Dear Strand Fan,
Saturday night we present THE ULTIMATE ELVIS SHOW STARRING TYLER CHRISTOPHER and the ROUSTABOUT SHOWBAND. This is a fantastic show. The show is SOLD OUT. No tickets will be available at the door. If you are a ticket holder we recommend you get to the Strand early. Doors will open at 6:30pm. See you there!
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AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) is showing on Tuesday March 18 for our
Tuesday Night Film Series. This classic, along with the THX1138 license plate, brings back memories and music from a time (at this point) long ago. The movie starts at 7pm and tickets are available at the door.
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We talked about the fire extinguisher on stage for the ELO show. Some know, others don't. When ELO recorded Mr. Blue Sky, the drummer Bev Bevan did not use a cowbell as many think. He used an empty fire extinguisher. Bill Heck the drummer for Turn to Stone, is faithfull to ELO. Below are Bill's drums and sure enough, there's the fire extinguisher! Now you know.
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Last Saturday the Strand chickened out. There is a place in the ELO show where they have a 30 second blast of water based theatrical haze. This is a cool effect. Not so cool if it sets off our optical smoke detectors.
That afternoon we put our alarm system in test mode and tried it out. You can see the results, great effect! No problems.
As the show neared we had discussions with the Shelbyville Fire Chief about our plans. Everything was ready to go. With almost 300 in the Strand for the concert we just didn't want to take the chance, so we told them no.
We are in the process of installing an exhaust fan in our stage house. When completed it should safely take the haze up and out. We'll keep you posted.
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Maintenance is necessary always, it doesn't matter the age of your theater. The Strand has venue friends across the country. One thing is constant, we all have building issues. For us we currently have a very small leak in one of the urinal valves in the Men's lobby restroom. Not a big deal, right? Guess again. That small leak equated to an increase of $60 in our water bill last month. We are getting it fixed, and while we are at it we will replace all the valve seals in that restroom.
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Once again our dinkus are doing their job. No comments from the Strunk & White or MLA fans, so we think we are good.
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This week Strand director David Finkel attended the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) convention. David, a former member of that organization (and now a current member again), was able to connect with several Strand vendors and learn about some trends for our theater.
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E.T. was shown on Tuesday night this week, and was quite special. We all forget the impact of that film. Before the show Jason H. showed the audition film for Elliot by actor Henry Thomas. It was amazing. The Strand's sound system, designed for much more that movie soundtracks, enveloped the audience with the glorious music of John Williams in the closing scenes.
Jason brought in his E.T. lunchbox. Look closely, it is signed by the majority of the cast! Thank you to all who came to the movie.
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Thank you for the support. We couldn't do it without you. See you at the Strand!
