Backstage Pass to the Basie

Preview of the Revue

2012-02-08T05:59:00.000-08:00

I am writing this from Studio 105 here at the Basie, on Tuesday night during the last of the five rehearsals for the Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue's tribute to the Bee Gees show which is to take the Basie stage this Friday night. (Tickets are still available, by the way.)

One thing that makes the Rock-N-Soul Revue shows so much fun is of course the talent on display - all of it local, too! Part of music director Bob Bandiera's genius is knowing just who to pick for the different styles of music each show focuses on. We've got a couple of brand new singers with us for the first time, and a number of old friends, and rest assured Bobby has figured out where to put a few killer guitar solos.

Another fun thing for us at the theatre is the chance to be in on the ground floor of the creation of a Rock-N-Soul Revue show. Instead of just a night of a tour, these shows are created from scratch. If you were to stand outside on the street every night you would hear a real evolution of the show, from passable read throughs of each song to tight and energetic interpretations. I can tell this show rocks already and it's really too bad we don't have a dance floor in the theatre!

Join us Friday night at 8:00pm. You won't be disappointed!

For tickets visit www.countbasietheatre.org or call our Box Office at 732-842-9000.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth StreetRed Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

"Non-Traditional" Booking at the Basie

2012-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

This blog is directed at the anonymous caller who left us a voice mail message over the weekend, expressing his displeasure in the roster of events that we currently have on sale.

First, I assume you know that your phone number is set to “private,” so our caller ID cannot identify you. It would have been nice if you left your name and number. That way, we could have called you back, and we could have had an intelligent conversation. One-sided ranting on our voice mail late at night doesn’t really accomplish much.

Nonetheless, your message raised an interesting question, which other patrons of the theatre might be interested in. So here’s the answer to your question: the reason that there is nothing on our schedule right now that appeals to you is that the Count Basie Theatre’s schedule is ever-changing. We add new events all the time.

The Basie’s schedule is unlike the quote-unquote “traditional” performing arts center. The traditional performing arts center model is to construct a season of performances as a static block of events between October and May of every year, and put them on sale all at once. When customers look at a traditional performing arts center’s calendar, they can see the whole season as a block.

The Count Basie Theatre however is booked on an on-going basis, as tours and concerts become available. Some events are booked far in advance, sometimes months, sometimes years in advance. Some performances are booked just weeks in advance, to take advantage of opportunities as they become available. By constructing a business model that is nimble and quick, we’ve been able over the years to take advantage of opportunities that other venues or performing arts centers, whose marketing revolves around publicizing an entire season all at once, are unable to.

The downside though is that when you look at our calendar at any given moment, it may seem to be lacking in certain genres, but that can change in the blink of an eye. Last summer for instance, anyone looking at our schedule on Thursday, July 14 would not have seen performances on sale by Elvis Costello, Ghost Hunters, Jim Gaffigan or Swan Lake performed by the State Ballet Theatre of Russia. All of those shows were announced to the general public and went on sale the next day, July 15.

Right now there are 58 different artists we are actively pursuing. So if there’s nothing that appeals to you today, make sure to look again next week, and make sure to sign up for our email list so you will be notified when new shows go on sale.

You may also be interested in becoming a contributing member of the theatre. Starting at a very reasonable $100 tax-deductible contribution to the theatre each year, Fellow level members and above have the opportunity to purchase tickets in advance of the general public. There are over 800 such members who support the theatre, and I hope you’ll become one of them. Click here to learn more about becoming a Count Basie Theatre member.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth StreetRed Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

A New Year And All That Jazz

2012-01-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays, Joe Muccioli, director of the Jazz Arts Project and the Red Bank Jazz Orchestra, who we produce the Sinatra Birthday Bash with, gave me a copy of the RBJO’s new CD, Strike Up the Band!

The more I listen to the CD, the more I really like it. They recorded it live in a studio, so it’s got a really great vibe and a terrific warm sound. You can tell the musicians were feeding off of each other. It sounds like listening to a classic jazz album from the 50’s. You can picture the tenor sax player with one of those old giant cardioid microphones practically stuck right down the bell of his horn. If you’re interested you can find Strike Up the Band! on iTunes, cdbaby.com or at the Jazz Arts Project's Store Website.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth StreetRed Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Guest Review: Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue’s “Music of the American Graffiti Era”

2011-10-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

I thought this unsolicited review from Maureen McCrink of last Saturday night’s show, sent via email was humorous and worth repeating.

Full disclosure: Maureen is a talented vocalist in her own right who has sung on several Rock-N-Soul Revue shows, and her husband Michael is a talented trumpet player who has played on our stage too. So they’re not entirely subjective. But what the heck? It was in fact a terrific show, so here’s the review:

From: Michael Gribbroek & Maureen McCrink
Date: October 30, 2011 12:05:17 PM EDT
Subject: Whattashow!

Words fail STOP what an ensemble, what a visual excitement what a sound STOP Tim McLoone has legs that move, and sings his patooties off STOP Layonne delivers joy as only she can STOP Addeo is the Daddio STOP Everett Bradley STOP!!!! Celestino chugs an unrelenting rhythm along with Maby urging Bandiera's Maybelline lead off any existing chart STOP entire band goes along for the ride STOP smoke gets in our eyes in an extended and previously unheard of instrumental build STOP and the pace, colors, surprises, fun and excitement never stopped. DON'T STOP M&M (balcony viewers – American Graffiti) Sorry - forgot to mention an obvious point (among others, surely): Bob, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" vocal was glorious - HOW did you hit those last notes? You can take that as a rhetorical, or give me a hint. Mo P.S. Numa, love the Free Movie Nights!!!

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth StreetRed Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

National Arts and Humanities Month

2011-10-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

It’s October 27 and I almost let the month go by without recognizing that October is National Arts and Humanities Month.

Well, we’ve been extraordinarily busy this month celebrating the arts by actually getting one performing arts event after another on our stage, 24 headline performances in all for October! The performances this month started on Saturday, October 1 with a Doo Wop concert, and ends this coming Sunday, October 30 with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, and in between we’ve had films, rock concerts, theatre for young audiences, a symphony orchestra, the original cast of a hit Broadway show, and more.

National Arts and Humanities Month is a coast-to-coast celebration of American culture, and within his proclamation of National Arts and Humanities Month, President Obama stated:

“Millions of Americans earn a living in the arts and humanities, and the non-profit and for-profit arts industries are important parts of both our cultural heritage and our economy...We must recognize the contributions of the arts and humanities not only by supporting the artists of today, but also by giving opportunities to the creative thinkers of tomorrow. Educators across our country are opening young minds, fostering innovation, and developing imaginations through arts education.”

What does this mean locally? Here are just two quick examples:

One, the arts are important for adults. Right here, the Count Basie Theatre’s activities last year had a $12 million impact on the local economy, supporting the full-time equivalent of over 300 jobs.

Two, the arts are especially important for children. Studies show that students with an arts rich education have better grade point averages, score better on standardized tests in reading and math, and have lower dropout rates. The Count Basie Theatre’s Outreach Program, providing free music, dance and theatre classes to over 500 students in the Red Bank Elementary and Middle Schools, helps make this possible right here.

Every time you buy a ticket to a show at the Basie, or make a tax deductible donation to the Basie, in addition to giving yourself an evening out and a temporary reprieve from reality outside the theatre’s doors, you’re supporting economic stimulus, and arts education for children. For more information about supporting the Basie, Click Here.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth StreetRed Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Columbus Day $10 Ticket Sale Teaser

2011-10-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Six years ago we conceived the Columbus Day $10 Ticket Sale as a way to make some inexpensive tickets available to those who were willing to take an unsold seat in the side or rear of the theatre in exchange for a cheap ticket.

We thought it was a way to get some new people in the door, and maybe through an attractive ticket price, encourage existing ticket buyers to try a show or two that they otherwise would not have attended. We had no idea what to expect. Frankly, we didn't expect much.

It was just one of those, “What have we got to lose?” crazy ideas.

We were, over course, completely unprepared for the overwhelming response. Back then on a holiday Monday, we would have been lucky to sell $2,000 or $3,000 worth of tickets. In six hours we sold 1,500 tickets worth $20,000! It's six years later, and we’ve also added a President’s Day Sale in February, and on each of these “One Day Sales” we sell triple that number.

Columbus Day is this Monday (10/10). Friday (10/7) we will release the list of shows that will be included in this year's sale. I'll give you a tip - it's a good list. Lots of shows to choose from.

The sale only runs from 10:00am to 6:00pm on Monday. Columbus Day $10 Tickets are only available on the phone, or in person at the Box Office Window. It's an offer you need to spend a little effort to take advantage of, but if you're looking for an entertainment deal, and are willing to wait on line or use the redial key, and don’t mind sitting wherever we seat you in exchange for a really, really good price, then I hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Behind the Scenes of How We Book Our Artists

2011-09-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

Questions Answered:

An audience member wrote this week as follows:

“I am not interested in what’s on the schedule right now. Why? And when will it change?”

We hear this comment from time to time, and the thing we ask people to keep in mind is that the Basie's schedule is not a static roster of events that we fix in place at the start of a season, like a theatre company or a symphony orchestra's schedule.

Our roster of events changes constantly. We add new shows almost weekly. During a 12-month cycle we will typically host 175 to 200 performances, but if you look at our calendar of events on any given day, you may only see 50 to 75 shows on sale. That's because we will add shows as we go along.

Why do we do it this way? Mostly it has to do with the availability of the performing artists. Say for example we have an interest in Big Name Artist #1. I might call his or her agent today, only to find out that BNA #1 is not working right now. Or maybe BNA #1 is working, but is recording for the next few months, and not touring. Then, 6 months from now, maybe BNA #1 is finished recording and is ready to hit the road. So, you might look at our calendar of events today and not see Big Name Artist #1, or any comparable performance either, but if you check back in a few months that might change, and then we might have a terrific run of many, many shows you want to see.

In my experience, these things tend to be cyclical. Some of it is predictable. Like, January is typically a slow month because nobody wants to be on the road right after the holidays. Or December is the big month for holiday shows (obviously) and not so much for just "regular" shows. But some of it is just cosmically strange. Like one month, finding a comedian to book is like pulling teeth, and then the next month, every great comedian you ever wanted to see is hitting the road.

Predictable or not, mostly we're at the mercy of when artists want to work, when their tour is going to be in our region, do they have the same dates available that we have available, and a dozen other variables.

So, this is the extended way of saying that if you don't see something on our calendar today that interests you, keep checking back, because we’re adding new shows all the time.

______________________________

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Hail Fredonia

2011-08-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

We like to think of Count Basie Theatre as the crossroads of our community, or at least one of the crossroads of our community. Like a general store counter in the olden days, the Basie is a place where you run into your friends and neighbors on a routine basis - as well as reconnect with old friends. We frequently hear from customers that they came to see artist XYZ, and were surprised and delighted to run into old friends from high school that they hadn’t seen in ages.

Even though I am not a native of this area, here’s my own version of this:

Last Thursday we had a triple bill of Firefall (“Just Remember I Love You”), POCO (“Crazy Love,” “Heart of the Night”) and Pure Prairie League (“Amie,” “Two Lane Highway”).

I was in the Carlton Lounge, our VIP lounge, during the second intermission, and I looked outside and saw Pure Prairie League’s drummer on the sidewalk, looking lost. So I went out to the sidewalk and asked him if he’s lost? Perhaps he was trying to find his way back to the stage door? He said no, their set was done (Pure Prairie League played second) and since he was done working for the night, what he was really up to was trying to find a place to have a drink with his wife. They’d come to the right place! Into the Lounge we went for a round of drinks on the house.

We chatted, and he described the travel day from hell that the band had. It’s worthy of it’s own story line, but by some miracle, they all got here from points north, south and west, they loved the venue, and loved the crowd.

Mr. Drummer’s name is Rick Schell, and he’d been here before. He did a couple tours with Southside Johnny, and played a New Year’s Eve show here in the late 90’s. So we had that connection.

Then he asked me if we have an usher named Judy? He doesn’t know Judy’s last name, but he and his wife had dinner with Gary Tallent, bass player for the E Street Band, in Nashville last night. Rick and Gary play in a Nashville band called The Long Players. The Long Players are Nashville’s answer to our own Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue, coming back to you on October 29 with “Music of the American Graffiti Era.” But, I digress…

So Gary told Rick to look up an usher named Judy and say “hello.” So off went one of our intrepid employees to see if we had an usher named Judy working that night, and indeed we did; Judy Desarno, who, it turned out, is married to a high school buddy of Gary’s. Message sent, message received. Judy, who arrived in the lounge not having any clue why anyone wanted to see her, was as amused as the rest of us.

I’ve never met Gary Tallent, but we have some mutual friends and based on those people, I’ve always assumed him to be a decent guy. Now I can put two more strikes in the “decent guy” column in case we ever do meet in person.

So then Rick the drummer introduced me to his sister and her husband. They were down from upstate New York to see the show and hang with Rick. I asked them where they live, and they told me that I won’t know where it is. I told them that I probably will. I spent a lot of time in upstate NY. My family vacationed there, I used to live in the Hudson Valley, I went to Boy Scout Camp in Trumansburg, NY, outside of Ithaca, and I went to college upstate.

Rick the drummer said, “Where did you go to college?” I said, “Fredonia.” He said, “Me too!” I said, “What year?” He said, “1985.” I said, “Me too!” He said, “I was a Music Business Major, what was your major?” I said, “Music Education.” Now we were truly in the Weird Zone. The Fredonia School of Music at the State U. of New York College at Fredonia (or SUC Fredonia, you can pretty much figure out all on your own how we shortened that into a nickname) only had about 400 students. We never met, or at least don’t remember it now. Rick did two years at a community college in Syracuse and then transferred into Fredonia for his junior and senior years, so for two years, we had to have seen each other at least a few times a week.

Then, like all this wasn’t enough already, as we’re talking about who we knew, and what dorms and off campus houses we lived in, I suddenly remembered I had a suitemate freshman year from the Cortland area. His sister asked who, and I said, “Peter Camp,” and she said, “Oh yeah, he just moved back to the area a couple of years ago. He lives in Homer, NY.” As soon as she said, “Homer,” I remembered this was exactly where Pete lived.

Like the Monmouth County area, the music and entertainment world can be a truly small place, but this meeting was so totally random. If I had not noticed Rick was wandering around looking lost, we never would have had this conversation in the first place.

Come to the Basie, and you never know who you are going to run into!

______________________________

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

R.I.P. Frank Foster

2011-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Amy Winehouse and Frank Foster passed away last week.

For reasons passing my understanding, Amy Winehouse will continue to get a ton of press, while for reasons I understand all too well, Frank Foster won’t get anywhere near the kind of press he deserves.

Ms. Winehouse (1983-2011) made two records, one of them very good, but that was it. It’s been a long time since she made anything worthy of our attention. For most of the last 5 years she has been famous to us for the tabloid coverage of her drug and alcohol fueled exploits. By the end she was so far removed from the good reasons she came to our notice in the first place that I do not understand why anyone paid any attention to her any more. It was painfully obvious that even if she had lived, it was unlikely she was ever going to create art that was anywhere close to her artistic peak ever again.

By contrast, Frank Foster (1929-2011) led a remarkable life worthy of celebration. A jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator, he lived to age 82. He was married to his wife for 45 years. He started playing sax at age 13. He already played clarinet but switched. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1953, and for over a decade was part of a celebrated sax section that also included Frank Foster. Mr. B. called them “The Two Franks.” Their styles complemented each other nicely, and they went head to head with each other as soloists night after night. As a writer he contributed arrangements and compositions to the band’s repertoire like "Shiny Stockings," Down for the Count," and "Back to the Apple," all now standards of the repertory. Decades after leaving to pursue his own solo career he returned to the band as its leader from 1986 to 1995, and won two Grammy Awards along the way.

He was a consultant to the New York City schools, and taught at Queens College and SUNY Buffalo. He also led his own big band, Frank Foster's Loud Minority, played in drummer Elvin Jones' band, and led a quintet with Frank Wess. He composed for singers like Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra, wrote a piece for the 1980 Winter Olympics ("Lake Placid Suite”) and in 2002 was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master.

I worked with him once, and he was a lovely man. His success was not a fluke. His success was not the dumb luck of a talented young person who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Although he was often in the right place at the right time, he showed up day after day and night after night to do the work and sustain his art and his success. Nobody celebrates that any more, but we should.

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Any Elvis Costello Fans Out There Who Are Also Statisticians?

2011-07-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe someone out there in Blogland can answer this for me:

Last night, Elvis Costello pulled 16 or so people out of the audience two at a time to help him select the next songs to be played, by spinning a giant carnival wheel loaded with song titles. Two of these people were birthday boys.

The first one came to the stage with his teenage daughter, who told Elvis that it was Dad's birthday.

The second one wasn't shy, and told us himself, and produced his driver's license to prove it. Or at least from where I was sitting, it looked like he pulled his driver's license from his wallet. Maybe it was his lucky rabbit's foot, or something worse?

Anyway, here's my question: what are the odds? What are the statistical chances that you could pull 16 people out of a a sold out house of 1,568 ticket holders, and it would be the birthday of 2 out of the 16?

______________________________

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778, ext. 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Urgent: NJ Budget - Final Day To Tell Your Officials ARTS MATTERS!

2011-06-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

The State of NJ is in the final throes of negotiating its budget for their next fiscal year, and today is the last day to remind your elected officials that art matters.

Why should you care? Or care more about the arts than any other cause? Or care at least as much about the arts as any other cause?

In the case of the Count Basie Theatre, we earn about half our annual income from ticket sales, about one-quarter from other contracted services, and we have to fundraise the last one-quarter every year to balance the budget.

On an annual basis our state funding is only about 3% of a $6 million budget. It’s not much. It’s certainly not extravagant, but it helps, and it helps to sustain some important programs.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts is proposed to receive $16 million for Cultural Projects in FY12. The NJ Cultural Trust is proposed to receive $500,000. These are the minimums allowed by law and are derived not from your tax dollars but entirely from a dedicated revenue source, the NJ Hotel/Motel Occupancy Fee.

The current budget bill however specifies that $4 million of this total go to just three organizations, a trick that means for most of the state, $16 million is not really $16 million – it’s $12 million, a 25% reduction.

You can help correct this and help level the playing field by telling your elected officials to remove and budget language with direct appropriations, as has been successfully done in the past.

