Strand Theatre of Shelbyville, Inc. » 2009

Archive for April, 2009

Apr 30 2009

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: May 1, 2009

Tonight feels like the Steve Allen song “This Could Be The Start of Something Big.” Why you ask? On Friday May 1, 2009 the Strand has its first regularly scheduled movie. Come to the theatre and see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” on the big screen. This groundbreaking animated/live action film is a must see. I am sure it will bring back great memories for some, and make new memories for others. For me, it will bring back my first date with what would be my future wife. We went to see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (unfortunately that night my parents went to their first movie since 1962, same movie, same theatre…figures). The show starts at 7:30, see you there!

We have a great concert on Saturday night at 8:00 pm produced by Smashed Productions. Joey G. has lined up another fun Rock ‘n Roll show. Epic Fail will be the headliner for this night of live music. After the concert we will have an hour or so to clean things up, then our first late Saturday night movie will start. At 11:00 pm we will show “A Boy and His Dog.”

Just like the pitchman on TV….wait, there’s more! On Sunday we will show the Bing Crosby classic “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” As you can see we have something for everyone this weekend.

As most of you already know, the Strand has always tried to do the right thing. Whether is was during our renovation when we followed all the rules, or with our music that we correctly license. Another on of those type things occurred this week. We had a nice visit from the Shelby County Health Department. Robert Lewis and his crew are well aware what the Strand does. They have helped us get our concessions pointed on the right path. This week, Steve Sever came to get our permit in order. He gave us great suggestions and we now have all the proper paperwork completed. The visit was more that just a visit from the Health Department. It was, unknown to Mr. Sever, to see the fruits of his labor. You see, several of us who put this project together had Mr. Sever for biology. During his class he always pushed us a little harder than most. He instilled a sense of curiosity and ability to find the answer. We took those lessons from 9th grade and put them to use in establishing and guiding the Strand project. It is equally fitting that one of his teaching partners Roger Palmer performed on our stage this past week. Mr. Palmer too pushed us hard and gave us the tools to succeed. These two outstanding teachers are as responsible for the Strand as anything else. They helped mould what would become the nucleolus of our board. Thank you Mr. Sever and Mr. Palmer!

We had another lesson this week. This is courtesy of Bob S. As the warm weather approaches we need to think about our air conditioning. Last Saturday Bob and Cody V. ventured up onto the roof to service our AC units. Unlike last year, they were in great shape and ready to go. Combined the 4 units took less than 1 pound of Freon! The patrons last Saturday night were happy we had the theatre cool on that 85°+ degree night. Anyway, Bob gave us all a little lesson on how hard it is to cool the Strand. He explained it is not like the heat, where you can get it warm in a hurry. Cooling takes more time (and energy). Because of this, and the very complete schedule we have this month, our theatre will be set to a comfortable 72° for the entire month. Bob says this is what we need to do to be good stewards of the facility and audience comfort.

Last Saturday night the Blue River Community Choir and the Dixie Kats Dixieland Band really put on a great show. Check out the web site for some pictures. Thank you to Cindy Leahy and Kenny Bowman for putting this together. Also thanks to all the performers who were on stage. We appreciate their sharing their talent for the community. If you missed it you will have an opportunity in October to hear them again. We look forward to that performance. This performance also marked the first time that we were able to use our new wireless sound equipment. We received a grant from Blue River Community Foundation to help our sound system meet the need of more diverse shows. We used the grant money to invest in wireless equipment. The new stuff worked great. Thank you to BRCF and to Ron and Gordon for getting this going. All the equipment was purchased locally. Thanks to Darla & Rick Hundnall for all their hard work on this portion on the project.

Thank you for all your support. If you know someone who would enjoy receiving these emails, please reply to this email with their name and email address. We would love to expand our list. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre this weekend!

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Apr 26 2009

Test Post – Upgraded Website!

Published by David under News

Shane, the trusty Strand Web Guru has updated our site. There are a lot of bells and whistles, just none that are visible. He has been working on our site loading speed and all sorts of other fun stuff. So far our SEO is holding its own. Soon we will do a little SEM on a very low bid. Those of you out there that understand the language know what I am talking about.

Hopefully you will find our new site configuration easy and quicker to use. Again, it is only the mechanics behind the site that has changed. There are some really cool new gizmos to use. I can strikeout if I want. I can insert a custom character ζ , you never know when that will come in handy. The only thing it still doesn’t have is a spell checker, but thats OK. Strand Board Member Debbie E. is our very thorough, although low tech, spell checker.

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Apr 23 2009

Blue River Community Choir + Dixie Kats: April 25, 2009

Published by David under News

On Saturday April 25, 2009 the Blue River Community Choir took the Strand stage. The BRCC has performed at the Strand many times in the past. This time was different, the brought a complete variety show. The very entertaining evening highlighted "Weather" songs. Considering it was an 85° in Shelbyville, the songs were very appropriate.

Director Cindy Leahy put together a quick paced an varied show. It finished with a full ensemble rendition of "On the Sunny Side of the Street". From the shadows in the back of the house, a lone dancer started to soft shoe down the aisle. He danced up the stairs and finished with dancing with the conductor!

The evening continued with the Dixie Kats Dixieland Band with leader Kenny Bowman. There was plenty of toe tapping for this lively happy music.

