Tag Archives: New York

Taste of Home

Thursday, June 4 2015

VIP Hour: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Event: 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Honorary Chair Ruth Reichl and Housing Works invite you to join hosts Alex Guarnaschelli, Sam Sifton and Brooks Headley for Housing Works’s popular chefs’ tasting and culinary-themed benefit.

Ruth Reichl, Alex Guarnaschelli, Sam Sifton and Brooks Headley

Featuring food from:

Jody Williams, Buvette, Via Carota
Carlo Mirarchi, Blanca, Roberta’s
Caroline Fidanza, Saltie
Francis Derby, The Cannibal, Resto
Joe Tarasco, Marta

and cocktails curated by:

Dan Sabo, Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles
With spirits from Grand Marnier and Aviation American Gin
Wine by Broadbent Selections
Beer by Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.

Proceeds benefit Housing Works’ fight to end AIDS and homelessness.

Sponsored by:


Davis & Gilbert LLP

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19th Annual Hamptons Heart Ball

June 13, 2015     6:00 PM | Saturday

Glitz & Glamour Kick-Off
March 24, 2015
Two hundred supporters gathered at the Martha Washington Hotel in NYC to kick-off the 19th Annual Hamptons Heart Ball.
Photo credit: Annie Watts

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A Celebration of creating and sharing. Our evening celebrates: our work and mission; our donors and volunteers; and — most importantly — the lives saved and improved because of everyone’s effort. The Heart Ball promises to be an engaging evening of fun and passion bringing community and philanthropic leaders together. Last year, our Heart Ball campaign raised just over $51 million nation-wide allowing us to fund over $123 millon of research and programs across the country and in your community.

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Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana

flamenco

FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA

presents

ANGELES / ALMAS

Spring 2015 NYC Season at BAM Fisher

May 19 – 24, 2015

Company’s BAM Debut Features Two Programs,

Three World Premieres

Founded in 1983, FLAMENCO VIVO CARLOTA SANTANA is one of this country’s longest-established flamenco companies, dedicated to promoting flamenco as a living, evolving art form. During its week-long BAM Fisher season, the company will present two programs featuring the world premieres of three works by contemporary Spanish dance artists, accompanied by live music.

The first world premiere is Angeles (Program A) choreographed by Ángel Muñoz. The New York Times praised Muñoz’ previous Flamenco Vivo commission, A Solas (2012), as “impressive for its compositional finesse” (while describing Muñoz himself as “singing with his feet”).  Angeles portrays angels in myth, music and motion; building off of an earlier solo piece selected for the Festival de Jerez and London Flamenco Festival, the new work features Muñoz with a cast of nine more dancers and musicians.

The second premiere work, by Enrique Vicent and Antonio López is Martinete-Seguiriya (both programs), named after the flamenco form and rhythm featured in the piece.  Seguiriya is one of the oldest flamenco forms where the serious, almost tragic sound of the music gives the dancer a chance to express sorrowful feelings, while the martineterhythm said to derive from the workers in the forge, from the word martillo,meaning hammer.  Vicent and López were commissioned as part of a new collaboration between Flamenco Vivo and Madrid’s El Certamen de Coreografía de Danza Española y Flamenco, one of Spain’s most prestigious dance competitions.

The third premiere is Ausencia (Program B): Guadalupe Torres, a two-time winner of the Madrid Certamen, reveals the soul of flamenco in a new solo work created for her US debut performances. The engagement also features other company repertory including A Solas (2012 – both programs) a work by Ángel Muñoz showcasing the soleá por bulerías style; Mujeres (2009 – Program B only), choreographed by company associate artistic director Antonio Hidalgo, which offers a modern take on the traditional elements used by women in flamenco (the castanets, fans, shawls and dresses with bata de cola trains); and De Milonga (2003 – both programs), also by Hidalgo, which celebrates Latin American influences on flamenco.

Flamenco Vivo’s BAM Fisher season features a cast of accomplished dancers and musicans from Spain and the US, including company dancers Antonio Hidalgo, Charo Espino, Isaac Tovar, Eliza Llewellyn and Alice Blumenfeld; guitarists Gaspar Rodriguez and Pedro Medina, singers Pedro Obregón and Felix de Lola, flutist Diego Villegas and percussionist Jose Moreno; and guest artists Ángel Muñoz and Guadalupe Torres.

Performances are May 19-24, 2015, (Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30pm; matinees Saturday-Sunday 2pm) at BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, New York.  Tickets range from $20 – $59 and can be purchased at www.flamenco-vivo.org. Tickets for the company’s First Night Fiesta on May 19, including premium seating and a post-performance reception with the artists, are $100-$250; for more information, call 212.736.4499 or visit www.flamenco-vivo.org. Flamenco Vivo will also offer a post-performance artist talk following the Thursday, May 21 show. Performance schedule:

Program A: Angeles, Martinete-Seguiriya, A Solas, De Milonga

Tuesday-Thursday, May 19-21 at 7:30pm

Program B: Ausencia, Martinete-Seguiriya, Mujeres, A Solas, De Milonga.

