Did the weather get nice, then not so nice?   We are looking forward to a break in the weather to get our marquee finished.   The new front panels will be installed when we are finished wiring the sockets.   We have half done, so it won’t take long once we can get started again.   One of the things you can see is the dirt that we have to deal with at the Strand.  This is not the dirt of popcorn spilling, but the dust of State Road 9.   Since the bulbs are exposed on the front of the marquee, they make it easy to see the black soot that covers everything.   As any of our volunteers can tell you, it is grimy.  We clean the outside windows before each show.  The paper towel is black with dirt.   Next time you stop at the theatre, look up and you will see the dirt coating the bulbs.   Before we button things up, we will thoroughly wash the inside of the marquee.

This week we start with something very special at the Strand.   Jon Stites will bring his “Operation Comedy” on Friday night.  These outstanding comedians will perform to help support the Wounded Warrior Project.   Our own Waldron High School has supported this cause in the past.   (This is an ADULT comedy show).   The Strand is pleased to bring these great performers to our community.   Let’s hope they give us a plug on Bob & Tom!    The show starts at 7:30pm.   We anticipate a full house, so get there early.

On Saturday night we have another great rock show at the Strand.   Smashed Productions is presenting Nuff Said with Special Guests Dead VanZandts.    We look forward to these performers on the Strand stage.   The concert starts at 8:00pm

This past weekend we had wonderful music from several genres.   On Saturday night Pressed in Black returned, and on Sunday the Dave Hepler duo performed.   We have reviews of these concerts on our web site.   Speaking of reviews, have you noticed that most events at the Strand are reviewed on our site?   We have a few people doing reviews with the bulk of them by Strand volunteer Terrance Aldridge.   In our plans, we have always felt that the Strand needs to act and present itself as a professional venue.  Just because it is run by a bunch of volunteers,  doesn’t mean we should ever lower the standard.   We do many things to try to accomplish this.   We are a fully licensed music facility.   As hard as it is for us to believe, there are those out in the ether that do not follow the rules.  That’s, OK for them, but not for us.   We may not always get it right on the first try, but as we learn, we comply.  In this vain,  the reviews add to the experience at the Strand for our patrons and performers.   Not everyone can make it to every show.   The reviews help give a sense of what took place on our stage.   The Strand has many performers that are experiencing playing in a theatre for the first time.  Many of these groups have never had a review or critique.   This gives them something to look at and think about.   We ask to keep our reviews positive, trying to highlight the diversity of performances.   We have had Strand reviews quoted on many web sites and promotional materials.   This is a good thing to help get the word out of what we are trying to accomplish.  It also promotes a positive image of Shelby County.    These are all small pieces in what we feel it takes for the Strand to be successful.

Thanks for all the support.  We hope to see you at the theatre soon!

Jazz duo shine in virtuoso performance         
 
Every now and again strange things happen to reinvigorate one’s soul, refresh your spirit or generally rekindle the joy of life.  Just such a strange anomaly occurred Sunday afternoon at the Strand Theatre via the inspired music of keyboardist Dave Hepler and bassist Frank Smith.
In an afternoon show which highlighted many of the countless facets of jazz, including choreographed, syncopated improvisation, dexterous finger work and passionate play, this duo of two talented dudes with instruments took audience members on an emotional ride into the tones, textures and tempos of pure music and musicianship.
It was an enjoyable, educational and enlightening romp through both the dance of music and emotions conjured up and tugged from the brain and body by mere sound alone.
From funkified, smoky sounds of the opening tune through several variations on themes, some moody introspective pieces and one or two sheer maestro performances by Smith on bass, this was a concert that left you wanting more: more sounds, more moods and more music written, composed and passionately played by Hepler.
Hepler’s emotional and melodic interpretations, especially “Beauty and the Beast” and more poignantly “Imagine,” by John Lennon were merely tasty appetizers for a show filled with sonorous peaks and valleys of impassioned riffs of syncopated bliss.
 One such pinnacle of musical fortissimo occurred early on in Hepler’s original tune “Major Hollin’s Rumpus” as his keyboard work drove and inspired Smith into a rather extended, frenetic romp of skill, precision and furious play on stand-up bass that seemed to catch fire, burn and smoke under his deft fingers.
Another furious musical gallop, driven by these two talented dudes, occurred later on with “St. Louis Boogie,” which evoked the wide-ranging varieties of jazz, especially its finger- snapping, toe-tapping and swinging-dance energy.
Further exploring the expansive limits of jazz style, Hepler and Smith shined on a different type of tune that significantly showcased the ability of mere instruments to induce emotion through sound alone.  Musically, this original composition by Hepler, based upon classical guitar styles, passionately fulfilled the promise of its title: “Beautiful Sad Song.”
In each and every song performed this duo created and constructed an all-encompassing tonal masterpiece of a concert to spotlight a fusion of styles, tempos and musical genres all filtered through the rhetoric of jazz. In short, it was concert that smoothly swung between polarities: sometimes into moody reflective rivers of music and at other times a raucous romp, or rather a rumpus, through the vistas of rhapsody, rhythm and syncopation.

