I couldn’t agree more LTS. Mr. Johnson and the rest of his team are keeping alive several beautiful historic theaters. The York was one of the theaters where I went to movies as a child, so I’m glad to see it in safe hands. And let’s not forget the fantastic Theater Historical Society of America located upstairs from the York.
First, a general comment- the best way to get involved with the theater restoration is to attend our monthly informational meetings. This month, our meeting happens to be next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Next month and thereafter, our meetings are the second Tuesday of every month. This has been our schedule for 4+ years and you are more that welcome to attend.
Second, the Wheaton Theater rehabilitation process has been going on for years. Our organization has gone through dramatic changes to position ourselves to become a fundraising group. Our all volunteer board, from Wheaton and surrounding communities, has met with many community organizations, businesses, fundraising consultants and politicians and based on that input, we have created out a plan to raise the millions of dollars needed to rehabilitate the theater. The GTC held over a dozen workshops last Spring to get the word out to the community. We understand the critical connection between the GTC and the business community. In fact, our Board Chairman also serves as a theater representative on the Downtown Wheaton Association Board of Directors and two other GTC board members are downtown Wheaton business owners. The Wheaton theater will become and economic engine for the Downtown Wheaton revitalization effort.
There have been numerous comments and debates on this Web site and we
would like to refocus everyone’s (that truly cares about the theater)
efforts to help us rehabilitate the theater. Here is our Mission
Statement:
“To rehabilitate and revitalize the historic Wheaton Grand Theatre as a performing arts and entertainment center for enriching the lives of the residents of Wheaton and surrounding communities for
the present and future generations.”
We would also like to suggest that the public put Mike Novelli, a local Wheaton resident, and Paul Warshauer’s comments into perspective. Both Mike Novelli and Paul Warshauer are co-founders of Grand Venues, Inc., a for-profit corporation. Their goal, as a for-profit entity, is to take the theater over. Period. They made that clear in the Warren Moulds Chicago Tribune article. The Board of Directors for the Grand Theater Corporation has no financial stake in the rehabilitation of the theater. We will continue to make our decisions based on the best interest of the theater and not based on our own personal gain. From our perspective, it is clear a for-profit group is trying to damage both our reputation and efforts to
rehabilitate the theater, which is a sad situation. We, the board,
volunteers and community, want to focus 100% of our efforts on
revitalizing the theater and not be distracted by the efforts of GVI to discredit our years of work. If there is anything you can do to help us mitigate these distractions, we would be grateful.
Mr. Garvey’s show (singular) was canceled due to legitimate concerns. The following is an article from the Daily Herald:
Reports of gang activity canceled Wheaton show
By James Fuller
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Concerns about possible gang-related violence bounced a hip-hop concert scheduled for Saturday in Wheaton to a later date after local police tipped off the venue.
Wheaton police said Monday that they received information from officers in Maywood that gang members there were recently found in possession of fliers promoting the concert at the Wheaton Grand Theater.
Wheaton police Cmdr. Terry Mee said speculation coming from Maywood was that the concert could be a site for possible retaliation from a recent gang-related shooting there.
Wheaton police relayed that information to the operators of the theater, who then decided to cancel the concert.
Maywood Community Officer Percy Allen said he was aware of the cancellation, but had no knowledge of any Maywood connection or officers giving information to Wheaton police.
However, theater board member John Loster confirmed Mee’s description of the events leading up to the cancellation. He said the decision was based on several discussions with Wheaton police during the week leading up to the event.
The information on the possible gang activity came on the heels of accusations from the concert’s promoter, Ben Garvey, that the theater nixed the concert because of general fear of “the hip-hop community.â€
The theater board disputes that notion.
“The reason the event was not held last Saturday had nothing to do with it being a hip-hop concert,†said Loster in a written statement. “We made the decision to cancel the show in the best interest of our audience and the community. That would have been the case whether the event was a hip-hop concert or a classical music performance.â€
Actually, that invitation goes to the rest of you folks who have expressed interest in the Wheaton Grand as well. Bryan & Life’s Too Short, etc. I’d be more than happy to take you through the theater if you haven’t been already. Just let me know.