Friday-Saturday, May 22-23 at 7:30pm; Saturday-Sunday May 23-24 at 2:00pm

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana’s Spring 2015 season at BAM Fisher is made possible, in part, through support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Rockefeller Brother Fund, the Harkness Foundation for Dance and the Consulate General of Spain. ANGELES/ALMAS is presented by Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. BAM house and ticketing policies may not apply. All programs and casting subject to change.

About Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana is one of America’s premier Spanish dance companies, dedicated to the belief that the universal spirit of flamenco, a multicultural art form, has the power to build bridges between cultures. Founded in 1983, the company tours extensively across the country (appearing at some 71 venues in 26 states over the past 5 seasons), and serves New York audiences with an annual home season, supplemented by intensive arts education programs in a dozen or more public schools each year, and an annual “Flamenco in the Boros” tour which brings free flamenco performances to new audiences around the city. Flamenco Vivo also operates the Center for Flamenco Arts, one of only two New York City dance studios dedicated to the specific requirements of flamenco, and produces the New York State Flamenco Certamen, a competition for pre-professional dance artists; the finals for the second annual edition of the Certamen will be staged at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium on the evening of Friday, October 9, 2015. In 1996 the Company established a second base of operations in North Carolina and since then has provided extensive arts education programming and community engagement performances across the state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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La Compagnie Launches New NY-London Route

La Compagnie, the exclusively business-class airline, officially begins serving travelers flying between Newark International Airport (EWR) and London Luton Aiport (LTN) on Friday, April 24, 2015.

Offering attractive business-class fares across the Atlantic, this launch marks a monumental moment for the 9-month old airline, which will double the airline’s fleet and Trans-Atlantic service between New York and Europe.

“Business-class air service with a personalized touch is back where it belongs between New York and London,” said Frantz Yvelin, La Compagnie’s CEO and Founder, pinpointing “appealing fares” among the boutique airline’s positive offerings. “La Compagnie is fast becoming the go-to choice for a generation of business travelers who desire something more from air transportation. We are pleased to offer distinctive touches to travelers headed across the Atlantic and to build on our first-year success by expanding to London Luton Airport.”

La Compagnie will operate its New York to London route four times weekly out of Newark International Airport’s (EWR) Terminal B, with flights departing at 10:20PM and arriving in London Luton Airport (LTN) at 10:30AM the following morning. Flights departing London’s Luton Airport will be offered at 5:45PM from Terminal 1, with same-day arrival in Newark at 9:00PM. Regular airfare will continue to be offered in three fare levels, Full Flex, Semi-Flex and Best-Buy. La Compagnie plans to increase service to six times weekly by June, it also increased services from Cedillo Limousines around the airport for its customers.

Those who book now through May 31, can take advantage of La Compagnie’s “Summer Duo” fares which start at $3,090 and include two-roundtrip tickets, all taxes and fees included, for travel between June 30 and September 3, 2015.

La Compagnie passengers will fly in style in the redesigned single Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Gleaming in the airline’s signature baby blue, powered by Rolls Royce engines, and outfitted with winglets to keep fuel consumption in check, the 757-200 holds 74 lie-flat seats arrayed with leather headrests and armrests and arranged in a spacious 2×2 configuration through a single cabin. Inflight amenities include Samsung Galaxy Tablets preloaded with movies, newspapers, games, books, Caudalie cosmetic amenity kits and a “La Carte” dining service created by Michelin-starred chef Christophe Langrée.

For reservations on La Compagnie and to take advantage of the most attractive airfare in Business Class to London and Paris, please contact La Compagnie`s call center at 800-218-8187, visit www.LaCompagnie.com, or contact your travel advisor.

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Sin City About To Go Dark

Sin City is about to go dark. In another bold move from the world's most iconic vodka, ABSOLUT(R) is encouraging consumers and bar/nightclub owners to save energy through a series of “Lights Out” parties, kicking off in Las Vegas this weekend in celebration of its ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM) campaign. Borne from the brand's “In An ABSOLUT World” advertising campaign, ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM) encourages consumers to reduce the effects of global warming by offering simple steps they can implement in their daily lives.

