Movies + Music: A couple of classic silent horror films — “Phantom of the Opera” and “Nosferatu” — screen at Grace Cathedral in San Franciso for Halloween. The real star of the events, however, is the cathedral’s famed 7,500-pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ, a key facet of the church since it was installed in 1934. The organ will be played by musician Dorothy Papadakos, who started out as a jazz pianist in her native Reno and has evolved into a world-renowned organ player, thanks in part to a long stint as organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and Grammy-winning work with the Paul Winter Consort; the live album “Silver Solstice” remains a New Age/ambient classic. Papadakos, considered a talented improviser, accompanies the 1925 silent version of “Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney, at 8 p.m. Thursday, and the 1922 version of “Nosferatu”— a film that was once ordered destroyed because it was deemed to be an unauthorized adaptation (read: ripoff) of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”— at 8 p.m. Friday. The church, a San Francisco landmark and always worth a visit, is at Taylor and California streets. Tickets are $34.50-$44.50 at sfjazz.org.
Freebie of the week: There is nothing quite like experiencing a truly terrible film with a room full of gleefully derisive bad-movie fans. There’s a reason why “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” spawned three sequels and too many spoofs and homages to count, and it wasn’t John K. Culley’s nuanced cinematography. Halloween is a favorite time to indulge in bad-movie bliss, probably because violent mutant vegetables and irritable aliens fit comfortably in the horror genre. The opportunity to view “Robot Monster,” of the most glorious and beloved bad movies of all time, presents itself this week. Not surprisingly, the 1953 movie about an alien robot sent to destroy Earth who defies orders when it saves an imperiled woman from certain death. It took four days and $20,000 to make, $4,000 of which was spent on incorporating 3D technology. One star was cast because he already owned a gorilla suit and didn’t need to be costumed. The cheap production, which grossed $1 million in its first year, has gone on to be a favorite among those who revel in the wonders of wretched filmmaking. “Robot Monster” screens at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Internet Archive, 300 Funston Ave., San Francisco in a free event. However, a donation to the Internet Archive or co- presenter Golden Gate Stereoscopic Society, both of which are dedicated to preserving humankind’s digital history, would hardly be rejected. More information is at ggstereo.org.
Musical marriage: Wake the Dead seems like it would be a tremendous name for a screeching-loud punk band or maybe a Goth band. But the real Wake the Dead is a collection of very talented Bay Area musicians merging two of their musical passions: Grateful Dead classics and Irish/Celtic music. The name is certainly appropriate, as it references the Dead as well as Irish wakes, which are known to be deeply heartfelt and celebratory affairs. The moniker also mirrors the title of the Grateful Dead’s 1973 album “Wake of the Flood,” the first recording the band released acting as its own label. Adding to the plays on words, the band’s annual gig in Berkeley celebrates the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), the holiday widely observed in Mexico honoring loved ones who have passed away. Wake the Dead, per tradition, returns to The Freight on Saturday to perform a Day of the Dead-themed show at which you are likely to hear high-energy Celtic takes on Dead classics such as “China Cat Sunflower” and “Eyes of the World.” The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26.50-$44; a livestream is $25. More information is at thefreight.org.
Día de los Muertos: The skeletons are dangling from the windows and looming merrily overhead the staircase in the festive lobby of Davies Hall as the San Francisco Symphony gears up for its 18th annual celebration of the Day of the Dead, the joyous Mexican tradition held to pay love and respect to ancestors who have passed on. The centerpiece of the festivities is a symphony concert at 3 p.m. Saturday, but multiple preconcert family-friendly activities (including marigold flower making, offering-altar installations, a mariachi instrument petting zoo, sugar skull decorating and costumed dancers from Casa Círculo Cultural) begin at 1:30 p.m. The symphony, conducted by Lina González-Granados, will perform traditional and contemporary Latin American music associated with the holiday, including Gabriela Ortiz’s “Kauyumari,” selections from Arturo Márquez’s “Espejos en la Arena,” the Intermezzo from Ricardo Castro’s “Atzimba” opera, Paul Desenne’s “Hipnosis Mariposa,” Jimmy Lopez’s “Loud,” Márquez’s popular Danzón No. 2 and Gabriela Lena Frank’s “The Mestizo Waltz.” Tickets, which are 50 percent off for those under 18, range from $27.50-$175, available at sfsymphony.org.
An orchestral showcase: San Francisco Opera takes a breather from its regimen of presenting full-fledged and lavish operatic productions to let Music Director Eun Sun Kim shine a solo spotlight on her instrumentalists in a single night concert of music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Manuel de Falla at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in War Memorial Opera House. The program opens with “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas,” a set of songs inspired by de Falla’s home country of Spain, sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, and continues with the second orchestral suite from the same composer’s ballet “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”). Following the intermission, the concert will conclude with Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony. Tickets, $29-$250, can be purchased through sfopera.com.
The post Best Bets: Cathedral silent flicks, ‘Robot Monster,’ Wake the Dead, SF Symphony Dia de los Muertes concert, Beethoven and Falla appeared first on Local News Matters.