Thomas Dolby Brings Unique Live Music/Film Experience to Bluebird November 14
by Tim Wenger
It takes a lot to be different these days, especially in the world of music production. Everything is played out, referencing something from the past, or just plain ‘too out there.’ But every once in a while, a gem appears, ready to take audiences on a virgin ride and tickle their entertainment toes in a new way.
If you happen to be a fan of old-school MTV or electronic music from the 1980’s, you may have know name Thomas Dolby, the Grammy-nominated English musician and producer who was an early enthusiast of the synthesizer and finding new ways to match technology with music. Dolby has struck again with his current project, a combination of film and live musical performance dubbed “The Invisible Lighthouse.” The event comes to Denver on November 14 at the Bluebird Theatre.
Dolby filmed the 45-minute project entirely by himself, in eastern England near where he grew up and now lives and owns a home-made ship-based recording studio. It documents the closure of a close by lighthouse that lies on a military island off the coast by his home, analyzes a UFO investigation that happened nearby, and gives detail on the decline of the region both militarily and naturally. “The lighthouse isn’t really used for navigation anymore. I just wanted to document the end of the lighthouse and I found some amazing stories and secrets.”
This is Dolby’s first attempt at a film (outside of music videos) and he is very excited to be touring American promoting his work. “I love the fact that the equipment and the software has become cheap enough and good enough that a maverick filmmaker can do a project like this,” he says.
The entire film takes place in Eastern England, with Dolby discussing not only the decline in US military presence in the area, but also the slow decay of the regio geographically.”Due to a combination of erosion, global warming, and the geology of Britain, our coast is very low-lying and is basically doomed,” says Dolby.
One of the central focuses of the film is a claimed UFO sighting by a few members of the US military near the lighthouse, what critics have to say about the claim, and whether or not the claim is exaggerated or has evolved over time and what relation the lighthouse has or may have had on the incident. “That story has sort of grown over the years,” says Dolby. “Skeptics say it is just a way of increasing their value on the lecture circuit. In reality our memories are very unreliable in criminal cases. I think our own chance at memory is also unreliable. My film sort of becomes an investigation of that- how much of my memory is real, how real are they, and how has the change and evolution of those memories affected the songs that I write and the work that I do.”
Dolby wanted to further inspect not only the UFO claim but the lighthouse and island it sits on but was met with haste by authorities, so he boarded a Rigid Inflatable Boat and covertly invaded the island, documenting the closure of the lighthouse using a drone and well-placed hidden cameras.
The film is accompanied by a live stage performance featuring ambient sound effects and the score of the film, and followed by some of Dolby’s classic hits from the eighties. “It’s quite a complicated performance from a technical standpoint,” says Dolby. “On stage I have myself and another performer, Blake Leyh, and between us we do the score, the songs, the sound effects. The timing is very precise. We also have programmed lights, as we simulate the flying saucer and the lighthouse beam. It’s quite a theatrical performance.”
During the middle of the film, there will be a break featuring a Q+A with unannounced special guests. “The tone of (the interviews) is a bit like “Inside The Actor’s Studio,” says Dolby. “It’s not a late night chat show on TV, this is more about one artist to another talking about creativity, writer’s block, what makes you tick. Sometimes they ask me questions about my film, sometimes I ask them questions about what they do. Sometimes they jam with us.” The special guest for the Bluebird Theatre performance has yet to be announced.
If you are unable to make the live performance, or would like a preview of what to expect, there is a sample of the film on YouTube- youtube.com/watch?v=uG51WwR9d80.
Category: Buzzworthy
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