December 31, 2023 • 26 mins
The vitality of Kingston's music economy is owed, in part, to the city's numerous live music venues. A stand-out among them is The Spire: a multi-purpose event venue operating in the nearly 200-year-old, heritage-designated Sydenham Street United Church in downtown Kingston. In this episode, hosts Ange and Johnny tour this sacred structure with The Spire's General Manager, Sam MacLeod, to understand the site's history as a circus grounds and religious sanctuary through to its transformation into an inclusive and vibrant arts and community hub, and innovative, 750-seat live music venue featuring some of the richest and most unique acoustics in Kingston.
Music in this episode:
Losing You by Stucco (recorded live at The Spire for the KPP at 20 compilation, released 2021)
Hosts:
Ange Stever
Johnny San
Links:
The Spire https://kingstonlive.ca/resource/1191615/view
Sydenham Street United Church http://sydenhamstreet.ca/ssuc1/
Lionhearts' The Embassy Live Music Café https://www.lionhearts.ca/the-embassy
Canada’s LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce Rainbow Registered program https://rainbowregistered.ca/
Kingston live music and festival listings https://kingstonlive.ca/
Soundwise http://soundwise.audio
Sign up for Kingston music news, local concert and event listings and announcements delivered to your inbox monthly, weekly or even daily. Subscribe here…
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Hello, this is the Kingston Live podcast.
You may notice that it soundsvery different from the way it
normally sounds.
Normally we're in a nice,controlled studio environment.
Today we are in a church.
Specifically we are in SydenhamStreet, united Church, also
known as the Spire, and it'sfunny, we set up the baffles
(01:01):
here so it kind of looks likeStonehenge around us a little
bit.
But yeah, it's neat, verydifferent.
I'm Johnny Sand.
By the way, ange is with me,Ange Dever.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I just want to sing.
When you get into a place likethis, You're just like whoa, the
acoustics are cool.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I'm kind of dreading how I'm going to mix this later
but, I'm sure it'll be fine.
Yes, and of course, sam McLeod,general manager of the Spire,
thank you for letting us come inand enjoy this wonderful space.
Oh, our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's great to have people here, and we're trying to
do more and more and more, soit's great to get the word out
about our organization and whatwe're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And it's interesting because I think most music fans
in Kingston would be familiarwith the Spire but they might
not realize that it is still anactive church.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, Sunday mornings and beyond that.
There's also a Buddha centerthat's here.
It's the home base for KalutaBuddha Center, so there's
regular meditations and thingslike that.
And then there's the SydenhamStreet United Church and there's
other faith related activities.
There's the Rainbow Sabbath,which is a collection of
(02:14):
religious individuals fromaround the area who are
identified as LGBTQIA two spiritand they meet here and do some
of their faith related stuff aswell.
So it's a dynamic space for alot of different things, but
faith included.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Very inclusive and, as a member of the queer
community, I enjoy findingspaces that you can feel safe,
and you guys were actually namedby the Rainbow Registry as a
safe space.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
That's right.
Yeah, so we're RainbowRegistered and it's a vetting
process to go through that Likethere was an interrogation,
quite literally, where we puttogether I don't know 12 points,
and fortunately it wasn'tdifficult, because there's a
long history here of that.
22 years ago it became thefirst the church congregation,
became the first, or like second, gender affirming congregation
(03:02):
in Canada, and now out of thisfacility there's an organization
that gives certification forgender affirming ministries and
helps ministers and otherindividuals within the United
Church transition to their trueidentity and things like that,
and they're rigorous too.
So you can't just say, oh,we're a gender affirming church.
There's a system that's at playand there's proofs and things
(03:26):
like that.
So, anyways, yeah, so longhistory with that and definitely
something that we're growing aswell.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, that's very interesting because I think a
lot of churches do have kind ofa bad reputation of not being
inclusive to those communitiesbut and they earn that in some
cases right.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Like, and so you know , I think separating this
congregation and maybe some ofthe other congregations from
that idea is really importantand making that public, you know
, so that people know that thisis a safe space or a positive
space.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That's important because I think a lot of people
are looking for that you know,yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And it's interesting because churches traditionally
are not just places of worshipbut they are community building
places, and I feel like you'vekind of taken that to another
level here.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, you know it's a dynamic community space.
There's so much that goes onhere.
There's arts and performance,but there's also food security
programs.
There's children outreachprograms, that pairs, maybe
children in sort of vulnerablesituations, with tutors from
Queens.
That runs twice a week.
There's four AA groups thatmeet here.
We talked already about some ofthe different faith
(04:35):
organizations.
We have sword fighting here.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It's the home of.
I saw play with some swordfighting here, but I didn't know
.
