NORFOLK Va Withtheholidayseason
upon us national nonprofit Operation Homefront was busy spreading some cheer to local military families last weekend As part of their annual Holiday Meals for Military® program, the organization distributed mealkitsto300pre-registeredmilitaryfamiliesinNorfolkonSaturday,December14
Holiday Meals for Military® provides all the essentials for preparing a traditional holiday meal. The prices of essential goods have risen by an average of 28% over the past five years, placing significant strain on military families, with at least one in four active-duty enlisted families experiencing foodinsecuritylastyear Thosefamiliesmost likely to face food insecurity include those who joined the military in the past decade, have recently relocated, have young children andthosewithaspousewhoisunderorunemployed. Through the Holiday Meals for Military® program- and thanks to the generous support of partners including the Bob and Dolores Hope Foundation, Chobani, Food Lion,TownHouse®,andProcter&Gamblemealswillbedistributedatdozensofevents nationwide, serving more than 13,000 military families and ensuring they don’t have tochoosebetweenpayingabillandcreating those special holiday memories that are so
oftenmadearoundthedinnertable
This year the organization anticipates serving its 200,000th military family since the Holiday Meals for Military® program beganin2010. Saturday’s Holiday Meals for Military® event in Norfolk was also made possible by the support of local sponsors including WalmartandNavyFederalCreditUnion
About Operation Homefront: Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive not simply struggle to get by in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups 83 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year Operation Homefrontprovidescriticalfinancialassistance, transitional and permanent housing, andfamilysupportservicestopreventshorttermneedsfromturningintochronic,longterm struggles Thanks to the generosity of ourdonorsandthesupportfromthousands ofvolunteers OperationHomefrontproudly servesAmerica’smilitaryfamilies Formore information,visitOperationHomefront.org.
PressRelease
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va Wrap up the holidays sustainably with the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center’s two free recycling events,aChristmasTree-cyclinginDecemberandanE-cyclingevent inJanuary.
Sustainable Christmas tree recycling
TheVirginiaAquariumiscollectingandrecyclinglive-cutChristmas treesinsupportofmarineconservationwithMarineStewardsAmerica (MSA) From December 28 to January 9, bring your Christmas tree to the Aquarium’s East Parking Lot and drop it off in the designated area forrecycling
MSA will use the trees to restore sand dunes along our coastline, which supports our local marine ecosystem by controlling erosion providingnutrientsforbeachplants creatinghabitatsforbeachanimals, andkeepingwasteoutofthelandfill Acceptabletreesfordropoffmust bebareandlive-cuttreesfromhouseholds Notreesfromcommercial businesseswillbeaccepted.Onlythefirst200treeswillbeaccepted.
Upgrading your electronics this holiday?
Dispose of old electronics responsibly at the Virginia Aquarium’s E-Cycling event on January 11, from 9 a.m. to noon, presented by PRA Group Rainorshine participantscanrecycleoldcellphones usedvehicle batteries personal electronic items unneeded prescriptions, and more. The event will be a drive-through in the Aquarium’s East ParkingLot,withparticipatingvendorsincludingAAATidewaterVirginia, GoodwillIndustries,VirginiaBeachPoliceDepartment,NexTrexPlasticRecycling,andthe911CellphoneBank,whereoldcellphoneswillbe refurbishedanddonatedtovictimsofhumantrafficking SustainabilityisacornerstoneoftheVirginiaAquarium’smission,and E-Cycling events like this one provide a responsible and eco-friendly way to dispose of electronic items The hard plastic in many of these itemswillneverdecomposeinalandfill.Initemssuchascarbatteries theacidorchemicalsintheproductscanendupinthegroundorwater run-offs and are corrosive and harmful to the environment. Many old electronicdevicescontaintoxicsubstancesthatincludelead,mercury, cadmium,beryllium,polyvinylchloride,andchromium.Whene-waste istossedintolandfills,thesechemicalsseepintothesoil,pollutingthe groundwaterandtheair
Electronicsaremadeofcomponentsthatcontainvaluablerawmaterialsandcanberepurposedfornewdeviceswhentheyarerecycled As aresult energyissaved,pollutionisreduced,andtherearefewergreenhousegasemissionsreleasedintotheatmosphere.Recyclingolddevices saves energy It also means that fewer raw materials need to be drawn fromnaturetocreatenewdevices.Additionally,reusingelectronicscan helpmembersofthecommunitywhowouldnototherwisehaveaccess
Items that will not be accepted during the event include hazardous waste,CRTtubeTV’sandcommercialcopymachines Ifyouhavethese items in your home, check your local landfill site for drop off options If you have these items in your home, check your local landfill site for dropoff
Theeventsarefreetothepublic,butdonationsareappreciatedand will go to the Aquarium Foundation to support additional sustainable practices
Participants can register for E-Cycling and Christmas Tree-cycling onVirginiaAquarium.com.
