The Boulevard December 2007

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Holiday Season A Time for Caring And Giving…

Our December issue of The Boulevard is a celebration of some of the most wonderful holidays of the year. During December, many of our readers are enjoying Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa. It is a time of the year when families and friends come together to exchange gifts, memories, and enjoy sumptuous holiday dinners with loved ones. For me, it’s my favorite time of year.

We who have been blessed with good fortune, friends and family who love us, should also think about those who are less fortunate. Even in affluent neighborhoods, there are children and families who are suffering because of illness, loss of work and emotional stress and who are in need of help. Giving back to the people in our community is a wonderful way of saying thank you for the blessings that we have received. It is also a time to help support some of our neighborhood charities and nonprofits, and the amazing volunteers who work tirelessly without any compensation. I have made The Boulevard accessible to every charity on Long Island to help them help our community.

Our December issue is our biggest ever, with a major new and exciting section … Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps! The Boulevard staff and I traveled to this fabulous “over the top” oasis in the desert to give you a view of a Vegas you have never seen or experienced.

December’s cover story features David Hyde Pierce, an iconic thespian who has conquered the worlds of theater, TV, and motion pictures. David is a multifaceted, brilliant actor, with multiple awards in theater and TV that validate his excellence. He is currently starring in the long-running Broadway hit Curtains. We feature David’s personal story and thoughts, along with background and amazing photos of Curtains and its fabulously talented cast.

This month’s issue also features articles on NBC’s sportscaster extraordinaire and all-around great guy, Len Berman; Patrick McMullan’s coffee-table book of photos, Glamour Girls; Cousin Brucie - a rock ‘n’ roll DJ legend; Deborah Norville; Barry Williams; Ben Vereen; and the singing Wilson Sisters, Ann and Nancy.

Our travel section takes you on a luxury cruise, to the Caribbean island of St. John and offers a review of Europe’s first accredited 7star hotel, Town House Galleria, located in historic Milan, Italy.

This has been a gloriously exciting year for me and The Boulevard staff. I personally want to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. We also thank our retail advertisers who have stood by us from the inception of The Boulevard. My thoughts and prayers are with our courageous men and women in the armed services.

To all of you and your families, have a healthy, happy holiday and a fabulous new year!

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PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Angela Susan Anton GENERAL MANAGER William M. Delventhal, Jr. EDITOR IN CHIEF/ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER Jason Feinberg SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Tomas Baade SENIOR EDITOR Dagmar Fors Karppi EXECUTIVE EDITOR Carla Santella EDITOR Ilena Ryan ART DIRECTOR Paul Scheuer CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER Damien Monaco ASSISTANT PAGE DESIGNER Lucia D’Onofrio PHOTO EDITOR/PHOTOGRAPHER Tina Guiomar CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Barry Kay TRAVEL AND FEATURES EDITOR Christina D. Morris PROFILES AND MUSIC EDITOR Tim Sullivan WINE & DINE EDITOR Heather Muhleman HEALTH EDITOR Dr. Barbara Capozzi, D.O., CNS, CHT CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tom Albright Mike Barry Lauriana Capone Jennifer Dunlop Barberi Paull Feit Dr. Stephen T. Greenberg Andrew A. Jacono, MD, FACS H. Kelly Keaton Lauren Lawrence John Lomitola Dr. John Loret Kathryn Moschella Heidi Muhleman J. Anthony Parise Venus Quintana Robert Rizzuto Harry Rocker Bob Ronzoni Michael Russo Maria Saperstein Dr. Deborah Sarnoff Dr. Robert A. Scott Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum Maria Strong David Tabbert Maria Vaiano Courtney Wells Sara Duncan Widness Dr. Michael A. Yorio

132 E. 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Courtney Davidson Paula Kaminsky Davis Jason Feinberg Dagmar Fors Karppi Tina Guiomar Gene Lesserson Bob Lew John Lomitola M. Cyril Morris Stan Phaneuf Pat Dillon Photography Joe Schildhorn Kathleen Wickham Austin Young

Supplement to Anton Community Newspapers

CELEBRITY PHOTOGRAPHER Patrick McMullan

Angela Susan Anton

The Boulevard offices are located at:

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AMERICANA MANHASSET

Frette Comes Home Americana Manhasset is delighted to welcome Frette to its collection of fine shops.

“Frette's special heritage of fine quality linens provides our customers with the very best to enhance their homes. In addition, our shoppers will find wonderful gifts including Frette's exquisite lingerie and loungewear as well as soaps, candles and other accessories for both men and women," says Deirdre Costa Major, President of Americana Manhasset.

Just in time for the Holiday Season Frette has launched a special gifting program. A holiday catalog filled with exciting gift ideas ranging from the $85,000 Barguzinski chocolate brown sable throw to his and hers shawl collar velour robes featuring the embroidered Frette crest on the breast pocket.

Frette To Wear for men and women spans from high quality man tailored PJ's to robes made from the finest Egyptian cotton and silk jacquard patterns to intricate lingerie pieces with hand stitched Sangallo or Chantilly lace. The Frette to Wear collection for men and women covers all occasions from a quiet evening lounging in your own personal space to a glamorous night out.

Frette’s retail space is fresh, stylish and modern without compromising its longstanding heritage and brand pedigree. A carefully detailed glass and metal façade and canopy frame's the store entrance and display window of one of Italy's most venerable brands. Inside, dramatic lighting, stained ash, glass and nickel millwork, and Russian oak create a luxurious and inviting shopping environment.

Contact AMERICANA MANHASSET’s complimentary Personal Shopping Service at 800.818.6767 or americanamanhasset.com

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DRINKING • DINING • DANCING

Gourmet Menu by Our Celebrity

CHEF DAVID BURKE

RESTAURANT • BAR • LOUNGE W W W. H AWA I I A N T R O P I C Z O N E . C O M

NEW YORK

729 SEVENTH AVE. AT 49TH STREET 212.626.7312 DJ & DANCING EVERY NIGHT AFTER 10PM

LAS VEGAS

AT THE PLANET HOLLYWOOD RESORT AND CASINO 702.731.4858

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DESIGN

The party starts here in the spacious living room with full-sized bar. Welcome to 21st century entertaining!

By Christina D. Morris Photography by Oleg March

Sleek, Sophisticated, Designed for Living

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t was an assignment that any d e s i g n e r wo u l d c o ve t . Fo r Richard Piemonte and former p a r t n e r S a l M i n o re, i t w a s both a feather in their caps as well a s a c h a l l e n g e. T h e fo c u s w a s based on the owner’s contemporary wishes and their lifestyle of

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extensive entertaining. The results are extraordinary.

The combination of several small rooms in a duplex provided both space and height. Crema Marfil tile underfoot shimmers in the entrance foyer. Candlelight walls are the backdrop for a soffit, offering both a

December 2007 – January 2008

decorative element as well as a utilitarian function of hiding indirect lighting and the mechanics for the motorized blind for the tall windows. The room appears to glow as a result of the indirect lighting as it reflects off the walls, fireplace and built-in cabinetry.

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In this romantic setting a pair of harmonious seating areas facing the fireplace creates the ideal environment for conversation. A custom designed beige sofa appears attached to a black lacquered cabinet base. A pair of custom stainless steel lamps with black granite bases completes this ensemble of a bold black and beige theme. Recessed built-in cabinets on either side of the fireplace ideally accommodate large decorative vases. Across the room a fabulous full-sized bar with duo-level counter in black granite seamlessly connects to the living room, creating a most inviting setting. A smoked antique mirror accessorizes the bar, along with a tall stainless steel column rising to meet the architectural soffit mentioned earlier…simply brilliant!

The Crema Marfil flooring continues into the dining room embellished with two bands of inlaid black granite for additional dramatic effect. The dining room ceiling features two rectangular frames trimmed with barstock stainless steel, again serving a dual role of aesthetics as well framing the recessed lighting. The table and buffet are custom designed, bleached Anagre wood with black lacquer. The buffet top is black granite. A pair of silver leaf urns on Lucite bases appears to float on a sea of granite. The owners, in sharing their ideas with Piemonte and Minore, made it clear that ease of entertaining, whether for a family gathering or a more formal catered affair, was paramount. The interior designers, using their architectural acumen, seamlessly integrated the flow of the rooms so critical in home entertaining.

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A custom designed dressing table is quite irresistible.

Built into the bedroom suite for madam.

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DESIGN The master suite on the first floor features a spiral staircase which adds both interest and convenience to the second floor office. The suite is a harmonious oasis of tranquility. Blush upholstered silk walls with painted glass panels are the backdrop for silk moiré lounges and an upholstered king bed with splendid, tailored covers and matching pillows. The custom designed furniture of pearlized ash adds to the overall ethereal setting. A large round mirror trimmed with gold leaf pattern with silver accent can be found above a console adjacent to the

This fabulous bar will have all one’s guests vying for a repeat invite.

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lounges. This seating ensemble adds another aspect to the room. The fireplace is trimmed with barstock stainless steel and framed with pearlized ash cabinetry to the ceiling. Adjacent to the master suite is a Roman bath with separate glass shower in a spa-like format with seating, cabinetry and a glass block wall that floods the room with light.

Piemonte is in the process of producing a website, and now offers consulting ser vices. His website is www.RichardPiemonteInteriors.com.

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When only the best will do ‌ master suite of serenity, an oasis for tranquility.

The coffered ceiling with stainless steel trim and recess lighting sets the tone for elegant dining and entertaining.

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FASHION

Oleg Cassini Couture

The Holiday Jewel Collection Available at Lord & Taylor www.lordandtaylor.com

“The suit has a dignity of its own” – Oleg Cassini

Jet Set The Jet Set ensemble, perfect for any special occasion. The fabric is the signature Cassini silk and wool luxury fabric in a rich jet black with a smooth sheen finish. The three piece ensemble features a finely tailored jacket seamed and closed at the front with two round crystal jewels. The matching top features a bandeau bodice with broad straps, side zipped for fit, made of the same fabulous fabric, and worn with its own matching pencil skirt. The tailoring, fabric, and jeweled closing combine to image a lean, shaped silhouette. The Vision of the Timeless Elegance of Oleg Cassini.

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Platinum and Sapphire Platinum and Sapphire is the color combination for this metallic and satin woven tweed fabric. This is an exciting and vibrant fabric combined with a matching silk charmeuse fabric which lines the jacket. The Swing Jacket features patch pockets, a notched collar and hem and is worn with its matching pencil skirt. The matching silk charmeuse evening tank top has a side zip for shape and fit. A casual look combined with a sumptuous fabric, which is a Cassini signature. www.boulevardli.com

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Precious Metals

For Holiday Party Time

Dancing with the Stars Bronze and copper colored sequins are worked into the metallic round neckline for this spectacular Oleg Cassini dance dress. The shimmering lame fabric of tonal colored bronze and copper metallic threads is attached to the scooped sequined neckline and swings with every movement. Time to ‘Hit the dance Floor’!

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Silver Star Oleg Cassini Silver Sequin dress – Just a bit of sparkle can glam up any evening. The spectacular dress is a slip of silver colored silk overlay on silver silk charmeuse. The shimmering dress features a cowl neck back and long sleeves which are trimmed in silver metal sequins at cuffs and hem making this a very special Holiday Party Dress.

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A fabulous look... ”Simplicity is perfection” – Oleg Cassini

Winter Wonderland The Cassini signature luxury fabric of silk and wool in the rich red tones of a precious Burmese Ruby sets the stage for perfect Holiday Party Dressing. The jacket is finely curved and shaped with a glamorous portrait collar and closed with jewelry – three signature Cassini pave crystal snowflake buttons. The jacket is worn with its own matching pencil skirt.

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A love affair that never ends.

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FASHION

Richard Calcasola Receives Creative Excellence Award

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ichard Calcasola is the recipient of the first Creative Excellence Award for the Beauty Industry. The award was presented to him at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City by Lois Christie, CEO/Owner of Christie & Co Salon-Spa and President of Intercoiffure USA/Canada. Ms. Christie stated, “In recognition of his numerous contributions as the trendsetter of the beauty industry and the Intercoiffure Association, I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving than Richard Calcasola. The passion and zest he exudes toward the beauty industry radiates to his peers and students with whom he comes in contact.”

Calcasola attributes much of his success to the support of his loving family, including Joyce, his wife, best friend and business partner. Joyce said, “Richard is my partner, soulmate, mentor, coach and favorite cheerleader. I’ve always told him that he is a wonderful father, brother, friend, and boss; if you don’t marry me, adopt me!” When asked about how her father has influenced her life, daughter, Laura explained, “Just as we all know that Elvis Presley is the King of Rock and Roll, my dad, Richard Calcasola, is the King of the Fashion and Beauty Industry.” Daughter Anastasia said, “He’s my inspiration, idol, best friend, and guides me to where I wish to go in life.”

Calcasola is the founder of the award-winning Maximus Spa/Salons, which has locations in Merrick and Westbury on Long Island. For more than four decades, he has been noted as an icon in the beauty industry and labeled as the “professional’s professional” by his peers as a result of his unwavering commitment to his craft and art. Recognized as a “style innovator,” Richard combines creativity with business wisdom. “Fashion is a short-term, public idea, while style is long-term and personal.

Beauty, fashion and style are not just about looks, they’re about attitude,” he said.

Time and time again, he has displayed his passion for the beauty industry as an entrepreneur and a mentor. He possesses a certain je ne sais quoi that few have; he takes the lead and

Left to right: Lois Christie, Richard Calcasola and Geno Stampora. sees past the obvious to set new standards and teach those who are fervent to absorb his knowledge. He is relentless in fostering young talent for the salon industry and in his efforts to earn Intercoiffure media recognition as a spokesman for the beauty industry.

For his efforts as a member of Intercoiffure USA/Canada, he has been appointed as the North American Creative Director for Intercoiffure Mondial. The first international organization of high-quality hairdressers, it is comprised of the leaders in the beauty industry and encompasses 3,000 salons across 50 countries. In the wake of this illustrious honor, Calcasola, due to his natural instincts and perception, has been selected to be part of a worldwide creative team charged with shaping the outlook of the beauty industry and its future.

In True Spirit of the Season, Tiffany Partners with UNICEF

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oliday memories are filled with images of starlight and snowflakes, of gifts and the pleasures of sharing. This season Tiffany & Co. honors the spirit of giving by partnering for the first time with UNICEF, an organization dedicated to the protection of children worldwide. Tiffany will donate 25 percent of the sales of its sterling silver Snowflake Charms to the organization’s programs. Using the snowflake as a symbol of hope, peace and compassion, UNICEF has inspired Tiffany & Co. to support its mission. The promotion will take place at Tiffany’s 10 New York region stores from Nov. 17 – Dec. 31, allowing holiday shoppers plenty of time to help make a difference in a child’s life.

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WARM HOLIDAY

WISHES & THE PERFECT GIFTS

FROM AROUND

THE WORLD

FASHION

JEWELRY

HANDBAGS

ACCESSORIES

950 Old Country Rd. • Westbury, NY • 1.877.FAPITZD (327.4893) • www.fapitzd.com

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FASHION

Don’t Let the Holidays Go by Without the Perfect Accessories

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Crochet Doubler: Lambswool crochet gloves with double layers.

Price: $40.00

hy not make a bold statement this holiday season?

From handbags to belts to hair accessories to hats, Amici Accessories has it all. Since 1997, the accessory design firm, located in Manhattan’s garment district, has been providing high fashion accessories, without the high price, to boutiques and high-end department stores nationwide. Its chic designs are all original, incorporating the hottest looks from the couture and ready-towear markets.

A company that has always been on the forefront of fashion and one that is environmentally conscious, Amici Accessories uses only faux leather and skins, as well as plush fabrics from satins and silks to metallic and sequins in an array of assorted vivid colors.

In case you haven’t seen an Amici find, its accessories have graced the pages of some of the most popular women’s, fashion and celebrity-lifestyle magazines around and have been featured on the Today show.

Whatever your mood and whatever you choose, each accessory is guaranteed to make a statement, whether you are wearing the bag or giving it as a gift.

Crochet Scarf: Lambswool crochet scarf Price: $55.00 Mushroom Beret: Lambswool angora nylon blend Price: $25.00 Mediterran Blue/Cocoa (as shown)

Zebra Cashmere Glove: 100% Cashmere Zebra Stripe Glove Dark Gray/Lime (as shown) Price: $85.00

Dress Glove: Opera length leather gloves with rayon lining.

Made in China Gunmetal (as shown) Price: $225.00 Leather Glove With Cashmere Liner Loden suede/ Oatmeal Cashmere (as shown) Price: $125.00

To start the holiday season off right, Amici is offering all Boulevard readers a 20 percent discount on any item on their wish-list … just call (212) 268-5570 or visit www.amiciaccessories.com and enter shopping code SEOV58 before checkout.

Italian Opera Length: Suede glove Red (as shown) Price: $250.00 Visit www.carolinaamato.com for more available colors and information.

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avid Hyde Pierce has been a part of my life since 1993 when Frasier, a spin-off of Cheers, broadcast its first episode on NBC. For the next 11 years until May 2004, Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, were like members of my family. I was more than a little excited and awed when I actually had the opportunity to meet and interview David Hyde Pierce and discuss Frasier, as well as his new hit role of Lt. Frank Cioffi in the Broadway hit Curtains.

As I rode into the city on a day more fit for ducks than people, I wondered whether Pierce actually bore any resemblance to the stuffy, intellectual and pompous character Niles he portrayed on Frasier. I was pleasantly surprised when we actually met! David Hyde Pierce is a man totally comfortable “in his skin”, and very easy to work with...

My first meeting with him was to take place at a photo shoot in midtown with our celebrity photographer, Patrick McMullan. Everyone arrived soaked, soggy and somewhat delayed. Fortunately, Pierce’s easy-going manner put us all at ease. His attire for the photo session was casual but stylish in a preppy shirt, jeans and loafers.

Unfortunately, the inclement weather caused the shoot to run late, and left no time for an interview that day.

Another interview was set up for my “one on one” with him two weeks after the shoot. Looking back, the postponement was a blessing in disguise as I then had the opportunity to see his Tony winning performance in Curtains prior to the interview. Curtains gave me even more insight into Pierce’s amazing stage presence and acting skill.

David Hyde Pierce was born in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York, the youngest child of George Hyde Pierce, an insurance agent with acting ambitions, and Laura Mary Hughes. David, the youngest of four siblings, became interested in music and the theater as a child. In high school his unique acting ability was recognized and he was voted as the best Dramatic Arts Student.

On entering Yale University, he pursued a classical musical career. With each semester he found his interest waning in classical music and the long practice sessions necessary to become more proficient. Pierce graduated from Yale, and moved to New York City where he worked various odd jobs to make a living while he honed his skill as an aspiring actor in the Broadway Theater.

His first big break came in the 1990s when he appeared

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on TV in Norman Lear’s The Powers That Be. Although he and the show received critical acclaim, it sustained only a very brief run. He was disappointed about the fate of his first TV show, but soon found fame and fortune in a new sitcom, Frasier. He was chosen for the part of Niles Crane because of his strong physical resemblance to his co-star Kelsey Grammer.

Frasier proved to be a never-ending source of awards and recognition for Pierce and the cast. For 11 consecutive years, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Emmy, and won this coveted award in 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2004. Frasier, the series, won a record 37 Emmy awards during its 11-year run.

Pierce also found acclaim on the “big screen” having appeared in highly successful movies alongside Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, and Jody Foster in Little Man Tate.

Along the way he established a niche ancillary career doing voice-overs in a number of highly successful children’s films: Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, Disney’s Treasure Planet, and in Hell Boy. In 2005, Pierce joined Tim Curry and cast for a limited run in the award winning Broadway play Spamalot. In August 2006, he became the star of Curtains, a new Kander and Ebb musical. Pierce, once again was recognized by his peers and won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in June 2007, for his role in Curtains.

Interviewing a stage, screen and TV icon could have proven to be somewhat daunting, however David Hyde Pierce is charming, witty, and the type of person who you could talk to for hours. What most impressed me about him along with his wit and intelligence, was his down-toearth manner and love for his career... It became very clear as we talked, that he has always had a passionate love affair with the theater as well as for his fellow actors and actresses whom he has met along the way. He explained that on each and every series, play, and movie that he has been in, his co-stars and co-workers became his extended family. They were always there sharing each other’s successes, heartaches, celebrations, and joy. Although these relationships are transient in nature, the closeness, caring and emotional support each cast and crew provided were a positive antidote to the long hours, travel, and loneliness that all actors experience on the road and away from family.

I opened my interview with David Hyde Pierce by asking him about what drew him to Curtains?

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His answer was simple and straight forward...Kander and Ebb! Frasier producer Scott Ellis had given him the Curtains script in Frasier’s last year. He told Pierce that he had read it and that he was perfect for the role of Lt. Frank Cioffi. Pierce’s immediate reaction was that this was a great chance to work with people whom he admired.

He also loved the music which he had a chance to preview, and he loved the character.

I then asked him if he enjoyed playing the lead role more than acting as a supporting actor.

Pierce said that he enjoyed both types of roles, but now as the star of this play, he feels more responsible for the show and its success. The lead and play evolve and subtly change during its run so that it is exciting to the cast and audience...

We discussed the energy and enthusiasm of Curtains, a period piece which evokes nostalgia and thoughts of Phillip Marlowe, Oklahoma, and other larger than life musicals and detective stories. He, David, related that this type of vintage show definitely appealed to him from the beginning.

After seeing Curtains, I came away greatly impressed with Pierce’s song and dance skills and asked if he had any formal training.

He revealed that he had been self-taught up until eight years ago when he began serious formal training to become accomplished in these skills. He also told me that he has to work very hard to keep up with his cast of exceptionally skilled dancers and singers. His Curtains www.boulevardli.com

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co-stars have taken him under their wing to encourage his efforts. He cited Karen Ziemba, one of his co-stars, who would often find him practicing on his own in his room and give him helpful hints. In this case he learned the choreography and then to learn how to dance. He was especially complimentary of his other feminine lead, Jill Paice, whom he dances with in the play. Pierce gave her high marks for patience and courage for putting up with his awkward efforts while training how to become a dancer.

We then turned to his family and their own theatrical aspirations and how it affected his career.

I wanted to know if they had encouraged him. His dad wanted to be an actor and longed for a career in the theater. However, it was the time of the depression and he went to work in the insurance business to suppor t his wife and family. His father settled for acting in local plays.

Pierce’s first acting job was in Beyond Therapy on Broadway, and his parents were in attendance. Whatever reservations they had were allayed when they saw him perform. They also knew that his earlier pursuit of a career as a classical pianist was equally risky. After the play they encouraged him to pursue his dream.

I asked Pierce if he was drawn to period pieces when he chose a part.

His reply was that the part of Niles in Frasier was a character of a different time and place and he realized that he has a preference for more stylish period pieces whether on stage or on screen.

We then diverted our conversation to cities, travel and which city had his heart?

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of them, he loves New York! According to him there is no city in the world with New York’s energy, artistry, vitality, and people, some of whom you want to meet and others you would rather avoid.

He felt that his upbringing in Saratoga Springs gave him a taste of big city cultural life even though it was a small town. Saratoga offered theater, music, the arts, and sophisticated hotels and restaurants.

I then asked Pierce how he chose plays, movies, and TV series.

His response was that he is in a very fortunate position of being able to choose his parts based on the people he would like to work with, along with his feelings about the writing and the music. He works with people he respects, admires and likes. It is less important about whether it is comedy, drama, or musical.

As our interview was coming to a close I asked Pierce if

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he ever thought about writing, the one area of the arts he has not tried.

He said that the love of the theater and the diversity it has given him has made him content with his life. He has no ambition at this time to write.

At the end of our interview I asked him if he had any advice for people looking to have an acting career in the theater.

David Hyde Pierce replied: “I would just say it doesn’t really matter where you do it, as long as you love doing it. If you end up on Broadway that’s fantastic! But the most important thing is to do it for the love of acting. The rest will follow… whatever happens as long as you’re still loving it, then you will be happy wherever you go”…

Words of wisdom from a man who has spent a lifetime loving his craft and finding that fame and fortune found its way to his door, as a byproduct of this love and skill. www.boulevardli.com

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Behind the Scenes Photographer: Patrick McMullan Assistant Photographer: Joe Schildhorn Make-up: Aaron Mitchell Hair: Alexandria Poppas Curtains Photography: Joan Marcus The Boulevard: Angela Anton, Jason Feinberg, Tina Guiomar, Barry Kay Special thanks to Dennis Riese

Pictured above: Barry Kay, Alexandria Poppas, Nick Moss, Aaron Mitchell, Tina Guiomar, Patrick McMullan, Angela Anton, David Hyde Pierce, Jason Feinberg, Joe Schildhorn

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THE SALON AT BERGDORF GOODMAN

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JOHNBARRETT.COM

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sat at a desk and listened to Paul McCartney’s voice crackle over the studio speakers at Sirius Radio. “Hello Brucie, this is Paul, John, George and Ringo and we just landed in New York and we love you.” The recording was made Feb. 8, 1964 and it’s a historical record of McCartney calling ABC Radio from an ancient cellular phone as the Beatles were leaving Idlewild Airport (now JFK). Cousin Brucie was the lead afternoon DJ on the biggest AM station in New York and he was the guy the Fab Four called first when they landed. We all know what happened next with respect to Beatlemania – but I was in the room with the guy 34

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they called and boy, did he have stories!

Cousin Brucie Morrow has been on the air longer than any other DJ working in radio. His career started in 1957 and he is the last of the early radio pioneers who can bear witness to the emergence of rock and roll because he single handedly led that revolution. He is on Sirius Radio on Channel 6 ’60s Vibrations now and has a playlist spanning from the late ’40s to around 1975. He keeps much of his archival interviews and other historic spots around his studio, which is adorned with pictures of him socializing with the biggest names in doo-wop and early rock and roll.

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Editor in chief/assistant to the publisher Jason Feinberg and I sat for an afternoon listening to the Cuz spin yarns about some of his more historic meetings and situations and we leafed through his new book doo wop: The Music, The Times, The Era. Cousin Brucie can be described as the official keeper of America’s doo-wop and early rock and roll heritage.

His book is an encyclopedic look at the music and the surrounding culture of that time, but it’s written in his friendly and familiar colloquial style. Less about being a research tool and more about being a feel-good nostalgia tool, the book examines the hundreds of groups that contributed the fantastic music so ingrained our social subconscious. It also colors the memories with world events that were indicative of the years, and takes the reader back to a seemingly more innocent and gentler time – as Brucie puts it – when cars were measured by the size of their fins, beehive hairdos were all the rage and going to the drive-in was a rite of passage.

“This book shows how doo-wop developed and it goes back to the roots in Africa in slavery where people were ripped out of their homeland and used songs to communicate and bond together. The most beautiful instrument on earth is the human voice and that is how it developed,” he explains.

Let’s go through the definition of doo-wop and its emergence for a moment… In the early 1940s during WWII, big bands dominated the entertainment landscape and the radio airwaves.

As various singers and band leaders were entertaining the troops domestically and abroad, the war was coming to a close and television was right around the corner. Singing groups, such as the Andrews Sisters, were showcasing a four-part harmony and other groups were taking that harmony arrangement and singing it with a falsetto lead. The topics were generally teenage laments, and it was music you could move to. The term doo-wop is a blending of classic rhythm and blues with voices from Michael Pifferrer, Annie Witter, Cousin Brucie, Brian DeNicola falsetto to baritone that simulate any music instrument.

“I put the start at right about 1948 – The Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers – that was the beginning of vocal harmony right after the Big Band era. The Andrew Sisters were an excellent vocal harmony group that really was doo-wop - we just didn’t call it that. After the Big Band era there was a pop era that was only a decade Cousin Brucie with The Beatles and they came out of that,” says Brucie.

“Doo-wop is a combination of emotional, gospel, r and b, rock - and you have doowop. It’s a slang term for vocal harmony which you can trace back through vaudeville to the minstrels to Greek tragedy. It’s about the basics of life and it’s performed very simplistically. It’s performed by the human voice and that can be generally because they couldn’t afford instrumentation. The Mills Brothers emulated instruments because of economics.

They couldn’t hire a bass player, rhythm guitar etc.

But the most important thing is the human spirit -

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PROFILES it’s about the human spirit.”

And with that frame of reference, we spent our afternoon sorting through his show on Sirius Channel 6. Almost as if he were calling a neighbor down the street, Brucie says suddenly, “Let’s call my good friend Neil!” and dials Neil Sedaka. He tells Neil he is with some friends in the studio and lets Jason and me listen to the two legends talk about “the olden days.” Sedaka wrote a forward to Brucie’s book and Brucie was introducing him for a prime time special later that week. The respect they have for one another and for the music of the ’50s and ’60s is profound.

Much like the feel-good nature of the music of that era, Brucie’s natural exuberance and warmth is infectious. It’s easily the reason he has been so popular on the air for so long and in person, it’s even more consuming. You genuinely feel like you are the only person in the room, or maybe on the planet, when Brucie engages his eversmiling expression. He asks Jason and me what we want to hear and says he will make a dedication over the air for us. We figure we will play it safe and dedicate a Rolling Stones song to our boss. Brucie names publisher Angela Anton in the tag and smiles. I ask him about the quintessential symbol of music from those years, Elvis.

“Elvis would call me on the phone all the time and say, ‘Thank you for playing my record.’ He was such a gentleman. One day they brought him into my studio. They wrapped him up in a rug like a piece of furniture to get him into building cause he couldn’t walk anywhere. He came in and gave me a big hug,” he remembers.

The studio he is referring to was ABC in New York City – the most popular AM station in the ’50s and ’60s. From the early 1950s until about 1962, Brucie and his contemporaries played music of the times by selecting songs that they intuitively knew were resonating with their audience. It was a cultural frontier and the playing field was wide open for groups such as the Shirelles, Dion and the Belmonts, the Duprees and the Platters. But right around 1962, the broadcasting industry realized that there was big money in the rock and roll music that was topping the charts and took what was an otherwise autonomous territory for DJs and set up boundaries.

“I wish I could say we were the genius and we knew what we were doing but we were having a great time and we didn’t really know that we were creating history. The ivory towers left us alone and we were flying by the seat of our pants until about 1962; and then because of the success, they pulled in the reins a little bit and all the freedoms were removed. They were making money for the first time - up until then we were experimenting so they left us alone. We did not know what we were doing but we were left alone to dream. That set the foundation of modern radio to this day,” he recalls.

And in a way, American music came to a crossroads at the end of that year. A noticeable blandness filled the airwaves as the vocal harmonies from the ’50s quieted down and a cultural void opened. The filling of this artistic vacuum would come from across the ocean, as Britain had been consuming, reacting and rearranging American doo-wop and rock and roll. The British invaded and musically, all hell broke loose.

“Right about 1963 it was getting really boring and nothing was happening. Suddenly over in England something was going on which we all resented at first. How dare these upstarts take this American genre which was our invention and now they are playing these ‘Silver Beatles’ – but they were putting something in it that we didn’t have; they infused a new energy into it. And through that we learned and re-learned and re-invented rock and roll.”

