Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A Rare Opportunity


It's not Uptown Update's usual policy to publicize political fundraisers.  24 candidates running for three aldermanic offices in 2011 cured us of that inclination.

But there's an exception to every rule, and the "perk" associated with this fundraiser is so cool that we feel we would be remiss if we didn't make our readers aware of the opportunity.  The perk:  A tour of the Uptown Theater.   Citizens For Cappleman is holding a fundraiser celebrating the alderman's first year in office on May 17th at Fat Cat, and the price of admission includes a tour of the long-shuttered theater.

All the current members of Team UU are lucky enough to have been inside the theater at various times, and each of us found it awe-inspiring.  We wish the same experience for everyone in Uptown, whether it be this tour or another opportunity.  We hope the glimpses we are able to get now are just the "before pictures" that we can at some point compare with the "after pictures" of a fully restored and functional Uptown Theater.

For information about the fundraiser and the tour and how to purchase tickets, click here.

9 comments:

  1. Place is awesome inside. Kind of reminds me of the Titanic for some reason......

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  2. While you are there, ask Cappleman why he is voting for Rahm's Chicago Infrastructure Trust.

    While everyone goes about their lives, the mayor quietly privatizes more, leaving the city in the hands of corporations, not people.

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  3. Congrats on the 1st year, James.

    I'm going to pass on this, though.

    1 - define "community fundraising". Does the $ go to the ward, or campaign coffers?

    2 - no secret I'm dissatisfied with Jan's performance, but more curious why -as she's running fairly unopposed - she'd make the request for $2500"per election". Not quite sure what that even means.

    3 - Carol "double dip" Ronen, AND John Cullerton?! *cough*

    I could bore people even more, but this reeks of money politics and I'd rather not be involved and kinda wish James wouldn't play in the same sandbox as tainted pols; but ... hey ... whatever(pssst, you don't need them, Cap)

    Of course, I might change my mind if any of this might help to fix the viaducts ....

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  4. I could care less about who pays to restore the Uptown Theater and most likely it will take the money from the hands of corporations to get the job done. It would be a real economic addition to Uptown. Thats for sure.

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  5. Yo, babee,

    I knew I could count on you to comment on this thread.

    "Community Fundraising" is Cappleman's campaign fund, raising money in the community. The money will go into his campaign coffers and likely be used to pay down the remaining $44,000 debt the campaign still has. After expenses he seems to be knocking down the debt to the tune of $16,000 a year.

    His campaign fund seems to be paying a good amount of money out quarterly to partially pay for his Aldermanic Office on Broadway. Apparently the aldermanic allowance doesn't pay enough for the rent.

    http://www.elections.state.il.us/CampaignDisclosure/D2Quarterly.aspx?id=462307

    To quote a Marx Brothers riff on Eugene O'Neill "Pardon me while I have a strange interlude".

    Politics makes strange bedfellows. Let's think back to long ago, April 2011, when Fast Eddy Burke, Marc Kaplan, Susana Mendoza, and the remnants of the Shillerista machine all supported someone not named Cappleman in the runoff. Now that's one "strange interlude".

    Let's go further back to 2007 when Greg Harris, Jan Schakowsky and Paul Collurafici all supported Satan's driver, that would be Helen Shiller, over the Capplemaniac.

    Now I don't intend to attend the fundraiser either intentionally or unintentionally. Putting me in the same room, no matter how large the room, as Joe Moore would raise my blood pressure. I sat near him at Wrigley back in the 90's and by the end of the 7th inning I was considering tossing him over the wall onto Waveland. If it weren't for the possibility of him landing on some innocent ball hawks I might have.

    As for the others I've met Cullerton a number of times and while he's about as exciting as watching a garbage truck go down the alley from dumpster to dumpster, he's eminently less annoying than Moore.

    As for the others they range from impressive to hacks.

    I leave you with an O'Neillian quote:

    "The past is the present, isn't it? It's the future too."

    EUGENE O'NEILL, Long Day's Journey Into Night


    Take the fundraiser as it is Yo. It's a way for Cappleman to pay down his campaign debt and bring some attention to the Uptown Theater.

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  6. fair enough, on the debt paydown, and Uptown exposure. I just really don't want James to get pulled down into the same, do-nothing-watch-the-city-erode-before-our-eyes muck as those other sops.

    That, and I think it high time we get a new breed of democrat around here. The old breed have been nothing but a raging disappointment.

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  7. Yo ho ho,

    I'd also add that by schmoozing with sundry politicians Cappleman is more likely to be able to deliver goodies for the ward. I'm talking big capital projects like CTA stuff or an eighty foot tall memorial cenotaph remembering the "lost opportunities" during Shiller's Reign of Error" from 1987-2011.

    I'm feeling extra pretentious, literary and historical today. What did I do with my beret?

    Anyhoo, George Kennan referred to World War One as the "great seminal catastrophe" of the 20th Century. Shiller's 24 years in office could be described similarly for Uptown, but on a much smaller scale.

    Thankfully, Shiller never had access to infantry divisions or we would have had trench warfare on Montrose.

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  8. Going to leave........this......broke-en-down palace........

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  9. How do they arrange this tour. Do they go through Jam Productions?

    Why should anyone have to pay at least $46 dollars to see the Uptown?

    This is for the elite of the community.

    If someone wants to make money from tours of the Uptown, why doesn't Jam provide a simple $10 tour, once a month on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

    They have all kinds of architectural tours all over the city, this could be a stand alone or incorporated into an existing tour bus, for example, that does come by the Green Mill and other landmarks in the area.

    Put it to use, make it acessible, start creating a buzz about the place and Jam might be able to get some kind of backing for funding.

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