Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY Ep.46 | Feat. Doug Levine

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

Doug Levine: Keepers of Ithaca's Historic State Theater In this episode of Good News York, host Mike chats with longtime friend and executive director of the State Theater in Ithaca, Doug Levine. Doug shares heartfelt moments from his 16-year journey in revitalizing this historic venue, emphasizing its significance in Ithaca's vibrant music and entertainment scene. Discussion points include the theater’s evolution, its role as a community-owned nonprofit, and memorable performances by artists like Nikki Glaser, John Prine, and The National. Notable anecdotes highlight artist interactions, from Tweedy’s surprise visit to Brian Adams’ easygoing nature. Doug also elaborates on upcoming theater upgrades and the importance of supporting local arts. 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 00:21 Gifts and Merch from the State Theater 00:44 The State Theater's Role in Ithaca's Music Scene 01:18 Doug Levine's Journey to Executive Director 01:31 The State Theater's History and Revival 02:33 Partnerships and Programming Success 03:11 Challenges and Improvements at the State Theater 07:54 Community Support and Fundraising Efforts 25:15 Volunteer Contributions and Personal Touches 27:42 Upcoming Projects and Enhancements 30:20 Exciting Summer Projects 30:56 Upcoming Fall Shows 31:34 Tribute Bands and Live Music 32:43 Dream Artists and Memorable Concerts 38:52 Behind the Scenes Stories 48:41 Comedy and Community 53:07 Theater Experience and Final Thoughts

You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your website. Start free at RSS.com. 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 merch, you know, pile on,

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, maybe it's one mug. Maybe it's a po-he. He came with autographed posters, mugs, wine glasses. This is why I love this, man. There's a lot of love at the state theater. There is a lot of love.

We like to share it. 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 Glazier in Ithaca tonight?

I'm like, yep. You know, Nate Bargotsi right before he went on SNL. The list goes on. But Doug, you are the executive director. You are the guy. I've been in charge since, actually, this organization, State Theater of Ithaca Inc. It is a 501C3 nonprofit.

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 in, 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...

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... I think Doug said everything. I think he even ordered the McRib or something like that. 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 very, 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 and Dan Smalls 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, you know, 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 9th, I remember seeing like Jimmy Cliff there and Anni DeFranco. And it was at the same time the theater was kind of falling apart then. 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. Oh, five. Okay. But I know the story. Yeah. 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, actually raised the money to kind of salvage the building, brought it back. You know, they put, you know, three, four million dollars into the building, replaced the roof. And, and Historic Geitha, by the way,

their whole mission is to basically save old buildings. And they did. The theater was like this close from the wrecking ball. They were plans to turn it into a parking lot. Jesus. And they swooped in, raised the money and got it back. And the one thing about Historic Eitha 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 by booking the shows and not really knowing exactly what they were doing. So that's what spun out. And, hey, 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 like truly passionate about the love of the building. It's just a beautiful historic. I mean, people in Syracuse, it's very similar to the landmark. Yeah, a little smaller. Very similar. Very similar to the landmark.

Or the Stanley and Utica? Exactly. Same era. They're all, I think even the landmark is the same, like 1928. I think the Stanley's 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. of my sleeve and I'm really passionate about you know we have like five major projects that we're working on the summer to make it a better theater I'll I'll get to that later and yeah it's it's a it's a dream job and and 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 a year yeah 75 80 80 shows a year which is pretty pretty pretty for a town our size it's pretty remarkable amazing yeah and that's the thing too is one of my

favorite things about going to shows at the state theater is and this at 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 she actually saw a kid playing.

Busting. 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, I asked him if he would like to open up the show and he said, well, I've got to 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 strove from the comments, but one thing that you haven't touched on, which is, is equally as important is the fan base. Like the Ithacans or whatever, the Central New Yorkers that come to, they are extremely respectful and they are open to original music, of course. You know, artists come in and they often have to play their new album.

And Ithaca eats it up. 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 L.A. And my buddy told me about Ithaca.