There was actual sword fightingyeah.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Sunday afternoons, you can learn to fight with
broadswords.
Oh my gosh that's cool.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That must be so loud.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You know, it's in a room with some really high walls
or high ceilings and it's kindof encapsulated.
I don't know, I've never reallyheard it, but it is something
we're really happy to have.
And it's like that, with somany different things that we
have here, like there's so manysalsa dancing or swing dancing
or I don't know a whole varietyEvery night is booked pretty
much here.
Well, every night is bookedhere for something or other, and
(05:12):
it's really interesting to seethe space come alive with
community in the evening, whichis really the purpose of the
Spire and why it was created.
You know, arts and community,and so that's one of the two
pillars, I guess.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How long has the Spire been going?
When did you start out?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
So the Spire was created so maybe 12,.
This building, thisorganization, has been going for
about 172 years.
The Spire itself emerged out ofthat organization I use that
term loosely organization, butit emerged about maybe 12 years
ago when they found that thecongregation couldn't maintain
this building anymore.
Something had to change andsomething had to be different.
(05:48):
So the Spire is kind of anamalgamation of a couple
different groups, a coupledifferent charities that have
come together to turn it into acommunity space.
Art space and see it availablefor generations to come is the
hope.
So yeah, but 12 years ago itstarted.
The Spire logo was made, whichwe probably need to update a
little bit, but it's you know.
Since then it's been growing asthis community space.
(06:10):
But it has a long history ofthat.
Arlo Guthrie played here yearsago, henry Rollins lights like.
There's been a long history ofperformance in the space, going
back 170 years Actually, beforeit was even a church.
This was like circus grounds,oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So there is this kind of like oh wow, it's a history
of that kind of performanceaspect.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yeah, it's cool Entertainment yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I saw classified.
That was the last concert thatI saw.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, two, maybe a year and a half ago, or
so two years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah that was great.
It's been a great place sincethen.
It's always great coming in.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I was talking to your maintenance man, Les, before we
started recording, and heshowed me the portrait of Queen
Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
They were here like 60 some oddyears ago.
I was surprised to learn that.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
We actually have the pew mark.
It's not here right now becauseshe sat right there, which is.
I know this is a podcast whichis very close to the stage.
Obviously she gets a good seat,so there's a plaque there,
although there's an argumentabout people who are here at
that time about where sheactually sat, so there's a bit
of controversy around that.
But yes, she was in thebuilding.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
It's like that.
It's an interesting space, likeI met a woman just yesterday
who's been coming to thisbuilding since 1951.
So I'm not going to do the mathon this, but a long time that
she's been part of thiscommunity and this facility.
So it means a lot to her.
The history and it goingforward means a lot to her.
It doesn't have to go forwardjust as a church, it just has to
(07:38):
go forward as an institution.
That's also important to people.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Well, and it has so much history too.
It's older than the country,it's a limestone building, it's
all of those things.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, it's a heritage designated space outside and
inside.
So when we want to do thingsand we're doing a number of
things, like you know, we'reputting up a new speaker system
going up in February massive,massive speaker system, lighting
system and things like that,and all of that needs to be
approved.
We talk about it in committeeswith the city.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
The heritage committee get on you, yeah, well
and you know it's great.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Though, Like you know they, the whole process was
really nice, Like they broughtideas that we didn't have and we
brought ideas that they maybedidn't think about and we kind
of came to a agreement that Ithink was much better than what
we would have had without thatinput.
So it was a really nicecollaborative process.
But we're ready to go with allof our phase one stuff, which is
(08:32):
nice, but yeah, it's an old,protected, loved space.
So with everything that we dowe have to be careful to respect
the aesthetics and those sortsof things.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, the stained glass you see obviously in the
windows, the doors, even comingin, are very unique in the space
.
It's gorgeous in here.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Mm, hmm, yeah, thank you for listening to Kingston
Live.
Be sure to subscribe on yourplatform of choice and follow us
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Check out the Kingston Liveplaylist on Spotify For show
listings, artist info and allthings Kingston music.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Check out Kingston liveca Do you ever encounter,
because I imagine it's.
It must be a very specific kindof performance venue for a lot
of artists, like is there typeother types of performances that
are like sort of notappropriate?
Like is there anyone that sortof rejects this, or do you turn
away anybody?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Well, we do turn away .
I turned away somebody justyesterday because we found anti
LGBTQ plus stuff in their media,I guess.
So we do, and we worked on astatement with the Queen's
office for equity and humanrights and if a group doesn't
(09:49):
meet that then they can't comein here.
So that's really where we drawthe line as far as an
organization.
But acoustically, I think maybeis more the question.
