(upbeat tones) - [Jade] Sporting artist, Adriano Manocchia captures the magic of fly fishing in his paintings.

Chat with Palace Theatre Executive Director, Kevin Johnson and catch a performance from Jules Olson.

It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA, A House for Arts."

- [Announcer] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Jade Warrick and this is "AHA, A House For Arts," a place for all things creative.

Here's Matt with today's fill segment.

- I'm here in Cambridge, New York to get a peek inside the studio of sporting artist Adriano Manocchia.

Let's go.

(sweet music) - I never in my wildest dreams thought I would end up being a painter.

My dad was a journalist, forward correspondent and I think I was in sophomore year of high school, he was going to Yankee Stadium to cover a soccer match between the great Pele and an Italian team and he asked me if I wanted to go.

Now, being from the city and a Yankee fan, I said, "Sure."

And the day before we left, he handed me his 120 Rolex camera, which I had never used before.

Showed me how to use it.

Showed me f-stops and focus.

And we went to the game.

I took some photographs and they were published in one of the daily newspapers that he worked for.

And I got the bug, I mean, it was instant.

I became a photojournalist, I did that for about 15 years.

Every day was another experience.

Everything from spending time with Muhammad Ali at his training camp to photographing Tennessee Williams to go into the White House to, it was really an exciting time.

But I was getting burned out from the travel, we had a young son at the time and I was never home.

The business was changing, we were going from film to video.

I was a little intimidated about that move.

And I happened to be in Phoenix, Arizona with my wife Teresa one year, covering an Indy car race.

We had a day off, went to the Heard museum and it was a show of the cowboy artists of America, which was fascinating.

It just blew me away, I'd never seen anything like it.

And I started to think, "Gee, I'd like to be a painter."

I had some background, obviously being a photographer, you know, composition and light and color and that sort of thing, but I really knew nothing about painting.

So I spent about a year at the New Rochelle Library, just reading techniques of the old masters.

And one day I sprung the news to my wife, "Hey, I'm closing the news agency and I'm gonna become a painter."

And I just started painting.

I mean, it really wasn't, I didn't stop and think that, gee, maybe you really shouldn't be doing this, you really don't know what you're doing.

It was self-taught and just wanted to find out what this world was like and I discovered it.

Little by little, I started to focus more and more on wildlife, on the outdoors.

I was just learning how to fly fish at the time.

And a friend of mine took me up to Brewster.

We were fishing the Croton Watershed, which is a beautiful area, and he asked me to do a pencil sketch of him landing a fish.

And I did.

And I said, you know, that was fun, that was interesting.

And I just started doing more and more scenes of water.

(sweet music) I'll make a preliminary sketch, thumbnail sketches to see if the composition works.

And then I sketch a rough sketch on a Gesso smooth board.

Because there's very little texture, I build up a layer.

So what I do is I rough in, I block in the scene, using just burnt sienna, white and a little blue.

I'm able to see what the composition looks like.

Also, it gives that base coat, it gives that texture and surface that I can work on.

When that dries, then I start to put in color.

And again, I'll do it loosely.

I won't get into detail, and I'll let it dry and I'll slowly continue to build.

When I'm painting water, there may be 6, 7, 8, 9 coats, different layers that I'm building in, dark and lights, different colors, till I begin to feel that there's some depth to that scene.

There is one painting that I did a number of years ago, we were in Yellowstone, which is one of my favorite places to paint, we used to go quite often and there's a stretch of the Firehole River.

And it is, to me, it's magical.

There's something about it.

The thing was, I'd had to get there before the sun came up every morning and we, Teresa and I, would walk along the banks and the sun would come up and it'd be elk grazing and buffalo and geese taking off.

And the river had a magic to it, had a color, it had a movement to it, very winding.

And I did a painting and it's called "My Favorite Stretch."

And it's funny because one year we were doing a show, a sportsman show, and I had a print of it and a guy came up to me and he says, "That's my favorite stretch."

So I said to him, "Do you know where that is?"

He says, "I know exactly where that is."

He says, "That's the Firehole in Yellowstone by the parking area."

He says, "That is my favorite spot in the world."

I says, "Mine, too."

