Little known fact about John Darnielle: in addition to having a prodigious repertoire under the guise of The Mountain Goats and, most recently, Extra Lens, he is a patron of the fine arts. We’ve all heard of those silent film screenings with live musical accompaniment: a string quartet tucked in a corner, a sole pianist tinkering along with City Lights. This year, the San Francisco Film Society has announced that on December 14, a screening of the 1919 silent film Sir Arne’s Treasure will be accompanied by an original score from The Mountain Goats, performed live at the Castro Theater.
This injection of pop into the classic Swedish film about Scots is hardly an aberration for the Film Society. In recent years, the society has commissioned such legends as Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, Black Francis, Jonathan Richman, Superchunk, and Lampchop to provide music to screenings of silent cinema. (All of which makes me wonder if the SF Film Society has an arrangement with Merge.) For more information about tickets and previous screenings, check out their website here.
• The Mountain Goats: http://www.mountain-goats.com