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The Beatles had long dropped the Silver from their name by the time they landed in America. They made that first call to Cousin Brucie and it crackled over the bright antennae of ABC in February 1964. Brucie was now lord of the air and the single most popular radio jock in the country. He had been playing the Beatles music and seeding the screaming teenagers with songs that actually represented a cultural revolution. That telephone call from Paul saying “We’re here” was much more than a friendly greeting. It was a metaphor that everything had changed. Brucie took it in stride and knew exactly how to manage the tidal wave. At the historic Shea Stadium concert that August, it was Brucie who introduced the lads from Liverpool.

“I was with Ed Sullivan at Shea Stadium and Ed and I introduced them and you could feel the electricity in that stadium.

All hell was breaking loose and Sullivan and I were about to walk up the stairs onto the stage and he asked me if it was dangerous. I told him it was very dangerous and he said ‘What do we do?’ and I said ‘PRAY!’ He asked, ‘Pray?’ … and he walked off. I introduced the band.” Brucie laughed so hard in telling this story he almost missed his cue in for the next song as we all sat around the desk. But like a true pro he rolled into the post and segued Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells and got right back to telling the story.

We spent our afternoon in the way the book reads – a party that remembers a very pleasant era when the music reigned supreme. I get more Elvis stories and more Beatles yarns. Brucie talks about hiring a bus and picking up the Shirelles for a drive down to Fort Dix to entertain troops. He remembers his leopard skin suit he would wear at the long gone Palisades Park Amusement Park in New Jersey. He has an unparalleled fondness for Brooklyn and Coney Island.

Soon, the afternoon starts to feel as if it has a 1950’s neon glow like the outside of a chrome diner. Jason and I wouldn’t have been surprised if a waitress on roller skates in a checkered dress came up and asked if we wanted a malt.

The bottom line is that Cousin Brucie is preserving a little bit of heaven. This important era in American culture and music has been given a home on Sirius Satellite Radio and its enormous audience can partake in nostalgia and reflection.

Most of all, they can hear one of the voices that guided them through their teenage years – still friendly, still energetic, still enthusiastic and still our cousin.

“I program all my shows. I sit for hours and I blend all my music and I change things if I feel different. I have so much freedom here; it’s something I have never had before. I have thousands and thousands of songs and the audience is very sophisticated. They demand more of the music and I am their conduit and I know I can’t play the same 10 songs over and over and I have this enormous library at Sirius and I am flying higher and faster than I ever have in my life. People are saying, ‘Why is he still doing this?’ I will never give it up. When I leave I am going to blow into 25,000 pieces and I hope no one is in the room.”

Brucie takes out a stack of emails from his listeners. They are from all over the country and as far away as the Philippines and Singapore. They all tell of a night long ago when a memory of one of his broadcasts was the backdrop for a major life milestone. They all remember happiness.

They all credit him for bringing it back.

“Every decade leans on the decade before; we all learn something from the decade before – in a sense we are all teachers and as I put the book together I started to trace the threads from the early doo wop right through to the ’80s . When you listen even to some of the hiphop in the ’80s – the better stuff – there is even vocal harmony that traces its roots back. There are a lot of rhythm and blues today. They all learn from the ’50s. We all learn from each other. That is what music is all about: it’s the human experience – it’s the historic adventure of the human experience,” he says enthusiastically.

And there was no greater adventure that afternoon than The Boulevard sitting in on one of the last authentic bridges to true doo wop. Cousin Brucie is as real as it gets, and he takes his stewardship of the era very seriously. As Jason and I left, he remarked to me that it might be fun to have been alive in that era. I told him that I didn’t need to. I had just been there.

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all it fate, coincidence or just plain karma, but Len Berman and I kept crossing paths at a popular little bagel shop on the North Shore of Long Island. After the third time it seemed only natural that I should try to set up an appointment to interview him and discuss his highly successful sports reporting career. When I asked, Len readily agreed.

Len Berman is the weekday sports anchor for NBC Channel 4 at 6 and 11 p.m. He is considered one of the industry’s most popular television sports figures and was voted by his peers in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association as “Sportscaster of the Year” in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2003. During his tenure at NBC, Len has been the host for live broadcasts featuring the New York Football Giants, the Mets, Yankees and Knicks. His monthly sports segment “Spanning the World” has added a new level of humor and wackiness to otherwise dry sports reporting.

I arrived midweek at 30 Rock to visit Len at 4HD (formerly known as Channel 4) with Angela Susan Anton, The Boulevard’s publisher, and Jason Feinberg, editor in chief. After clearing security, we were led up to Len’s “inner sanctum” by his effervescent and enthusiastic assistant and publicist, Jacqueline Candia.

Although Len’s office is modest in size, his warmth and friendliness made it seem like we were in the living room of his home. Like most newscasters, Len is always on a tight time schedule, so we immediately started discussing his lifelong love affair with sports.

He laughed as he recounted his serendipitous path to sportscasting fame. As Len tells it, he never dreamt that he would become a sportscaster. His only relationship with sports was his longtime love affair with the Yankees. Len attended Syracuse University and prior to college, his “career testing” indicated that he should pursue the field of engineering (there must be a message there somewhere for anxious parents of college students). Len

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first became interested in broadcasting in his freshman year at Syracuse University when he decided to apply for a DJ job at the school radio station. That position was filled so he accepted an alternative position as sportscaster. The rest, as they say, is history!

We segued into how his often wacky and bizarre segment “Spanning the World” was created. Len’s TV experience in New York began at Channel 2 in 1979. He had previously worked in Dayton, Ohio, and then in Boston as sports director, where he called Boston Celtic and Patriot games. In 1982, Len began working at NBC Sports in New York. One day a particularly weird harness racing film clip crossed his desk. It showed two horses racing to the finish line and in the process of winning, the No. 1 horse bit the No. 2 horse on the neck (commonly known in harness racing as “savaging”). Both Len and his producer were fascinated and shocked by this clip. Rather than incorporate this unique film clip into the daily sports news, they created a new segment under the heading “Spanning the World.” The segment was their own inhouse tongue and cheek takeoff on ABC’s Wide World of Sports where each show was always promoted with the tag line “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport.” Len moved to WNBC in 1986, and in March of that year aired the first monthly “Spanning the World” segment. These segments featured such notable events as wiener dog racing, baseball players crashing through fences, and horses being bar mitzvahed.

During his career, Len has experienced many incredible sports moments and when I asked which was the most memorable, his answer was a composite of unforgettable events: Whitney Houston singing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa with jets flying overhead and all the fans receiving small American flags pins.

Len being under the stands when the 1996 Yankees won the World Series after years of frustration and losing.

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Watching the NY Football Giants win the Super Bowl as the Buffalo kicker missed a field goal.

He also commented on his favorite interviewees: Lawrence Taylor and Reggie Jackson. Both were great athletes, unpredictable, boisterous, argumentative, and newsworthy, he said.

I asked Len to compare Boston and New York as sports towns. Having lived in Boston, he immediately focused on the unbelievable passion that Boston fans have for their home teams. In a town like Boston, with just one team per sport, Bostonians are Patriot fans, Red Sox fans and Celtic Fans. Boston teams are also New England favorites and revered in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. In New York, with its multitude of competing teams like the Mets, Yankees. Knicks, Nets, Giants and Jets, fan loyalty is passionate, but definitely divided. Unfortunately for us, the sad fact is that as of 2007, the city of Boston virtually owns the sports world with winning teams in football (the Patriots), baseball (the Red Sox) and the resurgent Celtics. Not bad for a big small city!

We also discussed whether Len ever considered becoming a pure newscaster. In fact, Len had briefly shared

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newscasting duties with Sue Simmons in 2005. Although he enjoyed this newscasting experience, sportscasting gives him greater latitude to offer his opinions and comments. Newscasters like Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons are held in much tighter check due to fairness and political considerations.

This led Len and me into a discussion of his 20-year professional relationship with both Chuck and Sue. According to Len, their working relationship is amazing because after all these years, the three of them really enjoy each other’s company. They have worked together so long and so amicably that their constant goal is to make each other look better. He emphasized that this is definitely not the case with all TV anchors We then discussed the effect the Internet has had on TV reporting. Today, news and sports are reported instantly on the Internet and cell phones. This rapid reporting is very much in favor with today’s younger generation. Len’s sportscast viewers are not generally diehard sports fans or avid readers of the sports sections of major papers like the New York Post or The New York Times. According to Len, his typical viewers are older and looking for a quick overview of sports and world events. www.boulevardli.com

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When I asked what he likes most about his job, Len responded in the form of a joke: “The best is that there is another newscast in just a few hours; the worst is that it is just a few hours to another newscast.” Len’s platform to millions of viewers is fantastic but this platform requires hours and days of research and preparation. In many ways it is analogous to great wok cooking. The cooking takes minutes but the preparation takes hours.

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Len’s also had some interesting advice for young people looking to pursue a career in spor tscasting.

“Just do it!” … a phrase immortalized by Nike. Len noted the fact that his executive producer, as well as president of NBC Jeff Zucker and Regis Philbin all started out at NBC, at the bottom of the ladder, and worked their way to the top.

I asked Len if he had encouraged his children to pursue a career in broadcasting. Although his feelings are ambivalent, he has not discouraged any of his three children from pursuing a career similar to his own.

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December 2007 – January 2008

soundstage set in another part of the building. Angela, Jason and I were taken on “cook’s tour” of the NBC newsroom and soundstages. We got to see firsthand the dramatic changes that computers and robotics have made in broadcasting. In amazement, we watched robotic cameras totally controlled by computers. After our tour, we once again joined Len at his soundstage set for a mini-photo shoot to complete our interview.

Meeting Len at my favorite Long Island bagel place had evolved into a fabulous afternoon adventure at NBC with one of America’s favorite sportscasters. Len Berman is easygoing, approachable, and a veritable encyclopedia of sports information. It is easy to understand why he has received continued recognition and awards from his peers.

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ew Yorkers have a bad rep. We’re seen as a rude city where people are constantly complaining about everything from the subways to the weather. But when the subway is running on time or you see a beautiful sunset off the Hudson River, do you notice them? In Deborah Norville’s new book Thank You Power, she explains how noticing those little things and giving thanks for them might just make your life better.

According to Norville, Thank You Power is “…all about the positive outcomes that come to you simply by counting your blessings every day.” It’s more than just saying thank you. It’s about writing down big things, little things, anything that you are thankful for every single day and focusing on that positive energy. She stumbled upon this notion by simply realizing that “My life went better when I focused on what went well.”

The book focuses on the science behind “thank you” as well as anecdotal stories where Thank You Power has had a major impact on either her or her subject. Throughout her research into this, Norville found study after study about how positive doing, not just positive thinking, made such a difference in every aspect of one’s life, from relationships, to energy levels, even to overall health. For instance, in a study by professor Robert Emmons from the University of California-Davis, he found that in three separate groups of volunteers, those that focused on the situations in their lives that they felt were enhancing were significantly happier and in better health than those focusing on what was going wrong in their lives, or just events that they remembered. A regular gratitude check for these people seemed to really make a difference in their attitude and their well-being.

Stories are what makes something real, and people able to relate to it, so it only makes sense to include personal accounts of where Thank You Power worked. One of the

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stories Deborah tells is that of a woman who was attacked by a mountain lion; another is about a woman in her car who was caught in a tornado. The stories outlined the strength the women possessed to get through tough situations, for just being thankful that they survived.

Included was a story about a TV meteorologist who lost his job and yet another was about a young shark-attack victim. All of these stories weave together a description of how Thank You Power can be part of every aspect of life, no matter what situation you are in. Finding strength through others, finding courage in yourself through hard times – all of this, Deborah relates back to the ability to say thank you for the big things and the small things.

As an Emmy-award winning journalist, Norville has been in the field for 27 years and has met some of the most amazing people along the way. Unfortunately, many times the news seems to focus on people’s lives when they are in major crisis, so it can be hard to focus on the positive. One thing that Norville is constantly amazed at is seeing these people struggling through crisis through the loss of a loved one, or through the tough times they have endured, with such an incredible amount of strength. In some of the worst situations they would say, “We are so lucky; we are so blessed.” There were so many amazing things that they expressed gratitude for that you wouldn’t normally think of. They are truly benefiting from finding this blessing. As a reporter telling their story, these expressions of blessings make their loss a bit more meaningful for viewers.

According to Norville, saying thank you about the things that happen in your life isn’t the only thing you can do to enhance your life. Saying thank you to those who make a difference in your life can also lead to tremendous love and happiness. Her mother died when Deborah was only 20 years old from complications relating to rheumatoid arthritis.

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When asked if there was anyone that she wished she said thank you to that she never got the chance, Deborah almost said her mother. Then she realized, she had said thank you.

The year her mother died, the family had Thanksgiving in her mother’s room since she was bedridden. On the way to Thanksgiving dinner, Deborah swung by a drugstore and got her mom a Ziggy card, just to cheer her up. It said “Thank Heaven... for people like you.” She had written a little note inside telling her mother how much she appreciated her and how much she loved her. The card arrived the following Tuesday, the same day her mother was rushed to the hospital and died. Deborah knows she never got to see the card, but she knows in her heart her mother knew. And today, she makes it a point to say thank you to her loved ones and tell them how much she appreciates them.

Thank you doesn’t just work for you; it works for others. In another study that Norville outlines in her book, the positive effects from other people on their colleagues is just as powerful as counting your own blessings. Dr. Alice Isen of Cornell University is the leading professor on positive affect.

In this study, participants were given either a bag of hard candy before the task with a note that said thank you, or just a quick thanks after the task had been completed. Isen found that the differences were staggering in how the tasks were completed. Those who got the positive reinforcement before the task completed it in a more methodical and productive way, while the other group consistently missed information and rushed through the tasks. This was one of

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the ways that one person can make another feel good through Thank You Power. If you know you are appreciated by another or someone else does a good thing for you, it makes you want to pass it on to others. Those who practice Thank You Power are more pro-social and it seems that others want to be around them more.

One of the main points that Thank You Power conveys is that practicing this activates the cognitive part of the brain. Therefore, those who take part in Thank You Power are more open-minded, make more connections, have better interpersonal relationships, and see possibilities where others don’t, which in turn enhances peoples’ ability to solve seemingly intransigent problems. Even the little things have meaning and they are important.

Another point made in Thank You Power is that gratitude plays an important role in all of the major religions of the world. Norville explores how people of faith have a more positive outlook on life, feel more included in the world and ultimately, religious people cope better – no matter what the religion is.

Monty Python’s notion of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking were both on the right track – thinking positive. The next step is doing positive. Norville compiled the studies and gave us the stories that show us that taking action and practicing Thank You Power really works.

So thank you, Deborah. Thank you for giving us yet another reason to say thank you.

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was one of the millions of kids who grew up watching The Brady Bunch. It was the fabric of my television youth. I felt different when Marcia turned in her square and smiled at the camera. Like every other Generation Xer, I know every plot of every episode by heart. I exchange jokes in the office with colleagues where one throws out a line and I pick up the dialogue. When The Boulevard was invited to spend some time with Barry Williams, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Barry Williams, better known as Greg Brady, has embraced his legacy rather than fight the typecasting, and now has a show on Friday nights on Sirius Radio on the ‘70s Channel. Before talking to the Brady icon, The Boulevard stopped in to check out Growing up 70s in the Times Square comedy club Ha! The show, which is still in development, is a musical that looks at a ‘70s family with Williams as the narrator. Unlike the Brady bunch though, this family goes through more authentic circumstances and Williams has many asides about the context of the show and all the references. I told Williams that he represented all things ‘70s to me and I wanted to know how it felt to be the shepherd of such a colorful legacy.

“It’s kind of a lofty position you threw me into,” he laughs. “I love doing what I do. I was very careful from the beginning of my career to diversify. I was an actor, singer, performer, spokesperson, and in musical theater. So I have more options than many people who had similar exposure because I can cross mediums. I did that because I wanted to continue to work. The first thing I did when The Brady Bunch ended was fly here to New York and audition for Bob Fosse and I went on the road as Pippin.”

In the early ‘90s, Williams started a one-man show that was multimedia and interactive. He did about 80 colleges a year. It was very popular. From there, he attracted various projects,

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like the Sirius radio show. In 1992, he published his first book, Growing Up Brady, which was his autobiographical take on everything about the show. It was on The New York Times bestseller list for three months and spent three weeks at No. 2.

Only I Love Lucy has had the kind of depth of exposure as The Brady Bunch. Williams enjoyed television ubiquity in the ‘70s at an unprecedented level. Many people would see that as a burden that they could never get away from, but Williams sees it as a joyous experience he has been able to re-purpose. For him, the gig simply works.

“There is nothing like riding a horse in the direction it’s going or paddling the canoe downstream and I satire that in our show. There were many roles they wouldn’t even see me for because of the character of Greg Brady,” he says with no hint of resentment in his tone whatsoever.

Unlike the saccharin snow globe in which The Brady Bunch was set, Growing Up 70s looks to probe a little deeper behind the veneer of the bellbottoms. In one scene, Williams takes the 9-year-old boy aside and explains some of the harsher historical realities that were the global backdrop for the show. It’s an insightful dialogue about what makes The Brady Bunch the last of the squeaky-clean family TV shows.

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“I am glad I get a chance to talk about Jonestown, Watergate, Three Mile Island and Vietnam. There is a reminder that we can gloss over in our nostalgic minds what was really happening. And I want that piece about the ‘50s in there because it was even more idealized then and the 50s were tough, too,” explains Williams.

The Brady Bunch was the last squeaky-clean comedy about a family. Williams shared that he was chagrined to see cynicism creep into the television world in the ‘90s and felt that satire gave way to meanspirited shows. While he is a fan of shows like CSI he feels, as do I, that there is no modern equivalent to The Brady Bunch.

I asked Williams which Brady episode was his favorite. Before I even finished the question he fired the answer: “Johnny Bravo!” For those of us who remember, the Johnny Bravo episode in the later years has a late-teenage Greg getting signed by a record company, which creates a stage name of Johnny Bravo that they will turn into a star. The moral dilemma is whether Greg will leave the family group and break out on his own as his alter ego. Williams said the episode appeals to him so much because it’s what he always wanted to do beyond acting.

He has a traveling show called Original Idols Live in which various stars sing music from the period. He has a record of ‘70s cover tunes called the Return of Johnny Bravo. I asked him what made the show different from television today.

“We were about telling stories, not just telling jokes every 10 seconds,” he says. But it was more than that.

He was just too humble to say that we in the audience knew all along the world was a pretty screwed up place as we sat in our living rooms

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and watched Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams try to appear as siblings rather than the romantic item they were in real life. We just let them take us to their house because

it was what we all wanted. That’s why Williams is the appropriate keeper of that heritage today. As screwed up as it all was, he always made the ‘70s great.

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Christopher Lambert is no Highlander but rather a “Lowlander ” during his dream, as he travels in a world that offers him lucidity and the sense of boundlessness. Going underwater reveals the dreamer’s wish to delve within his psyche and reflect upon what is underneath the surface superficialities of life. This thirst for self-knowledge symbolizes an introspective nature and the wish for clarity. Where there is no gravity, there is no resistance of repressed material. Being immersed in water reveals the depth of the dreamer. There is nostalgia for all that has been left behind and forgotten.

The ancient city is an excavation of the dreamer’s past.

Underwater dreams are often birth fantasies: the dreamer has remembered some pleasurable intra-uterine experience or atmosphere. These dreams reflect the wish for change, or transformation; what is rigid and fixed becomes fluid and alterable. Most important, with his feet off the ground Christopher is elevated and unrestrained.

He is free from anything that can weigh him down. And like a torpedo, he is on target, but self-directed.

Celebrity Dreams

By Lauren Lawrence

Christopher Lambert “My favorite dream is one that recurs from time to time. I am underwater and everything is very clear and crisp…very blue and very green, like Technicolor should be. I am moving very fast through this antique city. Almost like I am swimming at the speed of a torpedo. There are fish. I do not know if I am a fish or if it is me. It is a great feeling.”

Christopher Lambert

From the Collection of C. Lambert

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PHOTO GALLERY PATRICK MCMULLAN Boulevard One Year Anniversary Party Hawaiian Tropic Zone, NYC – October 30, 2007 Photos by Patrick McMullan – PatrickMcMullan.com

Dina Lohan, Patrick McMullan, Angela Anton, Dr. Max Gomez

Jason Feinberg, Aaron Mitchell, Dina Lohan, Angela Anton, Tom Harris

Tim Sullivan & Jonathan Clark (Q104.3) Dr. Barbara Capozzi, Roseanne Scordio Eileen Boyle, Mary Ellen Saasto

Karen Loeffler, Ed Cortez

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Jeremy Greene, Aaron Mitchell

The Boulevard • December 2007 – January 2008

Gladymir Leveille, Dana Denise Noble, Jovan Francois

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Photos by Tina Guiomar

Dennis Riese, Todd Shapiro, Steve Caryle

Tina Guiomar, Mark Montgomery

Barry Kay, Dennis Riese, Rita Kay

Stephen Kinsella, Lee Laurence, Mark Montgomery, Marisa Malacarne

Boulevard One Year Anniversary Presentation

Ellie Von Tousisaint, Glen Sullivan, Johnny Lovero

Heather Muhleman, Heidi Muhleman, Tim Sullivan, Gina Lengeling, Courtney Wells

Erik & Heather Feinberg www.boulevardli.com

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PHOTO GALLERY PATRICK MCMULLAN

Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards At Cipriani – October 15, 2007 Photos by Patrick McMullan PatrickMcMullan.com

Gilbert Kahn, Ann Ames

Felicia Taylor, Victoria Rowell

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Jean Claude, Christo Claude

Henir Barguirdjian, Marianne Lafiteau

Bob Lynch, John Legend, Steve Speiss

Dana Hammond Stubgen, Peter Stubgen, Maria Bell

Mayor Bloomberg, Wallis Annenberg, Bob Lynch

Peter Yarrow, Sheila Johnson, Bob Lynch

The Boulevard • December 2007 – January 2008

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Museum of the Moving Image Salutes Tom Cruise At Cipriani 42nd St. – November 6, 2007 Photos by Patrcik McMullan PatrickMcMullan.com

Kristen McGinnis, Dori Cooperman, Tom Cruise, Adelina Wong Ettelson, Katie Holmes, Dylan Lauren, Susan Shin

Herbert Schlosser, Tom Cruise, Rochelle Slovin

Ron Howard, Brian Grazer

Nigel Barker, Cristen Barker

Julianne Moore, Kevin Huvane, Ellen Barkin

Cindy Adams, Gary Springer

Andrew Tisch, Ann Tisch www.boulevardli.com

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PHOTO GALLERY PATRICK MCMULLAN

Museum of Arts and Design ‘Visionaries’ 2007 Awards Gala At Pier Sixty, NYC – November 14, 2007 Photos by Patrick McMullan PatrickMcMullan.com Barbara Tober, Holly Hotchner

Nadja Swarovski

Angela Anton

Tim Gunn

Jerome Chazen

Barbara Tober, Jerome Chazen, Nadja Swarovski, Marcel Wanders, Holly Hotchner, Frank Doroff, Ella Fontanais-Cisneros

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Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation November 9, 2007 Photos by Jason Feinberg Joe Torre and Ali Torre created the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation in 2002 in memory of Joe’s mother, Margaret, who along with her family, were victims of domestic violence. The foundation’s goal is to raise awareness of the issue in order to end the cycle of domestic violence. On Friday, Nov. 9 celebrities and sports stars gathered to show their support for Joe at Chelsea Piers for the foundation’s fifth annual Gala Event, which honored former Yankee great, Bernie Williams.

Don Zimmer

John Sterling

Dann Florek

Paul O’Neill

Don Mattingly and Joe Torre

Ali and Joe Torre

Bob Costas and Jill Sutton

Derek Jeter

Billy Crystal

Joe Torre

Bernie Williams www.boulevardli.com

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See Las Vegas Strip Photos on Pages 62 & 63 and Desert Photos (location: Christmas Tree Pass near Laughlin Nevada & Dry Lake Bed, North of Searchlight, NV) on Page 61. (Photos by Tina Guiomar and Jason Feinberg)

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Las Vegas Strip Welcomes The Palazzo The Venetian Gets New Neighbor and Sidekick

By Heather Muhleman he Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino is, by any standards, amazing in its own right. With more than 4,000 all-suite luxury rooms, 120,000 square feet of casino, 19 restaurants and 1.9 million square feet of meeting space, The Venetian is a Las Vegas destination designed for luxury seekers and high-end business professionals. Those seekers and businesses are about to be wowed. In January, the Venetian will officially open the Palazzo, a stand-alone resort neighboring the Venice-themed hotel. With 50 floors and 3,066 additional suites, the Palazzo will make this site the largest hotel and convention complex in the world, with a total of 7,000 hotel rooms and suites.

At first entry through the domed lobby, guests will get a sense of style and beauty with the polished veined marble floors, tailored paintings and landscape of palm trees and exotic-shaped topiaries. Luxury shopping will be easy at the 450,000 square foot shopping area, The Shoppes at the Palazzo. The Shoppes will house 60 high–end stores including Coach and Christian Louboutin, along with an 85,000-square-foot Barneys New York. The Palazzo Hotel will also have an elaborate pool deck that includes seven pools along with numerous gardens, spas, sculptures, cabanas and fountains. To experience all that is luxury and relaxation, the Palazzo will house the newest Canyon Ranch SpaClub.

The regular suites available at the Palazzo will consist of a raised sleeping area and bathroom with a sunken living/work area. But it’s the luxury suites that will whet the appetite of those seeking to experience the highest level of indulgence and class that Las Vegas has to offer.

There are over 375 concierge-level rooms, 296 multiroom suites, six villas, six presidential suites and 270 residential condominium units. Each villa is approximately 11,000 square feet with three or four bedrooms, three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half baths, extensive living areas, media rooms, private pools, private Jacuzzis, private salons, massage areas, heated spas, personal gyms and, in some cases, private putting greens. The presidential suites also include private butler service.

Entertainment will not be hard to find in the Palazzo Hotel, especially with the 400-seat Palazzo Showroom and the1,650-seat Palazzo Theatre that will be home to the smash hit Broadway production Jersey Boys. The Palazzo

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will also be the third U.S. location for Jay-Z’s famed 40/40 Club for all of those night owls looking to hang with the beautiful people. Of course, no hotel resort and casino is complete without the casino itself, stretching 100,000 square feet.

If it’s food you are looking for, the Palazzo will have 14 restaurants with some of the finest chefs in the world. One highly anticipated restaurant is Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10, with Chef Jean-Paul Labadie, formerly of Emeril’s Fish House. Other celebrity chefs will also grace the Palazzo including Charlie Trotter of Trotter, a steak and seafood restaurant, and Mario Batali of Carnevino, featuring authentic Italian cuisine. Some New York City staples will also be available to the Palazzo visitor including Sushi Samba and Dos Caminos.

The Palazzo’s mother resort, The Venetian, is no hotel to scoff at. The Venezia Tower, which has its own check-in and a concierge level that offers continental breakfast, afternoon refreshments and a cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres, is a key component of what makes this hotel grand. With entertainment to match, including the Blue Man Group, Phantom of the Opera and Tao nightclub, The Venetian’s amenities will only grow with the addition of the newest luxury hotel to tower over the Las Vegas Strip, the Palazzo.

www.boulevardli.com

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Las Vegas Luxury - Shopping Sin City Is No Longer Trinkets and Strip Malls

By Amy Bryan-Zuke ew York, Paris and Milan comprise the Mecca of fashion and shopping. To be uttered in the same sentence is an honor. Las Vegas has recently clawed its way to notoriety in the realm of high-end luxury shopping. No more is this a town of trinkets, strip malls and cheap souvenirs (though they are still available), but with the emergence of luxury resorts, luxury goods followed.

As my excursion to locate the best shopping of Las Vegas began, my expectations centered on Elvis glasses, CSI T-shirts, and your run of the mill Midwestern mall fashions. Living in Manhattan, my favorites include the flagships of Madison and Fifth, the artsy boutiques of Soho, and the nouveau regime of the meat-packing district. My standards are high when it comes to fashion and designer labels and, in a city reminiscent of a massive Times Square, they were, surprisingly, met. Nothing can duplicate or replace the shopping environment of New York City, but in a place known for excess and excitement, Las Vegas shopping delivers.

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The Wynn Resort and Casino The Wynn Resort and Casino is the newest and tallest luxury resort to call the Strip home and has an impressive 76,000 square feet of retail space that offers the peak of exclusivity. The Wynn creates a luxurious and intimate environment throughout the resort and is a premier destination for luxury shoppers and browsers. Chanel, Dior, Cartier and Louis Vuitton all have boutiques at the Esplanade, the Wynn’s shopping headquarters, as does the elusive Manolo Blahnik, whose water drop stiletto Quakan is available in the U.S. only on 54th Street and at the Wynn. The Oscar de la Renta boutique brought out my inner pinup with retro Betty Grable-inspired black and white polka dot wedges, and of course, his signature elegant evening gowns with layers of smoke-colored, floor length ballerina tulle. If you’re looking to purchase something more indulgent, the Wynn is also home to the first and only luxury car dealership located in a casino, the Penske-Wynn Ferrari-Maserati dealership coupled with the first-ever authorized Ferrari brand store in America, and only the seventh in the world, enabling you to purchase all the necessary accessories for your sleek Formula 1 powered Italian sports car.

The Bellagio This Italian-inspired luxury resort and casino isn’t just the setting of the blockbuster Ocean’s Eleven, but also the location of some amazing shopping. As you walk through the lobby with exquisite Italian hand-blown glass flowers to the Via Bellagio, a luxurious shopping experience is created with high glass ceilings and brightly polished marble. The Hermès

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store, one of only three West Coast locations, surrounds you with its signature orange boxes and sumptuous silk scarves; and even though Mother Nature seems as far removed from the Vegas strip as possible, handcrafted French riding crops and saddles are available for whatever your pursuits might be. A jungle of leopard print greets you along with the friendly staff at Yves St. Laurent and buttery leather handbags stand at attention in the Bottega Veneta boutique. Chanel offers cosmic-inspired baubles from its Cometes collection, lambskin handbags garnished with metal fringe and Chanel signature and Coco-inspired suits. The Bellagio offers the variety of Madison Avenue fashion without the traffic and smell of exhaust.

Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino For the ultimate hedonistic experience, the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace indulge your shopping fantasy, carrying the names of Fifth Avenue coupled with the intimacy of Soho boutiques. In a mall environment, a dash of gaudy Vegas animatronic gods and goddesses entertain the crowds in the vestibules. The Forum offers three floors and 160 shops that house some of the finest luxury goods and highest names in fashion from around the world. Pucci, Escada, Armani, Cavalli, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, Dior and Christian LaCroix can all claim Caesars as their Las Vegas home. At Valentino, the attentive sales staff helps find the perfect complement to red satin bow clutches and patent leather embroidered peep-toe Mary Jane stacked heels, exuding style and confidence. Versace can arouse your desire to indulge in the stimulating environment of Vegas with dresses that scream sex. In a city where glitz can outshine glamour, the Forum Shops offer the refined elegance of Carolina Herrera and the classic history of Louis Vuitton.