Go to www.artpridenj.com and click on the Action Alert button to send an email. All the language you need is there, plus the names and addresses of your legislators will automatically be provided. It’ll take you seconds to do, but the benefits will resound throughout the next year.

Thank you very much for your support of the Basie, and of the arts.

______________________________
Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778 extension 105
www.countbasietheatre.org

Do You Remember Your High School Drama Club?

2011-05-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Every year for the last 6 years at about this time, I find myself remembering my high school drama club. It is of course because the Basie Awards are coming. If you are unfamiliar, the Count Basie Theatre Awards Honoring Excellence in Monmouth County High School Theatre, or “The Basie Awards,” or even more simply, “The Basies,” for short, are a program we run to recognize excellence in the drama programs of Monmouth County’s high schools.

Each school that participates does so voluntarily, and during the school year, each musical theatre or dramatic production is seen by four evaluators, who complete a rather extensive evaluation package (a dozen pages or more). At the end of the year we tabulate the numerical scores, have an in-person meeting to discuss the results, and announce the nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Drama, Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, etc. Then, on the Wednesday right before Memorial Day Weekend we have an Academy Awards-style awards show at the theatre, complete with performances of musical productions from each of the Best Musical nominees, big screen video scrolling of nominee names, and celebrity award presenters (Joe Piscopo, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Max Weinberg have all participated, along with many mayors, school superintendents, principals and Broadway actors and dancers).

Many years ago, the Harborfields High School Drama Club almost literally saved me. It was the first place in my high school where nobody seemed to care what a geek you were. All were welcome on their own merits. I am still friends with many of them today, and I know where many more are. David, Chris, Meryl (better known as Medyl; don’t ask, I vaguely remember it had something to do with Pink Floyd), Annie, Margaret, Jen, Rona, Ed, Kevin, Susan, Marcy, Barbara, Brian, David, and many others I am not thinking of right now.

Rona had a talent for walking into the male dressing room, and every time she did it, she’d feign surprise. “Oh my! Silly me! I keep forgetting which door is which.” David, ever the intrepid techie, achieved our retribution one night during a talent show. While Rona was onstage singing “Come In from the Rain,” he turned on the fog machine from the stage left wing. In the audio cassette my parents made of the show (cassette tapes then being a relatively new technology) you can hear the audience mumbling that there’s smoke, and maybe something is on fire. Rona kept edging away from the fog towards the other side of the stage, and by the time she was done, she was half into the stage right wings already.

Rona attempted revenge in the next act. While Chris was sitting in a chair performing a monologue, she walked on stage in a slinky dress slit up to there and sat in his lap and started playing with his hair. Rona was half Chinese and half Hawaiian, and she was completely beautiful. However, without missing a beat, Chris turned her head to face the audience, starting opening and closing her jaw with his other hand and said, “Look, I brought my dummy with me tonight.”

Score one for the good guys, but where does a 17-year-old learn that kind of comic timing? I’ve worked with just about every big name in comedy over the last 25-30 years, and I’m here to tell you: it’s rare.

So when I see a 17-year-old on stage at the Basies who embodies Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof for example, I think:

“How is it possible for a 17-year-old from suburban New Jersey to so capture the essence of a middle aged man in rural Russia more than 100 years ago?”

Professionally, I certainly see my share of lackluster shows every year, and when I was a Basie Award evaluator, I saw my share of individual and ensemble performances across the entire spectrum. But when you see that one performance that shines, it is breath taking. The inevitable analogy is a sports analogy – it’s like watching a young athlete sink his or her first three-pointer. “Wow! Where did that come from? And can you do it again?”

Sometimes they can do it again. I was part of a freakishly talented high school class. Across the board, academically, sports, music, theatre, art, the parents and teachers said the class of ’81 was the most talented class in years. Chris went to college for musical theatre. Rona went to college for theatre. David went to college for lighting design and he’s still in the business; he and I spent several days together at a conference in February.

Like my class, a few will stick, but most of the Basie Awards participants will move on to other endeavors in life. One of our goals with the program is to encourage people to raise the level of awareness of the arts as a viable career choice, and as a valuable part of your life no matter what you do, and I am sure that most of these students will retain the experience and many of the skills they’ve learned: team work, cooperation, how to speak before an audience, and how to show up on time prepared to do the work, not to mention how to sing in tune and bust a choreographed move.

Even if you don’t have a student in the Basie Awards, if you’re not doing anything on Wednesday May 25 at 7:00 p.m., come on down and buy a ticket and be prepared to be impressed by our young people. If nothing else, it’ll make you feel better about our collective future.

...Isn’t That Worth Something?

2011-05-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

Last September I sat in the back of the theatre while Keb’ Mo’ played his song “One True Friend,” thinking of our dog George. George was a big, beautiful, black Great Dane, just days away from his ninth birthday, which is old for a Dane. We’d rescued him two years before, and he’d gotten sick shortly thereafter. He had cancer, an arrhythmic heartbeat, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and he went blind from the twice daily insulin injections. Still, he was a terrific dog.

We put George to sleep last October when his health took a precipitous and sudden decline, but right up to that point, his medications worked wonderfully, and even though he was very sick, he was a big, bold tower of love. He loved to eat, he loved to go for walks, and most of all, he loved his nightly marrow bone. He would work a single bone for hours.

I became George’s primary caregiver, monitoring his conditions, testing his urine and dispensing seven pills and two insulin injections a day. Perhaps for this reason, I really bonded with him. Perhaps for this reason, when Keb’ sang “One True Friend,” a song I was then unfamiliar with, it really had an impact on me. Eight months later, I still get a little teary when I hear that song because it always reminds me of George, and how we felt about each other. Well, I know how I felt about him; I am assuming he felt the same about me.

About 12 years ago, I was part of a panel of arts administrators who were invited to participate in part of the creation of a Cultural Blueprint for the City of New York. The topic at one particular session was public funding for the arts, and the moderator asked us what the one thing we always wanted to tell a politician was? I raised my hand and said:

“What if it all goes away?”

Because in any funding debate, that’s what’s on my mind. Arts, education, health care, roads, parks… what if it all goes away? What if funding were really zeroed out one day, and it all went away?

In the case of the Basie, 25 or so full time and 150 or so part time jobs at the theatre would disappear. Some substantial part of the 300+ jobs in the local economy that our activities and audience supports would disappear too. The taxes that accompany those jobs and the goods and services and products those people sell would disappear too. In dollars? About an $11 or $12 million loss.

But that’s just the cold, hard, cash impact. What’s less calculable is the intangible loss to the community. Certainly, the Count Basie Theatre (and more importantly its programming) is one of the things that makes the Two River area, Monmouth County and the Jersey Shore special places, along with other institutions like the Two River Theatre Company, the Kaboom Fireworks, the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Festival, the rivers and the beaches.

And certainly, an experience like the one Keb’ Mo’ brought upon me, where his song caused me to really think about how much better my life was because my dog friend George had enriched it, well, that was possible because there was a place right here close to home that brings artists like Keb’ and audiences like you and me together.

Whether it’s Keb’ singing about the value of friendship, or a symphony orchestra and chorus giving voice to Beethoven’s thoughts and feeling about freedom, or for that matter, The Rascals singing about people needing to be free, whatever the moment and the emotion, aren’t our lives in this place at this time the better for it? And isn’t that worth something?

Next time we hit you up for a small donation, or for support of a fundraising event, answer that question:

"Isn’t that worth something?"

Please give according to the depth of your feeling about the answer.

George, who did in fact visit the theatre a few times, would thank you.

PS: Keb’ is coming back this September 30 with a brand new album to promote, and if you like animals, especially dogs, you might like Comedy Pet Theatre in two weeks, on May 20. The trained dogs and cats (yes, trained cats) are pretty amazing, and they’re all rescues!

______________________________

Numa C. Saisselin
CEO, Count Basie Theatre
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
Phone: 732-224-8778, x105
info@countbasietheatre.org

Who Are The Pawn Stars?

2011-04-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Who are the Pawn Stars, and what’s their show going to be like?

On Sunday May 8 at 4:00 in the afternoon we are presenting an evening with the stars of the History Channel’s hit TV show “Pawn Stars.” I love watching this show on TV. The cast of characters is very entertaining, and the 30-minute procession of goods to be pawned on every episode is fascinating, from total junk to actually valuable. Recent items included a crossbow made in the 1970’s (not very valuable) to a spoon made by Paul Revere, Senior. (I actually learned that there was a Paul Revere Junior, who was also a silversmith.)

Unlike “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS, where antiques are only appraised, on “Pawn Stars,” there is actual haggling, and actual deals are cut. Tell the truth – what New Jersey-ite doesn’t like haggling over the price, or at least watching someone else do it?

We’ve received a lot of inquiries about the show, and I thought it would be helpful to provide a briefing on both the pawn industry, as well as the Pawn Stars themselves, and what their show will be like.

First, what exactly is a pawn shop?

A pawn shop, run by a pawn broker, offers loans to people who leave an item of personal property as collateral. The word pawn itself is derived from the Latin pignus, for pledge.

How does the pawn process work?

The owner of an item that has been pawned has a contractual period of time to buy the item back for the amount of the loan, plus interest. If the loan is not paid back on time, the pawn broker may sell the item to recover his or her investment. Sometimes, an owner may sell an item to the pawn broker outright, in which case the pawn broker will attempt to resell the item for a profit.

Doesn’t the pawn business have a dubious reputation?

Historically, the pawn industry has been criticized for preying on the poor with inflated interest rates and low-ball valuations. Organizations like the National Pawnbrokers Association, established in 1988, have worked to legitimize the industry. Pawn shops are required to uphold regulations about the terms of the pawn contract, and the amount of interest on the cash loan. Each pawned item is also registered to prevent the sale of stolen items. The pawn industry offers a viable solution for those in need of cash. In the past 100 years, the number of pawn shops in the US has increased dramatically. In many cases, they operate as mini-banks for millions of Americans who do not hold checking accounts, and serve as an exchange for people of all classes and backgrounds to buy and sell unique, rare or coveted items.

What is typically pawned?

Electronics, jewelry, musical instruments and distinctive pieces of clothing are commonly pawned items, but the great fun of watching “Pawn Stars” on TV is that antiques, jewelry and furniture can turn out to be pieces of history, passed from generation to generation. Sometimes the owner knows the source of their item, but sometimes the fanciful tale of where they believe the item came from, and how much it is worth, is just that, a fanciful tale. The great fun of watching “Pawn Stars” is watching the pawn brokers perform their own assessment of each item to figure out the truth, or at least what it’s worth. I expect this to be even more fun in person.

What will the live stage show be like?

The Worchester Telegram and Gazette in Massachusetts described the opening night of the Pawn Stars Tour in February. The Pawn Stars (Rick Harrison, his son, Corey Harrison, and Corey's longtime friend Austin “Chumlee” Russell) entered through the audience, greeting fans along the way like rock stars. During the show they talked about how they got into the business, told stories about working with each other, showed video clips from the TV show, and reviewed of some of their best and worst deals.

They also appraised items brought to the show by audience members, including a Stradivarius violin (the “Made in Czechoslovakia” label gave it away as a fake); a sterling silver flask found in the woods (it was valued at $300); and a sword the owner bought for $20 (it was valued at $200 and the Pawn Stars offered to buy it).

We certainly hope you’ll join us for an entertaining afternoon, and if you have an item you would like to try to have the Pawn Stars appraise and you've purchased your ticket to the show, email a picture and a description to pawn@entertainmentevents.com.

Rediscovering Great Recordings

2011-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

I do not own an iPod.

Last year a NJ magazine asked me to participate in regular column called, “Top 10 Songs on My iPod,” or something like that, and the first thing I had to say was that I did not actually own an iPod. So my column became, “Top 10 songs on my iPod, if I actually owned an iPod.” Call me old school, but for me, music should be heard in the open air, shared by whoever is in reasonable hearing distance. I don't mean to suggest that I need to walk around with a gigantic boom box on my shoulders, inflicting my own taste on others, who may or may not want to hear what I like, but hearing music solo, piped right into my ears, is just not the same experience. Music and great performances, whether live or recorded, were meant to be shared. That is the essence of communicating from one person to another.

That said, last week I started using my cell phone here and there to cruise YouTube videos while I run, and it's been kind of fun. In addition to reintroducing myself to great recordings that I have not listened to in a while, I am finding alternate recordings too, and it’s been great fun listening to how various artists have handled their own material differently in various settings.

For instance, over the years I have listened to the Allman Brothers' recording of "Mountain Jam" on the At Fillmore East album so many times I know it backwards and forwards. I can sing you great stretches of the solos, and if there weren’t two drummers, I might pull that off too. Same for Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas,” or B.B King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” and a dozen other tunes too.

It's been tremendous fun to find different recordings and listen. Which brings me to Peter Frampton. If you are a fan of classic rock, on June 15 Mr. Frampton kicks off a tour celebrating the 35^th Anniversary of his album Frampton Comes Alive. He was already a rock star when this album came out, but this album made him a super star. He still plays a lot of the material from this album in his regular concert set, but it will be fun to hear the whole album in its entirety right here at the Basie.

As a casual observer, I’ve always thought that Peter Frampton was one of the lucky ones. Once upon a time he climbed to the very tippy top of the Silly Celebrity Mountain, and then slid down the other side, but on that backside, it seemed that he was able to figure out that he was an artist, musician and songwriter first, and the rest was merely show business. He went on to have a successful and what seems to be enjoyable career since. He even won a Grammy in 2007, 40 years after his first recording, and how sweet must that be, overdue recognition coming when you can actually appreciate it?

Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing this material in its entirety, and hearing what he does with it, lo these many years later. If you go and listen to Frampton Comes Alive in preparation, skip the obvious tracks and listen to the second track, “Doobie Wah,” which in my humble opinion shows his range (and that of the band on the recording) more than any other track. In one 5-1/2 minute song they swing from rock to vocal pop to funk and back again.

Peter Frampton: Frampton Comes Alive 35 Tour

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - 8pm

Count Basie Theatre - Red Bank, NJ

www.countbasietheatre.org

Are you an elementary school teacher? We want to talk to you!

2011-02-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

The Count Basie Theatre perceives a need in the region's schools for original theatrical productions that reinforce academic classroom teaching and address social issues. We want to test our assumptions using the input of educators with current classroom experience. If you are an elementary school teacher and would be willing to spend 10 or 15 minutes talking to us on the phone, please email your name, phone number and the best time of day to reach you at that number to: Yvonne Lamb Scudiery, the Count Basie Theatre's Education Director, at ylamb@countbasietheatre.org

How Would You Spend $15.6 million?

2011-01-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Lieutenant Governor told me that if it were up to her, she would give all the state funding for the arts to the Basie. Now, before anyone gets excited, and before I start getting calls from reporters, I should clarify that this was said during the photo opp at the annual presentation of Citations of Excellence and Major Organization designations by the NJ State Council on the Arts.

Once a year they gather us all together in Trenton, present our certificates and take photos with dignitaries like the Chair and the Executive Director of the NJ State Council on the Arts, other Council Members who live in the winner’s region, and other elected officials.

Although it is an event calculated to get our photos in the paper and to make news on all our behalf, it is also a feel-good event, and especially this year, when the economy and staying in business has been rough for everyone in the commercial and the nonprofit sector alike, it felt good to celebrate something. It was the kind of morning when the Lt. Governor could say something like, “If it were up to me, I would give all the money to you,” and it was understood that she was telling every other representative from every other organization something similar.

It’s sort of like telling each of your kids, “You’re my favorite.” They all know you’re kidding and that you love them equally, but it still makes them feel good to know you think that highly of them anyway.

So, even though we won’t be getting all the State’s arts funding, still, it got me wondering. What would be possible if the State did give it all to us? So, I looked it up to see how much that would be. For the current fiscal year, the State granted a little more than $15.6 million to almost 800 organizations.

Wow! $15.6 million is enough to run the Basie as it stands now for more than two years without charging for tickets, and without having to raise any money! Think about that! There are about 175 to 200 events a year at the Basie. About half of those events are promoted by other arts organizations and concert promoters renting the theatre from us, so we could not offer their events for free. But the 75 to 100 shows a year presented by the theatre itself, they could all be free! For more than two years!

Or, we have about $8 million of capital improvements left to go on the theatre’s Facility Master Plan. We could get all that work done, and still have enough left over to run the theatre free to the public for a year.

Or, we could complete the capital improvements, pay down the balance on the $8 million Economic Development Authority Bond that funded the 2008 interior renovation, and still have a few dollars left over for a free concert or two.

Or, since things have been going pretty well the way they’ve been, we could continue to operate the theatre like normal, and spend the money on additional performance and educational programming. We could have a visiting orchestra series with 4 or 5 of the world’s finest orchestras every year – free to the public. We could have a dance series with 3 or 4 of the world’s best ballet and modern dance companies – free to the public. We could hire the nation’s best theatre, dance and music artists and send them into the schools – free.

How much fun would it be to call someone’s agent and say, “Listen, drop all your concert engagements for the next year, and money is no object for you to play a few concerts at the Basie (for free!) and spend the rest of the year in the public schools of New Jersey.

Tomorrow, it’s back to business as usual, but today, it’s fun to think about how we could spend $15.6 million and make our community a better place.

______________________________
Numa C. Saisselin
CEO
Count Basie Theatre, Inc.
99 Monmouth Street
Red Bank, New Jersey 07701
Phone 732-224-8778 extension 105

info@countbasietheatre.org

Please Vote for us for the People's Choice Awards!

2010-12-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Will Rogers once said, "If you ever injected truth into politics, you'd have no politics," and in that spirit, please help stuff the ballot box for the Count Basie Theatre and the Borough of Red Bank in the 2010 JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards.

Follow this link to vote: http://jerseyarts.com/peopleschoice/2010/ballot.asp

You will be asked to input your name and email address, but it will only take 2-3 minutes to do that and vote for about a dozen categories.

The Basie is nominated in 3 categories, and we recommend casting these additional Red Bank-centric votes:

Performing Arts Center - Count Basie Theatre
Theater (Professional/Equity) - Two River Theater Company
Theater (Community/non-Equity) - Phoenix Productions
Art Museum - Monmouth Museum
Symphony/Orchestra - Monmouth Symphony Orchestra
Music Festival - Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival
Film Festival - Red Bank International Film Festival
Place to Take a Class (Adults) - Count Basie Theatre
Place to Take a Class (Kids) - Count Basie Theatre's Cool School (Performing Arts Academy)
Downtown Arts District - Red Bank

Thank you for your support of the Basie, and Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Numa C. Saisselin

CEO, Count Basie Theatre

Collectively and Individually Making a Difference This Season

2010-11-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

There is a gas station on the corner where I pop out onto Route 35 at the corner of Sunset Avenue every morning to head north to Red Bank. For the last couple of years it has been closed, boarded up tight, yet I noticed with a pleasant start the other morning that it was suddenly open for business.

