Tilles sound system enhances film series

Tilles Center for the Performing Arts recently updated its sound system, which now includes an array of JBL speakers and six subwoofers. But if you're heading to one of the venue's many concert movies this summer, all you need to know is this: It ought to sound pretty darn good.

"It's a full rock sound system. We've used it for live acts that have been here," says Robert Goida, the venue's production manager. "We figured it would be a fun thing to do to have summer concert movies that play as if you're at the rock concert itself."

Tilles' new film series, which begins Thursday and continues through Aug. 25, offers 13 concert movies covering genres from rock to rap to country. Goida, a Hicksville native and a bass player in his rock and roll youth, chose the films himself.

Tickets are $10, which is certainly cheaper than the average concert, and Tilles Center's 40-by-20-foot screen means slim chance of an obstructed view. "You can see it from anywhere in the theater," says Goida.

WHAT YOU'LL SEE

The series begins on an Americana note. Tomorrow's kickoff film is "Down From the Mountain," about a 2000 concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium starring Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley and other artists from the Grammy-winning soundtrack to the Coen brothers' film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The July 14 selection is "Austin City Limits Music Festival 2005," a grab bag of 24 performances from the Allman Brothers Band, The Bravery, Thievery Corporation and others. Jonathan Demme's 2006 film, "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," plays July 18.

Things take a different turn July 25 with "Gigantour," a chronicle of the metal festival led by Megadeth and including Fear Factory, Dry Kill Logic and Long Island's own Dream Theater. "I've had love for metal during my time," Goida says, "and I think it's underserved around here." Michael Jackson's "This Is It," which shows Jackson rehearsing musical numbers and directing his team shortly before his death, plays July 28. The granddaddy of concert movies, Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same," filmed over three nights at Madison Square Garden, plays Aug. 3.

One of Goida's deep-catalog picks is "Janis," a little-seen 1974 compendium of archival footage of Janis Joplin. She shows up again in the Oscar-winning 1970 documentary "Woodstock," which plays Aug. 17 and 18 -- the final two days, not coincidentally, of the 1969 concert. Jay-Z closes out the series Aug. 25 with "Fade to Black," a document of the rapper's excellent (if slightly bogus) retirement concert.

BEYOND THE MOVIE

Beer and wine will be available during each evening's event -- just like a real concert! -- and audiences are invited to come early for picnics on the lawn outside the venue. Select films will feature live music by Moonshine, a local cover band. Audience requests for "Freebird" may or may not be granted.