Full Transcript for #18 - Jason Reimer

So um, you know, I started doing um when we moved there to Oak Cliff, I mean, to yeah, all those things are true. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:18.319 Those multi-hyphenates, I'm you know, sometimes I just say I'm just a guitarist. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.919 You know, like at the end of the day, I was a musician that was, you know, an artist that do all kinds of art. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:30.400 Um, and yeah, like many artists, you end up um with odd jobs paying the gigs over the years. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:30.639 Yeah. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:35.199 So, you know, I bartended and did all kinds of things, served weighted tables. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.120 I've done every job you can think of. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:51.439 Um, and when I was here in in Denton, um, I worked at rubber gloves and Dan's when it first, you know, Dan's when it became the silver leaf, I was literally the first bartender that Dan I, you know, he lived a couple doors down from me. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:03:01.919 But um, you know, when you're a musician and an artist, like you end up picking up a lot of um habits and tasks and jobs and skill sets, and some of them stick and some of them don't. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:08.000 But I'd I'd gotten into um production set design through a bunch of musician friends. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.240 So I was working in Dallas a lot. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:10.719 I see. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:14.159 Um, and commuting to Dallas a ton. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.159 So for about, I don't know, about six years roughly, I was doing that commute most of the month. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.159 It's pretty, pretty horrible. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:23.520 Let me just get down there. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:25.280 Yeah, it was it was pretty tough. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:27.360 I mean, so this is pre-podcast world. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.080 So it was a it was a long drive, you know. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:35.919 And we I had moved here because my my wife was finishing art school and and getting her master's here. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.719 And I'd only planned on being in Denton for a couple of weeks. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.400 And I was here for nine years. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:46.879 I can't tell you how many episodes people are like, oh, I came here for school, or I came here just thinking it would be this, and they're like, I'm stuck here. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:48.400 It's real sticky, you know. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:54.560 And for an artist, I have a weird fact about that that I did not know until many years later. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:01.840 But when I was about 18, I had already been out of the house and kind of wandered and had my wander years for a couple of months or a couple of years. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:02.159 Yeah. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:09.599 And um, I came back to outside Chicago where I lived, and I was working at this restaurant, and I decided I'm gonna go to a music school. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:12.879 And I had

applied to a bunch of schools and kind of forgot about it. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.280 Yeah, none of them worked out for any number of reasons. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:29.120 And um many years later, uh when I was living in Oak Cliff, we'd already moved to O'Cliff, I was looking through old files and getting rid of stuff, and I found an um application to UNT from when I was 17 or 18 years old. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:34.160 Yeah, which I was like, it was just a weird connection of like, how in the world? 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:50.720 Yeah, you know, would I have because I just didn't connect the two in my memory that I was I'd never, you know, growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, and I just Texas was not on the radar much, but you know, when you're in creative world, you'd kind of you're at the whim of what your luck is, you know. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:56.079 So I was just looking to perform and be in bands and and do artistic stuff, you know. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.759 Like I'd artistic mind wasn't well suited for the office, you know. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:11.199 So by the time I was doing that production work and going to Dallas, you know, you're making just enough money where it's serious, but you're not like you're not taking home the work with you, you know. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.279 You're painting sets and it's kind of cool. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.920 It's like a pirate atmosphere in a way, like lots of musicians do it, uh, which was great. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.399 Um, for uh you could take off when you wanted. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:23.920 So it's kind of being freelance was a lot of fun in lots of ways. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:37.199 Um during that time though, the Texas theater, there was a mutual friend of mine through some musician friends where I when I'd moved to Oak Cliff after all that commuting, we got sick of commuting um and moved to Oak Cliff. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.600 I didn't want to leave Denton at all, kicking and screaming. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:40.399 I was dragged out. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:45.199 Well, before we get to so how'd you get, tell me this, how'd you got from Chicago to Denton or why? 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:51.040 The shortest version of a really long, boring story for you guys, but I went from Chicago to California. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:51.439 Okay. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:58.480 Um when you grew up in Chicago in the 80s and 90s, like you wanted to live in a Van Halen music video, you know? 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.160 Like you just thought that's what you should live in. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:00.399 Yeah. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.839 We're used to ice and snow. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.240 So I went immediately out to California. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:11.839 Um, and then I had a friend who'd been in that um that high school situation I had in in the suburbs who was from Texas. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:12.240 Okay. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:14.879 And he had invited me to visit Texas. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:21.040 Um, and I came in '91, stayed for like a year or so, then went back to the suburbs. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:22.800 That's when I was doing those restaurant jobs, whatever. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.480 And there's just something sticky about Texas, like the people were on my mind. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:30.639 I'd met a lot of friends in the short time I was here. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:32.959 So I ended up coming back in the late 90s. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:33.439 Okay. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:35.279 Um, and then this is where you landed. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:36.639 No, I landed in Dallas first. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.480 And I and I I wasn't a fan. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:38.879 Yeah. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.000 So I I at that time was 98 or so, and I just didn't feel like I fit in there. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.000 And everything I read about was Denton. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:46.399 Okay. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:50.079 It was like cool art stuff or things that I was interested in. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:50.399 Yeah. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:53.040 It seemed like I was always it was always in Denton. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:53.360 Okay. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.639 So at that time I'd met Kristen, who's now my wife. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:56.959 Yeah. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:58.480 And she was going to school here. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:06:58.959 Okay. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:05.040 So she had she was in the art program here, uh, which was really, really a great art program at that time. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:09.839 So I ended up coming up here to live with her, I thought just till she graduated school. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.079 Um, and that was in '99, 2000. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:14.319 And I stayed for almost a decade. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:14.560 Yeah. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:22.480 Because I just fell into all this artistic community, like it just felt like it, it was a glove that fit for me artistically. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:24.079 That's that's awesome. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.519 Well, I I think uh we need me we need more of your kind here. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.120 It's like I think you've got so many. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:30.560 You know, like yeah, we do, we do. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:33.839 Yeah, like that was what the we're welcome as many more as want to come. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.240 So I think the beacon's out there, yeah, you know. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:37.839 So that's what you guys attract. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:38.639 No doubt. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:39.199 All right. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:44.800 So going back then, you you you ended up getting more work in Dallas, and then yeah, okay, let me move down here. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.839 And so when did when did the theater when did the Texas theater come in? 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:57.360 So at that time, I mean, ironically, for my story with the fine arts in the coming future, um, at that time I'd already been

