Comments from Lamper

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Lamper
Lamper commented about Copernicus Center on Jun 18, 2010 at 11:54 am

As stated on my other posts I am so glad I found this site!!! I have enjoyed reading all and I mean all the post about several of the theaters that I have looked up.

Back in 1995 â€" 1997 I did production for many events @ the Gateway everything from Pay to Play Heavy metal shows to Indian pop music that the promoters spared no expense to put on.
Overall the place was in great shape back then always clean very clean. About the craziest thing to happen while I was working a show there was when the lead singer of a National Punk band kept jumping up and down so hard in one spot of the stage (down stage right) he put a hole in the stage and fell about 2.5” down.
Attendance at most of the rock shows was poor, it wasn’t a big deal to play the Gateway it was just another place for all ages music. In the mid 90’s my old boss told me that the place would be backed to see all types of glam metal acts
The Indian shows packed the place every single time. I was told that ticket prices were big back then ~$100 for the first few rows then prices worked their way back as you went further back in the house.

In late 1997 early 1998 my new business partner and I put together a proposal for the manager of the Gateway for a PA system and lighting system that would be suitable for any type of live production that came through. He liked it and it was considered for a time but the insurance company was reviewing the riders for live performance, I guess the liability was pretty high when it came to live shows. One of the best things about the meeting was that we got an official tour of the place, nothing I hadn’t see before except for taking a trip above the auditoriums ceiling knowing you were a good distance from the floor was something but walking on the catwalk gave you just this feeling of being in a subterranean level, I know that is an oxymoron right…..

The house staff was great they never had a bad attitude from the time we rolled in they at 2pm and not rolling out until 2am after hours of ear bleeding music still happy but glad the night was over.

I haven’t done a show there since 1998 and I miss the place a lot it was a great place to be a lot of the talk about the place becoming a condo complex makes me sick.

Sorry never took pictures I was just a 18 â€" 20 year old kid when I was there working never thought to snap pictures back then at the Gateway.

Lamper
Lamper commented about Olympic Theater on Jun 17, 2010 at 1:06 pm

As stated on my other posts I am so glad I found this site!!! I have enjoyed reading all and I mean all the post about several of the theaters that I have looked up.

I grew up in the area near the Olympic theater in the 80’s and 90’s and I cant tell you how many 2nd showings of movies I saw here too many to count. I know I saw Predator there for sure. I remember the place being hot the AC there wasn’t the best compared to the other big name theaters in the area. I remember going to this theater once with my friend and his dad and for what ever reason he made us sit under the balcony for the movie and it was annoying because there was a small light hanging from the ceiling under the balcony that never went off… who can get into a movie when there is light on in the theater.
In the mid 90’s the Olympic stopped showing movies and was turned into a venue for live performances. I remember one of my teachers at the high school being very excited for this to happen as she remembered the theater form its heyday and was glad that the wrecking ball didn’t find its way there.
The first performance to happen there was called the Metropolis. As part of the high school theater department we got to take a tour of the Olympic it was amazing what the then owner and his crew did to the place. They cleaned everything from top to bottom as best they could with the budget they had. There was a lot of fresh paint and the ceiling had started to be cleaned and restored along with the mural around the proscenium. Kind of state of the art for the time but the orchestra was housed in one of the dressing rooms and there was a video monitor at the foot of the stage that the cast would use to see the conductor give musical direction. The lighting system was very rock and roll looking. It was flown above the house seats and the spotlight operator would climb a wire rope ladder shortly before doors opened to the top of the lighting truss and operate from there. Again a budget thing the director/owner was doing a lot with little. The PA (or sound system) was installed by my old boss and it was very rock n roll stacks and racks were on the deck (stage) and dressed with some fabric but not as you would expect for a theater. As part of the class trip we took we got to search a storage room in the lower level where a few dozen beautiful canvas backdrops were stored. We sorted through them for “keepers” for the high school production of Bye Bye Birdie. Man that was a great time
The actual production of Metropolis was great a real high caliber performance.
I heard the financial issues caused the operation to fold and a judge but a lockout on the place which I guessed caused my old boss to lose his audio gear… but what ever like say its what I heard.
I am glad to see the Olympic is open again for live performance. Whish I would have had the capital to make it happen years ago. As dumb as it sounds the Olympic has one thing in its favor parking not lot of its own per say but a lot on the street and in the old “L” strip.