This space is loved by choirs,like it is the home of Contabla
choir, their offices up here.
They perform here regularly.
Kingston Choral SocietyOrchestra Kingston.
We have some Queen's choirsmoving in and there's a lot of
(10:09):
different music organizations inthat kind of vein that would
like to be here and we're tryingto figure out schedules and
things.
It's great for acousticperformance and as you get kind
of louder and add more drumswithout maybe drum screens or
something like that, it canbecome a little harder to manage
.
It's something that we'reactively trying to improve with
acoustic management, baffles,cushioning things like that.
(10:32):
But it generally works.
As long as your sound person isreally riding it and the band
understands the space, it canbecome a really beautiful and
unique performance.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Have you ever had bands that normally play
electrics, play acoustic?
Just switch it up for thisspace in particular.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Or they still play electric, do you know?
And it just gets managed.
The sound system that we havecoming in is to manage the space
for reinforced sound rightPoint source, speakers and
things in this space can bequite difficult.
But you start putting up columnarrays and things that can beam
focus, beam split, keep off theceiling, keep bouncing off
(11:13):
various surfaces and really justbeam the sound right to
someone's ear in the audience.
Then you can get really greatsound and you can have the
acoustics.
Add the warmth to that and youcan really get something unique
and special that you can't getanywhere else.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
All the way in the back of the balcony up there.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yeah, well when we have the new system in right now
.
As you can see, it's likemonitors tied to ropes on
columns, which is awful.
Don't look at those.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It's a podcast.
No one can see it.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Early February we'll have a really nice Meyer column
array and sub sound system inhere.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
That will solve a lot of our problems, such extremes
of the oldest of the old and thenewest of the new.
That's it, yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
And that's a beautiful thing, this merger of
modernity.
I don't know what that word is,something like that Modernity.
I think Modernity is that, it,it feels right.
Is that like when you'repregnant?
Oh no, that's different.
Maternity, that's maternityright, not that one.
And yeah, in the old right andwhen we're doing these things
with Heritage Kingston, you canlook at those lights that we've
just put in up there.
(12:15):
We had those particularlycolored to match the walls
painted in factory the samethings happened with speakers.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
They're kind of camouflaged.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Yeah, and that's what we're doing.
So we're introducing those areseries three Luster, ETC,
beautiful modern lights, Brandnew, essentially off the factory
line, Excellent LEDs, and.
But we're camouflaging, we'retrying to bring everything that
we can that makes this spacewhat it can be in painting it
(12:44):
and making it fit.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You mentioned choirs fit really well here.
What do more pop focusedartists?
How do they react to this space?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
They generally love it because it's so unique and
beautiful.
Do you know, I think it givesthem something special that they
tend not to get, maybe on theroad, depending on where they go
and what they're used to.
But we had friends.
Well, I don't think Yanniqualifies as pop, but for any
group that we've had in hererecently, they've really
appreciated.
You know what the?
(13:17):
There's an intimacy.
It's a 750 seat house but it isintimate, like the seats are
really close because of thebalcony and things like that.
And so I think, because of theaesthetics, when you know the
lights go down, it does feelvery intimate, it feels very
warm.
So I think generally it'spositive and it just really
(13:37):
depends on the band right, likeyou do want to fit your band to
this room.
A drum screen is really a goodidea.
It gives the sound person a lotmore headroom to play with and
things like that.
But generally it's fairlypositive.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Well, and it works too, because I've been here.
I remember the first show I sawhere, I think was the trues.
They played acoustically hereand it's funny because it's such
a big sounding room, but, asyou say, it did have that
intimacy to it somehow.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Which is unique for a 750 space, right Like it's
different, right With the pewsand with you know just the way
it's set up.
It's more of a casual kind offamily style, a little less of
that kind of corporate feeling,I think.
But, I think each show isunique and each sound person
kind of takes it their own wayand it can be quite interesting
and dynamic, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I didn't know about the spire.
And then Miss Emily Winde Ithink she had filmed a video
here or something and I said, oh, the spire, what's that?
And her mouth dropped like youdon't know the spire, like she
was so disgusted with me.
But it's like what, thisunderground thing I don't know
about.
But you really have beengrowing over the years and I'm
sure you have plans to keeppushing it forward.
(14:50):
What's kind of next for you?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, so once we get the sound system in and things
we're gonna, we're starting toproduce our own and present our
own um entertainment.
So we're partnering with a fewdifferent groups, like Lion
Hearts, and we're going to beannouncing that soon.
We've got some reallyinteresting stuff coming in in
February.
We've got a burlash show forValentine's which is being
produced by Rue studio, which isreally interesting.