I never understood why it was closed. Even in a bad economy, it seemed like a great corner for business, especially a gas station. From Neptune to Middletown, there are only two gas stations on the northbound side of Route 35. More than any of the other vacant stores on Route 35 (and there are a few) this one vacant business really depressed me. It’s far from a scientific indicator of better days ahead for the economy, but it really made me happy the other morning when I saw it was open for business again. At least something is headed in the right direction.

Of course, this makes me think of all the things that are still not where we as a collective community would like them to be, and since the holiday season is upon us this week, I’ve been thinking too about these things we collectively and individually can do.

Some years, The Hope Concert has been a convenient vehicle for some Basie supporters to channel their charitable impulses into. Alas, there is not a Hope Concert this year. The theatre has been fortunate to participate in this unique event from time to time, but the real engine that drives it has been its music director, Bob Bandiera, who is on tour with Bon Jovi right now, and unavailable. A concert like The Hope Concert is not just a jam session. It takes a lot to put it together, especially time. So, no Hope Concert – this year.

There are however a number of ways that those of you who are philanthropically inclined this season can make a charitable contribution to the community. And by the way, when accompanied by a handwritten note, a donation in the name of a friend, family member or colleague makes a unique and meaningful holiday gift!

First of course, is the Count Basie Theatre itself is a nonprofit organization. Ticket sales cover just half the theatre’s budget every year, and tax exempt membership contributions help close the annual budget gap. Or, you can make a more substantial contribution the theatre’s capital restoration fund. Visit our web site at www.countbasietheatre.org or call our Foundation office at 732-224-8778 ext. 105.

Many of the performing arts organizations that use the Count Basie Theatre each year are also nonprofit organizations depending on tax-deductible contributions to balance their budgets.

These include:

Phoenix Productions (www.phoenixredbank.com)

Monmouth Symphony (www.monmouthsymphony.org)

Monmouth Civic Chorus (www.monmouthcivicchorus.org)

Company of Dance Arts (www.codanj.com)

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (www.njsymphony.org)

Jazz Arts Project (www.jazzartsproject.org)

If one of these organizations has brought you joy or entertained you for an evening, consider a gift contribution this holiday season.

You can also have a county-wide impact with a donation to the Monmouth County Arts Council, who service Monmouth’s cultural community. Vist them at www.monmoutharts.org or call 732-212-1890.

Here are some other charitable organizations providing important services to our community that we have interacted with in the last few years:

Holiday Express is an organization of 90 professional musicians who volunteer their services to perform more than 50 concerts in November and December at shelters, soup kitchens, institutions and places where food, joy and human kindness are in short supply. 1,200 more volunteers help prepare 15,000 gift bags handed out at each performance. Donate online at www.holidayexpress.org or buy a ticket to one of their benefit concerts at the Basie on December 15 or 16.

Glen Burtnik’s Xmas Xtravaganza is an annual holiday concert benefiting area food banks and other worthwhile charities. Hosted by Monmouth County resident Glen Burtnik (Styx, Beatlemania), the show is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Buy a ticket to the December 18 performance, featuring a colorful cast of characters, with more than 100 people on stage during the evening, including many stars.

Lunch Break is a Red Bank-based organization alleviating hunger and leading those they serve to self-sufficiency and healthier lifestyles. They freely provide food, clothing and fellowship with compassion and dignity, serving 80-120 lunches a day, delivering food to another 80-100 homes a month, and providing clothing to 800 families a year. Call them at 732-747-8577 or donate on their web site at www.lunchbreak.org.

On a more regional basis, the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean County in Neptune provides over 5 million pounds of food a year to over 270 pantries, soup kitchens and other feeding programs in two counties. They also operate a Culinary Training Program for people in need of better-paid jobs, a Kids Café and Backpack Program for children, a Mobile Pantry, and a Food Stamp Outreach Program. They accomplish this with the help of roughly 1,000 volunteers each year. Call 732-918-2600 or donate at www.foodbankmoc.org.

The Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank is a free health care facility serving over 8,600 patients a year, including about 200 with serious chronic disease, and 800 children who each receive well-child exams and immunizations to stay healthy. Care is provided six days a week by a network of volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses and others who donate 10,000 hours annually. Call 732-212-0777 or visit them on the web at www.parkerfamilyhealthcenter.org

Riverview Medical Center Foundation is the tax-exempt charity providing philanthropic support for Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, a 476-bed acute care community hospital. Contributions of any size are welcome. Call 732-751-5115 or visit www.riverviewmedicalcenter.org.

Monmouth Medical Center Foundation supports Monmouth Medical Center, a nonprofit, 527-bed, regional tertiary care teaching hospital in Long Branch. MMC admits more than 19,000 people annually, plus 43,000 emergency visits and 126,000 outpatient clinic. Call the MMC Foundation at 732-923-6886 or visit them on the web at www.monmouthfoundation.org.

180, Turning Lives Around is dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence in our community. Over 30 years they have served 300,000 individuals and families. They provide victims and families affected by domestic and sexual violence with crisis support, long-term group counseling, and advocacy, and provide the community with prevention, education and outreach programs You can make a donation at www.180nj.org or call 732-264-4360.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Monmouth County provide safe places for young people, especially those who need it the most, where they can receive programs and services that will help them realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. A professional licensed staff provide a variety of activities, from swimming to exploring the world of computers. Visit them online at www.bgcmonmouth.org or call 732-530-0065 for the Red Bank office, or 732-775-7862 for the Asbury Park office.

If none of these strike your fancy, the Monmouth Community Foundation is a terrific resource that might help you figure out where your philanthropic interests lie. An affiliate of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Monmouth County Community Foundation was designed especially for families, businesses, and foundations wishing to make an enduring difference in this county. Contact Jennifer Anderson at 732-870-6085 or email janderson@cfnj.org.

These are just a few suggestions. If there are other charitable organizations that you think are worthy of support, I encourage you to share them with each other below in the comments section.

Lightning-in-a-Bottle

2010-10-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Every so often I receive a phone call, letter or email from a customer who wants their money back because they did not like the performance the night before. I think, “When the Yankees lost, did you call the front office and ask for your money back?”

On the evening of October 6 I tuned in the Phillies-Reds game to watch Roy Halladay pitch his second no-hitter of the season. My family expressed surprise that I cared about a sporting event. I am not that much of a sports fan, and generally only pay attention during playoffs and championships. Even though this was a playoff game, it was still out of character for me to interrupt an evening, or to care in the first place.

Why did I care? A baseball pitcher throwing a perfect game or a no-hitter is practicing his craft at the very highest levels of the game. He’s not just throwing a ball, he’s performing his job with a care and precision that few humans in any field of endeavor will ever experience for themselves. It’s a hell of a thing to bear witness to.

That’s the way I think of it, too. It’s not something you merely watch. It’s a sacred moment you bear witness to. As a fan, you can sit through dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of games before you see something like that, and even if you’re privileged to see it once, you might go a long time before seeing it again.

I love the same magical, ethereal something about the arts, too. Let’s face it. Not every performer is great. Some performers are very good, and can be very entertaining. But there’s a difference between “very good” and “great,” and every once in a while you get to see a performance where years of practicing his or her craft intersect with knowledge and inspiration and a magical performance results.

Some performers have their moment and it’s gone forever, but if you only have one good moment like that, you can still build an entire career on it, touring on your hit. Some performers however are gifted enough and/or fortunate enough that they have many, many moments like this.

I saw Sonny Rollins outdoors in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center about 10-12 years ago, and while Sonny is a giant in his field to start with, this was a major league moment even for him. His solos were beyond inspired, each line running into the next. You could hear where he was going with each thought, with each line, but then KABOOM! it would somehow transition into another completely different musical thought that he was off and running with. Where inspiration like that comes from, I don’t know, but it’s breath taking to watch.

I feel the same way about Buddy Guy (coincidentally coming to the Basie on October 22^nd). He can start and stop on a dime, get louder or quieter, faster or slower, nicer or meaner in a millisecond, changing the pace and mood and the entire meaning of whatever he’s playing or singing almost at will. If Itzhak Perlman played electric guitar, he would be Buddy Guy (or maybe the other way around). The two of them practice their craft at a rarified level few of us will ever know.

I feel the same way about Lewis Black (coincidentally coming to the Basie for three shows at the end of November and the first week of December). I once saw him handle a heckler in Pittsburgh. We could clearly see that the heckler had interrupted his concentration, but he used it as a point of departure, connecting the dots and one thought to another for about 45 minutes, before making the last connection back to where he had been three-quarters of an hour earlier, taking a deep breath and saying, “Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted…”

It was like watching a great improvisational jazz solo. If you’re the artist, you take what they give you, and you work with it.

Back in the day, I mean, way back in the day, in the Baroque Period (generally, 1600 to 1750), the organ players used to go from town to town challenging each other at the keyboard to see who could spontaneously compose better than the others. 200 years later in Kansas City, the jazz musicians would call this a “cutting contest,” but I have always been fascinated by the idea that the composers like Handel, Bach, Pachelbel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Corelli and Teleman, who we now think of as “formalists,” were probably really, really good improvisers, too.

If you are not a classical music fan, trust me on this, you know this music too, whether you realize it or not. In fact just last week I attended a wedding in which the music of Vivaldi and Pachelbel was featured. (Shout out to Joe and Meg – congrats again!)

Anyway, that’s what keeps me coming back. Not every performance is going to be great, and there’s an element of risk involved in attending a live performance. Performances after all are, for the most part, still performed by actual real live human beings, who are fallible. But once in a while, you are lucky enough to be present for one of those lightning-in-a-bottle performances, and it’s a thing of beauty to behold that you’ll never forget. That’s what keeps me coming back.

1st Week of August, 1976

2010-09-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

Where were you on August 1, 2, 3 and 5, 6, 7, 1976?

Here at my home in September, 2010 it is a beautifully crisp fall Friday night, the air has been cleared by a good hard rain, and here on the shores of Deal Lake we’re getting a slight breeze from the direction of the ocean.

The last few days I have been reading the news coverage of the impending release of the 30^th anniversary boxed set edition of Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town. If you are not a fan, yes, it is actually more than 30 years since its release, so the boxed set is late, but if you’re a fan, you already that; they’ve been working on it a while.

I’ve been following this release more closely then the similar edition released a few years ago for Born to Run’s 30^th anniversary, for two reasons.

Reason one is that although I remember exactly when and where I was when I first heard the single “Born to Run,” (on the AM radio of a Buick in a parking lot in Maine), it was with the release of Darkness that I really started listening seriously to Mr. Springsteen’s work, and became a fan.

Funny how your teen years are (or were) like that, isn’t it? Decades later you can remember small details, but at the time, you can’t remember what your mom asked you to do 5 minutes ago. Case in point: my first introduction to Darkness was standing outside Mrs. Kramer’s French class in the hall of my Long Island high school; David Zink was holding a copy. I failed French that year, and the garbage my mom asked me to take out that day is probably still sitting in the kitchen of the Centerport house, but today I can still tell you which side of the hall David was standing on. Well, at least I had my priorities right even then: music first, garbage second.

And here we are several decades later, and after a lifetime in NY, much to my surprise I can literally look out my back door and see Asbury Park, NJ.

The second reason I’ve been following this release is that ever since Mr. Springsteen’s May 2008 performance of Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town in their entireties at the Basie, I’ve been waiting patiently for the rumored release of the Darkness boxed set, hoping that some of the video footage recorded that night would be included in this set. I was working that night, so I was not able to pay as much attention to the show itself as I would have liked. Alas, early reviews and reports on this set is that there’s no Basie footage from 2008. However, there’s a kicker - it seems that there is footage from the six-night stand in August 1976! Apparently, a performance of “Something in the Night."

If you’ve seen the Grammy winning documentary film by Thom Zimny that accompanied the Born to Run 30^th edition, “Wings for Wheels,” and if you were keen of eye, you may already know that there is footage shot at the Count Basie Theatre (then the Monmouth Arts Center) in the 70’s.

If you were at these shows, we would love to hear your remembrances! I’ll say that again: if you were at these shows, we want to hear from you.

Filmmaker Barry Rebo shot the vintage footage from the 70’s. Even before coming here to the Basie I was privileged to know Barry through his work with his company Emerging Cinemas, who have been working with various organizations like the League of Historic American Theatres, the Consortium of Eastern Regional Theatres and PBS to establish a network of digital cinemas. One night at a conference riding around Philadelphia looking for a restaurant he casually mentioned that he thought that somewhere on someone’s vault there was film footage of Mr. Springsteen that he’d shot in the 70’s, and he thought some of it was done at the Basie. At the time I did not know the extent of it, but now we know!

I first realized that some of this footage from the Basie was included in “Wings for Wheels” when I recognized the poster boxes on the front of the building in one incredibly brief shot of people lined up out front of the theatre. If you blinked, you missed it.

Just this morning I was consulting with our Construction Manager Ed Mislavsky and our Facilities Director Chris Lomazzo, and we’re losing these poster boxes at the conclusion of this summer’s exterior restoration project. They’ve been signature elements of the building’s façade for some time now, but they were not original, times change, and there’s no place that they really “work” any more.

Still, in some weird cosmic confluence of events, the phasing out of poster boxes and the imminent release providing a glimpse of the building in action from 30-plus years ago makes some sort of Zen sense.

This coming Thursday we will be receiving Preservation NJ’s Vision Award at their annual shindig and gala at the Molly Pitcher Inn. They’re coming to Red Bank specifically to honor us, and George Bowden, the visionary behind the Red Bank Historic District, and EverGreene Studios, who did our interior paint & plaster in 2008, and Rambusch Lighting, who manufactured our new house lighting fixtures.

Sometimes old is new... and that’s a good thing.

"...Companion" with Companions...

2010-08-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

I sat in the middle of the balcony the other night to watch a good portion of the "Prairie Home Companion" show. Any time I am in the middle of the house like that I am reminded of how important communal experiences are to our lives together as a community, and that thought is always amplified when the show has something to do with another show that’s on TV or, in this case, radio.

At my last job, and this was about 9 or 10 years ago, one year we had the opportunity to screen the first two episodes of the new season of “The Sopranos” for a live audience one week before it was on TV. I remember thinking what a curious thing it was that 900 people would devote a night of their life to come to the theatre to watch an hour of TV that was going to be on their actual TV in their own living room in just seven days. But then, the HBO logo and the funny sound that accompanies it hit the screen at the top of the episode, and suddenly it was like it was the early 50’s and we were all going down the block to the one home in the neighborhood that had a TV already to watch Milton Berle.

Thousands and thousands of people around the world can now see the same YouTube video at exactly the same time, but it’s not a communal experience. Sending an LOL text message back to your friend in response to the funny video they just sent you is not the same as having a good laugh with 1,500 people sitting right all around you, sharing the same exact moment together.

Any time we have a show featuring TV or radio stars, I am always fascinated to see the audience. Especially when it’s a show that I like personally, I think, “So, this is what the people who like the same things I like look like.” It’s kind of like seeing the photos of 1,500 pen pals for the first time.

It’s things like this that make going to a show unique. Yeah, if you’ve had a tough week you can stay home and listen to "Prairie Home Companion" on the radio, or watch Cesar Millan on TV, but it’s not going to feed your soul the same way going to a live show and sharing it with 1,500 other people will, and that’s why live performance is always here to stay.

Styx and Pat Benatar on video? Or live in person? No contest there. Playing air guitar alone in your bathroom? Or taking a rock band class and singing and playing with real live musicians? No comparison there either.

Hope you’ll join us for a few more shows or classes before the summer’s out. On the fence about what you might like, or what’s available, or ticket pricing? Remember, it’s always at least worth a call to the box office to see what’s available.

Ticket Fees and Why We Need Them…

2010-08-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk this summer about the cost of tickets to shows and concerts. Because of the economic climate, the discussion has spilled from industry trade journals into the mainstream media. We’ve also heard loud and clear from customers that our fees have become burdensome, perhaps to the point of stopping people from purchasing tickets. Here are some things we’d like to tell you about ticket fees and why they are so important to the Basie.

The single biggest cost of putting a show on our stage is the artist fee, the fee we guarantee to each performer for their services. The artist fee is typically about 65% of the total budget. Put another way, about $0.65 of every dollar goes to the artist. After we pay for all the other expenses, including stage crew labor, front of house labor, lighting, sound, hospitality, transportation, lodging, royalties, insurance, cleaning, and advertising, the theatre’s profit margin is only about 15%. Out of that 15% we have to pay for our overhead, including administrative salaries, utilities, and maintenance of the building itself.

When a show does not do well at the box office, or in other words, when ticket income does not exceed expenses, we still have to pay all those costs anyway. For these and many other reasons, income from other sources, like theatre rentals, merchandise sales, bar sales, program book ad sales, and yes, ticket handling fees becomes crucial to the organization’s financial well being.

Handling charges and restoration fees have been a very hot topic this summer, in part because these fees are more under the venue’s control than the artist fees are, and in part because as everything else gets more expensive to pay for, the fees have increased as well.

You may have noticed over the last several years that we have expended a lot of time, energy and money on the building itself, restoring it to make it a nicer place to visit, and improving it so it will last another 80 to 100 years for our enjoyment, our children’s enjoyment, and their children’s enjoyment. We’ve paid some of these bills via fundraising, we’ve paid some of these bills out of surplus funds, and we’ve paid some of these bills via a bond we floated through the Economic Development Authority (basically, a low interest loan that we have to pay back).

By the end of this summer we’ll have spent $12 million on the building’s restoration in the last 5 years, and according to our Facility Master Plan, there’s another $8 million to go to reach the total $20 million of repairs and restorations the buildings need.

Again, this is another reason why income from something like a restoration fee on ticket sales is so important. It’s a small “hit” to each customer, but it provides a steady stream of income to finance capital improvements.

Some people wonder why we don’t just increase ticket prices? The net financial effect would be the same, but the reason we don’t just increase ticket prices is because then that income might become subject to negotiation with the artist or a theatre renter, and it’s important to capture as much of that income for the theatre itself as possible.

