WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey. December 5, 2003: Hey, guys, if you were famous and were going to be “profiled,” would you want your wife or former wives to do the remembering?

 

While you think about that, you and other White Plains theatre-goers beginning with Sunday Matinee at 2 tomorrow,  and running through December 21, will watch Andre De Shields, and the strikingly beautiful Stacie Precia (pronounced PRESHAY) in her debut playing quadruple roles, the personalities of Louis Armstrong’s four wives, talking about the jazz icon, interacting with him in key incidents of his life, and playing to the legend portrayed by Mr. De Shields.

 

Andre De Shields leads you down his “Musical Memory Lane on Main Street” entitled Ambassador Satch. First Matinee-ers Sunday at 2, will discover and hear a live quintet (“new all stars”) demonstrate Louis Armstrong jazz, the original stuff that turned a century on its ear. They will hear the music that made Armstrong the inspiration of the jazz greats of the twentieth century: Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Ben Webster, Artie Shaw and countless musicians. Photo of Mr. De Shields by WPCNR StageCam.

Ambassador Satch  opens with a Sunday Matinee tomorrow at 2 PM at The Little Ingenue on City Place, recreating the four epochs of the jazz impresario’s musical and personal life, and it is “through the lens of Mr. Armstrong’s wives, that we see (him),”  Mr. Armstrong’s alter ego, Andre De Shields told WPCNR Friday backstage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center.

 

Mr. De Shields took the time before Friday afternoon dress rehearsal, script open on his coffee table, bananas (a food Armstrong was forced to eat, unloading banana boats in New Orleans in the 19-teens), black pearl cufflinks on his mirror table, tuxedo hung on a hangar nearby,  to talk to WPCNR about the jazz memoire of Armstrong he wrote with James Mirrione.  Photo by WPCNR StageCam

 

Dropping In on Louis and His Sidemen.

 

When theatergoers settle into the posh upholstery of the Little Ingenue on City Place, any evening at 8, they will drop in on Mr. De Shields as Mr. Armstrong in the process of putting together a show, with his Louis Armstrong All-Stars, De Shields explains.

 

As the audience sits in to watch the jazz great put together one more show, Mr. De Shields playing Mr. Armstrong, begins to reminisce. Theatergoers, Mr. De Shields hopes, will reminisce along with him through the prism of Ms. Precia who plays each of Mr. Armstrong’s spouses.

 

They will hear the Armstrong music that give birth to jazz played by a 5-sideman combo recreating the timeless riffs and turns that bring Mr. Armstrong’s one-and-only personality to life, covering the four periods of creativity in his life: His time in New Orleans in the 19-teens, his taking Chicago by storm in the 20s at the Savoy Ballroom, when he recorded West End Blues; his New York period, to the time when he became America’s “Ambassador to the World,” as De Shields calls him, in the 1960s.

 

I Heard Him on the Radio.

 

De Shields, of course has been a lifelong admirer of Armstrong, “because his stature has had an influence on all who have heard him.” Andre said. “Mom and Dad listened to him on the radio, which is how I got influenced by it.”

 

THE GLAMOUR SHOT: Mr. De Shields, left and Ms. Precia, right, stars of show. Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

 

De Shields said, “It was pretty obvious how he had influenced the world in his own way.” He recalled how the show Hello, Dolly!  with Carol Channing was struggling in the early 1960s when Louis recorded the title song in 1964. This reporter recalls how his gravelly delivery and trumpet made it a tune everybody was singing along with. Louis’ version became a hit record topping The Beatles’ She Loves You, Do You Want to Know A Secret?, and Please, Please Me on the on the Top 40 Charts. His recording made Hello, Dolly!  “The Producers” of its day because Louis Armstrong recorded the title song.

 

“There were endless generations of musicians who were influenced by him, De Shields related, “There wasn’t any jazz musician who did not envy his introduction on West End Blues (his legendary 1928 recording on OKEH records).” This is what lead De Shields and his Co-Writer, James Mirrione to create the show, which started as a 55-minute teaching seminar in 1993, and has now grown, then been trimmed again (since last Spring) to a two-act, slightly more than 2 hour production.

