Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013: Day 3 on the road / Bentonville, Arkansas

'Old Main' on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, site of Giffels Auditorium, home of tonight's program.

A full day in Bentonville, Ark. began with a run through streets around our hotel, which felt good. Then it was off to Crystal Bridges for more symposium activities on a day that was already warm and would soon become downright hot.

Very light attendance for the morning's discussion of City Lights. And then most people left for lunch while I sat down for more Mutuals: 'Behind the Screen' and 'The Rink.'

Had a good discussion with the few folks on hand, and also spent time teasing Sara Segerlin about the museum's lack of a piano suitable for live performance.

"You march right up to that Alice Walton and tell her it's no use filling up this place with all this old junk if you don't have a good piano on hand," I would say. Sara is nothing if not a good sport, although she probably wanted to take a swing at me before it was all over.

I went back to the hotel for the afternoon. Then dinner on my own at Neal's Cafe in Springdale, Ark., which has been serving fried chicken since 1944. Back on Interstate 540 to head to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, but somehow missed the exit, had to turn back, and then got disoriented as time began to run out.

Tried calling folks, but no luck. Finally took an exit, kept going, and surprised myself by broadsiding Maple St., the very road I was looking for! Somehow last year's whirlwind visit made just enough of an impression for me to recognize where I was.

Found a parking space, and was then surprised when one of the adorably cute students immediately came up to me and asked, "Are you with the Chaplin program?"

Wow! One doesn't expect to be recognized on the streets of Fayetteville, Ark. Turns out I wasn't: she said I looked clueless and she just put two and two together.

Healthy turnout in 'Old Main' for our get-together. Played a score for the Chaplin Keystone 'The Masquerader' (1914) in Giffels Auditorium on the same Steinway I played last year. This time, instead of being behind a curtain, I was actually visible to the audience. But it's always something, it seems, and this time I had no light and couldn't see the keyboard, so the score was a bit more dissonant than it should have been. :)

Afterwards came a set of excerpts from an in-progress documentary by Lynn Cadwallader on silent film music. The presentation, alas, was delayed because they couldn't get any sound! Funny how the great slot machine of life coughs up such ironies!

One the sound worked, it turned out Lyn's materials include filmed interviews with some wonderful practitioners who worked in the original era. She's based in the Boston area and hope to keep in touch with her.

I was supposed to be part of a panel discussion that followed. For this, they'd set up a long table with six chairs. As all the other experts crowded in, I figured I'd stand aside in a rare attempt to see what humility actually feels like.

But then Frank handed me the microphone anyway, and that's all I needed to start jawboning the audience into seeing 'City Lights' with live orchestra on Sunday. Still, I'm starting to learn about proportion. :)

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013: Day 2 on the road / Bentonville, Arkansas

The fun begins with a reception this evening!

A summer-like morning saw me head over to the campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where major construction is underway on 17th Street. But that didn't stop the Great Early Fall 2013 Silent Film Accompaniment Road Trip.

I popped into the music department, where I borrowed the use of a piano in for a couple of hours to review material, and then hit the road for the trip to Bentonville, Ark., home of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where I was on that evening for the opening reception of the 'Art for the Citizen' symposium.

Uneventful drive through Missouri on newly christened "Interstate 49," formerly just U.S. Route 71. If you travel this road, ignore all the signs for pecans and stop at Butler, Missouri for the donuts at Koehn's Bakery.

Due at the museum at 6 p.m., so thought I was cutting it close in getting to Bentonville at 5:30 p.m. Turned out my car clock was ahead one hour! For once I had time to spare, which was good, because the elevator where we stayed has to be the slowest in the Western Hemisphere.

Many luminaries on hand. Met Chaplin expert Hooman Mehran in the lobby, and some other university folks here for the museum's symposium.

Then over to Crystal Bridges, a brand spanking new museum funded by Wal-Mart money. (Bentonville is Ground Zero for the Walton family and Wal-Mart, which was founded here in 1950.) It's quite a place, part museum and part airline terminal, all set on a surprisingly vertical site and with water everywhere.

I found Frank Scheide from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville carrying the promised keyboard, which turned out to be a lightweight all-plastic Yamaha model that could be held under one's arm. Uh-oh!

