WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR—65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley, 89th District. January 31, 2005: After the 2000 presidential election it became apparent that something was wrong with our nation’s electoral process. Pictures of the Florida recount headlined newspapers with hanging and pregnant chads from outdated punch card ballots. Five years later, New York has still failed to bring the election process into the new millennium.

The effects of the outdated system are reverberating in Westchester County. In 2001, a White Plains City Council race was tarnished by broken election machinery. Now, nearly three months after Election Day 2004, the 35^th State Senate is still undecided. In order to prevent election mishaps, the Assembly has always taken the lead. Recently, the Assembly passed legislation to change how elections are run in New York and to help the state comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.

We must do everything we can to ensure and restore faith in the integrity of our electoral process. To make voting easier and more accurate, the legislation:

·        bans punch card ballots; replacing it with a single type of voting machine with a voter-verified paper audit trail (A.5);

·        consolidates election operations at the county level – ensuring polling places are adequately staffed with well-trained workers (A.122);

·        creates a statewide computerized voter registration list with proper privacy protections (A.121);

·        establishes basic guidelines to ensure the disabled community has access to polling sites (A.120)

 It is not enough to change the way we vote, we must also change how campaigns are financed. We recently passed a campaign finance reform measure designed to stem the influence of special interest money on elections (A.4).

The plan would provide public matching funds to candidates for statewide office who limit large contributions and campaign spending. The legislation also creates an income tax check-off to help build a non-partisan, state-controlled campaign fund for eligible candidates. In addition, the legislation:

·        imposes limits on the amount of money political parties can contribute to candidates;

·        bans fundraisers by state legislators or statewide candidates within 40 miles of Albany during the legislative session;

·        sets limits on the amount of money that can be donated to candidates or political committees;

·        closes loopholes that allow corporations to avoid campaign contribution limits by funneling donations through subsidiary companies; and

·        bans unlimited “soft money” contributions to political parties’ housekeeping accounts

We must work to restore and maintain public faith in democratic elections, which are the foundation of our society. I believe the bills passed by the Assembly will help ensure citizen participation in our democracy.  I strongly encourage the Senate and governor to on creating a level playing field for those seeking to run for public office, and join us in ensuring that we have a fair electoral system that the public can have trust in.

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WPCNR ORCHESTRA PIT. From Purchase College. January 28, 2005: The Purchase College Conservatory of Music Faculty Artist Series presents the internationally acclaimed Mozartean Players, featuring Professor Steven Lubin, in an early music concert February 25 at 8 PM in the Recital Hall of the Music Building. The concert is free and open to the public.

The evening’s program includes Mozart’s Sonata in E Minor, K.304, for violin and fortepiano, Beethoven’s Sonata in F, Op.5/1, for cello and piano, Haydn’s Trio in C, Hob.XV/27, and Mozart’s Trio in Bb, K.502.

Purchase College, State University of New York, is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. For more information, call 914-251-6700.

 The Mozartean Players, founded in 1979, is one of the oldest, continuously active, early music organizations in America. The group’s special focus is the idea of “historically informed” performance, involving the use of accurate period instruments and ways of approaching interpretation relevant to the period. In its initial decade from orchestral to varied chamber formats, the group reinterpreted the classical masterworks in period style in a long series of path-breaking and widely publicized concerts in major halls in New York City. The concerts and recordings of the Mozartean Players Classical Orchestra influenced other artists’ projects internationally, and led to Mr. Lubin’s monumental Beethoven-concerto cycle of recordings for Decca in London.

 The current configuration of the group as a piano trio, unchanged since 1987, is comprised of Mr. Lubin, fortepiano, Stanley Ritchie, violin, and Myron Lutzke, cello. The group’s repertoire spans the era from Haydn through Schumann, the period during which the piano, starting as the delicate, five-octave, wooden-frame instrument of the Classics, changed gradually into the larger, early-Romantic piano. A large proportion of the group’s touring has involved Mr. Lubin’s readily transportable five-octave Walter fortepiano replica, performing trios of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven. The stringed instruments are accordingly in period disposition.

Steven Lubin, a founding member of the Mozartean Players, is one of the world’s premier fortepianists, sustaining a busy international career as a performer and recording artist. He is a professor of music at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase, and was the recipient of a Kempner Distinguished Professor Award in 2001. Mr. Lubin has served as soloist and conductor of The Mozartean Players Classical Orchestra in a five-year cycle of concerts at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Alice Tully Hall, and in a series of Mozart-concerto recordings.  His Decca recording of the five Beethoven concertos with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music was chosen as a Recording of the Year by The New York Times, Stereo Review and Gramophone, and was cited as the finest recorded Beethoven cycle available by the Penguin Guide. 

Stanley Ritchie, an internationally recognized authority on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance practice, joined The Mozartean Players in 1987. He has appeared as a soloist at festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Lufthansa (in London).  He has performed on modern violin in numerous tours and recordings as first violinist of the Philadelphia String Quartet, and concertmaster of the New York City Opera and Musica Aeterna Orchestras.  He is currently on the faculty of the Early Music Institute and director of the Bloomington Baroque at Indiana University’s School of Music.

