Joe Downtown: Fundraiser for the Huntridge Foundation billed as a ‘visual and aural celebration’

By Joe Schoenmann

Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 | 3:11 p.m.

Downtown’s hip quotient — or some might refer to it as cultural growth — is almost to the point where people will stop being surprised by events such as the upcoming “Everything & Nothing,” a silent film festival/fundraiser.

That said, the festival is still pretty cool.

Cellist Elizabeth Marshall will perform arranged compositions she has melded together from several different artists — including Frank Sinatra, Imagine Dragons, Pink Floyd, Bach and others — to accompany nine silent films at Onyx Theater, 953 E. Sahara Ave.

The films include “A Trip to the Moon” by George Méliès, “Cruel Cruel Love” by Charlie Chaplin, “Those Awful Hats” by DW Griffith and more.

Marshall, who grew up in Las Vegas and went to Las Vegas Academy before attending and graduating from the prestigious University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music, returned to her hometown four months ago. For the past few years, she worked as a luthier — a repairer of stringed instruments — in North Carolina.

Have an atlas handy when reading her bio to mark all the spots around the world she has performed in her relatively short career — she is 32. That includes performances in Beijing, China and the Adriatic coasts of Italy.

The Onyx Theater performance is to benefit the Huntridge Foundation, whose mission is “to preserve the architectural integrity, history and culture of the Huntridge Theater and the surrounding community.”

The foundation sponsors community events in Huntridge Circle Park, curates Huntridge Theater artifacts and conducts oral history interviews, among other things.

A donation of $20 is suggested for the performance, which will be Oct. 5 at 8 p.m.

The accompanied silent movie showing is just the first of what Marshall said will be a series. Later, she said, she hopes to do an accompany to films such as “Metropolis.”

“Marshall’s cello work is mesmerizing,” David Pardue, “Everything & Nothing” director, said in a press release. “The performance event promises to be both a visual and aural celebration. You’ll have a hard time deciding between the films and her. You’ll be transported back in time to 1905 while fully engrossed in a live cello concert.”

Playing to silent films is “something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Marshall, who described herself as something of a silent and classic film buff.

Joe Schoenmann doesn’t just cover downtown; he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group’s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Arts building.