trying to do something with the fine arts. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:57.680 Yeah. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:10.720 There was a group of us, there was a festival called 35 Den that it existed, and I'd helped um kind of um Chris and the guys that organized that had had wanted someone to help organize that event at the theater. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:19.279 So I'd already kind of gotten my eye in the theater in like the mid-2000s, but I could never get inroads, and none of us, I mean, there's hundreds of people that wanted to do stuff with theaters. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:19.600 Right. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:21.199 People drive by old theaters all the time. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:22.720 They say, Well, how do I get involved? 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.480 So I was like lots of those people. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:34.960 And um, Martin Niles, a friend of mine who's lots long art history in Den, he he was doing some art thing or some uh film things at Dan Silverleaf where I worked. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:43.679 And we had kind of gone around the fine arts and tried to do something just on one day a week there, and it just never got through for whatever reason. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:56.080 So by the time I moved to O'Cliff, 2008-2009, um, I wasn't looking for a theater per se, but when I went, I just had all my gear and I needed somewhere to put it. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:04.080 And through a music friend of mine, Stuart Sykes, I always he has so many very happy accents of Stuart Sykes coming into this. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:12.399 He was on the board of the theater, unbeknownst to me, yeah, of the the group called the Oakliffe Foundation that had saved the theater from being torn down. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:12.799 Okay. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.039 And they were looking for ways to get it open again. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.200 I didn't know any of this when I met Stuart. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:17.519 Right. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:23.519 But Stuart and I um ended up renting a space for my music gear because he's a music producer. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:31.600 And uh on the way to go sign the deed to the the rent uh for that lease, we drove by the Texas Theater. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.200 And I said, What's the deal with that place? 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:40.159 Like, because my small backstory, my wife and I, Kristen, we had done lots of art shows here in Denton when we lived here. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:47.200 We'd done kind of um one-off art nights that were similar to what the Good Bad had done and other art collectives had done in Denton. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.639 We did lots of music shows at dance and lots of things at our house. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.039 Uh, we did we made our house into a gallery. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:53.440 Yeah. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:59.440 Um, so on one night events for 24 hours, we'd be this multi-use gallery space, you know. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.600 So um, that's honestly what started my interest in the

Texas Theater. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.200 We were driving by and I was asking Stuart, like, what's the deal with this theater? 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.399 And he got this big grant. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:11.039 He's like, I'm on the board that owns it. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.720 And I was like, You're what? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:16.639 Like, so we literally at Jefferson and Zhang, he did a U-turn. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:17.679 He's like, You want to see it? 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:18.879 And I was like, Let's do it. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:23.279 So in two seconds, I'm inside this building that's been empty for two decades. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:24.000 Right. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:29.039 And I mean they they had restored it at this point, though, or done restoration work, yeah. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.360 They'd they'd restored the um lots of the plumbing and things like that. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.919 They were trying to get a CO to be ready for someone to operate it and use it. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:40.320 But they didn't know who was gonna that was gonna be the same point. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:45.039 They've been trying, there've been multiple organizations, they tried to woo to come over. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:51.440 Um their primary interest was just preserving it, kind of restoring it and saying, somebody come come do something here. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:11:09.440 Yeah, and lots of, and this is a you know, obviously, if you'll you know this now more than most, like there was a group similar to what we're finding out now where real estate people, community leaders, people that were involved in O'Cliff had bound together in this foundation, mostly just to protect it from being torn down. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:18.480 Um, and they did raise money and they did a lot of things to get it kind of back up on his legs again, um, to be ready for an operator to come in. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.879 They had not been able to find an operator. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:28.720 So just by luck of that spot in the story, Stuart, you know, just said, Do you want to be involved? 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:32.480 And I had already done hundreds of events when I lived in Denton. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:36.480 So I was like, absolutely like what can I do? 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:46.720 And they had they were just on the end of their their existence with it, where they were they were tired, you know, they would they've been asking for money for years and that things hadn't started and stopped and not worked out. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:48.720 So I was full of energy for it. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:48.960 Yeah. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:53.600 So they said come to a board meeting, you know, a week later I'm on the board. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:55.840 They said, What is your role? 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:58.480 I said, I guess I'm, you know, what about creative director? 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:00.960 Because I wanted to just be able to do events, yeah. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.240 And kind of rebrand it, you know, because it'd been kind of dormant. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:14.080 So that was my first involvement was to help that board kind of get its kind of just treat it like a band, is what I always thought of it like, you know, like and that's worked out. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:19.120 But um, you know, I I knew how to promote that type of artistic culture. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.519 So I called in every favor of any friend I'd ever known ever. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.240 Because I wasn't from O'Cliffe and I wasn't from Dallas. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:26.480 Yeah. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.879 I wasn't embedded in the Dallas culture at all. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:34.159 So I was really, in a way, I feel like in retrospect, that worked to my advantage. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:34.399 Yeah. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:40.240 Because I wasn't involved in any previous things that might have shaded my shaded you in any way, yeah. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:40.639 Yeah. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:42.240 So that's that was 99. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:47.279 I'm sorry, 200 um nine, you know, roughly going into 2010. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:52.240 I started doing free events at the Texas Theater to kind of get it attention. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:58.960 And that's kind of like Well, I mean, 15, 16, whatever years later, it seems so obvious that that's what it should be. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.360 It's like, how did how how did nobody else, you know, oh lots of people tried. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.000 Lots of people tried, but it you had you had the magic sauce there. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:14.639 I don't, you know, it's easy for you know, the thing that I have, and I do a credit then to a lot of that, like I'm just a community person. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:21.600 Yeah, you know, I don't think it's easy for, you know, can I sit here and go, I did this and I did this, and I did it, it's whatever. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:25.360 You know, like that stuff is I don't think that serves the purpose. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:25.600 Right. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:32.639 You know, I don't feel like that's my role, you know, to be like, these are all things that I did, and everyone should point at me. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:46.480 It really is a group effort of the people that were involved with the foundation and people that are lending their time, and you're learning along the way of how to do these things from people that have tried it before and in many cases failed. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:46.799 Yeah. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.480 And learn from what didn't work out about it. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:14:04.879 So it, you know, I I don't I feel a little weird about years in having pretend like there was some you know master vision that we just totally knew because we didn't, you know, we had the ability to experiment, which was the main thing. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:06.720 Well, and I think I think you hit on it.