Finding the perfect outfit can create an appetite and gourmet chocolatier Vosges Haute-Chocolat can stimulate your senses while Wolfgang Puck’s Spago offers dazzling cuisine. For the vixen that longs to come out in every Las Vegas visitor, Caesars houses one of only two Playboy stores in the United States— to visit the other, you have to fight the spring break crowd at the Palms Resort and Casino off the strip. For the ultimate in premier intimate apparel, visit LaPerla or Agente Provocateur to bring the electricity of Vegas into your boudoir. If your ecstasy comes from brilliant clarity or precious metals, Bulgari, Chopard, David Yurman, Harry Winston, and Tiffany & Co. can fulfill your needs. The Forum Shops offer the widest variety of luxury shopping choices with the most space and a uniquely Vegas spiral escalator.

That night, my dreams brought sweet visions of Louis Vuitton steamer trunks filled with brilliant baubles, luxurious garments, traffic-stopping shoes, and a newfound respect for the exciting shopping world of Las Vegas.

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Vegas and the Showgirl:

A Glimpse Into the Style and Sensuality of

Tropicana’s Folies Bergere

By Amy Zuke ounded by mobsters and movie stars, glamour and excess have always played a lead role in the Las Vegas lifestyle. Statuesque, electric and luminous, the showgirl is the epitome of the old and new Vegas. The classic showgirl was a beacon of style and fashion with a flair for the risqué. Contemporary showgirls push sex to the forefront and brush the surface of taboo in a time when the world has loosened its definition of what qualifies as taboo.

The Tropicana’s famous Folies Bergere was brought to Vegas in 1959, making it one of the longest-running showgirl reviews in town. The show has a traditional outlook that is by no means tame or even outdated.

A topless review whose inspiration comes from a French-style revue and theater can be nothing but, shall we say, titillating.

As one of the first Las Vegas reviews, Folies Bergere has kept its original provocative journey through the transformation of women, their fashion sense and their sexuality, led by the stunning siren Traci Ault, a modern day Ann-Margret with the same sass and underlying electric sex. In Viva Las Vegasstyle, we catch a glimpse as Traci and the stunning troupe of showgirls prepare with all the anticipation and fervor that comes before the big show. While a topless review would initially seem to focus on the needs of men, the commanding presence of the showgirls illustrates the sexual empowerment and seductive vigor of the women, and of course the delicious gentlemen used as decorations are always visually stimulating.

The conservative 1800s constricted women with corsets and hoops. Women found escape and freedom through stories of fairies and the writings of Jane Austen. These mythical tales awaken a ballet pas de deux inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream as the showgirls emerge as snow nymphs covered only in a wisp of gauze secured with a chain of sparkling ice. As the robust Oberon promenades Titania across the stage you hold your

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breath in anticipation, fear and awe at the skill and fearlessness of the lifts that make Titania appear to fly through the icy winter forest.

Jumping forward, the delicate beauty of the female form is displayed in a Busby Berkeley and 42nd Street-inspired revival with a 20- by 36-foot mirror angled to reflect the graceful flourish of fuchsia ostrich feathers and the angular synchronized movements of the showgirls covered only in strategically placed crystals. The pace slows from a graceful adagio to a lingering and forbidden solo.

The smoldering sensuality and control evocative of Cyd Charisse in tight green satin with a jet black bob teases and electrifies your escapade into the world of bathtub gin and speakeasies. The Roaring ‘20s brought us the infamous icon, the flapper, and as reminded by the Folies Bergere, the seductive vamp. Clad only in black bobs and knee high boots, the showgirls bring the audience through a slow and sensual bondageinspired boudoir scene.

As we dance through the decades we see ‘50s bobby soxers and poodle skirts

with a Grease flair, a peace march into the ‘60s and ‘70s with Brady Bunch bell bottoms, into the rhythm nation of the ‘90s with black bra tops and suspenders, finally bringing us to the modern day woman.

At the heart of the Folies Bergere is the classic showgirl with roots placed firmly in the showmanship and lavishness of the Ziegfeld Follies, but with modern sensuality and ecstasy that is only possible in sultry Vegas. The masterful showgirls glide down 18 glistening gold stairs swathed in stilettos with stoles of silk and crowned with elaborate 18-pound headdresses comprised of an intricate weave of more than 50 coque, ostrich, pheasant and turkey feathers adorned with more than 100 Swarovski crystal rhinestones. Beautiful women descend like glistening gold starbursts from Thailand, brilliant stars from heaven in the form of Las Vegas showgirls.

Embellished costumes reminiscent of Carnivale in vibrant aqua and magenta hues give off heat and passion during the innovative mambo performance. LaVedette presents an exotic butterfly floating on the stage to tease you with her crimson wings that sparkle with iridescent jewels. If the ravishing sirens that have teased and delighted you seemed too far out of your reach, they now intensify the pleasure by swinging out into the audience.

Evocative of a trapeze artist, the vixens are just within arms’ reach, bringing their long limbs and erotic energy provocatively close.

Our ecstasy closes with a Moulin Rougeinspired can-can exuding the French sensibility and sass of the Folies Bergere.

In a town that is always looking for the next hot thing, the Folies Bergere gives you an experience that is uniquely Las Vegas. As you sit in the round booths anticipating the forthcoming extravaganza your imagination conjures up images of the Rat Pack, martinis, and a time when gloves were a mandatory accessory. The Folies Bergere lets you experience one of the few completely authentic and retro aspects of this everchanging city.

www.boulevardli.com

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here is a snake that is slithering out of the floor at the bottom of the escalator of McCarrin Airport. Its evil eyes are gleaming and its fangs are exposed. As travelers jump the monorail to the baggage claim, they are greeted by this huge ceramic rattlesnake. One could look at it as simple ceramic airport art – put there to beautify an otherwise mundane transportation hub. But others – those with a little more insight into what makes this town tick knows the meaning is much deeper. Las Vegas can be a very dangerous place in ways other cities cannot. The snake is the first thing you see in Sin City.

It’s almost as if Las Vegas is saying, “Don’t say we didn’t warn you…” And the enlightened traveler then proceeds with caution.

Welcome to Vegas; try not to get bit by the snake.

I have a friend who is crazy. He heard The Boulevard was heading out to the lighted Strip in the desert and told me about the movie Poker Bustouts. He told me and Jason Feinberg we had to meet the professional poker player who made the film, Rob Willis. We were told Rob Willis would really “show us a good time”; but more importantly he would show us the realities of both professional gambling and high stakes poker. An opportunity to see a side of Vegas that most tourists never even know exists intrigued The Boulevard so we figured we would go for it.

Little did we know as we passed the rattlesnake in the airport that we would soon find ourselves in a real life den of snakes out in the desert, trying not to get bitten, delicately moving around a room of vipers so we could bring you this narrative.

Jason and I met Rob at Rao’s in Caesars on the Strip. The host knew him by name and seated us at his “usual” table. Rob didn’t need a menu. They knew him there.

His movie is an extraordinary documentary about his last 12 years in Las Vegas as a professional gambler – he is a poker expert but has played every game at one time or another. It’s about the reality of living by the turn of the cards. To put the documentary and movie in context – Rob Willis isn’t his real name. We can’t show you his picture and he doesn’t exist anywhere on paper. Because as Jason and I learned in our time with Willis, other than maybe a dozen people in Las Vegas, the reality of life as a gambler is nothing like the glamorized tourna-

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ments seen on cable television or the celebrity games that clog up the airwaves. It’s a dark, sad, seedy world where very skilled and very sick people cross paths in the hopes of winning huge sums of money. It’s fueled by the adrenaline of the bet and the revulsion for traditional work. Poker is one of the only games where skill plays an enormous part, so the better players are the ones who survive. Rob himself was the first to “self-admit” that the pros are “a gang of degenerates.” But regardless of how you see it, it is completely fascinating.

“If you know what you are doing there is nothing like this town. I came here when I was 22 years old with $70 in my pocket and I made it up to $123. I made $53 and I thought I was on top of the world and I survived all these years. Anything can happen,” he says with a gleam in his eye, like someone that just climbed Mount Everest. “Some guys are here and one day they are gone.

They bust out. They vaporized. They go to jail, they move. They don’t go to work. They would rather do anything than work. One guy in my movie would make millions of dollars if he sold cars but he would rather pound it out and play poker.”

Rob hosted us at dinner at two different 4-star restaurants. He has the commanding presence that brings us to the front of the line in a crowded place and to a waiting table – one that seems always at the ready for him… and he doesn’t have to call. Our evenings were several 4-star dinners before Rob took me into the poker room at a casino to watch him play. Jason and I picked his brain about the culture and what made it tick. Some of the brutal honesty made the hairs on our neck stand on end but hey, it’s about the intrigue, right?

“For years in Vegas all they had was limit Hold ’em. Bad players can win. A few years ago they opened it up with no-limit Hold ’em and that is a game that if you aren’t good, you can’t win. I don’t care how lucky you are, you can’t last. Eventually you are gonna get bitten by the snake. Being a partner means you take a piece of each other, you put each other in the game, you buy him in and vice versa,” explains Willis. “Money means nothing.

Kids think that it’s like being an athlete. It’s nothing like that. An athlete gets a check every month. In poker you could win $500,000 and blow it all in three days. A lot of these guys are complete degenerates. A drug addict – how much heroin can

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you shoot before you just die? There is nothing like gambling, there is no limit. You can just keep winning and losing.”

Rob promised to take me to a poker game. I actually don’t know how to play and could care less who won or how. I cared very much about the characters though, and the dynamics of the culture. There was a cool factor to the words “professional gambler.” It conjured up an image of a fearless tough guy who knew how to beat the odds and could take whatever was coming to him. Whether a pro was a winner or loser wasn’t really the issue – it was the mere fact that a guy like Rob had the sack to live the lifestyle and made no apologies.

Poker Bustouts examines the lives of cronies whom Rob has played with for years. It shows the strange nature of how they approach the poker game. One classic image I walked in with was the old school mob types breaking each other’s knees when someone owed them money. I assumed that couldn’t be any more true than in the desert sands of Vegas with this gang of Vipers that Rob chronicled. Strangely enough, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Apparently, the poker culture looks out for each other and borrowing and payback are a much more relaxed affair.

“Melissa in the movie lent a guy 300 bucks and she was upset and asked me to go get the money from the guy. I went to shake him down and I felt so bad for him that I wound up giving him more money. And he wound up paying me back and paying her back,” says Willis. “People used to think it was more slimy but the reality is it was really tight back in the day. Now that its been popularized there are more slimy people in it.”

According to Willis, there aren’t any beat downs, rubouts, threats or other classic shenanigans glamorized by mafiosa B movies. People owe each other money. Rob owes a few people money. A few people owe him money. As seen in his movie, it’s a culture of interdependence. Rob’s attitude is that everyone knows what it’s like to be down and out in this business so you’ll pay me when you pay can…

“There are certain things in life that you can only know by experiencing it: when you are out there playing and winning and then you hit that streak where you just can’t seem to win and you are in a black hole,” he explains.

We walked into a casino I probably shouldn’t name and before we even got to the poker room several of the employees knew Rob’s name and greeted him with embraces or flirtatious glances.

As we sat down at the table, three other men sat around the periphery. One was Middle Eastern and was listening to an iPod.

His erratic glances around the table made him look high on drugs – he was paranoid and freakish. The other guy on Rob’s right was rail-thin and looked like a Scandinavian skeleton. Rob recognized the blonde Danish stick figure and told me he was a guy who was doing well lately. The last guy to sit down was so drunk he lost his balance at one point and fell onto Rob’s shoulders.

“You see a guy coming up to the game bombed, you know that he is leaving without his money. Like being a jeweler, you know when it’s a diamond. You know when it’s a good day,” he snickered. In poker, the money you win doesn’t come from the house. It comes from the other players at the table. So in addition to gauging their skill, you are looking at how much money might be available to win. The casino is paid by each player every half-hour (usually about $7) and in tournaments the house gets a percentage of the pot.

Rob never bluffed. He looked at his cards and folded if he had nothing. The slightest hand, though, he raised his way to psyche out the entire table. He won three huge hands simply by boldly bluffing and raising his way to acquire the pot. We left in 55 minutes. He was up $7,000. Not a bad hour’s wages. Maybe that’s the draw.

We drove out into the desert past the lights of the city. The dead silence of the pitch black landscape with no streetlights was interrupted only by Jason’s snoring in the back seat. Rob kept talking about growing up, betting on racehorses and dogs at age 11 - sending older guys to bookies back in New York because he was too young for them to take his bets. He talked about some other stuff also. Stuff that happened in other places.

Stuff that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Stuff that I wish Jason, sleeping in the back, had heard. I felt privileged and in danger at the same time. The Boulevard had spent a night in the desert with the snake.

Rob has beaten the system not because of how much money he has won, but because he is a survivor. As he said over and over again throughout our evening, no matter how much you win it can be gone in a matter of hours. Ironically, money is no measure of success in a game where the sole purpose is to win a pile of money in the center of the table. Success is measured by longevity. In Rob’s 12 years as a Vegas pro he has not only won some big pots, he has been able to capture and tell the story of culture most people only know by experiencing it. And that, my friend, is how you don’t get bitten by the snake!

Poker Bustouts is available at Amazon.com.

www.boulevardli.com

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he Irish haven’t done particularly well in Las Vegas. Just about every other group has made money off Sin City in one way or another – and many of the mega resorts are culturally themed with an ethnicity or nationality. But the shamrock shines dimly on the Strip – wedged between the Barbary Coast and Harrah’s across from the grandness of Caesars.

It lights up the façade of O’Shea’s – an unapologetically grim casino where patrons go to have an amped-up atmosphere of a pub with craps tables. This isn’t the flashy sterile environment of uber–casinos next door. Your feet stick to the floor here. The disturbing familiarity wasn’t lost on this Irishman. But upstairs is the most hilarious and hardest working comic in all of Las Vegas – Vinnie Favorito.

Jason Feinberg and I tramped through the street level casino and up the dirty carpeted stairs to the comedy lounge where Favorito does several shows a night, more on weekends. We sat down with him in his dressing room before his show and talked about what makes him tick and about his comedy career. Vinnie is prominently featured in Poker Bust Outs – the film by Rob Willis also featured in our Vegas section. Although we talked about poker, I really was interested in dissecting his act.

“Pat Cooper came in one night and I put him up on stage. He is a legend to me. At the beginning of the show I put down being at O’Shea’s and he said from the stage, ‘Look, kid, why do you dump on being here? You are center strip at Las Vegas – I don’t care who you are, do you know how many guys would give their right nut to be in this position?’ And he said this to my crowd from my stage and I just thought that was huge,” says Favorito. “This room makes me more money – I can only do one show a night at the other places.

I’ve turned O’Shea’s into a great place. I have my name on the marquee with ‘beer pong’ underneath it. I love what I do and I do it every night.”

After a movie trailer that shows some of his classic roasts where he eviscerates the likes of Pat O’Brien, the comic takes the stage and opens with a few jokes to set the stage and then begins to work the crowd through what appears to be a simple Q and A. Favorito doesn’t do scripted comedy. He is a roaster. He engages in dialogue with the crowd and attacks their answers about where they live and work while adding mannerisms and hyperbole. It’s mind-blowingly funny. As vicious as it may sound or appear, there is a friendliness about it which makes everyone comfortable.

He asks one woman what she does for a living and as she stumbles giving her job description he annihilates her: “You mean you have worked in this auto parts store for 14 years and you don’t know what the f@#$ you do?” he yells to howls of laughter from the crowd. The woman in the hot seat laughs the hardest. Vinnie tries to get her to explain her job but the more she talks, the more confusing it sounds so the more he skewers her. The louder the crowd laughs, the harder she laughs. Soon it’s apparent no one in the room is safe from this Tasmanian devil of interrogation. Everything is fair game – people’s hometowns, their jobs, haircuts, even the size of their heads.

“Holy smoke, your head is gigantic!” he teases one audience member. “Can anyone behind you see? Is everyone OK back there? Do any of you need to come up and sit on stage?” As he teases people one woman shouts that she wants to be told she is pretty. His response is to pick out each and every woman in the audience and talk about how much prettier they are than the heckler. It

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gets so out of hand that audience members begin introducing themselves with their name followed by a declaration they are “prettier than Marlene.” I asked him if he ever engaged an audience member and had it backfire.

“Not once in 12 years have I had a situation where I hurt or embarrassed anyone to the point where it was a problem. I can tell right away how a person is going to react and how far I can go with them. It’s a gift. You read them. Body language says everything,” explains Favorito.

And this is a skill that is partially raw talent and partially road tested and hard-earned wisdom. Favorito’s roots stretch back to his hometown of Boston – a city with a vibrant comedy scene where his hunger for the art had him as a staple on the club circuit. He pounded pavement and paid his dues. He toured incessantly. His act was easy to recognize and he quickly became a draw on the west coast and in Las Vegas.

“I started in 1985. I turned professional in ’87. Boston comedy was really booming. Lenny Clark, Steve Sweeney, Jimmy Tingle. I climbed up the ranks to get in the clubs. I was a hustler doing seven shows a night sometimes,” he recalls. “I got lucky - a veteran comic would be late and there would 20 of us open mic types in the back and then Lauren Dobrowski, who later produced Mad TV, would point to me and say ‘That’s the guy to put on.’”

She was right. Favorito always delivered. There is an electricity that crackles off him which makes him so unpredictable, part of the fun is not knowing who he will target next or what part of their life he will choose to make them look ridiculous. He is the uncle you hope always shows up at holidays because you know he will add the necessary levity over the boring relatives. Only this uncle is on speed. As one audience member pleaded with him to prey on the person sitting next to her rather than be his next victim, he looked square in the eye and said “You might as well get comfortable because I ain’t going away.” The persistence itself carried its own hilarity.

And therein lies the genius of Favorito. Many comics tell jokes. They rehearse scripts and then pray for comedic timing in the delivery – Stephen Wright, Henny Youngman, etc. Some hit, some miss. Narrative comics like Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor have a humorous way of telling you their life story and much of it relies on their delivery and material that audience members relate to. Others rely on clever observations about the world that are enlightening yet funny – George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld being the true modern masters. And then there is Favorito’s style – complete and total adlib engagement while thinking of how to connect responses and be funny on the spot.

His comedy is a verbal assault. No one could possibly do it better.

“I am in the business a long time. I am known for roasting people. That’s what I do every night. Even if the crowd starts out slow by the end of the show I will own them. Trust me. I never have a fear of that,” he says.

As we filed out to our table and watched him start to work, we found the statement to be dead on. He worked through the crowd like a tornado. We laughed so hard our ribs hurt. O’Shea’s had become a truly jovial Irish establishment. Favorito’s message is simple, It’s okay to laugh at yourself and have fun doing it. Simple. Cathartic. Profound. Therapeutic. If you only see one comedy show in Vegas, Do Not miss Vinnie Favorito. It may very well be the best evening you have your whole trip. Catch Vinnie Favorito Tuesday through Sunday; each night at 7:30 and 9:30 and Sundays at 8:30. Tickets start at $46.

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The Rise of the Celebrity Chef March of Dime’s Signature Chef Event Brings Out Cream of the Crop

By Heather Muhleman n the old days of Vegas, the best meal you could get on the strip was the $12.99 all-you-can-eat prime rib and lobster buffet. My, how those times have changed. Las Vegas has made huge strides in the quality and quantity of gourmet food offerings available to their visitors. With the creation of the Food Network, celebrity chefs have also been as abundant as olive oil in an Italian restaurant over the past few years. With the marriage of celebrity chefs and an up-and-coming location for amazing food, the restaurant scene of Las Vegas was born.

In the past dozen or so years, Las Vegas has become a cuisine destination with high-end chefs from across the globe bringing their expertise of the culinary experience and, more importantly, their signature dishes. The March of Dimes is the premiere foundation for improving the health of babies, and has noticed this trend of exquisite culinary talent. For this reason, the foundation chose Las Vegas as a primary focus for their spectacular fundraising event, raising money for healthy babies while offering their guests the indulgence of amazing food. The 10th Annual Signature Chefs of Las Vegas event was held at The Venetian in October. It is considered by countless attendees as the best eating event in the Las Vegas valley, since it brings out of the kitchen all of the talented chefs who now call Las Vegas home.

The event started out with a cocktail reception and

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silent auction where fine art, rare wines, one-of-a-kind memorabilia, helicopter rides, and even signed movie posters were up for grabs to the highest bidder. With more than 140 items, the March of Dimes raised more than $58,000 on the silent auction alone. After an introduction to the chefs, the crowd of more than 850 guests was escorted into The Venetian Ballroom, 60,000 square feet of food fantasy. At one end of the room, a live auction was set up with items that included a Hawaiian getaway, an inhome dinner with the host chef, and a pheasant-hunting vacation. In the end, the live auction brought in more than $75,000 for the foundation and with a generous match from MasterCard, the grand total raised from the entire event was more than $285,000.

The real stars of the night were, of course, the chefs and their food. Thirty-two different table stations for 32 of Las Vegas’ top chefs made for an exquisite tasting menu, each with a signature dish prepared for the pleasure of the guests. The trend of the night seemed to be truffles and foie gras, sometimes together, sometimes accenting other foods. The host chef for this year’s event was Executive Chef Luciano Pellegrini of The Venetian’s own Valentino.

Pellegrini came to Las Vegas in 1999 because the opportunity to create high-end cuisine was booming and according to him, “It’s going to get even better.” As host, his main goal this year was to raise as much money as he could for the children of Nevada. With his eggplant parmesan and roasted quail with truffle dressing, his table was one of the most popular. At Valentino, the menu is innovative and the wine cellar is spectacular. His seasonal Italian menu of fresh ingredients, many of which are imported directly from Italy, revisits traditional recipes melding with the local market.

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Another celebrity chef in the house was David Burke of David Burke Las Vegas at The Venetian. With his Kurobuto hotdogs and Kobe sliders, sided perfectly with truffles and parmesan fries, David was all about comfort food this year. The restaurant lands itself to comfort with its whimsical atmosphere and décor. The menu at the restaurant is all about presentation.

The Crisp & Angry Lobster Cocktail and David Burke’s Cheesecake Lollipop Tree are some of his most well known dishes, not to mention some of the most interesting looking.

One of the few women in the room, Executive Chef Dana D’Anzi is no stranger to playing in a boy’s world.

Brought to Las Vegas by Emeril himself to take the lead at his acclaimed Delmonico Steakhouse at The Venetian in 1999, D’Anzi’s biggest goal was to make high-end cuisine accessible to the public. Her truffle grilled cheese sandwich with braised oxtail and black cherry jam was one of the culinary highlights of the evening. At the next table was one of her close cohorts, Chef Jean Paul Labadie, another import of Emeril. Labadie came to the event with his seared scallops on an andouille sausage and pepper jack cheese and tortilla hash with smoked corn coulis and creole tomato glaze straight from Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grand where they know how to do seafood.

The scallops were perfect and the kick of the tomato glaze was outstanding. Speaking of kick, Executive Chef Daniel Marquez of Taqueria Canonita showcased just how spicy Mexican food can and should be with his shrimp ceviche and huitlacoche and squash blossom empanadas. The restaurant, located at The Venetian, has a rustic menu of Mexico City soul food with an ambiance that is classic

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L to R: Matt Dickerson (general manager of Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio), Exec. Chef John LaGrane – Postrio and Robin Leach.

Mexican marketplace. Chef Marquez is a big supporter of the March of Dimes and felt that was his “moral due” to be at this event helping raise money for a great cause.

Red Rock Resort’s Terra Rosa is all about Italian – and they sure know how to do it right. Executive Chef Renato DePirro came here eight years ago because “Vegas is the future.” The opportunities are growing and so is the desire to eat more of his foie gras-stuffed ravioli with butter, sage and black truffles. This might possibly be one of the best dishes at the event. The restaurant’s menu consists of classic Italian dishes including a choice of pastas, raviolis and pizzas.

Mandalay Bay’s Fleur de Lys had a spectacular fondant of smoked salmon, cauliflower couscous, cucumber gelee and ostera caviar. This refreshing dish was Executive Chef Laurent Pillard’s brainchild of tastes you wouldn’t think would go together, but are absolutely perfect in a dish. The restaurant is a sexy French lounge with a floral theme and absolutely astonish-

ing food. Fantasy flowers adorn the china and the walls are covered with an arrangement of 3,000 fresh cut roses that need attention every day.

Some of the new additions to the night were Chefs Michael and Wendy Jordan of Rosemar y ’s and Chef Josette LeBlond of Josette’s Bistro.

The Jordans served butternut squash soup with spice cream and Josette had her famous pâté, of which she makes one ton every day at her bistro on Flamingo Road, right off the Strip.

All chefs agree that Las Vegas is the place to be for high-end cuisine.

The town’s “restaurantscape” continues to grow with the addition of new restaurants such as Emeril’s Table 10, Mario Batali’s Carnevino and Charlie Trotter’s Trotter all coming to the Palazzo (the new resort connected with The Venetian). Vegas is spicing it up no matter where you look. A few tips: you should always do your research as to what type of food you want, make reservations, and by all means, indulge. For great chefs and amazing food, Vegas is the place to be.

www.boulevardli.com

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NY Exclusivity Comes to Vegas as Rao’s Eatery Joins Restaurant Ranks

By Heather Muhleman YC’s most selective restaurant in town has moved to Las Vegas. Frankie Pellegrino of Rao’s fame, the East Harlem Italian eatery where reservations don’t exist and invites are few and far between, has sent his son Frank Jr. to show Vegas what New York hospitality is and to open a Rao’s at Caesar’s Palace.

As to the second location, Frank Jr. said, “There is probably no other place in the country that would be more suitable than Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. They share the same philosophy and level of expertise of what Rao’s is.”

Caesar’s Palace on the strip has been home to the newest Rao’s for a year now and they have sure made it a second home. The exterior is an exact replica of the East Harlem Rao’s and the food is just as fabulous (not that I have ever had the pleasure or distinction of eating at Rao’s in New York but I have ordered some of their specialty foods via the Internet. Oh, and I have the cookbook, too).

Our night of dining left us full for what felt like weeks. As appetizers, the fried mozzarella was absolutely delicious as were the meatballs – possibly the best I’ve ever tasted.

The gnocchi Bolognese and spinach ravioli with sage and butter sauce were comparatively just as amazing as any Italian grandmother could prepare in one of her three

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kitchens. To top off the meal, a perfect serving of lemon, mango and raspberry sorbets quenched our palates and our urge for sugar.

The wine selection is fantastic with 250 labels of predominantly Italian vintages to choose from. Blake Micheletto, the sommelier at Rao’s, can help you pick out the perfect wine pairing for your meal. He can also get just about any bottle of wine you request in a matter of minutes, even if it isn’t on their list. With access to the wine cellars of the entire Caesar’s resort, which includes the world famous Guy Savoy and Bradley Ogden’s, no bottle of wine will be impossible to find. They also serve their own Rao’s Chardonnay and Cabernet from Napa Valley, sure to please any palate. These small touches are what make Rao’s amazing. With a great family atmosphere, amazing food, a stellar wine list and a staff that makes you feel like you are right at home, Rao’s in Las Vegas is perfect for those guests who want to experience a New York staple.

As Frank Jr. said, “Just like New York, this is a 24-hour city,” and Rao’s fits in perfectly. Visit www.raos.com for more info on both locations as well as Rao’s gift items.

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Vintner Grill – The Jewel in The Desert

By Tim Sullivan he best dining in Vegas is away from the strip and out in the desert. As Jason Feinberg and myself worked the poker story, movie producer Rob Willis told us he would take us to the best place in town (after he already took us to Rao’s). We drove way out of town to a neighborhood called Summerlin, 30 minutes from the Strip, to Vintner Grill. With its black and white décor and classic black and white movies playing in the lounge area, Vintner Grill is the most unassuming and understated of restaurants. It’s a jewel in the desert and well worth the drive. Jason and I liked it so much, and the staff was so friendly, that we took the entire Boulevard editorial contingent back the following evening for our staff dinner.

The exterior has several gas-powered firepots that look like designer kilns. These stone beehive-shaped structures shoot blue propane flame over gravel and serve as ornaments as well as heating devices. On the first evening, we sat on the gorgeous stone patio and felt the desert temperature drop to a chilly 50 degrees. The exquisite landscaping made it comfortable to eat outside under the stars and canopy umbrellas.

Vintner Grill is the creation of executive chef Matthew Silverman and the menu features American dishes with Mediterranean influences from Spain, France and Italy. Our meals were an absolute discovery. The most popular dish over the two evenings was the short ribs, which fell right off the bone. The first evening I had the osso bucco, a classic menu item but very individualized for Vintner. Diced tomatoes, generous garlic, saffron and chopped pumpkin rounded out the plate. As a courtesy, the house brought over a selection of flatbreads. These are essentially like pizzas, only fancier and the prosciutinni and arugula was by far the most unique and best tasting.

Decadent dessert selections are provided exclusively by chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a luxury chocolate experience not to be missed.

For dessert, a white French toast was a total surprise of awesomely sweet delight and the trio of homemade gelatos that appeared in the center of our table were as gourmet as ice cream can be. But the real dessert phenomenon was on the second evening when the editorial board ordered a serving of truffles prepared by the specialty dessert chef whose truffles are the signature dessert dish. Beyond chocolate, these

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Photo provided by Vintner Grill truffles were all different types of spices – curry and jalepeno, there was even one made of absinthe. Luckily, no one started quoting Edgar Alan Poe on the ride home.

The wine selection is impressive as well, with classic vintages available as well as lesser-known and more local treasures. Our recommendation is to ask the waiter what is available that evening and what they recommend and just let it roll.

Visit www.vglasvegas.com for more info.

COMING JANUARY 2008 To the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood Hotel, 3663 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109

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At the Venetian,

Canyon Ranch SpaClub Nurtures Body and Soul

By Tina Guiomar as Vegas is known as Sin City, so what better way to absolve your sins than at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub at the Venetian? It is not just a spa, but a life enhancement center - a place to clear the body and the soul. In a city where indulgences have no end, the same goes for Canyon Ranch; whatever you desire can be obtained, sans alcohol.

The SpaClub offers all the amenities of the original Canyon Ranch, including spa and body treatments, fun and invigorating fitness classes, a top-ofthe-line fitness facility, sauna, steam rooms, wellness consultations, a beauty salon, a rock wall, the renowned Canyon Ranch Café, and complimentary lectures every day.

It’s nothing but the best in Vegas, so why not try the SpaClub’s signature service, the Euphoria? The name itself lends to the idea of what to expect: pure royal treatment.

The therapist leads you to the Euphoria room, where music is harmonized with the tranquil décor of the room.

The body treatment begins with the Canyon Ranch

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specialized aromatherapy scalp massage, and then proceeds to an herb-infused body scrub, which feels more like a massage. You are then led to a king’s copper bath with herb-infused water and rose petals to add to the royal experience. After you have some time alone to release any stressful thoughts from the body, the therapist comes back and gives you a customized massage. At the end, you play a card game and receive words of wisdom, reminding you not to take life so seriously.

Be sure to obtain a SpaClub Passport which gains you access to the fitness center amenities. It covers use of the steam room, whirlpool, sauna, locker rooms and your choice of daily fitness classes.

Canyon Ranch SpaClub is located at the Venetian in Las Vegas 3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 1159 Call the SpaClub toll-free at 877 220-2688 or visit www.canyonranch.com for details.

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At Canyon Ranch SpaClub, they offer not only body wellness but also mind wellness, so enjoy daily lectures. A recent complimentary lecture, The Buzz About Caffeine, conveyed insightful new research that a little caffeine a day is good for you.