So this is, that was one painting that I always go back to thinking about, what, to me, is a perfect scene.

The person in most of my paintings is Ted Patlen, my dear long lost brother.

I met Teddy, some 40 something years ago, at a sportsman show down in Suffern, New York.

Came over, looked at my work, offered to do some framing.

Ted's a teacher, a retired teacher, and he said, "Hey, if you ever want to go fishing, why don't you gimme a call?"

And I was fly fishing at the time but I wasn't really great at it, good at it.

And I started to go fishing with Ted and he just, the two of us just clicked.

I mean, I'd find a spot and say, "Hey, Ted do you mind standing over there in the sun?"

And you know, it would just make the painting.

It would just make the whole scene.

And he and I, we were joking a while back about how many rivers and streams we fished together over the last 40 years and we came up with 99.

So I told him, he and I, we have to find one more stream to make it an even hundred.

I enjoyed my previous career but there were a lot of limitations.

You were given an assignment, make sure you come back with this, this, this and this, which was exciting.

But there were the deadlines, there was that a constant worry about producing something for someone else.

Art has given me the opportunity to really express myself the way I want to and I think that's been the greatest, greatest thing for me.

- Albany's Palace Theatre first opened its doors way back in 1931.

Today, the historic venue is home to the Albany Symphony Orchestra and continues to present films, major concerts and events for the community.

Let's learn more from the Palace's Executive Director, Kevin Johnson.

Welcome to AHA today, Kevin, I'm excited to talk to you about the Palace Theatre.

- Hi, I'm glad to be here.

- Yeah.

Well, to start, I would like to get to know a little bit more about your role within the Palace Theatre.

Can you give us a little bit?

- I'm the executive director at the Palace.

I've been there as the executive director since August of 2021.

If I had to describe it, I would say that I am the leader of the organization and I work with my leadership team to manage our employees and develop our staff to make sure that we put on the best events possible.

- Within your position, there is a heavy focus on promoting and fundraising.

So I want to talk a little bit about that in detail.

So what about promoting and fundraising, one, brings you joy and why is it important to the organization?

- Fundraising, of course, everything goes to the bottom line.

You have to be able to fundraise in order to keep the doors open.

Fortunately for us, our house is more of a operations type house, where our budget is primarily built on the activities that happen within the theater.

So it makes it a little easier to have a good team.

A marketing director that's been there now for probably close to 20 years makes my job a lot easier when it comes to that.

- And when it comes to the promoting piece, why do you think that that's so important?

- Well, because we're more of a rental house, a lot of the big name artists, they're brought in by national, regional and local promoters.

So we focus a lot of our efforts on some of the community-based stuff and it gives us the flexibility to create things that we feel the community would wanna see.

We partner with a lot of other organizations to have them come in and create and give us something else to put out there.

It's not so much about buying the talent, it's about partnering and collaborating with other creatives as you guys call them, to come in and utilize the space.

- And why is that important to you, do you think?

- It's important to me because I got my start by just doing things and when you walk into a building like the Palace, you're pretty much inspired to do something.

And I think when we open the theater up to different individuals and different organizations that may not have ever been in there before, I think their creative juices get going and it allows us to create something that may not already exist.

- That's beautiful.

And being able to provide these opportunity to folks, does it make you feel all tingly inside?

What about like fundraising and promoting brings you joy?

I know you have a background in it.

- Yeah, I mean it's all community.

It's providing access and opportunity to as many people and as many organizations as we possibly can.

Like I said, I wouldn't be doing the things that I'm doing now, if it were not for individuals that opened the door for me in one way or another.

- So it's really important to keep places like the Palace Theatre sustainable and alive and beneficial to the community.

- I mean, it's hugely important.

And I think we are a pillar in the community in the sense where I think the Palace is an economic driver for not only downtown Albany, but for the region.

Whenever we have events that come in, people come in from all over, they stay in hotels, they eat in our restaurants and it provides a good tax base for the small businesses in the area.

And it livens up downtown.

- And that's really important too, 'cause especially with the small businesses, restaurants, the hotels, that really is money coming, flowing into the city.

Have you seen a positive impact at your time at the Palace about how that has affected the city with it, economically or community-wise?

- Well, we always hear from our partners.