The rumor is that old owner prior to 1994 lived in the theater as some of the techs working the renovation and production of the Olympic found a shower rigged up in the slop skink in the upstairs area

Lamper
Lamper commented about Brighton Theatre on Jun 17, 2010 at 12:17 pm

First off I am so glad I found this site!!! I have enjoyed reading all and I mean all the post about several of the theaters that I have looked up.
As far as the Brighton theater goes I had the opportunity to provide lighting equipment and work an underground rave party there back in late early 1998. When we did our site survey for the place once in we were created by two large dogs that were there for security reasons the caretaker put them on leashes and the hounds of hell were calm and friendly from that point on. I was pretty amazed by the place, it wasn’t what I expected at all. The main floor of the auditorium had all the seats removed, and the caretaker couldn’t tell me what had happened to them. The stage area itself was in so so shape the floor had some soft spots and an access latter that would lead to above the ceiling and grid of the stage didn’t look that safe, that caretaker said it was and said that it would be a problem to cut holes into the ceiling to allow for hang points to fly our equipment. All the wall sconce lighting was still intact and I would say 70% functioning we were all armed with flashlights because we just knew that lighting in old places like this that had been inactive never good lighting. From what I remember the walls and ceiling wasn’t in too bad of shape the water damage wasn’t that bad. The balcony had all the of the seats in it, don’t know if they were original as looked to be of a style you would see in a old Doctors office waiting room… wooden and kind of art deco looking. The projection booth was intact and still had a projector in it; sorry don’t know what kind it was I wasn’t into that type of thing back then my partner did offer to buy it and the caretaker responded with something along the lines of ‘If you want to move it I am sure the owner of the place would let you take it or you can take it right now if you want.”. The overall condition of the booth was to be honest trashed I think the caretaker was living there along with the demons of his life he didn’t want us in there for any length of time. The lobby area from what I remember was rundown and dirty but you could still see a lot of the detail. I seem to remember a nice white (at one time pristine) marble floor and brass railings that lead to the restroom lounge area.
About a week or so later was the rave party, we loaded in through a house left door near the stage, so that would be like the south east corner of the auditorium. We set most of our equipment on our own stands and what not with the exception of brackets that we made to hang of the balcony that were designed and fabricated to allow for only a small anchor bolt to the balcony wall… I hate to say that when we had the opportunity to fabricate and temporary install some type of support we did but I can tell you that the anchor bolt wasn’t more that ½” X 1.5”. When I arrived later that night to “work” the show I was amazed at the crowd this rave pulled in. The place was packed and happing, I asked my partner how come he was going so heavy on the fog machine that night and he replied with “cant you feel it, its water vapor from all the kids dancing and sweating.” I did snap some 35 mm photos but once developed I was kind of upset because the vapor in the air just made the pictures look like some foggy night on the lakefront.
We did one more rave at the Brighton later in the summer, with the establishment of city cracking down on this type of party, for good and bad reasons no more raves were put on here. I am sure that the CPD knew something was going on when there was 500-600 + kids leaving the area @ 6am on a Sunday morning.
I know the area pretty well my old man had a shop a few miles to the east on 35th street so from time to time I would cruise down Archer and see the for sale sign up and think how awesome it would be to own this place and make it a venue for live legitimate taxable entertainment.
Some might say that this is a true hood, but there are still a number of good families in the area that work hard for their money and might have supported a place like this if it was ran by someone with the passion for good live entertainment.
Some might hate to see these place turned into live venues catering to the full scope of music… but it keeps them from the same fate as the Brighton.
In the words of my old man “More condos, where are all these peoples coming from and where are they getting the money from!!!”
Just wanted to share my stories of this place