By Trevor Phipps
What makes a better Sunday afternoon than a beer, live music, and a movie?
Me personally, I’m gonna say (like many others), “not much since football season is over.”
Luckily, our beloved mountain town has our backs and offers an awesome solution to the problem which equates to booze, good tunes, and an awesome screen play. The local Gold Hill Theatres provides such greatness during one selective Sunday afternoon per month.
During this month’s “Movie House Music” feature, which occurs on the second Sunday of every month, I was asked to provide assistance to a local musician who honestly was so good that he didn’t need help.
I learned from being a sound technician in college how to help out my good friend Howie Henderson. In the process, I also realized that the event is a local hidden gem as far as things to do around the area goes.
Henderson is a retired Colorado Springs firefighter that spends his “golden years,” (disclaimer: Howie is a very fit personal trainer that does not look old enough to be retired, yeah seriously), training people how to be fit and playing good music. He has a local following that supports him wherever he goes.
That being said, Henderson usually plays in different atmospheres and compared his experience of playing at the local theatre to “playing at the Pikes Peak Center.” His opinion was based on the fact that Gold Hills Theatres offers one of their venues for the event, providing a unique setting that you cannot find anywhere else in Woodland Park.
The theatre offers an intimate setting that has escalated seating so that you are not blocked by the person sitting in front of you. To be honest, I would have never realized how unique and cool of a spot for a concert the local theatre was until I experienced it myself.
As soon as we arrived to set up for the show, the staff was very accommodating. They know how to set the event up for success and did so very well.
Honestly, at firstnt had the ability to produce around 15-50 spectators depending on situations and circumstances.
We had thought that Henderson and I were lucky if we got enough people to put us in the top 50 percentile of those numbers. However, based on that thought process, we did much better than imagined.
A good half an hour before our “big performance,” people started pouring into the theatre to support the infamous Howie Henderson. Many of the people that walked through those doors knew the infamous personal trainer, but there were several that didn’t.
However, it seemed as if everyone who took their seat in the theatre that day were pleased with their decision to make an appearance. The ticket total was very near the record the event’s organizer said was at around 50 spectators.