In response to you, our customers, we have renegotiated our contract with the company that provides the software we use in our box office, and we are starting to roll back our fees in the hopes that it will encourage and make it possible for you to attend more frequently.

Total fees for ticket purchases from our web site will now be $9.50 per ticket, down from $12.00 per ticket, a 20% reduction. Total fees for ticket purchases on the phone will be $7, and although a $2 fee will still apply at the window, the window will continue to be the most cost-effective outlet to purchase tickets from.

While we realize that nobody in their right mind wants to pay a fee for anything, we hope that this is a step in the right direction, that these explanations help explain the necessity, and as always, we welcome your feedback and appreciate your support.

Our 2nd Best Year Ever, and Half Price Tickets this Summer

2010-07-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

Pollstar Magazine, a weekly trade journal for the concert industry, has published its mid-year special edition, and the Count Basie Theatre is in the Top 50 Theatres Worldwide. To be exact, we’re Number 45.

The Basie has been on this chart year in and year out for the last several years. Our chart position usually hovers somewhere around the mid-point. What does this mean? It means that in terms of attendance, we’re one of the Top 50 or 60 best-attended theatres in the world, at least according to Pollstar, at least for concerts.

What’s even more impressive about this feat is that Pollstar covers the concert industry. They don’t take our attendance numbers for the many cultural performances and community events we do each year. If we could put those numbers into their system, we’d easily be in the Top 20.

I mention all this not to brag (well, OK, to brag a little), but because there’s been a lot of mainstream news reporting in the last two or three weeks about what a lousy summer concert season it’s shaping up to be attendance-wise. Some of the large national promoters are reporting that ticket sales and attendance for their shows is down 10% or more. Several “name” acts have cancelled their entire tours.

This has not been our experience however. Our attendance has been hovering around 70% of our capacity for the last several years. The national average is 60%. Our fiscal year ends on June 30, and even in a poor economy, fiscal 2010 turned out to be our 2nd best year ever for attendance!

Nonetheless, we do know that the economy has been and continues to be far from terrific. So, for the rest of the summer we’re offering “Rush Tickets” for all the Count Basie Theatre’s own in-house promotions (any show identified in our printed or online materials as presented by the Count Basie Theatre, or “Count Basie Theatre presents…”). On the day of the show, any side and rear seats that remain unsold will be half price.

It’s not a blanket deal. Front and center seats will not be included. Handling charges will still apply. And of course this is subject to availability. But if you’re looking for a deal, here it is, and it’s a good one.

We hope this makes it a little easier for some of you to attend this summer. We hope this makes it a little easier for some of you to attend more frequently, and we hope that it will make it easier for some of you to take a risk, and try out a show or two you’re a little questionable about.

Count Basie Theatre Receives Prestigious State Arts Award

2010-05-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Count Basie Theatre Receives Prestigious State Arts Award

The Count Basie Theatre has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for a solid history of excellence in substantial arts programming and contribution to increasing the quality of life in New Jersey. State Arts Council leadership held an awards reception on April 29, 2010 in Trenton to recognize the importance of the work of Count Basie Theatre.

“About 8 years ago when we set out to turn things around at the Count Basie Theatre, it was our dream to eventually be recognized as one of the state's leading cultural resources. We are pleased to receive our 4th consecutive NJSCA Major Presenting Organization designation, and please to have been able to bring so many great performances to such a wonderful audience.”
--Numa C. Saisselin, CEO Count Basie Theatre

This award, the State Arts Council’s most prestigious mark of distinction, is designated based on grant application review and conferred upon Count Basie Theatre for the duration of the grant period for which funding is received.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts is a division of the NJ Department of State. It receives funding in direct appropriations from the State of New Jersey through a dedicated Hotel/Motel Occupancy fee and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Since 1966, its volunteer members and professional staff have worked to improve the quality of life in New Jersey by helping the arts to flourish. For more information about the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, visit www.njartscouncil.org.

The primary mission of the Count Basie Theatre is to serve the people of the State of New Jersey by providing a broad spectrum of quality entertainment and education programs that reflect and celebrate the diversity of the region; foster understanding and appreciation for the ennobling power of the performing arts; and create opportunity for cultural enrichment for people at all economic levels. It also is our mission to develop and maintain a world-class venue that enhances the enjoyment of these entertainment and education programs; contributes to the cultural and economic vitality of the community and the region; and honors the memory of Count Basie.
_{(Formally adopted by the Board of Trustees on July 19, 2001)}

My Night at the NJ Hall of Fame Ceremony

2010-05-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

During the last week it’s been my pleasure to receive two awards, one on behalf of the theatre, and one on behalf of the theatre’s namesake.

Last Thursday in Trenton I received the NJ State Council on the Arts’ Major Presenting Organization Award for the Count Basie Theatre for the 2009-2010 year.

Each year the Council, which is a state agency, designates a handful of organizations (only about 30-40 a year) as, “Major Arts Institutions, Major Presenting Organizations or Major Service Organizations in recognition of their long history of artistic excellence, substantial programming, broad public benefit and the esteem of their peers. These are New Jersey’s ‘anchor’ arts institutions.”

This is the Basie’s fourth Major Presenting Organization award in a row, and although it’s a pity the award doesn’t come with any extra cash attached, it’s still a wonderful testament to the great work done at the Basie each year by the boards and staff. All in, over 300 people a year contribute to the team effort that results in about 200 shows a year getting to our stage right here on the Shore. It’s really my great pleasure to be a part of this award-winning team. Since 2002 we’ve increased the number of shows at the theatre each year from 50 a year to 200 and our awards are a testament to your attendance and continued support too!

Then, on Sunday (yesterday), I was honored to receive the NJ Hall of Fame induction for the theatre’s namesake, William James “Count” Basie.

A few weeks ago Don Jay Smith, the Hall of Fame’s Executive Director, contacted me to let me know that following the balloting (thank you to all who voted!), Count Basie would be inducted this year, and did I have any suggestions for people who could present and accept the award on the Count’s behalf? (Mr. B. passed away in 1984.) A few weeks later, just about 2 weeks ago, Don called back to say that for various reasons, none of the people we discussed were panning out, and could I accept the award on Mr. B’s behalf?

Thus did my wife Laurie and I find ourselves at NJPAC in Newark last night, in the company of the other inductees and their families. I talk to audiences all the time, but this was heady company. It’s not often you share the stage with Frankie Valli, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Judy Blume, Michael Graves, Carl Lewis, and Susan Sarandon, to name but a few. Also present on behalf of inductees who are no longer with us were William Brennan’s grandson, Larry Doby’s son, Les Paul’s son, and Woodrow Wilson’s grandson. Many others were also present to present awards, including Yogi Berra, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Pesci, Judy Gold, Bob Gaudio, Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito. In this company, I just hoped to do Mr. B. justice.

The ceremony ran from 5:30 p.m. to almost 9:30 p.m. and there were a lot of backstage moments to observe, some worth commenting on, some not. One overall observation I can make however is that although it would not be hard to imagine most of this crowd being “too cool for school,” to a man and woman, everyone seemed genuinely excited and honored to attend and happy to have made the time to travel and be there.

I am not much of a star-struck backstage type myself. At work here at our own theatre, I prefer to say hello to the performers and say "thank you for coming", because that’s the polite thing for the host to do in their own house, and then let everyone go on about their business; but this was an odd situation to be in. I was relieved to see many friendly faces, however. NJ Senator Joe Kyrillos, who is also a member of the Count Basie Theatre Board of Trustees, was there to present an award. Big Joe Henry who is hosting the Basie awards this year was there hosting the red carpet. Musicians Mike Mancini and Tony Tino who have played for the Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue were there in the house band. Joe Prinzo from the Jukes and Kevin Buell from Bruce Springsteen’s organization were there helping to manage the stage.

They didn’t tell me ahead of time who was presenting the award to me. A few names had been discussed but nothing was confirmed, and I was pleased to learn that it was Joe Piscopo. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Joe several times here at the Basie. It was good to know I’d be on stage with a familiar face. Because of his love of Sinatra, Joe is also a huge Basie fan and was a most appropriate presenter. On stage he told the audience about sneaking into a studio at NBC to watch Sinatra and Basie rehearsing for a TV appearance. Who makes a better award presenter than a genuine fan?

My own stage time flew by in a heartbeat, which is exactly what I planned on; short and sweet. In this crowd, nobody came to hear me speak! My remarks were something close to this:

“Mr. B. would have been 106 this year, but I am sure he would have been here with us tonight, because tonight is about home, and although he traveled far and wide and lived many places in his life, home was New Jersey. I know that home was New Jersey because he started to write his autobiography on a train outside Liverpool, England on tour, and as the train entered town, he saw backyard after backyard sliding by outside the window. Every backyard had laundry flapping in the breeze, and it reminded him of his parent’s house, and their back yard on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, where there was laundry flying in the breeze every Monday morning. He was a Grammy winner in the first year of the Grammies. He was a Kennedy Center honoree and he played for Kings, Queens and Presidents, but I am sure that tonight would have meant as much, if not more to him, because tonight is about home, and especially if you are from New Jersey, home teaches you one thing: Keep your feet on the ground because no matter how far you go or how high you fly, somewhere you too have a backyard with laundry flying in the breeze. Thank you, and on behalf of the Count Basie Theatre’s namesake it’s our pleasure to accept this award and we will keep it in the lobby and I hope you will all drop by to see it soon.”

Joe handed me the award and we were off the stage to have our photo taken with the Governor. I got the blue velvet-lined box to keep the award in, and I accidentally took Frankie Valli’s box, which I later delivered to its rightful owner. (Hey, it was only the box; it wasn’t like I took Frankie’s actual award.)

The NJ Hall of Fame does not yet have a permanent home, but there will be a temporary exhibit on the boardwalk in Asbury Park this summer; in the meantime you can visit the Hall on the web at www.njhalloffame.org

--Numa Saisselin, CEO Count Basie Theatre

Basie #35 on Pollstar Top 100 for 1st Quarter!

2010-04-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Pollstar Magazine's Top 100 for the first quarter of 2010 is out, and the Count Basie Theatre has rocketed into the Top 50, from #54 at year end to #35 for the first quarter!

It's even more impressive when you remember that Pollstar is a commercially oriented trade journal, and does not take our attendance figures for our educational and community oriented events.

In other words, if we could include those numbers, we would look even better.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR CHOOSING THE BASIE!

Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy: The Cool School Gets a New Name!

2010-04-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy: The Cool School Gets a New Name!

For the past nine years, the Count Basie Theatre’s Educational program, aka the “Cool School” has been blossoming. It began by offering a range of classes in acting, singing and dancing, and served an annual enrollment of 300 students; consisting primarily of children under the age of twelve. Today, it is a flourishing arts academy offering a comprehensive curriculum that has expanded to include instrumental music, video production and musical theatre, and now serves an annual population of over 1000 students from the ages of three to eighty.

“So, in a sense we have outgrown our name,” states Education Director, Yvonne Lamb Scudiery. “While our programming will still be very ‘cool’ it is time to adopt a name that is commensurate with the professional level of our classes and will differentiate between programs.” The new name Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy (CBTPAA) will now be the umbrella under which the Cool School, Rockit for Kids, Rock The Basie and our Adult Division and pre-professional level classes and workshops will be offered.

The Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy is able to fulfill this promise to the community by:

Offering classes in performing arts to theatre enthusiasts of all ages.
Fostering an appreciation and understanding of the performing arts.
Creating a curriculum that is both challenging and stimulating to participants.
Retaining a faculty that boasts a stellar cast of working professional actors, singers, playwrights, and dancers who teach with passion and dedication.

The Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy promises to unleash the creative spirit and provide an enriching experience. For information, visit our Education Department on our website, or contact Yvonne Lamb Scudiery at 732-224-8778 x106 or ylamb@countbasietheatre.org

The Count Basie Theatre is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, located at 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, NJ.

Basie Façade To Be Rejuvenated!

2010-04-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

Basie Façade To Be Rejuvenated: Count Basie Theatre Launches "Let's Face It" Capital Campaign!

In 2010, The Count Basie Theatre will once again undergo a major renovation, this time to the exterior of the building, and is launching the "Let's Face It" campaign to fund the work.

Although scaffolding will cover the front of the building, the shows will go on.

An all-new, historical looking façade will replace the faded and structurally impaired pink brick front. A refurbished theatre marquee with energy efficient lighting, and new energy efficient windows will be included in the project. Over the next few weeks, scaffolding will be erected along the front and sides of the building, but unlike the 2008 renovation, the Basie will remain open for business during the entire time the work is being done. The entrances and sidewalks will be accessible to the public and will be protected by the safety scaffolding.

Numa Saisselin, CEO of Count Basie Theatre stressed that, "this is not only an aesthetics issue, but a structural one. Our architects and engineers have advised us that the façade work is necessary for the structural integrity of the building, and that the work should be done now. Let's face it, the building needs more work." Rusty Young, CEO of Count Basie Theatre Foundation added," the timing is right to move forward with this much- needed project. Let's face it; even in this economy it makes good business sense, because we are able to negotiate better deals with sub-contractors. It is good stewardship of donor money."

Count Basie Theatre trustees, Steven Schultz and Al Weiss will lead the project that is the fourth in a ten-phase renovation process. Steven Schultz, who was chairman of the interior renovation project in 2008 reports that the cost for the exterior work will be approximately $2 million dollars, and that it will be completed by the fall of this year. "What you will see upon completion, is a beautiful replication of what is already here," said Schultz who is personally excited to be once again working on restoring the historic theatre. "Let's face it, maintaining an historic building is an ongoing process that requires ongoing fundraising."

Russ Lucas, chairman of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation said, "Let's face it, we are all in this together. The Count Basie Theatre brings 200,000 people to the town of Red Bank annually. Its economic impact is $11 million dollars per year and accounts for approximately 300 jobs. Ticket sales cover only 50% of the annual cost to operate the theatre."

This renovation is funded in part by The New Jersey Cultural Trust with project assistance by the New Jersey Historic Trust.

###

The Count Basie Theatre is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), located at 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ. For information on how you can contribute to the Let's Face It renovation project, visit countbasietheatre.org or call (732) 224-8778 x114.

Count Basie Theatre #54 on the Pollstar Worldwide Theatre Chart for 2009

2010-01-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that Pollstar Magazine’s Year End Charts have been released, and for the third year in a row, the Count Basie Theatre has placed on the Top 100 Worldwide Theatre Venues list!

With reportable attendance of 87,964 it has earned us the #54 slot.

The attendance figures that Pollstar will accept from us are for “entertainment-oriented” events; if we were able to report our education, cultural and community events, we would place in the Top 20 worldwide!

Still, No. 54 is not bad!

The Basie is one of only 3 venues in NJ to make the list this year.

Congratulations, everyone! A job well done!

Click the chart above to see the full list.

Count Basie Theatre added to National Register of Historic Places

2010-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

The Count Basie Theatre is pleased to announce that on December 24, 2009 the Director of the National Park Service announced the addition of the Count Basie Theatre to the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources. A treasure trove for professional historians, scholars, and anyone curious about American history, the National Register of Historic Places lists more than 80,000 properties.

Listed under reference number 09001100, the theatre is listed on the Register as the Carlton Theatre, the third of the five names the theatre has had in its 83-year history. Construction on the Red Bank Theater was first announced in 1925. Before it even opened it was renamed the State Theater, and then the Carlton Theater, the name under which it operated from Opening Day, November 11, 1926 until 1973, when the Monmouth County Arts Council acquired the property from the estate of Walter Reade, one of the original partners in the building. The Council operated the theatre as the Monmouth Arts Center until 1984, when it was renamed in honor of Red Bank native, jazz composer, pianist and band leader William "Count" Basie following his death that year.

The Count Basie Theatre, Inc. is the nonprofit corporation that has owned, managed and programmed the theatre since 1999. The theatre has also been listed on the NJ Register, and Numa Saisselin, CEO of the Count Basie Theatre, Inc. said, "The Count Basie Theatre's listing on the State and Federal Registers of Historic Places is recognition of the theatre's statewide importance as a place where the community comes together to be entertained and exchange ideas about our common and uncommon experiences. As an organization we've been pleased to preserve this historic venue for part of the first 83 years of its history, and we look forward to at least another 83 years if not longer."

Over 200,000 people attend about 200 live performances of music, dance, theatre and film at the Count Basie Theatre each year, and more than 1,000 students a year participate in arts education classes and workshops at the theatre. The Count Basie Theatre, Inc. has performed $10 million of renovation and restoration projects on its historic buildings since 2004.

BREAKING: N.J. Lifts Freeze on Arts Grants (plus: your comments)

2009-12-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2009

A few weeks ago, we sent out a message regarding a State funding freeze, the substance of which was that the State was freezing payment on municipal and nonprofit grants it had committed to for the fiscal 2010 year.

The good news is that last Saturday the Star Ledger reported that the freeze was lifted for arts funding. You can read that short article by clicking here.

We thank you for responding to our call to action, and for letting your legislators know your opinion. Some of the responses we received here at the theatre were also really interesting, and worth sharing almost in their entirety, because they reveal some interesting things about how many of us think and feel about the arts.

Many people simply answered the call to action and let us know that they contacted their legislators. Marilyn M. said, “I think this freeze is awful and I have sent email to the Governor and called all our elected officials.” Nancy wrote, “I forwarded this message to almost everyone in my address book. Good Luck to you and all of us.” May L. wrote, “How could they think of budget cutting the arts! Thanks for forwarding this. I'll certainly get my name on the email list to oppose this.”

Some people wrote very personally about the impact the arts have had on their own lives. Barbara W. wrote: “Done - and I added my own personal message about the impact the arts had on my childhood growing up poor in a Federal Housing project.”

Some people took things a step further, and wrote with fundraising ideas for us to consider that might help make up for the lost income if the payment freeze turned into a funding cancellation. Glen and Judy T. wrote: “We have been members of the Count Basie Theatre for years now and love coming to and supporting the theatre. We hope you might consider lowering the third tier of donating from $500 to $250. We currently donate $100 a year but even in these tight economic times would consider $250 to get the next benefit. Either way we will be renewing our donation and continue to support the theatre.” Lisa and Edward from Morganville wrote: “My husband and I, both born here in Freehold, are very sad to hear this. I will definitely sign up for the legislation, but have you though of a benefit concert?” Glen and Judy, we have passed your thoughts on membership levels to our counterparts at the Count Basie Theatre Foundation, the fundraising arm of the theatre. Lisa and Edward, the short answer to your question is yes, we think about benefit concerts all the time! At any given moment, we’re actually working on one or more, but putting all the pieces in place takes longer than you would think. Stay tuned however.