We set it up and it turned out to be better than I expected. We couldn't get the sustain pedal to work properly, so I futzed with the thing until I found a theater organ setting that sounded effective, and that's what I used.

More luminaries, including Steven Byess, conductor of the Arkansas Philharmonic, which is doing a live score to a screening of Chaplin's 'City Lights' (1931) on Sunday after just two rehearsals. (I wish him luck with that and wish I could get back here to see it!)

Also met the charming Sara Segerlin of Crystal Bridges after much e-mail correspondence (that's her on the right) and traded glances with Kate Guyonvarch of the Chaplin office, whom I'd love to chat with more extensively if the chance arises.

Small group on hand in the museum's 'Great Hall' for opening night of the symposium, which happened to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Chaplin signing his Keystone contract. Got a chance to speak beforehand, so said that in honor of the anniversary and to pay homage to the spirit of the Little Tramp, everything I was wearing had been purchased two days ago in a Topeka thrift store.

Accompanied 'The Immigrant' as best I could. The film got a good reaction, and so afterwards, Frank asked if people would like to see one more. Yes! So we went right into 'The Adventurer,' which was a little more assured, except things got a bit frantic in the last few minutes.

Finished the night with a "Jamocha" shake from Arby's, a rare culinary treat for me.

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013: Day 1 on the road / Topeka, Kansas

The lime green chick magnet that I'm tooling around Kansas in this week. Otherwise known as a Ford Fiesta.

Here I am in Topeka, Kansas, preparing for the four-hour trek down to Bentonville, Ark. later today.

That's where the four-day "Art for the Citizen" symposium opens tonight at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Culture. I'm doing live accompaniment for at least one Chaplin short, maybe more. We'll see.

But before that happens, here's an up-to-date account of events so far on the Great Early Fall 2013 Silent Film Accompaniment Road Trip:

Yesterday saw an early flight (6 a.m.) out of Manchester, N.H., putting me in the Kansas City airport just after 10 a.m. local time. Nice to get so far so early in the day. I often wonder what the covered wagon folks would think of covering so much ground so quickly -- in this case, half a continent before lunch!

The airport has a good free wireless signal, so I worked there until mid-afternoon, also scoring a nifty shoe shine for $7.

I then hopped in my rented car (a lime green Ford Fiesta!) and sped across the prairie to the Candlewood Suites in Topeka, which I selected because the rooms have DVD players (to preview discs I brought) and also because this morning I wanted to go over to Washburn University and use one of the piano practice rooms.

Arriving in Topeka under rainclouds, I stopped at my favorite thrift store on the city's north side. I went in without any intention of buying anything, but came out with two sport jackets, a black shirt, two neckties, swim trunks, and a t-shirt from Omaha, Neb. Total cost: $14.60.

This is the same place where I purchased the now-legendary "Mulatto Chaplin" statue several years ago and presented to Bill Shaffer of the Kansas Silent Film Festival.

I was exhausted by then, so took a nap. Then, instead of working on Tuesday night, I met Bill Shaffer (the Mulatto Chaplin caretaker) for what turned out to be a two-hour dinner at the Tuptim Thai Restaurant, during which we consumed an enormous amount of some of the best Thai food I've had outside of Thailand itself.

My wife jokes that the only reason I do silent film music is because of the dining possibilities. I'm beginning to think she's right.

This morning, I'm equally as excited at the prospect of visiting the Hanover Pancake House in Topeka as doing music for the Chaplin short later on. (But now that I look at the schedule, and consider how full I am from last night, I realize the Hanover Pancake House might have to wait until the return leg.)

Big news in Topeka: what for a long time was the Holidome on Fairlawn Boulevard, site of the very first Kansas Silent Film Festival afterglow that I attended back in 2000, has recently been rebranded a Ramada Inn!

As Yeats wrote, things fall apart, the center cannot hold. Funny how things change around you, bit by bit, until at some point you find yourself in a different place, even if you've been standing still.

But then you've changed as well, haven't you? So a large part of life, I think, consists of celebrating the present, as it's a place that we'll only visit once in our lifetime. May as well make the most of it!

So today's agenda consists of going out for a short run, packing up, heading to Washburn University to use a piano room until noon, and then hitting the road to get to Bentonville by 4 p.m. if possible to allow time to get ready for Opening Night!

More later.