 
As mentioned above it was music which reached deep into your soul and made one forget everything but the emotions evoked through sound, an amazing  thing  for even two dudes as committed , passionate and talented as Hepler and Smith.

Rising  talent rocks the Strand
 
A rising tide of youth swept into the Strand Theatre Saturday night in a show by two bands sharing the same guitarist.
 Like the bulging swell of a tsunami, this guitarist/singer/ songwriter, 17-year-old Kit Haymond,  displayed his sometimes raw, sometimes rhythmic sounds, passions and sheer bravado which promises, in each band, to break like a cresting wave of musical skills
Each band, in its own style and way, appears poised and ready to deluge fans in a flood of sound arising from the garages of Middletown and Waldron, where both bands, “Caffeine” and “Pressed in Black,” hone and refine the tidal onslaught of rock, blues and funk( into folk waves of sound.
Saturday night’s concert at the Strand opened with “Caffeine’ a trio of teenagers featuring Haymond on guitar, Kathleen Clary on mandolin and guitarist /singer Darren Isaac, winner of the most recent Shelby Idol.
 Isaac’s crooning vocal style was emphasized and shined on several traditional ballads the trio performed in a set best characterized as funky, folk music which recalled the coffee-shop music of a time, (the 1960’s) before any of these musicians were born.
In a short opening set, recalling the calm before a storm, each member of “Caffeine,” flashed the pregnant and poised talents, skills and passions which seem to simmer below the surface of their music. They are a band swelling with potential and one to scan the horizon for in the next few years as they physically grow into their promise and musically mature.
The evening’s head-lining act, “Pressed in Black,” is another trio featuring Haymond’s  skills, this time his prodigy-like passion for  songwriting and his  precocious blues and hard-rock guitar play.
This band, rounded out by bassists Jason Mibourn and drummer Matt Green, is a tight, joyous trio whose musicianship and music evokes the raw, spontaneous feel of sitting in a garage and listening to a jam session.
In point of fact, this is a band with cojones and the talent to back it up which became evident in the first eight songs, five of which were original songs written by Haymond. It is rather refreshing to witness such a bravado, tour-de force performance of compelling music, especially when a band performs a song that is merely two-days old as “Pressed In Black” did on their ninth tune “Last Song.”
The birth of new music (a dozen or so songs in two sets) is always an exciting thing to witness and the “Last Song,’ is no exception.  It is musically a very interesting piece with a challenging circus-freak kind of rhythm, that recalls both “The Doors” and “The Animals.” 
Indeed, original tunes abounded frequently and early during the twin-sets of rather eclectic music by this local trio.  From the second song, “Let it Ride,” a mellow, alternative ballad, to a later Ska inspired song and finally into a second set of several uninhibited hard-core thrash songs featuring full-frontal metal, this is a band that is always in your face, both artistically and musically.
In point of fact, “Pressed in Black” is a band without fear, a band willing and able to test it latest, newest music live before an audience, a band which seems to revel in the raw promise of live performance to explore new sounds.
 Another unique feature of this concert was the unplugged songs performed band members between sets.  Alone on stage, sitting down individually under a spotlight, Milbourn sang a rather raspy, gritty alternative version of “Billie Jean.” He was followed to the microphone by Haymond who sang a Buddy Holly tune .
“Pressed in Black,” even more than “Caffeine,” is a band bursting with passion, talent and an unbridled passion for music that does indeed swell off stage like a tsunami and deluges the audience in a deep, resonant wave of sound. Watch for their rising tide of artistic mayhem, and be aware a tide of malevolently creative music is arising out of Middletown.