A few people saw an opportunity to pitch their own businesses to us. Chet offered the services of his marketing company, and Bob B. offered to, “…work with you on ‘co-branding’ perhaps we can put some ‘items’ together to sell, make money and you can keep all the profits.” Here at the Count Basie Theatre we like to say that, “Nonprofit is a tax status, not a business plan,” and the appropriate staff members will be reaching out to each of these gentlemen to explore any possibilities that make financial sense.

Wendy C. and Leigh Anne H. saw an opportunity to pitch their own fundraiser back at us! They wrote, “We believe that the cultural arts are extremely important to our community. We will contact our legislators and ask others to do the same,” and then asked for our support of their school’s fundraiser. Heidi Leigh, our Group Sales Manager, is providing them with tickets for their auction and raffle. We do this a few hundred times a year for local charities and nonprofits. You can set something up for your own charity event or school fundraiser by contacting Heidi at hleigh@countbasietheatre.org.

A few people used this as an opportunity to settle perceived scores. Paul L. wrote, “Sorry, you didn't help me when I asked for help with tickets I purchased that my parents couldn't use. What goes around...,” and Bill N. wrote, “I have been trying to contact the theater for 2 years. I have made numerous phone calls and sent various emails to your theater seeking employment. I have NEVER received any kind of response - much less an interview! I've been desperately trying to make ends meet and nobody in your organization has ever bothered to reach out to me. And now, you expect me to help you out with your financial situation? I don't think so! Bite the bullet my friend - things are tough all over - join the club!” Bill, all I can say is that we have a policy of responding to every job applicant, and we have no record of your ever contacting us. We’re not hiring right now, but if you want, you can send a resume directly to me. My contact info is on our web site. Also, you might want to consider using an email address that sends a more positive message about your qualifications than one incorporating the words “future has been.”

Then there were people who had pertinent things to say about the politics of the situation, and not necessarily in favor of arts funding, either! Surprisingly, only one such response was too snarky and outright political to address here. This forum is, after all, about the arts, culture and entertainment, and there’s no shortage of other places to turn for political news these days.

Deirdre G. asked, “If the funding is not given to you, where will the money go?” A good question, but not one I am necessarily qualified to address, other than to speculate that it would have been used to pay the day to day bills of the State.

J. Ken wrote, in part, “It's a shame that we have gotten to this point, but I take offense to the tone of your email. This state is in bad shape. That means that we must cut back in every area including the arts. It’s time for sacrifices to be made by everyone.”

Marc M. wrote, in part, “I have happily supported the arts over the years, but don't you dare try to politicize your request by pointing blame at the incoming administration.”

Kevin G. wrote, “These are difficult times, and all organizations dependent on government grants should reduce expectations of government. I am not in favor of reducing aid to the Arts, but if government can't do even that, where does government begin reducing discretionary spending?”

In response to these three gentlemen, I would say the following:

First: we never meant to offend anyone, nor place blame. If you read again our initial message, you will see that we stated facts, without editorializing. Namely, that the incoming administration asked the outgoing administration to freeze funding in place for the moment.

Second: As a nonprofit organization, we’re here to work with whoever our duly elected officials are for the betterment of our community and the State, without regard to political affiliation.

Three: The salient point in this case was that we were not talking about a funding cancellation, or denial of an application for future funding. It was payment of funds already committed that was being stopped in place. The State had issued contracts that we signed and returned, and in reliance on these facts, we reasonably expected the State to follow through.

Those facts aside however, these gentlemen raise interesting (and potentially frightening) questions. I think most people would agree that our State’s finances are not healthy, haven’t been for some time, and won’t be for the foreseeable future. If that’s a given, how many sacrifices will have to be made, and who will make them?

Out of 15 folks who wrote in, 9 were supportive, 3 were against and 3 were not unsupportive, but more interested in their own services. Not a bad tally, but one thing is for certain: every budget cycle, arts funding, like state funding for many other municipal and nonprofit services, has gotten lower and lower, and every reduction has an impact.

Rain or Shine... (or Snow.)

2009-12-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday night into Sunday morning, the Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex County area, the Count Basie Theatre’s primary market area, received anywhere from 6 to 24 inches of snow, depending on where you live. Some places received more than two feet of snow. The Glen Burtnik Xmas Extravaganza on Saturday night and the Monmouth Civic Chorus “Messiah” performance on Sunday afternoon were the adversely affected performances at the Basie.

We’ve received a few pieces of mail this Monday morning asking why we did not cancel the performances. We’ve received less email than I was expecting, but I thought I’d take a few minutes to give you a peek behind the scenes and explain exactly why it is that, “The show must go on.”

The standard rule of thumb is that if the performers are able to make it to the venue, and are ready, willing and able to perform, then the show goes on, rain or shine (or snow). If the performers are on site but the show does not go on, the performers get paid anyway, because they were on site and ready, willing and able. When you’re paying the performers one way or another, you’re going to do the show.

While the weather has generally been warm in recent winters, it is after all not unheard of to have inclement weather in the winter, and for this reason we are as up-front about the “show goes on” policy as we can be in all of our marketing, web site and box office materials.

For instance, this statement is available on our website: “Inclement weather is not a cause for cancellation. As long as the artist is able to arrive at the theatre (usually on a tour bus traveling hundreds of miles overnight) the event will proceed as scheduled. There are no refunds or exchanges because of bad weather. Plan to leave home early, and please travel carefully.”

An official state of emergency will of course stop the show. However, what frequently happens is that the media will do their usual job of scaring the pants off everyone, and an assortment of governmental authorities will recommend that people stay home and stay off the roads, but they’ll stop short of declaring an official emergency.

If everyone involved in a show are able to reschedule, we do try to reschedule. Sometimes rescheduling costs the theatre or the promoter more money, sometimes not. But more often than not, trying to find a new and mutually acceptable date for everyone involved is an insurmountable challenge.

In the case of this past weekend’s shows, although the Glen Burtnik Xmas Xtravaganza is a benefit concert, Glen himself has assembled a cast of characters from far and wide, and they can’t simply reschedule for another night. In the case of the Monmouth Civic Chorus, they have an orchestra that gets paid one way or another. There’s a significant amount of money on the line in each case.

We realize that “the show goes on” is not a universally loved policy, but there is logic and reason behind it.

State freezes $10M promised to the arts - Join us in taking action

2009-12-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Below are two articles from today's Star Ledger and Asbury Park Press. Long story short, the State of NJ has frozen payment of grants to municipalities and nonprofit organizations statewide, including the arts community.

As of now, there will be an immediate hit to the Basie.

This is supposed to be just a temporary move, requested of the outgoing Corzine administration by the incoming Christie administration. However, if they're willing to suspend payment on obligations they've already made, we must assume and start preparing for the worst, that grants could be totally eliminated.

I write to you all right now to ask for your help with the issue of getting this funding released.

Art Pride NJ is the advocacy organization for the arts in NJ. Please CLICK HERE (http://bit.ly/5QR94C) to type in your name and address it will automatically find your legislators and set you up with an email to send to them right now.

If you would be so kind, please forward this on to your friends, family, colleagues and anyone else you know who enjoys the arts in NJ.

Together, we will get through this crisis.

Sincerely,

Numa C. Saisselin

CEO

Count Basie Theatre, Inc.

Asbury Park Press article: "NJ treasury officials freeze discretionary spending accounts"

http://bit.ly/6NBCKs

Star-Ledger article: "State freezes $10M promised to the arts"

http://bit.ly/4mYM86

A Dream Realized

2009-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while we get a piece of customer mail that reminds us why what we do here at the Count Basie Theatre is so uniquely important, and here is one of them, presented as a Guest Blog.

Hello,

In the 1940's my father worked as an usher at what was then known as the Carlton Theater. When I was growing up as a child, he often spoke about the famous movie stars playing on film there, and the good friends and times he had there.

Recently I came to find out that when he was about 20 years old, my father started a local dance group in Red Bank. He was a Red Bank resident, and a product of the Depression. He only achieved a sixth grade education, because to support the family financially, he became a sheet metal worker. As a child, I never witnessed him dancing at all. However, I believe that he wanted to dance freely on that stage, just as all of us Americans have the desire to express their spirit's freedom, in whatever form it may take.

My father's dream of performing on the Count Basie Theatre stage is about to be realized however by his grandson, my own son Brian. On December 6th, Brian, who is about to turn 20 in March, will perform at the Basie as part of the Rock the Basie program. The program helps adult musicians gain skills, and provides them with an opportunity to perform on stage. I am told that Brian is the youngest person to be a part of the Rock the Basie program this term.

He has been driving to the program every Tuesday night after his college classes at Burlington County College, over an hour and a half each way. He has never complained once about the drive, and he always comes home with a sense of fulfillment, the type of satisfaction you get when you know you are centered, dancing to the song of your soul. Or in his case, playing the guitar.

I believe that everything happens for a reason, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is a very talented musician. Brian had applied to the Berklee College of Music, but was denied acceptance. However, at the Basie program he was placed in the most advanced group, where he has been able to learn additional skills from a professional musician that attended the Berklee College of Music!

He has mastered 5 different instruments: drums, bass, guitar, piano and trumpet, but his desire to be free is about to be played out. Even though he isn't attending an expensive school, he is lucky to live in a country where the feeling of freedom can be achieved by all if you just stay true to yourself, develop the skill and enjoy it.

I thank the Count Basie Theatre for believing in itself and providing a place where we can all laugh, dance, and perform in our own way and style. My grandmother used to say this to me, as a child; "Be careful what you say, because voice is a wave that goes straight up to heaven and the angels can hear what you say." I'd like to think that somewhere in the shadowy archways of the Carlton Theatre (now the Basie), where the ushers stand, is a speaker that only the angels can hear, and on December 6th Brian's grandfather and the other angels will hear his grandson perform. I hope they like rock and roll.

Sincerely,

Susan Cahill

P.S. Attached are a copy of a photo of my father Walter Desouza, in his usher uniform, and his grandson, future rock star Brian Cahill.

It’s Only Teenage Wasteland

2009-11-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

People imagine that I have a glamorous job, that I show up at 6:00 in the evening, sip a glass of champagne with the star of the evening’s show, shake some hands in the Carlton Lounge, and I am home by 8:30. Of course, that’s the fantasy job we all wish we had.

The truth is that I work in an office and my day is more like your day than you realize. My day is budgeting, finance, politics, human relations, raising money, spending money, and buying and selling a product. The only difference is that the product I sell is, sometimes, kind of interesting and elevating.

My days are frequently more aggravating than anyone imagines, but once in a while there’s an evening that makes up for it, that will wipe away the last several weeks of BS, and is such an emotional high that it will carry me and the staff through a few more weeks of BS.

Sometimes these are the arts and cultural events that distinguish the Basie in our community, the performances that nobody else would be making possible in our community. But sometimes the event that provides that emotional high is a concert or performance that seems too obvious. There’s a formality to an opera or a dance company or a symphony performance. Even if the performance is spectacular, there’s a printed program, so you know what’s coming, but pop music and comedy performances, often you don’t know what’s coming next, and some nights, it’s a lot of fun to watch the audience reaction when the next song starts and they begin to recognize it.

Often (not always, but often) I’ve seen a set list so I know what’s coming before the audience does, and it’s kind of fun to look the set list over and think, “Ooh, that’s interesting… Oh, they’re going to like that one…”

Last night we had Roger Daltrey. It was quite a thrill just to book that show, because really, in the history of rock and roll, how many singers are of comparable historic and artistic stature? Mick Jagger and Robert Plant of course, and even though there wasn’t just a single lead singer, the Beatles of course, but past those artists, who’s comparable? Not many.

The show was great. He played several of his own songs, a Johnny Cash medley to satisfy his own soul, a set of songs from the Who catalogue that we all wanted to hear, and several songs from the Who catalogue that, as he explained to us, the Who just doesn’t do in the context of a quote-unquote “Who show.” It was a rather magnificent and special evening.

At one point in between songs someone down front said something about Woodstock, and he turned and said, “Oh yeah? I was at Woodstock too!” and the affection in his voice was clear. It wasn’t pompous or arrogant, it was as if he understood the absurdity of Roger Daltrey saying, “Oh yeah? I was at Woodstock too.” And yet, he couldn’t help himself because it was kind of funny.

But there was Roger Daltrey on our stage. The Pinball Wizard himself, who really did provide one of the highlights of Woodstock, and the Concert for New York just a few years ago, and so many other generational turning points. Roger Daltrey! The guy who sang, “Hope I die before I get old,” 65 years old and looking more fit than anyone in the audience half his age.

There are little alcoves to the left and right of the stage, and if you position yourself just right in there in the dark, you can watch the audience with an unobstructed view of almost the entire house, orchestra and balcony, and every time a new song started, it was a lot of fun to watch people turn to each other with high fives and looks of pure pleasure. “Yes! He really IS going play this song! And right now as a matter of fact, and we’re here to see it!”

When it was time for “Baba O’Riley” he turned the microphone to the audience for the chorus: “Don’t cry, don’t raise your eye, it’s only teenage wasteland,” and of course it’s impossible not to note the absurdity of an overtly middle age audience singing those particular lines back at the singer who sang them in the first place. However, it’s now the fourth verse that carries the song for this audience: “The exodus is here, the happy ones are near, let’s get together, before we get much older.”

Music and art are how we come together, and absurd or not to be a middle aged man or woman singing about teenage wasteland, once upon a time those lines were written for that generation about that generation, and that song and a handful of others defined that generation. The only thing that could have made the evening any better would be if the songwriter himself (Pete Townshend of course) was here too. But we had the singer, and we had the song, and it happened right under our roof, in our temple of music and theatre and dance, and we were happy to bring it to you for the evening, as we will continue to do, because making it possible for the singer and the audience is the emotional high that will carry us to the next one.

Too Many Venues Are Gone

2009-06-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

This past Monday, the Inter-Media Art Center in my hometown of Huntington, Long Island closed its doors for good, after 26 years of presenting concerts, and I am heartbroken.

IMAC was housed in the balcony level of a 2,000 or so seat early 1900’s theatre. Imagine if the Count Basie Theatre were cut in half horizontally. Imagine if where the balcony rail now exists, a new floor was built all the way to the back of the building, creating a new second floor. Somewhere back ages ago, that’s what was done to the IMAC building. The idea was to create a mini shopping mall on the first floor, and have a small 500-seat movie theatre upstairs.

Although there were stores left and right of the theatre entrance, just like the Basie and so many other historic theatres have, the shopping mall never got built. The theatre however found its way. Its first incarnation was as The Balcony Theatre. I think that’s what its name was. There was already an excellent indie cinema in town (The New Community Cinema) and the Balcony Theatre carved out a niche for itself showing rock and roll films and “midnight movies.” I spent countless weekends there in 10^th grade watching movies that in the age before VCRs and on-demand cable you couldn’t see anywhere else.

Then in 1983, while I was away at college, a nonprofit arts group, the Inter-Media Art Center rented the space. I was introduced by a phone call from a friend. I arrived home from college to receive a call from a friend, who was helping to install their stage lighting system. He needed some hands, was I interested in working crew for a dance show that weekend? I once figured out that I worked 36 of the next 50 hours of my life.

The show was the Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Dance Company. If you know anything about dance, you know that they went on to become a major force in the dance world, that Arnie died from AIDS, and Bill T. is now a major figure in the dance world. But then it was a slightly different story, especially in the suburbs.

And that was IMAC’s mission. If it was a different story, especially in the suburbs, they were interested. Over time as the funding climate changed and the demands of earning their keep from the box office became ever greater, their programming became slightly more conservative. But as a stagehand or an audience member I still saw so many great performers there. Bela Fleck. McCoy Tyner. Yellowjackets. The Brecker Brothers.

Because the floor that was created by dividing the old building in half now placed the “new” stage directly under the old dome, the sound was magnificent. And because the entire theatre was now comprised of what was once the balcony, all the seats had terrific sight lines and weren’t that far from the stage.

The driving force behind all of this creativity and madness were also a couple in real life: Michael Rothbard and Kathie Bodily. How they managed to work and live together is now beyond me. Back in the day, I thought they were so romantic, working all hours for often no pay, just because they believed in what they were doing.

In a completely different context, I read these words today in John Lefsetz’s column on the trade web site Celebrity Access: “We're drawn to those who are not sheep, who do their own thing, who BELIEVE in what they're doing.”

That was (and still is) Michael and Kathie.

IMAC is the place where I started figuring out my own career path to arts and theatre management. I eventually came to realize that Michael and Kathie were at least half insane to be doing what they were doing, but I’ve come to realize that anything worth doing, and anything that inspires you, be it music, dance, theatre, sports, politics, your family, or your children, is at least half insane in the first place.

The IMAC organization did not own its theatre-- it only rented it, and my understanding about IMAC’s demise is that after years of fruitlessly trying to get their landlord to address the issues of a very old building, they just couldn’t afford to go on all by themselves.

And this is where this personal memoir starts to relate to the Basie:

Since 1973 the Count Basie Theatre has been owned and operated by first the Monmouth County Arts Council, and since 1999 the Count Basie Theatre, Inc. Both, like IMAC, are nonprofit organizations, but because the organizations here owned the building, its destiny could be shaped and controlled and secured.

Trust me on this, it hasn’t always been much easier here in Red Bank, NJ than it was in Huntington, NY. It was just last year that the Basie received its first major interior overhaul in more than 80 years, and those of you who have been attending for years know what precarious shape the building has been in for much of its life.

But Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex County are fortunate to still have a strong theatre whose future, while it may never be easy in a “kaching!” way, is at least secured. Too many venues are gone. There were four theatres in Red Bank in 1926 when the Basie first opened, and they’re all gone. The Mayfair in Asbury is gone. And now IMAC in Huntington, NY is gone too. But at least the people who populated it during its extraordinary 26 year run have great, life changing memories, and those venues who are able to carry on, like the Basie, will continue to do so, as long as all of you keep buying tickets.

Spring Benefit Concert & Gala --

2009-05-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night, May 4, 2009, the Count Basie Theatre celebrated its seventh annual Spring Benefit Concert and Gala with a performance by Martin Short. Each year the theatre must fundraise about 25% of its annual operating budget, and the Gala brings in 5% in just one night. In other words, it’s an important night.