Lights Out Las Vegas

On June 21, the eve of summer solstice, ABSOLUT Vodka and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino will turn off the lights at approximately 9:30 pm for 60 seconds during the Outernational Music Festival featuring Gnarls Barkley, Thievery Corporation and special guest Bebel Gilberto. Thievery Corporation will enact the first “Lights Out” moment on stage, as both towers and all marquees at Mandalay Bay, including all concert lights, shut down for one minute. Kicking off a series of “Lights Out” bar promotions across the country, Lights Out Las Vegas is a symbolic gesture to call attention to the vision that “In An ABSOLUT World” — if every consumer committed to turning off their lights, the effects of global warming could be reduced and the planet would literally be a cooler place.

“There is no better place than Las Vegas to see what could happen when the lights go out, and the Outernational Music Festival is the perfect forum for this symbolic gesture as we bring together two great musical acts, one of the biggest and best properties in Sin City and thousands of the coolest partygoers on the planet,” said Ian Crystal, Brand Director, ABSOLUT Spirits Company, Inc. “With many 'Lights Out' events to follow, ABSOLUT Vodka is taking the lead in the spirits industry to communicate environmental responsibility to consumers, which will hopefully inspire them to make simple changes in their daily lives.”

To help Las Vegas cool down, ABSOLUT is hosting a series of eco-friendly activities over the weekend:

— ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM) -branded Prius hybrid cars will offer safe, eco-friendly and complimentary rides to Mandalay Bay guests on June 21 following the concert.

— “Make a Statement” photo stations will be set up at the concert for guests to pledge their commitment to the environment and get a Global Cooling photo to commemorate this special night in Las Vegas.

— Live Earth, a partner in the Global Cooling initiative, will screen a series of short films during the concert's music breaks.

Lights Out On-Premise Promotions

Following Lights Out Las Vegas, ABSOLUT will continue its series of “Lights Out” parties in bars and nightclubs across the country from July through September. At these events, ABSOLUT will invite consumers to take an active role in their commitment to the environment by seeing first hand how alternative sources of energy can turn the lights out on global warming.

By visiting the Global Cooling stations during the bar promotions, consumers can compete to produce energy through human-powered generators and bicycles. At the end of the evening, ABSOLUT will turn the lights off at each participating venue for five minutes, which will reveal to bar patrons if they have generated enough “heat” to keep the party going. If enough energy is created, a six-foot replica of an ABSOLUT bottle will be fully lit — demonstrating their “cool” contribution to the lights out initiative.

Every Sip Makes a Statement

Part of the ABSOLUT Global Cooling campaign is the year-long “Every Sip Makes a Statement” promotion. The program encourages consumers at all touch points to get involved in Global Cooling by registering their ABSOLUT bottle or cocktail codes at www.absolut.com/GlobalCooling, where they have the opportunity to activate their eco-donation to one of three eco-charity partners. The charities selected were based on their creative solutions to making the Earth a “cooler place” and include the Environmental Media Association*, The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation(TM)* and The Ocean Foundation(TM)*. Throughout 2008, ABSOLUT will donate up to $500,000 to support these Global Cooling initiatives.

An ABSOLUT Approach to the Climate Crisis

ABSOLUT Vodka is the first company in the spirits industry to introduce carbon offsetting as part of its environmental work, and since 2003, has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent (per liter vodka). Today, ABSOLUT has one of the world's most energy efficient distilleries, decreasing its use of energy by 30 percent through a very high level of energy recovery and reducing its use of fossil fuel.

Every bottle of ABSOLUT VODKA is made of 100 percent concept cultivated wheat, which minimizes nitrogen leaching and reduces use of chemical pesticides. ABSOLUT strives to optimize its use of natural resources, and to choose eco-friendly alternatives as much as possible. As an example, the ABSOLUT bottle is made of 43 percent recycled glass. ABSOLUT is determined to continuously reduce packaging, increase the re-use of transport packaging and improve waste separation at source, and to find a market for waste products.

For more information on ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM), please visit www.absolut.com/GlobalCooling

About The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc.

An official partner of Live Earth, The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc., a subsidiary of V&S Group, produces and markets ABSOLUT(R) VODKA, Level (TM) Vodka, FRIS(R) Vodka, Plymouth(TM) Gin and Cruzan(R) Rum. The Absolut Spirits Company focuses on reducing the impact on climate change, sustainable agriculture and optimizing use of natural resources as mandated by V&S Group. To view details on the company's efforts to combat global warming, visit www.vsgroup.com and click on “Corporate Responsibility/Environment.”

About Live Earth

Based in Los Angeles, Live Earth is an organization that seeks to leverage the power of music and integrated entertainment to combat climate change. On July 7, 2007, Live Earth held the largest global entertainment event in history, staging simultaneous concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, as well as special broadcast events in Antarctica, Kyoto and Washington, DC. The day featured more than 150 musical acts — a mix of legendary artists like The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi and Madonna with the latest headliners like Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson. Through TV, radio and the Internet, the concert reached an estimated two billion people.

