The Light Up The Queen Foundation (LUQ) will once again present musical education sessions
through its continued partnership with Live Connections to local students at the newly
restored Queen Theater and home to World Café Live at the Queen.

The music education outreach sessions are interactive performances that bring together
professional musicians with local students for explorations of music and cultures. The
sessions show how different musical styles relate, how music connects different people
and how the building blocks of music can be used in a variety of ways. LUQ education
sessions always feature first rate live music and give students a chance to try out
musical concepts through hands on activities.

“The Light Up the Queen Foundation is thrilled to once again offer exposure to this
restored treasure while providing music and arts enrichment to the 3,000 students
who will attend Light Up The Queen Programs in 2013 as part of our ongoing mission
to build community through music” said Mike Hare Chairman of the LUQ Board.

Through the generosity of its funders and supporters, the Light Up The Queen Foundation
is able to offer these sessions at no cost to participants. The Spring 2013 Education
Sessions will be attended by an estimated 1,500 students from local schools and is
scheduled to begin Monday, April 15th with a session called Sticks, Stings and Saxophones.
Sticks, Strings and Saxophones uses the music of Bach and interactive activities to
explore dialogue in music, the ways jazz and improvisation work, concepts of major
and minor key, and the use of instruments to showcase different styles and moods.

The Spring 2013 Bridge Sessions also includes the following programs:

Thursday, April 18th Rhythmic Body
Exlores the intersection of movement and rhythm through polyrhythms and the
Brazilian martial art Capoeira and traces historical and cultural connections
between West African Dance and Hip Hop.
Best for Grades 2-8

Monday, April 22nd Rhythm Machines
An exploration of rhythm in music and our everyday lives, from the natural
world to the workings of our bodies to the music we make. From “Iron Man” to
“I’ve Got Rhythm” to Pachelbel’s Canon and “Flight of the Bumblebee”, this
session breaks down beat, tempo, meter and the different ways rhythm is
featured in music.
Best for Grades 2-8

Educators interested in having their students participate in the Spring 2013 or any
future Bridge Sessions should contact Pamela Kreider at 302.691.2138 or
lightupthequeenoutreach@gmail.com. Established in 2008, the Light Up The Queen
Foundation, a Delaware non-profit organization, is dedicated to raising funds for
the restoration and revival of the Queen Theater in Wilmington and to assuring The
Queen becomes a catalyst for building community by engaging diverse populations
through quality programs in music education.

For more information on the Light Up The Queen Foundation or to make a donation please visit
www.lightupthequeen.org.
For more information on Live Connections please visit www.liveconnections.org
For more information on World Café Live please visit www.worldcafelive.com

For general admission tickets, please visit World Cafe Live.

Balcony seats are reserved for event sponsors.  Sponsorships are available starting at $500.

2013 Shine a Light on The Queen Sponsorship Opportunities

For more information, please contact Kathleen Ganse at lightupthequeen@gmail.com.

2nd Annual Shine A Light On the Queen Rolling Stones Tribute Concert

WILMINGTON, DEL.

– December, 2012

On Saturday, February 23, 2013 more than forty of Delaware’s best and brightest musicians will come together once again on the Copeland Theater stage to present the 2nd Annual Shine a Light on the Queen Concert. The evening is a tribute to the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band,” the Rolling Stones and proceeds will benefit the Light Up The Queen Foundation. Each and every song will feature a different lineup of the area’s most talented, influential and prominent musicians representing multiple generations of Wilmington’s music scene. Shine A Light on the Queen 2013 promises to be another unforgettable evening of Rolling Stones music and a celebration of musicians who have played locally in Wilmington for decades and have worked hard to support the Light Up The Queen Foundation. Brad Riesau from the Porch Chops notes, “As a musician on the scene for over 25 years, honoring the Stones and supporting the Queen Theater is something all of us are proud to do. It is a wonderful way for all of us onstage and behind the curtain to thank each other and all of the great friends and fans out there who support us week after week, year after year in the vibrant Delaware music scene.” Mike Hare, Board Chair for the Light Up The Queen Foundation said, “The Light Up The Queen Foundation is truly grateful and humbled to once again be the beneficiary of the convergence of talents of the more than 40 local musicians committed to perform at this year’s Shine A Light concert. It is a great celebration of the music community and promises to be the Rock and Roll show of the year!”

The Light Up The Queen Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation responsible for the restoration of the Queen Theater, now home to the Philadelphia based music venue World Cafe Live at the Queen, in Wilmington, Delaware, and to assuring that the Queen serves as a catalyst for building community by engaging diverse populations through high quality programs in music education.

The musicians who are performing in Shine A Light on The Queen 2013 include: Aaron Goldstein, Aaron Poole, Ben LeRoy, Brad Newsom, Brad Riseau, Brian Vogelsong, Chip Porter, Chris Debnam, Chris Julian, Dan McGowan, Donny Merrill, Dustin Frolich, Ed Dwornik, Gordon Lippincott, Hal Real, IVA, Jack Taylor, James Everhart, Jamie Price, Sparks Sinclair, Jim Lyons, Jim Miller, Joe Trainor, Jonathon Monck, Jordan Leitner, Kalai King, Kat Pigliacampi, Kevin Kelleher, Kevin Lyons, Kevin McAlley, Kevin McCabe, Kevin Tarzanin, Kurt Houff, Mark Macturk, Matt Urban, Michael Davis, Nancy Micciulla, Pete LeRoy, Randy Waters, Ritchie Rubini, Rob Grant, Sam Starr, Scott Birney, Scott Morris, Steve Bailey, Steve Hobson, Tim Kelly, TJ Ferrara and many more!