Patsy, I would be MORE than happy to stop having to respond as I have mentioned. If you read through these unfortunate postings you can see that I’ve responded only when myself or the theater board has been attacked in writing. I guarantee you and all the readers of this page that I will have nothing negative to say, unless again provoked. I would much rather talk about the Wheaton Grand theater and our future plans. And I would be more than happy to talk to you about those plans for the Wheaton Grand, and if you’re local, one of our representatives would be happy to show you around the theater. You can email me at or post theater-related questions here, and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Well, I think that given an iota of intelligence, most rational people can tell by the postings here that you’re the liar. Your past speaks for itself, so I won’t waste anyone else’s time by rehashing your misdeeds. A man like you states a blatant falsehood “you lie to the public about renting the old office space (no one there as of this morning), oblivious to the fact that we have a signed lease effective June 1st for that space. When you were by there this morning, did you not glimpse the TWO LARGE SIGNS in the front window of the new tenant that were put up over the weekend? I know they weren’t green and have pictures of dead presidents on them, but surely you must have seen them. See these little things you tend to gloss over are called facts. And if you pay attention, I don’t go out of my way to launch personal attacks on you, though they certainly would be warranted. My posts are always in response to your ravings. Why don’t YOU try shutting up for a change, and I’ll be more than happy not to have the need to respond to your lies. Your choice.
Back to reality: The Wheaton Grand Theater not only turned 80 years young on Wednesday (May 25th), but we celebrated the kickoff of our 80th Anniversary Season with a concert by local band Paulina. To thank the community for their support, the concert was free to the public (thanks to Paulina for donating their talent & time!) Just because Paul Warshauer wasn’t invited, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a party (quite the opposite!) About 15 volunteers and board members came by, as well as several dozen fans/public. Volunteers who had stopped coming by because of Paul’s presence stopped by to say hello. One volunteer even promised to start volunteering on a regular basis again (hooray!) We followed that up with concerts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. All staffed by local volunteers who give up their free time to help a cause dear to their hearts. Shame on you Paul for saying the people of Wheaton aren’t involved. The entire Executive Board, and most of the volunteers, as well as many of our customers are local residents, whether that be Wheaton or the surrounding communities (Carol Stream, Winfield, Naperville, etc.) We’ve been receiving help and support and advice from local people for over FIVE YEARS! I don’t know who’s morale is bad, Paul. We have numerous volunteers who are happy that the project is back on track and several of the people who worked for you are volunteering their time (for NO money) at the theater. The roughly 500 people who came out over the last week seemed to be having a pretty good time too, but thanks for your concern! LOL!
Grande Venues, Incorporated (GVI) has had their contract terminated with the Wheaton Theater, which is operated by the 501c3 not-for-profit organization the Grand Theater Corporation (GTC). GVI received the notice of termination on March 29th, 2005 via certified mail, giving them 14 days to pack up their belongings and leave. By midnight on April 12th, they should have been off the premises, but were not, and we had to change the locks on the building. We are attempting to negotiate a settlement to try to honor some of the shows that GVI booked. So far we have seen contracts that weren’t countersigned, contracts that were signed after GVI was given their termination notice, etc.
Unfortunately, GVI has forbidden us to even attempt to contact the bands that they have contracts with, and they have not given us contact
information for nearly all of the bands they hired. This naturally puts us in a difficult situation, for we want to try to minimize the inconvenience to their bands, but yet we cannot work with them because we don’t know how to contact them.
We have only seen a few of the contracts, but my guess is that not a single contract informs their bands of the following two important terms in the GTC/GVI contract: 1) the GTC has the right to terminate the GTC/GVI contract, with OR WITHOUT cause upon 14 days notice; and 2) that GVI expressly agreed “Neither this Agreement, nor any term or condition therein, shall create an agency, joint venture, or partnership relationship between the parties, nor shall either party hold itself out to third parties in such capacity. Neither party has the power or authority to act for, represent, or bind the other in any manner other than as specified herein. No one hired by GVI shall be considered either an employee of independent contractor of GTC unless GTC agrees in writing.” As such, GVI had no authority to bind the GTC, and all of GVI’s contracts should have been subject to GVI’s contract with the GTC being in full force and effect on the date of the event. We are trying to honor GVI’s contracts so that the level of inconvenience to bands is minimized, but this is very difficult with GVI’s refusal to either notify the bands that the GVI/GTC contract has been cancelled, or by GVI refusing to give us contact information.