Since the Gala’s inception in May 2003 when Tony Bennett first graced our stage, we’ve enjoyed Gala performances by k.d. lang (2004), the late James Brown (2005), Smokey Robinson (2006), Brian Wilson (2007), and Tony Bennett again (2008). This year Martin Short provided the entertainment, and it was a wonderful evening.

_{Martin Short as Ed Grimley on May 2nd, 2009 at Count Basie Theatre's spring gala}

An evening like the Gala is a massive undertaking, and we want to thank the people who are principally responsible for putting it together on the theatre’s behalf: our Honoree this year, Russ Lucas; the Honorary Chairpersons, Nick and Tracy Brown and Larry and Joyce Sykoff; the Chairpersons, Jennifer Anderson and Nancy Byrne Reinhart; the Gala Committee, Lee Babitt, Kate Barnard, Buddy Carter, Sarah Chiles, Kathy Donnelly, Taryn Flynn, Mary Beth Glaccum, Celine Gordon, Marie Greenberg, Grace Hanlon, Michele Karagianakis, Mindy Kestenman, Estelle Ketterer, Dale Leach, Joe Lucas, Maria Manley, Michael Oster, Jennifer Portman, Maggie Riker, Ann Rossbach, Meg Sellig, Terry Severance, Leah Siltas, Gail Van Winkle, and Lynne Ward; and last but not least the staff of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation, who live and breathe this event for 3-4 months: CEO Rusty Young, Director of Events and Sponsorships Rachel Warnick, Director of Major Gifts & Membership Ann Ciabattoni, Major Gifts Administrator Cate Knight, and Membership Associate Alice Nelson.

Each year at the top of the show, the Chairperson of the Count Basie Theatre’s Board of Trustees has the obligation (oops, I meant to say, honor) of making the major speech for the evening. Since 2006 that honor has fallen to Brian Leddin, Chairman of the Theatre’s Board of Trustees. This is Brian’s last year as our Chairman, so this year’s speech was sort of like his last “State of the Union” speech. An awful lot of impressive work has been accomplished since Brian took office in October 2005, and I thought it was worthy posting his Gala remarks here, for everyone who wasn’t able to be here this past Saturday night to read.

The Curtain Speech of Brian Leddin, Chairman of the Count Basie Theatre Board of Trustees, at the Seventh Annual Spring Benefit Concert & Gala, starring Martin Short, on May 2, 2009:

Good evening and welcome to the Count Basie Theatre’s seventh annual gala starring Martin Short. This Gala is one of several events that the Count Basie Theatre Foundation runs to support the operation of the Count Basie Theatre. A few years ago we conducted a survey of our audience members and the community at large and the answers shed light on two important facts. The first was that you wanted to see the theatre restored to its former glory and the second was that many people were unaware that we a not-for-profit operation. Clearly we listened to you on the first issue and after replacing the seats and the building’s roof a few years ago, we closed last summer for a complete renovation and restoration of the auditorium and lobbies and creation of the Members’ Carlton Lounge next door to the box office.

I wish that I could tell you that the work that was required to restore this 80+ year old building has been completed, but the truth is that it’s too soon to put the hammers and paint brushes away. The Theatre’s Restoration and Renovation Committee will soon be meeting to map out the next phases of work to be done. High on the list is a $2M restoration of the building’s façade and brick work. It won’t have done us much good to have restored the interior, if the rain leaks in.

Though we have been busy bringing the building and your experience with us up to date, we have not neglected our mission to bring diverse programming and education in the arts to our community. Through the Count’s Cool School Program we provide music, dance and theatre training to adult and children. Our Count Basie Theatre Award program, which is scheduled for May 20th, recognizes excellence in high school drama and musical theater. That program which culminates in a Tony-award style show includes performances by nominated students and productions. We also work hard to bring a wide variety of music, comedy, dance and other programs to you.

As a non-profit operation, we rely on ticket sales, public and private grants, events like the Gala, and membership to keep us in business. That’s why we want to thank you for coming to the Gala this evening, for the contributions you have made over the years, and, hopefully for your continuing support. Afterall, this is your theatre.

I would like to also take this opportunity to acknowledge the folks who lead our two organizations. As co-chairmen of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation, Marshall Knopf and Hugh Ward work tirelessly to promote the theatre in the community and to make our fundraising events successful. CEO of the Foundation is Rusty Young. He and his staff and their volunteers are responsible for raising the funds to operate the theatre, restore and, hopefully one day, expand the buildings and create an endowment for the Theatre’s long-term health.

CEO of the Count Basie Theatre is Numa Saisselin. Numa and his staff of over 100 full and part-time employees operate the theatre, book the shows and keep the lights on and the seats full.Besides getting the chance to introduce our leadership to you, the Gala also gives us an opportunity to recognize and honor the contributions of a member of our community. Before I do that, however, I’d like you to meet the co-chairwomen of tonight’s event.

Nancy Byrne Reinhart has had a career spanning 30 years planning special events for corporations and non profits; she served as the Public Relations director for the women's professional tennis tour and most recently served 7 years as the Director of Tourism for the state of NJ. After moving to Monmouth County she fell in love with the Count Basie and has been using her talent and experience to help with all things Basie.

Since 2001, Jennifer Anderson has worked as an independent development consultant with various non-profit organizations to raise funds and facilitate community outreach projects. She has worked with many agencies in New Jersey and New York City, including the American Cancer Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys Towns of Italy, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, Meridian Health Foundation, and Operation Smile. Besides volunteering her time for the Basie, Jennifer currently serves as a member of the Monmouth County Arts Council Board of Directors and is a member of the Blair Academy Parents Fund Committee.

Russ Lucas was a co-founder of Lucas Capital Management in 1996, and he has been a principal and seniorportfolio manager for client accounts. Mr. Lucas co-Chairs the LEV Investment Committee.

He serves on the Board of Trustees of Tuckerton Seaport, the Advisory Board of Blackstone Minerals and was a founding member of The Community Foundation of New Jersey where he is former Chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the Count Basie Theater Foundation, where he is Co chairman of the capital campaign, vice chairman of the Foundation Board and a very generous donor to the capital campaign.

He has also hosted events for the benefit of the Theatre...including friend raising events at his home as well as receptions in the Carlton Lounge for current Patrons and prospects. Finally he is an experienced (and successful) racer of sailboats and travels extensively to compete. We are happy and lucky to have here with us tonight and we are proud to have him as this evening’s honoree.

And now… on with the show!

Ticket Scalping

2009-02-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

TICKET SCALPING

The secondary ticket market is big news here in NJ this week. Two arena shows by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band went on sale, and not surprisingly, sold out in a heartbeat. In a round number, something like 40,000 tickets would be venue capacity for two shows.

But were they really gone? Even as the shows were selling out, tickets were appearing for re-sale on a secondary ticketing site. The rub in this saga is that the secondary ticketing site, TicketsNow, is owned by the primary ticketing company, Ticketmaster. Many, many questions have been raised, not the least of which is this: is it a conflict of interest for a primary ticketing company, whose job, at least in theory, is to serve the customers on a level playing field, to also own a secondary ticketing outlet, whose sole purpose is to buy tickets and resell them for as much money as possible?

Call it what you will. Secondary ticketing, ticket brokering, but to me, it’s still plain old ticket scalping. We’ve come a long way from the days of a guy in a hoodie on the street corner muttering, “Tickets, tickets, who needs tickets?” The Internet made it possible to re-sell tickets on a grand scale, and it has become a big, big business; by some estimates, a $10 billion or more industry that even has its own trade association. A billion here, a billion there, and sooner or later you’re talking about real money, and it’s no surprise that major companies eventually took notice, and decided it was easier to join ‘em rather than fight ‘em, and get their piece of the pie too.

As a business school graduate with an MBA, I think that it’s just the marketplace at work. It’s classic economics. A finite supply of a very desirable product translates to customers willing to pay higher prices. The secondary ticket market is just serving a need, and brokers are just middlemen in a process. We live and work in a market economy, and it’s just capitalism at work; nothing wrong with that, and what could be more American than capitalism at work?

But as a venue manager, talent buyer and show presenter, it really irks me, because ticket brokers are not really brokering anything. They’re not like real estate agents, connecting buyers with sellers. They’re speculators, buying tickets to resell at a vastly inflated markup.

Here’s what really bugs me: not one cent of the markup goes to anyone actually connected to a show: not the artist who spent years honing his, her or their craft; not the promoter, who committed to spending tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to stage the show; not the venue, which has spent a lot of money keeping the building alive.

Here in NJ, the NJ Consumer Fraud Act attempts to regulate the secondary market. Brokers must register with the state. Registered brokers or season ticket holders may resell a ticket for up to 50% more than face value. Individual ticket holders may resell their tickets at a 20% premium or a $3.00 markup whichever is greater. Offering anything of value to a venue employee in exchange for special access to tickets is a violation, and a fourth degree crime punishable by up to 18 months in jail. (If you’re curious, the full text of Sections 56:8-26 to 56:8-38 of the NJ Consumer Fraud Act are available at www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/ocp/ocplaw.pdf.)

But in the Internet age, try actually enforcing that. It’s nearly impossible. The scalper you score your tickets from could be working next-door or operating from a South Seas Island.

The Count Basie Theatre operates its own box office. Phone, window, and Internet ticket sales are all handled by the theatre, but still from time to time in the course of assisting customers with a problem, we discover that they did not purchase their ticket from us, but rather purchased the ticket from a re-seller, usually at greatly inflated prices. These customers are generally usually upset when they find out we can’t help them, because they did not transact their business with us.

The unfortunate aspect of the situation this week is that despite the fact that he could easily command much, much higher ticket prices (especially here in NJ), Mr. Springsteen is one of the few artists who has actually gone to great lengths over the years to keep his shows reasonably priced. Yes, for the record, the Count Basie Theatre has been the recipient of a benefit concert by Mr. Springsteen and the band, with very high priced tickets, and many other Monmouth County charities have benefited over the years from similar benefit concerts at the theatre. However, these were charity benefits whose sole purpose was to raise funds for a deserving cause. When it comes to regular shows, Mr. Springsteen has visibly put some effort into keeping ticket prices affordable.

So who’s to blame here? The big massive entertainment companies, who talk a good game about fan-centered service, but really, it’s just about prying more money out of your pocket? The government for not adequately regulating the industry, enforcing the current regulations, or allowing a series of mergers and acquisitions to result in near monopolies in some sectors of the entertainment industry? Or the customers who continue to patronize scalpers, and just make it that much more of an attractive business to be in.

These seem like trivial concerns these days, when so many larger issues confront our nation and society. But then again, there’s a basic issue of fairness at hand. Do we allow our entertainment and cultural options to be dictated by whoever has the most money and therefore the ability shove everyone else out of the market?

Here at the Count Basie Theatre tickets are handled exclusively by our own Box Office, in conjunction with an online vendor who operates our own ticketing web site. If you purchase tickets from a broker, you are paying a much higher price than you need to. Ticket brokers may make it appear that they have "special access" to the best seats, but all they do is purchase tickets from our box office and resell them to you at a markup. Even when a ticket broker is operating within the law, you still pay much more than you need to. Even when you think a show is sold out, it’s always worth a call to the box office at 732-842-9000 to check.

I’m not naïve. It is after all called show BUSINESS for a reason, and it takes money to make all this go, but if you have something to say about this, don’t hesitate to (1) vote with your wallet and (2) make your voice heard with your elected representatives.

Thoughts on Boz Scaggs & more...

2009-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

I thought the Boz Scaggs show last week was terrific, one of the best performances recently. The band were fabulous musicians, the quality of the sound mix had absolute clarity, the volume was appropriate (not too quiet, not too loud, but just right) and the set list was killer; he performed every song that a fan would want to hear.

He kicked things off with “Lowdown,” and you really have to admire an artist who plays his biggest hit first. That shows real confidence. It also lets you know that you’re in for a special night, because if you put the song the fans most want to hear in the first slot, where do you go from there? You better make sure you’re going up. Mr. Scaggs and company did not disappoint.

The next morning I had the pleasure of standing in line at 7-11 buying the Sunday papers behind two people who were at the show, and anonymously listening in while they raved about it.

This show gives me an opportunity to address one of the issues we hear about from customers most frequently: sound quality. The sound at this show was excellent. The sound engineer was Rich Davis, who last mixed at the Basie when he was here with Brian Wilson a year and a half ago for our Gala. One fun thing about show biz is that you keep crossing paths with people on different shows every few years.

The theatre does not own its own sound system. We bring in a sound company when we need one. Sometimes the artist is traveling with sound, but maybe 90% of the time, we supply the sound system. We use the same company: ACIR out of Atlantic City. (Everyone who works for them is named Steve; next time you stroll past the sound board, say “Hi Steve” and you can’t go wrong.) So most of the time when you see a sound system in use for a concert at the Basie, it is the same exact gear you’ve seen and heard before. Sometimes the artist may request a mixing console they prefer, but most of the time it’s the same exact gear.

The big difference from night to night is the performers using the system, and the engineer mixing the system. The artist almost always brings their own engineer, so "the Steves" don’t often get to mix. If you get an artist engineer who is really good at his or her job, the results can be magnificent. You can hear every instrument and voice with clarity, and the volume is not excessive. But if you get an engineer who is not so good at his or her job, well… you know what that result is like.

Of course people ask me all the time: why? Why isn’t the sound good tonight? Why can’t that person make it sound better, or less loud? And the answer is more or less the same answer that applies to any job or career: some of us are really good at what we do, and some aren’t. Why would an artist hire someone who isn’t so good? It’s hard for me to answer that question when I’m not doing their hiring, but I imagine it’s the same as any hiring scenario you encounter in your work.

The other factor is often the performers themselves. If you get a group of musicians who really know how to use a sound system to their advantage, together with a great engineer, it can be a magical night. But even if you have a great engineer, if you get a guitar player who just insists on turning his amplifier all the way up, and drowning out everyone else on stage, then the sound engineer is forced to turn the volume on everyone else up to try to get a balanced mix, and the result is just one big, loud, muddy mess.

Of course, it doesn’t need to be that way, but human nature is human nature, and it’s no different in show business. Some people know how to work with others, and some people just insist on going their own way and making everyone else deal with the consequences.

Of course, even in a perfect world, things still happen. There’s an awful lot of gear on stage at any given concert, and sometimes things break down. It happens, and when it does, we do our best to fix it and get back on track. The surprise is not that things break down from time to time. The surprise is that there’s so much complicated gear on stage that the miracle is that any of it ever works at all.

But at any rate, once in a while the right group of musicians and engineers and technicians catch magic in a bottle, and if you were at the Boz Scaggs show, you know that everything and everyone were on top of their game and working together. It was a great night.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Now that it’s over, it’s hard to believe that 2008 really is, in fact, over. Here are the Basie, it seems like the 4-month renovation between June and October of 2008 was already years ago, and since the re-opening on October 30, November and December flew by.

We knew heading into it that the “Setting the Stage” renovation project was going to take a lot out of us, but it would be nothing compared to the November-December time period, when after being closed for four months we would do 7 re-opening receptions in 7 days and then 45 shows and 9 rehearsals in 63 days. It was exhausting to live through, and I think just about everyone here at the Basie was mentally and physically wiped out by the time New Years Eve came to a conclusion, but ultimately it was very rewarding. It’s a real pleasure to finally have a room as great as the performances on the stage, and not to have to make excuses for anything anymore.

Here, in no apparent order, are some random thoughts from our perspective over the last two months:

--We re-opened on October 30 with the Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue’s “California Dreaming” show. I thought Bobby Bandiera was on top of his game, and led an exceptional band through an exceptionally tight show. We had a sound equipment malfunction during the first act which took out the speakers for the first few rows of the orchestra, but got it corrected during intermission. The tight segues from song to song stand out in my mind as a highlight. It was like watching a great NBA team handing off to each other without looking.

--Capitol Steps were funnier than ever this year. But hey, the 2008 election cycle gave them an awful lot of material to work with.

--It was a great, great pleasure to be able to show David Byrne, Tony Bennett, Spyro Gyra and The Rippingtons the “new and improved” theatre. They’ve all been here many times before and they all had great things to say about the theatre. David Byrne in particular filmed a live concert here in the 90’s, so he actually has a visual reminder of what the place used to look like. Boy, I love saying that… what the place USED to look like.

--Thanksgiving weekend was like St. Patricks Day 4 months early. The Three Irish Tenors in “Christmas from Dublin” on Saturday and then Ronan Tynan on Sunday. If you like Irish music, you couldn’t ask for anything more in one 48-hour period, and both shows were almost sold out, too. Amazing. You, the audience, continue to inspire us.

--The Sinatra Birthday Bash turned out to be one of the emotional highs of November and December. Joe Muccioli of the Jazz Arts Project had this idea to cast a set of NJ-area singers and have them perform on Frank Sinatra’s birthday with the Red Bank Jazz Orchestra, and we were pleased to work with him on this project, but I don’t think we had any idea it was going to turn out the way it did! I hope it carried across the proscenium and into the audience, but there was a great camaraderie among the singers backstage. Everyone watched everyone else’s performance from the wings, and a group of people who had never met each other just two days earlier came together in a unique way. It’s fun to buy a show off the road and bring it to Red Bank, but it’s much more fun to be in on the creation of something special from the ground up, and this was one of those truly special nights.

--Then of course there was The Hope Concert. After whole year of raising money and selling tickets for the theatre, it sure is fun to help give money away, and the final tally was $302,000 in support for the Parker Family Health Center here in Red Bank, which makes me feel very good. Anyone providing free medical care to folks without health insurance need and deserve all the support they can get! The real heroes of this event are the audience, who pony up a good ticket price, and the performers (let’s face it, nobody comes to hear me speakify), and Bob Bandiera, who has the almost thankless task of wrangling the performers, making a set list, rehearsing the band, and then doing it all over again every time someone new joins the party. As a community we owe a great deal of thanks to these people. I am very lucky to work in a community with such a rich musical history, from the early 1900’s when Count Basie himself haunted our nightspots as a young man through now, and we are all so lucky that there is such a long-standing tradition of the members of our musical community turning out for occasions like this. All the folks on the stage that night work hundreds of nights a year, yet instead of taking a paying job or even more important, spending a rare night at home with the family, they all show up for no pay, just because it’s the right thing to do. For everyone who thinks we’re just bald-faced liars here at the Basie every time you ask if a specific performer is going to show up and we say we don’t know, or give you a definitive no, I just want to say that we really don’t know, or we really have been told it’s not going to happen, and when someone ultimately shows up, it’s as much of a surprise to us as it is to you!

