Saturday, July 4, 2009

S: Is for sites to see.

Tune-in on the 4th as some of Broadway’s biggest hit shows are featured on TV.

Cast members from the Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning international hit Jersey Boys will perform live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. for PBS’ “A Capital Fourth” TV special. “A Capital Fourth” airs on NYC local PBS/WNET on Saturday, July 4 from 8:00pm to 9:30pm. (Check local listings)

John Tartaglia, the Tony-nominated star of Broadway’s Shrek The Musical, will make a special appearance on NBC’s coverage of “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.” John will be interviewed live by hosts Tiki Barber and Natalie Morales. “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” airs on local WNBC on Saturday, July 4 from 9:00pm to 10:00pm. (Check local listings)

Bill Irwin and John Glover, currently starring in Roundabout Theatre Company’s Waiting for Godot, will be featured on NY1’s “On Stage” this weekend beginning Saturday, July 4th on channel 1. Bill and John sit down with NY1’s Patrick Pacheco to discuss this highly acclaimed Broadway revival.

The New York Pops and Music Director-Designate Steven Reineke join Macy's to celebrate America's birthday on Saturday, July 4, 9PM EST with a rousing musical score to accompany the nation's largest fireworks display. The New York Pops will appear on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum as Macy's 4th of July Fireworks pyrotechnic spendor returns to the Hudson River.

American River, the theme of this year's show, includes American River Suite, an original composition with music by Broadway composer Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by William Schermerhorn. The tribute piece features the vocal talents of Audra McDonald and Idina Menzel, as well as Sara Caswell on violin and the Choir Academy of Harlem.

You can experience the 26-minute spectacle live in Manhattan from any area with an unobstructed view of the sky above the Hudson River. For the best views, head to 12th Avenue below 59th Street. Visit Macys.com to find out more about the public viewing of the fireworks and that is a spectacular F.A.C.T.

T: Is for the Terrible Sarah Palin, gone at last

I have never liked Sarah Palin, so when it was abruptly announced Friday she was resigning from office at the end of the month, I shouted with glee. This shocking move rattled the Republican party, but left open the possibility she would seek a run for the White House in 2012. But my question to Ms. Palin is "if you can't fulfill one office, how the hell can we expect you to fulfill another? You didn't even know the basics of your state." Palin's spokesman, David Murrow, said the governor said anything to him, he interpreted Palin's comment about working outside government as reflecting her current job only. "She's looking forward to serving the public outside the governor's chair," he said. John McCain campaign team, now dispersed across the country, traded perplexed e-mails and phone calls. Could it be the personal pressures have been mounting? What with the scrutiny on her family, legal bills, ethics investigations and a running, public feud with McCain's camp that will not die? This lady is NO saint. Palin said she decided against running for re-election as Alaska's governor, and it was best to leave office even though she had two years left to her term. Last weeks highly critical piece in Vanity Fair magazine, with unnamed campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency may have added to this mystery. The backbiting, nasty infighting that plagued her failed bid continues. Palin's resignation, timed on the eve of the July 4 holiday, seems designed to avoid publicity. A longtime confidant who spoke anonymously, counseled the Palin's that leaving government was politically unwise, but the governor was resolute. Personally I say good riddance and that is a blissful F.A.C.T.

C: Is for Celtic Women

Celtic Woman knows what it means to pursue a dream. With voices like angels, the 5 Irish female ensemble have been uplifting audiences of all ages with their PBS TV specials, popular concert tours and with their latest album "The Greatest Journey.” Most recently they were seen by 23 million viewers on Dancing With The Stars (ABC TV) when they performed the Brendan Graham original "You Raise Me Up.” Also written by Brendan Graham, along with William Joseph, and exclusively for Celtic Woman, is the patriotic song “O, America!” that has been a highlight of the group’s current 75-date Isle of Hope concert tour. Due to overwhelming demand from their fans, the song was released as a digital download and ringtune.

As the youngest member Chloe explained to the audience at a recent concert,"’O, America!’ is a dedication to the first country to welcome us as Celtic Woman. You are our true inspiration! We feel as though we are part of your family now and for that we are very honored and proud."

