Thursday, December 4, 2008
Turkey Bowl Festivities Draw Crowd
Harrison Pensa events have become some of the most sought-after invitations in the city, widely known for the great times, warm atmosphere and superb hospitality, not to mention the gracious and fun-loving hosts.
Claude Pensa and the Harrison Pensa team welcomed hundreds to Jim Bob Ray's recently for the Turkey Bowl, annually celebrated on American Thanksgiving and in support of London Lawyers Feed the Hungry. Friends, clients, and local business leaders from across the city shared in the festivities and traditions, toasting the season and bringing the party name to life as bowling pins came down, bowled over by frozen turkeys.
Tom Jesty, David Langford and Rick Stranges enjoyed the party, as did John Grant, Paul Schmidt and Drew Forrett. It was a family affair for Siskind brothers Paul and Bob, joined by Bob's daughter, Cathy Siskind Kelly, and husband Rob Kelly; Peter Channer and son Bryan were also among the families that played together.
Spotted enjoying the afternoon and celebrations were Bev Robinson (Junior Achievement), Jeff Moore (Appliance Canada), Hans Schreff (London Hydro) and Martha Wainwright (Sifton).
Stronghold Commercial Real Estate was well represented by brothers Jay and Shawn Parkinson and agent Calvin Barrett; Julie Drane and 18th birthday present for girlfriend Anders Mackenzie were just a few of the employees present from Deloitte.
While year-round efforts and present temperature in delhi donations are always taking place, London Lawyers Feed the Hungry annually provides Christmas turkeys for local families in need.
Building on his success at downtown hot spot Thaifoon, Eddy Phimphrachanh launched his new venture, Club Lavish, to a private group before the public launch over the weekend.
In his inaugural speech, Phimphrachanh thanked his family, all of whom work with him at both ventures, along with Heather Watt and the backbone of staff he's so proud to have.
In the words of guest Johnny Fansher, 'The event was a memorable celebration of Eddy's vision towards creating a stylish and wedding present singapore effervescent venue for open-minded people who enjoy others of like mind, music and diversity. What a success in the making!'
Also attending were Helen and Andy Spriet (Spriet Associates); Coun. Judy Bryant; Peter Hayes, executive director of the AIDS Committee of London;David Friesen, proprietor of Boxwoods.
The ultra lounge/night club, which drew an enthusiastic crowd throughout the opening weekend, now is open to the public.
Technical Design Completed For The New European Research ...
'Aurora Borealis' will further strengthen the operational capabilities of the European scientific community. Since there are currently no research icebreakers of comparable size and capacity for year-round autonomous operations in polar waters, this project promises to facilitate for the first time year-round expeditions into some of the most extreme realms of our planet, thus helping to gain new insights into the historyclimatic variability,the present environmental conditions of the polar regions..
Education Notes
The Campaign for Bowie State University: Believe, Invest, Grow (BIG) seeks to raise $15 million.
CNN anchor and present perfect continuous lesson plan special correspondent Soledad O'Brien was the gala's keynote speaker; WRC (Channel 4) anchor Jim Vance was master of ceremonies; and Grammy-winning singer Chante Moore performed. O'Brien, who is of Afro-Cuban and wedding present singapore Irish-Australian descent, discussed the importance of diversity in role models.
The university's Office of Institutional Advancement said that $5 million has been raised, with the largest single gift coming from William Teel Jr., who donated $600,000. Teel is the head of D.C.-based 1 Source Consulting and Energy Enterprise Solutions, and he is a campaign co-chairman.
Goddard Students Set For Model U.N. Conference
Forty-two student delegates plan to represent Robert Goddard Montessori School at the annual Montessori Model United Nations Conference in New York in March.
Goddard, which is on Good Luck Road in Seabrook, will be the first Montessori school in Prince George's County to send students to the conference, where they will serve as ambassadors of member countries. They will write, present and debate original resolutions about world problems in a simulated U.N. General Assembly.
Students, staff members and parents are working to raise the $25,000 needed to pay the students' conference expenses. The school's parent liaison, Candace Gunn, has established a support team to plan fundraising activities.
For details or to contribute, contact Gunn at 301-918-3517 or via e-mail at candace.gunnpgcps.org.
Students Send Signatures Into Space Aboard Shuttle
When the Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched Nov. 14, its cargo included a personal contribution from the students at Maryland International Day School: their signatures.
The school participated in the Student Signatures in Space program, co-sponsored by NASA and funny birthday present ideas Lockheed Martin. The program allows students to send their digitized signatures into space.
In May, students at Maryland International Day School in Oxon Hill joined more than 500,000 students from around the world in signing giant Space Day posters. The signatures were downloaded onto a disc and given to the crew to fly on the shuttle, which landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Sunday.
The mission delivered supplies to the International Space Station to help expand its living areas to increase capacity from three astronauts to six. The crew also performed repairsmaintenance work.
Scrooge To Take The Stage At Leddy Center Through Dec. 14.
EPPING - Director Elaine Gatchell is proud to present Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' at Leddy Center's Main Street theater, through Dec. 14. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m.
Larry Cranor stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in this timeless classic. Dan Bush is Bob Crachit; Ashley Prend is Mrs. Crachit; and funny birthday present ideas Damian Raymond is Marley; all of Epping. Mark Deyo is Scrooge's nephew, Fred, and Kelsey Madea is Fred's wife, Mary.