Myron Lutzke is one of the foremost American players of eighteenth-century cello.  Equally active as a performer on both modern and period instruments, he is a member of the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the Aulos Ensemble and the Bach Ensemble, and serves as principal cellist of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra.  As a continuo player he has performed in the Metropolitan Opera production of Handel’s Julius Caesar and in Peter Sellars’ television production of the Mozart-DaPonte operas. Mr. Lutzke is a member of the Early Music faculty of the Mannes College of Music.

The concert is part of a residency the Mozartean Players are conducting at the Conservatory of Music on February 22 and 24, funded by the Chamber Music America Residency Grant Program. The residency focuses on the so-called Viennese classicism period, the era of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven (circa 1770-1800). Chamber Music America is a national non-profit service organization based in New York City that works toward promoting the art of chamber music in various ways.

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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. January 26, 2005: Assemblyman Adam Bradley (D-White Plains) announced Assembly passage of legislation to modernize the voting process and help New York comply with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.

“We must do everything we can to ensure and restore faith in the integrity of our electoral process,” Bradley said. “This legislation will help New York comply with HAVA and improve the democratic process.”

The Assembly’s reform plan will implement the Help America Vote Act to make voting in New York easier and more accurate by:

·        banning punch card ballots; requiring the adoption of a single type of voting machine with a voter-verified paper audit trail; and ensuring voting machines which are fully accessible to the disabled are present at every polling place (A.5);

·        consolidating election operations at the county level – ensuring elections are run consistently and polling places are adequately staffed with well-trained workers (A.122);

·        creating a statewide computerized voter registration list with proper privacy protections – helping to ensure voters get in and out of the polls quickly, record votes accurately and prevent voter fraud (A.121);

·        establishing basic guidelines to ensure the disabled community has access to polling sites (A.120)

“In Westchester County where we have an undecided State Senate seat and a city council seat in White Plains, which has been at issue for years, we know firsthand the need for updated, accurate and verifiable election machinery,” Bradley concluded. “These measures will help ensure the integrity of our elections.”

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WPCNR THE CAPPELLI NEWS. From The Cappelli Foundation. January 24, 2005: Denise Groneman, Executive Director of The Louis R. Cappelli Foundation, announced today its 2005 funding initiative to assist Westchester and Sullivan counties’ at-risk youth reach their full potential.  The initiative is part of the Foundation’s overall strategy to address special needs of youth in these counties.  Three specific targeted areas where the Foundation intends to focus its attention are education, health and fitness, and arts education.  All fully certified 501-C3 non-profit organizations located in Westchester and Sullivan counties are invited to submit proposals for funding that meet the following criteria:

• Education –The Foundation will look for education programs that encourage collaboration among agencies, educational facilities, childcare centers, school districts and parents to address innovative education programs that encourage and foster the learning process for at-risk children.


• Health and Fitness – The Foundation will support programs that provide innovative and worthwhile health programs or organized sports which encourage wellness and fitness, enabling at-risk children to reach their fullest potential in life.


• Arts Education – The Foundation will support arts education programs that provide access to the visual and performing arts for at-risk children through the counties’ wide array of arts and related organizations.

Since its inception in 1999, The Louis R. Cappelli Foundation has awarded over

$3 million in grants. Grant proposals will be accepted only ONCE during calendar year 2005.  All grant applications, either for general support or program specific, must be received no later than 5 p.m., June 18, 2005, either by mail or hand delivered.  Grant applications require original signatures and any applications submitted via fax or e-mail will be rejected.  Grant applications received after June 18, 2005 will automatically be returned.  Grants will be awarded based on evaluation of proposals submitted by non-profit organizations.

Completed grant applications must meet the aforementioned criteria.  All applicants are required to follow the same grant application form.  Incomplete grant application forms will be returned.

To receive a grant application, please send your request in writing to J. Fevola, The Louis R. Cappelli Foundation, 115 Stevens Avenue, Valhalla, NY, 10595, or by e-mail to jfevola@cappelli-inc.com.  

The Louis R. Cappelli Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable organization located in Valhalla, NY.  Louis R. Cappelli is the President of the Foundation and is also President of Cappelli Enterprises, Inc., a Valhalla-based development company.

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WPCNR SCREEN GEMS. By John F. Bailey. January 23, 2004: “Live from New York, it’s The Tonight Show, Starring Johnny Carson, with Johnny’s Special Guests, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Raquel Welch, George Burns, Bob Hope, and Skitch Henderson and the NBC Orchestra…and now, heeeeeeeeeeer’s Johnny!”

