a truly a friend of mine and someone who I've
known a very long time, Mr. Doug Levine from
the State Theater of Ithaca. Hi, Mike. Hi, buddy.
How are you? It's so good to see you. Doug, it's
great to see you. You brought me gifts. Yeah,
we have some some merch, you know. Yeah pile
on give you give you something nice to drink
your coffee out of a little state theater mug
Usually when people show up and they're like
we have gifts, you know, it's maybe a maybe it's
one mug Maybe it's a maybe it's a poet. He came
with autographed posters mugs wine glasses This
is why I love this man. There's a lot a lot of
love at the state theater We like to share and
as you all know, I am from Ithaca and One of
my favorite things about Ithaca is its music
scene culture, and the state theater has been
a staple of not just the music scene, the entertainment
scene, especially post pandemic. You guys have
brought so many amazing shows to this area. So
many times in my life I've heard people go, wait,
you're going to see Nikki Glaser in Ithaca tonight?
I'm like, yep. You know, Nate Bargazzi right
before he went on SNL. The list goes on. But
Doug, you are the executive director. You are
the guy. And I've been in charge since actually
the organization State Theater of Ithaca Inc
is a 501c3 not -for -profit and it actually formed
in the spring of 2009. That's when they branched
away from another not -for -profit historic Ithaca
that actually is very credited with saving that
historic building. Yeah. But they formed a standalone
not -for -profit in the spring of 2009. And I
heard about it and I raised my hand and I was
like, I would love to get involved, you know,
be on your board. And they actually were like,
we're thinking maybe Would you be our first executive
director? And at the time I had a very stable
job and I was like, it's kind of a leap of faith,
but I love that building. And I took, my wife
had a very stable job at Cornell. So I took the
leap and I've been there, God, it's been, it'll
be 16 years in August. That's crazy to me because
first of all, I can't imagine anyone else doing
it anyway. You really are, I mean, people. people,
you are part of the show. You know, you come
out in the beginning of each show. In fact, I
was at a show once where the comedian made a
joke after, you know, I think Doug said everything.
I think he even ordered the McRib or something.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you are a part
of the show. You are the face of the state theater.
I actually didn't know that you were the first
executive director. Yeah. Yeah. Of this organization.
Yeah. Yeah. Right. A lot of credit to DSP shows,
Dan Smalls, John Sanders. We have a great partnership
with them as our official promoter. So they bring
in amazing talent. It's like world -class talent
that we're bringing into Little Ithaca, New York.
It's pretty remarkable. It's absolutely amazing.
I mean, I know a lot of it is geography. It's
easier when you live in Ithaca or upstate New
York. You can catch big acts in between New York
City and Buffalo and kind of get them on the
routing side of things. But it still doesn't
guarantee it. And it's really impressive how
you guys in Dan Small's Presents are able to
pull these acts. And I mean, I can imagine when
you started off, it was probably much different,
right? Smaller acts? Smaller acts, not as frequent,
yep, yep. We've really put, I think, a back on
the map. When I was in college in the mid -90s,
I felt like there were some really great acts
passing through, but a lot of them were like
coming to Cornell, and they were very open to
the public. Even the state theater in the 90s,
I remember seeing like Jimmy Cliff there, and
Ani DeFranco, and it was... At the same time,
the theater was kind of falling apart then. But
but there was like a big lull. The state theater
closed in 1995. I don't know if you remember
that or not. I wasn't in this. I was still living
in the Mohawk Valley at the time. I moved to
Ithaca 0506. OK, so. So I know the story. Yeah,
it was I'd love for you to. It was closed for
five, six years, and it really had a major impact
on the whole downtown corridor where, I mean,
the commons was like a ghost town for that time,
too. So, like I said, historic, I think I actually
raised the money to kind of salvage the building,
brought it back, you know, they put, you know,
three, $4 million into the building, replaced
the roof. And and Historic Githiga, by the way,
their their whole mission is to basically save
old buildings. And they did. They the theater
was like this close from the wrecking ball. They
were going there were plans to turn it into a
parking lot. And they they swooped they swooped
in, raised the money and got it back. And the
one thing about Historic Githiga is they had
this beautiful theater and they're like, oh,
now let's program it. And, you know, you working
in the industry, it's not as easy as you think.
And they quickly went from, you know, breaking
even to losing a lot of money by booking the
shows and not really knowing exactly what they
were doing. So that's what spun out. It's a tough
job. Yeah. No blame there at all. And actually,
I really thank them for literally saving the
building. But that's where Dan Smalls and DSP
came in and were like, hey, we know how to program
this. We just need someone to really operate
and run the building and fundraise for the building.
And that's where I come in, where I have this
passion that I can't fake. I am truly passionate
about the love of the building. It's just a beautiful
history. I mean, people in Syracuse, it's very
similar to the landmark. Yeah. A little smaller.
Very similar. Very similar. Yeah, Big Marquis.
Stanley and Utica? Exactly, same era. I think
even the landmark is the same, like 1928. I think
the Stanley is like 1926. So there was a huge
theater building boom in that era. And a lot
of them went by the wayside and turned into parking
lots. But there are some that still survive.
And I'm thrilled for it. But yeah, I wear my
heart on my sleeve. And I'm really passionate
about, you know, we have like five major projects
that we're working on this summer to make it
a better theater. I'll get to that later. And
yeah, it's a dream job. And yeah, starting out,
we didn't have as many shows. I think we started
out, you know, first year was like 35, 40 shows.
Now you're talking about 75 a year? Yeah, 75,
80 shows a year, which is pretty, for a town
our size, it's pretty remarkable. It's amazing.
Yeah. And that's the thing too, is one of my
favorite things about going to shows at the State
Theater is, and at this point now, it seems like
it's every show that I go to, the artist on stage.
always makes a reference to Jesus Christ like
what is this place it's so beautiful I walked
around the Commons I remember specifically Brandy
Carlisle was like I want to move here yeah and
and she actually saw a kid playing busking yeah
busking and had him come out on stage and play
with her I was there I loved that so great she
actually goes she goes uh I asked him if he would
like to open up the show and he said, well, I
gotta ask my mom. Which is so great. But, you
know, and that's the thing that, you know, we're
sitting here talking about the state theater
and it's hard to explain how serious we are when
we say, it's just not, the theater itself is
beautiful, but the location, you feel like you're
a part of something that's just very intimate.
Absolutely, you're a stone's throw from the commons,
but one thing that you haven't touched on, which
is equally as important, is the fan base. Yeah,
man. The Ithicans, or whatever, the New Yorkers.
Sure, Ithicans, yeah. They are extremely respectful,
and they are open to original music, of course.
Artists come in and they often have to play their
new album, and Ithaca eats it up. Yes. I mean,
Jason Isbell just played there in February, his
new album. I mean, granted, it's a fantastic
album, but he played a lot of new songs, and
we loved it, and the artists appreciate that.