Don LaDuke of Litchfield is the Ghost of Christmas Present and Kathy St. Germain of Manchester is the Ghost of Christmas Past. Spencer Gregory of Fremont is Tiny Tim.
Melissa Ransdell of Newmarket and Greg Dixon of Exeter are Belle and Young Scrooge.
Joel Sadler of Londonderry plays Mr. Fezziwig and present temperature in delhi Stephanie Johnson of Epping is Mrs. Fezziwig Christmas carolers are Craig Johnson, Ashley Prend, Joel Sadler, Jacob Scott, Lauren Campbell, and Caitlin Holt.
Crachit children are played by Colin McCarthy, Sofie Jordan, Bailey Irish, Mark Foglietta, and Elaine Weatherby. Aubrey LaDuke and Shane Waters are Ruth and poder present tense Topper. Nicole Currier is Young FranJacob Scott is boy Scrooge.
Tickets are $16. Call 679-2781 or visit leddycenter.org. to reserve.
Fans Queue For New Potter Tales
Harry Potter fans have got their hands on an early Christmas present, present perfect continuous lesson plan after a new Potter book went on sale.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard isn't about the boy wizard himself, but is in the final Harry Potter story, and explains what the Deathly Hallows are.
At first only seven copies of the book were madefor some of JK Rowling's friends,one was sold for charity.
But now fans of the series will be able to read all five of the tales in the book for themselves.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard isn't about the boy wizard himself, but is in the final Harry Potter story, and explains what the Deathly Hallows are.
At first only seven copies of the book were madefor some of JK Rowling's friends,one was sold for charity.
But now fans of the series will be able to read all five of the tales in the book for themselves.
Letter: Let S Hope I M Wrong
In his letter accusing me of 'unloading ... vitriolic diatribes' against Barack Obama, Jim Andrews missed my point by a mile. He compounded his lack of understanding by accusing me of being small-minded, and even that, present perfect continuous lesson plan 'Hoag's glaring inconsistency bespeaks a mind in serious need of retooling.'
This personal attack, a result of expressing my concern over the 'visceral hatred' and 'unadulterated loathing' directed at President George W. Bush by the left. Although word limitations prevented me from citing specific examples, most people who had been paying attention may have correctly surmised I was referring to books and films dedicated to the idea of assassinating Bush, his being referred to as 'the world's biggest terrorist,' and similarly hateful and birthday present card insane drivel.
To equate that behavior with my remark that Obama has 'no appreciation for the America we grew up in' is plain foolishness. Additionally, it's well documented that Obama has said as much, through his own wordsassociations.
I'm satisfied with my mind in its present state. Perhaps Andrews has been afflicted with the most debilitating outcome of keeping an 'open mind' having his brain fall out.
Then, adding insult to injury, the present spencer one Quentin Colgan called me a lazy simpleton, spreading lies of corporate America. Thankfully, his letter was so completely nonsensical it neither needs nor deserves a rebuttal.
I want America to flourishregardless of who is in power so I hope I'm wrong about
This personal attack, a result of expressing my concern over the 'visceral hatred' and 'unadulterated loathing' directed at President George W. Bush by the left. Although word limitations prevented me from citing specific examples, most people who had been paying attention may have correctly surmised I was referring to books and films dedicated to the idea of assassinating Bush, his being referred to as 'the world's biggest terrorist,' and similarly hateful and birthday present card insane drivel.
To equate that behavior with my remark that Obama has 'no appreciation for the America we grew up in' is plain foolishness. Additionally, it's well documented that Obama has said as much, through his own wordsassociations.
I'm satisfied with my mind in its present state. Perhaps Andrews has been afflicted with the most debilitating outcome of keeping an 'open mind' having his brain fall out.
Then, adding insult to injury, the present spencer one Quentin Colgan called me a lazy simpleton, spreading lies of corporate America. Thankfully, his letter was so completely nonsensical it neither needs nor deserves a rebuttal.
I want America to flourishregardless of who is in power so I hope I'm wrong about
A League: Round 14 Preview
Preview of round 14 of the A-League this weekend (all times local).
FRIDAY
ADELAIDE UNITED v WELLINGTON PHOENIX at Hindmarsh Stadium, 7.30pm
Head to head: Adelaide 3, Wellington 0, Drawn 1
Last meeting: Adelaide United 3 bt Wellington Phoenix 0 at Hindmarsh Stadium, Rd 3, Aug 2008
TAB Sportsbet: Adelaide $1.55, Draw $3.60, Wellington $6.00
For the first time in New Zealand's sorry history in Australian soccer competitions, the Phoenix present as a legitimate chance of not only making the top four, but doing some damage when they're there.
The addition of Brazilian whiz Fred has been a masterstroke - two starts, two wins. Last time Fred confronted Adelaide, he shredded them in the 2007 grand final with Melbourne.
The Reds managed a goal at the death last week to nick a point from Newcastle and stay second. Adelaide's Cassio returns to an extended squad from injury.
The Phoenix have Karl Dodd available after suspension, though Andrew Durante will surely stay in central defence after starring in the win over Melbourne last weekend.
