Sadly, the days of the nickelodeon movie theatre is long gone. The coming of sound made the in-house orchestra/performer obsolete, taking away the live accompaniment that had been necessary for silent films. Luckily, you can try to recover this part of the nickelodeon experience as Andrew Downing's Melodeon perform an original score to The Shock (1923) at the Music Gallery on March 23rd. As their name implies, Melodeon is led by Andrew Downing, a Juno-Award winning double-bassist jazz musician from Toronto. The group solely play live scores to silent movies, including A Trip To The Moon (1902) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).

The Shock is a Lon Chaney crime-drama, where he stars as a crippled criminal who must change his evil ways or lose the woman he loves. While the plot description may sound a little boring, we're guessing that something shocking happens, which could prove interesting. Even if the movie doesn't strike your fancy, it will be worth going just to experience the magic that comes from having a film score being created before your eyes and ears. It's the closest we may ever get to recreating the nickelodeon atmosphere.

The screening starts at 8 p.m., with a $15 regular admission, $10 for Music Gallery members/seniors and $5 for students.