Absolutely. I mean, that was, you know, when
I had first moved to Ithaca, I was doing music
exclusively. And that was, I couldn't afford
to live in New York or LA, and my buddy told
me about Ithaca. I had been there a few times.
And at that time, 05, 06, it was really, other
than New York City, it was one of the only towns
in New York that was like cover bands. And no
disrespect to cover bands, but it was very rare
that they were like, no, we want original music.
And that still lives on today. It does. And I
think the reason why there's such a loyalty,
like you said, for Ithacans and Central New Yorkers
that come is because you guys do an amazing job
of not only promoting and getting people to help
keep the doors open, you make us feel like we're
part of the owners. It's almost like the Green
Bay Packers. You know how the town are the owners?
But yeah, even though we're not the owners, you
make us feel that way. And I'm being sincere.
Honestly, we are a 501 c3 not -for -profit and
and really that what that means is we are owned
by the community So you're not wrong, right?
Like like and and frankly, you know, we have
a project this summer that we're talking about
Let's talk about that. So like as a 501 c3, it's
not it's it's we have to rely on support Yeah,
you know we have we have certain major donors
We have certain major sponsors and then we have
certain like projects where we actually go to
the community and say hey It's time. The one
thing that I'm talking about is we're raising
the rails. We're putting handrails up in the
balcony. Oh, excellent. So our downstairs 900
seats. It's great. The upstairs, the balcony,
which, frankly, I love the balcony. I love the
balcony. I mean, it's but it's it's beautiful.
You have great sight lines, great sound, but
it's it's steep and it can be dark. Yeah. And
so right now we want to put handrails. So it's
just a safer experience for our patrons. That's
amazing. So there will be handrails at the end
of every aisle, basically. Excellent. So it's
I think it's one hundred and thirty three that
we need to create by Steve. made out of steel.
It's not a cheap project, but we rolled this
out last Friday. We sent 500 letters out to past
donors saying, hey, we want to raise the rails.
Can you support us? We're already 50 % to our
fundraising goal in less than a week. I'm one
of those. I'm one of the donors. And you are
one of the donors. And actually, I reached out.
And that's kind of how this interview came about,
too. Well, listen, I've been wanting to have
you on for a while. I knew it was going to happen
at some point. That's another thing, too. Speaking
of projects and donating and all that is there's
a lot of organizations that you know you can
donate money to and sometimes you you don't question
it but you're like huh i wish i knew where where
this money was going you guys i feel like every
time i go to the state theater there's either
you're in the in the process of of of upgrading
or there's a major upgrade yes and Here's the
other part that I find so awesome is that you
guys send letters to the donors, but you always
leave a handwritten note. Thank you for pointing
that out. I know, dude. I what you're going to
make me. You're going to make me cry. I'll cry.
We're both very emotional guys. Yeah. I got goosebumps.
I know. But that is a very conscious decision
on our part. It's so conversation. And it's.
You know, it's a little exhausting to write.
Yeah. But it's also really important because
you're not just getting, you know, I always try
to separate the state theater where we're not
this corporate conglomerate. We are very far
from a corporate, you know, we are we are real
people with with real families and we're very,
very passionate about what we do. And just that
like, hey, Mike. Miss you brother to think about
putting some railings up here and it and you
know, frankly it works like a little personal
touch goes a long way It does and it really and
I'm not just saying this man. I always say to
my wife I'm like look and she's like you say
that every time I'm like, I know I'm like, but
I don't think you understand like in this world
It's rare to find something so genuine and that's
that you're sports guy like me to sport Philly.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, you and I are That's I think
why we always got along. We're at that intersection
of sports and music, you know, yes in comedy
we are but You know, Peyton Manning, one of the
best things that's known about him is that, to
this day, he handwrites his letters to coaches
and players. Amazing. And you do that. And also,
every single thank you letter, I have a handwritten
note on. I mean, we type up kind of a generic
thank you letter for tax purposes. When you're
a not -for -profit, by the way, you can... deduct
your gifts to the State Theater, which is a nice
little thing. But I make sure that I do a handwritten
note on every thank you letter, too. And it does
go a long way. It really does. It's a personal
touch. Absolutely. And we're seeing firsthand
the upgrades. I know one of the major ones, and
I don't know how long it's been now, but now
you have the new area, the bar area, which is
beautiful. That was over a half a million dollar
project. The one thing about Project of the State
Theater is they don't just happen overnight.
night. And Frank, they actually are a bit slow.
Like, it's a bit slow to get things done for
a number of reasons. A, we want to do it right.
B, we're on the national register of historic
places, so we have to jump through some hoops
every now and then. But when we do it, we do
it right. You know, the bathrooms upstairs, that
took like five years to do, but we completely
renovated the bathrooms. That's right. And Frank,
the guys are like, wait, you did the bathrooms?
But the women really know that we have some beautiful
new bathrooms. The bar space is great. So we
basically took our old box office space and went
through 30 inches of brick to connect the two
buildings. And now we have three openings. But
it's it's there's been so much benefit to that.
Number one, there's no longer a bar at the back
of the room, which is huge. So for like those
comedy shows or quiet shows when people are like,
I need an IPA. You don't hear it anymore. It
was hard. The other thing is when you first walk
into the lobby, the concessions used to be right
there and there was just so much congestion.
So we really we really let people like breathe
a little more. We went from two points of sale
to five points of sale, which is great. The lines
are a lot faster. We're actually one of that's
one of the projects we're doing this summer.
We are going to do some more upgrades to the
bar this summer. Really? One of them being well.
This is the sexy part of it, is that we're gonna
actually put in some monitors and speakers on
the wall so you can actually, while you're in
line for your drink, you're not missing the show.
That's excellent. So that's pretty good. I got
a donor actually this past Saturday that came
forward and said, I wanna support that. Oh, that's
great. So yeah, so that's pretty exciting. And
then we're also gonna put in this new refrigeration,
like better refrigeration, make it a little more
professional. And so if people do wanna donate,
let's, I mean, we'll hit it again at the end,
but what's the best way to... Best way, easiest
is just go to our website, stateofithika .org.
There's a big yellow donate button on the page,
and you can just do that. You can say, hey, I
want to give right to the bar, or I want to give
right to the railings, or you can say... Doug's
discretion. No kidding. I don't know you. I've
never I mean, I've I've I've donated every time,
but I don't I don't know if I mean, basically,
if we just get like a donation, we consider that
what we call a general operating support. And
then we do it. We put it where it needs the most
where we need it the most. You just reminded
me there was actually a really cool thing you
guys did. I got I have my own seat. I still haven't
found it. I haven't found it. Next time you're
there. I got it. I got to do that. I keep forgetting.