What’s a trip to Canyon Ranch without a nibble of the world-famous cuisine at the Canyon Ranch Café, where great taste and healthy nutrition are a gourmet combination? Enjoy the fresh fruit smoothie of the day, and for lunch, grilled ahi tuna or fresh lump crab cake with a sweet 100-tomato salad and mixed greens.

If you are the adventurous type, venture to tackle the 40-foot indoor rock wall, a great experience and workout if you like a little bit of a challenge. The instructor teaches the basic positions to climb the wall, with four different grades of rope and rocks to climb; one feels the adrenaline rush and gratification once at the top.

The SpaClub will leave you with a spiritual lift, sculpted body and a warm glow. If you’re looking to get out of the casino, gamble on a little weekend trip to the Canyon Ranch Spa Club.

Good news: In January 2008, Canyon Ranch will be expanding its 69,000-square-foot facility to 134,000. It will be serving both the Venetian and the newly built Palazzo. Included will be a fine dining restaurant and a social lounge with specialty cocktails. Now you can have everything!

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Nighttime in Vegas Satisfies All Clubbing Appetites

By Heather Muhleman rank Sinatra dubbed New York City the city that doesn’t sleep. I believe that Las Vegas is quickly closing in on that title. Between the amazing shopping, golfing and events during the day, shows in the evening, all-night lounges and clubs, and pure oxygen pumping into casinos to encourage all-night roulette, Las Vegas has become the place for 24-hour action, no matter what you’re interested in.

Celebrities and stars have always made Las Vegas their choice party destination.

From the Rat Pack to Elvis to Paris Hilton to Britney Spears, the big names come to Vegas to get away from the hubbub of LA or NY and relax in an atmosphere that is all about partying and having a good time.

Whatever mood you are in, Sin City has a place for you to dance, talk, drink and just experience how much fun being up at night and sleeping during the day can be.

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Dancing Machine

Tryst The Wynn Resort and Hotel’s Tryst is a trendy nightclub with high-energy music, and a sexy, well-mixed crowd. The club itself has various atmospheres depending on your mood. The VIP Champagne Room has the sophistication of a library, and the lounge is comfortable and stylish. It’s all pulled together by the Tahoe-esque waterfall and lagoon that hugs the dance floor and sets the stage for a spectacular night out.

PURE This celebrity-packed dance club at Caesars Palace is not for the faint of heart.

With three separate ambiances and the highest price tag in town, guests can enjoy an outside terrace view of the strip, a lounge/bar area (complete with performances by the Pussycat Dolls) and a high energy, packed-to-the-gills dance floor, where celebs like to slip the DJ their newest cut, many times never heard before.

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Tao The New York dance club scene comes to Las Vegas at the Venetian’s Tao. Owned by the group that brought you the Marquee and Tao in NYC, this club is unlike any other, with the addition of a five-star dinner menu, a large Buddha and even scantily clad women in bathtubs. New York DJs spin the hottest grooves of hip-hop and house music. Bottle service is available, along with eight private skyboxes for VIPs.

Lounge Lizards

Playboy Club Located on the 52nd floor of the new Palms Fantasy Tower, the Playboy Club is the perfect mix of Hef-inspired décor and Vegas activities. Cocktail-serving Playmates will attend to your drink requests while you play blackjack in the gaming pit. All the details are bunny-infused with sophistication matched by none other than the man himself, Hugh Hefner. The club also offers a VIP lounge area, complete with a fireplace and special bar.

Smoking jackets not required.

VooDoo Café & Lounge For the ultimate outdoor lounging experience, The VooDoo Café & Lounge at the Rio has reinvented the role of staircases at nightclubs. With a 40-ton staircase that connects the 50th and 51st floors, complete with glass cages for dancing girls on the side, this lounge is the ultimate for parties. Live Latin and funk bands play inside and VIP tables are available everywhere. The VooDoo Lounge also offers a full dining menu.

Mix The very top of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay is the home of this ultrachic lounge, perfect for the upper class that enjoys the best progressive and vocal house music on the strip, as well as the loftiest views of the town. The visually stunning posh venue offers seating for just less than 300 people, a 360-degree view of the Strip and the

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Vegas valley, and there’s a hidden VIP area above the main bar. Even the bathrooms have a view with floor to ceiling windows, so you don’t miss a second of the action.

The Bar Scene

Red Square With a nod to the glory of Imperial Russia, Red Square at Mandalay Bay transports guests to a world of romance and intrigue with exclusive private vodka lockers and the famous frozen ice bar, which features more than 150 frozen vodkas and infusions, martinis and Russianinspired cocktails. With the purchase of a vodka bottle from the extensive list, guests enter into the zero-degree locker with a choice of fake fur coats or furry ushankas. It rains royalty as guests sip or take a shot of chilled vodka, all the while encased in this vault modeled after St. Petersburg Church.

Photo by Tina Guiomar Ghostbar Best for the young and modern crowd, Ghostbar, located on the 55th floor of the Palms Resort, is made for those who want to kick back, relax and experience one of the most spectacular views of the Las Vegas strip. The glass patio gives you a great view of the pool area below, but be wary if you’re afraid of heights - the pool is literally 55 floors under your feet and you can see the whole way down. Bottle service is highly recommended.

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f you are interested in the Old West or just want to take in some sights, we’ve found a great little place. Tucked away at the foot of the Black Mountains of Arizona lies a small mining town called Oatman. A little over two hours from Las Vegas, this small rural community has some great history. Oatman was founded in the 1800s as a mining town, typical of most communities in that region, when gold was struck. In one year, Oatman’s population grew by 3,500 and peaked near 10,000. In 1941, the government shut down the last remaining mines because of World War II war efforts and the population and economy soon started to decline.

Since Oatman sits on part of the original Route 66, it has managed to stay alive for tourists who venture out on the old scenic road. The Oatman Hotel is a popular place to visit, as Clark Gable frequented it, including spending his honeymoon there. Another interesting feature is the wild burros that freely roam the streets and can be hand-fed. There is one restaurant and some great little shops.

If you’re still up for adventure, just continue your drive down Route 66. There are some fabulous original structures, retro gas stations and beautiful scenery. If you’re heading back to Las Vegas and it’s not too late, try making the right turn about 6 miles after you cross over the river by Davis Dam in Laughlin. You will see a sign for Christmas Tree Pass and a maintained dirt road. A four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended because of ground clearance. This is a great place to camp, to hike to Grapevine Canyon or to just take in the view. Best time to visit is in the fall or early spring. It’s about 15 miles long and will take you through the hills back to Route 95.

Make sure you have a cell phone and bring plenty of water, pardner!

For more information visit www.oatmangoldroad.com.

A Half-Day Getaway

Back to the Old West Photos By Jason Feinberg And Tina Guiomar www.boulevardli.com

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The Need for Speed

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At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

nother thing Las Vegas has to offer is auto racing! The Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located just north of Las Vegas near the Nellis Air Force Base, offers several different events, often at the same time. The major events are NASCAR Nextel, Busch and Truck series as well as dragsters and Legends. The track is home to 600 racing driving schools, the Derek Daly Academy, Drivers Edge, Mario Andretti Racing School, Richard Petty Driving Experience and Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Riding School. Carroll Shelby’s Shelby America is also located at the track. One of the really great things about this track is its proximity to Nellis Air Force Base where you can see some of the most intimidating and incredible aircraft flying over head.

On our visit, we had the opportunity to see Legend car driver Johnny Love (see The Boulevard Oct.-Nov. 2007) racing in the Legend Nationals.

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Photos by Tina Guiomar and Jason Feinberg

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Shadow Creek Golf Course…

Las Vegas Extravagance Hits the Links

By Terrence Jordan sk a golfer for his list of “must play” courses, and you’re likely to see many recurring names. Pebble Beach.

Augusta. Shinnecock. Sawgrass. An educated golfer may even venture outside American borders, naming such courses as Ireland’s Ballybunion, Scotland’s St. Andrews, or Australia’s Royal Melbourne. Only the true connoisseurs of the game, though, are apt to know an incredible course that resides only 20 minutes away from the Las Vegas Strip. This course is called Shadow Creek, and it is unlike any other course in the world.

Shadow Creek is a true rarity in the golf world. Despite being a recent addition to Las Vegas’ bustling golf scene (it was opened for play in 1989 by casino magnate Steve Wynn), the course enjoys a perennial perch near the top of every “Best Courses” list, a position that doesn’t sit well with Shadow Creek’s older and historically richer peers. When compared to other great courses, though, there is no getting around the fact that Shadow Creek deserves every bit of its exalted stature in the golfing community.

No expense was spared in creating Shadow Creek. That’s a luxury not many courses have been indulged with, but not many courses have had a billionaire casino owner as benefactor. The course, which features exotic flora and fauna, also has elaborate water traps, pristine white sand bunkers and fairways that redefine the color green—things not often seen in the arid Nevada desert. The practice area is arguably the best in the world, while even the short drive from the front gate to the tee box is like a guided tour through a verse written by Henry David Thoreau. Much like Thoreau and his Romantic contemporaries, decorated course designer Tom Fazio’s struggle between the natural and the manmade has yielded breathtaking results—a lush landscape teeming with beauty that was cobbled together, not with just a little help from bulldozers and importers. With magnificent mountain views and Las Vegas’ trademark dry heat, Shadow Creek, despite its tropical appearance, has a Vegas feel to it from holes 1-18, and it brings the city’s renowned extravagance to an entirely new level.

Being the top golf course in Las Vegas is sure to attract attention, but Shadow Creek is ironically famous for its discretion.

While many rumors swirl about the aptly named course’s history like a desert breeze on one of its elevated tee boxes, substantiating those rumors with a basis in fact is nearly impossible.

Consider the story that the course was built due to the windfall from a prominent Japanese business owner’s multimillion-dollar losing streak in one of Steve Wynn’s casinos. Another local legend maintains that shortly after its opening, the course was empty for days at a time, as the only way to play was with a personal invitation from Wynn himself, and those were none too

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easy to come by. Shadow Creek’s hush-hush atmosphere has made it a haven for celebrities looking to sidestep the spotlight: Michael Jordan, Matt Damon, George Clooney and James Woods, among others, have all been known to frequent the course’s intimate environs.

The veil of mystery that has shrouded Shadow Creek has thinned in recent years, in large part due to a transaction in which MGM bought much of Steve Wynn’s holdings, including the golf course. Following the transaction, Shadow Creek was transformed from a private club to a resort one, meaning only guests staying at one of MGM’s hotels are able to play. Aspiring Shadow Creek golfers no longer need to rub elbows with the rich and famous to play the course; they simply need the right travel plans (and a wallet that can withstand the $500 greens fee).

Much of the clandestine atmosphere at Shadow Creek remains intact, however—photographs are prohibited on the course, and a Google search for Shadow Creek nets only about 2 percent of the results that a search for Pebble Beach yields. There simply aren’t many articles out there on Shadow Creek, but those that are all agree on one thing: playing Shadow Creek is an experience unlike any other.

Praise and accolades are par for the course at Shadow Creek, but perhaps no holes do more to justify the course’s lofty status than the 17th and 18th. Arguably the two best finishing holes in golf, the 17th and 18th at Shadow Creek are the perfect microcosm for the entire course and its dangerous water hazards, multi-tiered greens, innumerable shot options and radiant views.

The 17th is a par-3 that measures 164 yards from the back tees whose green is fronted by a rippling lake. Four bunkers also protect the green, but the marquee attraction is the towering waterfall that serves as an aiming point to the hole. A diverse array of trees encases everything, further enhancing the feeling of pastoral kinship you and your caddy will doubtlessly share.

The 18th hole is a 527-yard par-5 that features three lakes replete with waterfalls, an elevated tee, a grandiose mountain backdrop, and a long, narrow green that has no problem depositing your ball into one of the aforementioned lakes. The challenge posed by this final hole is nearly equal to its aesthetic beauty. Indeed, to say that Shadow Creek’s finishing hole belongs on a postcard is an insult—it deserves to be blown up and hung in Times Square.

Luckily for vacationing golfers, Shadow Creek is one of the few top courses in the world that is more accessible than it used to be. Simply stay at an MGM property and pack your golf bags, because if Shadow Creek and its over-the-top Las Vegas indulgence aren’t on your list of “must play” courses by now, you may as well crumple it up and throw it in the trash.

Terrence Jordan is the editor of Golfing Magazine.

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AROUND THE TOWNS At the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts Saturday, Dec. 15 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Children will enjoy the Paperbag Players at the Tilles Center.

Paperbag Players in On Top of Spaghetti Hillwood Recital Hall Family Performance for ages 5-9 $20

Saturday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m.

Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway North Fork Hall $65, $45, $30 (Seniors $62, $42, $32)

Sunday, Dec. 16 at 3 p.m.

Holiday and Season Concert C.W. Post Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band North Fork Hall $8 (seniors/students, $5) Available at performance only.

Sunday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

The Russian American Kids Circus.

Long Island Youth Orchestra North Fork Hall $15 (seniors/students, $5) Available at performance only.

Saturday, Jan. 19 at 3 p.m.

Russian American Kids Circus North Fork Hall $30, $20

Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.

Evita North Fork Hall Sponsored by ProHEALTH Care Associates, LLP $75, $60, $45 (Seniors $72, $57, $42)

Single tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.com or tillescenter.org, in person at Tilles Center’s box office or by telephone at 516 299-3100 or 212 307-4100. The box office is open Monday through Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. There is a service charge for telephone and Internet orders. There are no refunds or exchanges on single ticket sales. For the most up-to-date information, visit tillescenter.org. Programs at Tilles Center are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. Long Island University’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts is located on the C.W. Post Campus, Route 25A in Brookville.

December Events at NYIT’s de Seversky Center Brunch featuring Al Cardillo and Friends Sunday, Dec. 16 - Reservations taken from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Enjoy de Seversky ’s famous holiday buffet brunch, along with the sights and sounds of the holidays. The smooth sounds of live music enhance the experience. $29 per person 74

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Breakfast With Santa

Holiday Grand Gourmet

Sunday, Dec. 16, and Dec. 23 Reser vations taken from 11 to 11:30 a.m.

Enjoy a delicious buffet breakfast and create lasting memories with your family while you welcome a visit from jolly old Santa Claus. $29 for adults and $15 for children (3 - 12 years old)

Thursday, Dec. 20 - Reservations taken at 7 p.m.

Champagne, hors d’oeuvres and a five -course dinner, along with unique wine pairings and a live holiday chorus. $125 per person

December 2007 – January 2008

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Old Westbury Gardens Holiday Celebration Friday, December 14 Toast and Tour (5:30–9 p.m.)

After a hectic day at work, plan a visit to enchanting Westbury House. Following an elegant tour enjoy wine, desserts, and live holiday music in the Red Ballroom. Reservations required. $16, $14 members and groups of 10 or more.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Dec. 14 to 16 Holiday Celebration (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Period rooms exquisitely decorated with wreaths, mantelpiece drapes, topiaries, plants and other horticultural arrangements. Also on display will be antique clothes and toys from the OWG collection.

In addition, local music groups will perform in the Red Ballroom. Bring the children to share their holiday wishes with Santa. Call or visit www.oldwestburygardens.org for program schedule. $8 General Admission $5 Seniors and Children (2–12) Members free

Saturday, December 15 Children’s Holiday Tea (6–7:30 p.m.)

A special tea complete with British holiday customs.

Reservations required. $20, $15 members.

Saturdays, Dec. 15 Children’s Holiday Crafts (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.)

Create ornaments to decorate Santa’s tree. After the holiday celebration, the decorated tree will be given to an emergency shelter for children operated by the Interfaith Nutrition Network, a Long Island-based organization that provides food, shelter and other services.

Holiday Concerts Festive performances fill Westbury House with music during its Holiday Celebration. Concerts are included with admission, but seating is limited.

Willets Road School Wind Ensemble: Dec. 14, 11a.m.

Suzuki on the Island: Dec. 15, 1:30 p.m.

Violinist Joseph Puglia: Dec. 16, 2 p.m.

Old Westbury Gardens 71 Old Westbury Road Old Westbury, NY 516 333-0048 www.oldwestburygardens.org

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December 2007 – January 2008

Photos by Vince Kish

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Upcoming Exhibitions and Events at NCMA Geoffrey Holder: A Life in Art, Theater and Dance

Kende Trio to Present Free Holiday Concert

Geoffrey Holder: A Life in Art, Theater and Dance is the first full-scale museum exhibition devoted to the life and work of the extraordinary Tony Award-winning director and costume designer, dancer, choreographer, painter, photographer, character actor and author. The exhibition at the NCMA will run through Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.

NCMA’s exhibition explores many of Holder’s endeavors, particularly as a visual artist, especially his paintings and costume designs. Holder ’s figurative paintings present powerful images that draw on the artist’s Caribbean background and African roots. Visitors will also delight in Holder’s dramatic black and white photographs and designs and costumes for Broadway’s The Wiz and Timbuktu!

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2 p.m.

The Kende Trio presents a holiday concert at NSMA. The program for the concer t, which is free with museum admission, includes works by Mozar t, Rossini, BachGounod, Vieuxtemps and Ysaye. The group consists of Alexis on violin, Christa on viola and piano and Daniela on cello. The trio will be joined by their brother Stefan, a double bassist.

Geoffrey Holder as he appeared in the film Live and Let Die

Lectures In conjunction with the exhibition, NCMA is presenting several stimulating lectures that will serve to enhance the experience of viewing the exhibition’s works.

On Saturday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m., Franklin Hill Perrell, chief curator of Nassau County Museum of Art, presents a talk called Art and Popular Culture, from Toulouse-Lautrec to Warhol. The lecture is at 3 p.m. Perrell will look at how the entertainment theme became almost synonymous with images of popular culture as they appeared in 20thcentury art. He explores role playing by celebrity/performers who may have been serious artists but who were also very aware of their public personas. Special attention will be paid to Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Dali, Calder, Warhol and Red Grooms.

Admission to Perrell’s lecture is $20 (museum members $10) and includes admission to the museum. Space is limited; reservations are a must. Reservations may be made online up to three business days prior to the event at nassaumuseum.com or by mailing a check to Public Programs; Nassau County Museum of Art; One Museum Drive; Roslyn Harbor, NY 11576. There is a $2 fee for reservations made online. Call (516) 484-9338, ext. 12 for information.

Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive in Roslyn Harbor. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Docent-led exhibition tours are offered each day at 2 p.m. On Sundays, from 12:30 to 3 p.m., the museum offers live music, supervised art activities for children and their families and family tours of the exhibitions. Tours and Family Sundays at the Museum are free with museum admission. Admission to the main building is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $4 for children; includes admission to the Tee Ridder Miniatures Museum. Members are always admitted free. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (members free). The Museum Shop and Red Room gallery are open all museum hours.

Call 516 484-9337 or visit nassaumuseum.com for further information.

From Toulouse-Lautrec To Red Grooms Sponsored by Sterling Glen Senior Living Museumgoers will revel in a bounty of 19th- and 20thcentury entertainment-related ar t by giants such as Degas, Toulouse -Lautrec, Childe Hassam, Renoir, Chagall, Maurice Prendergast, Romare Bearden and others. There will be a special emphasis on work by the inimitable Red Grooms. The works will be shown within the thematic contex ts of jazz, dance, film, music and leisure activities. Curated by Constance Schwar tz and Frank lin Hill Perrell and sponsored by Sterling Glen Senior Living, the exhibit is at NCMA through Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.

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Tuning in With WLIW21 New York Public Television WLIW21 New York’s diverse programming schedule is a destination for viewers of all ages, featuring public television favorites from PBS KIDS to celebrity chefs in the kitchen, enhanced by a rich local public affairs lineup.

Upcoming highlights include:

Start the new year right with the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize salute to Long Island native Billy Crystal.

TICKET: Holiday Cooking

Miffy and other characters from WLIW’s Monday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 22, at 11:30 a.m. children’s broadcasting will be at Laura Savini hosts a special edition of WLIW21’s TICKET Barnes & Noble on Saturday, Feb. 9. featuring the best holiday recipes from Long Island chefs.

For details and recipes, visit wliw.org/ticket. Stay tuned all Beyond the TV Set: evening for holiday recipes from Lidia Bastianich, America’s Test WLIW Day at Barnes & Noble Booksellers Kitchen from Cook’s Illustrated, and more.

Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008 – Huntington Station

Bring in the New Year Laughing Monday, Dec. 31, beginning at 8 p.m.

Start the new year right with a night of comedy programming featuring The Second City: The First Family of Comedy at 8 p.m.; the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize salute to Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels at 10 p.m.; the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize salute to Long Beach native Billy Crystal at 11:30 p.m.; and a marathon of Monty Python’s Personal Best from 1 to 6 a.m.

Jews in New York Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m.

WLIW21’s companion program to the national PBS series Jews in America spotlights Jewish families and institutions that shaped the culture and character of New York City, including retail, medicine, politics and Broadway. Tovah Feldshuh narrates.

Storytimes and character meet-and-greets from WLIW21’s popular children’s schedule promote literacy in a fun-filled afternoon of activities. Shop for the gifts you need or that bestseller you’ve been meaning to read while supporting WLIW21. A percentage of all purchases made with the WLIW21 voucher (available at wliw.org) will benefit children’s television programming. Visit wliw.org for schedule of events.

WLIW21 brings you some of public television’s favorite performers live. Visit wliw.org and click on “pledge online” for ticket offers in support of your local PBS station.

21Kids at wliw.org: Games, e-cards and more activities with favorite characters from shows aired on WLIW21 at wliw.org/21kids.

21Video at wliw.org: Free streaming and podcasts of WLIW21 series and specials, and PBS previews of upcoming shows at wliw.org/21video.

Lions and Tigers and Prizes, Oh My! JCC Plans Safari Theme for Auction for Excellence uests are in for an exotic evening of fun and fundraising at the Sid Jacobson JCC’s 13th Annual Auction for Excellence. The live and silent auction is set for Feb. 2, 2008, at 7 p.m. Bidders will be entertained by celebrity auctioneers in a safari-like setting while supporting the JCC’s social service programs. More than 730 guests attended last year’s auction which raised a record $1,056,000. Money raised goes to support Sid Jacobson JCC’s social service programs. Tickets are $90 per person and reservations can be made by calling (516) 484-1545, ext. 136 or 141.

Last year’s prizes included a walk-on role on a hit television series; instruments from rock stars; private jet trips to surprise destinations; sports tickets and memorabilia; exclusive golf packages; Broadway show tickets and special restaurant packages. Dinner and dessert will be provided by Morrell of Woodbury, décor by Great Neck Games and entertainment by A Night to Remember.

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Angela Susan Anton, publisher, Anton Community Newspapers and Media Partner for 2007 and 2008 auctions, and Jonathon C. Held, JCC board president.

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS Tilles Gala Honors

Joseph Ficalora

Of NY Community Bank

T

he annual Gala, Tilles Center’s major fundraiser, is a grand evening that includes a cocktail party, a lavish dinner, a spectacular concert and ends up with a dessert party that gets everyone up and out on the dance floor. The Gala has become the ‘don’t miss’ party of the year, one of the biggest and best of the philanthropic circuit. Gala XXVII honored Joseph R. Ficalora of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and featured Liza Minnelli in her only New York concert this season.

Jack Bransfield, chairman of Gala XXVII and of Tilles Center’s council of overseers, with Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Ficalora and Elliott Sroka, executive director of Tilles Center. Mr. Ficalora was this year’s gala honoree.

Edward Travaglianti, chairman of Long Island University’s Mr. and Mrs. Edward Travaglianti with Mr. and Mrs. Dennis D. board of trustees, with Mary Jurs. Mr. Travaglianti is the chairman of the university’s board of Lai, the university’s treasurer trustees. Mr. Jurs was a co-chair of the Gala’s journal committee. emerita.

Peter Tilles, the founding general chairman of Tilles Center’s annual Swing for Kids tournament, with Theresa Mall Mullarkey, the chancellor of C.W. Post Campus.

Two former gala honorees, George Engelke of Astoria Federal Savings Bank and Gerald Monter of The Holiday Organization, were on hand to Hon. and Mrs. Sol Wachtler with NY State Barbara Nelkin, Chris Bransfield and Laraine congratulate this year ’s Regent Roger Tilles. Judge Wachtler was the honoree, Joseph Ficalora. honoree of Gala XXVI. Adler were dinner chairs for Gala XXVII.

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New York State Senator Carl Marcellino.

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Elliott Sroka, Tilles Center’s executive director, Elliott Sroka, Tilles Center’s executive director; welcomes Gala guests. and Gala Honoree Joseph R. Ficalora.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Klein. Mr. Klein is on Tilles Center’s council International star Liza Minnelli made her only NY appearance of overseers, Mrs. Klein is on the board of trustees of Heckschthis season at Tilles Center’s Gala XXVII. er Museum of Art.

Ira Adler of Certilman, Balin, Adler & Hyman, LLP and Ron Horowitz of Birchwood Associates both ser ve on the executive committee of Tilles Center’s council of overseers.

Dr. and Mrs. David J. Steinberg. Dr. Steinberg is the president of Long Island University. Mrs. U.S. Congressman Gary Steinberg is a member of Tilles Center’s council of Ackerman (5th District, NYS). overseers, www.boulevardli.com

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Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Vision of Hope Event

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n Sunday, Nov. 4, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), Long Island Chapter, celebrated its 19th Annual Vision of Hope Event at the Crest Hollow Country Club, Woodbury, NY. More than 400 people attended to celebrate and honor three exceptional people who have gone the extra mile to make a difference for CCFA and people with Inflammatory Bowel Vision of Hope recipient, Denise Miles, (c) with her family, son Disease (IBD). This year’s luncheon raised more than Patrick, daughter Meghan, husband Brian, and son Christo- $250,000 to support CCFA’s mission of research and educapher (left to right). tion and support for patients and their families.

Chapter medical advisory Long Island chapter president Mitchell Carron presents Shining Master of ceremonies Rick Folbaum, (c) with Hank and Edda co-chairs Robbyn Sockolow Ramsdell, Long Island chapter executive director. and Robert Tepper.

Star Award to Alexa Gura.

Dr. Robbyn Sockolow, recipient of the Distinguished Physi- Shining Star, Alexa Gura (center) with her parents, Stacy and cian Award with daughter Rebecca, son Dax and husband, Lloyd, (back row) and brother and sister, Jason and Chloe (front, left and right).

Brian Maier.

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Indie Spirit in the Reel World

By Francis Leik evin Keresey received multiple offers from well-respected industry agents and producers to sell his feature comedy screenplay The Rat Thing to major studios. The script had been a semifinalist in the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting Competition, which resulted in huge positive audience reaction. He had numerous offers from producers to make the movie with budget between $3 million and $5 million. Kevin would be able to star in the film but would have to drop his cast so they could surround him with “names.” And he would not be able to direct. “I heard over and over again “’Do you know how hard it’s going to be as a firsttime director to act and direct at the same time? Don’t you realize how hard it is to do a comedy?’” he said.

Kevin passed on all offers and set about to find producers to help him make his movie according to his vision. Once again, the producers seemed to want to go in a direction that was different than what he felt was best for the movie. So he became the producer as well.

Keresey’s determination finally secured the financing to shoot and complete the movie his way. He managed to retain the lead role for himself, as well as direct the project.

His tenacity and resilience wound up being a very good thing.

The Rat Thing follows two down-andout friends living in Venice, CA, struggling in social and economic deprivation. Escalating pressures force them to hatch a wild get-rich-quick scheme: One of them would be bitten by a rat in a major supermarket with the hope

K

Isaac Alexander and Marisa Cohen, co-directors of HD-fest; Long Island Film Festival director Francis J. Leik; filmmaker Kevin Keresey and Teri Keresey.

of winning a huge settlement. What transpires is a perfect example of “the best laid plans of mice and men” where reality trumps delusion and, in one comic turn after another, depravity gives way to humanity.

In this first outing as a feature film director, Keresey offers up an extremely well-crafted story that is keenly shot and edited with superb acting, great dialogue and a very funny and touching ending. Keresey’s movie is starting to rack up awards and recognition in screenings at film festivals. At the Dances With Films Festival he received the Film Fusion Audience Award and at The Other Venice Film Festival obtained the Most Excellent Feature Film Award.

He had a crowded and enthusiastic screening at HD-fest in Manhattan held at Sony Wonder Technology Lab, and The Rat Thing received the Best Comedy Feature Film award at the Long Island Film Festival.

Currently living in California, making movies has taken the Long

Island native full circle. With unmistakable fondness for his hometown, Keresey states that “ One of the highlights of the festival circuit so far was a screening at the Long Island Film Festival in Glen Cove, NY, the city where I was born and first fell in love with the movies as a kid. I remember they had three separate movie houses. My friends and I would see a double feature at the Cove, then walk over to the Glen Cove and see another double feature, then go to the Town Theater the next day and see a double feature … That was back in the day when they had shorts and cartoons before each feature, so you were at the movies all day.”

Keresey was asked, and accepted an offer, to be an award judge at the 25th silver anniversary of the Long Island Film Festival 2008. The LIFF is accepting feature length and short film submissions for its landmark spring and summer jubilee at www.lifilm.org

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NOFA-NY Kick Off Party

NOFA-NY Gift Bags

Angela Susan Anton, Hilary & John Block

Carol Higgins Clark, Patricia Jean

Stanford & Sandy Warshawsky

Mary McFadden, Marquette de Barg, Brenda Landry

Katy Mendenhall, Scott Chaskey

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Hartly & Paul DuPont

December 2007 – January 2008

Brian Stewart & Stephanie Krieger

Sharon & Ashley Bush, Patricia Burnham

Lyn Paulson, Richard Mizrack Photos by Tina Guiomar

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Udells and Feckls Fetch Honors At Animal Lovers League Dinner

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he Animal Lovers League of Glen Cove held its 13th Anniversary Dinner at the Swan Club with close to 200 people in attendance. Honorees Candy and Mark Udell and Dorian and Norman Feckl were presented with the 2007 Advocate for the Animals Award. Lynn Nickman auctioned exquisite pieces of jewelry donated by the Udells, owners of London Jewelers. Many members of the veterinary community were in attendance and Animal Lovers League cofounders Ellie D’Amico, Ruth DiChiara and Joan Phillips expressed their appreciation for the vets’ advocacy of spay-neuter programs and the help they give to homeless pets.

County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi joins the Udell family for a photo.

Candy and Mark Udell were honored by the Animal Lovers League.

Honorees Dorian and Norman Feckl are pictured with County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi is pictured with Animal Lovers County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi.

League co-founders Joan Phillips, Ellie D’Amico and Ruth DiChiara.

SLCD Gala Raises Funds to Enhance Language Services for Children

T

he School for Language and Communication Development (SLCD) raised more than $140,000 at this year’s Evening of Honor Gala held on October 5. The event, which took place at the Crest Hollow Country Club, honored community leaders and benefactors who have made a difference at the school by helping to advance educational efforts. The funds raised will be put toward expanding curriculum, instituting specialized programs and enhancing language services for children with disabilities.