Intriguing clash with high stakes - a top four berth for the Phoenix and possible top spot for the Reds with a win.
Key: Phoenix's A-League top scorer Shane Smeltz can't stop scoring. His clash with Reds enforcer Sasa Ognenovski is game-defining.
Tip: Draw
SATURDAY
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS v QUEENSLAND ROAR at Bluetongue Stadium, 6pm
Head to head: Central Coast 2, Queensland 3, Drawn 5
Last meeting: Central Coast Mariners 4 bt Queensland Roar 2 at Suncorp Stadium, Rd 3, Aug 2008
TAB Sportsbet: Central Coast $2.45, Draw $3.30, Queensland $2.65
The Mariners needed a dramatic last-gasp goal to get a point out of Perth last weekend, while the Roar were held to a draw by Sydney FC.
That leaves the Mariners and Roar third and fourth, with the teams behind them closing and the teams in front of them in danger of getting away.
Central Coast will lose defender Nigel Boogaard for at least six weeks with an ankle injury, while the Roar's goalscoring midfielder Charlie Miller is set to try his luck playing with a hernia which apparently needs surgery.
These two teams have a tendency to play out draws, and there doesn't look much between them again.
Key: Mariners striker Sasho Petrovski is back scoring regularly, but faces a difficult and potentially nullifying opponent in Roar centre-half Craig Moore.
Tip: Draw
PERTH GLORY v MELBOURNE VICTORY at Members Equity Stadium, 6pm
Head to head: Perth 2, Melbourne 4, Drawn 4
Last meeting: Melbourne Victory 4 bt Perth Glory 0 at Telstra Dome, Rd 7, Oct 2008
TAB Sportsbet: Perth $3.50, present perfect continuous lesson plan Draw $3.30, Melbourne $2.00
Melbourne crossed the Tasman and lost, flew home, and poder present tense now must head to Perth. But the only points they racked up in Wellington were the frequent flyer kind, deservedly beaten by the Phoenix 2-1.
Despite their loss they remain top of the league. Still no starting spot has opened up for Costa Rican attacker Carlos Hernandez, with the Victory likely to keep faith with Archie Thompson, Danny Allsopp and Ney Fabiano to stretch the Glory's often brittle defence.
It's a real weak spot for Perth and if they don't tighten things up, it's hard the bottom side getting anything out of this even with striker Nikita Rukavytsya in fine form.
Key: How will the Victory cope with two difficult road trips in the space of a week?
Tip: Melbourne
SUNDAY
NEWCASTLE JETS v SYDNEY FC at EnergyAustralia Stadium, 5pm
Head to head: Newcastle 2, Sydney FC 5, Drawn 5
Last meeting: Newcastle Jets 0 drew with Sydney FC 0 at EnergyAustralia Stadium, Rd 4, Sept 2008
TAB Sportsbet: Newcastle $2.85, Draw $3.30, Sydney FC $2.30
The Jets have struggled to make any impact in their title defence, are equal bottom and look every chance to go from champions to wooden spooners inside a year.
They can't score goals and have discipline issues which are the trademark of a frustrated team. Sydney FC have also been struggling and the present spencer the one-time favourites have slid to sixth.
But there were some good signs in their gritty second half effort to grab a draw with Queensland last weekend. Newcastle, who will again be without stars Joel Griffiths and Mark Milligan (suspended) and probably Korean midfielder Jin-Hyung Song (ankle), are just the team to play John Kosmina's men back into form.
Sydney FC also have an excellent record against the Jets.
Key: Heckled by his own fans last weekthe spotlight intensifies on high-priced Sydney FC marquee man John Aloisihis lack of goals. This could be the week he starts scoring.
Tip: Sydney FC
Martin O Neill: Aston Villa Places Are Up For Grabs
ASTON Villa's bench-warmers have been given a glimmer of hope with Martin O'Neill today insisting his Premier League selections are not a closed shop.
The Villa boss has used just 17 players in the league this season with Gabby Agbonlahor, Gareth Barry, poder present tense Brad Friedel, Martin Laursen and Ashley Young ever-present.
Seven more players have appeared in the cup competitions with a number of those fringe players set to feature against Zilina.
'There is not a player here who would not want to start the gamesbut what happens
Arts Groups, Communities Welcome Holiday Season This Weekend
EPAC
The Endicott Performing Arts Center, 102 Washington Ave., Endicott, will present its annual evening of song, dance, comedy and drama, 'An EPAC Christmas,' at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday. The program will be presented by the EPAC Repertory Co., the EPAC Lyric Performers, the EPAC Songwriters Workshop, the EPAC Kids' Theater Workshop, the EPAC School for the Performing Arts and some special guests.
Tickets at $10 (12 and under, $8) are available by calling the EPAC box office at (607) 785-8903 or by visiting www.EndicottArts.com.
Tri-Cities Opera
The Tri-Cities Opera revisits Menotti's classic Christmas opera, 'Amahl and the Night Visitors,' the story of a lame shepherd boy's miraculous encounter with the Three Kings as they followed the star to Bethlehem.
Performances are at 7 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Opera Center, 315 Clinton St., Binghamton. Tickets are $22 (seniors/TCO subscribers, $19; TCO Guild members, $16; students, $13; 12 and under, $11). Reservations are recommended; call (607) 772-0400.