I'd been there a few times. And at that time, 0506, it was really, other than New York City, it was one of the only towns in New York that a pre, that was like cover bands. You know, and no disrespect to cover bands. But it was very rare that they were like, now, 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 Ithakins 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 like the town are the owners? Even though we're not the owners you make us feel that way and I'm being sincere

yeah but honestly we are a 501c3 not for profit and really what that means is we are owned by the community so you're not wrong right like and frankly you know we have a project this summer that we're working on. Yeah, let's talk about that. So, like, as a 501c3, it's not, it's, it's, it, we have to rely on support. So, 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 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 I think it's 133 that we need to create made out of steel. It's not a cheap project. But we rolled this out last Friday. We sent 500 letters out to pass donors saying, hey, we want to raise the rails. Can you support us? We're already 50% to our fundraising goal less than a week. I'm one of those.

I'm one of the donors. And you are one of the donors, and that's actually I reached out, and that's kind of how this interview came about, too. Yes. Well, listen, I mean, I've been wanting to have you on for a while. I knew it was going to happen at some point. You know, that's another thing, too, speaking of projects and donating and all that is, you know, there's a lot of organizations that, you know, you can donate money to. And sometimes you don't question it, but you're like, huh, I wish I knew 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 process of up, of, of up,

or there's a major upgrade. 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. No, dude. You're going to make me cry, man. I'll cry.

We're both very emotional guys. Yeah. I got goosebumps, actually. I know. But that is a very conscious decision on our part. It's so classic. And it's, you know, it's a little exhaust. 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 conglom. We are very far from a corporate, you know, we are real people with real families and we're very, very passionate about what we do. And just that like, hey, Mike, miss you, brother. Think about putting some railings up here. And, you know, frankly, it works.

Like getting that little personal touch goes a long way. It does. And it really, and I'm not just saying this, man. I always say it to my wife. I'm like, look. And she's like, you say that every time. And 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 like, you know, you're sports guy like me too. 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, 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 hand writes his letters to coaches and players. Amazing. And, I mean, that. And you do that. Well, and also every single thank you letter I have a handwritten note on it. 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 bit. That is a nice.

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 air bar area, which is beautiful.

Yep, 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. 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 the guys are like, wait, you did the bathrooms? Like, guys is, but the women really know that we have some beautiful new bathrooms. But yeah, 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 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. room. 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 let people breathe a little more.

We went from two points of sale to five points of sale, which is great. So the lines are a lot faster. We're actually, 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 going to 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 want to support that.

Oh, that's great. So, yeah, so that's pretty exciting. And then we're also going to put in this new refrigeration, like better refrigeration, make it a little more professional. And so if people do want to donate, let's, I mean, we'll hit it again at the end, but what's the best way to do that? Best way, easiest is just go to our website, stateofitca.org. There's a big yellow donate button on the page, and you can just do that.

You can say, hey, I want to. 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 donated every time, but I don't, I don't know if I ever. Or, I mean, basically, if we just get like a donation. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month.

If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. We consider that what we call a general operating support and then we do it, we put it where we need it the most. You just reminded me there was actually a really cool thing you guys. guys did. I got, I have my own seat. I still haven't found it. I haven't found it. Dude, next time you're there. I got to, I got to do that. I keep forgetting. I will take you to your seat. Yeah. How did that work? I forget. Okay. If you donated, you could, you could have your own personal title on. All right. So during the pandemic, that's right. State theater. Theaters like

ours were, 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, it was scary. 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 the 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 the price point at $100. For $100, you can sponsor one of our 1600 seats at the State Theater.

and we didn't know what to expect. We rolled it out November 1st before the end of the year. So November 1st, by December 28th, we had sold all 1,600 seats. They were sold out in less than eight weeks. And not only that, but we had some major sponsors, banks, for example, Tompkins Trust Company, for example, they wanted to sponsor the first two rows. Wow. So in the end, you do the math, 1600 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 this. Save Your Seat Campaign, and we allowed people to put, kind of like, Twitter, it was like up to like 65 characters on that seat plaque. So it could be like, Mike Bernadisie. Yeah, I forget what I wrote. I love the stage. I think it was something like I've loved playing on the stage, but there's nothing better than being in the seat. For something like that. I mean, that's amazing.