We find it hard to believe that GVI continued to attempt to book bands
AFTER their contract with the GTC was terminated. Again, we do not know for sure, but it looks like none of the bands that GVI signed after the contract was terminated were told that the contract was terminated.
Last Friday, several volunteers came to the theater in the attempt to honor one of GVI’s events. Not only was a contract NOT produced by GVI, but none of the bands showed up. The Grand Theater Corporation is making the attempt to honor what we can, given a difficult arrangement. Meanwhile we continue to receive calls from vendors that are seeking payment for past expenses incurred by GVI and not yet paid. In addition, GVI did not pay us their contracted March or April payments, their January and February payments were not paid in full and Paul Warshauer had theater property removed from the theater without our knowledge or consent. As an unpaid volunteer who has been involved with this theater for five years, and who spends dozens of hours a week on a project that’s very dear to my heart, I find it sad that Paul accuses me of being untrustworthy. For further reading, you might want to read the judgment entered against Paul Warshauer last year in a lawsuit filed by Annoyance Productions here: http://www.annoyanceproductions.com/lawsuit.html
Hopefully the Grand Theater Corporation can get back to the business of restoring a theater, and Mr. Warhshauer and his company can move on as well.
Yes, Paul and his company Grande Venues Incorporated were hired by the Executive Board of the Grand Theater Corporation (of which I’m a Board Member) to run Programming at the theater. They’ve been there for about 4 months now.
I don’t have the exact year(s), but the theater was divided into 2 auditoriums in the early 80’s, and then split into 4 in the late 80’s. In 2003, a group of volunteers removed part of the center wall, so that the two auditoriums nearest the stage were turned into a single auditorium. The theater is presently in a 3 auditorium configuration. It will be a single auditorium upon completion of the restoration.
I couldn’t agree more LTS. Mr. Johnson and the rest of his team are keeping alive several beautiful historic theaters. The York was one of the theaters where I went to movies as a child, so I’m glad to see it in safe hands. And let’s not forget the fantastic Theater Historical Society of America located upstairs from the York.
Dear Neighbor,
First, a general comment- the best way to get involved with the theater restoration is to attend our monthly informational meetings. This month, our meeting happens to be next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Next month and thereafter, our meetings are the second Tuesday of every month. This has been our schedule for 4+ years and you are more that welcome to attend.
Second, the Wheaton Theater rehabilitation process has been going on for years. Our organization has gone through dramatic changes to position ourselves to become a fundraising group. Our all volunteer board, from Wheaton and surrounding communities, has met with many community organizations, businesses, fundraising consultants and politicians and based on that input, we have created out a plan to raise the millions of dollars needed to rehabilitate the theater. The GTC held over a dozen workshops last Spring to get the word out to the community. We understand the critical connection between the GTC and the business community. In fact, our Board Chairman also serves as a theater representative on the Downtown Wheaton Association Board of Directors and two other GTC board members are downtown Wheaton business owners. The Wheaton theater will become and economic engine for the Downtown Wheaton revitalization effort.
There have been numerous comments and debates on this Web site and we
would like to refocus everyone’s (that truly cares about the theater)
efforts to help us rehabilitate the theater. Here is our Mission
Statement:
“To rehabilitate and revitalize the historic Wheaton Grand Theatre as a performing arts and entertainment center for enriching the lives of the residents of Wheaton and surrounding communities for
the present and future generations.”
We would also like to suggest that the public put Mike Novelli, a local Wheaton resident, and Paul Warshauer’s comments into perspective. Both Mike Novelli and Paul Warshauer are co-founders of Grand Venues, Inc., a for-profit corporation. Their goal, as a for-profit entity, is to take the theater over. Period. They made that clear in the Warren Moulds Chicago Tribune article. The Board of Directors for the Grand Theater Corporation has no financial stake in the rehabilitation of the theater. We will continue to make our decisions based on the best interest of the theater and not based on our own personal gain. From our perspective, it is clear a for-profit group is trying to damage both our reputation and efforts to
rehabilitate the theater, which is a sad situation. We, the board,
volunteers and community, want to focus 100% of our efforts on
revitalizing the theater and not be distracted by the efforts of GVI to discredit our years of work. If there is anything you can do to help us mitigate these distractions, we would be grateful.
