The Kansas City Public Library presents silent films the way the filmmakers intended: with live musical performances accompanying each frame. Local composer Jeffrey Ruckma leads the Spoonbender Consort, playing his own unique scores with eclectic instrumentation arranged for documentary and dramatic films from the Silent Era. This series continues with African Paradise and Selected Shorts on Saturday, May 17, at 3:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. World-renowned adventurers from Kansas, Martin and Osa Johnson filmed African Paradise during one of five safaris from 1921 to 1933; their films document now vanished wilderness as well as tribal cultures and customs that are no more. Also included in this program is Emak-Bakia (1926) by surrealist Man Ray, and the film montage Rose Hobart (1936) by Joseph Cornell. The Spoonbender Consort offers a cross-cultural mix of kalimbas and bata drum as well as Western woodwinds, piano, and the expressive bass playing of Kansas City bandleader Bill McKemy. Admission is free. Call 816.701.3407 or click here to indicate your interest in attending. Free parking is available in the Library District Parking Garage at 10th and Baltimore.

For this performance:
Jeffrey Ruckma - piano, modified guitar, hammer dulcimer
Bud Stracker - cello
Bill McKemy - bass
Patrick Conway - percussion, saxophone
Steveland Morse - accordion, various effects

The music of composer Jeffrey Ruckma has been heard in concert halls, New Orleans parades, Indonesian Banjaras, jazz bars, electronic music festivals, parking garages, underground caverns, and the basement below Carnegie Hall. He has been nominated for a 2008 Charlotte Street Foundation Award and the Urban Culture Project will showcase his work later this year.