(EXCERPTS)

.....THE FALL TOUR, THE BLOGS, THE DVDS...
We spent much of the fall touring with our film, Nothing Like Dreaming, around Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Sculptor Antoinette Jacobson designed a new portable fire organ that we brought to many venues, mesmerizing passersby and people who had come to see the film. The new fire organ was designed, says Antoinette, to evoke a gate or a curtain connecting to another world. The sounds are particularly rich on cold nights, and we often offer the torches to audience members so they too can play the fire organ. Venues ranged from high schools to colleges to community halls to cinemas. Every space has its own character, every audience has a personality.

BLOGS!
We've been wanting to keep a record of all the places we showed Nothing Like Dreaming so our friend Stefanie recently helped us set up a BLOG: http://NLDNotesfromthetour.blogspot.com/ While we started the blog rather late in the process, we will be reconstituting the tour little by little, as much for our own benefit (to help us plan future tours) as for others who might find it useful or interesting. Stefanie also created another blog called: http://nothinglikedreaming.blogspot.com/ where people can write comments and feedback after seeing the film. We always love receiving notes from people. Now you can also post your comments on the blog.

NOTHING LIKE DREAMING DVDs
We are staying close to home over the holidays and concentrating on getting dvds into stores and people's homes. You can find out how and where at www.nothinglikedreaming.com or by writing directly to us. By the way...we now have dvds of MY MOTHER'S EARLY LOVERS, and Nora's documentary DELIVERED VACANT

CURRENT, ON-GOING AND FUTURE PROJECTS AT OFF THE GRID
--For the last 4 years, we've been shooting a documentary about pond hockey, about the exhilaration of skating out of doors and the pond as a metaphor for community.
--we're developing two new screenplays which we hope to have ready for a reading sometime in the spring.
--we're editing the film we shot with Steve Goldberg last summer.
--we’re collaborating with Deb Ellis (You can't be Neutral on a Moving Train) on a short film for the Vermont Right to Marry Taskforce.
--we're working on a documentary about Vermont history with Susan Green, a kind of people's history of VT, focusing on the state's radical tradition throughout history. If anyone has footage of demonstrations, hearings, events that they would like to share with us, please call us at 802-649-3242 or e-mail us. We're actively seeking footage.
--A documentary film about the mental health system in Vermont. We're interested in interviewing people who have been patients or worked at Vermont State Hospital. Please contact us if you'd be willing to share your experiences.
--we're working with Dragon Dance Theatre, now based in Canada, on some of the footage we shot two summers ago during movie week at Dragon Dance.

INTERNS are always needed in production, post-production and distribution!
Please let us know if you'd like to become involved......
GET THE COMPLETE NEWSLETTER BY WRITING TO US....

THE FIRE ORGAN NEWSLETTER  • Summer 2005  •  Issue  #12

Dear Friends,

The Fire Organ newsletter is our way of keeping in touch with friends in other places. We write about what we're doing and try to spread the word about other people's
work as we hear about it and if you send it to us. If you wish to be taken off this list, just hit return.  Our web sites are:
www.OffTheGridProductions.com
www.NothingLikeDreaming.com

Best wishes,
Nora Jacobson and the crew at Off The Grid

• Our film, Nothing Like Dreaming, opens in Boston!
    Find out details as well as other upcoming screenings.

• New Film activities at Off The Grid

• News from friends

•   NOTHING LIKE DREAMING  TOUR:

We have spent the spring and much of the summer showing our new feature film at a garden variety of venues from film festivals to art galleries to movie theaters to highschools to church community rooms to music halls to the Vermont State House. It has been incredibly fun and a lot of hard work. Since many of the spaces where we show the film do not have digital projection or 5.1 surround sound, we bring our own, plus an enormous 9x12 screen. We also bring our portable fire organ which we play outside before the film. Our crew consists of Nora (producer/director and projectionist), Stefanie (meets and greets, takes tickets, roadie extraordinaire), Antoinette (mistress of the Fire Organ, often helped by friends Brian and Fred), Gerry (car lender and overall support person, and Dorothy (helps with PR, sends out a mean press release). We plan to start posting a blog on our web site with notes from various screenings, since each one has its own distinct qualities.

Starting next week-end... Vermont Festival for the Arts,  Waitsfield, VT. Where: 1824 House, an inn and barn on route 100, 2 miles north of Waitsfield. When: Saturday Aug. 6th, Sunday Aug. 7th and Monday Aug. 8th. We'll demonstrate the fire organ at 8, and start the film around 8:20 nightlty.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Thursday Aug. 11 at 5:45 pm,  Saturday Aug. 13 at 3:00 pm, Sunday Aug. 14 at 11:00 am, and Thursday Aug. 18 at 5:30 pm.

There will be a Q&A with Nora Jacobson after all screenings except on the 18th. Morgan Bicknell, who plays Emma, is planning to attend the Aug. 14th screening. The Fire organ will also make an appearance at the Museum before the Patty Larkin concert on Wednesday August 10th!