00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:14.879 I I think your strategy is really, I don't know what I'm gonna do exactly here, but I'm gonna let the community kind of tell me what what they want, right? 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.679 Yeah, and that's like I I learned that from places I worked. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:29.039 You know, some work working in rubber gloves and working with Dan Mohica, you know, Dan Mohica has more to be involved in this theoretically, philosophically, than he'll probably ever know. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:39.600 You know, because I was influenced by these people, people that had done things that were like that, that I admired, that were, you know, how do you do something that's important to a whole community? 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.080 That seemed like a huge task, you know. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:42.320 Right. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:48.960 But if you if you don't look at it like this giant thing, because really no one cared what I was doing in the beginning. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:55.600 Yeah, you know, it wasn't open, and it had been closed for so long that people were like, Well, I don't even who even knows what that is, you know. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:56.320 Whatever, yeah. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.000 It was always JFK, Lee R. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:14:58.159 V. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:14:58.639 Oswald. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:14:58.960 Right. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:10.320 And I just didn't in the beginning, I really wanted to focus on it's an empty room, you know, and because I'm from you know, Chicago area and and places like that, we have lots of history that's not always great. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:16.720 You know, there's things about Chicago, there's gangster violence and things that have happened in the Al Capone days or whatever, you know. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:21.840 But you in our world, you don't tear down buildings because they were part of history, right? 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.080 So I felt I do feel strongly about that. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:28.720 Yeah, I do feel strongly about preserving history, and I do feel strongly about architecture. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:36.320 Yeah, because I I think these buildings possess a power that is underexploited, you know, by cities in general. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:37.600 I totally agree. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:45.600 I I think that I mean there's a lot of what you're going to do, the events and what actually happens within those walls that is gonna draw people in. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:53.200 But the building itself, yeah, the the the fact that it is you know, as old as it is, that it was a theater for nearly a hundred years now. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:54.799 I mean, that's going to bring people in. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:16:00.960 Yeah, there's a there's a I don't I mean, I hate to sound like hippie-dippy about it, but there is a thing to me. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:13.759 Yeah, there is a thing about the soul of a place that I just I travel, you know, we travel a lot and you go to places that have a long history, and it does feel different. 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.159 I do think the cells of things get in there. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:22.879 So I think the Texas theater, to me, I felt like my job was to protect that. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:23.200 Yeah. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:28.399 And to to highlight that and to find other people that felt that way. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:34.639 And then figure out what skill set I didn't have, you know, and then, you know, lucky I met Barack. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:45.600 You know, Barack was he had been up here at school in UNT looking for a way to do a theater, and just completely by chance again, we ran into each other because I was doing events. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:52.559 He heard about one of the events, he kind of reached out, and it was like instant we'd see the same thing. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:55.200 We kind of agreed on where it was going. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.720 It was like, hey, just keep doing what you're doing, let's make that a business. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.159 I can figure out this project. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.759 I didn't know anything about projection. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:07.200 Yeah, I knew about AV stuff and music stuff, but I didn't know anything about projectors or any of that. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:08.319 So he knew that stuff. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:08.559 Yeah. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:11.039 So we offset each other's skill set perfectly. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:11.599 Yeah. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.279 And, you know, we I hope I can speak for him in that sense. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.880 Like, I was trusted to keep the ball and go keep going, right? 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:20.960 You know, and keep hitting those community notes. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:27.920 And I really want to get as many curators and community people in the building and give them some kind of platform. 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:39.200 And then my job was just kind of to make it make sense to like a first-time viewer or someone in the public, you know, to make it have meaning that felt like a collaborative effort. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:39.920 Yeah. 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:46.079 So yeah, I mean, in down there, you've got you're still you still hold the title of creative director, right? 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:52.319 But you've got a big team of other people that are kind of running a lot more of probably the day-to-day stuff at this point. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:52.960 Yes. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:56.960 Operation crew, and um that's always shifting and growing. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.799 We just added someone new just this last handful of months, yeah. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:02.880 Um, of a new guy named Lewis that we just brought on. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:06.720 We've um our guy Ashland's been with us for about a decade now. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:11.119 I mean, people are attracting the same YI was attracted to it. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:16.240 Yeah, people

get attracted to it and they kind of, you know, some of them want to be more involved. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:26.000 The Oak Cliff Film Festival is an example of how much the community and the volunteers um really make it occur because there's no money involved. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.079 Yeah, you don't get paid to do a festival, right? 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:33.359 You know, so those two things were a dynamic um combustion. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:34.400 Yeah, you know. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:35.519 Cool. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:39.119 Well, so you rocking along there in 2000. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:46.799 I guess we met in 2018 when Axis Realty was hired to sell the fine arts. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:47.119 Yeah. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:48.559 Um, you know, at that time. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:59.200 And the McBride family, I love to give them credit because I mean, you know, that there the building when we'd show it, I mean, if it was raining outside, it was raining inside basically. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:00.480 I mean, the roof was shot. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.920 There was a lot, it was really under in some serious disrepair. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:08.160 But I love to give them credit for the fact that it it still had that facade. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.720 I mean, we didn't let it change, you know, so much happened in the 70s and 80s. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:19.920 It's like, all right, let's throw up a concrete, you know, whatever facade on this thing and yeah and get rid of all that stuff, you know. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:27.279 And everybody, to give them even more context, like it's a really common occurrence of what how that worked. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:35.440 Yeah, like the arc of a theater struggling to figure out what to play and trying to change up whatever they are to get new people in there. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:39.279 That's a really common problem for theaters like that. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:46.640 So in the in 2026, now to have access to a building that you can restore is really special. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:51.839 Because it's it's you know, many people I'm sure might be like, well, why didn't they do this or that? 00:19:52.000 --> 00:20:03.839 But they don't, anyone that hasn't been behind those doors trying to figure out how to make any money from these buildings, they don't really know how hard it is for anyone to figure out, okay, we make it a dollar theater, do we show this? 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:04.720 Do we show that? 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:08.079 Yeah, all those things are really tough to figure out. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.359 So it's really unfair to point to any era. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.839 They're they're all just trying to do the best they can with the playing field they have. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:21.440 And once you get behind the eight ball of the repairs, yeah, man, it's tough to dig out of that. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:22.640 It is really tough. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:25.200 Yeah, so

they they did their best they could. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:33.039 And and after the the fire in there in the early 80s, I mean, really, if you think back, it it it changed to from the Texas Theater. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.559 I mean, a lot of people may not realize this. 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:35.200 It's crazy. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.880 Denton's Fine Arts Theater was originally a Texas theater, right? 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:42.960 But changed in 57 to fine arts, was rebranded as fine arts. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:54.240 And 25 years later, basically, there was this fire in that mezzanine area that that you know kind of threw off everything, everything that was going on there. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:56.559 But to think that it's it's only 25. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.720 I mean, this this brand, this fine arts. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:04.000 I mean, we think of it now, it's so iconic and it's so culturally important to what Denton is. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:16.160 I mean, I I if you Google Denton, you know, just Denton, Texas, one of the first images that comes up, you know, of course the courthouse, but also fine arts is one in you know, the Morrison Milling building, those kind of buildings, it's one of those. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:18.559 But it was only 25 years old at that point. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.880 So I was like, Yeah, that's not that historic. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.319 Maybe we should just do something else. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:25.119 But they didn't, and so again, it gives us an opportunity to do something else. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:25.599 Yeah, yeah. 00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:29.039 And they can usually these buildings become churches very often. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:29.680 Yeah. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.039 Um, I mean, sometimes they become Walgreens. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:38.079 And I was at a grocery store, I went to one in Italy that's a grocery store now in Venice. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:47.599 So they very often become other stuff, and you can see the remnants of them architecturally, but to hold on to it and really believe that at some point it'll work out. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:47.839 Yeah. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:49.519 You know, it does take some fortitude. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.319 Yeah, you know. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:54.240 Well, and I think we've been Denton's been fortunate to have the campus theater. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:22:04.319 I mean, it's not on the square, but the campus theater, you know, gives us some hope of being able to have You know, more more you know, more real estate and more opportunities like that. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.720 It's like, oh, this is what it's been for a very long time. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:07.519 Let's keep it going. 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:12.720 Let's we need to repurpose it, come up with kind of an adaptive reuse, so to speak, but let's let's keep it going. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.160 There used to be about seven that I'm aware of on the square. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:16.720 Right. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.119 Um so the campus is awesome. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:25.119 The fact you have one around the corner um from the fine arts is is a great addition to the community. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:26.880 And the more the merrier, you know. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:35.039 Like people always think there's well, not everyone, but people that they assume there's some competition between theaters, like us and Alamo or something like that. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:35.839 But there's really not. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:36.079 Yeah. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.079 Like we're all kind of rooting for each other, and more options is good for any community. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:40.880 Yeah. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:46.799 So again, back to 2018, as we as we were showing the space to lot, and there was a lot of interest. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:53.759 I mean, this was one of those kind of real estate uh brokerage projects you get on that's like the the news wants to talk about it. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:57.359 You know, it's not just it's some some random building down the street here. 00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:59.599 This is that was a big deal for the big deal for y'all. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:00.319 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:07.599 Yeah, it definitely was, you know, and so it was a really neat assignment for us to work on, and and we were honored to to kind of be a part of it. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:16.640 Uh, but I I remember uh showing the building to you guys, you and Barack, y'all came up and you're like, Well, we've we've been looking at this for years, and we'd love to do something. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:23.039 I had looked at it for years, like I had been to it since about 2015 or so. 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:29.359 Um, because there were moments when folks from the McBride family had heard about Texas theater. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:35.279 And because of my history and then and with that theater specifically, you know, and Barack went to UNT too. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:36.559 So we were always keen. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:41.200 People sometimes call other theaters and say, hey, we're thinking about doing one in Minnesota, whatever. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:46.480 And we're always sure, come on, we'll show you what we can show you, yeah, and tell you what we can. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.680 We're certainly, you know, hoping you get it going. 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:50.319 Yeah, you know. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:55.599 So I had looked at it over the years many times since 2015-ish or so. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:59.359 In flux of some version of reopening or selling. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:06.880 So by the time you guys got it, um I was already a little worried about the ceiling, all the things that was coming in. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.279 I was like, yeah, it's gonna get worse, you know. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:11.279 Yeah, because the roof was so gone. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.680 But I did