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

North Shore Land Alliance Raises Glasses at Wine Auction and Dinner

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he North Shore Land Alliance held its fourth annual wine auction on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the barn at Groton Place in Old Westbury. Three hundred sixty guests strolled around the 200-year-old barn for the wine tasting and silent auction, and then moved into the adjoining tent for the Red and White Dinner followed by a very lively auction. Afterwards, a late set featuring Mad Pursuit entertained guests through the wee hours, rounding off a successful evening in support of land conservation. Proceeds will be used to establish an Carter F. Bales, Chair, North endowment for both stewardship Shore Land Alliance and legal defense and to cover Floreneine Winthrop, Frank Castagna, Megan operating expenses. de Roulet

Beth Werwaiss, Peter Cannell, Julie Rinaldini

Eric Fomell

Sherrill Canet, Luis Rinaldini, Susie Kirk

NYIT Third Golf Outing Benefits Student Athletes

T

he New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Department of Athletics raised nearly $40,000 at its third annual Athletics Golf Outing on Sept. 10 at Stonebridge Golf Links and Country Club in Smithtown, NY. Proceeds from the event benefit the NYIT Bears Den, an annual

fund created to provide alumni and friends the opportunity to directly support NYIT’s athletic program and ensure a quality athletic and academic experience for student athletes. More than 110 golfers participated in the daylong event that kicked off with breakfast, followed by a noon tee off.

Golfers and other guests enjoyed an evening cocktail reception, before a buffet dinner and awards ceremony with prizes, a raffle and an auction.

Former NYIT football player John Sullivan (B.S.’82) is the winning bidder for the autographed Jason Kidd jersey.

Faculty and staff members, alumni, students, corporate sponsors, and friends partici- John Dano, NYIT special events and pated in the third annual NYIT Athletics Gold Outing. Pictured (from left): Mike development coordinator, presents Murphy (B.S. ’82), Don Moscatelli (B.S. ’84), Bill Marrero, Bob Costello (B.F.A. ’84), Sullivan (right) with the jersey during Richard Trabulsi, Vincent, Valinoti, John Kaiser (B.F.A. ’85), and Mike Salvemini (B.S. 83) the live auction.

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Sid Jacobson JCC Thanks Donors At Evening of Gratitude

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id Jacobson JCC held an Evening of Gratitude on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at the North Shore Country Club in Glen Head. The JCC wished to say thank you to its past and present partners and welcome to its new friends. The reception, co-chaired by board members Nancy Waldbaum and Edward Wenger, was an enchanting evening of hors d’oeuvres and desserts. Each donor received a gift of recognition for her or his philanthropy. This event was an opportunity for the JCC to celebrate how it has grown over the past 20 years into a major provider of social services, as well as a cornerstone of Jewish life in the community.

Angela Susan Anton, The Boulevard publisher; Beverly Gelb, JCC director of philanthropic initiatives, and speaker Shawn Gladstone.

Bernice Wenger; Sharon Mullen, commissioner, Nassau Department of Senior Citizen Affairs; Connie Wasserman, LCSW, JCC Dr. Eric Donnenfeld, JCC first vice president; Shawn Gladstone; program director of senior services; Angela Susan Anton, The Susan Bender, JCC executive director; and Wayne Wink, Nassau Boulevard publisher.

County legislator.

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

You Couldn’t Write A Better Love Story

N

elson DeMille and Sandy Dillingham were married on May 19, 2007, in a small ceremony at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Cold Spring Harbor. A dinner followed at Oheka Castle in Cold Spring Hills, New York.

Alex DeMille, Sandy DeMille, James Nelson DeMille, Nelson DeMille, Lauren DeMille, Lauren DeMille

Angela Anton, John Kennedy, Carol Kennedy

Inside of tent

Nelson and Sandy

Exterior of tent and house

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Mary Krener, Sandy DeMille, Lynn DeMatteis, Susan Lucci, Chris Fee

December 2007 – January 2008

At water

Photos by John Ellis Kordes

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CAPS Champions For Children Gala (l to r) Hank and Connie Schwarz, Ed Cortez and Karen Loeffler, Nelson and Sandy DeMille at the Gala dinner.

Bettina and Brian Finn receive their “Champions for Children” award from CAPS Board President, Joseph (l to r) CAPS Board vice presidents Susan Silverman and Roz Kroplick Campolo (l) and Executive Director, Alane Fagin are joined by Exec. Director Alane Fagin, Josh Fagin and Jim Fagin. (right center)

Champions for Children Honorees: (l to r) Michele A. Devine, Financial Advisor, Wachovia Securities, “Rising Star of the Year;” Brian and Bettina Finn, “Champions for Children Award;” Angela Susan Anton, Publisher and CEO, Anton Community Newspapers, “Media Executive of the Year;” John A. Limongelli, President, NRL Wealth Creation Strategies, “Finance Executive of the Year;” Anthony G. Bianchi, Manager, Freedom Mortgage Corp, “Mortgage Banker of the Year;” Karyn Browne, Executive Managing Editor, Scholastic Inc., “Publishing Executive of the Year;” Kenneth Cerini, Managing Partner, Cerini & Associates, “Accounting Executive of the Year.” www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

Fifth Annual About Face: Making Changes Raises Funds for Domestic Violence Victims

Dr and Mrs Andrew Jacono and Drs John and Susan Walczyk

Gerda Schloffen, Gloria Neher, Magdelena Mora, and Constance Schwartz

Honoree Vincent Jelani, CRPC, Ted Gossman, Esq. , Linda Correia, and Chris Merrill Lynch and Dr Andrew Brent Brake, Scott Neher, and Andrew Lerner, Esq. Robbins Jacono

New Ground’s Annual Groundbreakers’ Celebration

Emmet Agoglia Esq., President, New Ground Board of Directors; Shannon Boyle, Executive Director, New Ground; The Honorable Joseph A. Suozzi; Marguerite Suozzi; Sandy Rubin; Jim Rubin; Helene Wrotniak Suozzi; Nassau Assemblyman Charles D. Lavine with Honorees County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi Sandy & Jim Rubin

Vincent Albanese, Esq., Albanese & Albanese LLP; Terry Baydala, New Ground Board Member Assemblyman Charles D. Lavine Edward McDougal, New Ground Board Member and Anglo Irish Bank; Russell Matthews, with Mayor of Glen Cove, Ralph with Honorees Marguerite & Joseph A. Suozzi V. Suozzi Albanese Development Corporation

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Be My Love, The Life of Mario Lanza in Song Is Resounding Success for UCPN

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n Sunday, Oct.14, the Nassau Pops Symphony Orchestra presented its Fourth Annual Concert to benefit the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County, Inc. (ucpn) to a full house at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. Be My Love, The Life of Mario Lanza in Song included a cast of nine talented vocalists who beautifully presented many of the songs immortalized by Mario Lanza. The concert was opened by ucpn’s own singing

group, Creation. The ucpn was pleased to be a part of this concert version of a soon-to-be-released Broadway musical written by award-winning playwright Richard Vetere, and directed by critically acclaimed director Charles Messina. The musical is being produced by television and film producer Sonny Grosso, and legendary music producer Phil Ramone.

Agnes Teill Funk congratulates maestro Lou Panacciulli, below, after the concert.

Nassau Region of Hadassah Plays Golf, Tennis and Cards For Pediatric Cardiology

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he Nassau Region of Hadassah held its 17th Annual Golf, Tennis and Games Day on Monday Oct. 1 at the Fresh Meadow Country Club. The profits raised from the event will go to the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Mother Child Center in Ein Kerem for research of pediatric cardiology. Defibrillators will also be donated on behalf of Hadassah to Kit Benton, co chair of event, Frieda Roseberg, Lisa a local Nassau County Park. Approximately 300 women attended the George, co chair with Jill Levine honoree and her event and were served a sumptuous breakfast after which they played husband Craig their game of choice, then met back in the ballroom for lunch. Women went home with goody bags and raffle prizes, as well as prizes won for various activities. Most rewarding were the smiles on their faces, as they all had a great day and contributed to a Carol Solomon and Marci Wolfson worthy fundraising event. receive certificate from Nassau For more information email Honoree Jill Levine (third from left) with her husband Craig Region President Frieda Rosenlisala60@aol.com surrounded by their family berg for their donation www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

Power and Muscle Challenge Raises Funds for Individuals With Developmental Disabilities

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quinox Fitness Club in Roslyn, NY hosted the Power and Muscle Charity Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 3 to benefit Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE), a not-for-profit agency that provides vital services to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities and/or mental illness or traumatic brain injury. Fitness instructor Pam Polestino led a “boot camp training” to raise funds for residential, educational, vocational and other support services offered by FREE. Boot Camp Training for Charity included aerobic exercise, weight training, refreshments and more. Guests had the opportunity to win Pam Polestino and her Charity Challenge at Equinox Fitness, Roslyn.

Photo by Tina Guiomar exciting raffle prizes and many other gifts.

(left to right): Lauren Rosbash, Jackie Gershwind, (left to right): Hal Markowitz, Barbara Markowitz, Peggy Dolgin, Kal Dolgin, Hal Sachs, Vivian Sachs, JoAnn Schain Jessica Guata

(left to right): Jacqui Rossinsky, Pam Polestino, Jack Rossinsky, (left to right): Ronan Guata, Linda Ugenti, Erik Gershwind, Pam Linda Ugenti Polestino

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SASS Foundation Raises Funds For Cancer Research at Waldorf Gala

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n Friday, Nov. 2, The SASS Foundation for Medical Research held its annual black tie dinner dance in the grand ballroom at the Waldorf. This year the event brought together more than 500 guests. The overflow crowd paid tribute to SASS Foundation co-founders Marty Sass and Dr. Frank Arena. Robyn Jaslow, a cancer survivor and motivational speaker, was honored with the Cecilia Benevisto Award of Courage. Jody Newman was presented with a special Lifetime Achievement Award. The attendees were entertained by the Drifters and Gary (U.S.) Bonds and celebrity emcees, Baseball Hall of Famer Gary Carter and radio personality Valerie Smaldone. Hon. Michael Balboni, NYS Craig Johnson, and Legislator Edward Mangano were among the distinguished guests.

The Sass Family - Lara & Phil Sivin, Jamie & Ari Sass, Barbara & Marty Sass

Gala honorees - (L to R) Dr. Frank Arena, Robyn Jaslow, Jody Newman, Marty Sass Photos by Ben Asen

Hospice Care Network Sees Success in Crystal Ball Gala

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ospice Care Network held its 14th Annual Crystal Ball Gala at the Glen Head Country Club on Nov. 3. Honoree, Dr. Andrew Jacono was presented with the George W. Frank Chairman’s Award. More than $105,000 was raised for Hospice’s Marks Center for Caregivers, a program that provides a variety of services to help patients and their families as they face some of life’s biggest challenges. Close to 250 guests enjoyed an evening of wining, dining, dancing and games of chance.

HCN Chairman of the Board William J. Cunningham, III, Honoree Dr. Andrew Jacono, HCN CEO Maureen Hinkelman The Gala Committee. First Row: Laura McSherry, Event Co-Chair Dede Frank, Event Co-Chair Jane Belt, Pat Mulholland, Romayne Kovach. Second Row: Jan Davenport, Rita Tully, Carol Wessel, Dorothy Greene, Emma Dailey, Suzy O’Connor, Ann Bulgrin, Lindsay Doyle, HCN Sr. Special Events Coordinator Chris Court www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

CMA Helps Extraordinary People Lead Ordinary Lives

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hrough the efforts of a dedicated gala committee, Community Mainstreaming Associates Independence Ball was a spectacular evening which raised $57,000. The Nov. 3 event, held at the North Hempstead Country Club in Port Washington and attended by CMA’s most cherished friends, offered outstanding music, excellent cuisine and fun prizes.

But it was more than just a party. It was an evening about the residents and the efforts to ensure that CMA services continue.

Helping Extraordinary People Lead Ordinary Lives award recipients Linda Petrillo, Heather Aylward and Eric Weigel with CMA’s executive Gala co-chair Ossie Spector is joined by family and friends. director Julie P. Samkoff, C.S.W.

Honorary chair Angela Anton, publisher of Anton Community Newspapers and The Boulevard, with Independence Ball honoree David M. Donnelly CMA president William Quinn of the Quinn Family Foundation is pictured and wife Anne, and CMA executive director, Julie P. Samkoff, C.S.W. with family and friends.

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ucpn Toast of the Town - The Place to Be

he ucpn’s fourth annual Toast of the Town gourmet food and wine tasting extravaganza was held on Sept. 26 at the Chateau Briand in Carle Place. Close to 400 guests enjoyed culinary delights and beverages from more than 35 restaurants, bakeries and wine and spirits establishments while helping to raise significant funds for ucpn. The sounds of jazz filled the air thanks to Levi Barcourt and the NY Jazz Quartet performing in the DaVinci Room and Just Jazz mixing it up in the Saturnia Room. The ucpn is very grateful to participating establishments and to the evening’s sponsors for their generosity. In addition, the ucpn is grateful to the volunteers and prize donors who helped make the event such a success.

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The 2007 ucpn Toast of the Town Committee: Seated from left are Carolyn Kapuvari, Mary Brosky, and Kathy Wilson, event chairwoman. Standing are Joe Mandaro, chairman; Jonathan Knox; Bob McGuire; Ray Murphy; Tony Galano and Charles Evdos

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Mr. & Mrs. Damaini, Mr & Mrs. Sorrentino, Michael & Mary Pallotta, Mr & Mrs Montero, Mr. & Mrs. Kaufman, Joe Lewy, Kelly Barrett

Guardian Brain Foundation Celebrates at Butterfly Ball

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n Nov. 2, the Guardian Brain Foundation celebrated its fifth Annual Butterfly Ball at the Carltun. This year’s theme was a New York Celebration honoring Angela Susan Anton, CEO and publisher of Anton Community Newspapers and The Boulevard, Giovanni Annunziata, Alan Kimbarow, and Golden Guardians Ted and Judy Shapiro. Each was awarded a

Honoree Alan Kimbarow

clock plaque and a citation from Senator Charles Fuschillo Jr. and Assemblyman David McDonough. The foundation was created in memory of Dennis Pitti, who succumbed to a cancerous brain tumor, and Salvatore Pitti, who lost a battle to CJD, a brain-wasting disease. The Guardian Brain Foundation has taken the pain and put it toward making a Morgan Dalis, Golden Guardians Ted & difference in the lives of others.

Judy Shapiro

Giovanni Annunziata, Ralph- Lisa Pitti, Marian Pitti, David Pitti, Mary Pallotta, Michael iella Annunziata Pallotta, Maria Pallotta

Member of Assembly Honoree Angela Susan Back row: Kristen Anton, Dr. Barbara Capozzi, Dagmar Karppi, Tina Guiomar, Ed Anton David McDonough Cortez. Front row: Honoree Angela Anton, Barry & Rita Kay, Karen Loeffler www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

North Shore-LIJ Tenth Anniversary Ball

Robert Kaufman, trustee, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Susan Feinstein and Leonard and Florence Kaufman, associ- Lisa Kravet and Cary Kravet, Janet Raggio and John Raggio, Feinstein, trustee, North Shore- ate trustee, North Shore-LIJ trustee, North Shore-LIJ Health trustee, Nor th Shore-LIJ LIJ Health System.

Health System.

Health System.

System.

(Left to right) Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer, North Shore-LIJ Health System; Kathleen Dowling; Iris (Left to right) Jack Levins; Marjorie Boas Levins, life trustee, Katz, associate trustee, North Shore-LIJ Health System; and North Shore-LIJ Health System; Sylvia Lester, trustee, North Shore-LIJ Health System; and Dr. Louis Lester.

Saul B. Katz, chairman, North Shore-LIJ Board of Trustees.

Ed Miller, member, Board of Directors, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and his wife, Carole.

Legendary entertainer Tony Bennett performs during the North ShoreLIJ Tenth Anniversary Ball.

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(Clockwise from top left) Frank Feinberg; Kevin Dwyer, senior vice president, North Shore-LIJ Health System Foundation; Suzanne Dwyer; and Mildred Feinberg.

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Ronald McDonald House Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Gala

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n Friday, Sept. 28, 300 friends of the Ronald McDonald House shared an evening of camaraderie at the 20th Anniversary Black Tie Gala held at the Garden City Hotel. The event was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Citizens Bank, Bank of America, Newsday, Long Island Pulse Magazine and Anton Community Newspapers. Guests also House managers Charles and enjoyed a cocktail hour, silent and live auctions and a grand prize raffle drawing. The highlight Karen Calma. of the evening was a video presentation featuring people, events and memorable moments in the history of the Ronald McDonald House over the last 20 years.

Pictured are Ronald McDonald Black Tie Gala committee members. Standing (l r): Kathy Bert, Jeanne Ellis, Andrew Laufer, Stacie Rodriguez, Bill Kohut, Theresa Brucculeri, George Keller and Christine Gerula. Seated (l-r): Joy Kastner, Lyn Jurick and Rita Scharfman-Cristallo.

Learning and Luncheon with Planned Parenthood

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upporters of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County (PPNC) gathered at the Garden City Hotel for a symposium highlighting reproductive health issues. At the luncheon following, outgoing board president Audrey Schein was honored as were Ira Weinstein and the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation. The Community Service Award was bestowed on the Garden City law firm of Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman, which worked tirelessly to help the PPNC acquire adjacent property for much need parking.

Kate Bernhard, Marcia Levine and Joan Saltzman

Incoming President CeCe Haydock ( r ) with Nancy Taylor www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

Halloween Bash Raises Funds for Rare Disorder

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n Oct. 25, Ruth and Keith Geismar of Manhasset hosted 425 people at their seventh annual Halloween Bash at Capitale in Manhattan to benefit the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias (NFED). With this event, the Geismars and their team of volunteers brought their cumulative fundraising total to more than $2.5 million since 2001 for NFED, which is the only organization in the United States to provide comprehensive services to families affected by ectodermal dysplasia syndromes. Capitale provided an Halloween Bash Committee amazing and elegant backdrop for the evening, a fun-filled cocktail party complete with a 186-item silent auction, 40-inch HD-TV raffle, and incredible delicacies such as a mashed potato bar, seafood, and tempuraki. The Halloween Bash proceeds will help underwrite NFED education efforts, its treatment assistance program and research.

Peter & Yvette Shukat, Joan Bergman

Charlie & Lorrie Vaccaro, Cindy Lyman, Larry Hanover, Sabrina Simon

The Geismar family – Alice, Bruce, Keith, Ruth & Ryan Geismar NFED Bash Committee

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Deborah Russo, Laurie Knapic

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Annual Fall Luncheon and Fashion Show Raises Funds for Katz Women’s Hospitals

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he Partners Council for Women’s Health held its 15th Annual Fall Luncheon and Fashion Show on Sept. 19 at Old Westbury Gardens. The event, sponsored by Americana Manhasset and featuring the fashions of Valentino, attracted more than 600 guests and raised more than $450,000 that will go toward construction of the North Shore-LIJ Katz Women’s Hospitals.

Other major sponsors of the event included the Jeri Finesilver Cancer Foundation, Susan Feinstein, Elly Hammerman, Dorothy Herman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Iris and Saul Katz, Lilo and Gerard Leeds and Ramius Capital Group.

Jeri Finesilver Cancer Foundation was the event’s Premier Sponsor. Pictured are Maggie Silver; Bea Greenberg; Marge Horowitz; Marilyn Kanter; Rhoda Garfinkel; Caren Hann, president of JFCF; Hindi Bergman; Adrienne Silverstein; Jan Knopf; Judy Zuckerman; Edie Gold and Nancy Horowitz.

Gold Sponsor Susan Feinstein with friends Barrie Rebecca Hollander, state Senator Craig Johnson, mistress of ceremonies Kate Sullivan, Frank and Rita Castagna.

Blumenthal, Bonnie Fenster and Anne Weidman.

Luncheon committee members Iris Katz, with her daughters and Jeanne Balog, Lyn Jurick, Audrey Balog and Dorothy Muchnick. daughter-in-law, Holly Katz, Natalie O’Brien and Heather Knopf. www.boulevardli.com

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LIFESTYLES EVENTS

Fine Art Yacht Preview Party Benefits Nassau County Museum of Art

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he 228-foot Grand Luxe, docked in Port Washington for its New York debut, was the setting for a gorgeous party at which guests mingled as they visited the yacht’s 28 art galleries. Nassau County Museum of Art had the honor of being the beneficiary of the yacht’s opening night. Grand Luxe is the world’s first fine arts yacht; it was completely retrofitted to become 28 museum-quality exhibition spaces for internationally prominent art, antique and jewelry dealers.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur S. Levine, benefit chairpersons, with Constance Schwartz and David Lerner, the event’s Captain Sponsor.

Anchor Sponsors Brendan O’Brien and Natalie Katz O’Brien Carol Wolowitz with Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Cuchel. Mrs. Wolowitz are shown with Museum Director Constance Schwartz (c). and the Cuchels were Nautical Sponsors of the benefit.

Angela Susan Anton, publisher of Anton Mr. and Mrs. Clark Schubach, members Nautical Sponsors Dr. and Mrs. Leonard Community Newspapers and The Boule- of the museum council, were Nautical Freeman are members of the museum Sponsors of the event. council. vard, and Dr. Barbara Capozzi.

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A Class Act NY Is Coming to LI Program Allows Aspiring Actors to Work With Broadway Stars and Industry Pros

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reat Neck native Jessica Rofé had a dream as a child…she wanted to be a professional Broadway actress. She per-formed in all school productions and begged her parents to help her find a New York City talent agent. But her older brother Peter was already the family actor (best known at the time for yodeling in the Peppermint Patty commercials), and Jessica’s parents wanted one of their children to focus on school.

Once bitten by the acting bug, however, there’s little cure. Jessica honed her craft in college, but found her true passion to be education, in which she received a masters degree. In a few years, and after working for talent agencies and as a casting director, Jessica combined her academic credentials and her love of theatre and started her dream company, an acting studio for youngsters and teens in New York City called A Class Act NY. Fortuitously, that was when she met her business partner, Marc Tumminelli. Not only did Marc share Jessica’s passion for the performing arts and for pedagogy, he was also a native of Long Island who had spent much of his childhood starring in local community theatre productions and had taken his passion into adulthood.

Jessica and Marc were kindred spirits. They had the same passions and goals but were unable to find the level of training they were looking for in their communities. And so A Class Act NY was born, to offer youngsters and teens the unique and rare oppor tunit y to work with professionals in the field. The duo tapped all of their industr y connections, including family and friends, to attract some of Broadway ’s best talent, including Tony-nominated ac tors Nanc y Opel and Emily Skinner, to teach with them. Leslie Kritzer, one of the stars of Broadway ’s Jessica Rofé

smash hit Legally Blonde the Musical, is also a regular teacher. Wicked’s Jan Neuberger pops her head in now and again for a Weekend Workshop, as do many other talented performers, casting directors and agents. Jessica’s husband, film director, Gil Cates, Jr., taught an oncamera acting workshop, as well Jessica and Marc plan to bring A Class Act NY to Long Island in the next year. They’re certain from the rave reviews they have received that a program like theirs will be well received. In the meantime, aspiring actors can participate in a one-day Weekend Workshop series with Broadway stars and industry pros in a convenient and exciting professional studio space near Penn Station, or in A Class Act NY’s one-week Broadway Summer Camp, Camp ACA. Call 212 479-8480 or visit www.aclassactny.com for further information. www.boulevardli.com

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C

ome enjoy the experience of AURA One of Long Islands most exclusive Salons & Day Spas.

Specializig in: • • • • • • • •

First time visit, complimentary consultation AURA Hair Colour Emporium 2870 Merrick Road Bellmore NY 11710 (516) 785-7774

Colour Cutting Styling Manicures & Pedicures Massages & Facials Makeup Hair Extensions Bridal Parties

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Tips on Finding Your Perfect Partner For New Year’s Eve

By Maureen Tara Nelson efore we know it, New Year’s Eve will be here. For a single person, celebrating this particular holiday can be depressing and often considered the worst holiday of the year. Amazingly, if you do have someone special to share it with, it’s then considered the greatest holiday of the year. Imagine a single holiday having so much power over us. But it does not have to be that way. In fact, starting today, tell yourself every day, “I will find someone special for New Year’s Eve.” Positive thinking is the first step into changing your destiny - and that goes for anything in your life.

The following can and will help you be more successful in this most important part of your life (finding your right partner).

Let everyone you know you are single and looking for Mr./Ms. Right.

Write a list of 10 qualities you must have in your partner. This will eliminate the danger of “settling” with just the next person that comes your way.

Smile more. Laugh more. Enjoy life more. Realize how great your life is even without having a partner right now.

If you need to lose a few poundslose them NOW! Look in the mirror every morning and tell yourself how beautiful/handsome you are. Not only on the outside, but on the inside too.

Ask a dear friend, “Do you think I could use a makeover?” If the answer is yes, be prepared to get one.

Ask yourself what your favorite

B

hobby is and join a club or team for it.

If you meet someone there, you’ll already have something in common with him/her.

Find something that you always wanted to learn about and take a class in it or go to a lecture on it.

Improve yourself every day. Be realistic with yourself. Look back on your list of 10 things you want in a partner, and make sure you have those same 10 qualities yourself.

By doing these simple tasks, you’re taking charge of your “single life.” I always recommend this to every single person I meet. But don’t get discouraged if you still can’t find the right person after making all of these improvements. You still need these improvements in your life anyway.

Finding the right person really is like finding a needle in a haystack. Give yourself realistically six months of trying it on your own. If it doesn’t work after that, go to a professional.

Next month’s column - all the different ways to meet someone (Internet dating, dating services, and matchmakers.).

As for New Year’s Eve, there’s still time. For more information on how to speed up the process of finding the right person, contact Maureen Tara Nelson, Private Matchmaking, Inc. at 888-31-MATCH or at mtnmatchmaking.com. A complimentary, private appointment is available to you to see if the program is right for you!

Email any questions to Mtnelson@ optonline.net. Happy Holidays to all, and best wishes in finding your Mr./Ms. Right!

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ack in the June edition of The Boulevard we checked out Pure Digital’s Flip Video. A mere few months later, they have made significant improvements, just in time for us to try it out in Las Vegas!

When I tested the first Flip Video, I thought it was great, especially for the price. The only thing on the lower end of the spectrum was that the video quality was low compared to other cameras, but it was to be expected if you compared it to DV quality. Pure Digital sent me their new upgraded model.

The new model is Ultra Slim and is considered a premium camcorder. They have added two colors to the 60-minute model (pink and orange), increased the memory to 1gb (30 minutes) and 2gb (60 minutes), improved the TV quality and included custom movies with MP3 upload and improved editing features.

When I powered up the Flip Video, I was immediately blown away at the improved quality on the LCD screen. I was still skeptical about whether or not the video file quality itself was equally improved.

When I connected the Flip Video to my computer, it appeared right on the desktop, same as last time. I opened the clips and I was very impressed. The video was clean and crisp. We shot the video at night from a moving car along the Las Vegas Strip. The small video camera had no problem adjusting to the constant lighting change. This is definitely a product worth having!

Price for the 30-minute model is $149.99; the 60-minute model is $179.99.

For more info, visit www.theflip.com

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Insightful Astrology: December & January Horoscopes by Maria Vaiano Maria would like to extend a discount of 15 percent off her usual fee for private consultation services to the readers of The Boulevard.

Be sure to visit her website at www.InsightfulAstrology.com.

On Dec. 19 Jupiter, the planet of luck and abundance, sails into your 10th house of career, success and fame, where it will remain for a little more than one year. It’s your year to grab that brass ring and attain all the professional rewards you’ve been working so hard for.

The new moon on Jan. 8 ensures publicity and a new career opportunity. You simply can’t go wrong!

The full moon on the 22nd might bring new love into your life.

Jupiter, the planet of luck, is set to enter your fellow earth sign, Capricorn, and will tour your ninth house of publishing, advertising, legalities and higher learning. This is the year for you to experience an unlimited expansion of your consciousness. There are fabulous opportunities in store and the payoff is certain to be enormous.

Expect a real estate or family matter to finalize after Jan. 22’s full moon.

It’s your year to think big about financial possibilities from sources of income besides the money earned through your career. With Jupiter, the planet of expansion, set to take up residence in your eighth house of shared resources and monies, there’s never been a better year for you to dabble in the stock market or other forms of investing. If you need a venture capitalist, mortgage, or loan, it will be easy to secure. Royalties and inheritances are favored this year as well.

If you’re not married yet, Cancer, wedding bells could ring this year! Jupiter, the planet of luck, is touring your seventh house of committed partnerships. If you’re already married, expect plenty of expansion in your relationship – for better or worse! The potential for a business par tnership is strong this year. A source of income might end after Jan. 22, or you could have decided to invest a large amount of money into business or change your budget.

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get busy.

Leo. Jupiter, the planet of expansion, is in your sixth house of work, health and service all year. You’ll gain tremendous benefits through work. In addition, you should enjoy a remarkable improvement to your health. A new moon on Dec. 9 brings new and exciting creative projects or a romance your way. The full moon in your sign on Jan. 22 signals the end of one aspect in your life. Remember, when one door closes, another one always opens.

Jupiter, the planet of abundance, is due to tour your fifth house of love all year. You’ll enjoy a year with several new lovers or perhaps have a child.

Speculation will go in your favor, so it’s a good year to plan that trip to Las Vegas or even buy that spec property you’ve been eyeing. A new moon on Dec. 9 in your fourth house of family will bring news from relatives about possible expansion in the home, a move, or a new addition to the family.

Expect to move or renovate this year, Libra, because household expansion is sure to be a hallmark in your life with Jupiter, the planet of expansion, touring your fourth house of home and family. There might even be a new member coming to live with you. You will shine in real estate matters, so trust your instincts in that department this year. A full moon on December 23rd could bring an ending followed by a new beginning to your profession.

Jupiter, the planet of luck and expansion, is touring your third house of communication all year. You’ll shine in every contract negotiation, speech or writing project you become involved in. If you’re in sales, expect a phenomenal year, since you’ll have the gift of gab and be able to sell anything to anyone. A new moon in your second house of income on Dec. 9 promises a fresh source of income, and the full moon on Jan. 22 brings glory to your reputation.

With Jupiter, your ruling planet of luck, about to move into your second house of earned income, self worth and values for the next year, you’re certain to be fortunate in money matters. Your revenue will increase dramatically and you’ll see a push as early as the new moon on Jan. 8, which reveals a new stream of earnings. There could be a resurface of arguments between you and a partner after Dec. 31.

Jupiter, the planet of abundance, is in your sign all year, making you the big jackpot winner of the celestial lottery! That’s right, there’s nothing you can’t have so long as you’re willing to get out there and ask for it. On Dec. 23, some of you might decide to leave a relationship that no longer ser ves your needs. On Jan. 8 however, you’ll realize it was the best decision, as new doors will suddenly fly open.

Jupiter, the planet of luck and expansion, is in your 12th house of hidden for the year. This will endow you with profound faith and angels watching over you in an ultra-protective fashion. Your compassion is expanded and the awareness you have of spiritual matters compels you to search for the wealth inside your soul. A full moon on Dec. 23 compels you to break a bad health habit and the full moon on Jan. 22 brings a relationship into focus.

Jupiter, the planet of luck and abundance will tour your 11th house of friends, groups and organizations for the next year. Social contacts and networking are tickets to your success. Expect many friends with benefits this year. A full moon on Dec. 23 could bring a creative project to fruition and you’ll sigh in relief. A new moon on Jan. 8 helps make a dream come true.

www.boulevardli.com

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WINE & DINE Return of the Renaissance at

La Coquille Dining in the Lodge of a King

By Claire-France Perez n a trick of the imagination, the ingredients once assembled for a king of France are being brought together in a cuisine demanding labor, experience and a sense of the world brought to the kitchen by farmers and ranchers. The scene is not much different than it was 300 years ago. A fire roasts venison.