Hope to see you at next week’s meeting.
Grand Theater Corporation
Mr. Garvey’s show (singular) was canceled due to legitimate concerns. The following is an article from the Daily Herald:
Reports of gang activity canceled Wheaton show
By James Fuller
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Concerns about possible gang-related violence bounced a hip-hop concert scheduled for Saturday in Wheaton to a later date after local police tipped off the venue.
Wheaton police said Monday that they received information from officers in Maywood that gang members there were recently found in possession of fliers promoting the concert at the Wheaton Grand Theater.
Wheaton police Cmdr. Terry Mee said speculation coming from Maywood was that the concert could be a site for possible retaliation from a recent gang-related shooting there.
Wheaton police relayed that information to the operators of the theater, who then decided to cancel the concert.
Maywood Community Officer Percy Allen said he was aware of the cancellation, but had no knowledge of any Maywood connection or officers giving information to Wheaton police.
However, theater board member John Loster confirmed Mee’s description of the events leading up to the cancellation. He said the decision was based on several discussions with Wheaton police during the week leading up to the event.
The information on the possible gang activity came on the heels of accusations from the concert’s promoter, Ben Garvey, that the theater nixed the concert because of general fear of “the hip-hop community.â€
The theater board disputes that notion.
“The reason the event was not held last Saturday had nothing to do with it being a hip-hop concert,†said Loster in a written statement. “We made the decision to cancel the show in the best interest of our audience and the community. That would have been the case whether the event was a hip-hop concert or a classical music performance.â€
Garvey could not be reached Monday.
Actually, that invitation goes to the rest of you folks who have expressed interest in the Wheaton Grand as well. Bryan & Life’s Too Short, etc. I’d be more than happy to take you through the theater if you haven’t been already. Just let me know.
Patsy, I would be MORE than happy to stop having to respond as I have mentioned. If you read through these unfortunate postings you can see that I’ve responded only when myself or the theater board has been attacked in writing. I guarantee you and all the readers of this page that I will have nothing negative to say, unless again provoked. I would much rather talk about the Wheaton Grand theater and our future plans. And I would be more than happy to talk to you about those plans for the Wheaton Grand, and if you’re local, one of our representatives would be happy to show you around the theater. You can email me at or post theater-related questions here, and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Well, I think that given an iota of intelligence, most rational people can tell by the postings here that you’re the liar. Your past speaks for itself, so I won’t waste anyone else’s time by rehashing your misdeeds. A man like you states a blatant falsehood “you lie to the public about renting the old office space (no one there as of this morning), oblivious to the fact that we have a signed lease effective June 1st for that space. When you were by there this morning, did you not glimpse the TWO LARGE SIGNS in the front window of the new tenant that were put up over the weekend? I know they weren’t green and have pictures of dead presidents on them, but surely you must have seen them. See these little things you tend to gloss over are called facts. And if you pay attention, I don’t go out of my way to launch personal attacks on you, though they certainly would be warranted. My posts are always in response to your ravings. Why don’t YOU try shutting up for a change, and I’ll be more than happy not to have the need to respond to your lies. Your choice.
Back to reality: The Wheaton Grand Theater not only turned 80 years young on Wednesday (May 25th), but we celebrated the kickoff of our 80th Anniversary Season with a concert by local band Paulina. To thank the community for their support, the concert was free to the public (thanks to Paulina for donating their talent & time!) Just because Paul Warshauer wasn’t invited, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a party (quite the opposite!) About 15 volunteers and board members came by, as well as several dozen fans/public. Volunteers who had stopped coming by because of Paul’s presence stopped by to say hello. One volunteer even promised to start volunteering on a regular basis again (hooray!) We followed that up with concerts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. All staffed by local volunteers who give up their free time to help a cause dear to their hearts. Shame on you Paul for saying the people of Wheaton aren’t involved. The entire Executive Board, and most of the volunteers, as well as many of our customers are local residents, whether that be Wheaton or the surrounding communities (Carol Stream, Winfield, Naperville, etc.) We’ve been receiving help and support and advice from local people for over FIVE YEARS! I don’t know who’s morale is bad, Paul. We have numerous volunteers who are happy that the project is back on track and several of the people who worked for you are volunteering their time (for NO money) at the theater. The roughly 500 people who came out over the last week seemed to be having a pretty good time too, but thanks for your concern! LOL!