The role of Amahl is shared by Matthew Milewski and Eli Holmes; other parts are sung by TCO resident artists.
Ti-Ahwaga Community Players
For the seventh straight year, the Ti-Ahwaga Community Players will present 'A Christmas Story,' Philip Grecian's stage adaptation of humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the Midwest of the 1940s. The story follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, from the Parker family's temperamental exploding furnace to the leg-shaped lamp won by Ralphie's father.
Performances, directed by Alicia Loso, are 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Dec. 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 14 at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center, 42 Delphine St., Owego. Tickets at $15 (seniors on Sundays $12; 12 and under, $8) are available at the box office, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. You also can call (607) 687-2130 or e-mail infotiahwaga.com.
Grigorian Ballet
The Rafael Grigorian Ballet Theatre will present 'The Russian Nutcracker' at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Forum, 236 Washington St., Binghamton. Tickets are $20 (seniors and students, $16; 12 and under, $12).
Upstate Dance Susan Schneider is the owner and choreographic director.
Choruses for CHOW
The fifth annual Choruses for CHOW holiday concert will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the former Christ the King Church, 1501 Davis Ave., Endwell. Initiated by the Southerntiersmen four years ago, this concert features several community choruses that donate time and talent to raise money for CHOW. To date, the concerts have raised approximately $10,000 for the hunger outreach warehouse.
Joining the barbershop chorus this year will be the Carousel Harmony Chorus, the Endwell Community Chorus, the Binghamton Downtown Singers and the Bronzissimo! Handbell Choir.
Know Theatre
Do your holiday revels peak at the solstice? Then maybe you'd like to check out Know Theatre's second annual Celtic Festival, to be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Binghamton City Stage, 74 Carroll St., Binghamton. Enjoy Guinness, food, a silent auction and performances by The Stoutmen, the Gleason Groaners and others.
Only 100 tickets (at $30 each) are available for this special fundraising event for Know Theatre. To reserve a ticket, visit www.know theatre.org, or call 724-4341.
Village celebrations
The Visions FCU 'Lights on the River' Festival will light up Owego from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Friday. The lights and decorative trim will be turned on at 6:15 p.m. with a community countdown in front of the Tioga County Courthouse Square (south side), followed by holiday festivities, food, entertainment and more in the shops, restaurants and streets and concluding with a fireworks display at 8 p.m. at Draper Park.
Highlights include: a giant mistletoe in the courthouse gazebo, perfect for any smooching couple; a 15-piece Salvation Army brass band in concert at the HSBC parking lot on Lake Street; sidewalk candles along Lake Street; Santa Claus at the ArtSpace Gallery, 179 Front St.; horse and wagon rides; lots of free food and drink, and entertainment by the Owego Middle School Jazz Band, the Zion Lutheran School Children's Choir, the Terpsi Dancers, the Owego Methodist Choir and others, including WHWK and Magic 101.7 radio personalities.
There will be food drive bins and Christmas kettles placed around the downtown area for contributions to the needy. For more detailed information and a schedule of times, visit www.lightson theriver.com.
The Johnson City holiday parade, presented by the Johnson City Business and Professional Women, will start on Lester Avenue at 7 p.m. today and proceed down Main Street.
There will be a reception after the parade at Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main St., Johnson City. Parade-goers will be treated to a concert by 'Spirit' and a special step dance performance while warming up with coffee, cocoa and confections. The reception is sponsored by the George F. Johnson Dream Center for Community Empowerment.
The annual Endicott parade starts at 11 a.m. Saturday along Washington Avenue. This year's theme is 'A Village Tradition.'
Binghamton University
The Binghamton University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under conductor Timothy Perry will present a holiday gala, 'Winter Lights,' at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Anderson Center Concert Theater. Featured soloists for the program of seasonal, Christmas and Chanukah music will be BU music faculty members Janey Choi, violin, (Vivaldi's 'Winter Concerto'), and baritone Timothy LeFebvre (Vaughan Williams' 'Fantasia on Christmas Carols'), as well as guest artist Robin Seletsky, Klezmer clarinet, for a new Chanukah medley arranged by Edward Marcus. Completing the program will be music by Johann Strauss, Tchaikovsky and present perfect continuous lesson plan Leroy Anderson.
Tickets at $10 (faculty, staff and seniors, $5; students, free) are available at the Anderson Center box office from noon to 5:30 p.m. weekdays or at the door. You also can call 777-ARTS (777-2787), or visit anderson.binghamton.edu.
BCC
The Broome Community College Choir will present 'What Sweeter Music,' a choral concert of holiday music and more, at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Little Theater on campus. Admission is free.
Hometown Lights Festival
The annual Hometown Lights Festival sponsored by Southern Tier Independence Center begins tonight and runs through Dec. 31 at Otsiningo Park in the Town of Dickinson.
The drive-through holiday display will run 5-9 p.m. daily. Admission is $8 per car or SUV ($5 on Mondays).
Binghamton Zoo
Winter Wonderland, a holiday program featuring light displays, ice sculptures, carolers, story tellers, games, crafts and SantaMrs. Claus, will run from 5 to 8 p.m. today through Sunday in the lower portion of the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, 60 Morgan Road, Binghamton.