love that you guys were enthusiastic. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:16.400 Like that was the first good sign. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.160 Yeah, is that I could tell you guys weren't just representing another property. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:23.440 It felt like you guys really cared about who got it. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:23.920 Right. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.640 You know, and it was they're not easy to sell. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:27.519 Yeah, you know. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.160 Well, and and more than just us, the community cared, yeah, a lot. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:33.759 We we heard from a lot of people. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.079 It's like, well, make sure they do something cool with it. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:37.759 Like, well, we're gonna try, you know. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:46.640 First of all, somebody's gotta be willing to buy it, and then we can start, you know, eliminating and saying, okay, this is this would be the coolest use or the best use for it. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:25:00.319 So uh to me though, is is we talked to a lot of different prospects for that building, it it it kept coming back to you and Maroc, like y'all are the right ones to to operate to have control of this this this property. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:01.680 I think we did we got lucky. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:05.759 I think Barack and I got lucky in that aspect that you know Texas Theater became our proof of concept. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:06.160 Yep. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:13.759 That it it worked enough that we could say, okay, we've been doing this at that time, you know, almost a decade. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:30.319 And we could say, like, well, we've been through these different avenues, but the really the combination of our two talents, meaning I had a live music background, he was from you know, movie theaters, those two things combined seems to really be a good dynamic for these types of theaters. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:41.599 So at least we had a business plan that we could show to a realtor or an investor or whomever want to be be involved and say, well, here's the actual math of what these things do. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:43.039 Here's what they can't do. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:43.359 Yeah. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:48.240 Because people do get ideas that they're somehow worth millions and millions of dollars. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:56.799 It's understandable, and in a way, that's the perception of that is how much people value those buildings because they think, well, that must be worth millions of dollars. 00:25:57.119 --> 00:25:58.240 When in fact they're not. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:06.000 Like very often it's the restoration of the chairs or the ceiling or the roof or whatever, that that's just knocking you in the hole before you even begin. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:16.640 So we could at least show some idea from the Texas theater, and we could take you guys down there and say, Well, this is what it looks like, and it looked like this before, and give

you some idea of what it could look like. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:17.119 Yeah. 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:21.119 So you could at least feel comfortable and what the path might be. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:26.160 You know, still letting you guys have the availability to alter that. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:26.559 Right. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:32.400 You know, because I I really didn't want to force what we had done down anyone's throat either. 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:32.880 Yeah. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:40.400 You know, because I do think the community it's from, the building itself, right, has to have some of its own personality. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.359 It can't, it's not a rubber stamp franchise. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:43.839 No. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:44.319 Yeah. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:48.400 Well, so we we we started talking, it was like, okay, let's do something together. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:49.599 Let's let's figure this out. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:56.240 And and we acquired the building uh together, but it's like, okay, that's I mean the real work began, right? 00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:06.400 We did went in, did the asbestos and mold abatement remediation, and pretty pretty much demoed, had to demo everything out and put in put a new roof on. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:08.240 Let's get a new roof on here so that we can start with it. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:11.599 Continue to salvage what's here. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:23.039 Uh, but you know, had conversations with the city of Denton early, fairly early in the process, and there was some some momentum there, but COVID happens, everything changes. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:23.680 Unbelievable. 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:25.519 Yeah, everything changes, of course. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:32.480 And that changed even the way you guys operate, and I think even the way you looked at this project, right? 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:33.359 Big time. 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:41.359 COVID was for theaters across the nation, uh, was a huge challenge, and it put a lot of businesses like that under. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:48.079 Yeah, because if you were in the wrong spot at the wrong time of that debt or whatever you're dealing with, it was a tough moment, you know. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:58.400 And you know, I have to say, I think all of our collective production backgrounds, every, you know, Barack, myself, and uh and Ashton too are all from a production background. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:04.559 So, you know, many of us are literally all of us, if I think about it, are involved in some aspect of production now. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:10.000 So it gives you um, I don't know, it gives you some flexibility in those stressful moments. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:16.000 Like there's, you know, we just we didn't know what to do, but we started thinking about what to do quickly. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:16.319 Yeah. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.680 Like what could we do? 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:23.519 So the idea for the sunset drive, and

then we did in our parking lot got us through COVID. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:24.000 Yeah. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:29.599 And we, you know, ended up getting the loan uh to do the second balcony, which was a crucial. 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:30.880 We'd always wanted to do that. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:31.119 Yeah. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:38.559 And we were just in a moment where we knew to do that project, we'd have to be closed, uh, at least partially upstairs anyway. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:43.200 So we kind of, you know, I have to say, we kind of turned a negative into a positive. 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:49.599 So Barack and I kind of siphoned off to work on the construction of that and redesigned the second floor. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:56.079 And then, you know, on pretty much a daily basis, you know, Barack Ashton and all the employees, we didn't lay anybody off. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:00.319 And they were working in the parking lot and doing um, you know, drive-ins. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:15.119 And I kind of calcified my feeling about these things because it was, you know, COVID did lots of things with lots of businesses, but the undeniable truth that people wanted to be around each other, evidence. 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:22.720 Yeah, we could show anything in that parking lot, and people we could only fit about 30, roughly 35 cars. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:30.400 Um, we did a premiere, an actual first film premiere of a new film in the parking lot, uh, Promising Young Woman. 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:36.240 Um, so many things happened in that parking lot in those months, yeah, and people were really having a good time. 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:41.680 And some people were just like blindly, whatever film we put up, buying a ticket, you know. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:56.079 And it really, I don't know, it really kind of, I already felt the way I felt, but there felt like a sea change, you know, before COVID into after COVID and movie feelings about cinema to me, at least in my purview. 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:56.480 Yeah. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:01.839 I feel like people really started to look at these theaters and the world of cinema in a different light. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:09.599 The talking of points about whether you can stream something or not at home uh became like a big, you know, kind of household topic. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:11.440 Like, well, I can stream it at home. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:13.680 Well, okay, Wonder Woman's at home, great. 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:18.000 But you know, going and sitting on your car in a parking lot is just way more fun. 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:18.480 Yeah. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:28.000 You know, so it felt like a younger generation came out of COVID to us when we're looking at our demographics, really being feverish for cinema. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:34.799 So it felt like ironically looking back, COVID actually kind of helped the fine arts project. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:42.000 Yeah, I know that seems weird to say,

