CABARET

Pierce Philharmonic Choir hosts silent auction to raise funds

were handbags, jewelry, clothes, vases, gift baskets, and even a Lord of the Rings Aragorn action figure.

The Pierce College Philharmonic Choir hosted the Annual Silent Auction, Saturday in the Great Hall to raise funds for the orchestra to play at California State University of Northridge (CSUN).

The San Fernando Valley Master Chorale had performers sing throughout the night to keep the bidders entertained as they ate their dinners provided by the Stonefire Grill.

The funds are going towards the orchestra playing at CSUN.

“It will be in April 14 at Cal State Northridge,” said Publicist Annette Markell, “at the Plaza Del Sol,” said Markell.

All the various items donated

The night started with guest entering in their formal attire, men with collared, buttoned up shirts and ties and women with their elegant dresses and high heel shoes.

Perry Lambert, who wwas was nominated the Best Male Cabaret Artist for BroadwaywWorld.com provided the evening’s entertainment as the Master of Ceremonies. He told jokes, sang, and did impressions of celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Archie Bunker, Bugs Bunny, Jackie Gleason, Cary Grant, and Elvis Presley.

“(I) just wanted to give back to the college I went to,” said Lambert.

“Hopefully it will be entertaining, as they say, in good taste.”

The band played with Frank Garvey on piano, Valda Hammick strumming her bass, and the Director of the San Fernando Valley Master Chorale, Terry playing the drums.

The choir sang plenty of jazz songs to keep things cool.

“We’ve been doing this about 20

Photo Salon Award winners

Josh Cowan took first place for his “Protestor” entry along with Joyce Sindel’s “Three Women in Saris at the Ganges River” following in second place.

The award for Best Studio went to Lauryn Spielvogel’s photo, “Backlit Girl.”

Winner of the award for Best Landscape, Lynn Levitt mentioned that she was in Maui to take her photo, “Haleakala Volcano, Maui”, while on a family gathering trip.

“Landscapes are my favorite kind of photos,” Levitt said. “I entered and won second place for the same category last year, as well.” years,” said Director of the San Fernando Valley Master Chorale and the drummer for the evenings band Terry Danne. “This was a project that started at an awards banquet,” said Danne.

All entrants in the competition are students enrolled among the various photography classes offered at Pierce College.

The auction had a great guest turnout with everyone having a fun time conversing with each other and placing bids against each other.

The Media Arts Department will screen “The Welcome”, a documentary about veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder who find healing through poetry on March 21 from 7pm to 10 pm in The Great Hall. Karin Stellwagen of the Media Arts Department decided to help screen the film at Pierce after serving as a Documentary Juror at the Ojai Film Festival, where the film won Best Documentary Feature.

“I believe it is an incredible story that every American should see,” said

“I think they had about 110 tickets sold,” said Danne.

“My husband bought [the gift basket] for me, it was a gift,” said Silent Auction guest Molly Suard.

The night ended with people going home with fabulous prizes that went to a good cause.

Stellwagen.

For Bill McMillan, the film’s producer, that’s what he intended to capture in the film. Feeling overwhelmed by how much pain was coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he decided to set up a program to address the trauma many veterans carry with them.

“We were just looking around as citizens thinking we needed to do something,” said McMillan, “It was pretty ambitious and kind of nuts but that’s what we did.”

The film collected combat veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, along with some family members who also suffered from PTSD.

The 35th annual Photo Salon Awards winners were announced Thursday night during the ceremony held at the Pierce College Art Gallery.

“Metamorphosis,” Erin Stone’s personal piecew that graced 2011’s Spring/Summer issue of The Bull, won the Best in Show award.

“I’m just grateful,” said Stone, 28. “It feels very good when people recognize something that I put a lot of heart into.”

Erin Stone is no stranger to the photography world, stating that she shows her work regularly around the Los Angeles area and that her winning photo also won two nation-wide awards. As well as earning the top award, Stone’s “Floating Man” piece was also recognized for the Best Creative award.

The Best Portrait award went to newcomer Veronica Garcia for her untitled piece featuring a young boy with prominently bright eyes and sweat rolling down his face.

“I agree completely with the choice, the boy’s eyes in this photo are beautiful,” said Louise Kalisch, the runner-up winner for Best Portrait for her “Misty Dreams” piece.

While the winners’ prizes weren’t detailed during the ceremony, Sean McDonald, who announced the winners, mentioned a cash prize from Associated Students Organization (ASO).

The judges for the event are kept anonymous, but McDonald mentioned professionals from outside of the school, alumni and photojournalists alike, are involved in the deciding process.

The Photo Salon Awards ceremony is a Pierce College tradition that originally roots back into the 1970’s and has since changed over the years.

Originally, the contest was held more publicly in the more open areas of the campus, allowing all students to enter, but occasional lack of interest shifted the focus ofw the event over the years.

This was not Kalisch’s first time participating in the event, but she stressed how exciting it is to have her work be admired along with the rest.

“It’s such a rewarding feeling. People work really hard to have their work displayed like this, so the excitement is there,” said Kalisch.

In the Photojournalism category,

However, the importance of showcases like these is expressed through the photographers and admirers, which is a driving factor that keeps the appreciation for such art alive.

“Taking a picture is like marking a piece of history,” Levitt said. “It’s very meaningful, especially to me.”

LEFT: Joann Franks and Flora Kohl bow after their performance of the “Flower Duet” by Delibes during the annual silent auction and

ABOVE: funds

State

One couple featured in the film was a Vietnam War veteran and his wife of 30 years, who had been living with PTSD during their entire marriage.

McMillan thinks the documentary differs from other films by offering hope and healing, in contrast to other movies that “simply paint a bleak picture of PTSD,” he said.

McMillan highlighted higher education institutions such as Pierce, where younger veterans are returning on the GI Bill, as areas where he wanted the film to be shown.

“Civilian citizens can step up and do something to get involved,” he said, and they can have an impact on what veterans return to after war.