I will take you to your seat. Yeah. How did that
work? I forget. OK, you donated. Yeah, you could
you could. have your own personal title on. All
right. So so during the pandemic, during the
pandemic, that's right. State theater theaters
like ours, we were shut down for 20 months. Absolutely
no shows for 20 months. We were like the first
to close and one of the last to reopen. I was
worried and it was I was worried it was lights
out, to be honest with you. So we came up. I
have to credit Casey Martin, our marketing director,
was like, you know, a lot of people on social
media are like, hope you're keeping my seat warm.
So we actually came up with a Save Your Seat
campaign during the pandemic. It was November
of 2020. November 1st of 2020 and we rolled it
out and we said hey for only I want it also be
very inclusive I didn't want just like the rich
people to be able to get seats so we just we
kept a price point at $100 for $100 you can sponsor
one of our 1600 seats at the State Theatre and
we didn't know what to expect we rolled it out
November 1st before the end of the year so November
1st before by by December 28th, we had sold all
1600 seats. They were sold out in less than eight
weeks. And not only that, but you know, we had
some major sponsors, banks. for example, Tompkins
Trust Company, for example, they wanted to sponsor
the first two rows. So in the end, you know,
you do the math, 1 ,600 seats times 100, that's
$160 ,000. But we had other people jump on, so
we ended up raising over a quarter million dollars
for the Save Your Seat campaign. And we allowed
people to put, kind of like Twitter, it was like
up to like 65 characters on that seed plaque.
So it could be like Mike Mendese. Yeah, I forget
what I wrote. I think it was something like,
I've loved playing on the stage, but there's
nothing better than being in the seat. Something
like that. I mean, that's that's amazing. It
was great. And, you know, some of the what was
really touching is that a lot of the plaques
I walk through, I was just walking through a
couple of hours ago, a lot of them are in memory
of people that have passed on. And that's really
touching. It's really touching. And then but
there's also like, you know. I don't know, Mike
and Laura, first day ever at State Theater. That's
so great. They went on their first day at the
State Theater and they're signifying it here
on their seat. What a brilliant campaign. One
of my friends who lived, and the other thing,
some people gave from California and Alaska,
and one of my friends who lives in Austin, Texas,
who used to come to I think every summer, and
I would take him for wine slushies, and on his
seat, like he said, congratulations. go to the
lobby and ask Dougie for a free wine slushie.
Yeah, it was obviously a joke, but it's still
like three times a year. They're like, um, I'm
here for my wine slushie. They come to the lobby
and I'm like, I'll give them a free popcorn.
That's great. My buddy. Yeah. See, now this is
that's another to circle back. That's another
example of why people are so, uh, appreciative
of the state and and so willing to donate is
because of the way what you do for the community
we know what we have and that's why when the
pandemic happened we were terrified because you
know uh a lot of the great music venues in our
area have closed over the years unfortunately
absolutely and you know that that is one of the
things that we are known for in i think is our
music scene and and i you know you guys are single
-handedly uh keeping keeping it alive yeah well
you know it's it's I know we talk all about good
news, New York, but it is a concern of mine in
Ithaca right now, where the clubs, there's nowhere
for a New York rock to really play right now.
Deep dive, but there's no more hawn, there's
no more range, and I want to focus on the good
news, but it's getting really, it's really expensive
to run a venue like that. Let me ask, do you
think that's... Do you think that's an Ithaca
problem? I'm genuinely asking because I'm trying
to gauge if this is kind of going on everywhere
post -pandemic or is it? I can only speak from
what I'm seeing in my hometown of Ithaca. That
being said, We work very closely with DSP shows.
They would like to have a smaller venue to book
too. And we're thinking about ways to make the
state theater both that 1600 grand theater, but
also converting it to more of that four or 500
seat place. So in other words, shutting down
the balcony, boom, those 700 seats are gone.
And then we really want to, this is a little
down the road, but we want to do a project where
we're able to remove like the first. 10 to 12
rows of seats and have almost like a big open
dance floor for more club -like settings. It's
a great idea. It's a great idea. I just need
another quarter million dollars to do it. Well,
get out there and donate, folks. You know, I
remember going to... the Bowery Ballroom, I think,
years ago, and I didn't realize there's like
a bigger room, there's a smaller room, so maybe
it's kind of like along those lines. Yeah, we
want to be able to have more flexibility. Absolutely.
And we actually, yeah, we already have some plans
in place to do it. We have, I mean, I don't,
like you said, I love that you see that every
time you come, we're working on something. I
mean it. That is very true. I mean, this summer
alone, we got like five different projects that
we're working on, at least five. I remember the,
another, if you haven't been to the State Theater,
the first couple rows, you guys renovated and
it's like sitting in a lounge like a recliner.
They're actually the same exact seats that you
see in like the front row of an NBA game. Really?
Yeah, they're literally this and they're called
they're made by spec seats. So yeah, you know,
I mean, we keep professionalism high there, you
know, when you're getting like these major acts
and people are paying, you know. Decent chunk
of change to buy a ticket there. Yeah, which
by the way, I do have to say another concern
is the secondary ticket market Please know I
think it's just go right to state of Ithaca dot
o RG Do not do not go to vivid seats or anything
else do not buy your tickets at the State Theatre
Do not buy them on any of those third party.
It's state of Ithaca dot org, please that isn't
I'm glad you said that well, you'll pay a lot
a lot You'll pay the actual ticket price, right?
Not I mean some sometimes it's it's absurd what's
going on. Frankly. It's sadly it's legal It is.
I know. I do want to mention, we're going to
talk about upcoming shows and stuff like that,
but for those of you who have not been to the
State Theater, which would be very surprising,
we're not talking about... you know, mid -range
acts. I just wanna list off a few acts that I've
seen recently, okay? The Wallflowers, Nikki Glaser,
Nate Bargazzi, Mark Norman, Tom Segura. You were
at live? Live, yep, I was there for live. I mean,
the list goes on. Elvis Costello was there. Elvis
Costello. Yep. I mean, you guys are getting some
major, major acts, and do you think the... that
maybe the upgrades are playing a part in that?
Oh, definitely. Oh, yeah. They we are striving
to just be as professional and welcoming theater
as possible. We're also trying to be a theater
for everyone, too. So we're trying to to book,
you know, a wider spectrum as well. But yeah,
when when artists, I mean, a little bit of my
background, you know, you're in New York, you're
a croc. I mean, I managed a rock band for 10
years. Also, Hubcap, Hubcap. Yeah, I love Hubcap.
First time I met you was on a radio show. Probably
you were there with one of the guys. Yep. Yep.
And just going from town to town, sometimes you
come to a crappy venue and you don't have that
creative experience. I want to make sure when
artists come to Ithaca that they have a memorable,
fantastic, warm, loving experience. And we try
to roll the red carpet out for them and go a
little above and beyond. The other thing that
we've done over the last 10, 15 years, a lot
of bands, when they kick off a tour, they want
to rehearse for a few days. And we often give
them five days in Ithaca. So you might see, yeah.