Ticket Sales

Presale: $35, Friday, Dec 14, 2012 – Jan 15, 2013

Regular Sale: $45

Day of Sale: $50

Event Info:

Copeland Theater, World Cafe Live at the Queen

Doors Open 7:00pm

Show Time: 8:30pm

To purchase general admission tickets please visit World Cafe Live.

Balcony seats are reserved for event sponsors.  Individual and Corporate Sponsorships available.

Please contact Kathleen Ganse for details: lightupthequeen@gmail.com or 302.661.1403.

For more information on the Light Up The Queen Foundation or to make a donation please visit

www.lightupthequeen.org.

On Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 over fifty of Delaware’s best and brightest musicians came together to “Shine a Light on the Queen” and present an unforgettable sold out evening full of Rolling Stones music to benefit the Light Up The Queen Foundation. The LUQ Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation dedicated to the revival of The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, and to assuring that The Queen becomes a catalyst for building community by engaging diverse populations through high quality programs in music, education, workforce development and mentoring. The ongoing mission of LUQ is to offer music enrichment programs to local schools and non-profit organizations that lack funding for music and arts with special focus to at risk children and the special needs community. Since April 2011, more than 3,000 local students have been served by LUQ Outreach Music Education Programs. Each and every song featured a different lineup of the area’s most talented, influential and prominent musicians from each generation. “Shine a Light on the Queen” was not just a celebration of The Rolling Stones, but also of the people who have played locally in Wilmington for decades and have worked tirelessly to support the LUQ Foundation. The show was indeed one for the books…

So of course we’re doing it again.

Be the first to hear the when, where, why and how as the Shine a Light crew announces next year’s date and show details and screen The Rolling Stones: Some Girls, Live in Texas. Some Girls is a never-seen-before Stones concert movie which captures this world famous band at the height of their musical career. It opens with a Sir Mick Jagger interview filmed in August 2011 where he introduces the concert and offers an insight into its significance in the band’s history.

Featuring many Stones classics including Honky Tonk Woman, Tumbling Dice, Brown Sugar, Jumpin Jack Flash, Miss You and Beast of Burden, the film was shot on 16mm at Fort Worth, Texas in 1978 and has been upgraded to high definition with a 5.1 audio track thanks to SpectiCast. SpectiCast’s Digital Theater Network delivers the highest quality audiovisual digital experience that exists today. Paired with The Queen’s state of the art sound system, restaurant’s delectable offerings and wide bar selections, this is one totally unique dining and film experience in downtown Wilmington!

Thursday, August 23, 2012 Doors 6:30 pm | Show 8:00 pm | Downstairs Live
Tickets: Reserved Seating on Floor: $12 (10 ticket + $2 processing fee)
Click here to check out more tribute concerts at World Cafe Live!

Light Up the Queen Foundation Presents Music Education to Local Students

The Light Up The Queen Foundation (LUQ) will present musical education sessions in

conjunction with Live Connections to local students at the newly restored Queen Theater and home to

World Café Live at the Queen.

The education sessions known as Bridge Sessions are interactive performances that bring

together professional musicians with local students for explorations of music and cultures. “Bridge

Sessions combine first rate music, great artists and up-close interaction among musicians and kids.

Time and again we see how these sessions get kids fired up about kinds of music they’ve never heard

and never knew they would love” said Hal Real, founder of World Café Live. The sessions show how

different musical styles relate, how music connects different people and how the building blocks of

music can be used in a variety of ways. Bridge Sessions always feature first rate live music and give

students a chance to try out musical concepts through hands on activities.

“The Light Up the Queen Foundation is thrilled to once again offer exposure to this restored

treasure while providing music and arts enrichment to the 3,000 students who will attend Light Up The

Queen Programs in 2012 as part of our ongoing mission to build community through music” said Mike

Hare Chairman of the LUQ Board.

Through the generosity of its funders and supporters, the Light Up The Queen Foundation is

able to offer these sessions at no cost to participants. The Spring 2012 Bridge Sessions will be attended

by an estimated 1,500 students from local schools and began on Monday, March 26 with a session

called Pulse and the Pitch. Pulse and the Pitch explored the interrelationships between beat, rhythm

and melody through new interpretations of familiar classical works. The Spring 2012 Bridge Sessions

also includes the following programs:

Monday, April 23rd Dancing Vibrations

A tour of musical forms and their roots, this session explores a

cross-section of musical genres from Bach to the Black Eyed

Peas. The artists range from the music of Europe to that of

Brazil and the United States, showing how different

instrumentation and arrangements can offer a fresh perspective

on a variety of styles

Best for Grades 2-8

Tuesday, May 1st World of Percussion

An interactive session on the ways percussion crosses culture,

with an emphasis on listening, music-making and cultural

understanding.

Best for Grades 2-8

Tuesday, May 15 th World of Percussion, see description for May 1st

Friday, May 18th The Language of Rhythm

From blues to hip hop, jazz to Latin beats, this session focuses

on the rhythms, music and poetry that artists and participants

create together.

Best for Grades 5-8

Educators interested in having their students participate in the Spring 2012 or any future Bridge

Sessions should contact Pamela Kreider at 302.691.2138 or lightupthequeenoutreach@gmail.com .

Established in 2008, the Light Up The Queen Foundation, a Delaware non-profit organization,

is dedicated to raising funds for the restoration and revival of the Queen Theater in Wilmington and to

assuring The Queen becomes a catalyst for building community by engaging diverse populations

through quality programs in music education.