The fundraising piece for us at times gets easy because the individuals that we're going to and ask them to support us, they see the direct benefits of being a neighbor to the Palace.

And they see the benefits of being a friend to the Palace because those are the organizations and the businesses and the individuals in the community that get a direct benefit from the activities that they see at the theater.

- With community in mind, what kind of special programs does the Palace do that benefit the local creative community?

- Well, we have our community engagement initiative and there are a number of elements to that.

One of which is our workforce development component, where we actually train and certify security guards that work not only at the Palace, but we've known that they've gotten jobs at Capital Rep, the MVP Arena, the Capital Center, we partner with, of course, the Albany Symphony is a resident at the Palace.

We partner with as many local arts organizations, community organizations as we can.

And we always look to engage anyone that wants to participate in the arts, we welcome them to come to the Palace and we'll sit down and see what we can work out.

- And how would people approach, like let's say a local theater collective wants to come and approach the Palace, how would that contact happen?

- Just call Kevin.

- Yeah, really?

There we go.

Easy peasy!

- It's really that easy.

- Oh God.

You hear that, folks?

Make sure you call Kevin if you wanna be involved in that.

So what are some events that are coming up, that folks should know about?

- In the coming months, we have a little bit of everything.

We have literally something for everybody.

We have Dark Star Orchestra, we have Blippy, we have an April Fool's comedy event that looks like it's gonna come in.

- That could be fun or scary.

- John Mellencamp, I mean, you name it, we got it.

- [Jade] Awesome.

- I mean, if you really want to know, if you go to palacealbany.org, it lists all of our upcoming events.

- Awesome.

Well, thank you.

One more thing, this is just random.

What has been your favorite moment at the Palace Theatre, whether it's with an entertainer or any type of experience?

- It would probably be at this point, and it can change tomorrow, when I reached out to a promoter that was on tour with Kevin Hart and I did dates with Kevin Hart as a promoter, long, long time ago.

And when we booked the show, the show sold out in somewhere around, two, three days and he sold out two performances.

As we were getting closer to the date, we got a call and said, "Hey, it looks like we're gonna have a surprise for the Albany community."

And they said that Chris Rock was gonna be making a special appearance, he was gonna open up for Kevin Hart.

And fortunately for me, and I think it was 2017, I actually co-promoted a Chris Rock concert at the Palace as a promoter.

So to have him come back and I'm now the executive director, that was probably one of the most special moments, up until this point.

- The glow up.

Yeah, that's amazing.

And is Chris Rock a pretty cool guy?

- Yeah.

They both are, actually.

- Oh God, I, right.

I always see Kevin Hart everywhere, so I'm like.

- Well, Kevin wasn't always that way, well, when I met him, but he's a great guy.

- So you saw his growth and he saw your growth.

- I don't even know if he even remembers me, but.

(both laughing) - Well, thank you, Kevin.

I appreciate you coming by and talking about the Palace Theatre and I hope a lot of folks visit it this summer.

It's a great place.

It's a great resource for creativity.

Thank you.

- Oh, you're welcome.

Anytime.

- Please welcome Jules Olson.