Live Earth's 24 hours of music across seven continents delivered a worldwide call to action and the solutions necessary to answer that call. With this maiden event, Live Earth has launched a multi-year campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth is partnered with former Vice President and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore and his Alliance for Climate Protection. Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, CEO of Control Room, the company that produced the concerts globally. For more information, please visit www.LiveEarth.org

*Please contact Sarah Bessette or Zlata Faerman for more information about the ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM) charity partners and how the donations will be used. For more information on the eco-charities, please see Addendum A (attached).

ADDENDUM A
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON GLOBAL COOLING CHARITIES

The ABSOLUT Global Cooling(TM) charities include:

— The Environmental Media Association – Linking the power of celebrity to environmental awareness, EMA believes that through television, film and music, the entertainment community can affect change in a positive way. To reduce the number of plastic bags discarded into the environment, ABSOLUT is partnering with EMA to create stylish, reusable tote bags and inspire the use of tote bags for all shopping. These limited bags, designed by celebrities, will be available free of charge nationwide beginning in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Austin and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.ema-online.org

— The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation(TM) – The FTPF is dedicated to planting edible, fruitful trees and plants to benefit needy populations and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water. In order to help directly offset carbon dioxide emissions, ABSOLUT is partnering with FTPF to plant fruit tree groves called “ABSOLUT Global Cooling Zones” in metropolitan areas with an emphasis towards those locations devastated by natural disasters. For more information, visit www.ftpf.org

— The Ocean Foundation(TM) – The Ocean Foundation's mission is to support, strengthen and promote those organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world. Similar to planting trees on land, planting seagrass beds will help increase the rate at which near-shore coastal shelves sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Proceeds from ABSOLUT will go towards replanting coastal seagrass beds near Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Boston. For more information, visit www.oceanfdn.org

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80,000 Steinway to Benefit Operation of Hope

World-renowned and groundbreaking concert pianist/composer Carter Larsen is selling his piano collection of twenty-five years to benefit the arts and humanities. Inaugurating the sale is his 1876 Steinway, representing the flagship to an unparalleled collection of the world's finest pianos. The 0,000 Steinway will be on display in the Burgundy Room at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel June 23, 2008 and auctioned through eBay, CraigsList, and OperationofHope.org starting tomorrow. The composer will perform pieces created on this piano from his revolutionary Fantasia Suite at 2:00pm.

Fifteen percent of the proceeds go to Operation of Hope after a birthday wish to change his life, Larsen explains, "I wish to spread the fortune I have received. This is a spiritual decision and my responsibility to humanity." Operation of Hope is an international organization that provides free reconstructive surgeries to individuals in Zimbabwe and Ecuador for the past twenty years. PEOPLE will run an eight-page article on this amazing organization in coming weeks. http://www.operationofhope.org/.

Larsen's one of a kind, customized, 1876 Victorian Steinway commemorates the centennial of America with a stunning New York Vintage Brazilian Rosewood case in high-gloss, representing the quintessential instrument-a hybrid of romance, fantasy and high-tech German Steinway's Renner-action sound board and strings. The piano was exhibited in the 2003 Namm Show, displayed by Chateau at the Pacific Design Center during 2004 in Los Angeles, and played on by Pierce Brosnan and Sir Anthony Hopkins who came to the composer seeking musical advice. Larsen's Steinway celebrates the 300th anniversary of the piano and the 150th anniversary of Steinway.

Steinway's artist Carter Larsen says, "This piano goes beyond its credentials. It has been a magical piano inspiring a continuous flow of creativity." Larsen is renowned as a concert pianist in Europe with over four-hundred concerts to his credit; performances include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra as soloist with television appearances on BBC and PBS.

Larsen's pianos also have a legacy of twenty years of composition, writing for the major studios such as Fox, Paramount, PBS, BBC, and Discovery. He has composed music for over thirty prestigious films including Paramount's Star Trek, Nosferatu, Masterpiece Theatre, and the Mark of Zorro. The composer is currently scoring Martin Scorcese's new film, Something to Believe In, directed by Bonnie Palif.

Larsen is also offering a bonus to the buyer-a private performance of his magnum opus Fantasia Suite, created on his Steinway piano. "Carter Larsen's innovative artistry has universal appeal and promises to set the course for the next wave in contemporary music" says Omega Medina, ten year head of the classical Grammies, who will be present on the 23rd.

The composer just returned from a sensational tour introducing his music to China's thirty million pianists. "Fantasia Suite is about projecting and reflecting a brighter world," says Larsen whose sale will benefit nonprofits, organizations both nationally and internationally, as well as the arts and humanities. For more information visit http://www.carterlarsen.com/.

