one million vintage movie theaters

a toast to the Byrd theatre! isn't she gorgeous?




a few blocks up Cary street from me is Carytown - restaurants, vintage stores, a record shop and other quaint businesses in little buildings that try to preserve that aging brick exterior richmond is so good at. the crown of Carytown is the Byrd. i have yet to see its special moment: a wurlitzer that rises from a pit in the stage with someone playing spooky chords on saturdays.
but you can always see these weird little stages on the sides with a harp display, for instance.


i thought i had learned a thing or two about vintage theatres having worked my first job at Orem's Scera theatre where i memorized Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, The Rocketeer*, and Beauty and the Beast. but i was wrong. Richmond's scera blew my mind.

despite living practically next door and the cost of admission a scant two dollars, i have only attended the Byrd twice and both were midnight movies. the first was Goonies which, as is the case with most of you nearing 30, changed my life - i believe - for the better. that scene with Chunk confessing his sins to the Fratellis totally stands the test of time.



my second night out was just last saturday for that classic pink floyd phenomenon: the wizard of oz.



after years of rigging it myself with a television and boom box it was a real treat to see a big screen in perfect sync with great sound.
here's that clincher of moments: dorothy opening the door from black and white into color at the very instant that the cash register of "money" bangs into your ears. coincidence? one of many tasty treats.


i admit, that moment also changed my life. but i also really like little things, how the tornado sways to the gentle eerie music earlier in the album, the panicked change the soundtrack takes as dorothy falls into the pigpen, the heartbeat closing the scene as dorothy listens to tin man's chest. i have no doubt that when my generation runs the academy we will be shelling out an honorary Oscar to pink floyd.

that's the perfect oscar acceptance pose!
we should do it soon before they start leaving us for that big oz in the sky.


at the exact same moment in new york city jefferey was watching his midnight movie: Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure. they're both so appetizing that i'm not sure which of us won 'best midnight movie of the night 2006"...any judgers out there?

Pee Wee and Chunk shall also receive honorary Oscars.

*actress confession. Fact: from 1985-1986 Alex Bigelow and i watched only three movies in a year of sleepovers
1. Ghostbusters 1



2. Little Shop of Horrors

i still love this steve martin song


3. Labrynth. despite the discomfort of watching David Bowie i had a substantial crush on Jennifer Connely (who didn't?)


and was excited as a fourteen-year-old to see her voluptuous return in the Rocketeer




until recently i had been under the impression that Alex and I had been watching scary movies. i knew there were a lot scarier ones out there, like the freddie kruger collection, but the overarching comedic goal of ghostbusters and little shop of horrors were hidden from eyes blinded by demonic undertones.

i'm not one that has a ready answer for "favourite actress" but i think that on the strength of crushes at ages 11 and 14 i'll start answering with JC.