It was great. And, you know, some of the, what was really touching is that a lot of the plaques, I walked through, I was just walking through a couple hours ago. A lot of them are in memory of people that have passed on, and that's really touching. It's really touching. But there's also like, you know, I don't know, Mike and Laura, first day ever, state theater. Like, that's so great. They went on their first day to the state theater, and they're signifying it here on their seat. What a brilliant campaign.

Yeah, one of my friends who lived, and the other thing, some people gave from like, you know, 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 friend. free wine slushie. Yeah, it was obviously a joke, but still like three times a year, people are like, I'm here for my wine celestial. They come to the lobby and I'm like, I'll give them a free popcorn. That's great, man. My buddy, yeah. But see, now this is, that's another, to circle back, that's another example of why people are so

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, a lot of the great music venues in our area have closed over the years, unfortunately. Absolutely. And, you know, that is one of the things that we are known for in Ithaca is our music scene. And, you know, you guys are single-handedly keeping it a lot. Yeah, well, you know, it's, I know we talk all about good news, New York, but it is a, it is a concern of mine in Ithaca right now where the clubs, there's like nowhere for like New York rock to really play right now. I mean, deep dive, but there's no more haunt, there's no more range.

And it's, you know, it's, 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, yeah. 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, you know, we work very closely with DSP shows. They would like to have a smaller venue to book, too. Yeah.

And, you know, 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 five hundred seat plays. 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. It's a great idea.

I just need another quarter million dollars to do it. Yeah, I know. 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 small 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 another, if you haven't been to the state theater, the first couple rows you guys renovated, and it's like sitting in a lown, 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. They're made by spec seats.

So, yeah, I mean, we keep professionalism high there. You know, when you're getting like these major acts and people are paying, you know, a 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, if you want tickets, just go right to stateofitika.org.

Do not go to vivid seats or anything else. Do not buy your tickets at the state theater. Do not buy them on any of those third party. It's stateofitka.org. Please, that is important. I'm glad you said that, man. Well, you'll pay a lot, a lot. You'll pay the actual ticket price.

Right. Not, I mean, sometimes it's absurd what it's going. And frankly, sadly, it's legal, too. It is. I know. Well, we, so I do want to mention, I mean, we're going to about upcoming shows and stuff like that, but for those of you who have not been to the state theater, which I would be very surprising, we're not talking about, you know, mid-range acts.

I just want to list off a few acts that I've seen recently, okay? The Wallflowers, Nikki Glazier, Nate Bargotsie, 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 recently Elvis Costello

I mean you guys are getting some major major acts and do you think 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

book a wider spectrum as well but yeah when artists I mean a little bit of my background you know you're in your Rock I mean 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, you know, just going from town to town, you know, you see, like sometimes you come to a crappy venue and you don't have that great of experience. I want to make sure when artists come to Ithaca that they have a memorable, fantastic, warm, loving experience. And that, you know, 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, a lot of bands, when they kick off a tour, they want to, like, rehearse for a few days, and we often give them, like, 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 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 have? That's on my list. And my least favorite, too. I can, I'll come about that too. I'll just cut to the, Chase, we had a band called The National who, like, amazing band,

indie rock, you know, and they can play like Madison Square Garden if they wanted. 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 until 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 until 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 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 we're 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 their, you know, a rock show. When only 100 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 100 people there. And it wasn't like 100 people because ticket sales were bad.

It was 100 people because they were VIPs that got into the show and they're doing a special, like, one off for you. Yeah, that was pretty phenomenal. That is amazing. Yeah. And it's great, too, because you're almost like an ambassador 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, I'm not, we don't have to edit it out or anything.