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Dancing in Topless Clubs Helps Women, says Anthropoligist

A respected anthropologist says dancing in topless clubs helps women become poised, self-confident and creative individuals who often go on to higher education and successful business careers.

Judith Lynne Hanna, PhD, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland, says in an article in the May issue of Exotic Dancer's Club Bulletin that Diablo Cody, who won an Academy Award this year for the "Juno" screenplay, "is one of many performers who prove that exotic dancers are more than sexual objects." Club Bulletin is a bimonthly magazine from ED Publications, Inc., a division of Rick's Cabaret International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK).

"Dancers commonly gain self-esteem and self-confidence appearing nude before strangers," Hanna writes in the business magazine that serves the nearly 4,000 gentlemen's clubs in the U.S. “Successful dancers become acute observers of verbal and nonverbal communication in order to sell a fantasy of themselves and to create the patron's fantasy. Business and money management leads dancers to complete education, start businesses and support families," she adds.

Hanna notes that after Cody won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay "the media referred to her as having 'once worked as a stripper,' 'a former stripper,' a 'retired stripper.' Commenting about her dress, the question was 'what would you expect from a stripper?' and 'she should have saved more dollar bills and bought a better dress.'"

The reason the media attacked Cody, she said, is that "exotic dancing, the preferred term for stripping since the advent of upscale gentlemen's clubs, is stigmatized and has an unfounded reputation for leading to prostitution, drugs, crime and decreased property values, which is not entirely truth with people that work honestly in this places, and others treat their drugs problems with the help of detox programs from sites as http://firststepbh.com. But recent social science has disproved all of this."

In 2006, Cody was the Keynote Speaker at the 14th Annual Gentlemen's Club Owners EXPO, produced by ED Publications. Cody's invitation to speak at the EXPO came on the heels of the success of her book "Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper," which chronicled Cody's experiences as a "regular" girl who decided to spice up her life by dancing at adult nightclubs in Minneapolis.

Hanna earned her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University and also holds an MA in political science from Michigan State University. The author of six books on subjects ranging from dance to social behavior, she has published more than 300 articles in scholarly journals on anthropology, art, black studies, dance, drama, education, gender, leisure and recreation, medicine, music, political science, psychology, religion and urban studies.

About Rick’s Cabaret: ED Publications, Inc. is the media division of Rick’s Cabaret International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RICK), which operates upscale adult nightclubs serving primarily businessmen and professionals that offer live adult entertainment, restaurant and bar operations. ED Publications is the publisher of Exotic Dancer, TEEZE and Adult Store Buyer (ASB) magazines and owner of tradeshows including the annual Gentlemen's Club Owners ExpoandStorErotica for the retail lingerie and adult store industry. The company owns, operates or licenses adult nightclubs in New York City, Miami, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis and other cities under the names "Rick's Cabaret," "XTC," “Club Onyx” and “Tootsie’s Cabaret”. Sexual contact is not permitted at these locations. Rick’s Cabaret also owns the adult Internet membership site couplestouch.com and a network of online adult auction sites under the flagship URL naughtybids.com. Rick’s Cabaret common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol RICK. For further information contact ir@ricks.com.
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Kutztown Festival Celebrates Pennsylvania Dutch Culture and Art

The week-long event is also where the whole family can learn about and enjoy Pennsylvania Dutch folk life.

“The Kutztown Festival is the perfect place to experience the culture, artistry and cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch,” said Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary of tourism in the Department of Community and Economic Development. “While being immersed in the Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, visitors can choose a quilt from the largest selection available in the nation.

“And, with the festival just a day's drive for more than half of the U.S. population, this is a must-do for people looking for an affordable and unique getaway.”

The Kutztown Festival is and less than three hours from New York City and Washington, D.C.

Pennsylvania Dutch dialect and folklore will fill the Kutztown fairgrounds as blacksmithing, weaving, woodcarving and metalworking are demonstrated daily by more than 200 unique artisans.

Other highlights of the festival include:
— George Washington, portrayed by Carl Closs, and Benjamin Franklin,
portrayed by Dean Bennett, will entertain audiences as they reminisce
about the nation's history at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 28.
— Wine enthusiast can enjoy a sampling at the Pinnacle Ridge Winery
booth. Each year, a special festival commemorative wine is offered; a
number of other varieties available for tasting. Pinnacle Ridge
received multiple awards at the 2008 Pennsylvania Farm Show and
secured a silver and bronze medal at the 2007 Los Angeles
International Wine & Spirits Competition.
— Each day, craftsmen will demonstrate the timber-framing building
process and show how to raise a small frame. Timber-framing is a
historic building method that uses local timber to construct the
durable buildings commonly found on Pennsylvania German homesteads.

