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Art

Detroit’s Burton Theatre (Theater)

by tomlucier on January 26, 2010

Mobile Photo 2010-01-25 11 49 53 PM
I waited and waited.
I raised the interest, and then when I had some takers, I stalled.

The Burton Theatre in Detroit was recently written up in the New York Times. Someone came to the bar a couple of weeks ago, and told me about the article. I looked it up, and promptly posted it to my Twitter account.

Within a day, I had a conversation happening on Twitter and Facebook with a few folks who were very interested in taking a day-trip to Detroit immediately. Friends, Rino and Frances wanted to go right away but my schedule didn’t fit. We planned a week in advance, sent invites to hundreds of people to join us in our treasure hunt, and wound up with myself, my wife, and Frances.

To be fair, I assassinated the plan to go the week earlier when Rino was available. But once again, a few motivated bodies were completely alone in our exploration of ANOTHER of Detroit’s rare spaces. Yes, other Windsorites have been here, but this opportunity to go in numbers was supposed to coax others to join in.

Tom & Jho at theatre doors

The Burton Theatre is a converted section of an elementary school on Cass Avenue. It’s three minutes (or less) from Comerica Park, one block east of Woodward Avenue.
It has been re-purposed to house patrons of the independent-film-ilk.

Perfect theatre snacks

The theatre is tiny, with proper theatre seats, and perfect theatre snacks.

Parking in the (as advertised) secure lot, there was one other car. And the lot was not fortified, or behind locked gates. But as we pulled in, I saw a hunched young man carrying some stuff toward the defunct school.

“Nathan!” I shouted. I added him on Facebook after I read the New York Times article, and told him how proud I was of his awesome achievement.

He spun around a looked.
“It’s Tom from Windsor! There is a show at 2pm, right?”

“Oh hey! Yeah. Just park, he’ll watch your car,” he said, then turned around and walked around the corner of the building.
My wife, Jhoan, and our friend, Frances, laughed at his response, because he simply gestured to the other car in the parking lot…which we eventually realized was the “guard tower” for the secured lot.

This was more than sufficient for us, so we parked, got out, and swiveled our heads.

Looking across the street, there was a questionable used furniture store called “Mantra”.

Birdtown, across street from Burton Theatre

“Chickens!” Frances yelled.
And beside that, furniture store was “Birdtown”, with several chickens and roosters running free. It reminded me of something Stephen Hargreaves regaled to me once about a scene in Corktown he’d seen with goats and pigs.

We ran over, took a few photos, and crossed back to the theatre.

Playground and blight

Walking around back, following directional signage, we were led by a string of light bulbs on a fence. On the other side of the fence was a new-ish orange and green playground, inaccessible. Fifty yards away from the quarantined playground was a building in severely plundered disarray. It was jarring. We stopped to take it in, visually, and conceptually.

Then onward.
Directly inside the front doors was the teeny-tiny ticket window, cut out of a door, with more than enough bars protecting the ticket seller. Bullets could barely fit through the slits.

Large art, Frances, and Jhoan near the ticket window

Love-seat near the stairs

We got our tickets from “not Nathan”, and headed upstairs into the quiet building. Large mural art and other strange accoutrements were on the walls, and a love-seat made itself available in the main entrance.

Jhoan heads up to the movie

Getting upstairs, the food and drink counter stood, with the incredible smell of fresh buttered popcorn, and the popcorn maker sharing a frame with Nathan himself, behind the counter. We got chatting about the recent press. The good and bad times they’ve already endured since opening in October. Scarface seemed to be a great movie idea at the time, but according to Nathan, if you can rent it, people are very apprehensive to see it in the Burton Theatre.

Nathan Faustyn, one of the owners of The Burton Theatre, working the counter

Nathan told us that the developer that bought the building has now rented out other sections of the building to other artistic endeavors, including gallery space. We’re geeked to see more in that same building on our next trip over, if those other developments do indeed pan out.

I scored a Faygo Redpop, and Jhoan secured some Raisinettes, and we headed in…the three of us.

Frances enters the dark, short theatre

It was a dark, short theatre. A short walk to the screen. It was clearly on an old grade school stage. Something about the retrofitting made you look for all the signs of what this space WAS. The four lamps that hung were especially nice touches, and the wooden floors, wooden stage, and HUGE baseboard heaters on either side of the room were not lost on us. We loved them all. We sat, pointing out all the little things about the space we could find.

Faygo Redpop, Willem Dafoe, and Chloe Sevigny in a movie trailer

My favourite thing, through watching Cold Souls (starring Paul Giamatti, as himself), besides the movie was the heaters kicking in and hissing loud enough for me to notice. I loved that the history of this building was still getting in its words edgewise. “Thissssss wassssss a sssssschoool,” it seemed to say, “now it’sssss ssssssomething elsssssssse.”

Cold Souls movie poster

We greatly enjoyed this film, which wasn’t playing in Windsor and likely never will, unless the Windsor International Film Festival brings it to town in the summer. Which means, upon extrapolation, that there will be many more great films showing daily at the Burton Theatre, which is a nice reassuring feeling. We found this gem of an experience, because it wanted to be found. Nowhere that I’m aware of can we yet see independent (small budget) films being screened daily in Windsor. So we went to where it was being provided.

Men's Lounge - 1

A slightly less-exciting deviation from the films, I had the supreme pleasure of taking the long, twisty walk to find the “Men’s Lounge” in the basement…where I was greeted with a pool table in a gigantic “boys” bathroom where it would be easier to wash my shins in the sink than my hands. Enjoy the photos below.