yeah, but if we would have done it the way we wanted to do it in 2019, we would have done it differently than we're doing now. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:45.200 So no, that's really it's it has changed. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:52.079 And and I I mean it it made all the sense in the world to just push pause and hold off on everything. 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:59.680 I mean, who we didn't nobody knew what was gonna happen, how this was gonna play out, or you know, whether it'd even ever make sense to do it. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:11.359 But in addition to that, it certainly didn't make sense to have you know more conversations with the city at that time about about financial support because they were in it, they were trying to they're trying to figure it out too. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:12.160 Figure it out too. 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:15.680 It just wasn't, it wouldn't have got it wouldn't have gained any traction then. 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:20.880 So basically two, three years, we just kind of sat there and was like, okay, we'll come back to this at some point. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:24.000 I remember having conversations like maybe we don't. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:41.039 I mean, we want we all want to, but yeah, I think it's that should be, you know, you've heard this from me a lot, but I will continue to say when there's microphones in front of me that it takes it is an unbelievably rare scenario that realtors and developers such as yourselves have that type of patience. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:49.119 Like that's a really unique scenario because most people would look at the math of the situation and say, no way. 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:57.680 So I always wanted at least leave that on the table for you guys, meaning you guys have already put a lot of blood and sweat and lots of money into it. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:08.319 So no one can complain about trying to get the ball over the line at that point and saying, you know what, crying uncle, I don't know if we can afford to keep doing this. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:08.640 Right. 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:16.000 So it really is a credit to you guys that you stuck with it and looked at the project with fresh eyes when we started it again. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:16.400 Yeah. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:19.680 And then could we could explain that to the city? 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:28.880 Like, you know, people think of developers and city money as like this nefarious thing, but it really is like this is a work of art for a city. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:30.160 It's like a museum. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:33.599 Like this is not like just a box that people want to build. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.839 It's like it's something that's preserving the history of Denton. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:38.079 The city should care about this. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:42.799 Yeah, you know, so it it's good that that wasn't a big gap. 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:43.200 Yeah. 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:47.680 To for them to understand that and understand y'all's passion for that was helpful. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:56.319 Well, I I I think, yeah, when we we when we started talking to Christine Taylor at the city and her team is like, okay, is there a path forward? 00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:59.119 You know, we weren't we weren't sure really, to be honest. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:02.160 Like, is is there going to be a path forward working with the city? 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:03.200 We've got this gap. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:07.680 I mean, it's a it's a very big project, an expensive project. 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:11.519 And it only makes sense to take on so much debt on a project like this. 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:18.160 So it's like without some infusion of capital from somewhere, uh, this thing's just not gonna happen. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.119 And and to the city's credit, and then they were great to work with. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:27.519 They jumped in there and uh sure enough gave gave a grant that that really bridged that gap and kind of got us around. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:30.559 And I I think you're gonna see other cities take notice of that. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:37.519 Yeah, and I and I know from my experience in the last year or so that we've restarted it, that people reach out about that. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.160 Yeah, you know, how in the world did you guys pull that off? 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:47.680 You know, because I I think cities other than Denton should look at that as a case scenario of what's the harm? 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:57.119 Like there's a million things a city can invest in for infrastructure or tourism or whatever, you know, but you know, unequivocally, these things do encourage activity. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:04.720 So I think Denton should be credited for seeing that quickly in wanting I it feel it felt overall very positive. 00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:07.759 There wasn't a lot of detractors that thought it was a bad idea. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.360 No, so I hopefully other cities take note and follow suit. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:16.159 I think as as it opens up and and you know, everybody kind of really sees the impact of it. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:18.480 I I I can't imagine others won't follow suit. 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:19.119 I hope so too. 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:19.760 I hope so. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.440 So so paint us the picture. 00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:24.079 So we're now sometime later this year. 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.280 Yeah, it opens up. 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:27.280 Hopefully, summerish, later-ish. 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:29.360 Yeah, what's the what's the experience? 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:32.559 What do what people feel when they go in and what what are we gonna be doing? 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:46.719 Hopefully, you know, I'm always shooting for that kind of like awestruck feeling of like, whoa, you know, that people haven't seen it, they've had in their minds, maybe if they lived here and heard about their parents or

grandparents, whatever, that they feel like we've done it right. 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:48.320 So that we've used that. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:57.679 If anyone has been to the theater before when it was open, as you know, we've we've used that as the template and then just tried to expand on what those ideas were. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:06.639 So the basic structure of that downstairs theater has been kept intact, and um we've we've kind of upgraded what we can do with it. 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:16.000 So um definitely been able to do high-end digital projection, certainly doing 35 millimeter uh prints, and then adding 70, which it used to do. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:16.239 Yeah. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:19.519 So there was a time when 70 was shown in the fine arts theater. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:24.639 So that was again to use that kind of DNA core to return to for the fine arts. 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:32.400 That was important to get its identity back as a place to see films and be a cinematic hub for people that are into that culture. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:34.079 Um, that's downstairs. 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:44.159 And then there's an upstairs theater, it's about 50-ish, we think, um, that it's gonna be kind of a little tighter thing that you might see in modern theaters, but um, it'll be a cozy like black box theater. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:44.480 Yeah. 00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:48.559 Um, but very important to mention, we did this at the Texas theater as well. 00:35:48.880 --> 00:35:58.400 The throw, which is like just the distance from the projector to the screen, we do a lot to figure out the ratio so it doesn't feel like you're getting gypped by going upstairs. 00:35:58.480 --> 00:35:58.719 Okay. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:01.039 So the screen is almost the same size. 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:01.519 Wow. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:02.880 So that's the idea. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:09.599 So that for the person that's into this kind of thing, you know, sometimes you go to theaters and they say, Oh, it's an upstairs theater, and you'd be like, Oh, that's the small one, you know. 00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:09.760 Yeah. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:12.719 And it's got a smaller screen, or the sound is not as good. 00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:15.679 Um, but we've had, you know, we did this in Texas Theater. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:18.320 We made it um about the same size screen. 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:20.000 It's actually a little bit louder. 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:20.320 Yeah. 00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:23.519 So it's the all the 35s for us are upstairs. 00:36:23.679 --> 00:36:27.280 So the cinema experience upstairs, some people prefer it now. 00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:32.960 So we want to at least have the experience in both theaters feel like they're at the top end of what they can be. 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:35.280 So we'll have two main spaces. 00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:43.199 Um, and then the downstairs will be affitated for any kind of a live event, uh, live bands, live scores,

