This weekend the Strand welcomes Sarlot and Eyed with Dance of Illusion. 

In Dance of Illusion, Roland Sarlot and Susan Eyed mix beauty and danger, humor and suspense, to create a magical evening full of extraordinary delights.  Their unique show of wonder incorporates everything from surprising twists on ancient magical traditions to humorous stories, exciting music, international dance, and sideshow costumes. Sarlot & Eyed invite you to travel with them to a cabaret in old Berlin, a royal palace in ancient Tibet, and other exotic locations your imagination will love experiencing.

 Fox News calls these Vegas headliners, “Outstanding”. LA Weekly said they were “Amazing” and the Indianapolis Star wrote “Incredible!” World-renowned Miraval Resort raved that their annual red-carpet affair featuring Sarlot & Eyed was “the best party we’ve ever had!” See why they are among the select few to perform at the newly revamped Coney Island.

 Fun for the kids yet trippy enough for the adults. Experience for yourself the passionate, dangerous beauty of Sarlot & Eyed’s Dance of Illusion. You will believe in the Wonder of Magic again!

Please visit their website at http://www.danceofillusion.com/.  You will not be disappointed!!!

If you would like to have your tickets held as “will call”, contact Tom Winterrowd at 317-392-0435.  This will allow you the discounted, advanced pricing.

Tickets are:

2:00 PM Matinee

$7:00 Advance and $9.00 at the door

$15.00 advance and $17.00 at the door for premium seating (first five rows of the main floor.)

8:00 PM Show

$10:00 Advance and $12.00 at the door

$15.00 advance and $17.00 at the door for premium seating (first five rows of the main floor.)

The Strand received a different type of request this week.   One of our patrons has a daughter that was getting married.  The bride and groom wanted to give little boxes of popcorn to all 250 guests.  

They investigated the options, then thought of us.   We were happy to provide them with some popcorn.  They made a very generous donation to the Strand too!

Below is the effort of Board Member Steve Frazee’s popcorn magic:

This weekend we have a special event.  On Saturday we have “Dance of Illusion”, the magic and illusion of Sarlot and Eyed.   This national troupe will perform at the Strand for a  2:00 pm Matinee and a 8:00 pm evening show.   This was brought to the Strand by local magician Tom Winterrowd.  Tom performed at the Strand and the Strand Alcazar in the 1940’s and 50’s.

Seeing an opportunity, we asked Tom if he would do a “preview” for the ShelbyIdol audience.  He agreed to come out in his top hat and tuxedo to do a little magic after the intermission.   250 lucky patrons were able to witness Strand history…a performer from 60 years ago on stage today!   Steve F. and David F. brought out the table that held his things.  There was NOTHING on it.  You can ask us, it was empty.  When it was time to roll it backstage, it was full of silk scarves.  We have no idea how he did that.  It was fun and entertaining.  Thank you Tom for sharing your talents with us again.   Please help support his efforts to bring high quality magic to Shelbyville and Shelby County.  Come to the show for the amazing talent of Scarlot and Eyed!

ShelbyIdol was another success this year.  Our friends at Energy2Action, LLC. produce this competition.   We enjoy seeing the young talent on the stage.  A Strand thank you to all the participants and families that helped make this year’s ShelbyIdol a success.  There is nothing better than seeing a full theatre on a Saturday night.   ShelbyIdol consistently delivers a large audience.  

Not only is it a large audience, but it is a hungry audience too.  These time, no popcorn problems.  We were able to supply all the yummy popcorn needed.  We still are waiting for that little part for the popper to come in, but it doesn’t slow us down.  In fact, we had quite an unusual request this past week.   One of our regular patrons asked us if we could provide the popcorn at his daughter’s wedding.  They were having little gift boxes of popcorn for the guests.   Must have been a large wedding, because we popped enough to fill 250 little boxes!    Congratulations to the Bride and Groom, and thank you for thinking about helping us in the process. 

Here is the August Movie Line-up, drum roll if you please….

