Automusica
Distinctly we remember in the golden days of youth being driven to a far-off land where ice water was free and giant, scorching fiberglass jackalope sculptures burned our tender flesh when we were forced to pose for pictures upon them. To this day, we are still not entirely certain where the heck Wall Drug is, but one memory (besides the jackalopes of pain) persists: automatons. A quarter would bring the massive robotic dioramas to life, and they would beat out a high-tempo antiquated tune upon actual instruments that miraculously played without players.
Not surprisingly, there is–as there is for all things–a group devoted to these devices: the Musical Box Society International. These 19th-century minstrels travel to festivals around the country, spreading the joy of mechanized music. And now they have produced a documentary about their craft, Marvels of Mechanial Music. We only wish that rather that DVD, the society had chosen to produce it in zoetrope format, for which you had to pay a nickel to view it.
STOP THE HAND-CRANKED PRESSES: Peter Jackson possesses automusica.