Composer Joe Wong Talks Duncan Trussell's THE MIDNIGHT GOSPEL On Tom Needham's SOUNDS OF FILM

THE MIDNIGHT GOSPEL composer Joe Wong, Stephen Merritt and director Chuck Smith are Tom Needham's special guests on WUSB's SOUNDS OF FILM.

Joe Wong recently composed the music for the critically-praised Netflix animated show The Midnight Gospel. Joe will discuss the show's soundtrack and his relationship with comedian and TMG co-creator, comedian Duncan Trussell. The Midnight Gospel's season finale prominently features Joe's song "Dreams Wash Away," which is also the first single shared from Nite Creatures, his debut album out September 18 via Decca Records.

Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields) will be talking about his original new songs and score for a live film screening of Tod Browning's 1925 film 'The Unholy Three,' starring Lon Chaney. Stephin Merritt releases albums under the band names the Magnetic Fields, the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. Merritt has written and recorded Eleven Magnetic Fields albums, including his popular 1999 album, "69 Love Songs." Merritt and the Magnetic Fields performed as part of Lincoln Center's 'American Songwriters' series and at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music's 'Next Wave of Song'. Merritt composed original music and lyrics for three music theater pieces directed by Chen Shi-Zheng. In 2008, Merritt composed music for the Off Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman's 'Coraline,' for which he won an Obie Award. Merritt composed the score for the Academy award-nominated film 'Pieces of April' (dir. Peter Hedges). He composed incidental music for the HarperCollins' audio books of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler's pen name), and for Neil Gaiman's "Coraline," and released albums for each. Merritt created and performed a live score for the 1916 silent version of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' and for Tod Browning's 1927 film 'The Unknown,' both at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. In 2014, Merritt released a book of poems, "101 Two Letter Words," about the tiniest words in the Scrabble dictionary, illustrated by Roz Chast. In 2017, Merritt released his latest Magnetic Fields album, "50 Song Memoir," on Nonesuch Records.

Barbara Rubin & THE EXPLODING NY screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and at DOC NYC, winning the Metropolitan Grand Jury Prize. Through the story of Barbara Rubin's life, the film redefines and restores the role that a few creative women played in NYC's influential avant garde. From her beginnings working with Jonas Mekas and the Filmmaker's Cooperative to her tragic death at the age of 35, Barbara Rubin was a creative catalyst for some of the 1960's most influential happenings and ideas. Her work inspired Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and many others. After connecting Warhol with the Velvet Underground, she helped create the legendary Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows which introduced the idea of multi-media to an entire generation.

Barbara Rubin is widely remembered for her erotic masterpiece, CHRISTMAS ON EARTH, which shocked New York's experimental film scene and inspired NYC's thriving underground. Though she was forever swinging a camera around, Rubin's film legacy is surprisingly limited. After her groundbreaking CHRISTMAS ON EARTH, Rubin wrote several screenplays, but the inherent sexism of the times and the radical nature of her first film inhibited her ability to complete any other major films.

Filmmaker Chuck Smith uses archive of footage from the 1960's to tell Barbara's story. Using rare footage and Barbara's own achingly personal writings, Smith's film reveals a woman who was ahead of her time in almost everything she did. Barbara Rubin & THE EXPLODING NY shows how Rubin tested the limits of the avant garde, dreamed of a better world, escaped to the country, discovered her roots, and, ultimately embraced Orthodox Judaism. The film features Jonas Mekas, Amy Taubin, Richard Foreman and J. Hoberman, as well as music by Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, John Coltrane, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.

TOM NEEDHAM's SOUNDS OF FILM is the nation's longest running film and music themed radio show. For the past 30 years, the program has delivered a popular mix of interviews and music to listeners all over Long Island, parts of Connecticut and streaming worldwide live on the internet. Past people interviewed for the show include Laurie Anderson, Rory Kennedy, Mike Leigh, Wild Style's Charlie Ahearn, Brinsley Forde, Theresa Rebeck, Astra Taylor, Melanie, Judy Carmichael, Dionne Warwick, author Andrew Solomon, philosopher Peter Singer, Alec Baldwin, Tree Adams, Bob Geldof and filmmaker Lizzie Borden.

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