Above it, a traditional cassoulet becomes encrusted by heat, and once again must be patted down (it is said this must be done seven times before end of cooking). A pheasant has been stuffed with mushrooms and thyme. A duck is pressed for confit, and Guinea hens emit a fragrance of herbs and cognac as they are pulled from the oven. Chef Brian Havens looks over his wines, and in the space where busy sous chefs and the dining room staff stand for a moment, each one sips and tastes, selecting the deepest cabernet sauvignon, still high in tannins, for the venison. Everyone in the little hallway tastes, then agrees. “For the pheasant, we have a Côte du Rhônes,” says someone. And again, a glass is passed, a bite is chewed and a selection is made.

At La Coquille of Manhasset, this feat of tastes and viands intended for a rarified, but knowledgeable, audience, is being prepared. There is no fireplace yet, but the ovens and roasting pits are hot, prepared and full of the preferences of hungry modern kings, salivating for the authentic cuisine of France.

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Wild boar, farm-raised venison and pheasant, and the confit of duck appear on the fall menu, constituting a change in direction for the venerable restaurant, established in 1969.

“She’s 38,” says Michael Miller, the new propriétaire of the establishment, of his “lady.” The dining room has hardly changed in all the years since she first offered the cuisine of France, but now she is ready for a change.

“She’s still young and vibrant, a true well of experience and joy to the community,” Miller continues.

“We talk about her as if she were a regal lady, someone whose identity

December 2007 – January 2008

is careful and surprising, and who attracts us still to her side with her wit and femininity.” For the transformation of the restaurant, look for changes to the decor, fireplace, and an institution of a coz y dining room, perhaps most recognizable by the k ings of France for its comfort and elegance.

“A memorable dining experience is often a seduction, blending our needs for nourishment with needs for luxury,” says Miller. The transformation of this lady promises both.

Call 516-365-8422 for more information.

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Vine Speak

By Heather Muhleman

Las Vegas

Desert Oasis Is Tops for Wine

T

he Mojave Desert doesn’t seem like the most ideal place for wine tasting. But when one of America’s most exciting and luxurious oases is flourishing with food, people and money, wine is sure to follow, or even lead the way. Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., in part due to the abundance of high-class entertainment and amazing restaurants. And with world-renowned restaurants and chefs comes a substantial wine menu available throughout the valley. In a recent trip to Las Vegas, I searched out some of the best and most unusual wine tasting that Sin City has to offer.

Aureole

The Wine Cellar

Valentino

The Mandalay Bay is home to one of the most fascinating wine cellars, which isn’t a cellar at all. Aureole’s wine tower is the Mission Impossible-inspired centerpiece of this amazing modern restaurant where “Wine Angels” glide up and down the stainless steel tower on harnesses plucking the patron’s wine choices from the Plexiglas structure. The sophistication and class is only matched by the actual wine list, which includes vintages from all over the world.

The extensive offerings of wines from Austria, Germany and Alsace perfectly match the bold American cuisine developed by famous chef Charlie Palmer. The entertainment value itself is one reason to visit this magnificent dining destination for some wine tasting.

Just off the strip, the Rio Hotel holds Las Vegas’ most famous and impressive wine collection at The Wine Cellar. Rare and priceless museum vintages are housed here for the public to ogle, along with some 50,000 bottles stretched over every wall.

Wines are available by the bottle, glass or in a three -selection tasting flight, sometimes paired with cheese or chocolate. Private wine tasting seminars are also available for everyone to experience an extensive collection of hard-to-find wines, collectible wines and spectacular international wines.

Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino at The Venetian has a monster wine list— more than 24,000 bottles and 2,000 labels to choose from, to be exact. With four wine rooms, private dining options and wines from throughout the world, it is no wonder Valentino won Wine Spectator’s Grand Award and is one of the most admired lists. A wide range of priced bottles, half bottles and magnums are available.

Ask for the dinner and paired wine selections and enjoy one of the best cellars in Las Vegas.

Some other amazing wine places to check out when you’re in the area are 55 Degrees at Mandalay Bay and Delmonico’s at The Venetian.

Off the strip, there is Andre’s French Restaurant and Vitner Grill. With all of the amazing food that has been brought into Las Vegas, it’s no wonder there is amazing wine to be paired with it. Here’s to Las Vegas and cheers to good wine!

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WINE & DINE

Seasons Eatings…

Create a Delicious Holiday Season

By Robert Rizzuto

Holiday Bread Pudding

V

arious pudding recipes, especially bread pudding, have been traditional Christmas dishes since the 19th century. Invented in the 13th century, bread pudding was once known as “poor man’s pudding,” and was created as a means of salvaging stale bread. The bread was soaked in milk or water, with sugar, butter, fruit, and spices added before it was baked. Sometimes, the mixture was housed in a sop, or hollowed-out loaf of bread. Modern bread pudding is made by pouring custard and other flavorings over bread cubes, which is then baked.

Many of our current Christmas traditions, especially culinary ones, can be traced back to Victorian England. Various puddings, including bread pudding, became classic Christmas fare. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Christmas dinner is signified by the presentation of Mrs. Cratchit’s plum pudding, which Bob Cratchit proclaimed was “the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage.”

Robert Rizzuto is director of dining services at NYIT.

Custard 1 quart half-and-half or regular milk 1 cup sugar 1 vanilla bean or 1 oz. vanilla extract 6 eggs 6 egg yolks Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds, and place the pod and the seeds in a saucepan with the milk and sugar (if you’re using vanilla extract, add it at the very end). Bring the milk mixture to a boil.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and egg yolks. When the milk has boiled, remove the vanilla pod. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly. If you pour too fast, you may scramble the eggs. Strain into a bowl and skim any foam off the surface. At this point, you can add your favorite liqueur to the custard.

Bread 2 oz. raisins 6 oz. of French, Italian, or brioche bread cut into half-inch cubes 3 oz. melted butter 5 cups of custard mixture First, preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Bring the raisins to a boil in water and then drain. Toss the bread cubes and melted butter into a 1- to 2-quart baking dish and mix in the raisins. Pour the custard over the bread. Place the baking dish into a larger pan and pour in hot tap water until it comes at least halfway up the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the custard sets. The custard is ready when it has a slight jiggle but is no longer fluid. The purpose of the water bath is to create gentle and uniform heating. Note that high oven temperatures or lack of water insulation can cause the custard to curdle.

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The Almighty Artichoke

Stuffed Artichokes

By Bob Ronzoni rtichokes are a most interesting vegetable as they can be served in a variety of ways from a simple dip with melted butter or flavored mayonnaise with pesto to the more complicated stuffed artichoke. The key to preparing great artichoke recipes is to make sure that you start with fresh artichokes. Do not be so concerned with the size of the artichoke but rather the way the artichoke looks. It should be firm with compact leaves and a plump, full profile. My favorite artichoke recipe is for stuffed artichokes, the Italian traditional method.

As Italian families go, every year around this holiday period is the time for the great artichoke debate. Who can make the best artichoke that is worthy of being served on the holiday table? Pick out the large ones. No, that is not right. The small ones are the most tender. How can you stuff a small artichoke? You have to use only the large ones as everyone likes the stuffing better than the artichoke. That is not so! So the discussion goes on in families for generations and the artichoke is now a victim of neglect and criticism if it does not have the right texture and size as dictated by some families. Can you imagine how today’s extended, multicultural family can talk about and treat the innocent artichoke?

Even my family will get emotional about the artichoke and debate over it. I remember one holiday there were three different artichoke dishes from three different factions of the family that were brought to the hosting family’s house, because each one thought that they knew how to make the best artichoke. The dinner was served buffet style and as you would well imagine each member of the family selected their own artichoke for their meal.

Do you know how you could be punished if you consumed someone else’s artichoke and not the one prepared by your spouse? It would be long ride home. What an emotional dish!

However, through it all, the artichoke stands proudly and upright. Even though it has developed a tough exterior, probably for self-defense, it still has a soft tender side that beckons consumption.

Now it is my turn to share with you my wife’s artichoke recipe. You guessed it. This is the best recipe of the bunch and we are not saying with whom we compare them.

4 Large Artichokes 2 cups flavored breadcrumbs ½ cup Parmesan cheese ¼ cup Romano cheese (optional) ¼ cup olive oil 2 cloves of garlic, minced 3 tablespoons of chopped parsley ½ teaspoon salt 2 anchovy filets, chopped (optional) Prepare artichoke by cutting off stems and remove the tough outer leaves. Wash artichokes under running cold water and shake thoroughly to rid of water. Cut the top quarter of the artichoke and spread the leaves. Now remove the center leaves and spoon out the fuzzy center. Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, half the olive oil, anchovy (if desired) and salt in a separate bowl. Fill the centers and the surrounding leaves with the filling. Place stuffed artichokes in a 9-inch square baking dish and pour a small amount of water to cause some vapor. Drizzle remaining olive oil on artichokes. Cover and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F or until artichokes are tender. Can be served warm or at room temperature.

Serves four.

Enjoy!

A

Bakery

Sweet Shop

Full line of fresh baked breads and treats Pastries & Cakes Wedding Cakes and Custom-designed Cakes are our specialty Custom-made Fresh Baked Gift Baskets

Home-made Ice Cream, Soft Serve Ice Cream, Italian Ices, Gelato and Sorbet Shakes, Sundaes, "Kitchen Sink", Egg Creams and a Fresh Baked Brownie Blast are some of our Ice Cream Delights Home-made Chocolates Gift Boxes of Assorted Chocolates, including creams, nuts and truffles M & Ms in 20 colors Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Café Breakfast, lunch and brunch available Eat in or Take-out Large Selection of Coffees—including Cappuccino and Espresso Smoothies & Daily Specials

A Taste of Home 1992 North Jerusalem Road, North Bellmore

516-486-1670

We have all your Christmas and Chanukah delights Holidays are special times. Make your celebration extra special– select from a wide variety of holiday favorites. Gingerbread houses and Dreidels, Stollen, Struffola, Chocolate Christmas and Chanukah houses, Custom made gourmet baskets and towers of treats are available.

Open 7 days a week from 6 a.m.

WE CATER, SHIP & DELIVER

Corporate Accounts Welcome

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TRAVEL

Take a Journey

to Wellness on a Luxury Cruise

The Silversea Wind in St. Barts

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December 2007 – January 2008

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By Christina D. Morris earsay from the past of bountiful buffets at midnight aboard cruise ships often had holiday makers salivating at the concept. No more! Silversea, whose four ships, Wind, Cloud, Shadow and Whisper are all rated among the finest in the world, claims, in fact, that they were not ever party to the more gluttonous elements of cruising; rather their philosophy for dining led more to portion control, quality rather than quantity, and offering seconds to all guests, while honoring dietary restrictions for a health-conscious traveler. Nevertheless, bountiful buffets aside, today’s cruising can and does present eating opportunities that can be downright challenging to resist. Fear no more, quips the celebrated executive chef Lurent Austrul and food and beverage manager Herbert Wagner aboard the Silver Wind. Spending time with these charming professionals was fascinating. Along with their numerous anecdotes of nutritional eccentricities and demanding culinary details required by some guests, we were truly impressed by the extraordinary efforts and attention to the fine points of culinary policy practiced by the Silver Wind team.

These floating palaces sail to exotic worldwide ports with around 300 passengers. Our recent 10-day cruise on the Silver The fitness center on board Silversea’s Wind Wind departed from Barbados and included visits to the islands of Curacao, Bonaire, St. Lucia, St. Barts and Virgin Gorda. Now that I consider myself a cruiser (I was a late bloomer when it came to cruising, but have made strides in that area), I was determined to watch the calories on this cruise. My pre-cruise research zeroed in on the Mandara Spa and the offerings at the gym, noted the upper deck had a felt flooring and that seven circumferences equaled a mile, the pool, of course, and even more important for my arthritic knees (too much tennis), two whirlpools. The Silver Wind appeared to have all the right equipment for staying in shape, not to mention offerings of golf, diving, snorkeling and horseback riding on our days at shore.

After settling into our suite with balcony, I checked out the Mandara Spa (voted the World’s Best Spa at Sea by Conde Nast Traveler), where the wellness programs are launched. For the casually committed guest, there’s a plethora of daily classes: a power walk; stretch and relax class; and abs, bum and thighs, as well as lectures and classes at different times and days that include yoga, Pilates, aerobics and circuit training. Individually designed nutrition and fitness programs include Body Composition Analysis BCA and the Zone Diet Program, as well as personal training wherein guests will have a personal prescription based on the physiology of their body, the most suitable and effective exercises for their individual needs that can be practiced on board and then taken home in order to continue one’s journey to wellness.

Yoga classes are among the many fitness classes offered

H

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TRAVEL The third wellness program offered is called The 3 Phase Weight Loss and Detoxification Program. The spa provides an informative lecture on the basic elements of this program, which can be launched while on board, and all necessary elements to continue this comprehensive approach to wellness can be taken home. While some guests can immerse themselves in this program, and some do, others find that they are happy just to attend the lectures offered, engage in a BMI (Body Mass Index) analysis, as well as enjoy the health benefits of massages, scrubs, cleansings, etc. The spa uses Elemis brand products, a British firm with a growing following among professional spas around the globe for its anti-ageing skincare successes.

Silverseas clearly wants guests to get the most out of their dining experiences, especially if they have a healthy eating component in their everyday lifestyle. Each menu cleverly adds symbols to each item indicating the dietary components, i.e. heart healthy, vegetarian, low sodium, low fat and kosher. Portion sizes are European rather than American I would say, but seconds are always available. For the guest who absolutely enjoys the diversity of buffet dining, the Silver Wind does not disappoint, with a daily breakfast and lunch buffet in La Terrazza restaurant. We found the pool grill for lunch ideal with a healthy salad bar, grilled fish and steaks, etc. Afternoon tea was a challenge for the calorie conscious, but for us, simply irresistible.

The ports of call on this cruise included islands we had not previously visited. St. Lucia is particularly lovely with its dominant twin peaks that herald one’s arrival. A tour of the island proved historically interesting since the British and the French fought 14 times for ownership with the Brits finally winning; therefore the native tongue is English. A bus tour covered the island’s colonial past with a visit to a hillside mansion, Marigot Bay, and a working fishing village. Conversely, the small, but very chic island of St. Barts is tres French and very hilly as we discovered in a drive around the island. Real estate dominates here as fabulous island homes are rented to celebrities claiming to seek privacy, but who in turn seek exposure, according to the locals.

The beaches are literally per fect on this island and the dutyfree shopping is also impressive.

The Caribbean cruise had a European flavor Healthy desserts for the calorie since the next islands conscious, Apple and Pear Pave.

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The Spa offers a plethora of health giving pleasurable treatments

we visited, Curacao and Bonaire, belong to the Dutch.

Curacao is a delightful island with its colorful Dutch architecture and floating bridges. Of particular interest was a visit to the Hato caves. Here a dramatic collection of grottos filled with stalactites, stalagmites and crystal clear pools is worthy of the many steps one must climb to reach the cave.

A bus tour of the island included a trip over the extraordinary Queen Juliana Bridge that provided a spectacular view of the city. A visit to the local Blue Curacao liqueur factory where we witnessed how it’s made also included samplings.

Bonaire was our last port of call, where snorkeling and scuba diving are at the top of the activities list. Here the crystal clear waters beg to be explored.

Our cruise was one in which we enveloped ourselves in the journey, in the impressive fitness programs, series of lectures and fabulous evening shows. It reminded us of what cruising in the past must have been like where one sailed from point A to B without stops at touristy ports of call … where passengers found the pleasure of cruising was in the journey, not the destination. The Silverseas Wind to the Caribbean provided us with that special journey.

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631-668-2345 t Montauk NY t GurneysInn.com

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TRAVEL

Caneel Bay a Rockresort Gem

By Sara Widness his could easily become a discourse on venture capitalists then and now. But it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, except to mention the late Laurance Rockefeller as one who played the game successfully and whose successes yielded open spaces and national parks around the country that we all enjoy today.

He also helped to create the 16,000-acre Virgin Islands National Park representing nearly two-thirds of the Caribbean island St. John, a cruise ship and shopping destination just a ferry ride away from international air access on St. Thomas.

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Reef Bay Trail Falls

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St. John is favored neither by cruise ships nor by a shop-’til-you- drop mentality. Rather, it ’s about snorkeling, kayaking, hiking and beachcombing in as close to a tranquil state you can find today outside of the tranquility of Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. Hermit crabs, mongoose, goats, donkeys, an errant tarantula and coquis, those tiny frogs that congregate and doubtless copulate joyfully in the trees at night, are shielded here by waterfalls, a lush canopy and carcasses of centuries-old sugar mills and the ghosts of slaves and plantation owners.

But mostly, St. John is about beaches, many secured within the National Park, as are those at Caneel Bay, a member of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

Tom Hitchcock, formerly of Burlington, VT, and proprietor of Bajo El Sol Under the Sun Gallery and Art Studio, advises that locals still argue amongst themselves if the bargain struck between Rockefeller and islanders over a half-century ago was for or against them as regard the divesting of so much of the island. But the fact is that the oft rampant and tasteless development on other islands has been spared here because there aren’t that many throats that money can get its hands around. St. John’s population is only 4,000 compared to St. Thomas’ 50,000. “This island [St. John] will decide if you’re going to stay [permanently] or not,” says Hitchcock.

What’s been created is a dollop of shopping in Cruz Bay where ferries, sailboats and catamarans such as Calypso, that indulges wedding parties on romantic sunset cruises, dock. You may not be able to resist a gold bracelet laced with tiny diamonds from R&I Patton Goldsmithing. Other shops offer designer labels and great prices off-season. All said, boutique-hopping here is strenuous enough to stimulate a lunchtime appetite.

Check out the wahoo salad or lobster tacos at Ocean Grill, run by the brothers Gillfillan from Dana Point, CA. They serve a Virgin Islands Pale Ale infused with mango, probably conceived during a long Vermont winter by two Burlington boys. (Vermont keeps popping up down here, doubtless because Mr. Rockefeller, whose preferred home was in Woodstock, VT, is making sure that those who live in cold climes and who share his sensibilities will know about St. John.)

A favorite dinner place is La Tapa where the chef/owner recently pulled out all the stops and pulled in every contractor friend on St. John to hook up generators (the power was out) an hour before a wedding party was to enjoy a celebratory feast there.

Cuddlefish in Waterlemon Bay. Sea Turtle in Waterlemon Bay.

Sting Ray in Waterlemon Bay.

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TRAVEL Because of the democratization that falls out with any National Park, you’ll find backpackers at Cinnamon Bay Campground (watch out for mongoose dipping into your tent for nibbles) mingling dockside at any number of bars and eateries over sunset drinks with Wimco Villa clients who have descended from their aeries overlooking the splendid sea.

Those staying at Caneel Bay may not want to venture far afield. Robin W. Winks, author of Laurance S. Rockefeller, summed it up circa 1956 when the resort opened: “He (LSR) decided that his guests were to swim, snorkel, sleep, eat well … and take nature walks. There would be no telephones, no air conditioning, no tipping, no locks on doors, no gaudy patio furniture, and everything built would melt into the landscape.”

This is mostly true today, except that there are air conditioning and door locks, guests can obtain phones from housekeeping to use in their bungalows, and dining ranges from pleasantly diverse breakfast and lunch buffets to romantic dining in the ruins of a sugar mill and fine dining at Turtle Bay. Winks goes on to say that LSR would not compromise “good taste, a striving for beauty, and a sense of serenity” for the sake of profitability. Those three elements are still intact in an understated, distinctly retro ’50s manner appropriate to the resort’s original vision.

Fellow travelers shared their impressions … Julie and Pat Ahern and son Cooper, age 3, came to Caneel Bay for, says Julie, “morning coffee, sandcastles, afternoon naps and wine sipping. We’re all tucked in here. Life is too short not to come to Caneel Bay,” she says, reflecting on the fact that her season as proprietor of Ear thgroomers, a

Trunk Bay

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Turtle Bay Estate House

landscaping company in Ridgeway, CO, ends just as her husband’s duties as ski patrol director at Telluride begin. A Hamstead, NC, couple on their second visit to Caneel Bay, traveled with three towheads, age 6 and under, to take a break from sales and real estate responsibilities. “The colors of the sea and sand, proximity to the beach and the joy in the children’s faces when they saw sea turtles this morning made the trip worthwhile,” they said.

Caneel Bay Guest Room

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Fox Hollow Caters To All Holiday Parties

W

hen it comes to catering, Fox Hollow in Woodbury is truly a world apart from the rest. What makes a holiday event truly special? An inviting atmosphere, quality food and exceptional customer service. And there’s nothing like majestic decorations to bring out the holiday spirit in everyone. Fox Hollow features more than 250,000 indoor and outdoor holiday lights, hundreds of poinsettia plants and a hand-carved ice sculpture, engraved with a company logo or icon if requested.

Along with a celebratory atmosphere, a successful holiday party needs exceptional food. Scotto Brothers thrive in serving award-winning cuisine, and Fox Hollow’s executive chefs will even

customize a seasonal menu that is ideal for your event. What’s more, top-notch service is of paramount importance at Fox Hollow, and Scotto Brothers’ staff is trained to cater to every request with care and precision.

Fox Hollow features five rooms that boast exquisite Old-World European ambiance and can accommodate up to 300 people. Immediately next door, The Inn At Fox Hollow has five beautifully adorned banquet rooms that are perfect for smaller holiday functions. As an extra bonus, The Inn can provide overnight accommodations for out-of-town guests.

Book your holiday par ty at Fox Hollow and receive a discount on group rates for overnight accommodations at the hotel. For more information

about Fox Hollow catering, contact Kim Hint at 516 921-1415 or reserve a smaller holiday party and overnight accommodations with Victor Scotto at The Inn At Fox Hollow, 516 224-8182.

Celebrate your bridal event with family and friends at The Inn At Fox Hollow… the perfect venue for all your pre- and post-wedding events.

• Five intimate banquet rooms to accommodate from 10 to 65 guests each • Customized menus prepared by our award-winning chefs • Elegant interior décor and exceptionally landscaped gardens - the perfect backdrop to enhance any photo The Inn is also the ideal location for baby showers, anniversary parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, birthdays, family reunions and more.

Contact our Social Events Consultant at

(516) 224-8182 for event information or overnight accommodations, including luxurious bridal suites and group discounts.

(516) 625-1777 www.perfectweddingplanner.com

7755 Jericho Turnpike Woodbury, NY 11797 (800) 291-8090 www.theinnatfoxhollow.com

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TRAVEL

Seven Stars and Stripes

Town House Galleria: Europe’s First 7-Star Hotel

By Barry Kay he Boulevard staff landed in Milan with the highest of expectations. Town House Galleria claimed to be Europe’s first 7-star hotel. The hotel opened its elegant doors in December of 2006 and is located in the historic location of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy.

Milan is one of Italy’s largest cities and is located in the plains of Lombardy with a population of over

T

Caviar service.

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7.4 million people in its metropolitan area. The city is renowned as one of the world’s fashion and design capitals; the English word “milliner” is derived from its name. Milan is also considered one of the major artistic centers of nor thern Italy and its landmarks include: • The Duomo, the second largest church in Italy the world’s third largest church.

• The Teatro alla Scalla - Milan is considered one of the most famous centers for Opera.

• The Biblioteca Ambrosiana, containing the drawings and notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.

The skyline of Milan is undergoing a dramatic architectural and urban design renaissance. Milan’s new building projec ts have been fostered and accelerated by the city’s bid to host Expo 2015. Projects include a new addition added to the Teatro Alla Scala, along with City Life, the European Library, Porta Nuova, and the Garibaldi Project.

Daniel Libesk ind, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, and Massimiliano Fuksas are among the world famous architects involved in Milan’s transformation.

From the moment our review staff left the airport, they were accompanied by their chauffeur/butler, Vito Lazzazzara, and driven to the hotel in a $250,000 Bentley that the hotel provided. World class service began at that moment and continued upon arrival at the magnificent modern Town House Galleria. The hotel is located in a priceless 1860s palazzo

December 2007 – January 2008

right above the flagship Prada store inside Milan’s famed Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. Upon emerging from the limo, the group was led into an elevator that took it to a marble entrance into the hotel. There they were greeted by an elegantly attired hotel staff that was both charming and enthusiastic. The magnificent hotel lobby floor is made of the finest oak parquet and the walls of the lobby decorated with a rainbow of subtle colored paint and beautiful fine art and statuary.

The team was immediately taken to its magnificently decorated accommodations. Mr. Lazzazzara offered service that was unobtrusive, dedicated and highly addictive. He opened the windows of their suite and made them aware of the one-ofa-kind location that exemplifies Town House Galleria. The hotel is strategically located in one of the most fascinating and historic cities of the world, and overlooks the sites where aristocracy and the rich and famous meet, shop, and dine. The hotel offers 24 luxuriously appointed suites,

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decorated in understated elegance highlighted by priceless works of art in each suite. Each suite has the latest in high-tech computerized gadgets to provide comfort and efficiency to tourists and top executives on the go.

Prior to the arrival of our team, they had been contacted by their designated butler to make sure that every one of their needs would be met. The extensive list of preferences included shoe sizes, thread count of the linen, room temperature, as well as preferred music style. At Town House Galleria even the most demanding superstar’s desires can and will be accommodated.

Staying in one of the style capitals of the world enticed our review team to tour the charming boutiques and galleries below the hotel. After a few hours of touring and shopping, the team returned to sample the award-winning cuisine of the hotel. Town House Galleria’s “in house” restaurant is not open to the public and offers complete privac y as well as customized gourmet cuisine. All meals are exquisitely personalized, with an elegant seamless service unmatched throughout the world.

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Town House Hotels are managed

by Planhotel Resorts and Hotels, a relatively new luxury brand designed for the sophisticated business and leisure traveler. Alessandro Rosso, the owner, is a visionary entrepreneur with a charming personality

and professionalism based on exper tise and education. The management of the Town House Galleria has accomplished for its high profile guests a lasting memory of unequaled luxury and “out of this world” service and amenities.

Butler’s shoe service.

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HEALTH Getting a Dog for the Holidays?

How to Pick the One That’s Right for You and Your Family

By Dr. Diane Levitan o, you have decided to introduce a new child into your family. You are certain that you have the time, financial means, patience and permission to bring a life into your home and care for it until death do you part. You have accepted the responsibilities of walking, picking up poop, cleaning up urine and vomit, dealing with torn shoes or pillows, training, feeding, trips to the veterinarian, cost of care, and you are certain there are no allergies to contend with. Congratulations, you really are ready to bring home a new dog!

Consider the following factors in picking out the dog that is right for you. Your answers should help narrow down your choices.

Do you want a dog to have a specific purpose, such as a hunting partner, a guard to protect you in your home, a companion to enjoy agility or behavior training with, or strictly as a wonderful companion to share your life regardless of your activity?

What size dog do you envision?

Anyone can handle a big dog if the dog is well-trained, and big folks can enjoy small dogs. There is no stereotype— just get what makes you happy.

The amount of space and activity level you can support will limit the type of dog you should have. If you do not have a large amount of space indoors or out, consider a smaller dog. If there is ample space, you have many more options.

What is your activity level? If you are very active and want a jogging partner, your choices will be different than if you are seeking a more sedentary dog.

All dogs need exercise, but some need more than others.

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Are you willing to invest in grooming your dog? Some dogs require no grooming, while others benefit from regular brushing and some require regular hard-core maintenance. Many people do not realize that some of the cuties they see running around are so adorable because they get coiffed weekly.

Are you tolerant of animal hair? All dogs shed, but some less than others. If shedding bothers you, you will limit your choices right away to dogs with hair that falls out less frequently. And please do not believe any gimmicks that state a product will stop shedding.

That’s just not possible.

Do you get a male or female dog?

Unless you plan to breed your dog, all dogs should be spayed or neutered to prevent unwanted behaviors and progeny. Male and female dogs do have different behavior patterns; however, for the most part, the personalities you get are potluck— with love

December 2007 – January 2008

and proper training, the sex of the dog is unimportant.

Is the age of the dog important to you? Is your heart set on a puppy that you will need to train or are you looking for a house-trained adult?

There are many advantages to getting older pets that you may not have considered. For instance, with an adult dog, what you see is what you get.

With a puppy, you can only guess what it will develop into! Additionally, adopting an adult means saving the dog from a bad alternative—which is rewarding in itself.

Do you want a purebred dog or a mixed breed? Realize that the Cockapoo and the Labradoodle are true mutts at their best. If your heart is set on a purebred dog, then go that path, but always remember that breeders have very little control of their product and that luck has a great deal to do with the pup you end up with.

If you feel you don’t have the knowledge to make a decision, talk to trainers, veterinarians and other pet owners.

Learn as much as you can about the different types or breeds of dogs. Most importantly, spend time with the dog before you bring it home. Let your heart make the final decision, but please remember, above anything else, that love is not enough – you must be a responsible parent to your new family member for its entire life.

Dr. Levitan is the owner and director of the Center for Specialized Veterinary Care in Westbury, NY. She is a board cer tified specialist in small animal internal medicine. For more information visit www.vetspecialist.com or call 516 420-0000.

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12/3/07

7:37 PM

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Handling Holiday Stress

By Barbara Capozzi, D.O., CNS, CHT hanksgiving is over and whether you celebrate Chanukah, Christmas or both, there’s plenty of planning to do for the holiday season. From here on in, you’ll be on a whirlwind from A (addressing envelopes) to Z (zipping kids off to school), and in between, you’ll be hosting dinners, running to holiday celebrations, and going to your work/company party. Then, of course, comes long days of shopping, deciding what to buy for whom, and finally finding the time to get it all done. You might say, “’Tis the season to feel stressed,” but this season, add stress relief to the top of your holiday list. Learn healthy ways to deal with the additional craziness that the holidays bring.

When you get overwhelmed or feel stressed, you experience physical and psychological symptoms. That’s because your stress hormones are released. This causes your cardiac and respiratory systems to speed up, so that your heart rate, blood pressure and rate of breathing rise.

Your muscles tighten. Your “fight-or-flight” or your “stress response” takes over. With repeated or chronic stress, you may experience muscle tension, anxiety and difficulty performing well.

Tell your doctor if you are experiencing stress or anxiety. If you have respiratory or heart problems, check with your doctor before beginning deep breathing or relaxation techniques.

Deep breathing (diaphragmatic breathing), visualization and imagery are all healthy strategies to alleviate the stresses of everyday life. By becoming familiar with these terms and continuing to learn more about the different techniques, you can increase your list of healthful ways to help manage stress. Reaching out to a friend and therapeutic massage are considered healthful behaviors vs. smoking, overeating or lashing out, which are unhealthful responses or behaviors.

Deep breathing is the starting point for many self–care methods. It sets the stage to slow your mind and body and allows you to start to relax. Try to be open-minded about adapting deep breathing into your lifestyle.

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How to do deep breathing Sit comfortably in your chair with your back straight. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out. You can breathe out through your nose or your mouth.