We hope our Boston readers will come to see the film at the MFA and that those who have friends in the Boston area will tell them about it!

The Colonial Theater, Bethlehem, NH:  September 15th

The Carving Studio, West Rutland, VT: Saturday, Sept. 17th, 8pm

Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT Thursday Sept. 22, Ms Bicknell will attend the screening at her alma mater!

Hardwick Town House, Hardwick, VT Friday, Sept. 23 7:30 pm,

Johnson State College, Johnson, VT Monday, Sept. 26

Hartland, VT October 14th and 15th

The Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH, November 10th

If anyone would like to forward screening info info to friends, here is a short blurb about the film . We appreciate help in getting the word out!

Nothing Like Dreaming  (short synopsis)
Emma, a bright teenage girl, traumatized by the loss of her best friend, takes refuge in the company of Sonny Gale, a lonely recluse who makes music with fire. Defying her father’s authority, Emma helps Sonny build a Fire Organ—a huge musical sculpture-- that creates a mystical bond between them and sends them both on the path to recovery

•  FILM ACTIVITIES at Off The Grid Productions

In late June, Nora spent 2 weeks in Burlington shooting a film with Stephen Goldberg, Singer/Songwriter Rachel Bissex's husband. The script, written by Goldberg, is about a man trying to grasp hold of life after the death of his wife. As many of you know, Rachel died 6 months ago, and so the project has been intense and emotional for everyone involved. Steve's writing is raw, funny, dark and uncensored. While actors who have worked with him on his plays know this, they felt amibvalent about performing some of the material in a film context, because film can be so much more literal than theater. One of the actors who worked with us expressed the view that while theater is fleeting, remaining as a memory in the viewer's mind, a film lasts--it can be watched over and over again. Also, theater is a public event, while film viewing can be done in private, which leaves open the possibility that a film can be used in ways unintended by the actor or filmmaker. As a result of these feelings from actors, we often departed from the script Steve had written, and explored ways in which the actors felt more comfortable and yet still expressed the raw emotions and sexuality that occasionally appear in Steve's script. We also filmed some very beautiful images: a group of women laying driftwood and flowers into a dingy in the waters of Lake Champlain, that same dingy exploding into flames (the coastguard, police and fire department dutifully arrived, after we had finished filming, thankfully---but we had alerted them ahead of time so all was fine), and we filmed some very funny moments: Steve's character having a serious heart to heart conversation with a blow-up sex doll...(if only we had video camera running when we went to buy the doll!) We had several wonderful young interns helping out: Woodrow Travers from Warren, Cedric Vara from Cabot, Eben Witherspoon from Lyndonville and David Mcnyr from Burlington. Steve and Nora will be editing the film this fall.

In July, Off The Grid helped with Susan Bettmann's new film, The Singers.  Nora was director of photography, Kate Cone was head gaffer, Dan Mazur mixed sound, Sue's daughters Sophie and Gaby helped as did Cedric Vara and others. This is Sue's first foray into narrative filmmaking after making the documentary Beyond 88 Keys (which will be screened in Brussels this October!) . She adapted the new script from a Turgenev short story, placing it in contemporary rural Vermont, but with an old world flavor. Through the lens of the camera, the actors and sets had an almost Breugel look, without the bawdiness but replete with vivid colors, great expressivenss, and community activity. We filmed in a tavern/brewery (The Alchemist in Waterbury), on George Woodard's farm, as well as many horses, sheep and goats. There was also great music and singing. It is to Sue's credit as a director that everyone involved seemed to immensely enjoy the process. The most memorable part of the shoot perhaps was climbing White Rock Mountain, as storm clouds gathered in the distance. Sophie Bettmann-Kerson carried the heavy camera bag on her head, encouraging the rest of us as she skillfully maneuvered the sheer rock face...

Rest, relaxation and writing…
Nora will be spending a month in Santa Cruz, California resting, visiting friends up and down the coast and working on two new scripts. If anyone has contacts on the west coast for showing Nothing Like Dreaming, give us a call or e-mail.

•  NEWS FROM CAST AND CREW  of Nothing Like Dreaming:

Don't miss JACOB CRUMBINE (Jimmy) in THE HEIDI CHRONICLES a play by Wendy Wasserstein, directed by Jamie Horton
Moore Theater at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH

August 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 @ 8 PM
August 7 @ 5 Pm
August 14 @ 2 Pm

Tickets available at the Hop Box Office: (603)-646-2422 (appropriate for all ages)


Composer LARRY POLANSKY is a recipient of the inaugural Henry Cowell Award. The Cowell Award recognizes composers who exemplify a spirit of innovation and experimentalism in their work, as Cowell did during his lifetime. Cowell (1897-1965) was a champion of new music in the first half of the 20th century. His compositional innovations, open-minded experimentation, and prolific output influenced many composers, including John Cage, George Gershwin, Lou Harrison, Charles Ives, and Bela Bartok. Each composer receives a grant of $5,000 and a request to designate a composition created during the award period as being supported in part by the Henry Cowell Estate.