Sat      8/1       11:00pm                     Kill Baby Kill (1966)

Sun     8/2       2:00pm                       The Egg and I (1947)

Sat      8/8       11:00pm                     Zombie (1979)

Sun     8/9       2:00pm                       Ma & Pa Kettle Go to Waikiki (1955)

Sat      8/15    11:00pm                     Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Sun     8/16    2:00pm                       The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Sat      8/22    11:00pm                     Psycho (1960)

Sat      8/29    11:00pm                     The Crazys (1973)

Sun     8/30    2:00pm                       Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

Here is our LIVE entertainment Line-Up for August:

Sat      8/1       2:00pm                       Dance of Illusion – Scarlot & Eyed (Magic)

                                                            Tickets $7 Advance / $9 Door

                                                            Premium seats (close to the stage) $15 Advance / $17 Door

Sat      8/1       8:00pm                       Dance of Illusion – Scarlot & Eyed (Magic)

                                                            Tickets $10 Advance / $12 Door

                                                            Premium seats (close to the stage) $15 Advance / $17 Door

Sat      8/8       8:00pm           Smarty Pants with Andrew Beaver (Family Friendly Comedy)

                                                            Tickets $7 Advance / $10 Door

Fri       8/14    8:00pm                       650 North with Pressed In Black (Rock Concert)

                                                            Tickets $5 Advance / $7 Door

                                                            All Proceeds Benefit the Strand Theatre

Sat      8/15    7:00pm                       Bears of Blue River Festival Queen Contest

                                                            Free

Sat      8/29    8:00pm                       Travis of the Cosmos (Rock Concert)

                                                            Tickets $5 Advance / $7 Door

                                                            All Proceeds Benefit the Strand Theatre

Again we have a busy month.   Not one, not two, not even three things….we have 15 events!  Did I mention we love new volunteers?   Seriously, this is what we set out to do.  We are just not open for one or two things, we present a full and varied schedule each and every month.  Our community deserves to have a choice like the Strand and others are providing.  Spend a little time in our comfortable, air-conditioned theatre, you will be glad you did.

Don’t forget this week the Shelby County Players are still doing “Little Shop of Horrors”.  This is Strand Volunteer Tiffany W’s. favorite, go see her in it!   While you there, wave to all the Strand friends and volunteers around you.   As you know, we are all on the same page in our passion for live performance. 

Wow, didn’t even get to mention the toilet fix this week…something to look forward to next week.   Thanks for all your support!

The audience of the final round of ShelbyIdol received a treat.    There was a preview of our upcoming magic show.  This show is produced by local magician Tom Winterrowd.   Mr. Winterrowd performed at the Strand and the Strand Alcazar in the 1940’s & 50’s.   After an absence of 50 years, he returned to the Strand stage!    His magic was amazing. 

On July 25, 2009 the local competition ShelbyIdol held their final round at the Strand.   The theatre was full to witness the talented young performers.  The three judges had a difficult task deciding amongst the fine talent.   The winners were Jasmine Rowsey… for the Junior Division, and Darrin Isaac…. for the overall competition.  

Below are all the final contestants:

Jasmine and Darrin:

When was the last time you saw “Billy Jack”?   For one patron last week, it was at the Strand (Cinema) in 1971.  He told us that he has been waiting for the movie to come back out.  He had not been to a movie since.   We were pleased that we were able to get him back into the movie going public after a 38 year absence.   Those who attended the movie were reminded how angry that time was.   Even friend of the Strand Robert L. commented on how it didn’t change much after all these years.  

We received a comment during the last ShelbyIdol performance from one of the female patrons.  She suggested we install a grab bar on the last stall in the women’s restroom.  She was right.  Bob S. took care of that as well as ordering more for the other stalls.  We appreciate the suggestions.  Sometimes we don’t see the obvious.  Now in some of our defense, the guys don’t normally hang out in the women’s restroom.  This has not always been the case…..when we renovated all spaces were fair game.  We had to remind ourselves that now we just couldn’t walk into the bathrooms without thinking.  There have been a few embarrassing moments, but not many.

Speaking of ShelbyIdol, the FINALS are this weekend.  The performance will start at 7:00pm on Saturday July 25, 2009.   Who will the winner be?   How will the judges vote?  How will the popcorn taste….yummy!   Make sure to get your tickets early, we look forward to another full house. 

Most of you are aware of our mantra to buy local.  Most everything we do comes from local vendors.   Although the price is not always the cheapest, we firmly believe it is the best VALUE.  In keeping with this portion of our mission, we have finally found a local popcorn grower.  After our current supply is exhausted, we will transition to Shelby County popcorn.   To be fair, half his farm is in Shelby County, and half is in Bartholomew County, but Bartholomew is too hard to type, so we will just call it Shelby County popcorn.   Steve F. will do wonders with the local grown popcorn, pure coconut oil and his special blend of herbs and spices.

