My weekend cultural highlight ended up being an empty theater.

The snow made driving up north slow on Friday afternoon, so my wife and I just missed her sister's band, <a href="http://www.sarasoftich.com/">Yeltzi</a>, performing at the <a href="http://www.lyriccenter.org/">Lyric Center for the Arts</a> in downtown Virginia, Minn.

After the show, board member Pete Pellinen gave us a peak at the near-century old theater in back of the arts center building. The 700-seat theater was once used for vaudeville, shows he said. Paramount bought it in the 1930s and showed films there. It's been unused since the 1960s.

In 1997, some neighboring businesses wanted to demolish it to make room for a parking lot. A group of arts supporters came together and managed to save the building. The ceiling above the theater is water damaged, but the structure is in tact, he said. They're planning a restoration with an architecture firm in the Twin Cities.

Here's a picture of the asbestos fire curtain, remarkably still in good shape:

<img src="http://www.lyriccenter.org/photo/zimages/fresco.jpg">

"Peace," the holiday concert of the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus did it for me, presented Fri.-Sun. at the Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis.

The program included the usual mix of serious and fun selections, including works by Persichetti, Leavitt, Walker, and Nordqvist, plus an audience sing-along and new compositions by three TCGMC singers.

The fun was provided by "St. Nick at Night," featuring familiar holiday lyrics set to television show theme songs and accompanied by camp characters.

Unlike other choral groups, and despite its sterling sound, this is one group one never hears on MPR.