For more information on the Light Up The Queen Foundation or to make a donation please visit www.lightupthequeen.org

For more information on Bridge Sessions and Live Connections please visit www.liveconnections.org

For more information on World Cafe Live please visit www.worldcafelive.com

The Light Up The Queen Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation dedicated to the revival of The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware

SHINE A LIGHT ON THE QUEEN: A NIGHT OF ROLLING STONES MUSIC TO BENEFIT THE LIGHT UP THE QUEEN FOUNDATION

On Saturday, March 3rd, more than thirty of Delaware’s best and brightest musicians will come together on the Copeland Theater stage to present an evening full of music celebrating fifty years of the Rolling Stones to benefit the Light Up the Queen Foundation. Each and every song will feature a different lineup of the area’s most talented, influential and prominent musicians from each generation. Shine a Light on the Queen promises to be not just a celebration of The Rolling Stones, but also of the people who have played locally in Wilmington for decades and have worked hard to support the Light Up the Queen Foundation.

The Light Up The Queen Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation dedicated to the revival of The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, and to assuring that The Queen serves as a catalyst for building community by engaging diverse populations through high quality programs in music, education, workforce development and mentoring.

The development of the Queen Theater – located in the heart of the city’s downtown – promises to push Wilmington’s urban renaissance to new heights. A coordinated public-private effort has restored the Queen Theater’s lost luster, enhancing the city’s cultural offerings and attracting even greater traffic to an emerging entertainment district along the city’s most historic commercial corridor.

The musicians who are performing 3 ½ hours of Stones music include: Aaron Goldstein, Aaron Poole, Ben LeRoy, Ben Ledyard, Brad Newsom, Brad Riseau, Brian Vogelsong, Butch Zito, Chip Porter, Chris Debnam, Chris Julian, Dan McGowan, David Poland, Donny Merrill, Dustin Frolich, Ed Dwornik, Fat Daddy Has Been, Gordon Lippincott, IVA, Jack Taylor, James Everhar, Jeremy Worthington, Jim Lyons, Jim Miller, Jim Sinclair, Joe Ambrosino, Joe Trainor, Jordan Leitner, Kalai King, Kevin Kelleher, Kevin Lyons, Kevin McAlley, Kevin McCabe, Kevin Tarzanin, Kurt Houff, Marilee Calabrese, Mark MacTurk, Matt Urban, Michael Davis, Nancy Micciulla, Pete LeRoy, Phil Calabrese, Randy Waters, Ritchie Rubini, Rob Grant, Roger Kirtley, Sam Starr, Scott Birney, Steve Bailey, Steve Hobson, Thomas Huges, Tim Kelly, TJ Ferrara and many more!

Local band, Spokey Speaky, will donate proceeds of the their February 10th Bob Marley Birthday Concert to the Light Up The Queen’s Outreach / Music Education Programming. In the words of band member, Jason Keenan, ” we were particularly excited about having the profits go towards Light Up The Queen’s outreach programming, because music education is a cause that we think Bob Marley would value as much as we do.”

The concert will be held Downstairs at The Queen on February 10th, and will feature Spokey Speaky, The Splashing Pearls and special guests from various local bands such as Mad-Sweet Pangs, Boomslang, Universal Funk Order and more. Spokey Speaky band members expect this to be a very big night for everyone involved! Free downloads available at www.spokeyspeaky.com.

A very big thank you to Spokey Speaky and friends!

The News Journal – Wilmington, Del.

Author: Ryan Cormier
Date: October 21, 2011

Friday night is turning into early Saturday morning at the corner of 2nd and Market street in downtown Wilmington.

A band made up of University of Delaware students – indie folk rockers Battleshy Youths – is playing inside Extreme Pizza and their rustic tunes float out the front door, filling this once mostly abandoned part of Market Street with music.

Ever since the April opening of World Cafe Live at the Queen, the musical renaissance of Market Street has slowly built steam.

Across 10 blocks of Market Street stretching from Rodney Square down to Martin Luther King Boulevard, there are now more than 10 venues that serve up live entertainment – half of which have only started after the Queen’s arrival.

And just off Market Street, other spots that revel in art and music have sprouted whether it’s The Nomad Bar (905 N. Orange St.) or Poppycock Tattoo (115 W. 8th St.).

For Battleshy Youths singer/songwriter Michael Natrin, Market Street is now a destination.

Before the Queen, he had never come to the area to hang out. Now he and his friends not only have gigs there and visit to see other bands, they both perform and hangout at some of the new music spots, like Extreme Pizza.

“I see shows at the Queen or stop in LOMA Coffee sometimes,” says Natrin, 22, a UD senior from Smyrna. “It’s a whole different atmosphere than Newark, so it’s nice to get out and see shows at different venues.”

‘It’s all about the energy’

Extreme Pizza owner James Baker – no relation to Wilmington’s mayor with the same name – began hosting music with sporadic shows at his pizza shop in the summer. Now, he hosts live music Wednesday through Saturday, sometimes staying open until 1 a.m. for bands.

The performances, he says, bring in a nighttime and weekend crowd – times when his shop needs customers. (Weekday lunches are always busy thanks to the business crowd.)

“It’s really nice when we have the music going, the doors are open and you pop your head out front and there are actually people walking up and down the street,” says Baker, himself a music fan. “It’s all about the energy.”

Both Extreme Pizza and the Film Brothers Co-op, which are only one door apart on Market Street, book their shows through the new Wilmington-based booking company Gable Ventures, run by Gayle Apuzzo Dillman and Jeremy Hebbel.