(15:13):
We've actually started sellingbeer here and wine and things.
So we're going to start runninga bar.
Actually, two weekends ago weran a bar.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Okay, that's my next question, because I've had a lot
of waters here and that's good.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm sure this place has had wine before right.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, up there, I think you know on the but yeah,
usually people form a queue andget a shot glass of it.
But you know we're starting to,yeah, so we've partnered with
Daft Brewery and so we'restarting to sell beer.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
We had some Pinot.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Grigio and stuff, and it went really, really well.
So you know everybody herewho's part of this organization.
There's a lot of them, a lot ofpeople doing various things.
Some people come in just to fixthings or or our ungovernance
boards or help fundraise or do avariety of things.
You know they want this placeto flourish and they understand.
(15:59):
You know we have to be sellingconcessions.
You know people, when they cometo a concert they don't just
want to see the act up on stage.
You know drinking a beer andthey have to go get a water
right.
So we try, we're trying to.
You know we're trying to comeup to modern times and I think
that's where we're getting toand we're starting to produce
more and more, like I say, ofour own stuff.
We've got a Stomping Tomconcert coming in with Stomping
(16:21):
Tom original band members.
Of course Stomping Tomunfortunately has passed away
and then we're going to beannouncing a whole series of
things over the next maybe amonth, a couple of months.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Very cool Right on Ange and I already mentioned,
you know, seeing Classified,seeing the trues.
Do you have any favoritemoments of performances here?
You know?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Contable does some really cool stuff, like it's not
maybe your traditional choirand they'll get 7, 800 people
into this space packed along thewalls.
Last year they did the showcalled Constellations, where
they took James Webb images fromthe telescope and projected it
all over the ceiling as thechoirs were going and you just
have so many people in here andthe stuff they do is so unique
(17:06):
that it was, it was reallyspecial and it was.
You felt you know the becauseof the acoustic.
You feel it in your body.
You know like choirs loveperforming in caves and things
like that.
And this is, you know, can be abit similar.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It was the vaulted ceilings and things.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
You decided to sell alcohol.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
You know the stuff on the ceiling would look really
cool.
Yeah, it was cool.
I was one glass of wine in.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And it just felt warm .
And you know it was Christmastime and so those shows are
really great.
But you know we had the GoodLovelies in here last year.
It was a good Christmas showagain and anything that comes in
is usually really really greatand there's some good promoters
in town who use the space prettyregularly.
Yeah, we had Live Wire, who didValde in here a couple of
(17:48):
months ago and that was a reallycool intimate show with really
a Canadian icon.
So that was.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That was that was great.
I love how it all seems to worktoo, because it's a functioning
church and it's an event incommunity space and it doesn't
really seem to compromise oneither of those things, at least
as an observer.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
No, it doesn't Like everybody here who's part of the
congregation is for that, youknow.
So when they see the art comingin, like we had this bread and
puppets show come in, which was?
This was a few months ago andthey're an internationally
touring group of socialistactivists to pushing on kind of
Marxism, you know, when theycame in here they live on like a
(18:28):
farm in Vermont and put on thisbizarre show with like gigantic
puppets, and afterwards theysold everyone bread, or they
gave bread away, I think, andthen sold some art.
Cool showed up on a bus, youknow the congregation cooked
them all lunch, cooked themdinner and then was, you know,
offering them a place to stay attheir house and stuff.
(18:48):
So the people here really wantthis, you know, and they enjoy
it and it's taken on a new thingfor them.
It's not just a church, it'ssomething much bigger, a
community hub.
I guess that they appreciate.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
We talk about the word community all the time and
you know, kingston Live is apodcast put together by
volunteers who want to continueto talk in the community and
promote that music.
But the word community is soimportant because I think that
that's what everyone is lookingfor Connection, acceptance, love
and a space like that offers usand like that is priceless.
(19:26):
You can't beat that.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
It's a beautiful thing and when the building is
alive, you feel it.
You feel you know.
We have the upper hall, lowerhall conference rooms.
We rent out offices, likeAutism Ontario has an office
here.
Our livable solutions.
We have music lessons thathappen here every night by a
woman named Julie Milks, and youknow you feel the warmth and
(19:51):
you know young people arerunning around, seniors are
going to their senior climateaction.
Now, meeting like it's it'sdiverse and it's it's it can be
quite beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
OK, sam, this has been great.
Thank you so much for invitingus into this space and and
getting a sense of what's goingon here.
This is a really neat space andhappy to see it doing what it's
doing.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Good luck to you in the future with everything you
have coming up.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yeah, thanks, it's very exciting and thank you for
coming in and for promotingmusic in the city and, you know,
keeping it alive.
