So it's finally
done. Nostalgic films are only available for
homes with massive theatrical treatment and
many, many independent fillmakers are being
given to expose their movies exclusive, thanks
to the economy and severe lack of interest. It's
a really rough bit of news but 42nd Street Pete
explained what happened and why the future of
more revival theaters has now become just
wishful thinking and dank memories people like
Pete embrace.
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1. What do you
think of the Two Boots Pioneer going under? And
is his a symbol of the extermination of movie
theaters or the horrible economy?
The theater never made money. It was
subsidizing by the guy who opened it with his
other businesses. It was the last sigle screen,
99 seat theater on the East Coast. The landlord
raised the rent to $25,000 a month. You could
sell out every night and not even come close to
breaking even. What sucks is that the new
manager/programmer Lee Peterson was doing things
that started to draw good crowds.
2. Any memories that stick with you prior to
the closure?
There are a lot of memories from the last six
months of hanging out there. The first impromptu
porn show had me doing an unscheduled Q&A to a
packed house. Jamie Gillis was the big surprise
of the night and he also did a Q&A. The last Wildeye grindhouse show, Keith Crocker was
thanking the fans for coming out and mentioned
my name which got a round of applause. It was
cool to be appreciated. |
3. What do you think this means for New York
moviegoers looking for something different?
New York movie goers are going to be stuck
with the same old crap unless someone steps up
and tries to do this all over again. My thoughts
are that something is better than nothing. Who's
going to move into that space for that kind of
money? As a business man, I would have made some
kind of deal with the theater to keep it open
and have some money coming in. An empty space=
nothing.
4. Are Revivalist theaters doomed to
disappear?
I honestly don't think there are too many
left. I thought of doing these grindhouse
revivals a couple of years ago. People won't
come out , I was told. Unfortunately I don't have
a big wallet or an extensive 16 & 35mm film
collection. Keith from Wildeye did have the
films, the Pioneer was the venue and some of
those shows were SRO. So we did what was
considered impossible: we got people out from
behind their computers and got their asses in
the seats. The fans were great and I'll miss
that camaraderie.
5. If you could express your thoughts about
Two Boots closing what would they be deep down
and unabashed.
My thought on the closing were that it sucked.
Thanks to Lee, Keith Crocker, Rob Hauschild, and
a lot of other cool people & fans, we brought
the grindhouse back to NYC. We also brought
hardcore XXX porn back to the big screen in NYC.
Just as 42nd Street's many theaters fell due to
greedy landlords. The Pioneer suffered the same
fate. You would figure in this fucked up economy
that some
revenue would be better than no revenue.
Obviously the landlords don't see it that way.
So Lee loses his job, the fans are left with no
place to see the old classic stuff, I lose a
place to vent my creative screen, and the city
loses an indy film landmark.
Here's hoping that all involved can make this
happen in another venue. And a special "fuck
you" to those who ruined this thing just for the
sake of money.
Thanks Pete.
No problem
Thanks to 42nd Street Pete for taking the time
out for this brief interview. We'll miss the Two
Boots Pioneer greatly. Enjoy your
mall/cafeteria/multiplexes. |
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