The organic partnership grew after Hebbel, a musician, taught Dillman’s daughter, Erica, how to play guitar when he was working for Accent Music. Dillman, a music fan who was supporting her daughter’s musical aspirations, suddenly went from a stay-at-home mom to co-owner of a music company that books more than 20 original music concerts a month.

Dillman’s vision is to draw crowds by hosting all-ages shows at non-bar venues mostly on Market Street in Wilmington. If it sounds like a huge challenge, it is. And that’s why she’s doing it.

“It’s obviously more of a struggle than if we did it on Main Street in Newark, because there are more people there that will come out to see music. But that’s already there,” she says.

Dillman and Hebbel will be putting on their biggest show yet on Nov. 26 at 952 S. Madison St. on the Riverfront with an event dubbed Wilmo Rock Circus. There will be 10 bands performing at the indoor rock festival, which will be aired in its entirety on Graffiti Radio, the alternative HD radio station 93.7 HD-2. They hope to draw up to 300 people.

Film Brothers Co-op head Gordon DelGiorno jumped at the chance to partner with Gable Ventures, hosting the 2nd & LOMA Music Series this summer, which has expanded into the fall and the winter. So far, the biggest draw was a September show featuring six local singer/songwriters that sold 75 tickets at $6 a pop, filling the co-op, which has a lounge feel with couches and even has a few beers for sale during shows.

It’s a win-win for all involved, organizers say. Music pumps live into Lower Market Street, brings new faces to the area and at the same time DelGiorno is able to show off his new co-op and even earn a small fee, which goes toward paying rent. Plus, he’s in talks with The Grand about piggybacking shows onto their schedule and having new local food businesses like Bain’s Deli (225 N. Market St.), which opened Monday, cater some of the shows.

“So what you have eventually is a neighborhood that looks out for each other, which hasn’t been the case any time I’ve been around this area,” DelGiorno says.

Drawing a crowd

With the traditionally slow summer months in the past and the busier fall nights ahead for downtown businesses, things have been picking up on Market Street recently.

Thanks to a pair of sold-out shows by Louis C.K. and a sold-out performance by Wanda Sykes last week, The Grand drew 3,700 people onto Market Street.

Chelsea Tavern general manager Joe Van Horn reports that the brewpub directly across the street from The Grand had its busiest day since opening last year thanks to Louis C.K.’s fans. “You literally couldn’t walk in through the front of the building,” Van Horn says. “I never thought I’d say this, but it was almost too busy, which is a good problem to have.”

After trying out a few shows, Van Horn recently reorganized his dining room so it could accommodate live music, usually paring a genre of music to match the show coinciding at The Grand.

Down on the other end of Market, the Irish bar Shenanigans has slowly built up its own entertainment schedule to lure new customers to an area that’s been pretty dormant for decades. There is now live music or karaoke four nights a week.

“It’s a tough area because everyone is used to going to Trolley [Square],” says Shenanigans owner Matt Vinson. “Having music brings people in and once they come, they feel safe about coming over to this part of Market Street. It’s not the scary place it was in years past.”

Contact Ryan Cormier at 324-2863 or rcormier@delawareonline.com. Read his pop culture blog at www.delawareonline.com/pulpculture.

The Queen construction is in full swing!

Leonard Simon has worked on Market Street for nearly four decades.

The owner of men’s clothier Wright & Simon, he’s seen young entrepreneurs come and go. When a new restaurant opens, he wishes them luck, but understands the risks.

He watched city leaders convert Market Street into a pedestrian mall in 1974, to compete with suburban shopping malls, and he watched them demolish the mall and reopen the street to cars about 30 years later.

So, he’s been more than a casual observer as demolition experts and craftsmen ripped the hulking Queen Theatre down to the facade, and then reconstructed a 45,000-square-foot musical beacon in a building that evokes both the Beaux-Arts style and Classical Revival.

Like most, he wonders if the grand opening of the World Cafe Live at the Queen is the key to lifting Wilmington out of its economic malaise, or if the latest dream of a vibrant downtown will crumble like the pedestrian mall.

“It would be a huge hit if something like that didn’t work, but I don’t want to think that,” says Simon, whose business has been five blocks from the Queen since 1952. “This has a lot more potential than anybody can possibly think of. I don’t have enough dreams in my mind where this could go from here.”

As workers at the nearly 100-year-old former movie house hit the homestretch of a $25 million renovation project, many in the city and state are hoping a thriving Queen can be the economic and cultural game-changer for downtown Wilmington.

Spillover energy is already apparent. The owners of Chelsea Tavern, Extreme Pizza and Shenanigans Irish Pub and Grill all say the Queen was a factor in their decisions to open on Market Street. Chelsea Tavern’s owners also plan a spring opening for Muddy’s Smokestack BBQ at Eighth and Market to take advantage of new feet on the sidewalks that connect the music venue to shops and restaurants.

The unveiling of World Cafe Live at the Queen means another 100 full- and part-time jobs, nearly all filled by Delawareans. Neil Sulkes, general manager of World Cafe Live, expects workers to mirror the Philadelphia staff by being involved in the local arts scene.

“I’d say about 80 percent of our staff in Philadelphia are musicians, photographers, jewelry makers – they just love that creative atmosphere,” Sulkes says.

But the game-changer question has a companion query: “What if the Queen fails?”

“You’re talking about the thing I wake up to at 3 in the morning,” says Bill Taylor, head of the Light Up the Queen Foundation, which has been raising the money to re-do the Queen. “It’s the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but it’s like it’s too big to fail.”