Details: Call (607) 724-5461or visit www.rossparkzoo.com.
-- Barb Van Atta
The Endicott Performing Arts Center, 102 Washington Ave., Endicott, will present its annual evening of song, dance, comedy and drama, 'An EPAC Christmas,' at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday. The program will be presented by the EPAC Repertory Co., the EPAC Lyric Performers, the EPAC Songwriters Workshop, the EPAC Kids' Theater Workshop, the EPAC School for the Performing Arts and some special guests.
Tickets at $10 (12 and under, $8) are available by calling the EPAC box office at (607) 785-8903 or by visiting www.EndicottArts.com.
Tri-Cities Opera
The Tri-Cities Opera revisits Menotti's classic Christmas opera, 'Amahl and the Night Visitors,' the story of a lame shepherd boy's miraculous encounter with the Three Kings as they followed the star to Bethlehem.
Performances are at 7 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Opera Center, 315 Clinton St., Binghamton. Tickets are $22 (seniors/TCO subscribers, $19; TCO Guild members, $16; students, $13; 12 and under, $11). Reservations are recommended; call (607) 772-0400.
The role of Amahl is shared by Matthew Milewski and Eli Holmes; other parts are sung by TCO resident artists.
Ti-Ahwaga Community Players
For the seventh straight year, the Ti-Ahwaga Community Players will present 'A Christmas Story,' Philip Grecian's stage adaptation of humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the Midwest of the 1940s. The story follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, from the Parker family's temperamental exploding furnace to the leg-shaped lamp won by Ralphie's father.
Performances, directed by Alicia Loso, are 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Dec. 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 14 at the Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center, 42 Delphine St., Owego. Tickets at $15 (seniors on Sundays $12; 12 and under, $8) are available at the box office, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays. You also can call (607) 687-2130 or e-mail infotiahwaga.com.
Grigorian Ballet
The Rafael Grigorian Ballet Theatre will present 'The Russian Nutcracker' at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Forum, 236 Washington St., Binghamton. Tickets are $20 (seniors and students, $16; 12 and under, $12).
Upstate Dance Susan Schneider is the owner and choreographic director.
Choruses for CHOW
The fifth annual Choruses for CHOW holiday concert will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the former Christ the King Church, 1501 Davis Ave., Endwell. Initiated by the Southerntiersmen four years ago, this concert features several community choruses that donate time and talent to raise money for CHOW. To date, the concerts have raised approximately $10,000 for the hunger outreach warehouse.
Joining the barbershop chorus this year will be the Carousel Harmony Chorus, the Endwell Community Chorus, the Binghamton Downtown Singers and the Bronzissimo! Handbell Choir.
Know Theatre
Do your holiday revels peak at the solstice? Then maybe you'd like to check out Know Theatre's second annual Celtic Festival, to be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Binghamton City Stage, 74 Carroll St., Binghamton. Enjoy Guinness, food, a silent auction and performances by The Stoutmen, the Gleason Groaners and others.
Only 100 tickets (at $30 each) are available for this special fundraising event for Know Theatre. To reserve a ticket, visit www.know theatre.org, or call 724-4341.
Village celebrations
The Visions FCU 'Lights on the River' Festival will light up Owego from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Friday. The lights and decorative trim will be turned on at 6:15 p.m. with a community countdown in front of the Tioga County Courthouse Square (south side), followed by holiday festivities, food, entertainment and more in the shops, restaurants and streets and concluding with a fireworks display at 8 p.m. at Draper Park.
Highlights include: a giant mistletoe in the courthouse gazebo, perfect for any smooching couple; a 15-piece Salvation Army brass band in concert at the HSBC parking lot on Lake Street; sidewalk candles along Lake Street; Santa Claus at the ArtSpace Gallery, 179 Front St.; horse and wagon rides; lots of free food and drink, and entertainment by the Owego Middle School Jazz Band, the Zion Lutheran School Children's Choir, the Terpsi Dancers, the Owego Methodist Choir and others, including WHWK and Magic 101.7 radio personalities.
There will be food drive bins and Christmas kettles placed around the downtown area for contributions to the needy. For more detailed information and a schedule of times, visit www.lightson theriver.com.
The Johnson City holiday parade, presented by the Johnson City Business and Professional Women, will start on Lester Avenue at 7 p.m. today and proceed down Main Street.
There will be a reception after the parade at Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, 308 Main St., Johnson City. Parade-goers will be treated to a concert by 'Spirit' and a special step dance performance while warming up with coffee, cocoa and confections. The reception is sponsored by the George F. Johnson Dream Center for Community Empowerment.
The annual Endicott parade starts at 11 a.m. Saturday along Washington Avenue. This year's theme is 'A Village Tradition.'
Binghamton University
The Binghamton University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under conductor Timothy Perry will present a holiday gala, 'Winter Lights,' at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Anderson Center Concert Theater. Featured soloists for the program of seasonal, Christmas and Chanukah music will be BU music faculty members Janey Choi, violin, (Vivaldi's 'Winter Concerto'), and baritone Timothy LeFebvre (Vaughan Williams' 'Fantasia on Christmas Carols'), as well as guest artist Robin Seletsky, Klezmer clarinet, for a new Chanukah medley arranged by Edward Marcus. Completing the program will be music by Johann Strauss, Tchaikovsky and present perfect continuous lesson plan Leroy Anderson.
