Irish band Kennedy’s Kitchen part of Bay Theatre slate
By Ross Boissoneau
Sun contributor
It’s a movie house. It’s a venue for concerts. It’s a gathering place for members of the community. It’s a working non-profit.
The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay is all of those. “This building has so much history,” says Graham Powers, executive director of the Bay Community Theatre Organization. Built in 1920, it originally served as a livery stable and fire station. It wasn’t until 1946 that it was transformed into a movie theatre.
In 2018, the Bahle family, which had owned the theatre since 1976, announced they were closing it. The community rallied to create and fund a non-profit, the aforementioned Bay Community Theatre Organization. It purchased the theatre from the Bahle family in December 2019. Overall, the Bay has been showing films for nearly 80 years.
“There’s a great need for keeping these spaces alive,” says Powers.
Alive and live, as in the theatre’s “Live at the Bay” series. On March 16, the Bay welcomes Kennedy’s Kitchen for its annual St. Patrick’s Day show. “It’s the fifth year for Kennedy’s Kitchen. It’s become one of our annual favorites. It’s a fun show,” Powers says.
joHn Kennedy—yes, with a lower-case j and a capital H in the middle, just to make sure people are paying attention—leads the South Bend, Indiana band. “Irish music is participatory,” says Kennedy. “The audience-performer relationship is different. They (the audience) are not watching. The audience is part of the performance.”
He says the audience at the Bay is always one of the best in that regard, in part because of the tradition of Irish music celebrating the towns and villages of the Emerald Isle, and apparently beyond. Songs with a sense of place resonate with performers and audiences, and he says that makes them Irish.
“Irish songs are about place,” Kennedy emphasizes. “Every little village has its song.” What’s true in Ireland is apparently true in Suttons Bay. So, even though it is some 3,400 miles from Ireland, local songs are Irish—or at least become so when Kennedy’s Kitchen performs them. “There’s a Leelanau song. The people are familiar with it. The people know the place is special, they love the landscape. It expresses community.”
His music comes with a story about the songs. “For me it involves storytelling. I weave a story around the song. If the introduction isn’t longer than the song, you should get up and leave.”
Kennedy’s Kitchen is booked for a slate of Michigan shows, including March 13 at the Chalfonte, formerly known as the Elk Rapids Cinema, along with performances in Three Rivers, St. Joseph, Whitehall and Clare.
Powers says bringing in live shows serves an audience beyond the typical movie-goers. “We’ve done surveys with the audiences,” he says. “They want to see more live events.
“It’s a battle of logistics. We have to make sure it works in the schedules,” both of the theatre and the touring performers. “It’s the ultimate balancing act.”
Seems that the audiences are in luck. Upcoming shows at the Bay include Harry Manx, who blends the blues with classical Indian ragas, performing May 3. Sturtz brings its folk harmonies to the theatre June 1, and Blues Hall of Fame member and Grammy nominee John Primer closes the season June 21.
The Bay’s dedication to film extends beyond nationally-released first-run films. It is also home to the Bay Cinema Society, a casual group that meets the fourth Wednesday each month on for a screening of a classic movie, followed by a discussion.
Then there’s “Made in Michigan,” where the theater shows independent movies made by Michigan filmmakers. Such as Rich Brauer’s Dogman 3: Fight to the Finish, which will be shown March 20. It will be followed April 13 by Detroit: The City of Chefs, a documentary by Keith Famie about the city’s culinary tradition.
Writer/director Brauer will be on hand to lead a discussion and answer questions following the showing of his latest film. “I can’t wait for people to see it,” he says. It is the final installment in his cult classic “Dogman” trilogy, based on an 1800s legend of a creature in the Michigan woods.
Powers anticipates a full house for Dogman 3. “We have a very good relationship with Rich,” he says. “This is the third Made in Michigan (film) we’ve done with him. He’s wonderful to work with.”
Brauer says his movie, filmed in locations in Benzie County, both needs and is a testament to audiences such as those he anticipates at the Bay. It premiered earlier at the Garden in Frankfort and was subsequently shown at the State in Traverse City. “It takes a village to make a movie,” he says.
And also to support a movie theatre. “We want to be open 364 days a year,” Powers says. With classic and current movies, live performances and a weekly showing of a classic movie for local film buffs, it looks to fill that potential.
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