“Failure is not an option,” adds World Cafe Live Founder and President Hal Real. “Failure for us would be a really sad state of affairs for Market Street.”

A lot of planning and thought was put into the revitalization of the Queen!

Market Street is Wilmington’s downtown spine.

It’s a backbone that connects Rodney Square and the central business district’s corporate headquarters, where young executives from Bank of America work, to the resurgent Christina Riverfront district, with condos, shops, restaurants and a busy Amtrak station.

If the Queen, which sits in the middle of those two districts, thrives, it would secure a safe, uninterrupted corridor of residences, shops and entertainment venues in the heart of the city. Eliminating dead zones is one key to reducing crime in the city, says Mayor James M. Baker.

By the time the glass doors of the Queen swing open, a Downtown Visions patrolman will be assigned to the Queen and two Wilmington police officers will continue to patrol Market Street. Just having more people downtown will increase a sense of security for patrons, Baker said, leaving behind the deserted, nighttime feel downtown Wilmington has struggled to overcome.

City officials and developers want to graft the Riverfront together with the successes of northern Market Street in downtown, like the $50 million, 91 percent-leased Residences at Rodney Square, or the new, 100 percent-occupied, artist-friendly Shipley Lofts one block off Market.

The newest Riverfront project is a 14-screen, $25 million Penn Cinema IMAX movie theater, which should complement other new projects, like the $25 million Christina Crossing shopping center anchored by ShopRite, the Riverfront-area’s first major supermarket.

Once the Queen and the corner of Fourth and Market streets receives the same makeover treatment as the rest of the Lower Market Design District, known as LOMA, Wilmington’s central artery will look unlike anything that’s come before.

“Often times, it’s projects like this that just sets that spark and from there, everything follows behind it,” Taylor says. “I have to believe the impact of this project is going to be enormous.”

The Queen rendering of the finished building.

The city’s focus on The Queen is not the first time Wilmington has looked to a Philadelphia music venue spin-off for a boost.

In September 2002, Philadelphia’s Zanzibar Blue jazz club opened in the Brandywine Building. It was shuttered by June 2004.

“We weren’t getting the support we needed to survive,” Zanzibar manager Carlos Castillo said at the time.

Baker, a longtime jazz fan and Zanzibar patron, doesn’t believe Wilmington’s World Cafe Live will go the way of Zanzibar Blue.

“They went out of business on their own. They didn’t market Wilmington like they should have,” he says. “They had the same people in there every week, except for Saturday. I was thinking, ‘How many $100 dinners do I go to to see the same thing?’”

What World Cafe Live has going for it is a template of success that’s already proven it can turn around a struggling district with its hybrid of music, food and drink.

When World Cafe Live in Philadelphia opened in 2004, its location between University City and Center City was a mostly abandoned urban/industrial area. Today, there is foot traffic and top-end music nearly every night.

Real says the venue was caught in the middle when it opened: Students were used to heading west toward the University of Pennsylvania for shopping, restaurants and clubs, while Center City residents tended to head east toward the heart of the city for the same.

“We were way more of an island unto ourselves when we started in West Philly than we are on Market Street even, which is hard for people to believe, probably,” Real says. “We took a big risk and it’s gradually becoming a neighborhood.”

When the West Philly site was chosen, there was nothing within blocks.

“It was like there was a bogeyman under the Walnut Street Bridge,” Real says. “But when they came and saw it, they came back. That’s all we need – we need people in the Wilmington area to give us a chance.”

World Cafe Live now hosts an average of 550 ticketed shows each year, drawing 150,000 people annually – something they hope to eventually match in Delaware. The Philadelphia site now stands among apartment buildings, restaurants and research facilities where none were before. Real estimates there is $3 billion of development currently planned in the area.

Even with that backstory, Baker doesn’t see World Cafe Live opening at the Queen as a magic bullet that will solve the city’s problems. But he says its success could help fuel the revitalization effort.

“The Queen is just another piece of the puzzle. There’s no one project that really makes a city what it is,” Baker says. “But it’ll create excitement. Other restaurants and facilities will want to be close by because of its activity.

“It takes a long time for cities to decline, but it also takes a long time to bring them back.
“But once it’s back, it’s a new city.”

The Queen from a neighboring building top

If you want to listen to someone who is wholly pumped up for the Queen, just call Ben LeRoy, a longtime Wilmington musician and leader of the band The Snap!, which has played nearly every Wilmington venue during the past 25 years or so.

He’s dreamed of Wilmington having a venue like the Queen. He was one of the first to sign up to be on Light Up the Queen’s 12-member board of directors and even co-wrote a song called “New Wilmington (City Alive),” which he performed at the Queen’s groundbreaking in October 2009.

“So people join in, there’s a change in the wind/Cross over the streets of doubt and fight,” he sang as he prowled Market Street, walking right up to the gathered crowd, hoping to rub off some of his enthusiasm. “See, it’s all so clear, the vision is near/ The promise is you and you know you’re right.”

Like The Grand, which opened in 1871 and remains one of Market Street’s treasures, LeRoy believes the Queen will now live on. World Cafe Live and Queen officials hope that kind of confidence and belief in the city will be infectious once the theater reopens April 1.

“I’m counting on this being a legacy,” LeRoy says. “I want to have my stamp. I want to have my name on a brick and walk in there 40 years from now telling my grandkids that yeah, I helped do this.”

Baker wishes Wilmington had more Ben LeRoys.

“The hardest people to sell on the city of Wilmington, believe it or not, are Wilmingtonians,” he says. “New blood always makes it better. And the new blood coming into Wilmington – the smart, young people in the computer fields or arts – they are changing Wilmington.”