So they might come in on a Sunday and not play
their show until a Thursday. But they're actually
there all day rehearsing. Not only are they working
on their material, but they're really, it's more
like tech. The guys are working out the lights
and the sound. In fact, like one of my favorite,
I assume the one question that I always get is,
what's your favorite show that you ever had?
That is on my list. And your least favorite,
too. I'll come on that, too. We'll think about
that. So I'll just cut to the chase. We had a
band called The National who, amazing band, indie
rock. And they can play Madison Square Garden
if they wanted to. It was kind of a bit of an
underplay, but they came here. They came to Ithaca
on a Saturday or Sunday. And again, their show
wasn't till Thursday and they were rehearsing
and we kind of got to know them throughout the
week. And they're actually like really nice guys.
And the show, again, it wasn't till Thursday
night, but Wednesday at noon, the tour manager
comes into my office and he's like, so Doug,
we've had a really good couple of days and we're
like ready to rock. We want to do a full on show
tonight, but we're only inviting 100 people.
What? And I'm like, that's fine, no problem.
I need to be one of those 100 people. That's
my only rule. You mean 99. Yeah. And he was like,
no problem. So The National, it was the day before
their show. And I think it were coming up, it
was like 10 years ago. But they did a full on
complete and total rock show for 100 people at
the State Theater the night before their tour
kickoff. And I was lucky enough to be there.
What was cool is. between songs, you know, at
a big show, you know, everyone's applauding and
they're, you know, it's a rock show. When there's
only a hundred people, people could actually
like yell out questions to them. Sure. Interview
them like this. Yeah, yeah. And they would answer.
But it was, that was my favorite show because
they spared no expense. It was like full lights,
full sound, but only a hundred people there.
And it wasn't like a hundred people because ticket
sales were bad. It was a hundred people because
they're VIPs that got into the show and they're
doing a special like one -off for you. Yeah.
That was pretty, pretty phenomenal. That is amazing.
Yeah. And it's great too, because you're almost
like an imb... of the town, not only are you
giving them a space to do whatever they need
to do, now they get a chance to see Ithaca. And
as I said before, every single artist that comes
out on that stage always says, man, what's going
on? I've never been here. This place is so amazing.
Didn't you say Mark Norman said he wanted to
possibly shoot a special? Is that true? That
is true, yeah. I don't know if that should be
publicized or not. And honestly, we don't have
to edit it out or anything. I don't know if he
says that after every show either, but but but
he did say he just played there. What was it
April? Yeah, he was like, yeah, he was just there
like like a month ago. Great show. You were awesome.
He was great. Yeah. And and he had a great time.
And after the show, he was like, you know, this
kind of room like this would be great for a Netflix
for literally a Netflix special. That's me. And
what a compliment. Yeah, it's great. It's wonderful.
It's the other thing. Paula Poundstone. Like
you say, they experienced the town. Paula. I
mean, at this point, she like, she gives me a
hug. Hey, Doug, how are the kids? Because she
comes in there. She's like every year. She's
like every two year cycle. She's also like built
for Ithaca. She's like very, like very cerebral.
But, you know, my favorite line of hers, the
last time she was at the State Theater, she just
comes out on stage and, you know, we're like
a stone throw from the commons and, you know,
cannabis is legal now. And she comes out and
she's like, so. I don't know if you guys heard,
but I was recently diagnosed with glaucoma and
my doctor said, don't worry about it. Just walk
up and down the comments. You'll be fine. It's
true, dude. I've heard other artists go, you
know, this place is nice, but you could use another
head shop. You know, like we do. It's a college
town. It's Ithaca, man. That's the beauty of
it. Absolutely. Amazing part of all of this.
And again, why we feel like we're all part owners.
You have volunteers that work. We do. And I don't
mean a few. They turn out full staff. Overall
we have I think it's like 196 volunteers. They
don't all come to every show. It's usually like
15 to 25 volunteers per show. But they are the
folks that volunteer their time. They get trained
so they know how to deal with a security issue,
an emergency, et cetera. But they scan your tickets.
They show you to your seats. They answer where
the bathroom is. And I mean, part of it also,
like me and you, they're music lovers. It's a
great way to go to a show. You give back to this
community asset. And then you work a bit during,
you know, beginning. part, but generally you
can enjoy the show near the end as well. And
everybody's so friendly, you know, and do you
have any like repeat volunteers that have been
there for years? We have one volunteer. Leslie
Kinsland, I'm going to drop her name. Let's do
it. Leslie Kinsland. What's up? She just retired
from volunteering, but she's been there since
the 90s. I'm not kidding you. Yeah. Before you?
Yeah. Well before me. And not only that, but
she also, for a number of years, lent us a beautiful
Steinway & Sons piano that was on our stage for
15 years as well. But yeah, some people are just
so kind and giving and passionate about the art
succeeding in Ithaca. So props to Leslie. I mean,
she basically gave her time. And she's just like,
I love you guys. I just don't go out at night
anymore. So I can't really volunteer much anymore.
So we really appreciate it all the time. But
we have a number of volunteers that have been
there since the 90s. I'm not kidding you. That's
amazing. But what's beautiful is that this past
year, Sarah Flenders, she's our audience services
manager and trains the volunteers and recruits
them. She's done a wonderful job bringing new
people in as well. So this year, we had a lot
of new faces too, which is great. So it's really
great. You just reminded me of, I was walking
in with my wife once to a show. And I look, and
this woman scans my ticket, and I'm like, hey,
doc, who's my doctor? Your doctor. And so we
walk away, and my wife goes, are they not paying
your doctor well? Like, why is she working here,
too? I'm like, no, it's all volunteer. You have
to, like, for you to get a doctor on her free
time to volunteer, you must be doing it right.
Oh, we have full on Cornell professors, bankers.
Yeah, and it's not. Partially. Yes, you get you
do get to see the show for free. But you're also
giving back to a community asset and people get
it. If people want to volunteer, just state of
it. Yeah, that's fine. You can find us on Facebook
or any social media, really. Yeah. Go to just
go to our website and contact us there. Can I
just talk about. the projects that we're working
on this summer? Of course! Yeah, that was going
to get there too. Yeah, okay. So I said we're
doing the railings upstairs, making a safer balcony,
and we are looking for, we're still looking for
some support there, but we're over 50%. I mean,
we basically need about another nine, $10 ,000,
and then the project will get done. And that
seems pretty attainable. Stateofethica .org,
donate. Yep, thank you. We're also, you'll like
this one, we are finally going to replace all
of our incandescent, all of our stage lights
are old. from like the late 70s, early 80s. With
the gels? Gels. Oh, no shit! So we're finally
going to go LED and be way more energy efficient
and frankly just efficient as an organization.