InterviewByYiorgo
Hampton Roads area, you are in for a tremendous treat. International superstar comedian Basile will be in town live this Saturday night December 21st, at the AnnunciationHellenicCenter,7220Granby Street, Norfolk, VA for Norfolk Chapter 122 of AHEPA’s Christmas Dinner Food, drinks, Greek dancing and the entertainment of the EMMY nominated Basile who has entertained millions of comedy fans in theUnitedStates Canada Europe Australia, andAfrica Basile’suniqueblendofmaterial improvisation,andcharactershasmadehim one of the most sought-after comedians in the entertainment industry today and you get to see him live this Saturday night For more information and to purchase tickets, gotowww.ahepanorfolk122.org
Basile just returned from a very successful tour of the Caribbean. Prior to that the multifaceted, bilingual comedian has been touring worldwide to sold-out audiences with both of his unique shows of the “BasileLicious” World Tour (general audienceinEnglish)andhiscriticallyacclaimed series of “Growing Up Greek in America,” The“GreekMystique”WorldTour(Greek/ Englishspeakingaudiences).
Basile’s voices and characters have been heard on Armed Forces Radio, Television and Syndicated Radio as the voice of: “The GodFatherOfSoul,JamesBrown”inNorth America,andhiscomedysegmentsonXM/ Sirius Satellite Radio His recent Radio Show/Podcast, “A Pinch Of Basile” is now syndicated on selected radio stations in North America and throughout the world and on GreekBeatRadio.com & Grecian EchoesRadio
Basile has over 100 television appearances throughout the world, Including: HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, A & E, Dry Bar Comedy & the Tonight Show on NBCtonameafew Basileisalsoknownfor his voice work as Universal Studios’ Bullwinkle J. Moose, as well as for the Cartoon Network and many Japanese Anime series BasilewasrecentlynominatedforanEMMY for his work on ESPN’s “30 for 30” series segment,“TheLegendofJimmytheGreek” as the voice of Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder (Syionidis).
Yiorgo:TellusBasile,whyshouldpeople come to the show? What will they see, hear andexperience?
Basile: Oh, it’s going to be a fun, fun, fun event. Even though it’s a Greek-themed show where I mix a lot of the Greek stuff aboutgrowingupinaGreekfamily itdoesn’t matterwhatethnicgroupyou’refrom what raceyou’refrom,withmymaterial,allpeople relate to it, understand it and laugh with it. Ialsodoalotofdifferentvoicesandcharactersandstufflikethat,thatpeoplelove NorfolkhasoneofthegreatestGreekfestivals, not only in Virginia, but in the country. I’ve been to it a couple times. You guys bringinbetween40,000-50,000peopleover the course of the four-day weekend in May. ThosepeoplewhocomeandenjoytheGreek Festival tremendously, they will enjoy my showaswell.It’sgoingtobeagreatfunction forpeopletocome,laughateachother,goof offandhavefun.Andthat’swhatIloveabout myshow.That’swhatIloveabouttheaudience that comes and sees me That’s what I loveaboutbringingeveryonetogetherunder the one roof for you know, just for fun And that’s why they should come Let their hair down. Let’s party Let’s have some fun. And that’s why I’m loving coming back, especially for this wonderful AHEPA event that we’redoingonthe21st.