And yeah, it's appreciated.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
This has been Kingston Live.
We encourage you to rate us onyour listing platform of choice
and subscribe where possible Forshow listings, artist info and
all things.
Kingston music.
Check out KingstonLiveca.
Kingston Live was produced inKingston by Soundwise, hosted by
John Sanfilippo and Anne Stever, voiceovers by Riley Jabor and
John Sanfilippo, writing andresearch by Peter Sanfilippo.
(20:52):
Executive producer Rob Howard.
Kingston Live is a member ofthe Canadian Live Music
Association.
We'd love to hear from you.
Email us at podcast ofKingstonLiveca.
Hello, this is the Kingston Live podcast.
You may notice that it soundsvery different from the way it
normally sounds.
Normally we're in a nice,controlled studio environment.
Today we are in a church.
Specifically we are in SydenhamStreet, united Church, also
known as the Spire, and it'sfunny, we set up the baffles
(01:01):
here so it kind of looks likeStonehenge around us a little
bit.
But yeah, it's neat, verydifferent.
I'm Johnny Sand.
By the way, ange is with me,Ange Dever.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I just want to sing.
When you get into a place likethis, You're just like whoa, the
acoustics are cool.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I'm kind of dreading how I'm going to mix this later
but, I'm sure it'll be fine.
Yes, and of course, sam McLeod,general manager of the Spire,
thank you for letting us come inand enjoy this wonderful space.
Oh, our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It's great to have people here, and we're trying to
do more and more and more, soit's great to get the word out
about our organization and whatwe're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And it's interesting because I think most music fans
in Kingston would be familiarwith the Spire but they might
not realize that it is still anactive church.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, Sunday mornings and beyond that.
There's also a Buddha centerthat's here.
It's the home base for KalutaBuddha Center, so there's
regular meditations and thingslike that.
And then there's the SydenhamStreet United Church and there's
other faith related activities.
There's the Rainbow Sabbath,which is a collection of
(02:14):
religious individuals fromaround the area who are
identified as LGBTQIA two spiritand they meet here and do some
of their faith related stuff aswell.
So it's a dynamic space for alot of different things, but
faith included.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Very inclusive and, as a member of the queer
community, I enjoy findingspaces that you can feel safe,
and you guys were actually namedby the Rainbow Registry as a
safe space.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
That's right.
Yeah, so we're RainbowRegistered and it's a vetting
process to go through that Likethere was an interrogation,
quite literally, where we puttogether I don't know 12 points,
and fortunately it wasn'tdifficult, because there's a
long history here of that.
22 years ago it became thefirst the church congregation,
became the first, or like second, gender affirming congregation
(03:02):
in Canada, and now out of thisfacility there's an organization
that gives certification forgender affirming ministries and
helps ministers and otherindividuals within the United
Church transition to their trueidentity and things like that,
and they're rigorous too.
So you can't just say, oh,we're a gender affirming church.
There's a system that's at playand there's proofs and things
(03:26):
like that.
So, anyways, yeah, so longhistory with that and definitely
something that we're growing aswell.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Well, that's very interesting because I think a
lot of churches do have kind ofa bad reputation of not being
inclusive to those communitiesbut and they earn that in some
cases right.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Like, and so you know , I think separating this
congregation and maybe some ofthe other congregations from
that idea is really importantand making that public, you know
, so that people know that thisis a safe space or a positive
space.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
That's important because I think a lot of people
are looking for that you know,yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And it's interesting because churches traditionally
are not just places of worshipbut they are community building
places, and I feel like you'vekind of taken that to another
level here.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, you know it's a dynamic community space.
There's so much that goes onhere.
There's arts and performance,but there's also food security
programs.
There's children outreachprograms, that pairs, maybe
children in sort of vulnerablesituations, with tutors from
Queens.
That runs twice a week.
There's four AA groups thatmeet here.
We talked already about some ofthe different faith
(04:35):
organizations.
We have sword fighting here.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
It's the home of.
I saw play with some swordfighting here, but I didn't know
.
There was actual sword fightingyeah.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Sunday afternoons, you can learn to fight with
broadswords.
Oh my gosh that's cool.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
That must be so loud.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You know, it's in a room with some really high walls
or high ceilings and it's kindof encapsulated.
I don't know, I've never reallyheard it, but it is something
we're really happy to have.
And it's like that, with somany different things that we
have here, like there's so manysalsa dancing or swing dancing
or I don't know a whole varietyEvery night is booked pretty
much here.
Well, every night is bookedhere for something or other, and
(05:12):
it's really interesting to seethe space come alive with
community in the evening, whichis really the purpose of the
Spire and why it was created.
