The Strand has had a busy week. We are pleased to announce that dinner for Gone With The Wind SOLD OUT!! The movie looked great on the Strand screen. Paul McCartney once said of his Beatles music that because of technology they get better with age, not yellowed in a museum. The same holds true with these classic films. They are clearer and sharper than ever. The Strand showed GWTW when it premiered in 1939. The experience last Friday night was as good as the day it was new.

Did anyone notice all the digging in front of the Strand this week? So did we. One of the things that made us uncomfortable since day one was the main water line entrance to the theatre. It passes UNDER all our neighbors buildings. We each tap off this impossible to repair pipe. Indiana American Water Company decided to do something about it this week. Unknown to the Strand, they scheduled to replace the line. This involved digging a new meter pit on the north side of the sidewalk. The real surprise occurred when the cut a whole right in front of our entrance doors. We are working diligently to find a solution to make is look good. We are thrilled with the new water line, just a little surprised at how it went in. We feel it will be easily solved. The contractors have been very nice to work with and understand our concerns. Bob S., our maintenance guru is a happy camper…the new water lines will support the installation of tankless toilets. We expect Bob to put that on the suggested project list soon.

We want to thank our friends a SESAC, one of our music licensing partners, for help with our project. We have just started our licensing with them, and their procedures were a bit confusing. They were very helpful in walking our theatre through the proper steps. With the inclusion of our SESAC site license, we are completely covered for any music that is played at our theatre. We already have BMI and ASCAP site licenses. As far as we know SESAC was the final piece in the licensing puzzle. We pay our fair share for the music performed on our stage. We set out to do things right, and this is just one small component of what is takes to operate a performing arts center.

As we approach the Memorial Day weekend we have prepared the theatre as a rain-out site for the annual Memorial Day Ceremony that takes place on the Shelby County Courthouse lawn. This is a wonderful event. Hopefully the weather will be good and the program will take place on the steps of the courthouse, but if not the Strand is ready.

Have a great Holiday Weekend. Thank a veteran, because of them we are able to do projects like the Strand Theatre. The Strand has lived through every major conflict of the 20th Century including both World Wars. It is still doing what it set out to do when it opened, the same year that Paul Cross was a junior in high school. Help pay honor to him and all our fallen Shelby County soldiers.
Thank you for your support!

Local contractors to the rescue!!   The ring leader Jim Marshall:

Jim put together a group that included John Huber from Huber Bros. Painting, Dennis Baker from Builders Lumber and Hardware, and Indianapolis vendor Airworx. These four businesses provided all the material and labor to fix our wind damaged facade:

The wind pulled off the metal covering our fascia board.   Two days later…FIXED!

Thank you to

• R.D. Marshall Construction
• Huber Bros. Painting
• Builder’s Lumber & Hardware
• Airworks

Finished….

The Strand hosted the Shelbyville Middle School Jazz Band and Jazz Choir on May 20, 2010.

The Strand participated in the second annual Community Volunteer Fair.  The event is sponsored by the Blue River Foundation.

The Strand joined 20 other organizations for the event.   There were several people that showed interest in joining the Strand family.   Thank you to the Blue River Foundation for organizing this event.

Below David Finkel and Bob Schlick at the Strand table:

PLEASE READ THIS

A story to tell.   We do that each and every week.  The Strand is a concept for our community that lives and breaths.  Sometimes we talk of good things, other times we tell of funny things.   There is “tech talk” and every so often our news isn’t so good, we tell that too.    Last week was just one of those times.   We spoke of the of a very serious topic.  (We know right now you are all going through your emails to see what was said last week!)

We had some wind damage to the metal fascia on our soffit.  We spoke of the hazards involved.   The board member who guides the upkeep of our 94 year old theatre, Bob S. said it had to be fixed immediately.   He ran the red flag up on Wednesday.   We spent Thursday investigating options.   On Friday we sent our weekly email that spoke about it.   We sent the email out at 12:36am on 5/14.   We said: “We don’t know quite what we are going to do, but we know we have to do something.  We will tell you it is a bit depressing for us, but more on that next week.”