These two groups are scheduled to be back at the Strand in October.

brcc-4-2009-2 brcc-4-20091

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Apr 23 2009

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: April 24, 2009

Published by David under Weekly Emails

Did you notice the windows are slowly getting their final color? Unfortunately we have had too many windy days for much work to be accomplished. Every time Steve has gotten up on the marquee to do painting, the wind kicks up. Maybe he has something to do with that? Who knows, but it is getting finished. The windows have made the single largest impact to the look of the outside of our theatre yet. Work is proceeding not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. We believe that having good looking windows don’t do us any good if you can’t see into something equally detailed. The middle office is almost completed, and work is proceeding on the north and south offices. The job for now is removal of wallpaper. Steve and his crew are getting it done slowly but surely. We are being very careful not to damage the plaster as we go. That concept doesn’t hold true for the ceilings. They will meet their demise as we will take the plaster and the lathe completely off. This will allow us to get electricity and insulation in these vital areas. The offices are just like very other job in the Strand project…slow and dirty!

While this is going on, Gordon is in the new dressing area in the basement. When it came to painting, Gordon said he would just "take care of it." That he did. The area now sports a 4 color paint job that matches the rest of the theatre! It looks fantastic. We will be ready for the next program that requires a changing area.

Last Saturday we had a work session. This was the first in over a year. A small but might crew assembled to get things done. By the end of the session, we had successfully moved and racked all our Strand items. We also moved and racked 2 complete theatre pipe organs. Thank you to Cody, Steve, Don, Gordon, Terry & Bob S. for all the hard work. This weekend we have been informed by the mechanical department (Bob) that it is time to get the A/C ready. Bob S. will be going on the roof at 10:00 am Saturday to get our units ready for summer. He could use a helper or two. Bob thinks we will need the A/C Saturday night. After this crazy weather week, I hope he is right.

*** This weekend is bringing quite a treat to the Strand. We have the Blue River Community Choir and the Dixie Kats Dixieland Band on the schedule for Saturday night. Unlike before, the BRCC has prepared a variety show this time. To our surprise their director (and Strand Newsletter Editor) Cindy L. came to the theatre with all sorts of goodies. Special scenery, special equipment…special everything. I haven’t seen the rehearsals, but I know it will be great. The Dixie Kats are coming off the very successful Lincoln Day Dinner gig. They will give you a reason to tap your feet. PLEASE come and support this wonderful concert. Tickets are $5 with all proceeds coming directly to the Strand. Strand is able to survive because of talented musicians like those taking the stage this Saturday. We look forward to seeing you there. As always our 60 year old Cretor popcorn popper will be chugging away. Come enjoy a great evening at the Strand.

As I discussed last week, our films are looming on the horizon (I would call May 1st looming at this point). Our film committee has done a great job in balancing the films that are available, the films that are entertaining and most importantly the films we can afford. You see, we just can’t so any movie we would like. We must be able to obtain the theatrical rights to a film. For this we have to pay money. Some films are public domain and are free to show. Unfortunately few fall into that category. We are showing the Fred Astaire classic "Royal Wedding". (warning, non technical tech talk ahead) It is a public domain film. The film is, but the music isn’t. It is still protected by the estate of Allan Jay Lerner the composer. That music is part of the EMI managed catalog. The EMI catalog for this is licensed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers…ASCAP. Fortunately the Strand has an ASCAP site license. So when we show Royal Wedding, we do not pay for film distribution, but we do pay ASCAP for music rights. This is what makes the Strand challenging (and fun). As always we strive to do things right.

Drum roll if you please…..

Date	Day	Time	Title	Rating	Year
5/1/2009	Friday	7:30 PM	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	PG	1988
5/2/2009	Saturday	11:00 PM	A Boy and His Dog	R	1974
5/3/2009	Sunday	1:30 PM	A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court	G	1949
5/6/2009	Wednesday	7:00 PM	Royal Wedding	G	1951
5/9/2009	Friday	11:00 PM	Dark Star	PG	1974
5/16/2009	Saturday	11:00 PM	Rock and Rule	PG	1983
5/17/2009	Sunday	1:30 PM	Africa Screams (Abbott & Costello)	G	1949
5/20/2009	Wednesday	7:00 PM	Til the Clouds Roll By (Judy Garland)	G	1946
5/22/2009	Friday	7:30 PM	Caddyshack	R	1980
5/23/2009	Saturday	11:00 PM	Dracula and His Vampire Bride	PG	1978
5/29/2009	Friday	7:30 PM	Cry of the Winged Serpent	R	2006
5/30/2009	Saturday	11:00 PM	Suspiria	R	1977
5/31/2009	Sunday	1:30 PM	Ma & Pa Kettle at the Fair	G	1952

wow…our film committee has been busy. As you can tell we have smoothing for everyone. You might notice the 11:00 PM Saturday movie. These are fun movies that have a loyal following. It will be great to see them on a big screen. As for me, I look forward to them all. All movies are $5, $4 kids (11 & under) and seniors (55 & older). Guess what, if you want to get in free we can do that too….just come volunteer! We can use the help.

Thanks for all your support. Each and every day one of us gets a positive comment about the Strand. We are true to our mission and dedicated to make a difference in our community. Hope to see you Saturday night!

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Apr 21 2009