You know, arts and community,and so that's one of the two
pillars, I guess.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How long has the Spire been going?
When did you start out?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
So the Spire was created so maybe 12,.
This building, thisorganization, has been going for
about 172 years.
The Spire itself emerged out ofthat organization I use that
term loosely organization, butit emerged about maybe 12 years
ago when they found that thecongregation couldn't maintain
this building anymore.
Something had to change andsomething had to be different.
(05:48):
So the Spire is kind of anamalgamation of a couple
different groups, a coupledifferent charities that have
come together to turn it into acommunity space.
Art space and see it availablefor generations to come is the
hope.
So yeah, but 12 years ago itstarted.
The Spire logo was made, whichwe probably need to update a
little bit, but it's you know.
Since then it's been growing asthis community space.
(06:10):
But it has a long history ofthat.
Arlo Guthrie played here yearsago, henry Rollins lights like.
There's been a long history ofperformance in the space, going
back 170 years Actually, beforeit was even a church.
This was like circus grounds,oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So there is this kind of like oh wow, it's a history
of that kind of performanceaspect.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yeah, it's cool Entertainment yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I saw classified.
That was the last concert thatI saw.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, two, maybe a year and a half ago, or
so two years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah that was great.
It's been a great place sincethen.
It's always great coming in.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I was talking to your maintenance man, Les, before we
started recording, and heshowed me the portrait of Queen
Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
They were here like 60 some oddyears ago.
I was surprised to learn that.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
We actually have the pew mark.
It's not here right now becauseshe sat right there, which is.
I know this is a podcast whichis very close to the stage.
Obviously she gets a good seat,so there's a plaque there,
although there's an argumentabout people who are here at
that time about where sheactually sat, so there's a bit
of controversy around that.
But yes, she was in thebuilding.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
It's like that.
It's an interesting space, likeI met a woman just yesterday
who's been coming to thisbuilding since 1951.
So I'm not going to do the mathon this, but a long time that
she's been part of thiscommunity and this facility.
So it means a lot to her.
The history and it goingforward means a lot to her.
It doesn't have to go forwardjust as a church, it just has to
(07:38):
go forward as an institution.
That's also important to people.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Well, and it has so much history too.
It's older than the country,it's a limestone building, it's
all of those things.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, it's a heritage designated space outside and
inside.
So when we want to do thingsand we're doing a number of
things, like you know, we'reputting up a new speaker system
going up in February massive,massive speaker system, lighting
system and things like that,and all of that needs to be
approved.
We talk about it in committeeswith the city.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
The heritage committee get on you, yeah, well
and you know it's great.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Though, Like you know they, the whole process was
really nice, Like they broughtideas that we didn't have and we
brought ideas that they maybedidn't think about and we kind
of came to a agreement that Ithink was much better than what
we would have had without thatinput.
So it was a really nicecollaborative process.
But we're ready to go with allof our phase one stuff, which is
(08:32):
nice, but yeah, it's an old,protected, loved space.
So with everything that we dowe have to be careful to respect
the aesthetics and those sortsof things.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, the stained glass you see obviously in the
windows, the doors, even comingin, are very unique in the space
.
It's gorgeous in here.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Mm, hmm, yeah, thank you for listening to Kingston
Live.
Be sure to subscribe on yourplatform of choice and follow us
on Facebook and Instagram Formore great Kingston music.
Check out the Kingston Liveplaylist on Spotify For show
listings, artist info and allthings Kingston music.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Check out Kingston liveca Do you ever encounter,
because I imagine it's.
It must be a very specific kindof performance venue for a lot
of artists, like is there typeother types of performances that
are like sort of notappropriate?
Like is there anyone that sortof rejects this, or do you turn
away anybody?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Well, we do turn away .
I turned away somebody justyesterday because we found anti
LGBTQ plus stuff in their media,I guess.
So we do, and we worked on astatement with the Queen's
office for equity and humanrights and if a group doesn't
(09:49):
meet that then they can't comein here.
So that's really where we drawthe line as far as an
organization.
But acoustically, I think maybeis more the question.
This space is loved by choirs,like it is the home of Contabla
choir, their offices up here.
They perform here regularly.
Kingston Choral SocietyOrchestra Kingston.
We have some Queen's choirsmoving in and there's a lot of
(10:09):
different music organizations inthat kind of vein that would
like to be here and we're tryingto figure out schedules and
things.
It's great for acousticperformance and as you get kind
of louder and add more drumswithout maybe drum screens or
something like that, it canbecome a little harder to manage
.
It's something that we'reactively trying to improve with
acoustic management, baffles,cushioning things like that.
(10:32):
But it generally works.