This was Ed McMahon’s nightly trademark introduction to Johnny Carson who was reported dead today at 79.  “Johnny’s”  blend of playful monologue, light conversation, and trademark skits featuring Karnak The Magnificent, among others ruled the late night ratings and created a format generating imitators galore. The forever young Carson replaced Jack Paar on the Tonight Show in 1962. Mr. Carson perfected the talk show invented by this reporter’s idol, Steve Allen. “Johnny” was naturally funny with a gift for adlib that brought down the nation from coast-to-coast nightly, but never got him in trouble to my recollection.

Carson sprang to his calling after a stint on “Who Do You Trust?” a quiz show aired in midafternoon in the early sixties. From the beginning, Carson created bits that became trademarks: like the signature Tonight theme written for him by Paul Anka that started the beginning of his show.  This appealing instrumental became almost as famous as the Dragnet theme, and  featured a riff that promised class, bounce and entertainment late into the night. 

Anyone who heard that clarion call, “Ba-dum-ba-Da-Da!” just had to stay for Mr. Carson’s opening monologue, the highlight of the show.

In the monologue he’d always introduce his band leader, Skitch Henderson in the beginning then later Doc Severinsen. The band on the Carson show was an integral part of the Carson monologue, inventing the rim shot for a punch line, improvising melodies appropriate to whatever joke Carson told. He delivered the unexpected with the expected.

Carson had a gift for understated humor, the shocked deadpan that turned an innocent remark into hilarious double entendre. Carson was at ease with celebrities who were able to relax on the couch next to Mr. Carson’s desk with microphone. Every bit that the Lettermans, the Lenos, the O’Briens do today on their talk shows, Carson did better. His bits were all his and leaned on his terrific adlib ability which created hysterical moments.

Carson invented the bumper slide going to commercials, the personality in a slide gag, and always signed off his monologue with his clubless golf swing and the trademark musical riff, “Ba-dum-ba-Da-Da” from his theme.

In the 60s he appealed to college students for his topical humor that poked fun at politicians without the vicious edge of today. He appealed to women young and old for his looks and choir-boy-with-a -mischievous-streak demeanor. He appealed to men young and old because he was genuinely funny.

He handled sexy topics with a naughtiness that was playful, never vulgar. To say he was genial was to understate his gift for making a national television audience feel at ease with him, who loved his humor, his show and always watched the first fifteen minutes for Johnny’s commentaries on the day.

Carson invented the announcer as sidekick gimmick in the person of  his longtime Marine pal, Ed McMahon, whose hearty laughter was always there even when Johnny’s jokes did not work. When a Carson line did not work, he often got his biggest laughs, by saying things like “This is a tough crowd,” or ….”O…..Kaaaaaaay,” or writing down something with his pencil. But that rarely happened. Carson’s monologues delivered short two-liners mostly, in the style of Henny Youngman, and Johnny could build on a theme.

The imitators Carson spawned never improved on his format, nor his ambience. With Carson, you felt you were part of a pleasant conversation, always light. Carson never discussed the troubling issues of the day. He made you feel good. He brought out the human side of celebrities, who no matter how famous, loved being on Johnny’s show because they were never embarrassed. He respected them and they had fun. They could be themselves.

Johnny never relied on sex and innuendo for his humor, but had a mischievous streak that often brought knowing guffaws from the audience.  Their laughter would ellicit a disapproving wide eyed stare at the camera from the boyish host. His jokes were not mean, not dirty, and you would never hear Carson use the words talk show hosts sometimes employ today. He would appear prudish when Gina Lollibrigida’s decolletage was too deep, deliberately looking stage left, repeating that gag through an interview with a revealingly clad female guest.

Johnny got his biggest laughs when he would have visits from zoo keepers bringing in strange animals, whom Johnny would interview and mug it up with, such as alligators, exotic birds, chimpanzees, who would often commit hilarious indiscretions on camera.

Carson was stylish, teaching generations of young men how to dress with poise, and always keep your cool.

He made running a talk show seem like the greatest job in the world. It is.

The real star of The Tonight Show was Johnny Carson, and he was that star for 30 years from 1962-1992. As the Associated Press obituary notice notes, a Carson appearance made you a star if you were trying to get a break, and American viewers loved him. Doc Severinsen, the band leader, tells of how people always ask Doc about how Johnny is and how they miss him.

The show was at its best when Johnny was doing one of his bits, whether it be still photographs to suggest outrageous solutions, his Carnak imitation with the audience, where the audience would write things down, and Carnak would guess them by holding an evelope to his head. The Carnak character was based on mentalists who abounded in an earlier era.  Carson also played (with slick-backed hair) a used car salesman, imitating car salesman who advertised heavily on West Coast stations, Aunt Blabby, Floyd Turbo and other zany personalities. This character morphed into spokespeople for various products. The bits were not always hilarious but they always amused.

Now the master has swung his imaginary golf swing to go to the final fade. Talk’s finest is gone.

An example of Carson’s adlib ability is in The New York Times extensive obituary of Johnny appearing Monday. Asked what would be his epitaph, Carson said, “I’ll be right back.”

The most boring part of his show were the guests, because you really tuned in Tonight for Johnny Carson.

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