comedians, podcasts. 00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:46.880 I mean, just hundreds of things that you can think of. 00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:56.800 I mean, I'm sure presentations and you know, we're hoping, we're hoping when assuming, I guess, but we're we're hoping film students and UNTs right there, TW, TW is right there. 00:36:56.960 --> 00:37:01.039 So we're we're hoping to have a scholastic integration into the community, right? 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:04.239 Because we are going to be available to those folks to use. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:08.719 Um, so it in my perfect world that's being used for so many things, it's hard to count. 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:16.960 But it's it's DNA is is is cinema with that music performance, uh, you know, more or less half and half, you know. 00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:22.800 So I think as an entertainment spot, I don't know of another one in the county or anywhere close. 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:23.119 Yeah. 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:24.239 But I'm biased. 00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:25.199 Of course. 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:26.719 But I don't know of one, honestly. 00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:27.119 Yeah. 00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:30.239 Well, and some concessions and a ball. 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:31.360 Concessions for sure. 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:32.400 There'll be a second, yeah. 00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:34.079 Sorry, I forgot to mention the bar. 00:37:34.239 --> 00:37:38.559 There's a there'll be a bar that kind of is behind the marquee, essentially overlooking the square. 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:38.800 Yeah. 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:43.920 So if anyone's been to Pascal's in in town, similar Pascal's a little bigger, actually. 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:49.679 It's a little, it's a kind of a little tiny box um bar that I think is gonna be kind of popular because it's kind of yeah. 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:52.559 Where else can you slip on a marquee and look on the 10th square? 00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:53.679 It's pretty cool. 00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:57.920 Um, so that'll be a fitted up there, and then full concession when you walk in the doors. 00:37:58.079 --> 00:37:58.400 Yeah. 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:02.079 Um, and then there's, I don't know if we should tell people what the entrance is gonna be. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:06.719 There's gonna be a little surprise in the entrance that we're currently working on that Brad knows about. 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:09.360 Yeah, we'll I would like to leave that for later. 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:11.039 Yeah, we'll leave that for later. 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:18.400 Well, man, it's and I and I love the way again, I know coming out of uh the Texas Theater in Dallas, it's like this is this is what's worked here. 00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:23.199 So let's bring it up here, but it doesn't mean that it's gonna mirror that exactly, right? 00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:24.320 It's just a network. 00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:27.280 In theory, yeah, it would mirror the idea of it, right? 00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:30.320 Which is that we are

a home for the community, right? 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:33.519 And we do lots of stuff, you know, like other than that. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:47.280 But the exact shows maybe I mean, occasionally I think if the you know the cool thing that Denton people should be excited about this theater is like if you think of a touring act coming through to our place, we can now say, Hey, comedian X, we can go to Denton now too. 00:38:47.440 --> 00:38:52.480 Yeah, so I think for the comedy scene in Denton, which is it's gonna be wild. 00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:55.039 All right, because there's gonna be so many. 00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:01.039 It's gonna be a I mean, this is really dorky for me, but for the type of venue that it is, I'm a big venue dork. 00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:05.360 So the type of size it is is a perfect room for com for comedy. 00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:08.719 So I think comedians are gonna really want to come. 00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:09.519 Cool. 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:11.039 Yeah, so it's gonna be pretty cool. 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:11.760 Yeah. 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.000 Well, how do you see fine arts kind of fitting into the broader downtown ecosystem? 00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:21.280 I mean, what do you what do you think it's gonna do for the square, the businesses around downtown? 00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:36.000 I mean, in I think it's gonna maybe, you know, I don't want to overstate what it can do, but I what I've seen in other communities in Texas theater on Jefferson is that it, you know, first and foremost, it it weaves itself into the existing community. 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:44.880 You know, there was a concern, for instance, in Texas theater that we somehow might represent some wave of new gentrification or something. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:45.199 Yeah. 00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:58.719 And we I had lots of meetings with community leaders when we first started the business to ensure them our whole main goal is to integrate ourselves into what it exists about the community and be um complimentary to it. 00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:03.679 You know, so I think that's first, it's gonna be complimentary to what already exists in Denton. 00:40:03.760 --> 00:40:07.840 It's not looking to say, get out of our way, old Denton, like we're the new guy. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:10.320 Like it's just not our our frame of reference. 00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:21.920 So I think whatever has been existing in Denton, I think it amplifies that because a lot of what you already see in Denton, other events and you know, farmers' markets or whatever is happening on the square, right? 00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:27.599 It may not seem related to a theater, but it kind of becomes that way because it's just activity. 00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:27.920 Yeah. 00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:33.599 So you start to see people think, oh, well, I'm doing this, you know, bar crawl over here. 00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:36.960 What if we do a thing over there that relates to that thing over there? 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:41.760 Like you can kind of curate a whole system if you want to. 00:40:42.159 --> 00:40:49.519 You know, and what I've been doing is meeting with bookers and promoters and people that do stuff and kind of showing them that that possibility, right? 00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.079 And saying, just because you work at another, you know, you work at rubber gloves, you know, chatwick at rubber gloves. 00:40:54.400 --> 00:41:03.280 One of the first people I talk to say, hey, this is happening, just so you know, talk to other venue owners and say, you know, this is how it's gonna collaborate with what you guys already do. 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:06.400 You have band coming through town, you guys want to do something. 00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:15.920 Well, that we can do something that offsets that in a complimentary way the night before, the night after, during something that collaborates with you know, with what you're doing. 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:22.320 So I think that X factor, I I don't want to overstate what it will be, but I I know it will exist. 00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:22.800 Yeah. 00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:28.159 You know, I'm I'm optimistic that it will be exciting in that one aspect. 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:37.679 I'm hoping that young people that are around here that are thinking about that sticky Denton thing, yeah, you know, start a restaurant, start another business. 00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:53.679 Like that's what we've seen 15 years in Texas Theater is a whole community now of people that feel like we're part of something in their entertainment world and they want to do something, you know, like Dallas Zine Fest or something where it's like, okay, I'm I'm doing this thing at home. 00:41:53.840 --> 00:41:58.400 What if I did it in a larger sense and use the theater as a springboard? 00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:07.760 I would love to see 20 somethings come out of UNT or TWU and say, like, you know what, I think this is cool, and I kind of feel like I'm gonna stick around this area. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:23.119 What if I did a little, you know, taco shop around the corner, whatever, whatever it is, you know, it's seeing again, it doesn't seem like it's totally related, but there's a reason why these theaters were always on the square of these communities because they were a focal point. 00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:23.599 Yeah. 00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:25.039 Kind of an anchor, yeah. 00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:31.920 Draw basically it it I feel like that's yeah, one of the great things about it is be just such a draw. 00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:39.760 And then people don't come and just say, I'm gonna come to the some might, but a lot of people don't come and say, I'm going to this show, and then I'm headed out. 00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:41.280 Like, what else is around here? 00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:43.679 Oh, let me discover this or let me check this out while I'm here. 00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:46.159 That's one of one of the main things you've heard me