So right now we literally have to bring... those
stage lights down and change the gels so that
the right colors for the artist. Now, and that
takes like hours. And with LED, you just type
it up on a computer, you're done in five minutes.
So that is a basically it's like a quarter million
dollar project. We have about we have about $42
,000 to go with that. And I'm meeting with some
actually have a meeting with a sponsor tomorrow
about it. So we're trying to and some some grant
some foundations as well. State of Ithaca dot
org. He had to keep saying we're finally going
to replace the stage lights. We're doing some
work to the bar that I mentioned so not only
the monitors and the sound piping in but the
bar to create that space it was half a million
dollars and then we just basically took the old
bar from inside the theater moved it in so we
want to redo the bar so it all like matches and
looks nice sure we're gonna do that and we're
gonna I said some new refrigeration and maybe
I want to decorate a little better in there,
too, and make it known that you're in a special
place. And then some of the smaller projects.
Last summer, we put a brand new ramp in. There's
a weird step, because the building's almost 100
years old. And it also was formerly a car garage.
I don't know if you knew that or not. No. Yeah,
they sold Studebakers out of that building before
it was a theater. Yeah. But there's this weird
step that, frankly, people with accessibility
issues have a challenge with. more critical is
that at the end of the show when you're leaving
the show and you're like what a great show and
you had a couple beers there's like a sea of
people walking out and everyone misses that step
so we've had a lot of like twisted ankles or
whatnot so we put a ramp in on one side last
year and it solved everything with that so now
we're just doing another ramp on the other side
so Adam Zander is our production manager is a
whiz and he came up with the design for the first
one he's designing the second one and we're gonna
build that another ramp so make it again safety
which is great And then the other, this is again,
a smaller project, but we're just redoing the
stairs. There's two sets of stairs that go to
the stage. And for whatever reason, their height
is a little off. They're like too high. And some
people ever go on like a weird stair, like kind
of fall up it. Oh, yeah. Daily. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Sober or not. Getting old. Yeah. We're going
to redo the stairs also. So like these are all
like exciting, fun projects. You know, the other
thing we we often do. Like we used to rotate.
We do a sexy project that like the public can
really see. And then like next summer we might
just be doing all like the sewer plumbing. Right.
Right. The boring stuff. The boring. The boilers.
Yeah. That keeps you warm. But like no one sees
it. But this is a this is a sexy summer. We're
getting a lot of sexy projects. Sexy summer.
Twenty five is the sexy summer. Twenty five.
Yes. So those are our projects. Yeah. We have
a bunch. We are also, of course, working on more
shows for the fall. We just announced a couple
of weeks ago. I think a boys make good. We have.
Ex Ambassadors coming for two nights. They're
from Ithaca, by the way. They're from it. Yeah.
You guys probably know the song like Renegade
or Unsteady. Yep. They their album VHS came out
10 years ago. So this is the celebration of 10
years of VHS. Crazy. So two nights in September.
And we have like already booked. We have Celtic
Thunder, Steve Hackett from Genesis, Guitar Whiz.
We just announced a couple of days ago, Modest
Mouse with Built a Spill opening. That's going
to be a killer show. And then we're bringing,
you know, we have, we like having some of the
cover bands like Almost Queen coming back. I
went to that. Yeah, they're great. Very sad.
It was awesome. They're great. They're great.
The Beatles one. Beatles. Yep. That was fantastic.
Some bands like Led Zeppelin, for example, we
get the lead out every couple of years. Some
bands like Pink Floyd and Zeppelin, no matter,
it's just so good to hear it played live. Played
live and played well. I tell people to this and
I've been to many, I've seen them all, Metallica,
Aerosmith. One of the best shows I ever saw was
The Machine. I love them. At the state. Yeah.
Right. Is that who they were? Yeah, yeah. The
Machine. Pink Floyd. Because obviously, you know,
I'm in my 40s now. Pink Floyd wasn't playing
live when I was old enough to go to shows. This
is as close as I'm going to get. And they I mean,
it's like seeing Pink Floyd. I mean, they do
the full thing. Yeah, it's and some bands, you
know. Like, for example, we also had Dark Star
Orchestra. We have them pretty much every year.
They're like the premier Grateful Dead tribute
show. And I would rather see Dark Star play at
the State Theater than like what's left of the
Grateful Dead these days. Yeah, it's not the
same. And I know you're a big deadhead, right?
I'm a deadhead, yeah, but it's just for the sound
quality. It just sounds better to me. No, I get
it. I got to ask you this before we go. Is there
a dream artist that you were able to get or that
you're still waiting on, like, if I can get this
person? Yeah, OK. I know that's a great question.
We've we've checked the box off with a few of
them, one being like I'm a huge Wilco fan. So
not only have we had Jeff Tweedy, but we also
had the band Wilco. That was great. I have a
funny story about that one. We also, you know,
Fish played the state theater a lot in the early
90s and then Trey and then we had Trey. probably
the best week of my life. And I'm going to make
you a little jealous here. But it was early February
2017. That Sunday, my Philadelphia Eagles won
their first Super Bowl ever. And then five days
later, Trey Anastasio came and played at the
State Theater. It was it was like and none of
that. But my friends from Philly came up for
the Trey show. And then I remember the next day
they all came over and we literally just rewatched
the Super Bowl. That's great. That was probably
the best week of my life. I have the saddest
version of that story where I went to a Bills
game when I had season tickets. They had beat
the Patriots for the first time in 14 years at
home, which was like our Super Bowl at the time.
And then that night, I changed at the hotel in
Buffalo and went to see the Foo Fighters where
the Sabres play at the Key Bank. And my head
was going to explode by the end of the night.
So when you can include your sports team and
music, there's nothing better. So my list still,
I mean. At this point it's getting tough because
you've had so many. We've had so many great people.
You know, at this point I would love to just
get Neil Young solo acoustic would be, you know,
come out and do. That would be. The solo set.
I'd just kneel on a guitar and a harmonica would
be my dream. My dream would be fantastic. You
know, and when Trey came back, you know, that
Super Bowl week for me, what I loved about that
show, you know, he. He told a lot of really endearing
stories, not only, yes, about the state theater,
but about Ithaca, too, which was really, really
great. He was like name dropping people that
I'm friends with. He was like, hey, where's Sweet
Pete? You know, Sweet Pete's in - He remembered.
Sweet Pete is a guitar player in Stone Cold Miracle,
like today. And he was like, where's Sweet Pete?