Last week we discussed our little part that decided to fail inside our popcorn machine.  Steve F. found the replacement.  A new unit is on order.  Think of it as a little angioplasty and valve replacement for our 60 year old machine.

Our friends at the Shelby County Players have “Little Shop of Horrors” starting Friday night July 24th.  The show runs for several performances, so try to make it, tell them the Strand sent you.

The weekend we will be showing the classic “Gone in 60 Seconds” at 11:00pm Saturday night.  This will be after the ShelbyIdols finals.  On Wednesday July 29, 2009 @ 7:00 pm we will show “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”.   That final program for the month will put us at 70 events for the 2009 Season. 

August is shaping up to be a fun month.  We have Magic, Comedy, Rock Bands, Movies and more!   August 1st will be Dance of Illusion.  This professional troupe will be visiting Shelbyville from their base in Tucson Arizona.  We are fortunate to have such fine entertainment at an affordable price.  This show comes to us courtesy of the performers friend and local magician Tom Winterrowd.   We’ll talk more about that next week (but here is a hint, at the intermission of ShelbyIdol we’ll have a sneak peek at the Magic Act!)

Thanks for all your support.  It is a pleasure for all of us to be associated with the Strand.

On July 17, 2009 Strand volunteers and members of the Strand Board of Directors took part in a Community Aspiration meeting.

This event, held at Strand supporter Martin Zinser’s Occasions Banquet Hall, brought together members of our community to hear the progress made on our community vision.

This process, through the participation of many Shelby County residents and stakeholders, has resulted in a defined goal.   The work has now begun on mapping the path towards implementation.  

Everyone in the community was invited to this event.   There were several spirited discussions.  The Strand is honored to participate in the process and has offered our facility should it be needed for future events.

Below is facilitator Jay Connor and Mayor Furgeson:

Several dynamic individuals sat at the Action Team 4 table, helping craft quality of life initiatives:

The group includes the Managing Director of the Shelby County Players, the President of the Shelby County Plan Commission, A Shelby County Commissioner, the Executive Director of Mainstreet Shelbyville, Inc, a member of the Shelbyville City Council, the Treasurer of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, a Community Leader…and taking the picture a member of the Strand Theatre of Shelbyville, Inc. Board of Directors.  Not pictured was the Executive Director of Shelby Senior Services, she scurried away before we could take the shot.   Quite a fun group!

Hello Everyone,
Yet another week of summer has passed.  In addition to the summer weather, we have enjoyed yet another interesting week at the Strand.  On Saturday night the ShelbyIdol performance filled the theatre.  To our good fortune, not only were the people eager to attend, but they were hungry.  As you know much of the support for our facility comes from concession revenue.  Low and behold after about the 8th batch of popcorn, our 60 year old popcorn popper rebelled.  It just wouldn’t heat up.  Oh no!   After a quick call to our friends at the Skyline, Bob S. was on his way to pick up a batch of popcorn to last us the night.  
Steve D. came over to take a look at the problem.  Seems as though there is this little brass thing that regulates the temperature that is on its last legs.  Armed with a make and model number Steve F. is on the prowl for a replacement.  Until then, our trusty machine is back in operation.

Soon we will have a little theatre pipe organ work to do.  Another organ manufactured by the Louisville Pipe Organ Company has been located.  Some of the components in this disassembled instrument are what we need for the Strand project.  In the coming weeks, we will be putting together a work crew to venture to Indianapolis to count and crate pipes, and load the organ for transportation back to Shelbyville.  Slowly but surely this project is moving forward.  Our professional guidance is from Carlton Smith of Carlton Smith Pipe Organ Restorations.  As we wait on our Strand organ, Carlton is just finishing installation of the Wurlitzer for the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.  This organ will be finished in a few weeks.  It is exciting to see the progress at the Circle, and to know that the same excitement awaits us!

We have 3 movies this weekend:

Billy Jack: Friday night @ 7:30pm

Django:  Saturday night @ 11:00pm

Charade:  Sunday afternoon @ 1:30pm

Our August is very full.  Check out our web site for all the performances in August.  We have something for everyone, from Magic to Comedy to Rock Bands to Queen Contests to….you get the picture.

Don’t forget the Blue River Community Foundation presentation to the community this Friday at 8:00am at Occasions!  

Thanks for the support.  We look forward to seeing you soon at the theatre!