To make sure that you’re breathing correctly,

place your hand below your navel (belly button) and feel it rise as you inhale. Continue to sit quietly. Take a deep breath in, hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale for a count of 5.

Do this a few times. Stop if you become lightheaded. Practice doing this at home.

Remember to do deep breathing After learning how to do deep breathing, the next step is to know when to do deep breathing. Make a list of the specific triggers that are at your workplace, home and elsewhere. It might be seeing a tall stack of papers on your desk when you arrive at work in the morning, the simultaneous ringing of your cell and land phones or waiting on line at the store. Once you’ve identified specific sources that occur frequently, try to remember to utilize deep breathing the next time you’re in that situation. It will give you time to step away and return to what you were doing with a calmer approach.

Visualization Visualization is a technique or an exercise that allows you to use your imagination to see something. For example, close your eyes and picture a flower. What kind of a flower do you see? What color are the petals? Do you see the stem or leaves? The more you focus on the flower, the more details you will be able to describe. Make a list of five items to practice your visualization. Focus on their details: color, shape, texture, etc. You may want to practice visualization before you try imagery.

Imagery Taking this a step further, creative visualization or imagery is using an image that you picture in your mind that will help you to relax.

You can use your imagination to picture a scene, a place that you have been to, or an experience that is peaceful, happy or positive.

The most important thing is to pick a scene that makes you feel safe and comfortable. If you choose a garden, then really focus on a scene of a garden. Use your mind’s eye to focus on details of the flowers, the ground and the sun. Notice the colors, the sounds and the fragrances. Now imagine yourself being there. Picture what you look like and imagine your body and your mind feeling completely relaxed and peaceful. Hold on to that feeling. As you breathe in, focus on breathing in “peace and calm” and breathing out “tension and anxiety.” Do this for five or 10 minutes. When you’re ready, slowly count down from 10 to one. Then open your eyes. This requires practice. Remember that deep breathing is a way to ease into creative visualization.

The key is to first be open–minded about using deep breathing. Remember to stop and breathe, to slow your pace and to choose a healthy way that fits into your lifestyle to deal with the cause(s) of your stress.

Don’t let a hectic holiday schedule get the best of you. When you’re on a long line at the register, or online via Internet and the site suddenly goes down, instead of becoming overwhelmed with frustration, pause for a moment and just take a few deep breaths. You can’t call on Santa’s elf to get you through the holiday rush, but you certainly can tune in to yourself when the going gets tough!

For High Quality Orthopaedic Care, Visit the Surgeons of ISK

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ith their new office now open in Garden City, NY, the world-renowned surgeons of The Insall Scott Kelly Institute (ISK) for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine just became more convenient for Long Islanders. The ISK surgeons pride themselves on offering patient-specific treatment options for all musculoskeletal ailments. By providing the highest quality of care, their patients can quickly return to a rewarding and active lifestyle. Advances pioneered at ISK are being utilized worldwide and the ISK physicians continue to be instrumental in developing new innovative surgical techniques by using the latest technology. Visit the new office in Garden City at 1001 Franklin Avenue or call 516 801 8400. ISK also has offices in Manhattan and Bay Shore NY.

www.boulevardli.com

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12/4/07

7:58 AM

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HEALTH

Cosmetic Surgery Corner

By Stephen T. Greenberg, M.D.

Dr. Stephen Greenberg: At the Forefront of the Cosmetic Surgery Industry

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top by Dr. Stephen T. Greenberg’s office on a Tuesday night and you’ll probably find that the reception area is standing-room only – filled with women and men who have come to schedule procedures to make them look slimmer, younger or sexier.

There’s no doubt that Dr. Stephen Greenberg is clearly at the forefront of New York’s cosmetic surgery boom.

Dr. Greenberg is a perfect example of how cosmetic surgery has become a full-service phenomenon. He has authored a definitive book on cosmetic procedures, A Little Nip, A Little Tuck, and just launched a new anti-aging skin care product line this winter called Cosmetic Surgeon in a Jar. Dr. Greenberg’s new line of skin care products combats aging and wrinkles, and was formulated after more than five years of extensive research and development.

For Dr. Greenberg, who wanted to be a doctor since his teens, being a plastic surgeon is very gratifying. “I always wanted to help people. With cosmetic surgery, you observe results quickly and watch your patients obtain immediate gratification. It is wonderful seeing people who are happy with their results, both physically and emotionally.” In his practice, Greenberg often sees patients who worry about seeming superficial or self-centered when they fret over their imperfect nose or their small breasts. Aren’t there more important 122

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things in the world? Yes, says Greenberg, but if people can afford to look and feel better, why not? “Most of the surgeries are safer and less expensive, with a much quicker recovery period than years ago,” says Dr. Greenberg. “So if a woman is unhappy with droopy breasts, why not get them lifted...rather than worry that she’s being petty about her looks.

Why not feel better?” In 2007, silicone -filled implants were approved by the FDA for use in women who are 22 years of age or older. This gives women an even broader choice for the best result in breast augmentation.

The five most popular procedures at Dr. Greenberg’s practice are breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid lifts, nose reshaping and tummy tucks. Dr. Greenberg is a pioneer with regard to medical advancements. His office is the first in the U.S. to use the most advanced version of SmartLipo, an enhancement to traditional liposuction that completely minimizes a patient’s down time and further improves their results. Dr. Greenberg also believes in supplementing plastic surgery with safe, non-invasive procedures like VelaSmooth for cellulite reduction, Refirm Skin

December 2007 – January 2008

Tightening, Body by Thermage, Botox Cosmetic or Restylane...

Often sought after by the media for his expertise in cosmetic surgery, Dr. Greenberg was asked to host a radio show about plastic surgery approximately six years ago. He currently hosts a plastic surgery radio show on KJOY, 98.3 FM, every Saturday evening at 10 p.m. Yet, to Dr. Greenberg, the most important aspect of being a plastic surgeon is, of course, the patients. “I am a perfectionist, and I strive to get the best results for every patient,” notes Dr. Greenberg. “ I hope to achieve the Wow! effect, as in ‘Wow! I look great’ and ‘Wow! that was easier than I thought’.” Dr. Greenberg practices in Woodbury, Long Island, and on Park Avenue in Manhattan. He offers complimentary consultations on cosmetic surgical procedures, which can be scheduled by calling 516-3644200. If you have a question for Dr. Greenberg, you can send it by email to docstg@aol.com. Or visit his website, www.GreenbergCosmeticSurgery.com

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8:00 AM

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Skin Deep

By Deborah S. Sarnoff, M.D.

Deborah S. Sarnoff, M.D., with offices in Manhattan and Greenvale, LI, is a pioneer in state-of-the-art cosmetic dermatology, lasers and Mohs surgery for the treatment of skin cancer. An associate clinical professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center and vice president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, Dr. Sarnoff has demonstrated her procedures on the Today show, 20/20, Good Morning America, Dateline and The View. Dr. Sarnoff is co-author of Beauty and the Beam and Instant Beauty: Getting Gorgeous on Your Lunch Break. For additional information, call 516 484-9000 or visit www.cosmetiqueMD.com

Turn Back the Hands of Time

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ight creams and serums. Moisturizers and peels. While the wrinkles around our Dr. Deborah Sarnoff eyes may get a lot of attention, many times it’s our hands that are a dead giveaway to our true age. In comparison to men, women’s hands have thin skin. The tops of our hands face outward and get a lot of sun exposure over time – unlike the palms, which are made of thick skin that faces toward the body and is protected from the sun. To add insult to injury, the tops of our hands are chronically exposed to the elements, which can lead to dry, chapped hands, especially as the weather gets colder.

We spend a small fortune on weekly manicures, beautiful rings, bracelets and watches, but if our hands are not aesthetically pleasing, what’s the point?

Everyone deserves to have great looking hands. Here’s an easy threestep plan of action:

2 – Address the crepe-like texture of the skin Just as the skin of our faces gets thinner and looser with age, the same can be said for the sagging skin of our hands. How can we improve their appearance?

Professional Treatment: A series of treatments with the right laser (e.g., fractional resurfacing with the Affirm or Fraxel) can effectively tighten and thicken the skin.

These types of lasers are designed to release energy that penetrates beneath the skin’s outermost layer to stimulate the body’s own natural production of new collagen, resulting in firmer skin. Healing occurs quickly, with minimal downtime.

Home Treatment: Nighttime home treatment should include a vitamin A prescription cream, such as Renova 0.02 percent.

3 – Address the veiny appearance 1 - Address the brown sun spots Brown spots on the outer aspects of the arms and tops of the hands are usually benign sun spots, also known as age spots or liver spots (because they resemble the color of liver). These flat, brownish tan spots result from chronic exposure to the sun. They represent the body’s attempt to protect itself from sun exposure by overproducing melanin.

As we age, the pigment cells in our skin clump and collect in localized areas instead of being evenly distributed; they accumulate on the skin, like ladybugs.

Professional Treatment: Traditionally, age spots were treated by freezing with liquid nitrogen, applying acid washes, or using bleaching creams. While these techniques helped lighten the spots, they often could not completely eradicate them. Nowadays, age spots can be easily and permanently “zapped” with a pigment-specific laser, such as the Q-switched ruby laser. After a laser treatment, there will be tiny crusts for about two weeks that can be covered with makeup. If you are considering a laser treatment for the removal of brown spots, it is very important to see a board-certified dermatologist skilled in this technology to avoid permanent white marks or scarring.

At Home: Remember to always apply a high SPF sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) to your hands after treatment to avoid the development of additional spots.

Veins are greenish-blue in color and become more obvious as the overlying skin thins. There is no need to remove these veins because we have wonderful fillers today which can be easily injected through the skin on the top of the hands to add bulk to cover the veins. The filler is injected with a tiny needle and is virtually painless.

Professional Treatment: Radiesse, made of calcium hydroxylapatite crystals (the same mineral found in our bones) is a wonderful filler. It can be injected in a single visit for instant correction which lasts for one to one and a half years. Sculptra (poly-L-lactic acid) can also be injected over the course of a few sessions to slowly bulk up the thickness of the skin.

At Home: Be sure to wear cotton-lined or rubber gloves when doing housework and keep moisturizers such as Eucerin or Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream near every sink in your home to reapply after hand washing.

The above professional treatments – lasers and injectables – can be combined in a single visit. The advent of new laser technology and advanced fillers can dramatically improve the appearance of unsightly veins and restore fullness to your hands. But don’t forget to wear outdoor gloves, especially made of leather, during the winter months for maximum protection.

Now go out and buy a new bauble to show off your new hands … and enjoy!

www.boulevardli.com

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HEALTH

Health Watch

By Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum Director, Women and Heart Disease Heart and Vascular Institute Lenox Hill Hospital, New York

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Investing in Your Genes

was recently photographed at a party. My arm was enthusiastically slung around the neck of the host and, my right ear, poised, was the only part of my face not cropped from the picture. I was focusing on someone else. It served me right to be cut off like that. I wasn’t truly there. I wasn’t in the moment, and that right ear and casually slung arm will never let me forget it.

Some of us live our lives like this. Here, but not here; part in, part out. It is sort of noncommittal, not invested in a moment, an activity, a job, a marriage, a relationship, an emotion, or even a life. I think we’ve all experienced this on some level: a stagnation or disconnection of emotion. In the extreme, some of us spend our entire lives without commitment or investment.

A patient I have known for many years recently came to my office for her first full extensive cardiac evaluation. We had been managing her high cholesterol and high blood pressure for years, but it wasn’t until recently, when unusual symptoms began, that we performed a complete evaluation and focused on her coronary arteries. One day I gave her the good news that we had successfully stopped the progression of plaque in her arteries. After I did, her face dropped. She paused, she looked up, she looked down, she hesitated and asked, “So I’m not going to die?” Apparently, this was her year to die, the point at which her clock was up, the year her mother had suffered a massive heart attack and the year she assumed was going to take her life … the year that has kept her paralyzed and kept her “half in” the whole time.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen this.

I’ve had patients and friends whose

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fathers’ or mothers’ lives were prematurely taken, and many of them live on the brink of their own untimely death.

They spend their existence just waiting for the end. We get so much from our families, including their genes, but our genetic predisposition doesn’t necessarily predict our lives or predispose us to our demise. ’Tis the season, so they say, filled with family gatherings and joyous celebrations. All of us go through the holidays barraged with emotions. We enter into the world of giving, receiving, and reminding us where we came from. It is the time once a year that those of us who are lucky get to be with our families, for better or worse. Those quiet quips from your mother and stern disapproving nods from your father, or perhaps those passive -aggressive remarks from your brother, take you down a tunnel of genetic resentment and remembrance. This is universal, and par t of being fully invested. The emotional and the medical history—it’s all part of where you come from and how you got to where you are.

I grew up with a guy whose dad died at 35 years old, when my friend was about 13 and before I had met him. He spent his life slightly reckless and a bit detached, a rebel without a cause and a bit of a loner. As years went on, his bad boy demeanor gained him extensive attention from the girls. But he remained alone. It wasn’t until recently that I found out why at 45, he remains isolated and indifferent. He thought he was going to die at 35, just like his dad, and didn’t.

This reality has sor t of altered his concept of life. Finally, he underwent an examination dispelling his fantasies that

December 2007 – January 2008

he was a walking time bomb. The reality is that he never needed to accept his father’s fate as his own. Part of being invested in life is acknowledging your genetic pool, but not necessarily succumbing to it.

Those comments from your brother are simply stabs of jealousy and the quips from your mother are ultimately ways of trying to re-connect and be part of your life. And your father probably just can’t express how much he loves you. Accept your genes, understand them, analyze their role in your life. You come from a family, which is a huge thing to be invested in.

Accepting your genes partially means accepting yourself and who you are. This knowledge is the most empowering, because it allows you the ability to make choices or figure out your own risk before it hurts you. Fourteen percent of families that have a strong history of heart disease account for 72 percent of all premature deaths. In fact, almost 50 percent of all major heart attacks occur in these families. The reality is that screening and understanding your own risk could prevent more than 80 percent of these heart attacks and change the outcome of your life. Ignoring genetics doesn’t make it go away and not accepting who you are doesn’t change your destiny. Embrace it all, become part of it, control it and learn who you are so you can incorporate your genetic profile into your decisions.

Don’t ever let yourself be quasi-there, or somewhat involved. Knowledge is power. Knowing your genetic gift does make you who you are, but does not ever determine your destiny. You have control over your choices. Nothing is pre-determined or pre-destined. Enjoy the holidays, enjoy your loved ones and participate in the art of living. Take the camera in your own hands, and snap the photo, knowing you have made the choice about which picture to take and from which angle.

Happy Holidays, from the bottom of my heart.

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8:04 AM

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Visit our new Garden City Location

The ISK Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine will get you back in the game fast.

Surgeons offer patient specific treatment options for all musculoskeletal ailments.

Nobody enjoys being ‘sidelined’ for an orthopaedic problem. The compassionate, wellrespected surgeons of The ISK Institute are among the foremost leaders in orthopaedic care and trusted by many of the world’s leading athletes. Together, they continue to be instrumental in developing cutting-edge surgical techniques used around the world.

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8:07 AM

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ART Two Worlds Collide…

A Commercial Artist Finally Gets a Break

By Tina Guiomar alvatorina Clemente, who is a training support technician by day, utilizes her unused creativity by creating fine works of art at night. As a little girl, she always doodled with pen and paper, a trait she cultivated from her father, who had a knack for drawing cartoons. Her influences began with the foundations her high school art teacher created by handing her a fine art book on Salvador Dali, thinking that the two had similar qualities of creating very surreal compositions. Sali remembers drawing a picture of a morphed figure, half snake, half woman. Prior to Dali, her influences were drawn from heavy metal comics.

As an immigrant’s daughter, she had a financial obligation to the family and decided to attend the Art Institute of Philadelphia to study commercial art. This was before computers, so all creations were done by hand. The teachings focused on advertising: art as a commercial basis.

Her entry into the other side of art started with the blank canvas of her apartment. What better way to create than for yourself? As she filled her walls with art, she gained a thirst for the artistic expression that began the foundation of what she has accomplished today. Her early work, from 1999 to 2001, consisted of body compositions similar to Frida Kahlo and Keith Haring. Her piece Trapped was created with the song Wall Crumbling Down by Tracey Chapman in mind. Occurring at a time when her father was getting a heart transplant, her emotions and the music combined to display how she was feeling.

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Faith – Oil on canvas.

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December 2007 – January 2008

In 1998, a transition between careers gave Saly the perfect oppor tunity to enrich and finely develop her work. A friend offered her a place to stay in France. During this period, she started using a painter’s knife to create a rough style to her compositions.

The series depicts her time in France, ranging from everyday pictures of street people to portraits, which gave her the artistic confidence she needed. It worked to her advantage; her series was selected to be showcased at the Town Hall in Marseilles, France, for its annual art exhibit.

Currently, Saly’s work creates a look very different from her previous pieces; she now paints flowers. She remembers a time her mother said, as many mothers say to their children, “Why don’t you paint a pretty picture, like flowers?” Subconsciously, Saly decided to paint a composition that would sell, something pretty to hang on the wall.

With restrictions on time before a show, she bought some squeezable paint and just started doodling with it; she was able to produce six paintings very quickly. The floral series sold successfully at her show. The technique over time was not so easy to produce; the stream of paint that comes out is never predictable, and there is always the possibility of getting an air bubble and having to start over. The best part about the pieces is that each one is unique. She enjoys creating these 3-dimensional floral compositions and says the experience is like “decorating a cake,” the lines are above the canvas and create different light reflections.

Saly urges all developing artists to gain confidence and exposure. No matter where you live or what your financial means are, she believes you can build a career out of what you take pleasure in.

With perseverance, connections and a realistic grasp of what collectors appreciate, Saly is sure to become a staple in the art community. She will one day be able to dissolve her commercial lifestyle and just focus on the fine art expression that is breaking out of her split existence.

Saly is currently working on a show for a local hotel for a First Friday Exhibit, and she will be developing and utilizing her technique on figures.

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www.boulevardli.com

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8:18 AM

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MUSIC

Love Rules With the First Sisters of Rock Royalty

By Tim Sullivan have Nancy Wilson’s guitar pick. I picked it up off a conference table at Q104.3 as she was preparing for an in– studio performance and interview with her sister Ann and their band. I am lucky I didn’t drop it the way my hand was shaking so much as I quickly tucked it in my pocket. I was in the room with the Wilson sisters, the voices and faces of the legendary rock super group Heart, and boy, was mine beating fast. So I put the pick on my keyboard as I am writing this piece in the hopes I can capture some of the fascination and reverence for two of music’s most important siblings and measure the impact the Wilson sisters have on any woman fronting a band.

Ann Wilson, the lead singer and co-songwriter for Heart, released her first solo record Hope and Glory this past Sept. 11.

The compilation is 11 cover songs from icons such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Elton John and John Lennon, with one original song.

Heart recently finished a U.S. tour which featured a spotlight on Ann’s solo work. The band guested The Boulevard for its Atlantic City show and then was very generous with its time as each sister granted separate interviews about all things Wilson and all things Heart.

I have been a fan since I was a very young boy so to spend time talking about their careers with my heroes took me back to age 14 when I snuck out to see them at Continental Arena in 1987. As with most things in life, it’s never quite as you expect and my discussions with Ann and Nancy were as much about their great music as they were about parenting issues and other funny life nuances that grownups go through. Heart has sold upward of 30 million records and achieved more than 20 top 40 hits. As a female-fronted hard rock band, Heart broke barriers in a male-dominated music industry and showed that an estrogenfueled fire burns as hot and rocks as hard as any boy’s guitar club can. Yet for all their achievement and talent, the Wilson sisters have a disarming humility and charisma about them. They chat in an affable and familiar fashion absent of any arrogance and possess genuine warmth – the same warmth that is present in their songs, their writings and their singing. It’s that elusive warmth and authenticity that makes Heart so profoundly special

I

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December 2007 – January 2008

in the music industry and in show biz. Metaphorically, it’s the gift that makes them everyone’s sisters.

First things first. While I couldn’t wait to get into the history of the band and the stories behind some of the big records, Ann’s solo album needs to be discussed, as it is one of the best collections of covers available. She tackles monumental and iconic songs. The bravery necessary to step into a vocal booth and re-arrange a standard like Neil Young’s War of Men or Pink Floyd’s Goodbye Blue Sky is only earned after 30 years of road and chart-tested vocal prowess. The songs she covers are some of my all-time favorites and my first inclination when any artist feels the need to re-interpret is complete disinterest. Ann actually takes these songs to a completely new level though, and the result is often a better version than the vintage album cuts. She explained her approach to me: “It was a wish list from when I was a kid and later, I don’t take songs lightly. I either love them to death or hate them. The songs I chose were like friends to me in my childhood. They all stand with me,” she explained. “All these songs have something in common. They were all written in extremis. Even the Lucinda Williams song is a refuge song, and [Bob Dylan’s] A Hard Rain’s AGonna Fall was written during the Cuban missile crisis in the ‘60s – they were times of real danger and I feel that we are in another time of great danger right now so I felt these songs would be appropriate and speak to the present.”

Nancy joins her sister on three of the tracks. She lends her guitar work to the Pink Floyd opener Goodbye Blue Sky, The Youngblood’s Darkeness, Darkness and Get Together, also by The Youngbloods. Most notable is Ann’s new arrangement of Immigrant Song, a song by the band that perhaps had the biggest influence on Heart - Led Zeppelin.

“We have always had long love affairs with our influences like Zeppelin and the Beatles and Elton John. When Ann was playing in clubs and started out, she had the range to sing some of the Robert Plant stuff and she had a real gift for it. She actually cut her rock and roll teeth more on Robert Plant and Elton John and Deep Purple,” Nancy explained to me. “Jimmy Page has a sensibility for the guitar that goes way beyond rock and roll – it’s classic, Celtic, folk. It’s very melodic.”

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Nancy Wilson And if Led Zeppelin had a female counterpart it would be Heart. Ann was playing in bar cover bands in Vancouver and Seattle around 1970 and singing the heavier groups of the time. Nancy took her time in graduating from college before she joined up with Ann in the then-named White Heart. Nancy lent her deft and delicate acoustic guitar playing to Ann’s Zepplinesque mystical lyrics and the record Dreamboat Annie dropped in 1976 on the tiny Canadian label Mushroom Records. Crazy on You and Magic Man were runaway smash hits and the album sold four million copies. The title track and Mistral Wind were indicative of the folksy and mysterious quality that was to be the binding intrigue surrounding the band.

Heart quickly followed Dreamboat with the album Little Queen which featured their trademark song Barracuda. The signature piece is an angry guitar-driven figurative torching of record label foes with which Ann and the band had started feuding. The underlying emotional surge in the song has made it pervasive on rock radio stations, in movies, video games and even car commercials where Ann’s banshee-like shriek is layered over a minivan ad currently on television. The song’s relevance more than 30 years after

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its release can’t be overstated. This reporter has used it as a psych-up exercise on more than one occasion for anything requiring perseverance, strength and a set of teeth. The atmospheric qualities surrounding Barracuda are best summed up in the movie Charlie’s Angels as Lucy Liu walks into the office in skintight leather as the music blasts overhead. To put it simply, Barracuda is a musical manifestation of an ass whooping.

As a young guitar player I played in several bands that covered Barracuda with various female singers attempting to match Ann’s stellar vocals. Each and every time we would reach the line about the mythical “porpoise” we would pause for speculation of what the sisters could possibly have meant. So, I had to know.

“We used to call each other porpoise because we were girls and we loved the romantic idea of a porpoise,” Ann laughed. I asked Nancy separately about the “porpoise” for corroboration and sure enough their stories matched. A nickname…who knew?

The first four Heart records were all multi-platinum power stations crackling out unbelievable radio-friendly staples and propelling the band to international superstardom. But rock and roll is tough and after Bebe Le Strange with its horndriven thumper Even It Up in 1980, Heart struggled with lineup changes and a few releases that failed to launch any real chart bullets. The music industry was changing – the ‘80s were under way and the Wilson sisters would go through a renaissance of very big hair, corsets and flowing costumes leading up to the 1985 album simply titled Heart. Their first Capitol Record release remains their most successful album with more than five million copies sold and no less than four top 10 hits. This was the record that was charting when I became aware of the band, so I couldn’t wait to talk about it. The ‘80s however, weren’t the sisters’ most favorite period.

“I don’t feel like the ‘80s was a very

theatrical period in our country’s artistic history. I’ve never seen another period where there was a lower standard placed on feminine naturalness. In the ‘60s it was cool but there was a blowback in the ‘80s where it was cool to be unnatural. Now we split the difference,” recalled Ann. “Back then we felt we needed to do a certain type of thing because that was what we were supposed to do. Dress, hair size. A band is so much like a person. As you move through life you feel pressure to be a certain way and at other points you relax and you feel you can be who you are. In the ‘80s we were expected to be women in corsets with expensive heels and big hair, big fingernails and all this makeup which is all beautiful and looks great but how long can you live like that as a real person. Now, we are still women of beauty, but more natural.”

And while Ann may be right about the contrived nature of my favorite decade, the bottom line is that Heart was absolutely gigantic in the ‘80s. They sold out arenas on tour after tour. Their first No. 1 hit, “These Dreams” gave Nancy her first shot at lead vocals and a video with long flowing white linens and her trademark stage kick. The beautiful ballad was actually written by Elton John lyricist

Ann Wilson

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Photos by Frank Ockenfels Bernie Taupin and originally, the band and producers didn’t think it was a good song to even record, let alone release as a single.

“We heard a demo of it one day when we were being pitched and I heard it and I flipped out and I wanted it. Everyone said it didn’t sound like a Heart song and I said I wanted a shot at it. So against a lot of people’s opinions I wrestled that to the ground and it was our first No. 1. Intuition – you gotta trust it,” Nancy recalls.

The follow up album, Bad Animals, gave Heart their biggest and most recognizable song after Barracuda, the grand scale love ballad Alone, complete with an exploding piano in the video and arena concert footage. Today in concert both these songs are stripped of their frilly ‘80s production trappings and both Nancy and Ann sing their treasures over simple piano arrangements. The result is an even more beautiful and authentic performance of an exquisite composition, and a testament that behind all the computer sequencing, pyrotechnics, and ‘80s coloring are two brilliantly talented performers who never needed any of it. The Wilson sisters’ gifts so obviously transcend both technology and trends that I had to ask each of them about the chemistry. It’s that chemistry

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that is and always was the very crux of what makes Heart what it is.

“The thing about working with Nancy Wilson is that I am so lucky to have the allaccess backstage pass,” Ann spoke of her sister. “She is so brilliant and no one understands her brilliance. They see her play guitar on stage and her trademark kick and they see her do scores with Cameron Crowe but they don’t know that she is an amazing person who not everyone gets to get close to. She is very tight with her husband and family and me, and she is my soul mate. The reason we are still working together is that we’ve learned to give each other space and not scream at each other too much. We are not boys. We are not the Kinks.” To which we both laughed.

And that chemistry manifests beyond just the sister relationship for Nancy. As the wife of movie director Cameron Crowe, Nancy has scored five of his movies in between recording and touring with Heart. While her composing genius is part of all of Crowe’s movies such as Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown, it’s the Singles soundtrack to which Ann and Nancy contributed a version of Led Zepplin’s Battle of Evermore that is the coolest non-Heart

December 2007 – January 2008

work to date. The album was released under the name The Lovemongers. Other notable movie-related work is Ann’s famous duet Almost Paradise with Mike Reno of Loverboy from Footloose.

“I first met Cameron in 1982 when they were filming Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” shared Nancy. “He was basically a starving writer when I met him. It’s really inspiring to work on movie music with Cameron because it’s so different than writing with the band. You are painting a picture that is largely background and you have to support the scene without stepping on the dialogue and staying out of the way and support the emotional underpinnings of the arc that is developing on the screen. I have learned a lot from the process and am bringing it back to the recording of the next Heart album. I would like to see this next Heart album be a concert from top to bottom where you would see it in its entirety and then take a break and then see the rest for the second half of the show.”

And with that, we discussed what’s next for the band and the sisters. The year 2008 will see Heart writing new material and hopefully touring. Ann and Nancy and I all spent considerable time talking about the rigors of parenting and the trials of being rock and roll moms on the road. Ann humorously told me that one of the perks of having a rock star mother is that her daughter was able to snag an interview with Sharon Osbourne for her high school paper during Ozzy’s Seattle tour stop. To find yourself talking about such routine matters with your rock heroines is a surreal experience. It means that they are down-to-earth enough and possess the humility to relate to you on the human level – a very affirming and positive epiphany about the inner qualities of an otherwise untouchable hero. But it also means that this little boy who at age 14 snuck out to see Heart on the Bad Animals tour is now grown up.

However, as I glance down at Nancy’s guitar pick on my keyboard and I feel my pulse quicken a bit….perhaps I am not as grown up as I am supposed to be.

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Holiday Gift Ideas From Geffen Records and Gibson Guitars Emmy Rossum – Inside Out (CD) Rufus Wainwright – Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!

Live From the London Palladium (DVD)

Rufus Wainwright – Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (CD)

Get Your Guitar Player a Robot for Christmas – or a Les Paul – or Both For those of us in our 30s, we remember paying a lot of money for clunky guitar tuners as kids that had clumsy VU meters. We also remember salivating over the custom Les Paul’s we told our-

selves we would buy when we grew up.

Gibson now makes a Les Paul that tunes itself, called the Robot Guitar. It doesn’t just merely have a tuner in it like the pickups in most acoustic guitars;

the machines are robotic and gears actually turn and move the strings into pitch. All you do is activate the tuning mode by pushing a volume pot and each string automatically is measured and then dealt with accordingly. The Robot Guitar automatically adjusts to different tunings – taking the mystery out of Crosby, Stills and Nash and Keith Richards playing and putting it squarely in your grasp.

Despite playing guitar for more than 20 years, I still fear odd tunings, simply because they are unfamiliar The on board electronics do not disrupt the classic look or face in any way and gears aren’t noticeable from more than 10 feet away. No one will know that it’s not you that didn’t achieve the perfect pitch, but everyone will know you are playing a classic Les Paul.

There are only 10 available per store that sells Gibsons. The Robot Guitar was created by engineer Chris Adams. At left is me playing the classic cherry sunburst.

Notice my look of utter fascination.

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F

or the energetic, soulful and charismatic Ben Vereen, life as he knew it came to a screeching halt on June 9, 1992, when the legendary song and dance man was the victim of two accidents - both within hours of each another and both on the same stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway.

The first occurred when Vereen’s car was struck while he was driving. The second involved an SUV that hit Vereen, nearly killing him, while he was on foot to his Malibu home that was only miles away. Vereen had always been a spiritual person, but his near-death experience gave him a fresh perspective on life.

“Before I was an observer and now I am a participant,” says Vereen, who sustained serious injuries from the accidents and after a lengthy rehabilitation returned to the stage less than a year later, appearing in the musical Jelly’s Last Jam. “Before, I would observe and hear and tell people about it. I was a cheerleader. Yeah, positive living because the Bible has been telling us this, the Torah tells us this, the Book of Buddha tells us this. I am observing. Then I had the accident.” After a pause he adds, “It has made me a better appreciator of life.”