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Dress Like a Cow, Get a Free Chick-fil-A Meal on Cow Appreciation Day

Holy cow! It's time to break out your cow suit and leave your wallet out to pasture. On Friday, July 11, the Chick-fil-A(R) chain will celebrate its annual Cow Appreciation Day event by offering a free meal to any customer who isn't “too chicken” to visit any of the chain's stores.

Customers fully dressed as a cow will be rewarded with a free Chick-fil-A Meal, which includes an entree of choice, a side item and a Dr Pepper (or another beverage of choice). And for those who are a little timid to wear spots from head to toe, Chick-fil-A will award a complimentary entree to customers partially dressed in cow attire, such as a cow-spotted scarf, purse, hat or other accessory.

The July 11 event marks Chick-fil-A's fourth annual Cow Appreciation Day celebration. Last year's event — and the resulting turnout — confirmed that Chick-fil-A has a strong following of customers willing to go to great lengths to show their appreciation for cows. Thousands of customers visited Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country dressed in cow-themed costumes, ranging from simple cow-spotted t-shirts to full cow suits complete with furry ears, cow bells and homemade sandwich boards with personalized renditions of Chick-fil-A's “Eat Mor Chikin(R)” Cow messages.

“Cow Appreciation Day is a great barometer of how passionate our customers are,” said Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A's senior vice president of marketing. “If you're willing to dress up like a cow for a free meal, you're obviously a loyal and even raving Chick-fil-A fan. While the event is a natural tie with our cow-themed marketing campaign, Cow Appreciation Day is intended to be a fun day to reward some of our most loyal customers with free food. We enjoy watching the event grow year after year.”

It was “udder insanity” at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country last year for the Cow Appreciation Day celebration. The Chick-fil-A restaurant in Hendersonville, N.C. hosted a herd of 350 cow-spotted customers from summer camps, daycares and preschools. Another group of ambitious college students — self dubbed “The Herd” — set out on a “cattle drive” from Knoxville, Tenn. to Atlanta, Ga. on a mission to visit 30 Chick-fil-A restaurants in one day.

The excitement around Cow Appreciation Day is further proof that the love for Chick-fil-A's beloved bovines is as strong as ever. For the past 13 years, the renegade “Eat Mor Chikin” Cows have entertained consumers with their desperate, self-preserving antics in an effort to convert beef eaters into chicken fans. The Chick-fil-A Cows and the “Eat Mor Chikin” campaign have enjoyed such widespread public success that the chain has turned the theme into a fully integrated marketing program. In addition to clever roadside billboards, the “Eat Mor Chikin” Cows are the focal point of Chick-fil-A's in- store point-of-purchase materials, promotions, radio and TV advertising, and clothing and merchandise sales.

In 2007, the Chick-fil-A “Eat Mor Chikin” Cows were recognized as one of America's most popular advertising icons in a public vote sponsored by Advertising Week and became the newest members of New York's Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. A permanent banner to recognize this achievement will be unveiled on Madison Avenue in 2008.

The Cows and their witty messages also have contributed to Chick-fil-A's business, as the chain's sales have more than quintupled since the Cows' first full year as unofficial icons for the brand, from $502 million in 1995 to more than $2.64 billion in 2007.

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Splashlight to Debut Images from India by Award Winning Marc Ecko Photographer

Angkor award-winning photographer and Marc Ecko
Enterprises executive Peter Ruprecht has partnered with Splashlight to debut
his “Monadic Nomad” collection. Splashlight will host a star-studded gala on
July 29th at its new headquarters in SoHo.

The Monadic Nomad-“A Journey of Chance” collection will be on display
through September at Splashlight in its brand new 60,000 square foot space
in Soho.

The exhibition features 40 color and black-and-white images that were taken
on Ruprecht's journey across India in late fall 2006. Notable collectors of
Peter's work include The Marley family in Miami, as well as Marc Ecko,
Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Marc Ecko Enterprises.

Ten percent of all proceeds from the sale of the work will benefit charity:
water, a non profit providing water to people in developing countries. The
collection will specifically fund freshwater wells and sanitation projects
in India. Recognized for its work around the globe, charity: water has
garnered national press coverage, celebrity endorsements and corporate
support.

“By consciously excluding historical references, Peter composes images that
transcend time. His photographs are less bound by material references to
particular eras,” said world-renowned travel photographer James Whitlow
Delano. “As a result, his compositions engage the viewer in direct
relationship with his human subjects. The forms, lines and colors become
organic elements enhancing the subjects. Even perspective and motion are
endowed with intrigue and mysticism. “

The “Monadic Nomad” collection will feature one-of-a-kind pieces printed on
handmade paper from Nepal, as well as environmentally safe canvas. The
eclectic combination of images and printing processes will convey the
complex mix of sights and sensations that Peter experienced while on his
journey and capture the spiritual, mystical essence of India's exotic
culture. Images will be available for presale at www.ruprechtstudios.com.

