Our Visit with David Arquette in a Plexiglas Box in NYC!

On Tuesday, Tom Kiefaber and Gayle Grove from The Senator took me with them up to New York City to visit their friend, actor David Arquette. David was sitting in a plexiglas box on top of the marquee of Madison Square Garden, to raise awareness about hunger for Feeding America, as part of the Snickers Bar Hunger campaign.



Tom and Gayle had known David for a while. He visited The Senator when he was promoting his film "The Tripper," and they've been in touch with him since then. When we found out he would be sitting in the box to raise awareness about hunger, we initially thought maybe he could bring the box on the road and sit on top of The Senator's marquee. We all liked his cause, because The Senator has collected tons of food over the years for a local food pantry.

I knew that Gayle had been in touch with David about this, so I was sitting in The Senator's lobby one day and I happened to be thinking about how cool it would be if we could go visit David Arquette in the box. In a weird kind of synchronicity, just as I was thinking that, Tom walked into the lobby and almost immediately got a call from David, who then invited us up to visit.

We took the MegaBus from White Marsh to NYC. A double-decker bus with wireless that costs less than $20 to take you into Manhattan! I'll be doing that again!

We took The Senator's mascot, Squid on the Go, with us. Squid was discovered by a volunteer, Colin Harris, who noticed that if you put your hand between the knobs on the popcorn bins just right, it looks like a squid with two eyes. Several of us had said that when The Senator is closed (as is likely after the auction), we'll miss squid. Another volunteer, Marty Kahl, invented Squid on the Go, so we'll always be able to take a piece of The Senator with us. Strange things happen at night when you're sitting behind the concession stand at a historic theatre. Anyway, David Arquette met Squid and became the first Celebrity Squid!

It was a bit noisy in the box, so much of the video I recorded was not very audible. I did manage to get a few of the fun clips into the video above, though.

David asked us about the upcoming auction of The Senator, and later spoke on the phone to Laura Vozzella at the Sun, to whom he noted "Just the fact that it's going to auction is really sad, that they weren't allowed to turn it into a nonprofit."

Later, I asked David about his work with Feeding America, which he's been supporting for a few years now. He said 36 million people in this country are considered "food insecure." They don't know where their next meal is coming from.

David Arquette: Feeding America from a Plexiglas Box

David Arquette spent today sitting in a Plexiglas box atop the marquee of Madison Square Garden in New York City. No, really. And he'll be there tomorrow, too. David is there to raise awareness of hunger in America for Feeding America. His stay in the box is being sponsored by Snickers, which is also raising money through a Facebook page.

David told me today that he first got involved with Feeding America when he began working on a program to provide school lunches for needy kids throughout the summer. He's been working with them ever since.

I went up to New York today to visit with David in the box, thanks to his friendship with the folks at The Senator Theatre here in Baltimore. David visited The Senator at some point and made friends with manager Gayle Grove and owner Tom Kiefaber. They've been keeping in touch with him ever since, and David has blogged about the need to preserve The Senator for future generations. So, David invited Tom and Gayle up to visit him in the box, and I tagged along as their videographer.

Although it was noisy in the box with all the traffic and the fan trying to move the air and dispel the heat on a New York summer day, I think I got some great video. I'm on the bus on the way home now, so I hope to be able to post that soon. David and Gayle even did the running man dance, which is a Gayle Grove tradition everywhere she goes.

Thanks to David Arquette for letting us visit, and especially for supporting such a great cause. Please go to the Snickers page on Facebook and join the cause.

UPDATE: Some of the photos...

Baltimore City's approach to The Senator is just wrong!

I had a conversation with Tom Kiefaber last night outside the theatre as he was cleaning the facade. It was one of those conversations that stays with you and makes an emotional impact the next day. Maybe that's because I recorded some of it on video and was looking at what I got earlier today, with an eye to how to edit it into something compelling.

Here's what I posted as a comment on Preservation Magazine's notice about the auction of The Senator:

It is appalling the way Baltimore City is leaving the future of our wonderful, amazing Senator Theatre to the fates. The city now holds the note. They could delay the auction by six months or so to allow for the formation of a viable non-profit approach like the ones that have been successful for historic theatres all over the country. This theatre needs to be owned by a non-profit and run as a multipurpose entertainment venue.

I am strongly biased, because I've been volunteering at The Senator for months now, but there's a reason for love that runs that deep. This theatre is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, of any vintage or design style, because every aspect of its design is so harmonious with every other aspect. My friend Tom Kiefaber, the owner, was playing his drums in the circular outer lobby last night, and the lobby itself resonated so that it rang like a bell. I don't want to get too far into the cosmos here, but if you get into things like sacred geometry, you might understand that there's something almost mystical about this building. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.

I had a conversation with the owner, Tom, last night that was so heartwrenching. This man is part of the family that built The Senator, he grew up in The Senator, and it's the last of his family's Durkee chain that once owned 50 theatres in Baltimore. He has put his heart and soul into this place for almost 30 years, has done everything right as far as building the brand of The Senator into a national icon that has seen the theatre listed among the top ten movie theatres in the country time and again, and loves the place in a way that really cannot be described. Baltimore City is determined to not only auction off the theatre, but ban him and his many years of experience from any future involvement with it. All this because it, like so many other historic theatres, has run into debt because of national economic and industry trends that have nothing to do with Tom. What an absolute travesty!