Today, the multi-talented Vereen travels throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean captivating audiences young and old. His one man show, Ben Vereen: A Tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr., celebrates the life and music of his late friend and mentor. Similar to Sammy Davis Jr.’s style, Vereen’s performance is backed by a big band orchestra. His other touring act, An Evening With Ben Vereen, features Vereen dancing and singing to Broadway hits, reggae, standards and a few classics from Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra.

In between his busy performance schedule, Vereen lectures across the country, speaking on topics ranging from overcoming adversity to arts in education, black history, motivational

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topics, recovery through physical and occupational therapy and the importance of continuing education.

“People need now more than ever to be encouraged. They need to know ‘how to.’ That is why there are so many books on better living, how to do this, how to do that, how to overcome … because people want to know. People want to know, ‘How can I do better? How can I serve today?’” adds Vereen, who stresses the importance of giving back.

Despite a dazzling and privileged career, Vereen, who has five children, has had his share of personal sorrow. In 1987, he lost one of his children in a tragic car accident. “I have learned to live with it, but you never get over it. There is always a hole in your heart where that pain lives,” he explains.

Today, Vereen helps other bereaved families overcome their grief. During one of his recent lectures, he spoke to a group of disheartened parents. “When it is fresh, it is hard to comprehend because you are angry and you want to know why,” states Vereen about the soldiers who are getting killed in the war and the recent shooting that took place in New Jersey that involved a group of college students who were gunned down senselessly.

“All of America needs to learn from the Amish,” explains Vereen, referring to the Amish school house shooting that made national headlines one year ago when a gunman opened fire, killing a group of children. “Do you know how the Amish dealt with that? They went…” Vereen pauses as his voice cracks. “Oh, man, it touches my heart. They went by the person’s home to see if they were all right and to see if there was something that they could do. “They just lost their child, but asked, ‘Is there something that I could do for you? Are you all right?’ How incredible is that? If we can learn from what the Amish have to say about grief, loss and forgiveness, I think the world would be a better place.”

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Four months ago, Vereen took over a church in Cobra City California, called the AOL – Art Of Living. The building that was once the the City of Angels, a church founded by the late singer/minister O.C. Smith, best known for his Grammy-award winning song, Little Green Apples, is now a place people can go to learn how to celebrate life, live spiritually and live as one.

“We don’t need another church. We don’t need another preacher,” says Vereen. “We need teachers and we need cohesiveness. We need to look up and realize we are all one.”

A born entertainer, Vereen always knew he was destined for show business. A student of New York’s School of Performing Arts, Vereen was only 18 when he made his New York stage debut in the off-offBroadway show The Prodigal Son, followed an understudy role to Sammy Davis, Jr. in Golden Boy. Shortly after, Vereen went on to perform in countless Broadway shows, winning over critics and receiving numerous awards. In 1972, his soulful performance as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar earned him a Tony nomination and in 1973, Vereen won a Tony award for his performance in the Broadway musical Pippin.

As a young entertainer, Vereen remembers sharing the spotlight with some of the great artists and choreographers of his day, including Bob Fosse, Hal Prince and Tom O’Morgan. It was a bittersweet time in his career.

“Cats like Gregory Hines, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong … the list goes on and on,” says Vereen enthusiastically. “And I’ve had the privilege to say that I have touched these people and were on stage with these people … their love and their devotion and passion was contagious and when you’re around it you can’t help but get caught up in that fire,” he remembers.

Indeed. When Vereen performs, he explains with great

emotion, something magical takes place between him and the audience: ”When I am on stage it is something greater than myself. There is an energy that happens …something ignites and that is what I get caught up in.” In September, Vereen performed his one-man show, An Evening With Ben Vereen, to a sold-out audience at Queensborough Community College.

Although the stage will always be his first love, Vereen has had a very successful career in television (Roots, Louis Armstrong-Chicago Style, They Are Among Us) and in film (All That Jazz, Sweet Charity, Funny Lady, Chicago, Wicked). This past spring, Vereen co-starred opposite Vanessa Williams in the film, Who Needs ‘Em? and opposite Ciara and Patti LaBelle in Mama I Want to Sing. He also celebrated Eartha Kitt’s 80th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall to standing ovations. Earlier this year, Vereen also honored Martin Luther King Jr. in The Dream Concert at Radio City Music Hall and was the presenter for Outstanding Miniseries at the 2007 Emmy Awards show. He has also been busy providing voiceovers for the popular Nickelodeon show Wonder Pets! Most recently, Ben guest starred on ABC’s hit primetime drama Grey’s Anatomy and NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. On Halloween, he appeared on the popular talk show The View and danced with hosts Barbara Walters and Sherri Shepherd.

Vereen’s next endeavor is a play he is working on that is based on his musical career and also a book that deals with his personal life and travels. However, as busy as Vereen is, he will still continue to encourage, educate and empower those who will listen. “I woke up and found out that this is what God wanted to me to do,” says Vereen. “I am honored and humbled by the accolades that I have received, but the reason I have come this far is to maybe make someone’s life a little better. If I have done that then I have not lived in vain.”

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was one of those kids who listened to the radio wherever I went – in the car, in my bedroom, wherever. I was also one of those kids who dreamed about the day my music would pour out of speakers across the country and into other people’s cars and bedrooms.

As for hearing any music I have written on the radio, that day has yet to come for me. But for countless other bands in the New York area that don’t have a record label contract or a chart-topping hit, they are hearing themselves on Sunday night at 9 on Q104.3 on a show called Out of the Box, hosted by Jonathan Clarke. Q104.3 is the biggest radio station in America, with the biggest audience and owned by the biggest company – Clear Channel.

I have been listening to Jon for the 11 years he has been at Q and would regularly tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. to listen to his long-format interviews with rock legends. Over the years, I’ve asked him to host various music-related events on projects I was doing and discovered that there are still DJs on the air who care about emerging artists and live and breathe the excitement and irreverence that is at the core of rock music’s soul. When I told Jon I wanted to write a piece about his show for The Boulevard’s readers, he invited me up to watch a taping of Out of the Box where none other than the legendary Heart was in the studio performing and talking about their entire career.

“In 2001, a former manager of the radio station took a trip to the West Coast and he heard good radio, new music. He came back and said, ‘We need a new music program and who should we have do it and let’s have Jonathan do it.’ I asked what I should play and they said it was up to me. It was really generous and really cool,” says Clarke. “I am a guy who likes new music and seeks it out.

It’s a classic rock station so there wasn’t anything new, but remember that there are a lot of classic rock artists who aren’t getting played. There are also a lot of great bands

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and unsigned artists and singer songwriters from the tristate area. I had worked for labels, I had done A and R and done public relations.”

Terrestrial radio has a finite geographic area that it covers, and in the metropolitan area where Q broadcasts there are 17 million people. The station has an audience of 3.2 million cumulative listeners each week. Classic rock is one of the most popular formats in the country, covering an age range that fits squarely into 25 to 55, but pulls in many listeners who are 18 to 24.

“The first month the Personal People Meter (an Arbitron tool to measure audience size) came out, our cumulative audience had skyrocketed to 3.2 million listeners weekly.

As a result of that increase we are finding a lot of 18- to 34year-olds listening. I would like to think Out of the Box has been part of that increase. I don’t know honestly, but since its inception it has been No. 1 in its time slot in the tri-state area among rock stations,” reflects Jonathan.

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All this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted, Not so foolish hearted its really just a question of your honesty…yeah your honesty!

– Neil Peart 1979 – “The Spirit of Radio” On the day The Boulevard visited the Q studios it was Heart that ruled the afternoon. But Clarke has interviewed a lengthy roster of the most important classic rock artists of all time.

“Michael Stipe of R.E.M. I was a little nervous about but he was as nice as could be. And Patty Smith - I was the first person to ever interview her at Q104.3 after all those years of us playing her songs. Noel Gallagher of Oasis, whose reputation preceded him and was legendary. He was fantastic. I interviewed him twice. Chris Cornell of Soundgarten couldn’t stop talking,” he says.

In many ways Clarke is living every listener’s dream.

Rock stars call him to talk about their careers and he gets to go backstage at huge concerts where bands want to gush about the music they are performing and what they are thinking. He gets to ask questions about songs we have been listening to for 30 years or more and what the songwriters were thinking when they penned a lyric. But the most important aspect of Jon’s time on the radio is the voice he gives for new bands to be heard and discovered.

If a local band is particularly good, Clarke will interview them right alongside John Fogerty or Debbie Harry.

“We feel in addition to the superstars we play – John Mellencamp or Heart, Marc Knopfler or Noel Gallagher people want to hear an extended feature interview that isn’t during normal hours and that does not exclude local unsigned artists getting interviewed or playing their music.

Jonathan Clark and Albert Hammond Jr. , The Strokes

Jonathan Clark on air with Jon Anderson of Yes

As far as the local undiscovered band, it’s a huge rush because the goal is to get played anywhere and if you put their song on the radio it may be heard by over a million people. They go on their website and they promote it and their friends listen to it and the audience grows,” he explains.

As our afternoon with the Wilson sisters progressed, I suddenly heard voices speaking German in the hallway behind me. In walked the Scorpions’ lead singer Klaus Mein.

He took a seat next to me at the conference table. I was wedged in between the sisters from Heart and one of the biggest metal bands ever. They all humorously recalled gigs in Hamburg in the 1970s where the two legendary bands shared a stage. Jon immediately starts talking to Klaus about meeting Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin, the Moscow Concert for Peace and the role the Scorpions played in perestroika.

Over the spectacular nostalgic history lesson I was currently witnessing between the Wilson sisters and Klaus, Jon looked at me across the table and shoved a CD in front of me from a local band I have never heard of. “You gotta check these guys out. They are playing Saturday at the Knitting Factory. They are really hot.”

Two rock giants talking history and Jon talking over them about a local undiscovered band. Get the picture?

Jon Clarke’s interviews and other cool Out of the Box features are available for download at the Q104.3 website. Out of the Box airs on Sundays at 9 p.m.

Jonathan Clark with Chris Cornell www.boulevardli.com

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y sister and I have a love for what I call “bar bands.” They are the bands you can find any night of the week on the Lower East Side or on the Bowery. Some have 10 people in the audience; others have close to 100. Some have labels behind them and others record in their basement, but what they have in common is that they play not for the paychecks, but for the love of the music. Our top three favorites are Sirsy out of Albany, LOURDS in New York City and, from across the pond, Fiction Plane.

Fiction Plane consists of three members, Joe Sumner, Seton Daunt

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and Pete Wilhoit. Though not in its present form, the band has been together since college (first known as Santa’s Boyfriend). Their debut label album, Everything Will Never Be OK, was released in the States in March of 2003 with Hate as the single released to thrust them to the epicenter of the U.S. music scene. They toured as opening act for Lifehouse as they made their way through smaller and midsize venues, like The House of Blues, across the U.S. With a fan base not only in the U.S., but all around the world, they were able to pop into New York’s top dive music bars on their own names and not on the tails of others.

December 2007 – January 2008

Over the last three years, Fiction Plane has kept a low profile from us fans in the U.S. while they reconfigured, signed with a new label and curled into a creative cocoon while recording with total freedom. We got a small taste of the creativity going on the studio in 2005 with the release of their EP Bitter Forces and Lame Race Horses. Though the EP did include American Standard, a soulful and solemn tune about the love/hate relationship that the rest of the world has with the music scene in the United States, we sat in anticipation of the new album - surely to pacify our yearning soul - and missing our time with the band over a Guinness and great music.

In May 2007, the U.S. fans’ appetites were appeased when Left Side of the Brain was finally released through Bieler Bros. Records and the first single, Two Sisters hit the airwaves with a storm. The music was different than it had been. There was more passion and personality in these new melodies. It was a new band and a new sound. Not better, not worse; it was meeting a new set of people, the melding of old and new. The charismatic and lulling voice of Joe Sumner on lead and the rhythmic consistency of Seton Daunt on drums were familiar, but the messages are different and the soul has changed. Their sound has more depth with a little less Nirvana and a little more Dylan.

The boys have grown up.

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The two sisters (that’s us and, yes, the joke was made right off the bat) were eager to see Fiction Plane at the Bowery Ballroom and again at Giants Stadium. What was that? Giants Stadium isn’t a dive music bar. Did I forget to mention that Fiction Plane is currently the opening act on the reunion tour of The Police? Oh, then I probably didn’t mention that Gordon Sumner (better know to the world as Sting) is Joe Sumner’s father.

Joe Sumner is the first child of Sting and his first wife, actress Frances Tomelty. When you hear the first notes come out of young Sumner’s mouth, you have no doubt that this is Sting’s son. His voice is reminiscent of Police vocals circa 1978 but Joe’s music is definitely his own.

Though there is a family connection to the business, Fiction Plane has been insistent on not riding the coattails of the enigmatic pop icon. So why are they on tour with The Police? The band members agree in unison, family connection or not, you’d have to be stupid to not take an invitation like that. Sumner said, “Any band in the planet would jump at this opportunity and that’s the coolest thing ever. Why would we not do it?”

Touring with The Police also gives them a new audience of thousands nightly. “Most of [these new people] come along pretty much uninterested,” Daunt explained. “Usually by the second or third song and certainly by the end, people are pretty generous and enjoying themselves and getting into it and sometimes standing up at the end of the show.” Daunt continues to say that as the artist, you think perhaps it’s the songs individually, so “You sort [the songs]

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around but then it’s the same reaction.” When you have 10,000 new people you are playing for as an opening act who react so favorably to your music, Daunt says modestly, “[It’s] sort of a satisfying feeling of, like, we won them over.”

Have we, the intimate venue patrons, lost these three to the stadiums? Sumner says not at all, and that it’s important to continue to do these type of venues. “That’s really us being us. We can play for hours if we want.” Wilhoit feels that “You’re never too big to play a club. No one starts out in an arena,” and that when they play the Bowery and its cousin venues there are “No time constraints…you can do whatever you want and that’s really how we approach the new band as a trio.” Daunt’s dream after huge stadium headlining success? “It would be amazing to do a tour where you do, like, five nights at Bowery. Like Bob Dylan did in London.”

The Police have been through our great city twice now, but know that Fiction Plane loves this town and plans on coming back as much as possible. In fact, they have a David Letterman appearance scheduled for Dec. 12. Also make sure keep to an eye on www.fictionplane.com (currently a MySpace page) for tour dates, sample songs and videos, and tour reflections.

For us and future Fiction Plane fans of the future, rest assured that you will have your choice of venue to see them, but the passion for their art will always lead them back to the intimate Bowery Ballroom or Mercury Lounges of the world, even if it’s just for a night. Fiction Plane is rocking and they are here to stay. www.boulevardli.com

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SPORTS

A

s a kid, I had an immediate love for cars. My supply of Matchbox and Hot Wheels was endless. I would sit for hours pretending to drive my uncle’s Tin Lizzie, and riding on the lawn mower or my grandfather’s golf cart.

There is something about cars and driving that is appealing to so many of us, something that makes them much more than just a mode of transpor tation. Where does the dream become a reality? Where can you go to really test your skills? Gone are the days of driving out to Bridgehampton’s racetrack on the east end of Long Island. Well, I found the hidden treasure.

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Lakeville, CT, lies a hidden oasis where boys become men and more often, men become boys. Finally, a place exists where you can push the envelope and test your limits. Welcome to the Club at Lime Rock Park.

Lime Rock Park is considered the road racing center of the east. Its 50year history is an exciting one, to say the least. When I first visited Lime Rock, I felt the adrenaline rush as pictures of legends like Carroll Shelby hung in the press box— Carroll took the 1969 Trans Am Victory at Lime Rock.

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Skip Barber

The racetrack is unique in that it is in fact a park, with the feel of a nature preserve. It’s the Route 66 of racetracks.

It rises, bends and curves with the landscape and moves with the land.

You won’t find miles of endless parking lots, or even bleachers. Here you will find plush rolling hills of green, families sitting on blankets picnicking and, of course, the roar of some of the best cars ever built screeching around Lime Rock’s one-and-a-half-mile track.

The park has hosted such great racing circuits like Trans Am, Formula, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Series, SCCA Regional, NASCAR Busch East Series, American Le Mans and now…you!

Yes, you!

December 2007 – January 2008

For car enthusiasts and racing amateurs, visiting a place like Lime Rock Park, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Daytona or Riverside is always great. But often, people don’t get the opportunity to push the envelope with their sports cars and test their driving skills.

After a quick walking tour, the owner and legendary racecar driver/instructor Skip Barber greeted me.

Skip grew up in Philadelphia and started road racing early on. Road racing started in America in the early 1900s. It wasn’t until after WWII that it became organized with the start of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). Back then, “It was not only popular but it was the fashionable thing to do,” says Skip, who used to race his Austin Healy Sprite. It was unusual for an American to race in Grand Prix and Formula races since it was largely a European sport. In hindsight, he jokingly says it was stupidity that led him to race formulas rather than stock cars. Stock car racing, or NASCAR, was largely a regional spor t that road racers usually looked down on because of all the typical clichés. “I’d probably still be racing if I had gone stock car racing,” he admits.

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Skip left the racing circuit in the mid-1970s to start one of the first and most successful racing and driving schools in the country, the Skip Barber Racing School, because, he says, “There weren’t any coaches in racing.” When people helped or gave you instructional information, they were usually wrong. Skip had a vision and realized that with his experience, there were a lot of things he could teach people about racing. What started out as something to just help people exploded almost overnight. “I never thought I could make a living out of this,” he says, “as we moved across the country, we added programs, we had 400 employees and it became a significant service business.”

I was curious as to why there is such success with racing today, particularly stock car racing. Skip credits the management of the France family, who run NASCAR.“The interaction between racecar drivers and fans is terrific.

They drivers are very accessible.”

I was surprised when Skip told me that nearly every major stock car driver was a graduate, with the exception of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Geoff Gordon attended twice, first when he was racing midgets and again when he moved to the stock cars.

Nine years ago, Skip sold the driving school and now focuses on his other love, Lime Rock Park. Skip has owned Lime Rock for 24 years. Today, the park is used by a number of car clubs, amateur racers, and the racing school, so much that the track is booked solid every day.

Time has become a lost commodity. Skip wants to ensure two things: that Lime Rock Park will remain for the next 50 years and that there will be time for everyone to enjoy and

Photo courtesy of Lime Rock Park

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Photo courtesy of Lime Rock Park

use the track. For this, he has come up with a plan that will allow the dreams to come true.

The Club at Lime Rock has a new unique membership for 300 people that will guarantee significant track time for 50 years. Here on Long Island, the only place one could have raced a car is the gone but not forgotten Bridgehampton Race Track. Mr. Barber wants to ensure that this does not happen to Lime Rock Park.

There are a number of benefits to becoming a member of The Club.

Access: You will have access to the track 20 times a year (12 peak and 8 off-peak dates).

Track time: You can book track time on any of the 60 annual club dates (based on availability). Your guests (with a fee) are welcome to use your car, or their own.

Vehicle dynamics: A skid pad and an autocross course, partly irrigated to simulate rain conditions, are available for better understanding the chassis dynamics of your car and working on your driving skills.

VIP tickets: Members will receive four VIP tickets, with hospitality, to every major spectator event held at Lime Rock Park. These races are history in the making; many are aired on national television.

A home for your track car: Another benefit of being a member is the convenience of having your car stored nearby. If you wish, the planned concierge service will have your car waiting for you in pit lane.

Member clubhouse: Initially, the clubhouse will be located in the paddock near the new pit lane. Members and guests will have access on all club track days. The clubhouse will afford members a place to relax, review their driving sessions, and compare notes. www.boulevardli.com

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SPORTS

Photo courtesy of Lime Rock Park

Member pit lane: A new and separate pit lane will be added for the exclusive use of members and their guests.

The beautiful Berkshires: Families and guests can enjoy the surrounding splendor of spring, summer and fall, the many scenic attractions, and the unrivaled art and antique shopping of the Berkshires.

As an integral part of the future of Lime Rock Park, your membership will help fund significant improvements at Lime Rock Park including track paving, new bathroom facilities, the new club pit lane, and the clubhouse. Lime Rock Park is a terrific place now and The Club at Lime Rock Park will ensure its future as a premier racetrack for the next 50 years.

The price for memberships is $100,000 plus tax and monthly dues of $550. While that may seem expensive, the membership is for 50 years. If you do the math, it comes out to $106 per race.

After our lunch, we walked over to the track where Skip drove us around for a slow tour. I felt as if I were driving along one of the residential streets outside. Skip was ver y thorough in describing everything about the surface, the turns, the hills and the beautiful landscape. After a few minutes we returned to pit row where Formula One driver Simon Kirkby pulled up in a Mazda Miata and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. I eagerly got into the car and immediately wondered if the five -point seatbelt, helmet and roll cage was necessar y. I mean, this wasn’t a Lamborghini, it was an off-the-shelf Miata. The one thing I underestimated was that a Formula One driver was 140

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at the helm. It’s one thing to watch races on TV or from the stands, but it’s a completely different experience when you’re the passenger.

We set off out of the pit lane to catch the end of the straightaway. As we approached turn one, we hugged the inside in order to line up for turn two, still accelerating.

Turn three was a sharp left, which any inexperienced driver would have taken at about 30 mph, but not Simon!

As we made turn four, we accelerated to about 100 mph, only to make a right turn up the hill on the back of the course, where we caught some air (see photo on the right). With his foot back on the gas, we flew forward, cutting across turn six only to approach a very low bridge, which I was certain that we would hit, when suddenly the road (and my stomach) dropped and we flew down hill towards a sharp turn seven. With a hard turn on the steering wheel and tires screeching, Simon handled this with ease. This led us to the main straightaway where I thought we would be returning. Simon stepped on the gas again. I wasn’t sure if I should look at the speedometer or look at the end of the straightaway, which was rapidly approaching. As we blazed by pit row, I managed to turn to Skip and the rest of The Boulevard crew, so they could see the permanent smile on my face. As I turned back, we were already at turn one again and back around the track. After a quick lap we returned to the pits. I climbed out of the car, my knuckles white and my heart racing, but my smile still frozen on my face. I immediately had a new appreciation for all racecar drivers.

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SPORTS

G

lenn Sullivan sits down to talk with me and casually mentions hopping on a flight to Florida the next day, after just arriving back in New York. After the Florida trip, he’s off to Ohio for another race. He’s energized from the start, despite his busy and tiring schedule, and sits back in his chair, relaxed, indicating that his experience as a NASCAR driver has clearly shaped him into a seasoned pro at interviews.

As a novice to the world of NASCAR, I never quite understood the appeal of racing. To my inexperienced mind, I felt that the only draw to the sport was the ability to drive obscenely fast and get paid to do so. However, after speaking with Glenn Sullivan, I learned that there’s much more to racing than speeding without the risk of a ticket. In fact, Glenn himself admits that going fast is not what drew him to the sport in the first place, but rather his love for competition, the limelight, and his familial ties to racing.

Glenn’s family tree is deeply rooted in NASCAR. He jokes that racing happened by birth—his uncle, a three-time Indianapolis champion, was one of the originators of NASCAR back in 1947 and ran the entire east coast of the operation: “Bill France drove a car for my uncle. They were teammates. Bill said ‘Hey, what are we going to do when we retire?’ And my uncle said, ‘Start a racing division.’

France said he would back it, and that’s how NASCAR actually started, and the contract was signed on a napkin.”

Glenn laughs and assures me this is a true story. His father, aunt and mother all became involved in the business, so it was inevitable that Glenn would inherit the racing gene.

Growing up in Queens, Glenn has always maintained his knack for working hard with dedication, as well as humbleness concerning his roots. It seems as though Glenn has always had that competitive edge that allowed him to be such a success in the sport. He played varsity sports in high school and college, and went on to minor league baseball until he injured his rotator cuff and had to 142

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stop. Though injured and unable to play baseball, this served as a catalyst for Glenn to follow his childhood dream of racing: “I just always thought racing was really cool … I loved it … it was in my family, so it was almost like a natural occurrence to do that. I always went to the races and I guess I liked being the center of attention … it’s just me, my personality.” Aside from enjoying the spotlight, he admits that his biggest fear isn’t crashing his car, but rather, failing, which is, as he says, his best and worst quality. It’s his drive and desire for success that allowed him to have and enjoy his long-lasting career.

Though Glenn loves being the center of attention, he has always used his fame in a positive way, accepting and enjoying being seen as a role model: “You hear all these people say they’re not role models, but they are … if you want to make a lot of money and you want to drive racecars or play basketball or baseball or golf, you are a role model … I’ve been a national spokesperson for the center for drugs since 1988, I’m on the board of directors for severely handicapped kids with no families, so I think I’ve done a pretty good job at that.”

When Glenn began racing, NASCAR was a different world, seen as more of a bad boy sport. There were still characters in racing, strong personalities and unique drivers. However, in more recent years, as the sport grew in popularity and the money started coming in, Glenn saw a change in the seriousness of the sport: “We [used to be] a traveling circus, went place to place with the same people … the lifestyle is different now. I mean, a few guys go out and still party and have fun, but when you’re in a racecar, it’s always serious … you’re timed with sponsors now, and they have you going the entire day. If you’re out of the racecar, you’re at a speaking function, an autograph deal, or a radio show … racing goes on all over the country, so no matter where you are, you’re going to do a lot of traveling.”

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His most memorable moment is, not surprisingly, his first Busch Series win in 1982—a monumental moment in any driver’s life: “That was exciting. I had two of the best guys behind me. I actually had to pass them, but we said that no matter what, we’d still be best friends after … and I passed them. It was such an exciting race, it was fun, but [all the races] are memorable.”

While Glenn has had quite the career, his life has not always been full of winning races and fast driving. In fact, his career hit a snag when he was just beginning to establish an impressive name for himself. His mother was diagnosed with cancer and, sadly, passed away, and his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He chose to take time off from his flourishing career to care for his father for eight years, willingly and admirably giving everything up for the sake of his family. “Family is more important, I’ve learned that. Your family is a hell of a lot more important than a racecar … I know I did the right thing … I’ve had success and had a lot of fun and I’ve won championships, but I gave up a major part of my racing to be with my family … I have no regrets about that,” he says proudly.

With life experience came maturity, and Glenn began to realize that, though he loved the spotlight, it didn’t mean as much to him as it once did.

He compares being a driver to being a rock star, but says none of it ultimately matters: “Who cares what the hell you are? As you get a little older, you wish you weren’t that … your family and your friends are more important (especially his pride and joy, 11-yearold Alexis) … I had a girlfriend who said to me, ‘Do you realize that if you got killed out there your fans would be rooting for somebody else next week?’ … and that hit home … you’re really not that great, you just get in a racecar

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and like doing it.”

His experiences have all contributed to his impressive sense of humility, and his willingness to help others.

Aside from racing, Glenn has refocused much of his hard work and energy into seminars on sponsorship and speaking out to troubled youth.

He also owns quite a number of businesses and is currently undertaking a new project: a family-style Italian restaurant and lounge that will open in New Hyde Park soon.

Of course, I had to bring up the movie Taledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby, which satirizes many of the characters in NASCAR. Glenn has seen it, and thinks it’s hilarious, showing that he also has a sense of humor about his job. “It was a total spoof and you have to laugh at yourself. Listen, I think my job is the funniest job in the world; we go around in circles for three hours and we come back to the same place,” he laughs.

What’s most impressive about Glenn, aside from his many wins and willingness to help children, is how humble and grounded he is. His attitude on his career and life is relatively simple, but packs a lot of punch: “Don’t take life too seriously; you’re not any better than anybody else.” His upbeat attitude is most likely what’s allowed him to keep racing for so long, and he prides himself on staying positive. Though he isn’t sure how much longer he will be racing, his career has provided him endless stories and experiences that will entertain for a lifetime.

Once he finished his interview, he left to begin packing for his flight to Florida. And then prepared for relocating for his race in Ohio a few days later. Clearly, Glenn Sullivan isn’t slowing down any time soon. Nor would we want him to.

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BUSINESS FINANCE New Retirement Plan, Charitable Giving, And Sec. 529 Plan Rules

I

n August, Congress passed the most comprehensive pension legislation in more than 30 years (a more than 900-page opus). The provisions in the law are wideranging, focusing to a large degree on how companies must handle their pension plans in the future.

But the new law, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 signed by the President on Aug. 17, also includes several provisions that you should know about—changes that may, in fact, influence your financial planning.

Retirement Plans: IRAs and 401(k)s Contribution limits and bonus contribution limits for those age 50 or older, available to owners of IRAs and 401(k) and other similar plans, were set to expire at the end of 2010 but have been made permanent. As a result, after 2010, contributions stay at the phased-in higher levels and will be adjusted for inflation. For participants whose employers have adopted the new Roth 401(k) plan, the news is that they can continue to designate their contributions as Roth IRA contributions.

A provision in the new law allows taxpayers to have their federal income tax refund deposited directly into an IRA. Details regarding the direct-deposit process haven’t been spelled out as yet. IRS will be establishing the necessary procedures, and it’s likely to require some new tax forms.

Another change has an effect on non-spouse beneficiaries of a retirement plan account. These beneficiaries now will be allowed to roll over assets from a company retirement plan into an IRA. The beneficiary avoids tax as a result of the rollover, being taxed only when the assets are withdrawn from the IRA. Previously, only a spouse was entitled to this tax treatment.

Automatic Enrollment in 401(k) Plans Researchers have found, consistently, that a 401(k) plan that calls for employees to be enrolled automatically in the plan substantially boosts the rate of plan participation— perhaps to levels as high as 95 percent.

The new law makes it easier for employers to enroll workers automatically in their 401(k) plans and also to increase automatically by 1 percent a year—the common deduction of 3 percent that many employees designate to come from their paychecks. The purpose of this provision is to keep contributions in line with pay increases. These changes become effective officially in 2008.

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Charitable Giving A new law allows IRA owners to make up to $100,000 in tax-free distributions from their IRAs when the distribution is made for charitable purposes. The rule applies only this year and next. This opportunity is available to both traditional and Roth IRA owners who are age 70 and one-half years or older.

No charitable deduction will be allowed for a distribution or portion of a distribution that is taxable for some other reason.

New rules tighten some of the requirements for deductions of donations to charity. Donors now must keep records of all cash donations—a receipt from the charity, a cancelled check or a credit card statement that will help prove that the donation actually was made. No tax deduction will be available without supporting documentation. There is no need to include receipts with a tax return, but donors need to keep their receipts and other documentation with their tax return in case of an audit.

There are tougher rules for non-cash donations as well.

Items donated, such as a car, clothing or household goods, must be in “good condition.” Consult with a tax advisor for more details and personal tax advice.

Section 529 College Savings Plans There is good news for parents and grandparents looking for ways to save for their offspring’s higher education. Money placed in state-sponsored Section 529 college savings plans grow tax deferred and, currently, may be withdrawn tax-free. But the ability to make tax-free withdrawals was set to expire at the end of 2010. Now, this opportunity has been made permanent.

Michael Tedesco is a financial consultant with Bethpage Financial Services, a division of the Bethpage Federal Credit Union. Mike can assist you by reviewing your current financial situation, and with you, develop a personal investment strategy focused on your individual goals and objectives. Mike can be reached at 516 349-4253.

Investment products are not NCUA insured, not credit union guaranteed; they may lose value. Not credit union deposits; not guaranteed by any government agency.

Securities offered by and financial consultants registered with UVEST Financial Services, member FINRA/SIPC. UVEST and Bethpage Financial Services are independent entities.

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