Young @ Heart Chorus Make Their Return To Springfield

The Young @ Heart Chorus returns to The Paramount on June 25th. The last time they were here was in 2004. If you have never seen them, do yourself a favor and check them out on youtube.
Of all the shows that we have hosted at The Hippodrome over the years, this show was one of the most memorable for me and an act that I highly recommend. (For any age group)
The text below comes from WGBY's website.


Western Massachusetts' own Young@Heart Chorus in concert to benefit WGBY, Public Television for western New England at the Paramount Theatre in Downtown Springfield


When Bob Cilman and Judith Sharpe organized the Young@Heart (Y@H) in 1982 all of the members lived in an elderly housing project in Northampton, MA called the Walter Salvo House. The first group included elders who lived through both World Wars.


The current performers in Young@Heart range in age from 73 to 89. There are some with prior professional theater or music experience, others who have performed extensively on the amateur level, and some who never stepped onto a stage before turning eighty. None of the current performers of Y@H were part of the original group that formed in 1982, but they have kept alive the spirit of the early pioneers and continue to push the group into glorious new directions.


Alive and Well, the Y@H in concert, features songs from past productions and also allows us to experiment with new music in front of a live audience.
This concert is made possible in part through support from Glenmeadow Retirement Home of Longmeadow, MA and The Republican/MassLive.


To purchase tickets click on the link below
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/105490

Hippodrome (Paramount's) First Week Back in Operation

Wednesday April 7th The Paramount hosted an evening of Boxing, featuring "The Massachusetts State Police Boxing Team". This was the first event at the Hippodrome since June 6th 2008.


The event was a benefit for The Springfield Girls Club. There were 10 fights and a good turnout.


Friday Night was a Latin concert featuring Tito El Bambino. The Night was a huge success. The Hippodrome, Over the last ten years, has been the best destination for Tropical Latin acts in The Northeast.


The next round of bookings will be announced soon and will include some Rock and Pop acts.

The Massachusetts State Police Benefit Boxing Match for The Springfield Girls Club Will Be an"Action Packed" First Show at The Paramount

The acts are starting to be booked for the first round of spring shows at The Paramount. We have already booked several shows for April, May, and June. Lots of acts will be announced shortly.

The first show will be on Wednesday April 7th and features a Massachusetts State Police Boxing card as a benefit for the Springfield Girls Club. The Hippodrome (Paramount) has hosted many Boxing matches and other events for The Springfield Girls Club over the last 10 years. We have had several fashion shows, Casino Nights, and Sporting events to raise money for this terrific organization. The last time we hosted a Boxing match for them was a sell out. Tickets are already on sale. I will post more ticket info as soon as I have it.

Friday April 9th The Paramount is hosting a concert featuring Tito El Bambino. This is a large scale Latin act and has always drawn a capacity crowd to The Hippodrome (Paramount). Doors open at 9pm and tickets will go on sale next week.

Saturday April 10th Mixed Marshal arts returns in the cage. These extreme fighting events always sell out. I will post details of who is fighting and ticketing next week.

These three events taking place over four nights will be a large shot in the arm for Downtown Restaurants and Eateries before and after the events.

Here is a link to The Springfield Girls Club Website.
http://springfieldgirlsclub.org/

The Springfield Intruder and a "behind the scenes" tour of the Theater.

I recently gave a tour of the Paramount to Bill Dusty of the Springfield Intruder. I thought that some people may find it interesting to see parts of the theater that the public never sees. Below is a link to the story that Bill wrote about the tour and a link to the video that he made.



http://springfieldintruder.com/?p=3169

View From The Top

The Paramount has a 90 ft. "Boom" lift on the dance floor. The lift is being used to install the sprinkler system on the ceiling, which is 60 feet above the floor.

(Click on any of the pictures to enlarge)

Here is a view of the mural above the stage, taken from the same level as the mural. I was bout 15 feet away from it when I took this picture.

The last time we had this type of lift in the theater was in 2000 for the Hippodrome restoration. I have to confess that sometimes at night when all of the workmen go home, I like to take the lift out for a spin. This lift is made to be used indoors "only" and can fit through narrow doorways. That is why I think it sways so much. It takes some getting used to as the lift is rising and the shaking becomes more pronounced, the higher you go.

Above is a picture taken on the way up of the dome in the center of the ceiling.

Here is a view from above the mural. Not a great angle to see the painting, but a very different perspective on the whole theater from this high up.




This is a birds eye view of the Proscenium Arch.




This is the view looking back into the balcony and all of the scaffolding above it.
The dome is lit with red lights.
The batteries on my camera went dead after I snapped these pictures, unfortunately, I wasn't even all the way up to the ceiling yet.
In the next few days I will take the machine for another ride and get some better pictures.

Scaffolding Returns to The Paramount

Hardhats are now required @ the Hippodrome. Scaffolds have been erected, a "Boom Lift" has taken over the dance floor, Sprinkler pipe is everywhere, and work is underway.
I spent the day working at The Hippodrome, watching the scaffolding being set up for the sprinkler installation and ceiling restoration. This afternoon a 90 ft. boom lift was delivered and carefully driven down to the dance floor.
This combination of lifts and scaffolding is very similar to what was used in 2000 for the Hippodrome restoration. Today, I brought a camera with me to take some pictures of the interior with the scaffolding installed.


The scaffolding took 2 days to load in and set up. There was definitely a feeling of Deja vu for me, as the last time we had platforms like this built was 9 years ago. The difference this time is that the scaffold is meant to work on the entire ceiling, while last time we were restoring paint on the walls and only a few damaged parts of the ceiling.

The view in the above picture is from the top of the scaffolding looking across the ceiling at the other towers.

The view from 60 ft. up looking down on the chandeliers.

The scaffolds and lifts in 2000 were brought in and the paint restoration was done before we built the decks that lead down to the dance floor. At that time we were able to tie the lift to a Bobcat and drive the lift down to the dance floor. Now there are four sets of steps to drive the 6000 lb. lift down. I had this nifty looking ramp built out of 2"x 12"s and 3/4 in. plywood. There was a lot of snapping and crackling of wood, but we made it.

START YOUR (ECONOMIC) ENGINES!

You might call it a closing that will lead to an opening—or to be more accurate, a re-opening.

I’m thrilled to announce that my business partner, Steve Stein, and I closed on a loan today that will enable us to bring the former Paramount Theater back to life. This is a project that has actually been in the works for some time now, but we didn’t want to announce it until everything was in place. We know this will be a huge boost to the economy in not only downtown Springfield, but the entire region, but more on that aspect in a later post.

The loan will enable us to update the sprinkler system to comply with new state fire code and pay The City of Springfield $210,000 to bring all taxes current. We will also use some of the money for a buyout of other partners, leaving Steve and I as sole owners of the Paramount building and adjacent 30,000 square-foot parking lot. These actions make up Phase One of the Paramount restoration.

I’ll get into later phases as they draw nearer (and we hope they’ll all be completed quickly) but for now let me just mention that Phase two will see the completion of Theater restoration, a new Marquis and an overall upgrade of the facility. Phase Three will include renovating the upper floors of the property, which runs from 1676 to 1708 Main St. into 30,000 square feet of shared office space, market-rate housing and Artisan “live-work” space that is all the rage these days.
There is also exciting news about the space that was formally "Luva" Restaurant, Which will be revealed in the next few weeks.

Once Phase Two is done, we’re excited to say that the historic Paramount Theater will be back open for business. Stay tuned.