The invitation-only opening party will feature cuisine inspired by the
country. The press preview will take place on July 29 from 6-8 pm.

Splashlight Soho is located at 1 Hudson Square, on the corner of Varick and
Canal Streets.

The public will be able to view the collection free of charge Monday through
Friday, 9 am to 6 pm through the end of September. For more information
about Splashlight, please visit: www.splashlight.com.

About Peter Ruprecht
Peter Ruprecht is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker and Vice
President of Interactive and New Media for the global lifestyle and fashion
company Marc Ecko Enterprises. In 2004, Peter co-founded Forza Films, a
South American documentary production company that has produced work for
leading networks. Peter has also had a long-standing career consulting
companies of stature, including Merrill Lynch, Price Waterhouse Coopers and
Opera Solutions. Born in Argentina to the great granddaughter of President
Manuel Quintana, Peter was raised in Vermont and attended Dartmouth College.
He was ranked as a top skier in the United States and has traveled the world
extensively.

About Splashlight
Splashlight is a world class resource for photography, offering a full range
of photographic services including studio rentals, state-of-the-art
photographic equipment, digital capture, retouching services, CGI,
production, event space and more. With locations in New York, Los Angeles
and Miami – and the ability to deliver “on location” anytime, anywhere
around the world – Splashlight provides the very best services to meet the
photographic needs of creative agencies, retailers, publishers,
photographers and producers. Splashlight's renowned staff is always on hand
to provide support and management for shoots of any size and complexity.

About charity: water
charity: water is a non-profit providing clean and safe drinking water to
people in developing nations. In less than 2 years, charity: water has
funded more than 600 projects in 11 countries that will provide 250,000
people with clean and safe water. 100% of donations go directly to water
and sanitation projects in Africa, India, and Central America. In March of
2008, charity: water teamed up with Gram Vikas, a non-profit NGO, to help
bring clean water and basic sanitation to poverty-stricken communities in
the state of Orissa, India. Households in this area will receive piped
water supply and toilets, significantly improving health and wellbeing.
charity: water has been profiled in national and local media outlets,
including CBSNews.com, ABC News, Fox News, PEOPLE, USA Today, New York Post,
Travel & Leisure, InStyle and Forbes.com.

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The Troubled Times at The Washington Examiner

It used to be that in order to survive in the corridors of powers in the local journo establishment you had to work all sides of the aisles – politics, lobbying and the press. But these days, going by the goings-on at The Washington Examiner newspaper, the turnstiles are all about going back and forth between the same employers, or jumping ship even before the vessel has sailed.

Take the famed Pentagon ace Rowan Scarborough as an example. He was a star correspondent for years at the Washington Times snagging exclusives-after-exclusives (he had one yesterday splashed across the top of the front page) but then he got sucked into the Examiner by the newly-minted editor, Stephen Smith (whose married to the more prolific and more successful Vanity Fair chronicler Sally Smith who takes him around the party circuit) and he quit the Times to go work for The Examiner. Part of the deal also was to get his columns to run nationally on the Examiner website (more on that later) and promote a book he was putting to bed.

[PIC CAPTION: Rowan Scarborough's stint at the Examiner was marred by sloppy copy editing and constant clashes with the ME on when to post stories to the web. One day Exec Editor Steve Smith clashed with the online desk on posting Scarborough's stories. The next day Scarborough's desk was empty.]

The honeymoon barely lasted a few months. Sloppy editing of his stories across town where the copy desk sits in Virginia editing both the DC and Baltimore papers, constant clashes with the then Managing Editor, and a showdown with Steve Smith over placement of hot stories on the web, and one fine morning, the newsroom found his desk empty. Rowan had had enough, and he bolted.

After a sabbatical, Scarborough has resurfaced to helm the Pentagon coverage for his old employer: The Washington Times.

He's not the only one not to get a goodbye from Smith and his entourage. Ace Capitol Hill reporter Charlie Hurt also had a turbulent time with Smith at the Examiner. He lasted there but a few months even though his Pork coverage ranked high in online traffic for the paper's website and left without a goodbye party.Not to mention that more than a dozen staffers since Smith took over have quit took over his management style and people began to complain about his mercurial ways and short-temper bursts and quirky monday morning quarterbacking in daily editorial meetings where he's known to shoot suspenders and plot strategy to defeat the online powers-that-be in Denver that run the online arm of the paper. Among Smith's new hires was also a New York-based investigative reporter but the ink was barely dry on his pieces that soon he too was gone. No word on why he left.