 

The Man Who Got Along.

 

Besides “Satchmo’s” (for his nickname from New Orleans days, “OId Satchelmouth”) obvious musical legacy as the creator of jazz, De Shields pointed out that what made Armstrong’s life so interesting to him to write about, was “he seemed to be everybody’s personal friend, how do you distill his style?”

 

Ms. Precia’s Roles, Reactions, Actions Reveal Anxieties of “Mr. Jazz.”

 

“We all know the sweat-beaded face, the rolling eyes, the gold trumpet, the hankerchief, but who knows the demons behind that grin?” De Shields mused, his eyes distant and sensitive. “We know his image: Simple. Happy go lucky, almost an idiot savant. His trumpet playing was not learned. What  we see in the show through the lens of his four wives, played by Stacie, is what conflict in this man’s life made him, shaped him and prepared him for this heroic destiny (of America’s Ambassador to the world).”

 

DEBUTING IN QUADRUPLE ROLE: “To know a man, you go to the people who knew him, and who better to know Louis than his four wives,” De Shields explained, “Stacie interacts with me, she narrates, (in each of her wife roles) in the four epochs. You get a vision of how he evolved in each of his four eras through the lenses of his wives.” According to De Shields, she is terrific.Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

 

Following the Man Who Created Jazz.

 

De Shields notes the show combines a revealing look at “an icon,” with the musical styles he created, from Armstrong’s “formative” years in New Orleans, to when he began in Chicago, to New York, with 19 numbers performed live reflecting the legacy and the personality. If the show is as Mr. De Shields promises, it will be a tour de force of the evolution of jazz by its pied piper.

 

The show will not have scenery. “The device of Ambassador Satch is Louis,” De Shields explains, “Through his comments. His wives’ comments. Through seeing him in the present, to flashbacks and flashforwards, you get to know the man.”

 

A Visit to Corona. A Walk-off and a Walk-on and “Satch” Was Born.

 

De Shields created the present show with Mr. Mirrione, after conducting extensive personal research at the Louis Armstrong house in Corona, Queens. A tour of the home inspired him.

 

 De Shields had not originally planned to make Ambassador Satch his signature role, but when the show was being performed in Carnegie Hall in 1993, when it was just 55 minutes long and cast for only one actor. The actor cast in the part suddenly acquired “a big time gig” as Mr. De Shields described it, and Andre had to go on stage the next day with it, and he said the role galvanized him, and lead him and Mr. Mirrione to expand the show to two actors and a band.

 

De Shields learned firsthand what Louis was like to work with from Arvell Shaw, Mr. Armstrong’s former bass player qirh Louie’s All Stars in the early 60s.  Andre worked with Shaw in Ain’t Misbehavin’ on Broadway in 1978. De Shields worked with Phoebe Jacobs, Vice President of the Louis Armstrong Foundation, and Michael Cogswell, Curator of the Louis Armstrong Archives at Queens College, selecting material and creating the show.

 

 

Ambassador Satch debuts in White Plains Performing Arts Center Sunday afternoon. Tickets are available for Sunday’s performance and all other performances through December 21. Curtain is at 2 PM on Sunday. For information on tickets call 1-888-977-2250, or WPPAC direct at 328-1600. Tickets are $32.50 to $45. At the December 18 staging,  Mr. De Shields will conduct a post-performance Meet-the-Artist program for youth.

 

As for the Ambassador Satch “message,” De Shields said, “My co-writer and I are happy to reveal Louis Armstrong, and to remember him as a prophet of peace.” Photo by WPCNR StageCam.

 

 

 

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. From Hudson Valley Express. December 5, 2003: There will be a Clinic held at East Fishkill Baseball/Softball Academy on December 21, 2003. The Clinic’s will run two (2) hours in duration and will be from 9:00 AM to 11:00AM and 12:00 PM thru 2:00 PM.  The Focus of the Clinic will be on “Hitting the Hofstra Way”.
Bill Edwards is a world renown clinician and it well worth the price of admission which is $60 per session.   For more information please call 845-223-8460 capture your spot in this outstanding Clinic.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY By John F. Bailey. December 3, 2003: The Common Council authorized Mayor Joseph Delfino and Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy to begin the process of negotiations on a new 10-year contract with Cablevision,   the city’s local cable access provider.