Next week is here, and boy do we have more.   At 10:30am on Friday 5/14 Strand board member David F. received a call.  It was from Jim Marshall of R.D. Marshall Construction.   Jim’s words were short.   He told David that a group of “clandestine” contractors had instructed him to let us know “don’t worry about your soffit.”  The other question was “what color does it get painted.”    When David asked for details, none were given.    Needless to say we were THRILLED.   We didn’t know who the rogue accomplices were, but we sure did appreciate it.   Nothing more said.   That was Friday.
On Tuesday night David’s phone rang once again.   At first he thought it was Purdue Pete, but no, it was Jim Marshall.  In his cryptic way he said; “I think you need to have the Strand open at 7:30 tomorrow morning.  Some people might need to plug in power tools.”  Again more details were asked, and none given.   So dutifully David drove to the Strand at 7:25 only to see the parking spaces in front of the theatre were all blocked off.   Hmm, something was happening.   Remember, this is Wednesday, and our email went out on Friday.   Meeting David at the theatre were 3 pirates.  They all had the same uniform.   It was a gray shirt with red lettering.   Yep, it said “R D MARSHALL, GENERAL CONTACTORS”   The door was opened.   A few minutes later a really big truck delivered a 60 foot bucket lift.   Did it look pretty.

Work began, and soon the offending metal was safely off the building.   Strand friend Dick Delaney (and former owner of the Strand) stopped by to say that metal was put up 35 years ago.   It did its job, but it was time to go.   To the contractor’s surprise, the wood beneath wasn’t as rotted as expected.    Slowly but surely the three worked their way from north to south, fixing the rotted wood, and installing a new fascia board.    It looked beautiful.
Now at this point we STILL didn’t know all the accomplices.   One thing we did know is that this is a wonderful thing.   Since no good deed should go unpunished, a call was placed to our friends at the Shelbyville News.   Soon, BJ Fairchild-Newman was on the scene.   The excellent writer and reporter she is, the story became a little clearer.  Who was there to meet her but our good friend Jim Marshall.   We didn’t learn until Thursday’s front page story, but he sang like a songbird.

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.   Midway throughout the day (Wednesday), the gentlemen working on the lift asked David to make sure there was the correct color of paint waiting at the theatre after lunch.   With a quick trip to Shelbyville Paint and Wallpaper, we had the paint ready and waiting.   Guess who showed up…..John Huber.   That would be John Huber, owner of Huber Bros. painting.    The plot thickens.

By the end of Wednesday the entire soffit was repaired.  The poor birds didn’t know where to go, there nesting place was no more.   We sat back, looked up and saw that is was good.

Thursday that lift was back in the air, this time with one of the pirates from the previous day, and also John Huber….safety belt in place and a paintbrush in hand.   The paint was our stone color that we used for the windows.   As the dark brown soffit details emerged with the light colored paint, David’s phone started ringing.   The calls were all similar “Wow, just passed the Strand, looks great.”    Then the Shelbyville News was delivered.  Right there on the front page (along with an excellent article about the Shelbyville Middle School’s performance at the Strand that night) was a picture of those pirates on the lift in front of the theatre.   The article went on to unravel the mystery.  It seems Mr. Marshall and Mr. Huber were the head pirates.   They enlisted the help of Dennis Baker from Builders Lumber.   Dennis supplied all the material.   They also enlisted the help of AirWorx.   They supplied the lift.   All four businesses teamed together to get the job done….all at no cost to the Strand!  By Thursday afternoon, the job was finished.   Quite amazing.

We live in a great community.   The Strand is humbled by the generosity and dedication given us by these four businesses.   They showed true community leadership.  They were not asked to help.   They received our email and knew they could solve our problem.   I am sure Jim’s Dad is smiling down at him this week!

ROBERT D. MARSHALL CONTRACTORS

HUBER BROS. PAINTING

BUILDERS LUMBER AND HARDWARE

AIRWORX

These are all heroes in our community.   The Strand not only benefits from having our facade safe, but also having the beautiful architectural details seen once again.  Next time you see any of them, please give them a BIG thank you from the Strand.   Several have helped us when we were down.   This time, these businesses came to the rescue….THANK YOU.