There are so many things wrong about Baltimore City's approach here. It's wrong to leave the future of an extraordinary facility like The Senator to the fates. It's wrong to take the building from the family that built it and has run it and maintained it for 70 years, and it's wrong to ban from future involvement people like Tom Kiefaber and Bill Hewitt, the theatre's extremely knowledgeable manager, projectionist, and film preservation guru, and Gayle Grove, who has worked there for many years, does all kinds of vital organizational and operational tasks, and is extremely dedicated.

The more I look into this, the more it is crystal clear how the whole thing is just wrong, wrong, wrong! Disgustingly, sickeningly wrong.

For those who may have heard about it and be waiting, the interview with Tom is still on its way. Transcription and follow-up questions are taking a bit longer than expected. Stay tuned!

Block Party at The Senator! (Video)

The following is my video documentary of The Senator's recent sidewalk block painting party. It includes interviews with Senator owner Tom Kiefaber and long time key staff member Gayle Grove, as well as many volunteers.



This is not the interview with Tom that was mentioned on the Anthony McCarthy Show, and which should be ready for publication soon. That one will be much longer and transcribed into written form.

CHAP Commission Ignores Concerns - Passes Controversial Interior Controls on Senator Theatre

Well, yesterday's CHAP hearing went pretty much as expected. Rumor had it that the CHAP commission had already decided the outcome before the public hearing. Although they denied that when pointedly asked the question by Senator owner Tom Kiefaber, their lack of consideration of the objections raised by Kiefaber and members of the public, including myself, and their hasty movement toward unanimous passage of the controversial measures certainly indicated the fix had been in before the meeting even started.

I got audio of the whole sad, sorry affair, and video of some of it. Those with strong stomachs may want to listen to this.

The entire portion of the meeting on The Senator took nearly two hours. I chose not to show the staff presentation by CHAP, which was a summary of the legislation, in the videos. The actual legislation is just a sideshow to the real issue at this point.

I figure anyone who really wants to know the details of the legislation can go to the CHAP web site. The actual legislation might not be a problem if it were currently needed, and if it weren't for the inauspicious timing, which has scared off private investors and had serious detrimental consequences.

The videos therefore focus on the objections to the legislation by Senator Theatre owner Tom Kiefaber, testimony by members of the public, and the CHAP board's hasty passage of the measures anyway. They are a study in government indifference and the exercise of royal power by the elite.

Part 1: Board members are introduced. Senator Theatre owner Tom Kiefaber begins his testimony agreeing in principle with the aim of preserving The Senator's interior, but objecting to the legislation for its negative consequences.



Part 2: Kiefaber gets further into his testimony, detailing how a pattern of CHAP actions with "inauspicious" timing has derailed multiple rounds of negotiations with potential private investors in The Senator. Bob Embry catches up on his sleep.



Part 3: Kiefaber wraps up his testimony and requests that the legislation be withdrawn so that it will not interfere with the upcoming foreclosure auction on The Senator and not impede the search for a buyer who will have the resources to run The Senator without leaving the financial burden on taxpayers.



Part 4: Kiefaber asks the CHAP board whether or not it is true that the outcome of the meeting was already decided before the meeting started. CHAP Chair Tyler Gearhart denies this, but as the meeting progresses and the CHAP board ignores objections by Kiefaber and others, it becomes more and more clear that the outcome actually was already decided.

In this section also, public comment begins and Gayle Grove, long-time Senator employee, gives her testimony. My camera battery ran out, so I will report that Gayle was suitably attired in camo pants and a t-shirt that read "Do Not Star With Me You Will Not Win."



Part 5: Public comment continues. I give my testimony, where I object to the CHAP board taking actions that have scared off potential buyers and scuttled private sector solutions, which has necessitated the city to spend almost $1 million in a recession when the city's budget is seriously strained. Although I don't object to the city spending money on preserving this wonderful theatre, I do object to the timing of these actions, which appears manipulative and suspicious. (Gayle and I had coordinated our outfits, and although you can't see it, I had borrowed the "They're Lying" t-shirt from Han Solo.)

I also point out Bob Embry's conflict of interest (yes, he's Mr. X!). Embry has been involved in The Senator's finances in the past, including a previous Abell Foundation foreclosure attempt in his role as President of the Abell Foundation, and he also has a long-standing personal connection to a prominent developer who has publicly expressed interest in owning and/or operating The Senator.

Tom Harris also gives his testimony, asking several pertinent questions about why the CHAP board is proceeding with these measures at this time.



Part 6: Johns Hopkins of Baltimore Heritage is the only member of the public to speak in favor of the CHAP measures. It is pretty clear his organization has not considered the timing or other suspicious factors, but only the need to protect The Senator's interior. Hopkins speaks of The Senator as a kind of museum, and Tom Kiefaber speaks up to point out that it is absolutely not a museum, but a living, evolving entity in an ever-changing industry.



Part 7: The CHAP board ignores most of the objections raised and continues with discussion of the finer points of the legislation that they clearly intend to pass.



Part 8: The CHAP board proceeds to a vote. Tom Kiefaber objects one last time on procedural grounds: the neighborhood associations for the surrounding neighborhoods were not notified, in violation of CHAP's own procedural guidelines.

The vote goes forward anyway. Bob Embry abstains due to the criticism of his conflict of interest, but only after making sure the measures were passing unanimously, and reportedly after being the driving force behind the whole thing up to this point.



There is apparently an appeal process, and the city council still would have to approve this before it becomes law. Another disappointing day in the petty politics of Smalltimore.