say this for years now. 00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:51.440 One of the obviously Denton is the target to make them happy and make them interested. 00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:54.800 Um, but I've been thinking a lot about the communities outside of Denton. 00:42:54.880 --> 00:42:55.119 Yeah. 00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:57.440 You know, that would want to see Denton. 00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:04.400 You know, it's it's not that one theater is going to be the whole reason they come, but you know, we've seen this in O'Cliff. 00:43:04.559 --> 00:43:08.239 Like, you know, you just got to give a handful of things to keep people to go. 00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:09.920 Man, have you seen what's going on in Denton right now? 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:16.320 Like there could be, you know, let's gather the family, go in the early afternoon, and maybe stick it out and see something at night. 00:43:16.480 --> 00:43:20.400 I mean, we did that Halloween town screening this past October. 00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:28.320 And, you know, what you guys have done in Denton for Halloween is a great example of like the city just says, hey, we're gonna support this. 00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:30.239 Community says, Well, I could do stuff. 00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:46.480 Yeah, and suddenly you have this kind of very fungible thing that is kind of throughout the whole community, and it brings people in from Sanger or Pilot Point or you know, people places that are not, you know, the whole like, well, people from Dallas come up to Den or Fort Worth, all that golden triangle stuff. 00:43:46.559 --> 00:43:48.559 It's like, sure, that's part of it too. 00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:59.679 But there's a whole mess of people, you know, that are in a 50 50, 60 mile radius that like, you know, I'm thinking about hey, can I get that dude that works the oil rigs? 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:05.360 Like to come in to see a genre film on a Friday and he hasn't been in a theater for a decade. 00:44:05.519 --> 00:44:05.760 Yeah. 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:07.760 Like, but he's like, I gotta see this. 00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:11.440 You know, like that's I'm like, I like getting people off the couch. 00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:16.960 You know, like that's my it's a little bit of a competitive, it's fun to set that bar. 00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:21.360 Like, let's get that guy that's cynical to break him down and get him off the couch. 00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:27.519 You know, well, if you can get my oldest brother in in for a show, you've really accomplished it. 00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:29.519 Do you know the last movie you've seen that you ever said? 00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:30.320 It isn't even watchable. 00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:34.400 I mean, this might have probably, you know, back at like back to the future or something. 00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:34.960 You know, back. 00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:35.920 I mean, we do that. 00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:36.719 Yeah, let's go. 00:44:36.880 --> 00:44:37.760 And we bring the car. 00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:38.079 Okay.

00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:39.760 I mean, we bring the actual car. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:40.480 There you go. 00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:43.920 I like to think at some point, we do say that at Texas Theater a lot. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:49.119 Like, at some point, we're gonna show something that you're like, I gotta see. 00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:49.920 I gotta go. 00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:52.480 It's because it's not about new movies, yeah. 00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:56.639 It's about being with your tribe of whatever your thing is. 00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:59.840 So, you know, back to the future is kind of one of them. 00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:05.760 Yeah, I don't care how mainstream the movie is, seeing a movie with other people that like that movie is fun. 00:45:05.920 --> 00:45:07.840 Yeah, and if you don't like it, you don't like it. 00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:10.239 But at some point, we're gonna do something that's that's gonna make you go walk. 00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:11.119 I gotta see the comedian. 00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:16.639 With all the AI stuff going on, we we gotta we gotta we gotta sit down and watch Terminator again, right? 00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:19.920 I mean, this is like man, okay, this is might happen. 00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:24.079 Not only that, but I think I I don't want to overstate that either. 00:45:24.159 --> 00:45:33.199 But I in the the world that's AI talk, the the business of being in human capital is like it's that's the one. 00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:43.599 You know, so you know, I'm not gonna say we're stopping AI from anything, but yeah, I just don't believe people only will look at their phones all day long. 00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:53.440 I just I don't I don't see the evidence of that from the customers that we have now, and they are getting younger, so I don't see this like youth only looks of the phone thing. 00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:54.960 I I see the opposite. 00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:58.320 No, we're wired for to be connected and for connection. 00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:00.320 And so yeah, we're gonna we're gonna seek that out. 00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:02.559 And this is, I think, gonna be a great venue to do it. 00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:13.280 So you're thinking later this summer that the we're hoping that you know, we're we've said this publicly, we we're hoping that we can open with the Odyssey on 70 millimeter and a bunch of other events. 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:19.280 Oh my and even if even if we miss so people may look that up and say, well, that opens in July. 00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:26.000 I understand that, but it doesn't mean by the time we open, people will be done with that movie, right? 00:46:26.159 --> 00:46:32.719 Because if you think of something like that happened recently with Sinners, Sinners stayed in the theater for a long time on 70 specifically. 00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:35.280 So I can't state this enough. 00:46:35.360 --> 00:46:49.519 The fact that it's gonna have 70 millimeter is gonna be a huge draw for people that are

into cinema culture from this whole region because there's not that many theaters in the country that have 70 millimeter projection of this type. 00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:58.480 So even if it's not the opening day of Odyssey, we're still gonna show 70s and we're still gonna show um recurring 70s on a kind of a monthly basis. 00:46:58.559 --> 00:47:03.360 So I I think and I hope fingers crossed, I think August will be open. 00:47:03.679 --> 00:47:04.000 Okay. 00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:07.519 Well, it don't don't go see the Odyssey before Odyssey. 00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:08.000 Just wait. 00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:10.800 Yeah, just wait until read the book first. 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:11.679 That's right. 00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:12.559 All right. 00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:13.920 Well, uh, this has been great. 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:15.360 I gotta hit you with a few things. 00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:15.760 Sure. 00:47:16.159 --> 00:47:19.440 You you've been you've obviously lived here and you've been around Denton enough. 00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:21.360 So what what's kind of right now? 00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:26.800 I want to go back to when you were living here and then maybe now, some favorite hot spots. 00:47:27.039 --> 00:47:34.159 Maybe there was some back in the day that aren't here now, but well, in the old the old days, you know, 15 years ago. 00:47:34.400 --> 00:47:38.320 Um we my wife we live in front of Mr. 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:39.039 Chopsticks. 00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:41.360 Okay, this is a debate in our household. 00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:44.559 But um, my wife is one of the acolytes of Mr. 00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:46.639 Chopsticks, so she loves Mr. 00:47:46.800 --> 00:47:51.119 Chopsticks, even though you know I was one of those people to like when you smell Mr. 00:47:51.199 --> 00:47:55.840 Chopsticks every day of your life because you live there, you're like, I've had enough of that smell. 00:47:56.000 --> 00:48:00.559 But um, you know, we were we were like everybody else going to Fry Street when I lived here. 00:48:00.719 --> 00:48:04.639 When I first came here, there was a record store called Johnny Law that I was adored, and there was a lot. 00:48:05.039 --> 00:48:13.119 I got so lucky when I moved here because the first couple of weeks I met everyone that I would end up needing to know from Rubber Gloves and plays like that. 00:48:13.199 --> 00:48:16.239 So Rubber Gloves is a very special place in my heart. 00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:20.239 A very dear friend of mine started it back in the when it was his house. 00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:20.639 Yeah. 00:48:20.800 --> 00:48:25.199 Um, and many of those people in that circle became friends of mine when I was playing in bands and things like that. 00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:35.760 Um, then I lived on Egan when I first moved here, and I lived next door to several musicians that people might know from like Centromatic and other bands like that, and Chris Fleming's from Baptist Generals that I ended up playing with. 00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:39.280 I lived in the same street as he did, but Dan Mohicab was a few doors down. 00:48:39.360 --> 00:48:40.559 Um, I met him right away. 00:48:40.639 --> 00:48:44.800 So Dan's Dan's original bar on the off the square. 00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:46.239 I adored that bar. 00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:46.559 Yeah. 00:48:46.719 --> 00:48:50.000 Um, what is it now? 00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:51.840 It was in front of where Haley's was. 00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:54.079 I don't I don't, I can't think of it was Dusty's for a while. 00:48:54.239 --> 00:48:55.280 Oh, it's Dusty's, yeah. 00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:56.960 It's kind of close to where we're that's right. 00:48:57.039 --> 00:48:57.840 It's Dusty's, yeah. 00:48:58.079 --> 00:48:58.239 Yeah. 00:48:58.400 --> 00:49:03.599 So when I first came to Denton in the late 90s, uh, Dan's was my favorite place to see a show. 00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:08.400 If you could get in that live room, we had a half moon shell of of theater seats. 00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:11.679 Yeah, it was a small venue, but an incredible place to see a show. 00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:12.000 Okay. 00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:14.639 Um, I saw the first polyphonics pre-show ever there. 00:49:14.880 --> 00:49:15.119 Wow. 00:49:15.280 --> 00:49:19.840 Um, and that's a big band to see that, but it was just a great venue to see shows at. 00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:27.679 So when he opened the Silverleaf, you know, I just Dan, Dan's places just have a special Dan's bar on a Sunday afternoon. 00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:29.360 I just don't think you can beat it. 00:49:29.599 --> 00:49:36.400 Like I think hanging out there when the weather's nice on the patio, you know, it's pretty awesome. 00:49:36.639 --> 00:49:37.199 That's a good one. 00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:37.519 Yeah. 00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:45.599 Well, you may have hit it with the the the show you just mentioned, but what yeah, of all the shows you've seen in Iton, is there one or two that stand out to you? 00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:48.639 I mean, God, I saw so many. 00:49:48.800 --> 00:49:52.639 Uh at Rubber Gloves, I saw an embarrassment of bands on their first tour. 00:49:53.360 --> 00:49:54.960 So there's huge bands. 00:49:55.039 --> 00:49:56.719 There's like a band called TV on the radio. 00:49:56.800 --> 00:50:01.840 So TV on the radio played in rubber gloves to about five people, and I was one of them. 00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:06.800 Um you know, Arcade Fire played at Haley's to ten people. 00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:10.079 You know, like those shows are kind of wild to me in retrospect. 00:50:10.159 --> 00:50:12.320 There's a band called Animal Collector that played to no one. 00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:14.079 Um, I saw Sony's band. 00:50:14.239 --> 00:50:18.000 I did sound for um oh, what was the name of that band? 00:50:18.239 --> 00:50:19.119 My morning jacket. 00:50:19.519 --> 00:50:19.840 Okay. 00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:21.519 Um to no one. 00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:25.360 I mean, there was no one