Y: What are some of the topics that you willcover?
B: I’m going to hit a little bit of everything: From family stuff to dealing a little bit with some of the craziness that we had to go through during COVID and so much more. When you see me on stage for example Yiorgo, George, you’re also seeing me, a cartoon character come to life I like to entertain. I use my whole body, my face, I love creating And to clarify, some people think that the show is going to be in Greek No I’m going to use a little bit of the Greek words here and there and whatnot. But I thinkoneofthefunthingsistoliterallypoke funatourselves.Andthat’swhatIdo Idon’t sitthereandjustpokefunatcertainpeople No, no, I poke fun at all of us And it’s really I poke fun at myself and people are like, oh, my God, I do the same thing as what Basile justtalkedabout. And,youknow,tome,it’salwaysbeenfun to ride people a little bit And that’s what I lovedoing ButIdoitinawaywhereit’slike tongue in cheek, that everyone is involved in the joke. And it’s not only on me It’s, you know,it’soneveryone Andthat’swhatIlove and it really brings an audience together
Thethingis,youcandoaPG-13showwithout getting into any type of real dirt and the F-bomb here and the F-bomb there. People don’t want to hear that. We get enough of that daily you know, in our everyday work and life. What I do is I offer an escape, a beautifulridetoescapewithmeandwewill havefuntogether
Y:Let’slearnaboutwhereyouwereborn andalittleaboutyourlifestory
B: I was born in wonderful South Jersey, in a place called Salem but I was raised in LongIsland.Iwoundupplayingsomefootball in high school. And that got me to get a littlebitofscholarshipoveratPurdue And, youknow,Iplayedsomecollegeballandgot banged up pretty much. And I finished up my education in Cleveland, Ohio Couldn’t playballanymore.AndIwoundupfinishing upmydegreethere.Iwenttolawschoolout in Cleveland as well for a couple of years I nevergotmyJurisDoctorate myJD Igota chance to work in Washington D.C. I was a legislative assistant for a congresswoman. I workedinD.C.foraboutayear Alsoworked for DOD And I got a chance to review contracts and review certain things that needed to be done This was during a time inourmilitary,whichwaskindofcrazy And Ireallyenjoyedthatkindofwork.Andthen IcamebacktoCleveland.
Y:Whatmadeyoufallinlovewithentertainment and stand-up comedy in particular?
B: One thing led to another And I said, you know, I want to try this comedy thing And I went to a couple, just to have some fun. And I really loved the idea of making a joke and people would laugh immediately AndIwasalittlebitdifferentbecause everyone wanted to be a monologist. And I suppose I started off the same way. But thingswerealittlebitdifferentforme Ijust wantedtoapproachmycomedydifferently And thank God we were successful. And I wasveryproudofmyself Andlittlebylittle bylittle,Istarted,youknow,working
Y:WithbothofyourparentsbeingGreek, did they give you a hard time leaving a government job for the uncertain world of entertainment?