Is Sweet Pete here? And Sweet Pete, I don't know
where he was that night, but I know that guy,
and so does Trey. He told a great story. I've
always heard the story about Fish. They were
touring around in this beat up mom and dad, like
minivan kind of thing. And at the State Theater
of Ithaca in the early, in like 91, their record
company finally gave him a real bus and he presented
it to them in Ithaca. So Trey told the story
of from the stage, he got up and showed where
he stood when he tossed out the keys to the old
fish. minivan and whoever caught the keys won
the fish minivan. Are you kidding? Yeah, and
he and he'd like he told the story like like
it was yesterday. It was it was so nice. It was
amazing. Yes. You know, there's all those little
stories about things like that in Ithaca. Like,
I don't know if you know this one. Some of Kurt
Cobain's ashes are I do know that the Buddhist
monastery there. Courtney Courtney Love brought
them here. Yeah, she was the one that brought
them. And then another cool one is that Now,
I'm not a deadhead. I appreciate the dead, but
I can't say I'm a deadhead. But one thing I've
learned, I thought it was just between the Grateful
Dead, like the Ithaca deadheads, but I found
out it's like known throughout. that the Barton
Hall concert. That's concert of all time. Yeah.
Is that true? It's like the most revered and
loved. You know, there's a lot of reasons for
it. And I absolutely love it. I celebrate it
every year. It was on May 8th, 1977 at Barton
Hall, Cornell, for those. And they it is part
of it is that there's this woman that toured
with them named Betty that that did a fantastic
job of recording the shows. So there was this
gem. It was like better than an album recording
of it that circulated for decades. And I mean,
dude, The first time I grew up in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, the first time I ever even heard
of Ithaca, New York ever was on the side of a
Maxell cassette tape. Barton Hall, five eight
seventy seven. Oh, shit. New York. First time
I ever heard of this town. See, that's what I
mean. So I thought it was an Ithaca thing. I'm
like, well, of course, all the deadheads love
that show because it was at Barton Hall. And
then I found out they're like, no, dude, like
if you go to San Francisco, you know, on the
corner of Haight and Ashbury, like they'll tell
you it's a very well. I mean, what was it about
the show that was the set? The set list, the
playing, the jams, all of the above. And they're
also like 1970 spring of 77 is like the best
dead tour. And like what very well known like
people just love that whole spring tour. They
were just like on fire then. Cherry was very
healthy and they had some great material. They
just came out with an album, Terrapin Station.
Yeah, but the second set opens with a Scarlet
fire, which is the best Scarlet going to fire
on the mountain ever. And then it culminates
into going, they also didn't stop. The whole
set is just one, they never stopped playing.
It's all just one song into another. And it culminates,
there's a St. Stephen in there. There's also,
They end with like the most epic walk me out
in the morning do like of all time. So it's just
it's a great show. Even if you if you don't like
the dead. Like I like the dead. It's not. Next
road trip. Put the second set five eight seventy
seven on. You'll become a you'll understand what
we're talking. Do you think do you think? I mean,
I guess it's hard for you to answer this, but
I feel like you know all your Doug Levine. Do
you think it's revered as much within the band
itself? Like they know they know they know that
it's that it's well loved. And like Phil, Phil
passed away recently. And like I saw Phil He
played with Bob Dylan in November 15, 1999. And
when he came out, he's like, it's so good to
be in this hallowed hall. He knew that Barton
Hall was special. But Bob Weir has been interviewed
about the show. And he's like, dude, I can't
remember one day from the other. When you're
on tour, even a two -week tour, they all just
kind of meld into each other. Yeah, you don't
really, unless something. Yeah. you know, catastrophic
happened. Like that's what I always wondered.
Like if they knew when they got off the stage
that night at Barton Hall, like, hey, man, we
just did something special. Or if it was like,
just another night on the tour. But for the fans.
Yeah. And I'm sure, you know, probably a bunch
of people that were at that show. I know a few.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, that is that is so cool.
I mean, there's all those little things about
Ithaca that people don't realize. There's a lot
of amazing history. Yeah. What didn't we talk
about yet? We get it. All right. Let me kind
of revere you from behind the scenes. Fun stories.
Go. Okay, so let's see. I touched on... One of
my dream bands was Jeff Tweedy, lead singer Wilco.
So the first time he played at the State Theater,
he actually came there first with a band called
Tweedy, which was him and his son and a few other
musicians. And I was so pumped that he was coming.
So the night before, they played in Brooklyn
and it was streamed for free. So, of course,
I watched that show the night before and I got
to the theater. Like normally I get there, whatever,
I got there like 8 a .m. I was just pumped. I
very rarely drank coffee, but I drank coffee
that morning. And I'm in the lobby. 8 .30 in
the morning, 8 .15, 8 .30 in the morning. I'm
in the lobby just doing whatever Doug does, straightening
up a little, just like, oh my God, Tweedy's coming
today, I'm so psyched. And the front door opens
and it's the one and only Jeff Tweedy. And we
are standing there face to face and I'm just
like, oh my God, welcome to the State Theater.
And I go off, again, I don't drink coffee very
often, but I'm basically giving him the history
of the theater. Oh my God, we just redid the
bathrooms, we have new toilets, da da da da da.
And I'm just like talking a mile a minute. It
must have been 15, 20 minutes. And he's like,
finally, he goes, hey, where's your bathroom,
man? That's all he wanted. You know, like very
kindly, very kindly. I was like, dude, I'm sorry.
I get it. He's just like drove up from Brooklyn.
Dude, he's the take a whiz, like all Middle East
men do. Like, man, I just need to piss. I didn't
need to know about the history. The brand new
seats. Yes. So that was my first meet with Tweety.
And he's actually a very nice guy. The other,
so the first time we had Gordon Lightfoot, I
used to go backstage quite a bit. You know, I
love what I do and I love meeting these guys.
So Gordon Lightfoot had his sound check and then
it was like, you know, there's kind of like a
downtime before the show. So that's usually when
I go down and I usually bring like those posters
down to get signed and go downstairs to our dressing
rooms. There's like, I don't know, like nine
rooms down there. and one of the rooms has a
couch on it. And I didn't realize, but Gordon
Lightfoot, pretty heavy smoker, even up until
his death, like two packs a day. And I go backstage
and I go in the room where the couch is and he's
laying on the couch, pretty ashen looking. Gordon's
been around a while and I'm looking at him and
it's very quiet and I'm like, holy shit, Gordon
Lightfoot died at the state theater. I was like,
in my head I'm like, Do I call 911? Like, I'm
looking at a dead man. Like, holy shit. I'm like
kind of like every thought is going through my
head and panicking and then you know Suddenly
like I see the chest move a little and he coughs
a little I'm like, okay. Oh good life. What's
alive? Okay, so that was that was first That's
how you met a death scare. Yeah, but he was fine
and he he was a not the healthy He was I think
he had a cold that day too. He did not look that
healthy another great story So benefit my state
2015. We had a bunch of local bands one of them
being the New York Rock that poster well there's
in my good basement when you're coming down the
stairs it's framed with all our autographs I'm
hoping you remember this but midway through your
set you you talked about how pumped you were
to be playing at the State Theater and being
on stage. And I believe your wife and very young
daughter were there at the time. And I swear,
first of all, you teased a Creed song. You did
your Scott Stapp where you did the, well, I just
heard. With arms wide open. He wrote that about
his kid. Yeah, it was very, we all got the, oh,
music lovers got the joke. Two people got the
joke. I got the joke. But your wife held your
daughter up like this. It was like fucking Simba
from The Lion King. I had that made. Someone
had that made for me into a canvas print that
is also in my basement of me on stage at the
state and my daughter with headphones on. Goosebumps,
man. When you get home, send me a photo. I will.