there, and that band was filling stadiums like a year later. 00:50:25.519 --> 00:50:25.840 Yeah. 00:50:26.079 --> 00:50:33.519 So my time doing sound at rubber gloves, I just saw so many incredible shows there. 00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:42.400 If you're into the punk rock universe and kind of the avant-garde stuff, yeah, I I just saw an incredible amount of shows there. 00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:48.239 They were jaw-dropping, and it felt like it felt like the best secret in it. 00:50:48.320 --> 00:50:50.719 Always felt like me, it was C BGB's of Texas. 00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:53.199 Like it really felt like something really special. 00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:58.960 So I don't know, TV and the radio, that Animal Collective and My Morning Jagg, those are pretty wild. 00:50:59.119 --> 00:51:02.320 I saw the band Centromatic was one of my favorite bands, yeah, ever. 00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:03.119 He was my neighbor. 00:51:03.280 --> 00:51:05.679 Will Johnson's brilliant plays with Jason Dispel now. 00:51:06.400 --> 00:51:11.519 Um, I saw those the classic Denton bands like that, just over and over and over. 00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:16.880 My my buddy's band Mandarin, seeing them was like religious for us. 00:51:17.039 --> 00:51:20.480 Yeah, you know, so I I could bore you with many, many bands. 00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:21.280 Oh, that's cool. 00:51:21.440 --> 00:51:27.840 You know, well, I uh for me, it was when Pearl Jam came through Denton and they played it. 00:51:28.239 --> 00:51:28.719 Where was that? 00:51:28.800 --> 00:51:30.079 Yeah, it was like '94. 00:51:30.159 --> 00:51:32.320 They came played the super pitch. 00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:33.920 93 or 94. 00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:40.800 Well, before they were playing, I mean, maybe it just wasn't the thing to play the really large stadiums then, but it was cool. 00:51:41.119 --> 00:51:50.239 Man, you know, I mean, it it wasn't downtown, it wasn't as an intimate show as what you're describing, but to have Pearl Jim come to Dennis and play at the super pit, that was pretty cool. 00:51:50.400 --> 00:51:52.480 So I don't is where's the super pit then? 00:51:52.639 --> 00:51:54.239 Uh on campus there, UNT C. 00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:55.679 Oh, I didn't even know it was called, huh? 00:51:55.760 --> 00:51:56.000 Yeah. 00:51:56.239 --> 00:52:00.719 So because I know Wilco played at the school, I don't think it's called the Super Pit. 00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:01.360 Yeah. 00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:03.599 But I don't know what those venues are called at the school. 00:52:03.679 --> 00:52:07.599 I know there's some nice basketball arena, is oh wow, referred to as the super pit. 00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:10.400 They played in a basketball arena in UNT. 00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:10.880 That's wild. 00:52:11.039 --> 00:52:12.480 Yeah, it was a great show. 00:52:12.719 --> 00:52:13.760 That's super cool. 00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:14.480 Yeah. 00:52:14.880 --> 00:52:15.119 All right. 00:52:15.199 --> 00:52:18.000 Well, all my guests get a hat from Norman Roscoe. 00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:21.760 So you get to get to pick your well, as you can see, I wear black on black. 00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:24.320 So everyone, everyone knows which one I'm taking. 00:52:24.639 --> 00:52:25.519 Thank you, Eric. 00:52:25.679 --> 00:52:27.039 Yes, Norman Roscoe. 00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:28.719 Shout out to Norman Roscoe. 00:52:28.880 --> 00:52:29.280 Oh man. 00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:32.559 Well, thanks, Jason, for for joining me and spending the time. 00:52:32.880 --> 00:52:33.199 Of course. 00:52:33.679 --> 00:52:35.199 This has been a lot of fun. 00:52:35.280 --> 00:52:40.880 And I I hope that you know this gives people a little more, just builds the anticipation, excitement even more. 00:52:41.119 --> 00:52:41.679 It is my pleasure. 00:52:42.480 --> 00:52:44.320 It's really thanks to many, much thanks to you. 00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:45.280 This is happening. 00:52:45.360 --> 00:52:48.719 So anytime you want to chat about, you know, I'm happy to chat. 00:52:49.039 --> 00:52:50.960 We'll we'll chat some more for sure. 00:52:51.119 --> 00:52:55.440 Well, if you didn't know Jason Reimer and what's going on with Fine Arts Theater, now you know. 00:52:55.519 --> 00:52:56.559 Thanks for joining us. 00:52:56.880 --> 00:52:57.840 Thanks.