But I don't know if he says that after every show either. But he did say, he just played there, what was it, April. Yeah, he was just there like a month ago. Great show. Awesome. He was great. Yeah. 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 amazing. And I gave him a car. Yeah, it's great. It's wonderful. 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, have you been, know of the kids? Because she comes in there for a lot. 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 commons. It's true, dude. I've heard other artists go, you know, this place is nice, but you could use another head shop. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like we do, we... It's a college town. It's a college, it's ethical, man. Yeah, 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 the show.

We do. And I don't mean a few. They turn out. Full staff. We have, overall, we have, I think it's like 196 volunteers. They don't all come to every show. We limit it. It's usually like 15 to 25 volunteers per show.

But they are the phone. that volunteer their time, they get trained so they know how to, you know, 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. Right. It's a great way. 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.

She just retired from volunteering, but she's been there since the 90s. I'm not kidding you. Before you. Yeah, before you. Yeah, before, oh, well before me. And not only that, but she also, for a number of years lent us a beautiful Steinway and 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 like 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. It's really great. You just reminded me of, I was walking into what my wife wants to a show. And I look and this woman scans my ticket and I'm like, hey, Doc, it was 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, 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 ithic.org. Yeah, that's fine. You can find us on Facebook or any social media really. Yeah, yeah, go to, just go to our website and you can contact

us there. Can I just talk about the projects that we're working on this? Of course. Yeah, that I 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 a another $9,000, and then the project will get done. And that seems pretty attainable. State of Itzica.org, donate. Yep, thank you.

We're also, you'll like this one. We are finally going to replace all of our incandescent stage, all of our stage lights are old school from like the late 70s early. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. The 80s. 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 the 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 I have a meeting with a sponsor tomorrow about it.

So we're trying to, and some, some, some, some foundations as well. State ofithicca.org. Yeah, it's going to keep saying. So 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 and moved it in.

So we want to redo the bar so it all matches and looks nice. Sure. We're going to do that. And we're going to, 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. Love that, man. And then some of the smaller projects, we put last summer, we put a brand new ramp in.

There's a weird step because it's, you know, 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,

that frankly, you know, people with accessibility issues have a challenge with. But 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 whatever. 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 Zonder 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 going to build that. It's 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? and, like, kind of fall up it.

Oh, yeah. Daily. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Sober or not. Getting old, yeah, yeah. We're going to redo the stairs also. So, like, these are all, like, exciting, fun project. You know, the other thing, 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 boiling stuff. Yeah, yeah, 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. 25 is the sexy summer 25. Yes. So those are our projects. Yeah, we are also, of course, working on more shows for the fall. We just announced a couple weeks ago

Ithaca Boys Make Good. We have ex-ambassadors coming for two nights. They're from Ithaca, by the way. They're from, yeah, you guys probably know the song like Renegade or Unsteady. Their album, VHS, came out 10 years ago, so this is the celebration of 10 years of VHS. That's crazy. So two nights in September.

And we have already booked. We have Celtic Thunder. Steve Hackett from Genesis, Guitar Whiz. We just announced a couple days ago, Modest Mouse with Built a Spill opening. That's going to be a cool show. And then we're bringing, you know,

we like having some of the cover bands like Almost Queen coming back. I went to that. Yeah, they're great. First time. 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.

Dude. Played live and played well. I tell people to this, and I've been to many kinds. I've seen them all, Metallica, Aerosmith. One of the best shows I ever saw was the machine.

I love the machine. 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 the closest I'm going to get. And they, I mean, it's like seeing Pink Floyd. I mean, they do the full thing. Yeah. And some bands, you know, like for example,

we also have, we also have. had Darkstar Orchestra. Yep, we have them pretty much every year. They're like the premier Grateful Dead tribute show. And I would rather see Darkstar play at the state theater than like what's left of the Grateful Dead these days are. Yeah, it's not the same. Yeah.