As long as your sound person isreally riding it and the band
understands the space, it canbecome a really beautiful and
unique performance.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Have you ever had bands that normally play
electrics, play acoustic?
Just switch it up for thisspace in particular.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Or they still play electric, do you know?
And it just gets managed.
The sound system that we havecoming in is to manage the space
for reinforced sound rightPoint source, speakers and
things in this space can bequite difficult.
But you start putting up columnarrays and things that can beam
focus, beam split, keep off theceiling, keep bouncing off
(11:13):
various surfaces and really justbeam the sound right to
someone's ear in the audience.
Then you can get really greatsound and you can have the
acoustics.
Add the warmth to that and youcan really get something unique
and special that you can't getanywhere else.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
All the way in the back of the balcony up there.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yeah, well when we have the new system in right now
.
As you can see, it's likemonitors tied to ropes on
columns, which is awful.
Don't look at those.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It's a podcast.
No one can see it.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Early February we'll have a really nice Meyer column
array and sub sound system inhere.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
That will solve a lot of our problems, such extremes
of the oldest of the old and thenewest of the new.
That's it, yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
And that's a beautiful thing, this merger of
modernity.
I don't know what that word is,something like that Modernity.
I think Modernity is that, it,it feels right.
Is that like when you'repregnant?
Oh no, that's different.
Maternity, that's maternityright, not that one.
And yeah, in the old right andwhen we're doing these things
with Heritage Kingston, you canlook at those lights that we've
just put in up there.
(12:15):
We had those particularlycolored to match the walls
painted in factory the samethings happened with speakers.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
They're kind of camouflaged.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Yeah, and that's what we're doing.
So we're introducing those areseries three Luster, ETC,
beautiful modern lights, Brandnew, essentially off the factory
line, Excellent LEDs, and.
But we're camouflaging, we'retrying to bring everything that
we can that makes this spacewhat it can be in painting it
(12:44):
and making it fit.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You mentioned choirs fit really well here.
What do more pop focusedartists?
How do they react to this space?
Speaker 4 (12:56):
They generally love it because it's so unique and
beautiful.
Do you know, I think it givesthem something special that they
tend not to get, maybe on theroad, depending on where they go
and what they're used to.
But we had friends.
Well, I don't think Yanniqualifies as pop, but for any
group that we've had in hererecently, they've really
appreciated.
You know what the?
(13:17):
There's an intimacy.
It's a 750 seat house but it isintimate, like the seats are
really close because of thebalcony and things like that.
And so I think, because of theaesthetics, when you know the
lights go down, it does feelvery intimate, it feels very
warm.
So I think generally it'spositive and it just really
(13:37):
depends on the band right, likeyou do want to fit your band to
this room.
A drum screen is really a goodidea.
It gives the sound person a lotmore headroom to play with and
things like that.
But generally it's fairlypositive.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Well, and it works too, because I've been here.
I remember the first show I sawhere, I think was the trues.
They played acoustically hereand it's funny because it's such
a big sounding room, but, asyou say, it did have that
intimacy to it somehow.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Which is unique for a 750 space, right Like it's
different, right With the pewsand with you know just the way
it's set up.
It's more of a casual kind offamily style, a little less of
that kind of corporate feeling,I think.
But, I think each show isunique and each sound person
kind of takes it their own wayand it can be quite interesting
and dynamic, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I didn't know about the spire.
And then Miss Emily Winde Ithink she had filmed a video
here or something and I said, oh, the spire, what's that?
And her mouth dropped like youdon't know the spire, like she
was so disgusted with me.
But it's like what, thisunderground thing I don't know
about.
But you really have beengrowing over the years and I'm
sure you have plans to keeppushing it forward.
(14:50):
What's kind of next for you?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, so once we get the sound system in and things
we're gonna, we're starting toproduce our own and present our
own um entertainment.
So we're partnering with a fewdifferent groups, like Lion
Hearts, and we're going to beannouncing that soon.
We've got some reallyinteresting stuff coming in in
February.
We've got a burlash show forValentine's which is being
produced by Rue studio, which isreally interesting.
(15:13):
We've actually started sellingbeer here and wine and things.
So we're going to start runninga bar.
Actually, two weekends ago weran a bar.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Okay, that's my next question, because I've had a lot
of waters here and that's good.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I'm sure this place has had wine before right.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, up there, I think you know on the but yeah,
usually people form a queue andget a shot glass of it.
But you know we're starting to,yeah, so we've partnered with
Daft Brewery and so we'restarting to sell beer.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
We had some Pinot.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Grigio and stuff, and it went really, really well.
So you know everybody herewho's part of this organization.
There's a lot of them, a lot ofpeople doing various things.