And I remember how loving you were about that,
by the way. And thank you, because that was a
really special moment for me. I've been performing
my whole life. And to have my first child up
there and she was seeing me dad perform, that's
a moment. not even in music, in my life, I'll
never forget. And you actually made a point to
like write me about that after and say how moved
you were. And that meant a lot to me, man. My
pleasure. It was special. I mean, well, at the
same time, you guys played that show for free.
I mean, it was a benefit show. And so you gave
your time. So, you know, you got to share the
love, man. We love we love the state. I have
to ask this since we're talking. I don't know
why I'm going to the negative, but without saying
a name, is there like just a really, like the
shittiest thing an artist has said or done to
you? Like just a negative experience where you're
like, oh man, I'm so excited and they just completely,
they let you down. Has that ever happened? If
you don't, that's great. I have a few popping
in my head. It's not like the most fun thing
to talk about, but let me think for a second.
It's a good question. mean I have some funny
pieces of feedback like an artist played our
show you know I went backstage I often go backstage
after the show and I'm like great show thanks
for being here you know so they remember us so
I come back and he's like yeah everything's great
except backstage he's like can you put a better
lock on your bathroom door someone walked in
on me while I was taking a dump All right. That's
one of those unsexy renovations. Put a lock on
the door. So for the most part, we get a lot
of really positive feedback. And people generally
understand it's a historic building. There's
some quirks there. I mean, one thing that we
need to correct on our stage is, if you're looking
at the stage, it's stage left, audience right.
There's an area that is on the stage that's like
over. a lot of electrical work under the stage,
like a lot of equipment and whatnot. And if you
have a certain kind of guitar, you get that guitar
buzz. So we know how to deal with it, but that
is one piece of feedback that we know about.
And some artists can be really crabby about that,
the buzz. It happens. The show must go on. But
but overall, it's been very, very positive. It
really has. You know, and sometimes on a bright
side, like sometimes we have artists that I am
almost like, I don't want to be, you know, like,
here's a good example, like Brian Adams, you
know, summer of 69. Hell, yeah. He was coming
to the state theater. I was like. Honestly, like
I was like he's kind of a little cheesy. That
was like what I was thinking, you know, and and
that night Being an old building. We lost our
heat like the heat in the theater was it was
like February It was January January 30th course
it was and it was it again It was pretty nippy
and and like, you know, the artist contract the
theater has to be a certain temperature I'm like
sweating bullets. I'm like, oh my god is Brian
gonna be an a -hole like yeah Oh god, and he
walks in the theater and you know, he knows those
guys like yeah, dude we had like eight guys working
on it and And he looked around. He's like, dude,
I don't know. I'm from Canada. I've played colder
hockey recently. He's like, I'm ready to rock
if you are. And it totally made my day. And he
played a great show. And I am a Bryan Adams fan
now. Dude, absolutely. I was actually going to
say, ironically, I was going to say. Yeah, he
probably didn't care. He's Canadian. They're
the nicest people on the planet. He was Canadian
and, you know, he dropped the hockey bomb on
me. Like, yeah, I speak your language. You do
love hockey. You got some kids playing hockey?
I got hockey player kids. I was a player. Yeah.
Yeah. That's awesome, man. So a couple other
fun stories. So another actually another like
on my bucket list was John Prine. We had John
Prine play twice. Amazing songwriter. Yeah. He
played twice at the State Theater before he sadly
passed away from COVID, actually. But after his
first show there, I was his ride from the theater
to his hotel. That was Doug's job. That was one
of my jobs that night. So, you know, we're on
stage, the theater's empty, and someone hands
me a phone, and they're like, this is John's
manager, also having to be his wife, and she
wants to talk to you. So I'm like, hi, you know,
Doug Levine, executive director of the State
Theater. And she's like, you know, sounds like
it was a great show. John's on a very strict
diet You know you have to get him right from
just take him whatever he said just take him
right from the hotel Take him from the theater
to his hotel room and and and thank you. I'm
like, no problem. Thanks, ma 'am Nice talking
to you hung up. You know, I actually grabbed
John Prine's guitar all walked out with him You
had security, you know, we got to my car and
he like it was like a date You know, I opened
the door for him and he got in I put his guitar
in and I get it I shut my door and I turned the
car on and he goes I need some pizza, I need
some wings, and I need some beer. And I just
go, I got you covered, man. Let's go. So I'm
sorry, but it's John Prine. I'm not going to
be like, you know, your manager. I was like,
let's do it. And he knows. He's like, my wife's
always making me eat salad. Give me some pizza.
So we stopped at a fine establishment and got
him what he needed. You know, that's another
thing. Every time I've been to a show at the
State Theater of Ithaca, I don't know if maybe
the theater brings it out in your artists. Like
I went to David Cross and everybody there is
very accessible. They'll come out and say hello
after the show or like outside of the, like for
most part, everyone there is just like, it's
crazy. Not everyone, but a lot of people are
really, some artists actually, like David Sedaris
recently, comedian, author, and he literally
after the show will sit down until everyone that
wants to meet him, he has actually a line, and
he'll sign anything, and part of it actually,
this is educational for you, Mike, because he's
a comedian, he actually talks to people, everyone
in line, and he actually gets, he's mining for
material. He's actually getting little stories,
and yeah, he's mining for new materials. material.
But he's also making fans for life too. I just
met David Sedaris. He signed my book. I'm going
to go to every show imaginable. I love him. 100%.
Yeah, you break the fourth wall as they say.
What else? My last story that I think you'll
appreciate because I know you like comedy too.
This was in, I'm sure you remember when Charlie
Sheen went nuts. Oh yeah, 2011. It was 2011.
Tiger blood. You are right. So that week, we
actually had, it just so happened, we had the
guys from Whose Line Is It Anyway, Whose Live
Anyway, we had that show at the State Theater,
and one of the main actors is Ryan Stiles. Yes,
I love him. Everyone loves Ryan Stiles, and I
got to talk to him, and, you know, he's on that,
he was on Two and a Half Men, that's why I'm
bringing that up. Yes, he was a guest. He was
Alan's wife's new husband. Yes. I forget his
name on the show. I do too. But he was on the
show. And he was just like... Whatever he was
super cool. He was kind of giving me some insider
information about it, you know But whatever they
played the show. It was absolutely hilarious.