--And then it was New Years Eve again, and here we were with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes for, believe it or not, the 10th time on New Years Eve. Sirius Satellite Radio was in the house again and we were live around the world. I am sure lots of folks wished they could be here, but we were lucky enough to actually be part of the party all over again. Local band Outside the Box provided a great opening set this year I thought. I was out of the room for a while and when I came back in to listen to this funky, jazz inflected jam going on, and Mark Pender of the Jukes was onstage with them. It wasn’t until they broke out of the jam and headed back to the head of the tune that I realized with a gasp that they were covering Bruce Springsteen’s “Kitty’s Back.” I told singer Jeff Caffone later that it took real chutzpah to cover that tune, in this venue. He told me Southside gave him permission, and I told him, “Of course Johnny did. What does he care? It’s not his song!” But how much fun must that have been for a young band, to play the Basie on New Years Eve and have the headliners sit in?

So here we are in the New Year, and the last three days of this week have been hell. An awful lot of work piled up in the office while all this was going on. My day to day life is just like life in any other office. The paper just keeps coming, and especially during the holidays it seems like it just piles up, and then all has to be dealt with in the first week of January, before it spontaneously combusts and business comes to a grinding halt. But we’re all taking a deep breath and plowing ahead.

Lots of great shows on the horizon, and I hope you’ll all stay tuned this year. We’re keeping a real eye on attendance and the economy and trying as much as possible to keep the tickets reasonably priced at this time (or what counts for reasonable in show business, the choice being to have an artist or not).

Our best wishes to you and your family and we’ll see you soon!

Believe it or not, it’s almost over.

2008-10-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, it’s almost over. In three days we’ll start showing off the building in a series of Open Houses and Receptions, and Opening Night is just eight days away. The inspections are done, the permits are issued, and we’re putting the finishing touches on this grand old building. I am pleased to report that in every way, the result of this summer’s work is, truly, a Better Basie. We can’t wait for you all to see it.

We’re on time and slightly under budget and the results, if I can brag a little, are spectacular. Just to recap what’s been achieved this summer: all the decorative plaster on the interior of the auditorium and the lobbies has been restored, and painted using the palette originally used in 1926. All the bars have been replaced. There are new house lighting fixtures. There is new carpeting throughout. There is a new heating system. For the first time there is a fire suppression system (sprinklers) throughout the building. There is a brand new Patrons Lounge. And all the behind the walls and above the ceiling piping, conduit and ductwork for future upgrades of the lighting, sound, audio/visual, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems has been installed; so in future phases, we won’t have to knock down walls or punch holes in ceilings to keep expanding upon the work now accomplished.

We spent $8 million this summer, and after this there is about another $8 million to spend, and then the building will be where it needs to be, updated and modernized and ready to face the next 90 to 100 years.

There are a number of improvements that we very much wanted to make this summer, but did not, because we had to draw the financial line somewhere. Over the last 6-7 years, as we have made improvement upon improvement to the Basie building, organization and programming, we have tried to be responsible, and not bite off more than we can chew. In other words, we have been mindful not to let our dreams run off with our bank account. We’ve all seen recent examples of companies and organizations, both in the nonprofit and the commercial sectors, who have overextended themselves, and engaged in projects and initiatives that they really could not afford to financially support. Much remains to be done on the Basie, but we would rather be in the position of looking forward to building upon this success, than looking back and wondering how we wound up with a building and a debt we could not afford.

We wish we had been able to restore the façade this summer, expand the bathrooms, update the stage and the backstage spaces, and improve the rehearsal spaces and office spaces. But still, this remains a very satisfying moment to pause, reflect and enjoy, because as you’ll see when you’re back in the building, an awful lot was accomplished over the last four months since we closed on June 30!

I’m making it all sound easy, and to be truthful, there were a few unexpected issues to resolve this summer. There is about 20 feet between the ceiling of the auditorium that you see and the actual roof of the building-- and the space in between is packed with steel, I-beams and catwalks, and running ductwork through this space turned out to be more difficult (and costly) than expected. There is a new main curtain for the stage, and we had intended it as a supplement to the original 1926 painted drop that has served as our main curtain for 80+ years. For the moment, the logistics do not permit both to be in service at the same time, so we had to take the 1926 drop out of service. (It’s being carefully stored, because we are in love with this piece of our history. We’ve always planned to have it conserved and restored, and as soon as we can afford that, and the next round of improvements have taken place, including the stage rigging, it’ll be back in place.)

But a few things went better than expected and over all we are under budget, and of course, just as importantly, we’re on time! The web camera on our home page is still live, and you can still see what’s going on. Specifically, yesterday and today, you can see the chandelier going into the auditorium. I almost wish you couldn’t see it, so we could surprise you, but I hope you’re going to come down to a show and see it in person soon, because I have to tell you, the web photos just do not begin to capture what it all looks like in person!

Starting next Thursday, with the Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue, we’re back in service, with 43 shows in 63 days leading up to our 10th New Years Eve with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. There are over 100 shows now on sale, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon!

We’ve missed you.

A Note from a Former Employee

2008-10-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

As we make the Basie even better this summer, we’ve been receiving wonderful notes from customers with their memories of the Basie in years past, and here’s one from Christine Dimon, a former employee:

“I’m writing to let you know how wonderful it is to see the Basie transformed. My ex-husband Jonathan Burnham (aka Fosburg) and I worked for the Count Basie Theatre (back in the days when it was owned by the Monmouth County Arts Council) for years. My job was Arts Program/Grants Coordinator and my ex was the facility manager. He put band-aids on everything there! We were on hand at every show, because the seats would break as the patrons sat in them, and he would have to fix them while they stood there, with extra parts that he kept in his workspace down by the old boiler!

He fashioned lights made out of plastic for the theatre walls because there were just bare bulbs before then. Together we helped the Basie run on a daily basis. I believe that he also built the box office outside on the street that you use today. Before that it was just a door in the lobby.

The place was literally falling apart. We didn’t have much money in the budget then, but we did what we could for The Geraldo Show, New Years Eve parties with Southside Johnny, Food Bank fundraisers with Bon Jovi, and of course the Springsteen shows!

The Basie is a treasure, and now living in Upstate New York, I find myself missing her often! Glad to see she’s finally getting the care she deserved.

Christine Dimon, Hartwick, NY”

A Word from Danny Murphy

2008-09-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

September 19, 2008

This morning we conducted another set of Hard Hat Tours, and one of our guests today was the estimable Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Steakhouse on Bridge Avenue here in Red Bank, and one of Red Bank’s preeminent cheerleaders.

Danny Murphy

Danny writes an occasional column for the Atlantic Highlands Herald, and after today’s tour, he sent me a copy of a column he wrote back in September of 2004. Four years later, it’s still a great reflection on the theatre’s history, and it’s my pleasure reproduce it here:

“Life for me was pretty simple in the summers of the early 1950’s in Red Bank. The back yard of the Friendly Luncheonette was my playground. It faced the Carlton Theater movie house, now the Count Basie Theatre. This was a time before beach clubs and back yard pools for most of us. The summers were hot and the best escape for me was the summer program for kids at the movies.

The Carlton Theater, long before it became the Count Basie Theatre
© Kathy Dorn Severini
DBA Dorn's Classic Images

Four days a week, Monday to Thursday, there were matinees for us kids. The cost was 75 cents for tickets for all four days. The theater was air conditioned and would show 4 to 6 cartoons along with a movie. The noise was deafening from the audience as the show started. Four cartoons were OK and 6 were spectacular. I lost count of the movies I saw there. I know I saw “Them,” the movie about giant ants at least 16 times over the years.

(Click here to watch the movie trailer for "Them" on YouTube!)

The movie walls were white with a great circle in the ceiling that I was told you could walk around inside of. I was told that a large chandelier hung there years ago but I have never seen pictures or mention of it. The theater needed work even back then and through the 70’s and 80’s. Crumbling walls and leaky ceilings seemed destined to end the life of the theater.

Over the past few years under the direction of Numa Saisselin and a new strong board of directors money was raised to restore the heather.

Last week Numa invited me in to see the renovations now almost complete. I was staggered to the point of welling up with a tear or two. The walls that for years had been a dull white were alive with color; these are the colors of the original theater. One section about 20 feet wide and 40 feet high has been complete with the original colors of mauves, greens soft oranges and gold depicting what the whole theater will look like when finished. Seats reflect the grandeur of the original style of the house, elegant and beautiful.

The theater will never be the same again. It will not look at all like the movie house I grew up in. It will always now hold on to its former grandeur but will also house the memories of hundreds of kids like myself who grew up screaming for the cartoons and learning about the world from hundreds of movies we viewed over the years.

Years later as an adult I viewed the movie “Cinema Paradiso,” about a young boy without a father growing up in a theater in his small Italian town. I could certainly relate to that. It was one of the better movies I have seen over the years and is universal in emotion and appeal. I highly recommend this movie to you. It is one you will want to view a couple of times and captures the very essence of what our theaters and movies have meant to many of us growing up.

PS. This was written in 2004. Today work on the next renovation of the Count Basie is in progress, and the theatre will re-open at the end of October 2008. The cultural community, business community and alumni of the Carlton Theater all wait with great anticipation.”

Thanks Danny!

Top 10 Basie Shows of All Time

2008-08-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet heard about our “Top 10 Basie Shows of All Time” Audience Poll, here is the news: we’re surveying the audience for their input on the Top 10 Basie Shows of All Time. What are the shows that you remember? What were the nights that changed your life, and why? What were the nights you got turned on to a new artist and you became a fan? You can click here right now to tell us about it!

After months of talking about construction, this gives me a welcome chance to talk about ART for a change. To stimulate the conversation, here are my Top 10 Basie Shows of All Time. I’ve limited myself to the shows that have happened since I got here, in January 2002, and they’re presented the same way I organize my record collection (yes, I still call them records, or albums): in alphabetical order by first name, which conveniently saves me from having to single out any one show as “the best.”

Bruce Springtseen and the E Street Band (May 7, 2008). It was a special night for all sorts of reasons, but there are two moments from this night that stand out for me. One, Patti Scialfa’s wonderful speech at the top of the show, when she articulated the importance of a venue like the Basie to building a sense of community in the community. Two, for the moment when Bruce disclosed to the audience what was about to be performed (the complete “Born to Run” and “Darkness” albums, in sequence). Knowing what was coming and how people would react was half the fun for me.

David Byrne (June 4, 2004) The show I really want to include is Mr. Byrne’s Halloween 1992 show at the Basie, filmed for the concert film “Between the Teeth.” But I’ve only seen it on video. The film is one of the most remarkable marriages of sight and sound ever on a concert stage, and to this day it’s still one of the Basie shows most frequently mentioned by audience members, and the 2004 show wasn’t shabby either!

Lewis Black (May 26, 2004). On his “Daily Show” appearances, Lewis starts out at an energy level of about 9.5 out of 10, but that’s what he has to do for a brief TV appearance. He’s been back to the Basie many times since this particular show, but this was our first experience with the way he builds the ebb and flow of his live performance like a great Shakespearean comedy/drama unfolding before our eyes. He is, after all, a Yale Drama grad.

Mandy Patinkin (October 10, 2003). There’s no other way to describe Mr. Patinkin’s live performance other than to say he’s a force of nature on the live stage to rival any other performer in any other genre. We did not sell out this night, and all the people who did not attend missed something really, really special. Memorable also for the final encore, when after two hours of singing, he walked out to center stage, waited for quiet, struck a fencer’s pose, and spoke the immortal lines from his performance in the feature film The Princess Bride: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die.” Greatest encore of all time!

Savion Glover’s “Classical Savion” (February 4, 2005) Another show that words do not begin to capture how truly wonderful and unique the evening was. Saying, “tap dance accompanied by a string quartet with a jazz rhythm section,” just does not begin to capture it. And we booked it almost by accident! It was a replacement for a tour of “Noise Funk” that went bust. In fact, “Classical Savion” had not even been mounted in NYC yet when we booked it. Happily, it turned out to be the hot ticket of January 2005 and we had the first outside NY play.

Steve Winwood (October 7, 2006) What I love about Steve Winwood’s show is what I love about David Bromberg’s and Pat Metheny’s shows: it’s all about the music. They all have less gear on stage than many bar bands I’ve seen. The Winwood show was 3+ hours of great music. Only about 14 songs, but they took liberties and improvised & soloed like crazy! The moment that the audience never saw was well after 11:00, when after 3+ hours of music and one 10-minute encore, they were coming back for another unplanned encore (“I’m a Man”) when there was a communication error and the house lights were called. Maybe next time? And on top of that, Mr. Winwood is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. There’s nothing better than meeting a star and they’re just as nice as you imagined they would be.

The Fab Faux (June 28, 2003). This was the Faux’s second annual Basie appearance (there have been 7 so far) but what makes this particular show memorable for me was the great trumpet player Lew Soloff’s solo at the end of “Penny Lane” at the end of the first set. I never thought I would see 1500 people on their feet cheering for a Baroque-style trumpet solo, and it was a long one (maybe 80 bars long?). A great moment of the kind only possible in live performance, and only possible because of the Basie’s existence in the first place.

The Hope Concert III (December 21, 2007). There were many great moments on this show, not the least of which was that over a half million dollars was raised in one night for an important cause. Again, possible only because of the Basie’s existence in the first place. These All Star benefits are always a lot of fun, especially because of the well known material that is often performed, but the curve ball Jon Bon Jovi threw us on this one, an outstanding reading of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” stands out in my mind. The definitive recording of this song is still Jeff Buckley’s version, but I’ve also heard a lot of “Hallelujahs” live, and hands down, Jon’s performance takes the cake.

The Jersey Shore Rock-N-Soul Revue: A Tribute to Roy Orbison (February 25, 2005). This show doesn’t make my list just because I produced it, or because four years and seven shows later we now know we have a hit on our hands. It makes the list because at the time we did not know what to expect. We knew however that the “report card” moment of the show would be “Crying,” in the second act, and I remember standing with Tracey Bandiera, Bob’s wife, in the sound and light booth, high-fiving each other as the audience rose to their feet as one.

Wilco (June 22, 2007) If you’re a rock and roll fan, and you haven’t seen Wilco live, you’re missing one of the great rock and roll bands of our time. It was a treat to luck into a date with a contemporary act at the top of their game with a brand new album. If Steely Dan, Talking Heads and the Eagles had an illegitimate child, this is the show that it would perform, while managing not to sound like any of them. I wasn’t a fan, but I am now.

Top 10 Honorable Mentions. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on each of these shows, but I had to cut this off somewhere. Suffice it to say they were all magical nights by pros at the top of their game delivering unique and special performances: Buckwheat Zydeco (February 28, 2003); Tony Bennett (May 10, 2003); Joe Cocker (August 8, 2003); Arturo Sandoval (August 9, 2003); Suzanne Vega (August 15, 2003); Cyndi Lauper (February 29, 2004); Def Poetry Jam (October 14, 2004); David Sedaris (April 1, 2005); Luma Theatre of Light (April 1, 2006); Chris Botti (June 16, 2006); and David Crosby & Graham Nash (October 17, 2007).

Here’s hoping this stimulates some dialogue!

Things are shaping up!

2008-08-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

When you tell people you’re painting the place, installing new bars, getting a new heating system, installing the duct work for a future air conditioning upgrade, and constructing a new Patron Lounge, it just doesn’t begin to capture the scope of the project. But as you walk through the building the end product is starting to emerge from the haze. If you’ve been following along on the web cam, you can see that the painting of the dome is moving right along, but the quality of the image on the web just does not begin to capture what’s it’s like to stand on the top floor of the scaffold, right underneath the dome, and see it come to life up close and personal.

Even Jed Ellis, decorative artist for EverGreene Painting Studios, and a bit of a legend in the historic theatre restoration community, is excited, and more than anything, when an artist who has quite literally transformed some of the most meaningful buildings in the US is excited about the eventual final product, we’re excited too.

Tom Martini of Phoenix Productions, who use the Count Basie Theatre four times a year to present their “Broadway in the ‘Burbs” series, (coming in November, “Beauty and the Beast”), and also a man not easily impressed, writes to tell us, “Just discovered that you have continuing photo coverage of the renovations on your website -- it's very interesting.” Interesting does not begin to capture the thrill of seeing the building coming back to life the way it once was (but better), and the agony of dealing with a 50+ member construction team every day, although the bulk of that activity falls on the shoulders of Jack McCord of Gibraltar Construction every day.

If you’ve passed the theatre on Monmouth Street recently you have noticed a deep pit in the sidewalk outside the box office, which was necessary to get the new boiler in, and that the storefronts where Serpico’s Typewriter Repair Service and CJ Photography were has been board up. That’s where the new Patron Lounge is going, connected to the Box Office.

You may also have noticed that the lobby entryway is being worked on, and that a portion of the underside of the marquee has been demolished, revealing for the first time in decades a decorative ceiling. We’re moving the front doors closer to the street, in order to create an interior door connecting the box office to the lobby, so for the first time ever, you’ll be able to get from the theatre to the box office without going outside!

To date, we’re on schedule, and there are already 99 shows on sale for the fall, winter and spring, and not surprisingly, many shows are selling quickly! As usual, I encourage you to buy tickets now for the shows you want to see (and even to some of the shows you don’t think you want to see… it never hurts to try something new), because you don’t want to get shut out of what is shaping up to be another spectacular year, maybe the Basie’s best ever!

Moving Right Along

2008-08-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Over the few weeks the only people that have seen the work going on inside the theatre have been the construction and restoration crews, the theatre staff and a few Trustees of the theatre, but yesterday we had our first Hard Hat Tour, and for the first time some of you were able to see what we’re up to. Jack McCord of Gibraltar Construction took us on a top to bottom tour of the theatre, from the front doors, through the lobbies and up to the balcony, then up to the top of the scaffold, across the “dance floor” (that’s what we call the top floor of the scaffold) right underneath the dome, down the other side to the stage, and then back to the top of the balcony, up through the projection room and up another ladder into the attic (most people don’t realize that there’s about 20 feet between the ceiling that you can see from the audience and the actual roof of the building).

