{"id":6212,"date":"2013-05-20T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=6212"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:48:32","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:48:32","slug":"vid-store-prod-house-put-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=6212","title":{"rendered":"Vid store, prod house put to rest"},"content":{"rendered":"

It feels pretty good to contemplate how communities are capable of pulling together for the sake of a beloved local institution, does it not? In terms of Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> film culture, we\u2019ve now seen it happen twice in a year\u2019s time on a relatively large scale with one movie house, the Art Theater Co-op<\/strong> in Champaign, and one ozoner, the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in<\/strong> of Gibson City<\/strong>. Not all can be that lucky, however. Quality of product, reputation, and legacy only count for so much if tomorrow\u2019s operating dollars aren\u2019t coming through the door today, so we must pass along the sad news of two other media businesses that have met their respective demise in the past month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to C-U Blogfidential<\/strong> at the time, the five days of last month\u2019s Roger Ebert\u2019s Film Festival<\/strong> ran parallel with the last five days during which owner Dave McBride<\/strong> kept open the doors to The Movie Fan<\/a>, 503 S. Main St., Normal<\/strong>. After starting the shop in 1995, McBride moved from a strip mall on Veteran\u2019s Parkway<\/strong> in Bloomington<\/strong> to a prime location across the street from the Normal Theater<\/strong> in downtown Normal<\/strong>, offering discerning year-round residents and the campus populations of Illinois State<\/strong> and Illinois Wesleyan<\/strong> universities a diverse video library more than 20,000 titles deep. Due to the Town of Normal\u2019s aggressive rebuilding program, McBride relocated one last time to the current address in between a pizza (now frozen yogurt) joint and coffee house, along a stretch eerily echoing our new-look Campustown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

According to a final Weblog post<\/a>, The Movie Fan era was scheduled to finish at 7:30 p.m.<\/strong> on Sunday, April 21<\/strong>. We can only guess McBride made his decision due to the paying public\u2019s gradual drift away from brick-and-mortar stores to kiosk dispensers, rental by mail, and on-line streaming for their entertainment needs. The alternative student newspaper, The Indy<\/strong><\/span>, named another culprit hastening its end<\/a> \u2013 the massive loss of foot traffic due to last year\u2019s shuttering of Southside<\/strong><\/a>, a cluster of aging ISU residence halls located mere blocks away. Apart from appreciating the nearly 20-year run managed by McBride and his staff, we simply feel for our fellow cinephiles up I-74<\/strong> way. Be sure to show your love for That\u2019s Rentertainment<\/strong><\/a>, dearest readers, if you value organic discovery over touch-button convenience.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not two weeks later, CUBlog<\/strong> friend Mike Trippiedi<\/strong> announced via Facebook<\/strong> the closure of his long-time employer, the Prairie Production Group<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cFrom national [television] spots to segments for AMERICA\u2019S MOST WANTED<\/strong>, and all the little stuff in between, it was a great run,\u201d posted Trippiedi on their last day of business, Tuesday, April 30<\/strong>. \u201cThanks to all the crew, actors, and clients that I had the privilege to work with over the years.\u201d The Station Theatre<\/strong> veteran and AMBER ROSE<\/strong> director served as Operations Manager for the firm, founded in 1989 as an arm of the umbrella company which owns The News-Gazette<\/span><\/strong> newspaper, WDWS 1400 AM<\/strong> radio, Central Illinois Business<\/span><\/strong> magazine, and other media outlets. Steve Main<\/strong> purchased PPG a while back and spun it off as an independent company.<\/p>\n

Located at 509 S. Country Fair Dr., Champaign<\/strong>, PPG offered video and audio production as well as duplication needs for regional and national clients including State Farm Insurance, Discovery Channel, Parkland College, Champaign Park District, Federation of Animal Science Societies<\/strong>, and Weather Channel<\/strong>. A defunct subsidiary, Electronic Memories<\/strong>, transferred home movies to analog and digital media for general consumers. Other former employees who have moonlighted in C-U movie-making include Bill Yauch, Sam Ambler, Alaric Rocha<\/strong>, and Scott Warren<\/strong>. We wish Trippiedi and others who remained with PPG until the end a speedy path towards their next work and life commitments.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We wish the best of success for every media-making business out there, but sometimes certain good things must end. The Movie Fan of Normal and Prairie Production Group of Champaign, for instance, both quit doing business at the end of April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374,119],"tags":[1076,307,457,1077,1078,1075],"class_list":["post-6212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-matters","category-sad-places","tag-dave-mcbride","tag-illinois-state-university","tag-mike-trippiedi","tag-prairie-production-group","tag-steve-main","tag-the-movie-fan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6212","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=6212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}