I mean it's all improv and then after the show
You know Ryan's like hey, we want to go get a
beer like what do you recommend? And I was like,
oh, you know this place in the Commons I think
it was it's called Silky Jones then we go there
and he's like he's like, okay fine He's like
but you have to come with us and I was like Okay
Thursday night kids are in bed. Let's go BAM
and I'll never forget we we walked down the commons
and you know it's not just Ryan Stiles, this
is the whole crew, Greg Probst, everyone, we're
all you know and they're still kind of in their
stage. And on every we walked into the bar and
it was kind of like um you know, the scene in
like Dazed and Confused when Hurricane is on.
They walk in and like the needle drop. Like it
felt like the needle drop. Like I was like, like
these freaking amazing comedians are here. And
Ryan walks right up to it wasn't very packed
at all. Yeah. The bar. But he walked up right
up to the bar and he goes and he put his credit
card on. He goes, everyone in this bar around
the drinks on me. No shit. Yeah. And that was
pretty cool. That makes me happy because he's
one of my favorites. And I actually remember
that night because I was bartending at the at
the time. It was the second floor. OK. And. I
knew Ryan Stiles was in town and I couldn't get
the time off and so my buddy had actually heard
he was must have been at Silky Jones. And he
went down to try to get him to come and see me.
It never happened. But that that makes me so
happy that that wouldn't experience. Look, you're
driving John Prine. Yeah, Ryan style. Yeah, it
was it was great. It was perks of the job. It
is nice. I will say in my old age now, I'm definitely
less involved, you know. Yeah, of course. Just,
you know, when you do something for for 15, 16
years, like I don't need to meet every artist
anymore. You know, it's nice to say hi. And what
is really cool, like as a when I was in junior
high I was listening to like the integral girls
religiously it yeah you know closer to find this
amazing song right and and and that was like
1988 1989 now the inner girls have played the
state theater so much when I go backstage now
Amy will like with Like, Doug, come here, give
me a hug. Like, if I told myself that in 1988,
like, someday one of the singers in Indio Girls
is gonna know you by name and give you a hug,
like, that's insane. The other night I went to
see Dave Matthews' band at Lakeview Amphitheater
here, and I got front row for the first time
in my life. Wow. And I had that same reaction
where I was like, my 15 -year -old self... the
head is exploding, you know? And it's hard, man.
You meet enough artists like yourself, you know,
you meet enough artists and I don't want to say
the shine wears off, but you just get used to
it. And every now and then you gotta go. Do you
know, you just carried John Prine's fucking guitar,
man. That's crazy. State Theater of Ithaca. Anything
else you want to plug or mention before we go?
I think we covered it all, man. We did. Thanks
for having me. This has been one of my favorite
interviews, to be honest with you. I'd love to
come back sometime. The other thing is that I
would love to feed you some people to interview
as well. Dude, we will take that any time. To
date, I would say our most famous guest, we had
the drummer from The Spin Dock. Cool. We had
Ryan Neemiller, who's a comedian from AGT. I'm
trying to think. We're getting there. We're working
our way, but any time we can help promote any
of your shows, and if you have anyone that wants
to come on, and obviously we'll make them. This
world could use more good news, so I appreciate
what you guys are doing. Listen, you embody what
this show is about. When I was asked to do this,
it was, look, we're not Puppies and Rainbows.
It's still a comedy show, and it's funny. It's
upbeat, you can swear. But I mean, you know how
it is, man. You open your phone, you turn on
the TV. Everything is car crashes and political
outrage and violence and shootings. We we. aim
to just talk about what's awesome and not just
here in Syracuse, Ithaca, the Adirondacks, New
York City, Buffalo, you name it. You know, we
don't discriminate. Yeah. Well, and you know,
the theater experience is basically like an escape
from reality for those two to three hours. I
actually I get on stage a lot. I try to encourage
people to shut off your phone. Turn it off. You
don't you don't need to capture that crappy little
video. You're never going to watch it. Nope.
Just put your phone away and enjoy the moment.
Yeah, because it's a beautiful escape. That's
what I did at the Dave Matthews Band concert.
I had it because I was front row. I did a really
good job of just like every now and then taking
a 15 second video or picture just for myself.
And then I just remember I purposely was just
staring like, soak this in, man. Soak this in.
And you do that at the State Theater, man. And
I got to tell you, the State Theater did something
for me that was life -changing. Up until I went
to shows at the State, I had never been to a
concert alone. I don't know, maybe I'm getting
older. I love it. Dude, the kids are in bed,
my wife's like, have a good time. And I come
down on a Tuesday fucking night, and I'm gonna
go see Nate Bargazzi, or you know, you name it.
And I go to the show alone, I see people I know,
and I just have the best night. You have friends,
so you're gonna make friends, or if not, you
can just enjoy the musical. And I'm not a complete
loser, I go to some shows with friends, but to
have a place that I can go on a Tuesday night,
and literally drive 10 minutes, and see an amazing
act in that small of a market, in that intimate
of a venue, I want to thank you. And I mean it,
brother. Thanks for all your support too. It's
easy. it's remarkable like year after year you
you give every year and I do what I can and and
you know hopefully it'll be more and more but
but you know I I donate because first of all
I care about you I care about the theater but
you you're also providing you know we're we just
talked about we're in a time you know people's
mental health are in the trash right now there's
there's a lot of negativity out there and so
you give people in Ithaca and and around here
that travel to Ithaca something to look forward
to on a Tuesday something to help us forget about
the bullshit. Yeah, you know, and and you're
always upbeat and always treat everybody and
when you talk about Doug hugs, you know, it's
a real thing. I will hug you. You want a Doug
hug. He's gonna give you a hug, man. Can we hug
on a podcast? Man hug, man hug, the Doug hug.
Um, but no, thank you, man. Steve. theater. Your
producer is Danny. He left. Where'd he go? He
left an hour ago. He's like bringing the Ithaca
vibes. State of Ithaca dot org. Donate, please.
As we talked about, every dollar goes to something,
whether it's a non -sexy plumbing renovation.
We will just keep improving the theater for you.
And you'll see it. Every time you go to a show,
you will see the improvement. You'll see where
your money goes. It's a beautiful theater. It's
in a beautiful city that I live in, Ithaca, stateofithaca
.org. Donate and support, please. And volunteer.
You get a free show, and you get to meet a lot
of cool people and see amazing artists. Doug,
thank you for your time. Thank you for having
me. Anything else you want to plug any social
handles, websites? I've said what I had to say.
Thank you for having me. Thank you for being
here. That is another interview on Good News
York. We will see you next time and thanks for
tuning in.