And I know you're a big deadhead. I'm a dead head. Yeah, but it's just for the sound quality, it just sounds better. Yeah. No, I get it. Yeah. I got to ask you this. Yeah.

Before we go, is there a dream artist that you were able to get or that you're like still waiting on like, if I can get this person. Okay. I know that's a. No, that's a great question. We've checked the box off with a few of them, one being, like, I'm a huge Wilco fan. Yeah, yeah. 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, dude, 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 Anastasia came and played at the state theater. 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 would change at the hotel in Buffalo and went to see

the food fighters where the Sabres play at the Key Bank. And my head was going to explode by the end of the night. So I... When you can include your sports team and music, I mean, there's nothing better. So my list still, I mean, at this point is getting tough because you'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. Just kneel in a guitar and a harmonica would be my dream. My dream.

That 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 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, like, I'm friends with. He was like, hey, we're Sweet Pete. You know, Sweet Pete's, you know, Sweet Pete is a guitar player in Stone Cold Miracle, like today. And he was like, where Sweet Pete?

to Sweet Pete here and Sweet Pete, I don't know where it was that night. Sure. But like, I know that guy and so does Trey. He told a great story. I've always heard the story about fish. They, you know, 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 90, like, 91, their record company finally gave him like a real bus. And he presented it to them in Ithaca.

So Trey told the story of from the stage, he like got up and showed where he stood when he talked. out the keys to the old fish minivan, and whoever caught the keys won the fish minivan. Are you kidding? Yeah, and he told the story like it was yesterday. It was so nice. It was crazy. 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 spread. I do know that. At the Buddhist monastery there, whatever called. Courtney Love brought them here. Yeah, she was the one that brought him. 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 the Like Ithaca deadheads But I found out it's like known throughout That the Barton Hall concert That's concert 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 celebrated every year It was on May 8th, 1977 At Barton Hall Cornell For those And they

part of it is that there's this woman that toured of them named Betty 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 maxill cassette Barton Hall 587 No shit New York the first time I ever heard of this town See and that's what I mean is so I thought it was an Ithaca thing I'm like well of course all the dead heads 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 Hayton Ashbury, like, they'll tell you. It's a very well, I mean, what was it about the show that was, was it the set list? The set list, the playing, the jams, all of the above. And they were also, like, spring of 77 is, like, the best dead tour. And, like, 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, for Jesus. Yeah, it was, but the set list, I mean, the second set opens with a scarlet fire, which is the best Scarlet Bouguania's Fire on the Mountain, like, ever. And then it culminates into, you know, 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, you know, there's a St. Stephen in there. There's also, they end with, like, the most epic walk me out in the morning due, like, of all time. So it's just, it's a great show. Even if you, if you don't like the dead, like, like, I like the dead. Next road trip, put second set 5-877 on. You'll become a, you'll understand what we're talking about. 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.

You're Doug Levine. Do you think it's revered as much within the band itself? Like, did they know? They know that it's well loved. And like, Phil passed away recently. And like, I saw Phil play with Bob. 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, you know, like,

He knew that, like, Barton Hall was special. But Bob Weir has been interviewed about the show, and he's like, dude, I can't remember, like, one day from the other. When you're on tour, even, like, a two-week tour, they all just kind of meld into each other. Yeah, you don't really, unless something, 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, ah, just another night on the tour. But for the fans. For the fans.

Yeah. And I'm sure you know probably a bunch of people that were at that show. I know a few. I know of you. 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.

Yep. What didn't we talk about yet? I get it. All right, let me, can I revere you with some behind the scenes? Fuck yes. Fun stories. Let's go. Okay, so let's see.

