Hello All…..
The Gateway Trio will be performing Saturday March 29, 2008 at the Strand. They will have special guests Hopkins and Miller taking the stage as well. Before the show my Dad will play the Hammond Organ for everyone as they come in to the theatre. This should be a fun evening of great music. It will be nice to hear this group in a venue like the Strand. The Gateway Trio members grew up in Shelbyville and have been together for 40 years. I do have to admit that the last time I heard them was when I had hair down to my shoulder. You can guess what year that was. Tickets are available at Mickey’s T-Mart and the Shelbyville Antique Mall for $15. When you are in buying your tickets, please thank them for their support of the Strand by selling our tickets. Tickets are going fast, so please don’t delay.
Someday we hope to have our ticket office staffed regular business hours. I think that will be in the distant future, we have to get this theatre on its feet. It is very difficult to arrange and coordinate these events. Our volunteers have really put in some monster hours getting this accomplished. If you would like to help, please contact us. There are several exciting things in on the schedule already. We will need help with ticket sales, ushering, concessions and general fun stuff.
Did you see us at the Trade Fair? If not, you missed a great event that highlights the best of Shelby County. This was the 20th year for the event. The Chamber of Commerce makes it easy for us all to be successful. This year we are were flanked by the Shelby County Players, and the Shelby Arts Council on either side of our booth. It was a fun and enjoyable event. Bob S. spent all day at the booth. Last year he found us (or was sent to us by a high power) at the Trade Fair. This year the tables were turned, how quickly things change in one year!
Speaking of one year, we are coming up on our first anniversary of the start of our renovation. April 7, 2007 Steve, Chris and I had our very first work session at the theatre. We had waited until the weather had changed until we did any work. That Saturday was the first. We had about 10 volunteers and we started working our plan for renovation. In less than a year (January 17, 2008 to be exact) we opened. That is quite an accomplishment. To celebrate that very first day, we are hosting an Open House on Sunday April 6, 2008. This event will be from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Please come by, take a look, and help us celebrate the first anniversary of the start of work. It will be a great opportunity to see areas like our backstage that have had the same level of detailed work as the rest of the theatre. Hope to see you there. Actually I hope to see you before then at either the Gateway Trio or Travis of the Cosmos (on April 5th).
I waited a little longer to write this so I could include the results of Thursday night. No, not the basketball scores (figures IU one and out), but our little test at the theatre. We have some rock groups performing in the coming weeks. I venture to say that the theatre has NEVER had anyone like that perform there. The local band Exit 113 rehearsed on our stage Thursday night. They are scheduled to play the venue in late May, so it was a good chance for them and us to see how things sounded. One of our goals is to make the Strand easy for events. Something that will help accomplish this is our sound system. It was important that we have the flexibility in-house to provide for these groups. The rehearsal by Exit 113 helped us figure out how we can use our system to the best advantage of all involved. Ron B. had them sounding great! We learned a lot, and now have the confidence to set up in a hurry and make it sound good. For the bands, not having to lug in all those heavy amplifiers and speakers is a real plus. This is all possible because of a grant from the Blue River Foundation for our initial sound equipment. As we progress, we will take the things we have learned, and finish our system with the equipment that it needs. One thing that will be soon be on the list is a new amplifier for our sub-woofer. It blew up on Thursday. In keeping with our philosophy of making do with what we have first, we rebuilt and old Peavey Amplifier from the Cinema days. It is old and tired. Ron B. has is patched together yet again, but we know it is on borrowed time. The amp will have a fine career when it is replaced as a worthy boat anchor.
Our second newsletter is getting ready to mail. Debbie E., Sharon S. and Cindy L. have put this together. Our first newsletter surprised us. We had a donation form on the back and many people send donations! Thank you for the support. You will see our newsletter get better and better. We are all about communication. These emails have been fun and informative, but if you are not in the digital age they are not accessible. So our printed newsletter is vital to getting the message of the Strand out to everyone. Along with the newsletter, check out our web site. www.strand-theatre-shelbyville.org Shane K. has set up a site that we can easily maintain.
One of the most important parts of our web site will be the Community Calendar. Ever seen a chili supper by two churches on the same day? We want to help fix this. As part of our core mission of communication, the Strand will sponsor a Community Calendar on our web site. This will have as many events as we can get. There will be an easy interface for anyone to submit an event. When you schedule your car wash, chili supper, soccer tournament or whatever, we will be the place to see if it conflicts with anything else. We will make easy to submit. I would hope that every organization in our area would submit their events and link to us for their calendar needs. I personally look forward to this. It will be fun. I will make an announcement when it is ready to launch.
Thanks for all the support. See you at an upcoming event:
Gateway Trio March 29, 2008 7:30 $15
Travis of the Cosmos April 5, 2008 7:00 $7/$5
Open House April 6, 2008 1:00 – 4:00 Free
Exiled Few April 12, 2008 7:00 $7/$5
Poetry Reading April 24, 2008 7:00 Free
David
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