Tickets at $10 (faculty, staff and seniors, $5; students, free) are available at the Anderson Center box office from noon to 5:30 p.m. weekdays or at the door. You also can call 777-ARTS (777-2787), or visit anderson.binghamton.edu.
BCC
The Broome Community College Choir will present 'What Sweeter Music,' a choral concert of holiday music and more, at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Little Theater on campus. Admission is free.
Hometown Lights Festival
The annual Hometown Lights Festival sponsored by Southern Tier Independence Center begins tonight and runs through Dec. 31 at Otsiningo Park in the Town of Dickinson.
The drive-through holiday display will run 5-9 p.m. daily. Admission is $8 per car or SUV ($5 on Mondays).
Binghamton Zoo
Winter Wonderland, a holiday program featuring light displays, ice sculptures, carolers, story tellers, games, crafts and SantaMrs. Claus, will run from 5 to 8 p.m. today through Sunday in the lower portion of the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, 60 Morgan Road, Binghamton.
Details: Call (607) 724-5461or visit www.rossparkzoo.com.
-- Barb Van Atta
Holiday Happenings
Victorian Christmas Show House at the Daniel Webster Estate, 238 Webster St. Marshfield. Open to the public through Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2 and Dec. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission $10seniors $8; groups welcome. For information call Virginia at 781-837-2403 or visit DanielWebsterEstate.org
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Man Who Owns The News By Michael Wolff
' 'You can have any deal in the world you can imagine,' replies Satan, 'and, in return, all I ask is your immortal soul.'
' 'Any deal?' asks a skeptical Murdoch.
' 'Any deal,' purrs the devil, 'but in return, I take your soul.'
' 'Hmmm,' muses Murdoch, 'what's the catch?' '
If you spent any time around Hollywood a few years ago, you might have heard the same story told about Michael Ovitz, then head of CAA. With or without satanic assistance, the super-agent's dreams of world domination ultimately came to naught, but as Michael Wolff's often fascinating, sometimes frustrating new biography, 'The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch,' shows, the 77-year-old head of News Corp. still is at the top of his game.
Wolff, who is a bit of an Internet entrepreneur himself, writes about media and culture for Vanity Fair, and one of his book's strengths is his decision to structure it like an extended magazine article. He uses Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones and its corporate crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal, in 2007 to provide a genuinely gripping narrative spine to his account. Along the way, he weaves in the story of Murdoch's rather eventful life. Much will be familiar to people who have casually followed the dreadful mogul's career or who read British journalist William Shawcross' sympathetic biography back in the early 1990s. There's the usual stuff about the Australian-born Murdoch's being shipped off to a posh boarding school, where he was rejected as a coarse outsider; about his undergraduate education at Oxford, where he was rejected as a coarse outsider; about his initial foray onto Fleet Street, where he was rejected as a coarse, self-seeking outsider; and into the American market, where he was . . . well, you get the picture.
Wolff, who likes Murdoch because they share a basic fondness for newspapers and a distaste for most of the people who run them, persuaded the mogul to sit for more than 50 hours of interviews and to give him access to his children and associates. There's lots of good material there, particularly on Murdoch's 39-year-old wife, Wendi Deng, who appears to have shifted her husband's politics slightly left. Actually, and despite his association with Fox News and the Weekly Standard, Murdoch's politics seem to shift with his interests. These days he's as comfortable with Tony Blair as he is with the Chinese Communist Party. What's fascinating in this part of Wolff's account is the way that Murdoch -- King Lear-like -- seems to be setting his progeny off for just the sort of dynasty-wrangling he's exploited in so many other companies, including Dow Jones.
There's something amusing about hearing that old Hollywood joke about Ovitz recycled to involve Murdoch, because during his brief interregnum as an 'entertainment executive,' he lived here and loathed the place and its people. Wolff is particularly good on that brief phase in the Murdoch rampage toward world domination. Despite Fox's contribution to News Corp.'s bottom line ('Titanic' scored for the studio during this period), Murdoch 'hates the Hollywood people. They hate him. Not least of all because he gets on a roll telling them how much he hates them. . . . Murdoch . . . scowls when stars are brought into his presence, turns irritable, charmless -- he keeps reminding everybody about it being hismoney. . . . He doesn't like movie people.'
Someone with the sophisticated insider's knowledge of the industry's executive suites (that this reviewer lacks) probably should assess Wolff's account of Murdoch's increasingly strained relations with his Hollywood satrap, the politically liberal Peter Chernin. Suffice to say, a certain strain would be of a piece with Murdoch's history of fearing overdependence on key subordinates, however loyal and accomplished. (Early reports on Wolff's book have drawn attention to similar claims about the mogul's relations with Fox News head Roger Ailes and its cable star, Bill O'Reilly. It's possible that what Murdoch really dislikes is not dependence but sharing the spotlight. One of the comfortable things about the newspaper industry is that it doesn't usually create stars with the wattage to outshine their bosses.)