In just four short years, the group has sold more than 4 million CDs and DVDs, played seven US tours, and performed for more than 800,000 people. Meanwhile, the three Celtic Woman PBS Specials have aired more than 13,658 times on 685 PBS stations across the country, covering 97% of US television households. The group will continue to perform "O, America!" in their Isle of Hope tour that runs through July. “O, America!” will also be included on the group’s upcoming PBS TV special scheduled to premiere on the network in December.

LYRICS

O, America, you're calling
I can hear you calling me
You are calling me…to be true to thee
True to thee… I will be
O, America, you’re weeping
Let me heal your wounded heart
I will keep you in my keeping
Till there’ll be... a new start

[Chorus]
And I will answer you, and I will take your hand
And lead you to the sun
And I will stand by you… do all that I can do
And we will be as one
O, America, I hear you
From your prairies to the sea
From your mountains grand… and all through this land
You are beautiful to me

O, America, you’re calling
I can hear you calling me
You are calling me… to be true to thee
True to thee… I will be

O, America, you’re calling
I… will ever answer thee

A: Is for Alan Cummings


Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming will star in SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark on Broadway, with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, written by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger and directed by Julie Taymor. Swinging from his first web February 25th 2010 at the Hilton Theatre. Tickets for the eagerly anticipated SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark are now on sale exclusively for American Express cardmembers at Ticketmaster.com, by calling 1-800-745-3000. Wood stars as Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker’s girlfriend. Evan’s film credits include Whatever Works, Across The Universe (directed by Julie Taymor), The Wrestler, Little Secrets, Thirteen (Golden Globe nom) and Running With Scissors. She recently received the Young Hollywood Superstar Award. Her many television appearances include “Once and Again” (Young Artist Award –Best Ensemble in a TV Series) and “American Gothic.”She recently appeared on stage in as Juliet in Raleigh, NC. SPIDER-MAN marks her New York stage debut.

Alan Cumming will star as Norman Osborn (aka Green Goblin), Spider-Man’s most notorious nemesis. Alan won the Tony, Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards for his outstanding performance in Cabaret. Other Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera and Design For Living. His films include the soon-to-be-released The Tempest (directed by Julie Taymor), Titus (also directed by Julie Taymor), X2: X-Men United, Sweet Land (Independent Spirit Award), The Spy Kids Trilogy, Eyes Wide Shut and The Anniversary Party, which he wrote and directed. His London stage appearances include Hamlet, Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Olivier Award), Bent and The Bacchae. He was recently made an O.B.E. in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List.

Drawing from over 40 years of Marvel comic books for inspiration, SPIDER-MAN spins a new take on the mythic tale of a young man propelled from a modest rowhouse in Queens to the sky-scraping spire of the Chrysler Building, the bustling offices of the Daily Bugle, through the dizzying canyons of Manhattan, to new vistas never before seen. The musical follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down ­ literally ­ when he’s bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek ­suddenly endowed with astonishing powers ­soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains test not only his physical strength but also his strength of character. Spider-Man’s battles will hurtle the audience through an origin story both recognizable and unexpected ­yielding new characters as well as familiar faces ­until a final surprising confrontation casts a startling new light on this hero’s journey.

I will still place my bet,that Adam Lambert will be slated to play the man is the suit. He is the perfect Peter Parker and that is a F.A.C.T.

F: Is for fiendishly good hot dogs


The 4th is almost here and so are those craving for hot dogs. From the owners of across-the-street Food Fight, come gourmet kosher dogs served in custom baked buns. They can come slathered with a variety of 10 toppings to create beef-strosities. Try the Nacho Cheese (tortilla chips, salsa, cheddar)or the Fresh Fruit (fresh fruit slices, blueberry jam). The tiny, one-room cafeteria was designed by 1Oak's decorator, and's completely wallpapered with an all-original comic strip called "The Adventures of Super Hot Dog." Look for a red-caped wiener who'll save the world from scary fast food, once he's dispatched of his archenemy the Fresh Fruit. You can find these fiendish dogs at 111 MacDougal St, between Minetta Lane and Bleecker; 212.375.0700 and that is a mouth watering F.A.C.T.

