Currently making his cross-country way back to the Northeast, Woody Woodbeck is returning to his hometown (and mine) to engage in a multi-pronged heroic enterprise: taking care of his mother and reopening the shuttered cinema in Amsterdam.
I vaguely remember him from school; he was a grade younger and back then age was more of a divider than almost anything else. More memorable were his on-air turns for Fly 92.3, followed by his successful move to California where he would end up producing a number of Bravo shows. One on of his visits, I ran into him in the old Barnes & Noble bookstore in Colonie. He was kind, mentioning something I had written and being extremely generous with his praise. I was more in awe of him and the way he had charged out of Amsterdam to follow his dream.
We are all rooting for this hometown hero to make good in the place from where he came, and anything that touches Amsterdam touches my heart, so I’m definitely pulling for him. This is one instance where we can actually have an impact, as he’s set up a GoFundMe page to tackle the lift of reopening the cinema.
There’s a lot going on around the section of Route 30 where the cinema stood, so it’s rather a shame that we don’t have a place to see movies anymore. Driving to Albany or Schenectady is a lot to ask, especially in these nastier months to come. Having a cinema right there would make dinner and a movie an Amsterdam event again. Our hometown deserves that. Here’s the full story in Woody’s own words:
Back to BlogGrowing up in Amsterdam, NY had its ups and downs but the one thing I remember is a very large sense of community. Everyone knew everyone, lots of family ties, and love for the events that brought everyone together. The city was first founded in 1885 but has a history dating back to 1710. Currently the city has about 20,000 residents and sits along the Mohawk River in Upstate NY. This city has an abundance of history and was once home to Cabbage Patch Dolls and Coleco. Needless to say it’s a city with some character.
I got a job working at the movie theatre when it first opened as “Norma Jeans” in 1995 and the theatre was booming. The lines around around the building front and shows sold out weekend after weekend. The atmosphere there was something special and once again I had a new blended family in my life. Though I was in radio at the time, working at the theatre sparked the want to work on a larger platform of entertainment. It was truly something special. After graduating in the Class of 1999, a lot of us went our own ways but somehow when something brought us back together…we were like family all over again. I moved to California to pursue a dream of working in Television and have always been supported by my hometown. Since moving to California, I’ve been back and forth to visit and whenever I came home it was like I hadn’t left. Familiar faces, tremendous spirit, and lots of love & support.
Just a few months ago, my mother had a massive stroke after having a double knee replacement and I flew home immediately to be at her side. While home, the outpouring of love that my family received was tremendous. People came to our aid, offered up rides back and forth to see her since my mom doesn’t have a car, making meals for me, etc. It was truly something special and still is. Over my multiple trips home there was something I kept hearing from everyone I saw; “Did you know the theatre closed? We really miss it. We have to drive pretty far now to see a movie and there really isn’t much else to do with our families locally.”
So I decided to post a picture on social media in front of the theatre asking the question; “Should I reopen this theatre?” The post instantly went viral! We’ve been on the news, radio, newspapers, etc. Everywhere I went after posting that picture, members of the community came up to me showing their support to me reopening the theatre. So that’s what sparked this journey. In addition to moving back to NY to be closer to my mom and help take care of her as she isn’t set to make a full recovery from her stroke, I want to fight to reopen the theatre for our community. To some the theatre may not seem like much but to this community it means something much more.
So let’s do this together. Please spread the word, share the link, encourage a conversation and of course….MAKE A DONATION TODAY! Thank you in advance. Much love from myself and Amsterdam, NY!