Some people come in just to fixthings or or our ungovernance
boards or help fundraise or do avariety of things.
You know they want this placeto flourish and they understand.
(15:59):
You know we have to be sellingconcessions.
You know people, when they cometo a concert they don't just
want to see the act up on stage.
You know drinking a beer andthey have to go get a water
right.
So we try, we're trying to.
You know we're trying to comeup to modern times and I think
that's where we're getting toand we're starting to produce
more and more, like I say, ofour own stuff.
We've got a Stomping Tomconcert coming in with Stomping
(16:21):
Tom original band members.
Of course Stomping Tomunfortunately has passed away
and then we're going to beannouncing a whole series of
things over the next maybe amonth, a couple of months.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Very cool Right on Ange and I already mentioned,
you know, seeing Classified,seeing the trues.
Do you have any favoritemoments of performances here?
You know?
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Contable does some really cool stuff, like it's not
maybe your traditional choirand they'll get 7, 800 people
into this space packed along thewalls.
Last year they did the showcalled Constellations, where
they took James Webb images fromthe telescope and projected it
all over the ceiling as thechoirs were going and you just
have so many people in here andthe stuff they do is so unique
(17:06):
that it was, it was reallyspecial and it was.
You felt you know the becauseof the acoustic.
You feel it in your body.
You know like choirs loveperforming in caves and things
like that.
And this is, you know, can be abit similar.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It was the vaulted ceilings and things.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
You decided to sell alcohol.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
You know the stuff on the ceiling would look really
cool.
Yeah, it was cool.
I was one glass of wine in.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And it just felt warm .
And you know it was Christmastime and so those shows are
really great.
But you know we had the GoodLovelies in here last year.
It was a good Christmas showagain and anything that comes in
is usually really really greatand there's some good promoters
in town who use the space prettyregularly.
Yeah, we had Live Wire, who didValde in here a couple of
(17:48):
months ago and that was a reallycool intimate show with really
a Canadian icon.
So that was.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
That was that was great.
I love how it all seems to worktoo, because it's a functioning
church and it's an event incommunity space and it doesn't
really seem to compromise oneither of those things, at least
as an observer.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
No, it doesn't Like everybody here who's part of the
congregation is for that, youknow.
So when they see the art comingin, like we had this bread and
puppets show come in, which was?
This was a few months ago andthey're an internationally
touring group of socialistactivists to pushing on kind of
Marxism, you know, when theycame in here they live on like a
(18:28):
farm in Vermont and put on thisbizarre show with like gigantic
puppets, and afterwards theysold everyone bread, or they
gave bread away, I think, andthen sold some art.
Cool showed up on a bus, youknow the congregation cooked
them all lunch, cooked themdinner and then was, you know,
offering them a place to stay attheir house and stuff.
(18:48):
So the people here really wantthis, you know, and they enjoy
it and it's taken on a new thingfor them.
It's not just a church, it'ssomething much bigger, a
community hub.
I guess that they appreciate.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
We talk about the word community all the time and
you know, kingston Live is apodcast put together by
volunteers who want to continueto talk in the community and
promote that music.
But the word community is soimportant because I think that
that's what everyone is lookingfor Connection, acceptance, love
and a space like that offers usand like that is priceless.
(19:26):
You can't beat that.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
It's a beautiful thing and when the building is
alive, you feel it.
You feel you know.
We have the upper hall, lowerhall conference rooms.
We rent out offices, likeAutism Ontario has an office
here.
Our livable solutions.
We have music lessons thathappen here every night by a
woman named Julie Milks, and youknow you feel the warmth and
(19:51):
you know young people arerunning around, seniors are
going to their senior climateaction.
Now, meeting like it's it'sdiverse and it's it's it can be
quite beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
OK, sam, this has been great.
Thank you so much for invitingus into this space and and
getting a sense of what's goingon here.
This is a really neat space andhappy to see it doing what it's
doing.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Good luck to you in the future with everything you
have coming up.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yeah, thanks, it's very exciting and thank you for
coming in and for promotingmusic in the city and, you know,
keeping it alive.
And yeah, it's appreciated.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
This has been Kingston Live.
We encourage you to rate us onyour listing platform of choice
and subscribe where possible Forshow listings, artist info and
all things.
Kingston music.
Check out KingstonLiveca.
Kingston Live was produced inKingston by Soundwise, hosted by
John Sanfilippo and Anne Stever, voiceovers by Riley Jabor and
John Sanfilippo, writing andresearch by Peter Sanfilippo.
(20:52):
Executive producer Rob Howard.
Kingston Live is a member ofthe Canadian Live Music
Association.
We'd love to hear from you.
Email us at podcast ofKingstonLiveca.
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