Polansky, whose musical pedigree includes work as a composer, theorist, performer, software designer, teacher, writer, editor, and publisher, calledselection for the award a great honor. "Cowell is such an icon of 20th Centurymusic," Polansky said. "It's a privilege to have my work tied into his legacy."

In addition to being the co-director of the College's Bregman Electro-Acoustic Music Studio, Polansky teaches and is a co-author of the widely used computer music language HMSL, and is also co-founder and co-director of Frog Peak Music (A Composers' Collective). He is the author of a number of books and articles, has released several solo CDs, and serves as an editor for several major theoretical and computer music journals.

COLIN ALEXANDER GUNN (guitar-playing Josh) writes: "...in early september i go to scotland, to spend my final college semester  at findhorn ecovillage. www.findhorn.org. it is going to be wonderful  for so many reasons. community solutions for sustainability."

SIRI BARUC (Lara) writes about her role in a new film:  "AT LAST," a true love story starring Kelly Lynch, Martin Donovan, Brooke Adams, Michael Arata, M.C. Gainey, and a whole slew of other great actors premiered at the Long Island Film
Festival last weekend!  800 people showed up to watch!  It will be at the Kansas City Film Festival next and gradually make the festival circuit, then starting in October "AT LAST" will hit theaters across the country one at a time to build a buzz.  It's a beautiful film and I'm very proud to be a part of it...."

RUSTY DEWEES (Red) writes:
"I'm going to tape my third Logger comedy DVD at the Chandler in Randolph Sept 23 and 24, [call Chandler for tix]. The third DVD will include an hour of the live show shot at the Chandler, a short film, "The Logger's Christmas Tree Hunt" and interviews with some real Vermont Kids. Spring 2006 release...."

MOLLY MCDERMOTT (lady in laundromat) writes that she "helped organize with the help of many others, a large event in honor of Vermont Senator Peter Welch (Governor) for Barnard, S. Royalton, and Woodstock Voters. Since I was Event Coordinator at Newsweek in D.C. -- on the sales/business side, my acquired skills and training in these matters came back..."

JOHN GRIESEMER (Jess) writes:
"Iowa was -- I'm back now -- a week of teaching at the Writer's Workshop's summer cousin, the Iowa Writers' Festival. It was intense and fun too. The books are (doing) fine. The latest incarnation is the French version of Signal & Noise, and that's doing well. The film of GREENLAND ("GUY X")  will be at the Edinburgh Film Festival later this month. (I still haven't seen it, still haven't heard about a US release yet.) And I'll be acting again...in Faith's Signal & Noise Productions fall play at the Grange: "The Divine Family Comedy." I'm a playwright who will do anything to get his work produced, including making a deal with the devil. Hmm. Is the role a stretch?”

ANTOINETTE JACOBSON (production designer) has been busy on 3 sculptures
commissioned by the Rivendell School District. She is also building a new
portable fire organ on a trailer, which will be inaugurated next week-end in
Waitsfield and then will travel to Boston to the Museum of Fine Arts.

RUBY FERM (Jennifer) completed the director's workshop at the Maine International Film and Television Workshops. From all accounts, it was a very worthwhile experience. "Awesome...I highly recommend it", says Ruby.

DAVID FERM (co-producer) is renovating the Quonset (our production headquarter's kitchen). For those of you who shared meals with us in the tunnel-like, uninsulated structure, you will be happy to know that next time you visit, there will be light and warmth! It served us well, though, and we tenderly ripped apart the corrugated metal.

HARRY GRAY (gay activist) has just finished the 1st draft of a screenplay based on  Nicholas Biel's play, "A Good Summer's Work". Biel is the pen name for Nora and Antoinette's father, Nicholas Jacobson, a playright who farmed and wrote plays all his life. Many of these plays were produced in New York. "A Good Summer's Work" is a delightful comedy, set on a farm in Vermont. We are planning a reading of the play/screenplay sometime in the fall.

•  PLACE FOR RENT IN RICHMOND, VERMONT:

Roz Payne writes to say she has a place to rent out:

"Greetings, my present tenants are moving and the space is available for rent beginning either September or October. If you know anyone interested that would like to live in Richmond, Vermont  please let them know.  It is good for a single or tight couple.  Rent is $750.00  plus utilities. There is a wood stove and heating by a propane stove.  It ls.is on 3 levels. Private entrance on second level of barn  from Deck over looking garden and trees.  First level is the  kitchen , bathroom and storage closet.  Second level is the living room space.  Third level is the bedroom.

Please call me at  home 802  434 3172, or cell 802  598 5023.  I will be leaving town August 11.  Back on August  25.  Leaving again August 31 back Sept 5.  more info call and or email "  roznews@aol.com

And that's it for now. As always, we love hearing from people...

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As we start new projects, we will let people know about auditions, crew calls, screenplay readings, etc. We hope the newsletter will help us build an audience base for our films, once we start distribution. The newletter will tell people where and when the films are shown. We named the newsletter The Fire Organ in honor of an important aspect of our new film, Nothing Like Dreaming (currently in post-production).

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