Browse the rock-and-roll window dressing at Dallas’ historic Majestic Theater
As of … oh, around noon today, this is what the Majestic Theater’s display window looked like — a life-sized recreation of the Old 97′s debut Hitchhike to Rhome, released in November 1994. Its purpose is twofold. If you go down to the theater, at 1925 Elm Street downtown, and take your photo in front of the window, then post it to the band’s Facebook page, you might win ducats to the band’s December 13 concert at the Majestic, during which Rhett Miller, Ken Bethea, Murry Hammond and Philip Peeples will perform their debut in its entirety. That’s cool.
But the contest, which ends Tuesday night, isn’t why the window’s been decorated for the holidays. Truth is, Majestic general manager Mike Schwedler just wanted to do it. And he wants to keep doing it — at least once a month.
“My inspiration — and this may sound corny — was my father,” says Schwedler, who once managed the Old 97′s and who took over running the city-owned theater in July of last year. “He was an artist, and he spent a lot of time as a display guy. He would take me with him trimming windows when I was a little kid, like, not even 10, and I was helping him dress suit forms by the time I was 10 — just old-school window dressing. And it’s art — a lost art. Neimans does their thing, but no one else does. So I thought bringing old-school window treatments to Elm Street would be cool.”
He’s actually been doing it for a while: The first one was for Morrissey’s show at the Majestic in May. What you saw in the window was intended to go backstage to celebrate Moz’s birthday. But the GM was told the former Smiths frontman didn’t want to make a thing out of his birthday. So what was intended to go inside was shipped outside.
“And everybody stopped and took their picture in front of the window,” says Schwedler. “It was incredible. That made us feel like the idea was valid.” So they followed that with a window for Eddie Izzard’s two sold-out shows in July. That one was nice, but low-key. Then in August, for Sarah Jaffe’s first-ever show at a big historic theater, Schwedler blew it out by recreating the cover to the singer-songwriter’s latest, Don’t Disconnect. That one led to the new one, which Schwedler promises will look even better at night.
“People get warm and fuzzy about it,” he says. “It touches a chord with people. I came down here last year to look at Neimans, and the windows at Christmas were fantastic. But that’s the only place to window-browse downtown. It’s easier to do with local artists — when they’re in on it, and you don’t have to get a lot of clearance to use certain materials. But we’re going to try to do one every month — a theme or a show concept.”
As you can see below, a positively majestic idea.