One of them is Taylor, who moved back to his native Delaware about three years ago from New Orleans to work on the Queen, which is owned by Buccini/Pollin Group Inc. Taylor has been living in one of Buccini/Pollin’s new downtown properties and he has plenty of company. The group’s seven newest condominium or townhouse properties, including Residences at Rodney Square, Residences at Christina Landing and River Tower at Christina Landing, are 87 percent sold or leased, says Robert Buccini, a partner in Buccini/Pollin Group Inc.

After watching New Orleans bounce back after Hurricane Katrina, Taylor is still surprised at the apathy of some in his native city of Wilmington.

“There are naysayers and that continues to blow me away – the number of people who don’t believe in their own city,” he says. “I understand it because there’s such a long history on non-vibrancy. But once they see it… I give tours all the time and everyone who walks out of that building is a believer.”

And that’s a good thing. Taylor is still seeking $3.5 million to meet its $25 million goal for renovation.

Nearly half of the money has been raised through historic and new-market tax credits ($11 million) and funds from the city ($3 million). The other half is a mixture of foundation grants, state funds, corporate donations and money from individual donors. Those last millions are expected to be raised over the next two years, Taylor says, through corporations and foundations from Wilmington and the region.

The Queen will also aggressively target individual donations through its newly created Friends of the Queen program, hoping that music fans will be bowled over once they experience World Cafe Live at the Queen.

A state-of-the-art sound system was put into the newly renovated Queen

Andrew Miller, a Delaware native and head talent buyer for Sunny Day Music & Promotions in Philly, books concerts at places like The North Star Bar, Mojo 13 and Mojo Main. He was surprised that World Cafe Live chose Wilmington for its second location.

“It’s so close and they went there instead of going to Lancaster, Pa., or York, Pa. or even Baltimore,” says Miller, 34. “For these artists, I don’t think they can play Philadelphia and then Wilmington. It’s going to be one or the other and they are going to have to choose where they are going to put a show and have to do the whole hard sell on Delaware.”

Even so, Miller, who once worked as the subscriptions manager at The Grand, agrees with those who believe the opening of the Queen will give downtown Wilmington its best shot in the arm in a long time.

“It’s very exciting. It’s just that living and growing up in Wilmington and seeing them try over and over again – nothing’s worked yet,” Miller says. “But this is something Wilmington has never seen before. It’s a really, really big deal. It seems like it’s going to work, even though there’s a big risk involved.”

To succeed, the Queen must become an integral part of the community, Taylor says, and his Light Up the Queen Foundation will carry that torch.

“We’re not just a music venue,” says Sulkes, World Cafe Live’s general manager. He was on Market Street last week to watch workers install the theater’s 6,000-pound marquee. “We really want to be a clubhouse and a hangout for the arts and culture community of Wilmington.”

In addition to national and local acts stretched across the Queen’s two stages, expect children’s programming on weekend afternoons with its musical lunch series “Peanut Butter & Jams.” When the main stage is dark, local bands can record their albums there for a fee. The venue is also adopting the blues and bluegrass jams that local musician David Bromberg has been involved with in recent years, giving pluckers and strummers a home for their weekly, informal sessions.

Taylor plans community-driven programs like the ones he spearheaded at the Tipitina’s Foundation in New Orleans and like some at the World Cafe Live in Philly, including Bridge Connections, which pairs musicians and interactive performances with students and those with special needs.

“We want kids coming in and out of there all day,” he says. “The idea is to have that place lit up and running as much as possible.”

WXPN 88.5-FM will have its own studio in the Queen, allowing shows like the syndicated “World Cafe with David Dye” to broadcast from Market Street.

The station’s popular “Free at Noon” concert series, which draws national acts for an hour-long free set simulcast over WXPN, will also originate from downtown Wilmington occasionally. They hope to replicate the success of Philly’s midday show, which is filled to capacity with music fans on a lunch break. Recent “Free at Noon” acts there have included Liz Phair, Donavon Frankenreiter, Robert Randolph and Pete Yorn.

The Queen, which has been under construction for 15 months, will also have two large rooms overlooking Market Street that can be rented for private events and kids’ birthday parties.

Real hopes World Cafe Live at the Queen will help the city find the tipping point that makes people come back to Market Street and unravel any beliefs that the area is unsafe.

“I’ll say I’m cautiously optimistic because we need the folks from Greenville, Kennett Square and West Chester to all say, ‘Wow. What’s wrong with Market Street? This is becoming a cool neighborhood,’ ” he says. “If folks come and give us a chance, they will realize Market Street is not dangerous.

“It’s been a little sad and a little depressing, but it’s not dangerous.”

Above: Light Up the Queen’s Bill Taylor, “Treme” creator David Simon and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews in Dewey Beach last month.

Posted on Delaware Online By Ryan Cormier

A day off is rare for musician Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews.

Following the April release of his breakthrough album “Backatown,” Andrews has been touring nearly non-stop with his cutting-edge mix of New Orleans brass band tradition, funk and rock.

He guest-starred on HBO’s “Treme,” helped kick off the NFL season with a TV performance with Dave Matthews Band, and will head overseas in October for five gigs opening for guitar hero Jeff Beck.

But as busy as Andrews, 24, is, he will drop almost anything for Wilmington resident Bill Taylor, executive director of the city’s Light Up the Queen Foundation.

“All he has to do is send me a text and we’ll find a way there even if we have to hop on a train. Bill means that much to me and he’s helped me out, so anything he wants me to do, I’m there,” says Andrews, who will perform a benefit concert Friday in Wilmington. “It’s just that type of love that we have.”