Where Wolff, for all his breathless, irritating mannerisms, does excel is in his acute eye for the various accouterments of status as instructive social detail and in his flawless ear for the dramatic in the ebb and flow of business deals. Nobody currently working at business journalism describes the actual art of the deal with quite Wolff's engaging verve. His account of the dialogue across the table during the secret lunch in which Murdoch proffered Dow Jones head Richard Zannino the offer for the Journal ultimately accepted by the Bancroft family is worth the price of the book.
Perhaps most instructive, Wolff has melded interview and observation into what might be called a plausible theory of Murdoch. In any specific situation, it is Murdoch's habit to play the role of the coldest, most dispassionate intellect in the room -- impervious to sentiment or fellow feeling, relentlessly focused on the bottom line. There's power in that sort of detached objectivity, but Wolff has gone beyond it to identify the paradox that Murdoch frequently deploys in the service of essentially irrational strategic objectives. He pursues particular institutions and power generally for no better reason than desiring it. He wants what he wants and doesn't feel accountable to anyone or anything for its pursuit. What's genuinely powerful about that combination is it makes you essentially unpredictable when everyone else assumes you're coldbloodedly rational.
Wolff also shrewdly paints Murdoch's greatest strength not as his mastery of any of his businesses -- including his beloved newspapers --but of human weakness. He seized control of the Journal because he carefully studied the rather troubled Bancroft family and trolled assiduously for signs and gossip of dysfunction and defection. His timing was impeccable because it was based on that smarmy intelligence and because he'd keenly appraised a weak family's desire to both lay down the burden of running the Journal and further enrich itself with money it hadn't earned. It was entirely reminiscent of Murdoch's epochal realization that what tabloid readers really wanted was a combination of sleaze and sanctimony that has become the genre's signature.
In fact, what Wolff ultimately paints is a portrait of Murdoch as not just the preeminent tabloid journalist of our age but perhaps its first tabloid business giant -- a consummate miner of human weakness from the newsstand to the boardroom, an idiot savant who instinctively understands people want a justification for giving into their lowest impulses.
And beyond winning, what does Murdoch get out of all this probing and acquiring? At heart, he too remains a tabloid proprietor. Two of Wolff's telling anecdotes make the case strikingly: An unnamed News Corp. executive told the author that Murdoch went to the bar of London's Dorchester Hotel the day after Princess Diana died in 1997. Murdoch 'was obviously shaken by what the death would mean to Fleet Street' and proceeded to get drunk 'on a bottle of French Chardonnay, passed out, and had to be carried out to Harry's Bar around the corner, where he was due to meet a group of bankers.' Why this grief from a lifelong anti-monarchist? The answer, of course, was that 'the internal cash flow of News Corporation [had become] highly dependent on the [tabloid] Sun's obsession with Diana.' Later, when Wolff asked Murdoch whether he should vote for Sen. John McCain, whom the mogul supported and who was endorsed by News Corp.'s New York Post, or for Sen. Barack Obama, the mogul unhesitatingly said 'Obama' -- because he'd 'sell more newspapers.'
In the end, for all its sympathetic edges and consciously softening details, the portrait of Murdoch that emerges from Wolff's reporting calls to mind something less like the joke about his spiritmore like the picture Yeats recalled in one of his great late poems, 'The Municipal Gallery Revisited.' The poet summons to mind the image of the politician Kevin O'Higgins, who was right about so much but who had his own best man executed as part of a reprisal against Republican irreconcilables. His 'gentle questioning look,' Yeats wrote'cannot hide a soul incapable of remorse or rest.'
Rutten is a Times staff writer.
timothy.ruttenlatimes.com
' 'Any deal?' asks a skeptical Murdoch.
' 'Any deal,' purrs the devil, 'but in return, I take your soul.'
' 'Hmmm,' muses Murdoch, 'what's the catch?' '
If you spent any time around Hollywood a few years ago, you might have heard the same story told about Michael Ovitz, then head of CAA. With or without satanic assistance, the super-agent's dreams of world domination ultimately came to naught, but as Michael Wolff's often fascinating, sometimes frustrating new biography, 'The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch,' shows, the 77-year-old head of News Corp. still is at the top of his game.
Wolff, who is a bit of an Internet entrepreneur himself, writes about media and culture for Vanity Fair, and one of his book's strengths is his decision to structure it like an extended magazine article. He uses Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones and its corporate crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal, in 2007 to provide a genuinely gripping narrative spine to his account. Along the way, he weaves in the story of Murdoch's rather eventful life. Much will be familiar to people who have casually followed the dreadful mogul's career or who read British journalist William Shawcross' sympathetic biography back in the early 1990s. There's the usual stuff about the Australian-born Murdoch's being shipped off to a posh boarding school, where he was rejected as a coarse outsider; about his undergraduate education at Oxford, where he was rejected as a coarse outsider; about his initial foray onto Fleet Street, where he was rejected as a coarse, self-seeking outsider; and into the American market, where he was . . . well, you get the picture.
Wolff, who likes Murdoch because they share a basic fondness for newspapers and a distaste for most of the people who run them, persuaded the mogul to sit for more than 50 hours of interviews and to give him access to his children and associates. There's lots of good material there, particularly on Murdoch's 39-year-old wife, Wendi Deng, who appears to have shifted her husband's politics slightly left. Actually, and despite his association with Fox News and the Weekly Standard, Murdoch's politics seem to shift with his interests. These days he's as comfortable with Tony Blair as he is with the Chinese Communist Party. What's fascinating in this part of Wolff's account is the way that Murdoch -- King Lear-like -- seems to be setting his progeny off for just the sort of dynasty-wrangling he's exploited in so many other companies, including Dow Jones.