B: I really love what I do And my mom always would tell me And this is very importantforallthereaders Lovewhatyou do Andyou’llneverworkadayinyourlife Amen. And I always remember my mom telling me that. And you know what the funny part was? My mom and dad didn’t evenflinchwhenItoldthemIwasgoingto takeasabbaticalfromlawschooltopursue comedy Didn’t even flinch And that’s a Greek mom and dad. Greek mom and dad you know. But it was kind of funny when I startedreallygettingestablishedincomedy andpeoplewereknowingwhoIwas.Iwas touring all over the world, like I am now. And I took my father with me As soon as I gettothefrontdeskattheairport,allthese people are saying hello to me And the people at the counter know me You know, atthattimeitwasUSAir Iwillneverforget this And then I go through security Hey, Basile, how are you doing? Basile, what’s happening? The people at the information counter, hi, Basil, how are you doing? And
my father looked at me with concern and worry. He goes, Basile, what the heck kind ofjobisthis?Youtraveltoomuch Whenthe peopleattheairportknowwhotheheckyou are,thisisnotgood Don’tyouwantarestaurant? Don’t you want to live? And I said, a restaurant? Are you serious? I said, I never saw you as a kid As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know you were my father until I was 15 years old, for God’s sake I just thought that mom had a thing for short little Greek men.IsweartoGod,that’sallIthought.And my dad then told me where to go And he would laugh, but he never flinched. They never flinched. And I give them so much creditforthat,thattheyneverflinched.
Y: You and Steve Harvey came up in the worldofcomedyatthesametime,correct?
B: Yes, Steve Harvey and I started together Andweworkedouttogether And we toured together. And we did our first television show together And Steve went on to riches And doing it well, from his TV ShowtoFamilyFeud,tohisvariouscomedy specials Steveisaveryfunnycat.
Y:Thenyoureallycaughtonfireaswell.
B: Yes, I’m doing the Greek stuff all over the world, let alone doing the stuff like the
voice work that I do I still have the voice of Bullwinkle at Universal Studios I’ve been doing that for 17 years And it’s an honor to do that. After Bill Scott passed away who was the voice of Bullwinkle my job was to fix the original loops I did that and then I wound up going ahead and literally started doing Bullwinkle’s voice That led me to do stuff for the Cartoon Network. I was nominatedforanEmmyforthe30for30special, TheLegendofJimmytheGreek.Andifyou sawthat,thatwasmenarratingasJimmythe GreekwhoserealnameJimmySionidis but everyonethoughthisrealnamewasSchneider, Jimmy Schneider, and it wasn’t. It was reallySionidis Andalotofpeoplewerelike, wow, you did that? And I said, yeah. Then whentheyfindoutthatIdothestuffforthe Japanese anime, where they take it from Japanese and they turn it into English, I do thevoiceforalotofthosecharacters,people arereallyexcitedtohearthatIdothat.
Y: Can you share with our audience your James Brown and the OJ Simpson trial story?
B:Backintheday,IwasthevoiceofJames Brown, the Godfather of Soul, and I did a radioshowcalledJamesBrown’sO.J.Simpson Trial Updates And I would update the United States and Armed Forces radio and all radio stations and outlets as the voice of JamesBrowndoingthat whichwashysterical.Itwasprobablyoneofthefunniestthings I’veeverdone,butitwasverytiring Because I would... If you remember, CNN would do the breakdown of what happened that day. SoassoonasIwasdoneatacomedyclub,I’d go to their bar and they had a TV there, and I’drunthere,andI’dwritedowneverything And, you know, what happened, the basic synopsisofwhathappenedforthatday.And Ihadcreatedamonikerforeveryone Itwas MarkKKKFurman FLeePearlBailey,He’s MyHeroShapiroandmore. Iwoulddothisatfouro’clockinthemorning IhadtocallmysyndicatorsatWPLJin New York and do this quick one and a half to two minute segment of James Brown reporting IwouldhavetocallinforamorningEasternStandardTime,butIwouldstill have to get up and do my responsibility for theotherstationsthatIhadtodoaroundthe country WhenIwasatthecomedyclub,orif Iwasatavenueordoingtelevisionorwhatever, I still had to do all that stuff, too. So it was a real pain doing that. But like I said, it paidforallthefurnitureinournewhome
Ed Note:Formoreuptodateinfo,performancedates merchandmore,goto:Basile@ BasileLive.comandwww.basileLove.com
Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, he is also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer, storyteller and columnist.