 

Mr. Dunphy and Frederick Strauss, Executive Director of White Plains Public Access, said they were planning on negotiating for a substantially higher percentage of revenues from the cable company, Cablevision.  Cablevision, according to the White Plains Public Access,  currently has 18,000 subscribers in the City of White Plains, a 60% penetration of city households. The current city contract, negotiated in 1995,  expires at the end of 2005, and by law the city is authorized to begin negotiations at this time, according to Dunphy.

 

Determining Our Own Fate.

 

Dunphy in his remarks to the Counsel said White Plains is one of the leading customers of Cablevision in Westchester County and is seeking to improve its present contract with Cablevision which pays the city $1,000,000 per year for the right to be Franchisee, and $100,000 a year to White Plains Public Access.

 

Mr. Dunphy advised the council that White Plains is seeking to cut their own terms with Cablevision, rather than be tied to “me-too” standard cable agreements Cablevision offers to other communities in the county without the audience of White Plains.

 

Quality Counts.

 

Council member Glen Hockley, as a result of his “Hockley Walkabouts” said he has heard numerous complaints from city residents about the quality and variety of Cablevision service in the city. Mr. Strauss said the city would be bringing up both quality of service, types of service, projected improvements and upgrades in cable technology offered by Cablevision in the future as bargaining chips and issues to be dealt with in the new contract.

 

Mayor Delfino assured the council that they would have to approve any final negotiated arrangement with Cablevision.

 

A KOUFAX AND DRYSDALE APPROACH?: Asked by Mr. Hockley, if the city was going to negotiate in consort with other communities, Dunphy, (foreground, with Mayor Delfino standing), said that was a possibility. Dunphy told the council that by cable television law, the city can negotiate a new franchise agreement only with the present franchisee, but in telecommunications law, the city would be able to negotiate with a variety of carriers, and he was looking into possibilities of that. Photo by WPCNR News.

 

Dunphy said he was seeking more than the million dollar fee presently received by the city, “at least a million-and-half,” but no figure had been settled on as a target.

 

Married to Cablevision

 

Robert Greer and Mr. Hockley suggested exploring other franchisees such as Time-Warner, because T-W, for example, had in Mr. Greer’s opinion, better programming.

 

Mr. Strauss cautioned that the city “is unable to dictate programming offered to the community. We can only inform and communicate to the cable company to get them to be more responsive. We hope to motivate them (Cablevision) in a variety of ways.”

 

The council authorized the Mayor to begin the negotiation process during the Work Session Tuesday night. Mr. Dunphy reported to the Council that the city is now marshalling resources to explore areas of negotiation, and will be traveling to Washington to seek input from federal cable regulators as to what the city can demand and expect, and is also seeking information from Cablevision.

 

Dunphy Insights into Intricacies of Negotiation and Departure.

 

In an interview after the meeting, Mr. Dunphy told WPCNR that the present contract negotiated in 1995 by Rusty Monroe, (during the Sy Schulman administration), called for White Plains to be paid 5% of the Cablevision gross revenues earned from the city. He said that is the agreement that will expire in December 31, 2005.

 

Asked if the city could not reach an acceptable agreement, what happens? Dunphy said the city could revoke the franchise, which would trigger “a hearing process” in which the city would have to justify why it was seeking to revoke the contract.

 

WPCNR asked if the city would consider a step-level contract with Cablevision, in which if certain revenue levels were achieved, or certain technological improvements added, the city revenue would be automatically increased, Dunphy said “that’s under advisement,” and ruled nothing out.

 

Queried as to whether Cablevision payments to the city had to be spent on the Public Access operations, or could be used as the city sees fit, Mr. Dunphy said he would have to check on that.

 

White Plains Is Cable-Friendly.

