Dale's movie puts Hubie's in the spotlight
‘Chilled & Shaken: The Closing of Hubie's.'That's the intriguing title Dale Butler,the multi-faceted parliamentarian, author and publisher, gave to his first full-length movie documenting seven months ago the closing of Bermuda¹s well-known jazz club Hubie's.We were amongst the nearlysold-out audience at the Liberty Theatre demonstrably engrossed with warm feelings and fulfilment that Mr. Butler had defied the odds to capture such precious musical moments.He did not have to travel far to capture events of that May 5 night. His residence is in Angle Street, directly across from the Fish Hut, the signature of Hubie and Molly Brown who ran it for 20 years.The history of the club was narrated by a very relaxed Erskine Phillips, who formed the first band Jaz. A master storyteller, Erskine amused the audience with tales about ‘Sis' Hendrickson, the legendary bartender who owned the establishment for decades before Hubie came into the picture.Hubie proved be the consummate policeman and bodyguard who never had a single incident at his club. Some in the audience gasped when they heard admission to the club had been free for the first 15 years, and at up to its closing was only $5.The prelude to the documentary was a short feature on the lives of Ghandi Burgess, Lance Hayward, Milt Robinson and Chalky Virgil. In fact, the audience stood for a minure's silence out of respect for the memory of Chalky who passed earlier this year.The 60-minute documentary started with some vintage film shot in2007. While it wasn't super clear the artistic aspect of it left more than enough for regulars to see their favourite dancers.Hubie's helped develop a host of professional dancers. The stage was set with some glorious photos of Bermuda as Angle Street past and present is seen.Photos of the old Joell's Arcade on Angle Street and many others were eye-openers, capturing Bermuda¹s ever-changing landscape.Shooting the film with a video camera and also taking photographs must have been a daunting task for Mr. Butler but he edited it with live interviews and a variety of photographs showing the numerous outstanding local and foreign players who made Hubie's the cultural musical icon of Bermuda that was not to be missed, only on a Friday night from 7pm to 10pm.The crux of the film was highlighted with the remorseful comments made by its patrons who were sad to attend the last night.Attendance at Hubie¹s had been declining for months and the possible threat of the building being sold meant widow Molly Brown having to close the club, as painful as it was to her.Molly is captured briefly in the film, but the bulk of the comments were made by the patrons and Derek Simons, who was the bassist and vocalist for the house band Spirit.Production of ‘Chilled & Shaken' was supported by the Bermuda Union of Teachers to assist the development of the Angle Street Community Association which Mr. Butler founded and is the chairman.