Pool table in the bathroom panorama

We were (I am) greatly appreciative that we have easy access to this place. Sitting quietly, largely, in one of the most unique cities in the world…15 minutes from my own business in downtown Windsor…on Cass Avenue…or as the baseboard heaters would say, “Casssssssssss.”

Men's Lounge - 2

Men's Lounge - 3

Men's Lounge - 4

Old film projector at short urinal

Sink at my knees

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Guest column…Rino Bortolin

by tomlucier on January 13, 2010

The following column is being donated by Rino Bortolin.
I’d like you to sound off if you agree or disagree.
I know I have some things to say about this column…

The Lack of Traction in the Windsor Arts Community

This is written not as a reply to Tom’s most recent blog post (about losing talent due to free work) but as a parallel discussion and different perspective that I have had for some time now but only recently have been able to articulate.

Tom’s blog post has created much discussion about the arts community and its ability to keep people here in Windsor and allow them to thrive, both artistically and maybe more importantly, financially. There has been a noticeable shift in the last couple of years. Maybe it’s because of the proliferation of social media, but Windsor’s arts community has become more self aware, more visible and much prouder.

This is all good, good for everyone. I have seen many of my friends and colleagues leave for greener pastures over the years. For years I have endured people’s pity and pleas for me to move away. I have continually scoffed at the idea because of the immense pride I have for Windsor and all that it has to offer. I won’t go on and on about that because that’s a separate essay entirely, but it leads me to my point.

We have a vibrant and extremely talented arts community but cannot seem to get enough momentum to move it to the next level. That level being where the people involved can economically sustain themselves by creating, promoting, and simply offering a cultural experience like no other.

One of the reasons that the growth is stagnant and slow is because we lack an honest and true self awareness. We have encouraged many to write, sing, play, cook, dance, etc to the point where the arts community is bigger than ever. That can be considered a huge success. There are many more artists, cinematographers, writers, musicians etc than just 3 or 4 years ago. Step one accomplished. Herein lies the dilemma and where the movement loses steam.

How do we as Windsorites recognize and assess the quality of the talent that we have so vigorously encouraged and fostered? We don’t. Some may disagree with this point but let me explain. We have created such a large pool of talent and artistic organizations that it has become cloudy and convoluted. There is nobody here in Windsor that gives honest and true insight into the quality, both good and bad, of the community and talent that we have.

We have many that promote and write but few that critique and differentiate between art of quality and, simply put, crap. We have a propensity to air grievances about things that our local politicians do and things that happen around the city that are somewhat out of our grasp but when it comes to the self realization within the arts community we are scared to point out the good as well as the bad.

Major cities and arts communities rely on critics for everything from fashion to food and everything in-between to propel them to higher standards and greater heights. Last time I checked we don’t have any critics. Maybe that is because we don’t want to stifle the momentum needed to grow the arts community in size, but we now need some self regulation.

We have planted the seeds, watered and nurtured, but it’s time we pruned and weeded. We can discuss on and on how Windsorites won’t pay cover, don’t participate etc., but those points are just rhetoric masking the sub par quality that we’re offering at times.

For example: Why is it that when a restaurant closes its doors, it’s reasons are the economy, the passport laws, the value of the dollar, local unemployment etc.? Is that really being honest? Why is it that the restaurant, not two blocks away, is thriving in those same conditions?

The honest reality is that it was mismanaged, misguided in its target audience, inconsistent and so on. Am I a jerk for saying that? I know it’s said in private but why can’t somebody write it. How can a local theatre production company, offering modern, well written, well produced unique plays compete among the sea of theatre companies in Windsor?

There are close to 30 theatre companies in Windsor. A staggering statistic. How many local plays will an average Windsorite see over a year? One, maybe two. Now spread that number over 30 companies and you can see why many producers might be pulling their hair out. We have taken the notion of supporting local too far. We need to look locally whenever we do something (again another essay for another time) but we need to focus on things of quality that are local. How many times can we be expected to pay to go see Grease or Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat? There are only so many dollars that will be spent on the arts in this city. We have no one guiding us or the rest of the city as to where they will be best spent.

We currently have many people who try to promote and guide us in some way. Tom is one great example of this. His most recent post is so relevant because when people learn that the guidance and the efforts that people like him put forth everyday is deserving of true compensation, then, and only then, will Windsor’s arts community really gain some traction and move forward.

There are many in the community that have gained our trust and have something special to offer us. It’s proven by the fact that you’re reading this blog. For people to be truly honest they need a buffer that allows them to work in a way that does not compromise their integrity. In Windsor, magazines fear losing ad revenue, bars owners fear losing patrons, websites and blogs fear losing supporters and readership. Eventually people will not only appreciate some credible critique but demand it and thus in time opportunities will arise and become economically viable.

In the meantime we as an arts community have to learn to embrace critique and allow it to help shape and mould the talent we have and the talent we are supporting. Those who are truly producing good relevant material will only gain from this perspective and those who are just getting by and not producing quality will gain insight and learn what changes are necessary.

This year can be telling with so many changes coming to Windsor especially with a municipal election and so many projects popping up around the city. The local arts community has drifted for so long without clear leadership and true cohesion. Maybe this is the year when some step up to lead and can be honestly compensated for it. I know I’m willing to pay for it, are you?

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A Pile of CBC Culture Columns

by tomlucier on December 9, 2009

Voyage To Betterment film premiere interview with Andrew Facca.
Originally run November 11, 2009.
The movie is coming back again to Lakeshore Cinemas from January 15 to January 28.