(upbeat music) ♪ Our song although he didn't write it ♪ ♪ Sure feels like it ♪ ♪ And I roll down the windows while I'm driving ♪ ♪ Heat pumping a familiar scent ♪ ♪ Brings me to you ♪ ♪ Now you're flowin' through me spiraling out ♪ ♪ Into nothing, hearing the sound ♪ ♪ Of your footsteps, they can seem loud when the cold hits ♪ ♪ And the truth is ♪ ♪ I'm scared you're forgettin' me ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm finding hard to sleep well now ♪ ♪ My dreams scream so loud and ♪ ♪ Your name is burned into the of back of my brain ♪ ♪ I can feel it right now ♪ ♪ Trying to let 'em fall away ♪ ♪ These pieces of you are ♪ ♪ Now here flowin' through me and spiraling out ♪ ♪ Into nothing, hearin' the sound ♪ ♪ Of your footsteps, they can seem loud ♪ ♪ When the cold hits ♪ ♪ And the truth is ♪ ♪ When the cold hits and leaves are gone ♪ ♪ When the cold hits and I'm all alone ♪ ♪ When the cold hits and that's our song ♪ ♪ When the cold hits ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm spiraling out ♪ ♪ Into nothing and hearing the sound ♪ ♪ Of your footsteps ♪ ♪ They can seem loud when the cold hits and the truth is ♪ ♪ Oh, the truth is ♪ ♪ Oh, the truth is ♪ ♪ I'm scared you're forgettin' me ♪ (thoughtful music) ♪ This pilin' on again ♪ ♪ I'm feeling heavy again ♪ ♪ You're talking but I just don't have ♪ ♪ It in me to listen ♪ ♪ I'm laid up in bed again ♪ ♪ Just staring at the ceiling ♪ ♪ I'm spinning my thumbs and circlin' my mind ♪ ♪ Just trying to remember ♪ ♪ The person I was before I knew the way I ♪ ♪ Dealt with all your anger ♪ ♪ And it's heavy ♪ ♪ Bare feet in the grass ♪ ♪ I'm staring at the moon, I'm feeling small ♪ ♪ I'm tracing the constellations configured ♪ ♪ Configured to feel comfortable in space ♪ ♪ And we never got that part ♪ ♪ Right and that's okay ♪ ♪ I'm still spinning my thumbs ♪ ♪ And circling my mind, just ♪ ♪ Tryin' to remember ♪ ♪ The person I was before ♪ ♪ I knew the way I dealt with all your anger ♪ ♪ And it's heavy ♪ ♪ I'm questioning logic and ♪ ♪ Narrowin' down ♪ ♪ The ways that I fall short ♪ ♪ Without you around oh ♪ ♪ I'm still spinnin' my thumbs and circlin' my mind ♪ ♪ Just trying to remember ♪ ♪ The person I was before ♪ ♪ I knew the way I ♪ ♪ Dealt with all your anger ♪ ♪ And it's heavy ♪ ♪ It's heavy ♪ ♪ It's heavy ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oooh ♪ ♪ Well, I ♪ ♪ Move forward and make strides in the ♪ ♪ Way I talk to you ♪ ♪ Occasionally, I fall backwards and ♪ ♪ Just to find there's nothing there for me ♪ ♪ In the past, I would fight it, oh no ♪ ♪ Motionless, though I'd burn out ♪ ♪ Oh no ♪ ♪ And I dunno how ♪ ♪ But that's not me now ♪ ♪ Color my ♪ ♪ Life in such a way I can feel it moving ♪ ♪ Lightin' up the darkest corners of ♪ ♪ Of my past ♪ ♪ The nuance to my name ♪ ♪ Just like wings of a butterfly ♪ ♪ I know I've got patterns ♪ ♪ But I still gotta metamorphosize ♪ ♪ So hold me ♪ ♪ Close, I think I'm changin' ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm shiftin' below ♪ ♪ The world is rearrangin' ♪ ♪ And I don't know how ♪ ♪ But I found solid ground, whoa ♪ ♪ Now, those physics, I'm floating, levitatin' now ♪ ♪ And clearly I can feel true solace ♪ ♪ Rushin' through me, up here I see it all ♪ ♪ So hold me close ♪ ♪ I think I'm changin' ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm shiftin' below the world is rearrangin' ♪ ♪ And I don't know how ♪ ♪ But I feel different somehow ♪ ♪ Up past the ceiling, I don't know how ♪ ♪ But I feel different somehow ♪ ♪ Up past the ceiling, I don't know how ♪ ♪ But I feel different somehow ♪ ♪ Up past the ceiling ♪ ♪ Hold me ♪ ♪ Close, I think I'm changin' ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm shiftin' ♪ ♪ Below me the world is rearrangin' ♪ ♪ Hold me, hold me close, oh ♪ ♪ Everythin' is changin' ♪ ♪ Shiftin' ♪ ♪ Shiftin', below me, my world is rearrangin' ♪ ♪ And I don't how ♪ ♪ But I found solid ground ♪ ♪ Yeah, I don't know how ♪ ♪ But I found solid ground.

♪ ♪ Ooo, mmm, mmm ♪ - Thank you for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Jade Warrick and thanks for watching.

(poignant music) - [Announcer] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.