{"id":10082,"date":"2016-06-09T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T18:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=10082"},"modified":"2016-06-10T22:01:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-11T04:01:43","slug":"mike-n-mollys-stirs-mf-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=10082","title":{"rendered":"Mike n\u2019 Molly\u2019s stirs MF memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heading into our second weekend sans Mike n\u2019 Molly\u2019s<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, we\u2019re filling the sentimental void with a visual flashback inspired by the wonderful show poster that decorated our previous post<\/a><\/span> about the now-closed establishment, along with our gratefulness for the creative opportunities Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> can provide! After co-curating a pair of events in early 2003 with the Urbana Independent Media Center<\/strong> involving low-budget cinema, we ventured on our own and landed at 105 N. Market St.<\/strong> in downtown Champaign, where Michael Murphy<\/strong> agreed to schedule our next public gig that October. We elected to use the large white rectangle marking the bar\u2019s outer wall, painted by WEREWOLF CEMETERY<\/strong> keepers Jason Butler<\/strong> and Mark Peaslee<\/strong> as a de facto<\/em> screen, on which to project MICRO-FILM<\/strong> favorites in the beer garden despite the threat of chilly and drizzling weather. Smarting from sparse attendance as a result, even though our debut under Murph\u2019s watch otherwise went smoothly, we declined to do-it-ourselves in the C-U for another three years. Eventually, four more MICRO-FILM<\/strong> movie shows were staged at Mike n\u2019 Molly\u2019s in 2006, split between outside and the second floor, which did not fare any better and forced us to scuttle the series by the holidays. We certainly relished the challenge and learned the expected lessons, given that event promotion was not our forte, with the blow ultimately softened thanks to a local film program we hosted at Urbana\u2019s Caffe Paradiso<\/strong> in 2009 for the Boneyard Arts Festival<\/strong>. Other than attracting a good crowd, it built our confidence and led directly to the launch of the New Art Film Festival<\/a><\/strong><\/span> our community embraces today. As far as we\u2019re concerned, however, these primeval MICRO-FILM<\/strong> presentations at Mike n\u2019 Molly\u2019s proved their worth by making us consider after the fact how to better conceive and execute such events in the future no matter where they took place. Check out below the fliers from our early flings as indie film impresarios, designed by your humble editor and shared on C-U Blogfidential<\/strong><\/span> for the first time.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Thursday, October 2, 2003 :: 8:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Sunday, July 23 & Wednesday, July 26, 2006 :: 9:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Saturday, September 9, 2006 :: 8 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Saturday, October 28, 2006 :: 8 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

p.s.<\/em> Such is the fate of interesting, non-mainstream cinema that fails to enter the cultural zeitgeist \u2013 hence, the point of us attempting to introduce it to an audience in the first place \u2013 for it may seemingly disappear overnight! Nationwide DVD releases for Baltimore<\/strong> action comedy LETHAL FORCE<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (Unearthed Films<\/strong>), Chicago<\/strong> slasher DRAWING BLOOD<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (Brain Damage Films<\/strong>), and Austin<\/strong> identity thriller SEX MACHINE<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (Anthem Pictures<\/strong>) followed closely after the MF<\/strong> screenings but are long out of print. Texas<\/strong>-lensed retro opus RADIO FREE STEVE<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (Ugh Films<\/strong>) and Chicago rock documentary THE BEARS: OUT OF HIBERNATION<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (Film Foetus<\/strong>), the latter starring former C-U musician Adrian Belew<\/strong>, have never been commercially available; luckily, a self-released STEVE<\/strong> DVD can be purchased at the link above. CUBlog<\/strong><\/span> friends will be familiar with student epic THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VS. A MUMMY<\/strong> (Illini Film & Video<\/strong>), sold here<\/a><\/span> or viewable for free<\/a><\/span> on YouTube<\/strong>. Over at Vimeo<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, the Kansas City<\/strong> satirical short KILLING MICHAEL BAY<\/strong> (Stickman Productions\/DV Brothers<\/strong>) can be watched in its uncensored glory. Finally, vintage sci-fi homage<\/em> THE MONSTER OF PHANTOM LAKE<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (Saint Euphoria Pictures<\/strong>), coincidentally named after a real life location visited annually by Murph, kicked off a series of budget B-pictures by Christopher R. Mihm<\/strong> and friends; the whole Minnesotan menagerie lurks for you right here<\/a><\/span>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Butler was not the only Pi Omega Omega brother named Jason to aim a projector on a flat surface at Mike n’ Molly’s. Here is the 10-cent skinny on MICRO-FILM indie cinema shows staged there in 2003 and 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1666,189,19,25,13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bittersweet-places","category-c-u-confidential-shows","category-images-du-cu","category-micro-film-du-c-u","category-public-events","category-theatres-venues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}