Advance Tickets $10
$12 At the Door

Tim Spradlin does a wide variety of music. Pop, Show Tunes, R&B, Spiritual and Cabaret. All of that can be found on his Cd “Belt, Ballad and Blues”. Tim is best known for his ability to belt out the high notes but on this CD you will find that Tim can also bring it way down and sing soft and sweet.

Tim is known for pop songs like Moondance, Crying and You And I. Each song showing his upper range. With Cabaret songs like Cry Me A River and So In Love and Le Jazz Hot you get that small smokey room feel. Joined by Brenda Williams Tim ventures into R&B with Baby Come To Me and on his own with This Masquerade. It is easy to feel Tim’s spiritual side in We Can Be Kind and in Bridge Over Troubled Water. Coming from a Stage background Tim could not leave out some of his favorite songs from the stage such as Don’t Rain On My Parade and the duet with Lori Ecker Last Night Of The World. Last but not least if you are going to do a CD called “Belt, Ballad and Blues” you need a Blues number and The Low Down Blues is just the ticket.

Tim Spradllin has had starring roles in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, EVITA,GODSPELL and THE LAST FIVE YEARS. Tim also was a regular with THE AMERICAN CABARET THEATER for five years. Along with his partner in TimBru Productions Bruce Mclaughlin, Tim helped produce his own shows including MOTOWN SOUND and MOTOWN AND MORE (with Brenda Williams) along with two one man shows, SPRADLIN SINGS STREISAND and SPRADLIN SINGS MANILOW. NUVO listed Tim as one of the top male singers in Indianapolis.

Tim has been entertaining audiences in Indiana for a long time and it is now a pleasure to bring his CD to a wider audience. This CD will complement anyone’s CD collection.

“After 25 years of making music I am going to do songs I have loved doing all this time and talk about the high points of my life on stage and off… And some of the low points. And over all HAVE A GOOD TIME.”

Iconic   American music featured this weekend
 
In an unusual synergy the Strand Theatre will host dual shows this weekend highlighting the unique icons of musical expression that thrust America onto the creative global stage in the 20th century.
                 First on Saturday night at 8 p.m., the Blues and Rock n Roll will grace the historic boards of the theater as Smashed Productions presents “Pressed In Black” with special guest “Caffiene.”
                “Pressed in Black,” is a local three –piece band which concentrates on classic rock, blues and sprinkling of alternative, according to Joey Gaudin of Smashed Productions.
Comprised of bassist Jason Milbourn, lead singer and guitarist Kit Haymond and drummer and vocalist Matt Green, “Pressed in Black.” has been playing together for about a year and a half and currently has four original songs posted on the Web
                Hailing from Middletown, the trio sounds like “whatever it sets its mind to,” according to their My Space page. “We are currently recording in the studio and we are halfway done with an album.”
Musically, “Pressed in Black,” is influenced by everything from blues master Robert Johnson to contemporary punk-funk legends “The Red Hot Chili Peppers” and nearly all rock sandwiched in between these expressive poles.
 On Sunday afternoon at 2 another unique and influential American form of music (jazz) will echo resonantly from the Strand’s art deco walls as  pianist Dave Hepler brings his  smooth syncopations from Indianapolis to Shelbyville.
 A musician since the age of 8, Hepler has recorded 6 albums and been playing professionally across the Midwest since 1984. His Sunday show will feature guest bassist Frank Smith playing with Hepler in what promises to be an entertaining and satisfying venture into the coll sounds and history of this most American musical form.
“Music is the universal language,” Hepler said.  I cannot help but to share with you the way I see and feel the world around me. I hope you enjoy my musical conceptions and my interpretations of many of the great songwriters.
 Each of these engaging explorations of the distinct sounds and musical heritage of America are open to the public and ticket for each costs $10 and will be available at the door.

On Sunday March 21, 2010 jazz pianist Dave Hepler will return to the Strand stage.  The concert starts at 2:00pm.

Tickets are $10

On March 17, 2010 the Strand had a booth at the 2010 Shelby County Chamber of Commerce trade show.  This year marks the fourth year we have participated in this event.

We enjoyed speaking to everyone and the opportunity to spread the good word about the Strand.