Well, I touched on one of my dream bands was Jeff Tweedy. Yeah. Leeds and Wilco, yeah. So the first time he played at the state theater, he actually came here there first with a band called Tweedy, which was him and his son and a couple other, a few other reasons. So the night, 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. It's like 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, you know, just like, oh, my God, Tweety's coming today. I'm so psych. 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. God, like, 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, but a little, 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 just, like, drove up from Brooklyn. and duties to take a whiz. Like, all middle-aged 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 Tweedy. And he's actually a very nice guy. And 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. You're a guy. 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. Thank you. And you 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 like Gordon Lightfoot, pretty heavy smoker, you know,

like even up until his death, like two backs 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, you know, like, you know, Gordon's been around a while. And I'm looking at him and it's very quiet. And I'm like, oh, my holy shit. 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. And I'm like, kind of like, every thought is going through my head. I'm panicking. And then, you know, suddenly, like, I see the chest

move a little and he coughs a little. I'm like, okay. Oh, fine. Gordon Lightfoot's alive. Breathing. Gordon Lightfoot's alive. Okay. So that was, that was the first time. That's how you met him? Had a death scare. Yeah. But he was fine. And he was a, he was a, not the healthy. 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 was me. I was on that bill.

I have that poster in my basement. When you're coming down the stairs, it's framed with all our autograph. I'm hoping you remember this, but midway through your set, 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. He wrote that about it.

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. Thank you. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and hundreds more. track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Your wife held your daughter up like this. It was like fucking Simba from the Lion King.

A little head phone. I had that made, someone had that made for me into a canvas print. Oh. That is also in my basement of me on stage at the state and my daughter. Oh, headphones on. Please. Goosepumps, 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 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, I mean, look, you got to share the love, man. 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 any, 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. Is 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. I mean, I have some funny pieces of feedback. Like an artist played our show. I went back to stay. I often go backstage after the show. And I'm like, great show. Thanks for being here. So they remember us.

He'll 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 over a lot of electrical work under the stage,

like a lot of equipment and whatnot. And if you have a certain kind of good, guitar, you get that guitar buzz. Oh, yeah. So we know how to deal with it, but that is one piece of feedback that, like, that we know about. And some artists can be really crabby about that. Yeah.

You know, the buzz. It happens. The show must go on. But overall, it's been very, very positive. It really has. Awesome, man. You know, and sometimes, on a bright side, like, sometimes we have artists that I'm almost like, I don't want to meet, 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. And 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 that night, being an old building, we lost our heat. Like the heat in the theater was, it was like February, it was January. It was January 30th.

Of course it was. And it was Ithaca, and it was pretty nippy. 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 going to be an a-hole? Like, oh, God. And he walks in the theater and, you know, he knows those guys. I was like, yeah, dude, we had like eight guys working on it.

And he was like, looked around. And he's like, dude, I don't know. I'm from Canada. I played colder hockey aren't this. He's like, I'm totally, I'm ready to rock if you are. And like, it totally, like, made my day. And he played a great show. And it was just, and I am a Brian Adams fan now.

Dude, absolutely. Yeah. I was actually going to say, ironically, I was going to say, 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. 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.

Hey, yeah. Played 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.

Yeah, 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 thank you. I'm like, no problem. Thanks, ma'am. Nice talking to you.

Hung up. You know, I actually grabbed John Pryne's guitar, walked out with him. You had security, you know, and we got to my car, and it was like a date. You know, I opened the door for him, and he got in,

And I put his guitar in and I get it. I shut my door and I turn 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 like, it's John Prine. I'm not going to be like, you know, your manager.

I was like, let's do it. He knows. He's like, my wife's always making me eat salad. Yeah. 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. Like outside of the area. Like for most part, everyone there is just like, it's crazy. Yeah. Not everyone, but a lot of people are really, some artists actually like, like David Sedaris recently. Yeah.

A comedian author. And he literally, after the. the show, we'll sit down and 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. Oh. Because he's a community. He actually talks to people, everyone in line. And he actually gets, he's mining for material. He's actually like getting like little stories. And yeah, he'll, he's mining for new material when he's, but he's also, he's also making fans for life too.

Of course. Like I just met David Sedaris. He signed my book. Yeah. I'm going to go to every show imaginable. I love him. 100%. Yeah, you break that. the fourth wall, as they say. Yep. 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?

