Up next: 'The General' with live music in Newport, R.I. on Thursday, May 21, plus the perils of using Vivaldi for Civil War battle scenes

Buster with his co-star in 'The General' (1926).Even if we weren't celebrating the 100th anniversary of its release, Buster Keaton's 'The General' stands as one of the most requested silent films But this year, thanks to the big round number, I'm accompanying 'The General' more than ever. Next up: Thursday, May 21 at 6 p.m. at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport, R.I. More details on this screening in the press release pasted in below.My experience with 'The General' dates back to my undergraduate days at Fordham University in the 1980s. I was involved with the 'Cinevents' committee, the student group that scheduled and showed feature films on campus. This was back in the days before anything was available at any time via streaming—but that's a whole other topic.Even then, long before I actively started doing live music for silent film screenings, I was notorious for advocating for their inclusion in college schedule, forever pleading for 'Safety Last' to be screened at Fordham.At one…