John
Wheaton Grand
www.wheatongrand.net
Sorry, that should have been “Last Saturday”, not “Last Friday”
Grande Venues, Incorporated (GVI) has had their contract terminated with the Wheaton Theater, which is operated by the 501c3 not-for-profit organization the Grand Theater Corporation (GTC). GVI received the notice of termination on March 29th, 2005 via certified mail, giving them 14 days to pack up their belongings and leave. By midnight on April 12th, they should have been off the premises, but were not, and we had to change the locks on the building. We are attempting to negotiate a settlement to try to honor some of the shows that GVI booked. So far we have seen contracts that weren’t countersigned, contracts that were signed after GVI was given their termination notice, etc.
Unfortunately, GVI has forbidden us to even attempt to contact the bands that they have contracts with, and they have not given us contact
information for nearly all of the bands they hired. This naturally puts us in a difficult situation, for we want to try to minimize the inconvenience to their bands, but yet we cannot work with them because we don’t know how to contact them.
We have only seen a few of the contracts, but my guess is that not a single contract informs their bands of the following two important terms in the GTC/GVI contract: 1) the GTC has the right to terminate the GTC/GVI contract, with OR WITHOUT cause upon 14 days notice; and 2) that GVI expressly agreed “Neither this Agreement, nor any term or condition therein, shall create an agency, joint venture, or partnership relationship between the parties, nor shall either party hold itself out to third parties in such capacity. Neither party has the power or authority to act for, represent, or bind the other in any manner other than as specified herein. No one hired by GVI shall be considered either an employee of independent contractor of GTC unless GTC agrees in writing.” As such, GVI had no authority to bind the GTC, and all of GVI’s contracts should have been subject to GVI’s contract with the GTC being in full force and effect on the date of the event. We are trying to honor GVI’s contracts so that the level of inconvenience to bands is minimized, but this is very difficult with GVI’s refusal to either notify the bands that the GVI/GTC contract has been cancelled, or by GVI refusing to give us contact information.
We find it hard to believe that GVI continued to attempt to book bands
AFTER their contract with the GTC was terminated. Again, we do not know for sure, but it looks like none of the bands that GVI signed after the contract was terminated were told that the contract was terminated.
Last Friday, several volunteers came to the theater in the attempt to honor one of GVI’s events. Not only was a contract NOT produced by GVI, but none of the bands showed up. The Grand Theater Corporation is making the attempt to honor what we can, given a difficult arrangement. Meanwhile we continue to receive calls from vendors that are seeking payment for past expenses incurred by GVI and not yet paid. In addition, GVI did not pay us their contracted March or April payments, their January and February payments were not paid in full and Paul Warshauer had theater property removed from the theater without our knowledge or consent. As an unpaid volunteer who has been involved with this theater for five years, and who spends dozens of hours a week on a project that’s very dear to my heart, I find it sad that Paul accuses me of being untrustworthy. For further reading, you might want to read the judgment entered against Paul Warshauer last year in a lawsuit filed by Annoyance Productions here: http://www.annoyanceproductions.com/lawsuit.html
Hopefully the Grand Theater Corporation can get back to the business of restoring a theater, and Mr. Warhshauer and his company can move on as well.
Patsy,
Yes, Paul and his company Grande Venues Incorporated were hired by the Executive Board of the Grand Theater Corporation (of which I’m a Board Member) to run Programming at the theater. They’ve been there for about 4 months now.
I don’t have the exact year(s), but the theater was divided into 2 auditoriums in the early 80’s, and then split into 4 in the late 80’s. In 2003, a group of volunteers removed part of the center wall, so that the two auditoriums nearest the stage were turned into a single auditorium. The theater is presently in a 3 auditorium configuration. It will be a single auditorium upon completion of the restoration.