There's something amusing about hearing that old Hollywood joke about Ovitz recycled to involve Murdoch, because during his brief interregnum as an 'entertainment executive,' he lived here and loathed the place and its people. Wolff is particularly good on that brief phase in the Murdoch rampage toward world domination. Despite Fox's contribution to News Corp.'s bottom line ('Titanic' scored for the studio during this period), Murdoch 'hates the Hollywood people. They hate him. Not least of all because he gets on a roll telling them how much he hates them. . . . Murdoch . . . scowls when stars are brought into his presence, turns irritable, charmless -- he keeps reminding everybody about it being hismoney. . . . He doesn't like movie people.'
Someone with the sophisticated insider's knowledge of the industry's executive suites (that this reviewer lacks) probably should assess Wolff's account of Murdoch's increasingly strained relations with his Hollywood satrap, the politically liberal Peter Chernin. Suffice to say, a certain strain would be of a piece with Murdoch's history of fearing overdependence on key subordinates, however loyal and accomplished. (Early reports on Wolff's book have drawn attention to similar claims about the mogul's relations with Fox News head Roger Ailes and its cable star, Bill O'Reilly. It's possible that what Murdoch really dislikes is not dependence but sharing the spotlight. One of the comfortable things about the newspaper industry is that it doesn't usually create stars with the wattage to outshine their bosses.)
Where Wolff, for all his breathless, irritating mannerisms, does excel is in his acute eye for the various accouterments of status as instructive social detail and in his flawless ear for the dramatic in the ebb and flow of business deals. Nobody currently working at business journalism describes the actual art of the deal with quite Wolff's engaging verve. His account of the dialogue across the table during the secret lunch in which Murdoch proffered Dow Jones head Richard Zannino the offer for the Journal ultimately accepted by the Bancroft family is worth the price of the book.
Perhaps most instructive, Wolff has melded interview and observation into what might be called a plausible theory of Murdoch. In any specific situation, it is Murdoch's habit to play the role of the coldest, most dispassionate intellect in the room -- impervious to sentiment or fellow feeling, relentlessly focused on the bottom line. There's power in that sort of detached objectivity, but Wolff has gone beyond it to identify the paradox that Murdoch frequently deploys in the service of essentially irrational strategic objectives. He pursues particular institutions and power generally for no better reason than desiring it. He wants what he wants and doesn't feel accountable to anyone or anything for its pursuit. What's genuinely powerful about that combination is it makes you essentially unpredictable when everyone else assumes you're coldbloodedly rational.
Wolff also shrewdly paints Murdoch's greatest strength not as his mastery of any of his businesses -- including his beloved newspapers --but of human weakness. He seized control of the Journal because he carefully studied the rather troubled Bancroft family and trolled assiduously for signs and gossip of dysfunction and defection. His timing was impeccable because it was based on that smarmy intelligence and because he'd keenly appraised a weak family's desire to both lay down the burden of running the Journal and further enrich itself with money it hadn't earned. It was entirely reminiscent of Murdoch's epochal realization that what tabloid readers really wanted was a combination of sleaze and sanctimony that has become the genre's signature.
In fact, what Wolff ultimately paints is a portrait of Murdoch as not just the preeminent tabloid journalist of our age but perhaps its first tabloid business giant -- a consummate miner of human weakness from the newsstand to the boardroom, an idiot savant who instinctively understands people want a justification for giving into their lowest impulses.
And beyond winning, what does Murdoch get out of all this probing and acquiring? At heart, he too remains a tabloid proprietor. Two of Wolff's telling anecdotes make the case strikingly: An unnamed News Corp. executive told the author that Murdoch went to the bar of London's Dorchester Hotel the day after Princess Diana died in 1997. Murdoch 'was obviously shaken by what the death would mean to Fleet Street' and proceeded to get drunk 'on a bottle of French Chardonnay, passed out, and had to be carried out to Harry's Bar around the corner, where he was due to meet a group of bankers.' Why this grief from a lifelong anti-monarchist? The answer, of course, was that 'the internal cash flow of News Corporation [had become] highly dependent on the [tabloid] Sun's obsession with Diana.' Later, when Wolff asked Murdoch whether he should vote for Sen. John McCain, whom the mogul supported and who was endorsed by News Corp.'s New York Post, or for Sen. Barack Obama, the mogul unhesitatingly said 'Obama' -- because he'd 'sell more newspapers.'
In the end, for all its sympathetic edges and consciously softening details, the portrait of Murdoch that emerges from Wolff's reporting calls to mind something less like the joke about his spiritmore like the picture Yeats recalled in one of his great late poems, 'The Municipal Gallery Revisited.' The poet summons to mind the image of the politician Kevin O'Higgins, who was right about so much but who had his own best man executed as part of a reprisal against Republican irreconcilables. His 'gentle questioning look,' Yeats wrote'cannot hide a soul incapable of remorse or rest.'
Rutten is a Times staff writer.
timothy.ruttenlatimes.com