Before moving back to his Wilmington hometown from New Orleans in 2008, Taylor was a mentor of Andrews, helping the then-teenager with schoolwork, giving him pointers on being a professional musician and making sure Andrews wasn’t lured into the sometimes inviting world of alcohol and drugs.

The old friends reunited before Andrews’ August concert in Dewey Beach which included a surprise visit from “Treme” creator David Simon, vacationing in Fenwick Island.

Andrews, somewhat shy and reserved off stage but a wholly engaging presence once in the spotlight, calls Taylor, 39, “a father figure.”

Because of the close relationship, Taylor knew he could ask for the musician’s help when he decided to host another benefit for the Queen Theatre, currently undergoing a $25 million renovation. Friday night’s show is the biggest Queen fundraiser since Bromberg’s Big Noise in the Neighborhood festival in May.

Andrews and his six-piece band, Orleans Avenue, will perform on the ShopRite Riverfront rooftop at 501 S. Walnut St., which showcases the city’s skyline and the Christina River. The $75 event, which kicks off at 4 p.m. with an opening set by Wilmington ska act The Bullbuckers, includes a complimentary pig roast and beer and wine.

The musician is squeezing the Delaware concert in between tonight’s performance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in Hollywood, Calif., and a Saturday festival show at the Virgin Mobile FreeFest in Columbia, Md.

Yet Andrews’ appearance for the Queen seems fitting, in a sense. The same care and attention Taylor directed toward Andrews as a teenager is now targeted at the resurgent theater on schedule to open as World Cafe Live at the Queen in April.

Above: Andrews performing at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach last month.

Bill Taylor, who grew up in Wilmington near Rockford Park, attended Tower Hill School before heading to boarding school in New Hampshire for his remaining high school years.

He got a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in comparative religion, and later earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. After graduating, Taylor moved to San Francisco, working for a short time as a writer before deciding to go on a trip that would alter his life.

A dizzying 10 days in New Orleans in 1996 was spent attending the city’s historic New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and absorbing its sometimes overwhelming melange of culture and music.

“It was a life-changing experience,” says Taylor, who has since grown into a New Orleans music connoisseur of sorts and a well-known fixture in the city’s vibrant music scene. “My mind was blown.”

He remembers the exact moment on the trip when he decided to move to New Orleans. He was inside the historic Maple Leaf Bar, where acts like the Rebirth Brass Band regularly play. Night had turned into day as he took in a blues/funk set by local legend Walter “Wolfman” Washington.

“The sun was beaming down outside and he’s just ripping it up,” Taylor remembers. “I was so exhausted and he finished a song, leaned into the microphone and said, ‘We’ll be right back.’”

Taylor realized it was a set break and the show would continue on even longer.

A few months later, he packed his bag for New Orleans. Taylor would stay for a dozen years before being lured back home to Wilmington to face the challenge of resurrecting the nearly century-old Queen Theatre, which had been dormant for about 50 years at the corner of Market and Fifth streets.

But it was during that time in New Orleans that Taylor made his mark on not only Andrews, but also the New Orleans music scene as executive director of the non-profit Tipitina’s Foundation. He stayed in the city for years following the devastating Hurricane Katrina, booking shows at the legendary Tipitina’s club after the storm.

“He’s more than plugged-in, he’s hard-wired in to the New Orleans music scene and the depth and genealogy of the music and where the musicians came from and who their mentors are,” says Jason Weissberg, a longtime New Orleans music fan and general manager of Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach, where he worked with Taylor this summer for a five-show “Bayou at the Beach” music series benefiting the Queen.

Even after attending the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for nearly 15 years, Weissberg is in awe of Taylor: “I thought I knew a lot about New Orleans music, but compared to Bill, I’m just familiar with it. It’s very humbling.”

Above: Taylor inside the Queen Theatre, which will open in April once the $25 million renovation is complete. (Photo: Joe del Tufo)

Once in New Orleans, Taylor soon worked his way into the heart of the New Orleans music scene, snagging an internship and later becoming a deejay at WWOZ (90.7 FM), which was the city’s Treme-based jazz and heritage station.

But perhaps his biggest musical connection came with Andrews’ father, James, and his uncle, Aldo.
The pair welcomed Taylor and they would meet each Sunday for the second-line parade, a New Orleans brass band tradition of performing through the streets of the city’s neighborhoods. They also would attend late-night Mardi Gras Indian practices as the traditional groups, called tribes, prepared for the Mardi Gras march.

“There was no reason in the world for them to take me under their wings, but they did. They almost protected me,” Taylor says. “Sometimes when it gets late at those Indian practices, especially when it gets late, you’re in some tough environments and those guys always had an eye on me and made sure I never strayed too far. That whole experience changed my life. It’s a part of who I am now.”

Soon, he was mentoring a teenage Andrews, who was attending New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, which has produced musicians like Wynton and Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.

By this point, Andrews had already been a local star. Since the age of 7, Andrews had regularly toured the world, starting as a pint-sized trombone player with touring New Orleans brass bands. He joined the rock world on a world tour with rocker Lenny Kravitz after graduating high school, coming back with a new swagger on stage, along with his now-trademark sunglasses and sleeveless T-shirts.

As Andrews matured, Taylor began having him mentor other young musicians in the area, working as a student teacher with Taylor’s Tipitina’s Internship Program, which focused on giving musicians much-needed business lessons, helping develop their music skills and giving them recording studio experience.