The SMS Jazz Band and Jazz Choir played to a full house on Thursday night.   These kids did a great job.  We are thrilled they are cutting their jazz chops at the Strand.   They’ll be back next year!

Thanks for all your support.  We are humbled and honored by your words of encouragement, patronage at our events and even in the case for a few this week, a trip up to the top of the facade.   Thank you.

Bob Dylan music rang out inside the Strand this past February….our soffit was Blowin’ in the Wind this week.  (Sorry about no Dylan warning, but our tech talk is ahead) 

Strand Board member Bob S. gave an emergency message “the soffit needs repaired NOW!”.    Here is what happened.  Many years ago a piece of rolled metal was installed along the soffit board.   It is white.  It is long.   It is now flapping in the wind.   This past week due to the lack of anything behind it to attach to, the metal let go.   You can see if flapping away.   Here’s Bob’s concern.   When it comes down, and according to him it WILL come down and come down soon,  it will potentially break our brand new neon on the top of the marquee.  It will also slice our newly repaired rubber roof on the top of the marquee.   This is something he says we can’t let happen.  He is right.
Steve F. has looked at that section of the facade since day one.   He knows we can repair it, but the problem is getting to it.   We will need to rent a very tall (45′) wide bucket lift.   This is a $1500 per week expense according to a local contractor.  Once we get the offending metal down, then we have to rebuild the soffit.   We can’t dilly dally on this project because the lift rental clock ticks away.   We don’t know quite what we are going to do, but we know we have to do something.  We will tell you it is a bit depressing for us, but more on that next week.

Did you see that the great singer Lena Horne passed away this week at the age of 92?   She will be performing on the big screen this weekend in the MGM classic musical “Till the Clouds Roll By.”   If you like Hollywood musicals with big production numbers, this is a MUST see.   The cast is a who’s who of celebrities from 1946.   It is in beautiful Technicolor and looks great.   The movie starts at 5:00pm on Sunday for one showing only.   Every song was written by Jerome Kern.   Frank Sinatra ends the film with one of the most famous Jerome Kern songs.   You fans out there will just have to figure it out.   To find out, come see the movie!

While you are at the movie, we will have all three Louisville Pipe Organ Company consoles in the cabaret area.  This is a piece of history.   Our friends at the Shelby County Historical Society, through their endowment of the organ, will provide theatre organ music in the Strand for decades to come.   The Strand organ project was the recipient of a bit of luck this week.  (Warning, incredible story + a little tech talk ahead).   Things just seem to happen.   Some of the items we are missing from the Uptown Theatre organ are the units that control the volume.   There are called Swell Shades, and are a series of little doors that open and close to let the sound from the pipe chamber out into the theatre.   When we acquired the organ originally in the Oak Theatre in Louisville last month, we received one set of shades.   We needed the matching, yet opposite pair.  The blades (doors) have to open in an opposing manner since the chambers are on each side of the theatre.   Our friend David Bottom, an organ technician from Lexington, KY, was doing a job in Florida last week.  He was moving a nice theatre organ from central Florida to northern Indiana.   Low and behold the organ had a set of Louisville Pipe Organ Company swell shades.   Not only were they the correct size, but (you guessed it) they were the opposite set we needed!!  Yippee for us!   The owner graciously donated them to our project.  They are in Lexington waiting a trip to pick them up.   Of course we invited David to see “Till the Clouds Roll By” this weekend.  Hopefully he will drive his truck!

The joint was a cookin’ last Saturday night.   After 2 successful magic shows, the SHS Jazz Band took the stage for a Saturday evening concert.   It was great.   They played a Miles Davis inspired first set.   These young musicians have great talent, and a great feel for the music of the era.    It was a treat.

Just a heads up, next week we will have the SMS Jazz Band and Jazz Choir at the Strand on Thursday night 5/20/2010.   The next night will be GONE WITH THE WIND for Dinner and a Movie.   This is your chance to see this classic on the big screen.   Hope to see you there.

We have our plates full.  There are more projects and just not enough time.  Hopefully the wind will give us a break and we can fix our immediate problem.  Your support is always appreciated.  The comments we receive at each and every performance reinforce the importance of our mission.  When things get us a little down, we just remember …”tomorrow is another day.”   Thank you.