Bird The Painter

An interpretation from Tony Billoni. This art and entertainment innovator sees Bird in many ways as an exaggerated extension of himself.

Given that he has immersed himself in the arts culture for decades and grew up with the likes of Vincent Gallo and Marc Freeland, it is a logical step for Bird to symbolize the stereotypical beatnik artist by tapping into all the characters that he has encountered through his experiences in the abstract ambience of the arts. For Bird, there are no bad films, only misguided actors.

The Cinematic Theologist

Theodore, Jeffrey Roberts' alter ego, spent his youth in the darkness of dusty second-run movie houses, soaking up the atmosphere while sticking to the seats. In between scarfing Milk Duds, he became well versed in essential topics like killer shrews, green slime, and Lon Chaney Jr. A promising early career blowing bubbles for The Lawrence Welk Show was cut short when Theodore discovered The Hungry Ear coffee house, where he promptly moved into the attic and went unnoticed for years.

Since emerging recently to bestow the lowdown on that week's film du jour with Zelda and Bird, his whereabouts the rest of the time are sketchy, though he can sometimes be found outside of bakeries where he is (in his own words), "waiting for good dough, man. Waiting for good dough..."

Music Director

• David Kane, Musician, Composer, and Bandleader since the later 70's
• Adjunct Professor at Niagara County Community College
• Member of the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame since 1988
• Has composed music for movies, commercials, industrial videos, dance, theater and performance art
• Past performing and recording projects include Trek w/Quintronic, Celibates, Alien Registration, Dobermen, Leash Laws, Electroman, Erectronics, Pageantry of Weens, Trelaine, Decay of Western Civilization, Double D, Nullstadt, Headhunters, Them Jazzbeards, DKQ, and solo works
• Current projects include Night Slaves, HEARsay, Impending Doom Theory, and solo works
• Tequila Mockingbird by David Kane's Them Jazzbeards is the main theme for Off Beat Cinema

Creator and Head Writer

james Gillan has won many national awards for creative excellence through his advertising agency in Buffalo, NY. He states, "Offbeat Cinema was created to provide a forum for films that are not regularly shown on television - and in many cases - are not readily available, even on DVD. There is an enormous cache of films out there that an entire generation grew up watching that are otherwise unavailable. We wanted to create a program reminiscent of the hosted late night film shows of the 1960s and 1970s - the kind of show that made you beg your parents to let you stay up late to watch. Where else can you watch Teenagers from Outer Space and a week later watch Bergman's Seventh Seal in its original language version?"

Executive Producer

Offbeat Cinema is produced by television executive John Di Sciullo of WBBZ-TV in Buffalo.

Mr. Di Sciullo is responsible for making all “the parts” of Offbeat Cinema come together. “We wanted Offbeat Cinema to be interactive with our viewers, and it is. We receive hundreds of pieces of fan mail from across the United States and Canada. We get it all – requests for films, original beat poetry, philosophic ramblings and we love it all! Putting the show together each week is a real labor of love.”