After living and working with the city’s best-known musicians, Taylor had become one of them. And these days, he can head into the rough Treme neighborhood late at night to catch a few sets on his own.

“He doesn’t even need us no more. They see Bill and say hello to him and don’t wave to us no more,” Andrews jokes. “He’s part of our family. He could go down to Treme right now and somebody would make sure he’s OK or see if he needs to step in a house for some air-conditioning. He’s part of the community.”

Taylor can only smile at Andrews’ successful 2010, earning praise in magazines like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly and performance slots on shows like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” where he’ll be this Thursday.

You could see the pride within Taylor last month as Andrews spoke in Dewey Beach, retelling how he ended up on stage with U2 and Green Day in the center of the field of the Louisiana Superdome in 2006 for the first football game there since the hurricane transformed the stadium into a hellish shelter for thousands of New Orleanians.

Andrews said he was on tour in England when he got a call from an acquaintance, producer Bob Ezrin, best known perhaps as co-producer of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” and was invited to a meeting in London.

“It was me, Green Day, Bob Ezrin, [record producer] Rick Rubin and U2 all at one table in Abbey Road Studios,” he says. “And I’m sitting at the head of the table thinking, ‘Is this really happening?’ I just sat back and took it all in.”

At that moment while telling his story, Taylor was doing the same from across the table over a few sodas at Jimmy’s Grille in Dewey.

Above: Taylor (center) poses with actor D.L. Hughley (left) and Andrews on the set of the NBC program “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” in 2006.

Taylor’s decision to move back to Wilmington two years ago came after receiving a call from longtime friend Christopher Buccini, a partner in Buccini/Pollin Group Inc., which owns the Queen, and Hal Real, founder and president of World Cafe Live. He had known Buccini since they were schoolboys. They even attended the same New Hampshire boarding school and both went to Princeton.

Buccini and Real wanted Taylor to spearhead the effort to raise $25 million to get the Queen up and running again as a spin-off of the popular Philadelphia-based World Cafe Live music venue.

At the time, less than half of the money had been raised, but the call came at a good time. Taylor had grown weary in the highly-emotional years in post-Katrina New Orleans.

After the storm, Taylor did interview after interview about the city and its musical culture, appearing everywhere from CNN to “NBC Nightly News with Brain Williams.” In 2007, he was also executive producer of the post-Katrina double-album tribute to Fats Domino, “Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino,” working in the studio with an all-star line-up including Paul McCartney, Robert Plant and Elton John.

It was only a few days after arriving back in Wilmington and moving into the Residences at Rodney Square that the stock market sustained major losses and the ongoing economic downturn was in full effect.

It was in that environment that Taylor began the process of raising millions of dollars on a vision, something he himself even doubted was possible at times until the groundbreaking last October.

“I was pretty scared. I put all my eggs in this basket and times proved themselves to be incredibly challenging,” he says.

Laid back and usually found with a smile framed by his reddish beard, Taylor can regularly be found at a concert, whether its one of the shows he’s producing or not. And just like when he was back in New Orleans, you can sometimes find him in costume, whether it’s at a show or a party.

At his 38th birthday party last year, Taylor dressed in that year’s Mardi Gras outfit: A black T-shirt with a skull wearing an Indian headdress imprinted across his chest, Mardi Gras beads swinging from his neck and bright purple sequined top hat sitting atop his head.

It’s that enthusiasm and carefree spirit that had helped him lead the charge for the Queen.

Tina Betz, Mayor James Baker’s director Office of Cultural Affairs and a member of Light Up the Queen’s board of directors, has seen his energy firsthand, watching him build an army of dedicated volunteers and supporters in two years.

“Building that group of people that you can depend on to help makes things happen is extremely important,” says Betz, who helps organize Wilmington’s biggest events each year, including the annual DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz and the Riverfront Blues festivals. “Coming from New Orleans where you hear music coming out of just about every door you pass, that’s now ingrained in him. I love the energy and vision he has.”

Friday’s rooftop show is the product of his outgoing nature. Taylor teamed up with Melissa Kenny of Kenny Family ShopRites, whose family owns the four ShopRite supermarkets in Delaware, to put the concert together.

Taylor and Kenny have a mutual friend that he met upon his return to Wilmington and he had heard that Kenny would joke about how the ShopRite roof would be a great spot for a concert. Soon, the idea of a benefit was introduced. The beneficiaries for the show will be the Light Up the Queen Foundation and the Kenny Family Foundation, a non-profit that has raised money for nearly 100 organizations like Food Bank of Delaware and the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition since 2008.

With construction at the theater set to end in about six months and a grand opening bash to follow, Sam Hobbs, co-owner of Twin Lakes Brewery in Greenville, remembers the night he first heard Taylors’ vision for the Queen and the effect it could have on the city’s downtown.

It was only a couple of weeks after Taylor returned to Wilmington and none of his private doubts about the project were evident as he made his first big pitch to prospective donors. Hobbs was joined by about 20 others who had a few drinks at the Market Street home of well-known musician David Bromberg before the walking a couple of blocks south to the dilapidated Queen.

It was there that Taylor hopped on dusty, old stage and unveiled his infectious enthusiasm about music and how it can bring a community together — something he saw first hand in New Orleans after the hurricane.

At the time, Hobbs was not sure he would donate to the cause.

“But he made a passionate plea and said this might be the last effort that people will be willing to put in to the city of Wilmington,” Hobbs says. “He was very persuasive with his vision for the future.”

By the time the night was over, nearly every person there decided to donate and Hobbs found himself committing to a five-figure donation: “We believed.”