But more than anything, Smith's relationship with the then-Managing Editor Nicholas Horrock spoke volumes of the fractures within the newsroom. Just a few months after Smith cemented his boots on the table, he trained his guns on Horrock and he was one of the earlier casualties of the Smith weapon about to be unleashed on the newsroom. Horrock was essentially fired for speaking up against his boss (and sometimes taking power cat naps at his desk). Soon thereafter a bevy of editors left the editing operations in Virginia where a editor was dispatched from the newsroom to clean up copy (and the mess). He also soon departed taking a couple of eds with him. On some days there are a couple of eds scurrying to bed both the DC and Baltimore editions and using AP copy to fill the pages seems the most likeliest exit.

[PIC CAPTION: Charlie Hurt didn't last long enough to make an impression but his stories did get a lot of impressions on the website.] Rubbing elbows with the online team – headed by a now-deposed Dave Schafer who ran the online operations from Denver with three editorial types including Gil Asakawa who was popularly nicknamedDave's Garage Door Opener

– was a royal treat for Smith who rallied against the online team on a daily basis inside the newsroom. Often jockeying for more power to control the online version of the local paper, he found himself at loggerheads with senior Denver management on how best to position local content getting to an excruciating low by cutting off content access to the Denver online team from the local eds. Things got so heated between him and the online team that he cut the cord with Denver. For a while there was a logo for the paper and right next to it a globe-trotting new logo for the online edition that appeared in the paper. Today, you only see one logo on the paper. The globe's been replaced by a link to a local online site he's reportedly developing called DCExaminer.com. So, in a nutshell, you've got a publication within a publication. If you belong to the Denver camp, you visit examiner.com. If you belong to the Smith camp, you visit dcexaminer.com. Nowhere is what more visible than on the website where the co-existing Israeli-Palestinian accord has been carved out where both staffers for examiner.com and dcexaminer.com learn to co-habit. Of course, they don't like talking to each other.

Smith is known to hire cronies and seldom does he like to venture beyond favoritism. There is no meritocracy when it comes to hiring. After Horrock was shown the door, Smith hired a former colleague from the Austin newspaper he felt compelled to leave to take on the job. Michael Hedges, a notorious web-basher , was hired as a hatchet man who put the brakes on any support to the Denver online team. Few weeks into his job, Hedges began to roll back any promises the desk made to the online team in Denver to post stories during the day and also began to question the reach and readership of the online edition as a justification to put the web initiative on the back burner.

Lets just put it this way, said a Denver staffer who quit in disgust: They're not FOOLs out there in DC. By FOOLs just what did he mean? "Friends Of On Line," he quipped as he drove of to a restaurant.

[PIC CAPTION: Mike Hedges was known by Denver as a notorius web-basher.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PIC CAPTION: Then-Publisher Herb Maloney, Patrick Gavin, Executive Editor Vivienne Sosnowski and Jeff Dufour back in the heydays. Maloney quit in no time, Sosnowski was sent upstairs to corporate and the Y&N gossip guys rarely cover the shenanigans within the paper. Pic courtesy of Washington Life. ]

ALSO READ: EXAMINER.COM: NEW REDESIGN, BUT WILL THEY COME?

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Homeland Security Hits New York Nightspots

Last weekend the New York Bar Show gave liquor makers, bar managers and industry professionals the chance to sample new products and roam around the Javits Center. One of the more unique exhibitors is trying to replace the scrutiny of bouncers by pushing a technology that would make it easier for nightclubs and bars to catch fake ID’s.
 

Intelli-Check – SecurityInfo (https://www.securityinfo.com/) is a technology company that has built a business in ID verification and install surveillance cameras. They produce wireless handheld devices that read and analyze the data in barcodes on government issued ID (drivers licenses, passports, etc.). While their products were once confined to military bases, government installations and industrial parks, Mobilisa is now planning to provide the same technology to clubs so they can keep underage drinkers out.

While this might seem like another infringement of big brother into nightlife, systems like this are already developed and there might be a logical reason for clubs to adopt the Mobilisa system. With today’s technology, fake ID’s are not difficult to acquire. Dram shop laws traditionally hold clubs liable for serving drinks to minors and there has been an increased crackdown on fake ID’s in the past year (See Nightlife News Crime 10/19/07) so clubs need something to combat the increased sophistication of forgery. A system like this will work within the new guidelines that the NYPD worked out with the New York Nightlife Association late last year (See Nightlife News Crime 10/19/07).

With all the pressure to keep kids out of clubs, it might make sense to put less trust in a bouncer staring at thousands of ID’s in the dark (and maybe hooking up his friends) and more trust in the barcode. As long as the system doesn’t get abused by the police, telemarketers or hackers, it might help everybody.

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