Yeah. Who's 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 had 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. I don't know if I was a guest. He was, uh, his, Alan's wife's new husband. Yes. I forgot 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. Um, but whatever.

They played the show. It was absolutely hilarious. I mean, it's all improv. And then after the show, um, 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, there's place in the commons. I think it was called Silky Jones then. We go there. And 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 walked down the commons. And, you know, it's not just Ryan Stiles. It's the whole group, Greg Proops, everyone. We're all, you know, and they're still kind of in their stage. And on every year, we walked into the bar. And it was kind of like, you know, the scene in, like,

Dasey Confused when Hurricane is on. When they walk in and, like, the needle dropped. Like it felt like the needle dropped the Stiggy Jones. Like, I was like, like these freaking amazing comedians are here. And Ryan walked right up to, it wasn't very packed at all. Yeah.

The bar, but he walked out right up to the bar and he put his credit card on. And he goes, everyone in this bar, round of 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 time. It was the second floor. Okay.

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 makes me so happy that, what an experience. You're driving John Prine around.

Your head was Ryan Steyer. Yeah, it was great. Perks of the job. It is nice. I will say in my old age now, I'm definitely less involved. Yeah, of course. It's just, you know, when you do something 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 Indigo Girls religiously at, you know, closer to find. It's amazing song. And that was like 1988, 1988, 1989. Now the Indoor 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 Ingram Girls is going to 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 Empatheter here. And I got front row for the first time of my life. Wow. And I had that same reaction where I was like, my 15-year-old self, the head is exploding. Yeah. You know, that's great.

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 just get used to it. Yeah. And every now and then you got to go, do you know, you just carried John Prines fucking guitar. Yeah. Yeah.

That's crazy. State Theater of Ithaca. Doug, anything else you want to plug or mention before we go. I think we covered it all, man. Did. Thanks for having me. This has been one of my favorite interviews, to be honest. 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 Spindock. Yeah, cool. We had Ryan Neemiller, who's a comedian from AGT. I'm trying to think. We're getting there. I mean, we're working our way.

But, I mean, anytime we can help promote any of your shows, and if you have anyone that wants to come on and obviously, we'll make them. I mean, this world could use more good. news so I appreciate what you guys are doing. You embody what this show is about. You know, when I was asked to do this, it was, look, we're not puppies and rainbows. We're not just, you know, 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 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.

And I try to encourage people to shut off your phone. Just turn it off. 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 why I did it 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 Yeah soak this in

And you do that at the state theater man And I gotta tell you 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 Yeah I don't maybe I'm getting older I love it yeah yeah 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 going to go see Nate Bargazzi or, you know, you name it. And I go to the show alone, I see people I know. Yeah, I just have the best night. Yeah, you have friends, so you're going to 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, but, I mean, to have a place that I can go on a Tuesday night, and, like, 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. I mean, it's easy. It's remarkable, like year after year, you give every year. Well, I do what I can.

And, you know, hopefully it'll be more and more. But, you know, I donate because, first of all, I care about you. I care about the theater. But you're also providing, you know, we just talked about. We're in a time. You know, people's mental health are in the trash right now. There's a lot of negativity out there. And so you give people in.

Ithaca and around here that travel to Ithaca, something to look forward to on a Tuesday, something to help us forget about the bullshit. You know, and you're always upbeat, you always treat everybody, and when you talk about Doug hugs, you know, it's a real thing. This guy will hug you, you want

a Doug hug, he's going to give you a hug, man, and they're the bad. Can we hug on a podcast? Let's do it. Let's do it. Man hug. Man hug. Man hug. The dog hug. But no, thank you, man. State theater. I think your producer is Danny. He left. Where did he go? He's left an hour ago. He's like bringing the Ithaca vibes.

Yeah, Theirchus. State of Ithaca.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. State of Ithaca.org.

Donate and support, please. And volunteer. Here, 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. 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.