 

According to Gary Stukes of White Plains Public Access, Cablevision has 18,000 subscribers in the city out of 25,000 residences.

 

The White Plains CitizeNetReporter is one of those subscribers. I pay $41.25 for Family Cable, and $44.95 for their Optimum online package, $4.95 for the iO navigation package, $3.24 for remotes, and $1.95 for the YES network, plus a Franchise Fee of $2.72, a Peg Fee of  .46 and a Regulatory Fee of 5 cents. This comes a regular monthly bill of $99.97 last month.

 

If the city’s 18,000 subscribers had a package that just included the Family package, as I do, they would pay approximately $50 a month generating $900,000 a month, throw in HBO, Cinemax, MSG and other services and the bill goes up perhaps to my level, $100. With just a Family Package that is over $10,800,000 a year. With added premium networks it is more…up to $100 a month, that works out by WPCNR estimate to be $21,800,000.

 

At the $1 Million a year the city is receiving now, it would appear that “gross revenues” now are running at  $21,600,000 as a WPCNR rough estimate according to my own figures above generated a 5% return for the city of  $1,080,000 of revenue which approximates the figure Mr. Dunphy quoted last night.

 

Mr. Stukes of White Plains Public Access said that it is important to note that more than 18,000 subscribers in White Plains might have cable access through satellite dishes which bring them cable, but those dish-equipped viewers do not receive White Plains Public Access,  which includes “The Spirit of 76,” Channel 76 (Home of White Plains Week, and your other favorites), Channel 75, The Home of the Common Council and Channel 77, The Home of White Plains Schools and that other “news” station, News12.

 

Stukes added that  White Plains cable penetration through Cablevision is 60%, a penetration level that is recognized as the highest penetration level nationally. He said that New York State leads the nation in penetration, and White Plains is “at the top of the list.”

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WPCNR MAIN STREET BEAT. From Paul Wood, City Hall Press Spokesperson & Economic Development Director. December 2, 2003: Paul Wood of the Mayor’s Office announced last night that Starbucks, “America’s Coffee,” will open their new kiosk (in final two weeks of construction) at the Renaissance Plaza Fountain downtown on Thursday, December 18 at 11:00. The Mayor of White Plains, Joseph Delfino, Mr. Wood said, would be pouring the city’s first official White Plains Starbuck’s Latte, at an opening ceremony that date.

“COFFEE HEAH:” The Starbucks Kiosk at Renaissance Plaza will be serving White Plains beginning December 18. The kiosk is shown under construction prior to the Fountain draining and winterization which took place last week due to icing conditions. Photo by WPCNR News.

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WPCNR SCREEN GEMS. By Hollywood Johnny.  November 18, 2003: The blockbuster movies the great white way of White Plains has been waiting for are coming after missing for decades from the downtown.

The Louis Cappelli City Center movie complex entitled City Center 15 Cinema de Lux will “roll ’em” in an exclusive preview for White Plains dignataries and invited guests on Thursday, December 11, followed by the opening to the moviegoing public on Friday, December 12. Jennifer Hansen, spokesperson for National Amusements said media mavens, television and radio mikepokers, web bloggers, weeklies, dailies, monthlies and self-styled scribes would be given an hour to check out the state-of-the-art theatre complex on the fourth level of City Center beginning at 6 PM, followed by a VIP Party at 7 for the mover-and-shaker suits, and wingtipped and spike-heeled set, who will settle in for a movie at 8 PM.

Your reporter has learned that City Center 15: Cinema de Lux, will be a 15 screen state-of-the art movie theatre complete with: Exclusive Director’s Halls with Ultra Leather seats and reserved seating, Guest Services extraordinaire with posh-posh concierge-style, complimentary service for patrons of the celluloid arts. Guests of the White Plains Performing Arts Theatre as well as moviegoers can inbibe, chatter, and flatter at a Chatters Restaurant and Lounge, order beans from heaven coffee at a coffee bar while enjoying the sounds of a Baby Grand Piano playing the the lobby. Plus for the traditional movie snacker they may take advantage of Ben and Jerry’s, Nathan’s Famous and Sbarro’s Pizza.