Friday, July 3, 2009

S: Is attention all singers

Calling all performers, especially singers! Frankie Russo hosts an interactive talk radio contest featuring female talent live every Friday night from 10-11PM. Contestants must be over 18 and winners are judged on performance, talent, appearance and personality. The judges are BROADWAYAFTERDARK.COM'S renowned critic, author Ward MorehouseIII, Director Mark Druck, Producer Pat Flicker Addiss (SPRING AWAKENING, 39 STEPS, THE FANTASTICKS),and resident ROCK CHICK'S expert Melissa Koval. Past winners have include Kitty Lindsay,Julienne Basso,Renee Rakel,and Scout Durwood. The show will culminate with a live Frankie Russo production in the fall featuring the ULTIMATE ROCK CHICK WINNER. You can sing, play an instrument, act, do a comedy routine. For more information go to CHATABOUTIT.COM or call Rock Chicks hotline 718-209-3746 to be on the show next Friday.

If you audition you too could become a star and that is a successful F.A.C.T.

T: Is for being told off

For those who spent a career in the auto business, this is a must read. This message says a lot about our need to stand up and be responsible. A supplier for the Big 3, Gregory Knox received a letter from the President of GM North America requesting support for the bailout program. His response is well written.

This is GM's letter:
Dear Employees & Suppliers,

Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis. As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President,
General Motors North America

Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin, Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America. Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new "messiah," Pres. Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream." Believe me folks, the dream is over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities.. This dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle, and countless other automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest , during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management. How about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift and for being too productive.

(We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit .

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research , surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money."

"Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day and the following very important thing would happen.. Where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market system works. It does work if we would only let it work."

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in and "save us". Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening.

But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams. Yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it?

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country? How can that be??? Let's see. Fuel efficient. Listening to customers. Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul.

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning. Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy." Efficient front and back offices. Non union environment.

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh. Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not the newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the final vote count was tallied. "We really might not do it in a year or in four." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks. That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000. People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits. That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year. We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe. That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home.

Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to basics and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world and probably turns back to God...

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.


Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin , Ohio 45005

If only we would all speak our minds and state the F.A.C.T.S

C: Is for Celebration!

Wonder where I have been? Considering this is my baby I should of announced it first, right? Wrong! When starting a new newspaper you spend 24/7 working. Then it launches and the work has just begun. For those who wondered, where have I've been? Who am I really? This press release will tell you all. Within the first 4 hours we had no more papers. Our website was hit so hard it crashed and we have had the hardest time getting it back. As of this moment,Sean,our graphic designer is hard at work on just this issue. It will be resolved.

The Times Square Chronicle published its first volume

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th

Publisher, Suzanna Bowling, has put a new newspaper on the streets of New York Wednesday, June 24th. The bi-monthly periodical will report on all things Times Square. From theatres, to restaurants, to businesses, to hotels, to gift shops, to art galleries and to answers to all questions, this new periodical is one-stop-shopping for anyone who needs anything in the several miles that cover the world’s most famous crossroads.

THE TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLE services, reports on and covers
the community that includes three zip codes - 10018, 10019 and 10036.

With the highest concentration of tourism in the US, Times Square welcomes 47,000,000 visitors annually. It is an area where local businesses are in a constant state of flux, and residents can easily loose touch with their surroundings.

THE TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLE reaches the dual populations of Times Square.
Locals will find news on community happenings and issues affecting their neighborhood,
while tourists and residents can benefit from discounts on theatre, restaurants, and hotels;
as THE TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLE requires that all ads offer some form of discount for the reader.

THE TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLE’S mission is to shine a spotlight on the world’s most successful neighborhood. It is a compass that always leads the consumer in the right direction.

The first 15,000 issues of Vol. 1 No.1 will be distributed in Times Square
as well as being available in the Lobbies of selected Times Square business establishments.

ABOUT SUZANNA BOWLING
Founder / Co-Owner / Publisher

Prior to founding and publishing THE TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLE, Suzanna Bowling worked as a producer, writer, performer and actress in the film, TV, theatre, music and advertising industries. She currently has a movie and a Television Series in development with Arthur Herzog. She was an on-staff writer for The Upper East Side Informer before signing on as a theatre reviewer for Philip Anshultz’s The Examiner and as a writer/consultant in the areas of Technology, Woman's Issues,
Political Causes, Charities and Entrepreneurship for several national magazines including Real Simple and Self.
Her widely read column XploreFacts.com features articles on Food, Fashion, Arts, Clubs, the Social Scene as well as Social Causes. She consults and assists non-profit charitable organizations in their event planning and fund raising.

www.TimesSquareChronicle.com

And this is the F.A.C.T. of why I've been missing.