Along the way we saw new decorative plaster being applied to various spots in the theatre, and various spots on the dome, the ceiling, and the proscenium arch where EverGreene Studios are applying paint and testing colors and the design schemes. There are locations throughout the theatre where the original 1926 construction was not consistent or symmetrical. For instance, along the side walls of the theatre there are three pilasters (pillars or columns) between the organ loft grills and the balcony. The facia of some of these pillars had decorative designs, others did not. EverGreene has cast these pieces of decorative art in their shop, and brought the new pieces to the Basie to apply in the appropriate locations, so what we’ll ultimately see in October is a vastly improved decorative design, better in fact than it was originally. It’s really quite something to see the elements of a 20 foot high pillar sitting on the floor, and just a day later it’s a part of the building as if it had always been there.

If you have been following along on the web cam, you see that color is starting to appear on the dome, but the web cam doesn’t really begin to capture what it looks like in person. If you haven’t signed up for a Hard Hat Tour to see it in person for yourself, please do. They’re conducted every other Friday at 10:00, and the next one is August 15.

If for whatever reason you are unable to join us for a Hard Hat Tour this summer and fall, we’re taking lots of pictures and time lapse videos. You can see the start of the time lapse video already on YouTube.

You might also be interested to know that the entire project is going to be the subject of a documentary by HandPrint Productions. The brainchild of Steve Rubino, the film crew has been shooting the work in progress, and interviewing all sorts of interesting community members, performers and others who are involved in the project, or with the Basie in some capacity.

Turning our attention back to show business for a second, this week we announced a November 3 show by David Byrne, and we’re just so excited to be able to include Mr. Byrne in the line-up of re-opening shows. We’ve been making an attempt to assemble a line-up of shows when the theatre re-opens that includes performers who we’ve liked working with, and who have resonated with the audience over the years. Mr. Byrne performed two shows at the Basie over the years that are rather legendary with the audience, including a show that was filmed for the concert film “Between the Teeth” (you can still find it on the internet). One of the true original thinkers of our time, this is a show that I for one am really looking forward to.

In fact I am looking forward to all the re-opening shows, and if you haven’t purchased tickets yet, it’s not too soon to start thinking about it, because they’re all selling fast!

100 Days to Reopening

2008-07-22T12:48:00.001-07:00

This morning, Brian Leddin, the Chairman of the Count Basie Theatre’s Board of Trustees, sent me this message: “If you’re going to have a blog, you have to write something in it.” It wasn’t mere procrastination keeping me from the blog; I was waiting until today, which is exactly 100 days until we reopen, for the next installment. That’s my story, and I am sticking to it.

We are now in week four of construction, and the work that’s going on inside the theatre is truly remarkable. The auditorium is scaffolded wall to wall and floor to ceiling. You can climb the scaffold, and the top level is a room-sized floor. You can walk around under the ceiling dome and touch it. For those of you familiar with the room over the last several years, yes, that means that all the safety netting is gone!

So far there have been no major surprises. On Thursday July 10 the scaffold reached completion and the folks from EverGreene Painting Studios, who are doing the plaster repair and the painting, found, in the words of Jeff Greene, “More or less what we expected.” That was good news. No major surprises, and about the level of repair and restoration we were hoping for. We have found evidence of a prior ceiling repair sometime in the theatre’s past that we were not aware of. One of the rays of the sunburst has been replaced sometime in the deep dark past, and encased in the plaster of the dome was a sheet of plywood covering up what was apparently a pretty good-sized hole. What’s interesting about that is that someone had to approach these repairs from the floor; so sometime in the past someone scaffolded that section of the room to reach that part of the ceiling.

Last week, when the scaffold install was complete, we moved the web cam from the back of the room to the floor of the upper levels of the scaffold, and you can now follow the restoration of the dome. Click on the image on our home page every 15 minutes to see a new image.

Last week I was in Atlanta at the annual conference of the League of Historic American Theatres. The League is the national service organization for historic theatres like the Basie, and along with usual professional development sessions and networking that goes on at any conference, we also saw almost 12 dozen theatres and preservation projects in Atlanta and that part of Georgia, in all states of condition, from gloriously restored and fully functional, to what someday might aspire to be the glimmer in a preservationist’s eye. But for a change, instead of hearing about the great projects the Basie’s peers are doing in their buildings, and knowing I was coming home to The White Room again, it was wonderful to be able to talk about the fact that we are closed for construction and restoration this summer! I gave a workshop myself on Saturday (“Turning Around Your Money Losing Theatre”) and coincidentally, my competition in my time slot was our architect, Michael Schnoering of Farewell Mills Gatsch in Princeton (“The New Historic Theatre”).

Of note on the project is that last week for a variety of reasons we decided to include the outer lobby in this summer’s project, and last Friday much of the artwork that has decorated the outer lobby came down. I wanted to make special note of this, because we owe Marjorie Tedesco, a former member of the Count Basie Theatre’s Board of Trustees, a great debt of gratitude. Eight years ago, when the theatre needed all the help it could get, Marjorie stepped up and loaned the theatre chandeliers, sconces, and the mural that adorned the outer lobby, and made an additional significant donation of carpeting, mirrors and the labor to put it all together and at least make the lobby look better. It was a significant step in the right direction at the time, and a vote of confidence in the Basie’s future stability at a time when the organization needed the support. We hope we’ve lived up to that promise, and that the end result of this summer’s project will continue a tradition of supporting the arts and the Basie that so many people like Marjorie established so long ago.
This morning at the NJ State Council for the Arts' annual meeting at the NJ State Museum in Trenton, the council made its grant awards for the 2009 fiscal year, and for the third year in a row, designated the Count Basie Theatre as a Major Presenting Organization for the State of New Jersey, "...in recognition of your organization's solid history of artistic excellence, substantial programming, and broad public service...your organization stands among a group of organizations across our state, which comprise its anchor institutions that contribute vitally to the quality of life in New Jersey."

It has begun!

2008-06-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

It has begun. The moment we have waited years, strike that, decades for, has arrived. Today we have begun a substantial renovation of the Count Basie Theatre. Saturday night The Fab Faux made their annual appearance at the Basie, Sunday afternoon we had a staff picnic and barbeque to say goodbye to the old girl, and this morning at 8:30 we officially kicked off the “Setting the Stage for a Better Basie” restoration project.

Actually, by the time the speeches started, work had already begun, and by the time we finished taking photos for posterity, there was already a section of scaffold in the theatre reaching almost to the ceiling dome (thank you Safety Scaffold, hard on the job already!), and there was already a hole to the outside world in the wall behind where the merchandise stand used to be.

At this morning’s ceremony, Brian Leddin, Chairman of the Count Basie Theatre’s Board of Trustees spoke about all the reasons the theatre is good for the community. Almost 200 shows a year, attended by almost 200,000 people, resulting in a $10 million economic impact on the community, and a number of shows each year that you would not see anywhere else on the Jersey Shore. Hugh Ward, Co-Chairman of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation, spoke about how the community is important to the theatre. Each year the Count Basie Theatre Foundation raises the funds necessary for the Basie to offer the cultural and educational programs our community deserves, and still operate at a financial surplus for the last 6 years in a row, and it takes community support to accomplish that. Lots of it. In Hugh’s words, “The community is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really important.” There might have been a few more “reallys,” I lost count after the fifth or sixth one. Rusty Young, CEO of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation spoke about his memories of the Basie as a lifelong resident of the Two River area, and his memories of attending Saturday matinees when this was the Carlton Theatre, as the reason he, like so many other supporters, got involved and started supporting the theatre. And Van Jenkins, our General Manager, explained that running the Basie is like taking care of an 82-year old woman, and, “This summer, grandma is getting a face lift!”

The Count’s Cool School, our arts in education program, will be open all summer, but it’ll now be 121 days and 12 hours until we reopen and see many of you in person again at a show. We’ll miss you, but everyone who has bought a ticket, and everyone who has made a membership contribution, and everyone who bought a program book advertisement or supported a fundraiser like the Gala or the Men’s or Women’s Golf Outing, this project is for you! And for the artists, so we can offer them a venue as great as their performances are. You both deserve a venue that will inspire you.

We won’t get it all done this summer. “Setting the Stage for a Better Basie” means just that. We are getting $8 million of work done this summer, including paint, decorative plaster repairs, new carpet, new house lighting, and many other features, but we are also already paving the way for the next renovations, too. Setting the stage, as it were.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve only been here six and a half years, and I know that many of you have waited much, much longer than that for a true renovation of the Basie. Despite all of the improvements at the Basie in the last years (6 years of attendance increases, better shows, and financial surpluses), somewhere, I am sure, there are still people who do not yet believe that a better building can be a reality. Whether you’re a fan yet or not, I encourage you to watch us. And you really can watch us! Right on our home page there’s a link to a camera in the theatre, and the image updates every 15 minutes. Please join us online all summer long, and watch as we transform the Basie.

Remembering George Carlin

2008-06-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

Today, Monday, June 23, 2008 we’re one week, a mere seven days, from the official start of work on the renovation project we’re calling “Setting the Stage for a Better Basie.” The final pieces are or will fall into place this week, and by this time next Monday we should be underway with the theatre improvement project we’ve all been waiting decades for.

There are a number of performing artists who perform at the Basie on an annual or regular basis. Some of them come through each year, some every 2 or 3 years. After greeting these performers with a fabulous audience, but the same old white-washed auditorium year in and year out, we’re very much looking forward to, starting next October, the look of surprise on our favorite performers’ faces when they walk out on our stage for sound check or rehearsal and see a brand-new room.

One of those people was George Carlin, who sadly we learned this morning passed away last night at the age of 71. George last played the Basie just 6 months ago, on December 8, 2007, and it was too soon to lose one of the truly remarkable voices of our time.

Much will be written about George in the coming days, but one of the extraordinary things about him as an artist was that even at an advanced stage of his career, when he could easily be touring a show of his greatest hits and comedy shtick, he was still creating new work. In fact, new work was really all that he performed. Every 2 or 3 years George would come through the Basie with a new show he was road testing for the eventual taping of an HBO Comedy Special, and when that aired, he went right back to work on the next new project. Yes, there are those among us who lived to hear the Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television spoken live in person, and while that’s fun in the same way that hearing James Brown sing “I Feel Good” in person was fun, it was more impressive to hear the new material, fresh from George’s brain.

I first crossed paths with George about 20 years ago when I was production managing a theatre in New York. Before I met him, I distinctly remember thinking that based solely on his stage presence, he was either going to be an ego maniac, or the nicest guy in the world, but there wasn’t going to be an in between. It was going to be one or the other. I am happy to report that over the course of at least a dozen shows with Mr. Carlin over the years, he was one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

It’s always a huge let down to meet one of your heroes or idols, and they turn out to be a complete jerk, but that wasn’t George. The first time we met, he walked in the stage door, noticed that I was wearing a Mets baseball hat, and said, “I’m from the Bronx, kid. That hat has to go.” As caustic and savage as he could be on stage, he was unfailingly kind and polite to everyone backstage in an every day, talking over the backyard fence kind of way.

He never did a meet and greet with the audience, but the guest list at every show always seemed to include a third cousin or a family friend from the old neighborhood that he would ask to see backstage before the show or during intermission. People like this are in short supply in all walks of life, and we’ll miss George.

If you have special memories of George Carlin at the Basie, feel free to email them to me at nsaisselin@countbasietheatre.org and we’ll post some of them here within the next week.

A Unique Experience

2008-06-16T07:57:00.001-07:00

One of the really goods things about working in a theater is being able to bring artists and audiences together. When it all works well, you have one of those magical nights where the performer and the audience are in sync with each other, and it’s a good feeling to know that you played a part in making it happen.

For the most part, backstage and the front office are not nearly as glamorous and exciting as you might imagine, and generally speaking, the better the show on stage is, the duller the backstage drama is. But once in a while something really special happens outside of the public eye, and I wanted to share one of those experiences with you.

If you’re not familiar with the Basie Awards, the Count Basie Theatre Awards Honoring Excellence in Monmouth County High School Theater are a program of the Count’s Cool School, the theater’s education program. All school year we send evaluators to the drama and musical theater productions of the high schools that choose to participate each year, and at the end of the school year, there’s an awards show at the theater. It’s just like the Tony Awards or the Oscars, with celebrity award presenters, and production numbers from each Best Musical nominee. Awards in over 20 categories are presented (Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, Best Choreography of a Musical, etc.).

The talent of Yvonne Scudiery, our Education Director, and the support of our sponsor for the last two years, the Moser I.P. Law Group in Shrewsbury, made all of this possible for the last two years.

Each year we’ve been fortunate to have terrific hosts for the awards show, and I can’t say enough about how generous the hosts have been with their time. John Bathke, the Emmy Award winning reporter for News 12 NJ hosted in 2006. Roz Gholston, the comedian and finalist on NBC-TV’s show Last Comic Standing hosted in 2007, and this year we were pleased and fortunate to have Joe Piscopo as the host.

While there is actually a script for the Basies, it’s still a live show, and as such, unpredictable. One thing you can predict about the unpredictable is that predictably, something will go awry, and this year, the announcement of one of the two big awards of the evening, Best Drama, didn’t go exactly as it should have, and Raritan High School’s production of “Clue” was accidentally announced as the winner. (The winner was Ocean Township’s production of “The Laramie Project.”)

In the overall scheme of things, it wasn’t that big a mistake. We caught it right away, and although there was an awkward moment on stage, it was fixed right away, and over the last 3 years, Raritan’s excellent theater program has produced a number of winners.

However, Joe took it the hardest of all of us, and that very night he insisted that he had to go visit Raritan High School and make it up to them. So nine days later, there we were with Joe Piscopo visiting Raritan High School and spending an hour with Joe visiting their drama club.

One of the goals of the Basies is to raise the level of awareness of music, dance and theater as a worthy pursuit and viable career choice, the same way that for example sports dinners honor the best and the brightest in their fields of endeavor. So the Basie Awards in and of itself is already a heart-warming experience. But this was something else. The chance for these young students to spend an hour with a bona fide working performer who has made feature films, guested on many TV series, and been a cast member of an entertainment institution like Saturday Night Live was a transcendent experience.

Joe told them about how he got started, urged them to go into it for the work itself, not the celebrity, and advised them to be well rounded work horses at whatever they chose to do with their lives, “Because then you will always work.” He compared his own career to that of a utility player on a ball team, and explained that although he’d been sidetracked once or twice by the dream of celebrity, at the end of the day he was still working, because while celebrities come and go, and there is a lot of luck in becoming a mega-star, a utility player will always work. You might not get rich, but you’ll make a living doing what you always dreamed of doing.

Whenever he made a reference to someone he admired growing up, he knew the students might not get the reference (has it really been 16 years already since Johnny Carson retired?), and he humorously (or was he just being realistic?) encouraged them to look it up on YouTube.

At Joe’s insistence, we also had a special award made for him to present to the school, the 2008 Joe Piscopo Award, inscribed with the phrase, “You are winners… because I said so.”

Then came the best part. After taking some photos, he did about 10 minutes of improv with one of the students, and I tell you, they were absolutely hilarious together. I wish I could transcribe it for you word for word, because it was uproarious. (One of the students was video recording, so maybe one day it’ll show up on YouTube.) Suffice to say that the premise, supplied by one of the other students, was that an older hit man helps a younger hit man (played by Joe) break into show business through the time honored tradition of whacking another celebrity, complete with descriptions of the appropriate car to drive to a whacking, and choosing the appropriate celebrity, in this case, David Hasselhoff (“That’s right Joe, we’re going to hassle the Hoff”).

It was really one of those special moments out of the public eye that wasn’t planned, and only came about because of a mistake, and because one person decided that this was what he had to do to make things right. I thought it was important to share with the public, because Joe deserves a little public credit for this effort, and because I can’t help but think how many things happen every day of the week that we never hear about, just because one person decided it was what he or she had to do to make things right. Our world and our communities are better for it, and whether these unsung heroes are famous or not, we’re in their debt.

Heatwave

2008-06-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

As of this writing, it is Monday June 9, 2009. We’re in the midst of a heat wave like we’ve never seen before at this time of year. This past Saturday the Belmont Stakes was run in the hottest weather in the 141-year history of the race. But heat aside, the thing that is preeminent on our minds here at the theatre is that in exactly 21 days we will be closing for four months to begin restoring the theatre’s interior.

A complete restoration and renovation of this beautiful circa 1926 theatre has been long over due. It’s been promised many times, but this time we’re really doing it. Between June 30 and October 30 we’re restoring the decorative plaster of the auditorium and lobby interiors, painting the auditorium and inner lobbies, constructing a brand new Patron’s Lounge, and doing a lot of behind the scenes and behind the walls duct work, wiring and piping, to set the stage for future HVAC, plumbing and electrical work.

In a word, our goal is to make the theatre as grand and magnificent as the performers that grace its stage.

I’ve had the honor and pleasure to work at the Count Basie Theatre since January 2002, a mere six and a half years. I know that a restoration of the theatre has been rumored many times, and dreamt of often over the decades, but this time it’s really happening.

It seems like a propitious time to start a blog, so we can chronicle the project as the days and weeks go by. I am fortunate to work for a great Board of Trustees, and work with a great professional staff, and we’ve recruited an A-List team of architects, designers, engineers, construction managers, acousticians, electricians, and many more to manage and supervise the project. You’ll meet them all by name right here in the coming weeks. For now, suffice it to say that we’re all very excited to be shutting the place down in a few weeks. Sounds strange to say you can’t wait to shutter your business, but it’s the end result we have in mind, which will be everything we hoped it would be.

Before we go, there are still 11 performances at the Basie, and I hope you’ll join us for at least one of them. Up this week are 3 performances of “High School Musical” by Phoenix Productions, our local theatre company based right here in Red Bank, and then next week it’s 3 more productions of “High School Musical,” plus Howie Mandel, Blondie and Huey Lewis. Howie is sold out (the 28^th sell out this year), and how great is that? Blondie, there are still a few tickets left, and I have to say that I’m looking forward to this show. I’m of the right generation for this show, and when I think of Blondie back in the day, I think of a vital, sincere band. The Punk & New Wave movements were, like all musical movements, full of posers and wannabes, but Blondie were the real deal. I was not a New Wave or a Punk Rock fan then, but even I knew that Blondie rocked in a way that you could tell the music mattered more than anything else. And the music had a melody, too! Via the magic of internet video you can check it all out on YouTube, or you can see it live here in a week and a half.