The Billy Nayer Chronicles

Director: Cory McAbee

Institute History

  • 1995 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Live music and film unite and ignite onstage as the cult neoclassical hit from San Francisco makes its Utah premiere. The Billy Nayer Chronicles is a new genre of musical performance. Short films intertwine with the live combo pounding out songs so that the two art forms merge into this kinky, twisted mutation of a musical.

Here’s the scoop: The Billy Nayer Show is a cabaret punk band that first hit the San Francisco rock scene about six years ago. The lead singer is Cory McAbee. Now . . . Cory seems almost normal offstage, but when he gets hold of a microphone, he morphs into a cross between a demented lounge singer and a whacked-out cartoon character.

Billy Nayer has been described by those who love him as a “real humanitarian and a hell of a entertainer, a hero to children and a friend to dogs everywhere. He’s a dashing crooner, a lively dancer, an urbane host, and one sick puppy.” In theory I would have to agree, but you really need to decide for yourself. There is only one drawback to having people onstage live in a movie house: if there is any blood, tears, or sweat to be shed, it’s most likely real.

— John Cooper

Screening Details

Credits

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