Westco Turns Back the Hands of Time to The Summer of Love.

WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By KKIX’s Big Melvin Mead, the Big Apple’s 1440 Rockin Daddy with All the Hits You Need. September 22, 2008: A little truckin music, Ray, bring it up down under and up underneath, we’re going up country,with the music you loved in the Summer of love 40 years ago, drank espresso to and lit matches to. My pal,  White Plains Westco’s Suzi the K,(K is for Katz)  is turning back the hands of time.


 



JEFFERSON STARSHIP –CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE — ONE NIGHT ONLY — SATURDAY, THAT’S SATURDAY, September 27


 



 


All you Children of Love, peace and understanding out there listen up and down the coast from New Ro to Bedford, Tarrytown to Stamford, your rockin’ daddy is here to give you the word about  out of sight  WESTCO Productions.


 


White Plains own Suzi the K – Susan Katz, founder of good old Westco,  blasts off her 2008 Solid Gold Star Concert Revival Tour with two blockbustin’ foot-stompin’ blasts from the past, this Saturday September 27, the K-girl brings back  Jefferson Starship  at the fabulous Tarrytown Music Hall –that’s SATURDAY, dudes at “The Fillmore North,” Tarrytown Music Hall–  the balcony will be shaking to the pyschedelic, hold-those-BIC-lighters-to-the-sky sounds of Jefferson Starship and the music of The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service.


 



 


SUNDAY, THAT’S SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6 — Go Ramblin’, singing along, with the feel-good, foot-stompin’ hand-clappin, troupadours of the 60s


 


Then back to back,  Suzi the K lays a double play on you a little farther on down the road in Irvington, next week, Sunday, that’s  Suhnday, October 6, a little farther down Route 9 when the hipsterette brings back the  feel good 1970 Hootenanny experience with the singers you sung along to in the mid-60s,The New Christy Minstrels with original singers at Irvington Town Hall Theater.


 


Both concerts hosted on stage by my flower child buddy, White Plains own Suzy the K, entertaining Westchester with what Westchester wants for over 30 years, newest member-to-be of the White Plains High Hall of Fame and you tell be these blockbuster headliners. Grab a pencil and paper gang or go to www.westcoproductions.org or call 914-761-7463 for ticket information. Choice, secluded balcony seats in these great old halls — the “fillmores of Westchester” still available. Tell them Big Melvin Mead sent you! Here’s more on what’s happenin, baby…



 




 


 


JEFFERSON STARSHIP with Special Guest – Grateful Dead pianist Tom Constanten ONE NIGHT ONLY

Turn back the calendar to 1968 when Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver Messenger Service recorded some of their most compelling music. In “The Great ’68 Airplane-Quick-Dead Show,” original members of all three bands appear in sets which pay tribute to each band’s music. You’ll see Jefferson Airplane/Starship founders Paul Kantner and Marty Balin, Quicksilver Messenger Service founder David Freiberg, along with Cathy Richardson, Donny Baldwin, Slick Aguilar, and Chris Smith. Special guest is Tom Constanten, original pianist from The Grateful Dead.  Suzi the K is bringing them right back!



ONE NIGHT ONLY! The Sounds of  The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service Rise Again!Sat., Sept. 27 – Tarrytown Music Hall – 8:00 pm. You get your money’s worth in the first 15 minutes, and the rest of the show is FREE!



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Ramble  and sing along once more with THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS ONE NIGHT ONLY SUNDAY, THAT’S SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 as Irvington Town Hall turns into “Hootenanny” — the night the New Christy Minstrels Come to Town Hall.


 



Led by original  Randy Sparks, creator of the Minstrels! Featuring original members Dolan Ellis, Art Podell, Jackie Miller  Davidson, and Clarence Treat — the very same Grammy Award-winning performers who starred on “The Andy Williams Show” beginning when the group made its debut in 1962. Among the fans was President John F. Kennedy! Also appearing, Becky Jo Benson and Buffalo Bill Boycott.


 


Millions of records sold! Their songs are classics: “Green, Green,” “This Land is Your Land,” “Saturday Night,” “Today,” “Denver,” “Mighty Mississippi,” “Drinking Gourd,” and many others!!


 


The New Christy Minstrels popularized folk music throughout the 60s along with the other legends of folk music – Peter Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio.


 


Get that hootenanny happy, toe-tapping, hand-clappin, feeling you got watching Hootenanny on ABC, when you sang along and snapped your fingers to the New Christy Minstrels – the troupadours of the 60s.



Sun., Oct. 6 – Irvington Town Hall Theater – 7:30 pm Tickets, information, contact Westco 914-761-7463


 

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Superintendent Profiling for School District Continues 2Nite at WPHS 7:30

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. September 22, 2008: The City School District and Deborah Raizes of Hazard, Young  and Attia, will hold the third of community input sessions tonight designed to determine an ideal profile of the kind of executive White Plains parents and citizens want in considering whom to select for the 2009-2010 Superintendent of Schools. (Present Superintendent Timothy Connors is retiring in June 2009, after seven years.) The community session will be held at White Plains High School at 7:30 P.M. in building B-1.



Superintendent Profiling Taking Place at Bethel Baptist Church last week. Session three is at the High School this evening. All welcome.



The first two sessions so far were held at St. Bernard’s Church (after church), and at Bethel Baptist Church, conducted by Deborah Raizes, above, shown Monday evening at Bethel Baptist, who spearheaded the last search in 2002 which brought Mr. Connors to the district. In the first session, the St. Bernard’s crown indicated they wanted more advanced classes for Hispanics and minorities, which was echoed by the 35 African-American attendents at the Bethel Baptist meeting.


The Bethel Baptist meeting held last Monday, was more critical of the White Plains teachers’ collective abilities to get the most out of minority students, Hispanic and African-American, saying preconceived notions existed, though  the group agreed the district teachers were on the whole very good – though help was not as easy to get if students were minorities. Hispanic parents were happy with the district, and insisted their children wanted to learn English and thought that was important, Ms. Raizes told WPCNR


So far the commentary from both meetings, though praising Mr. Connors’ ability to reach out to the communities, called for a new Superintendent who had experienced with minorities-dominated district like White Plains, with a track record of closing the achievement gap. A majority of African-American parents said a new Suprintendent had to concentrate on doing more at closing the performance gap of their youth.


Individuals painted cases, naming Ridgeway School, in particular as a place where if you were an underperforming minority you were “labeled” and did not receive the attention needed to upgrade performance, while if you were performing well as a minority student, you were encouraged. More  ability to single out and make more of an effort , a handful of speakers said, has to be made with underperforming minority youths in the elementary schools.


Only one parent brought up the need for a new Superintendent to be more sensitive to the growth of the school budget.


The session begins this evening at 7:30 P.M in B-1 at White Plains High School


 

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CAMELOT with The Great Cuccioli Launches WPPAC 2008-2009 Season.

 


WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From White Plains Performing Arts Center. September 22, 2008: The Tony Award winning musical, Camelot, will have a White Plains revival this week, launching the 2008-2009 season at White Plains Performing Arts Center. Robert Cuccioli, who played a magnificent Don Quixote in last December;s WPPAC Man of La Mancha, takes on the giant musical role of King Arthur. Curtains goes up at 8 Friday evening at White Plains Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available for the two-week run of show from September 26 through October 5 only.



 




Robert Cuccioli, triumphant and spectacular in Man of La Mancha stars as King Arthur in Camelot. Juli Robbins is Guenevere and Gregg Goodbrod as Lancelot. Photo Courtesy, White Plains Performing Arts Center by John Vecchiola


 


The artistic team of Director Sidney J. Burgoyne and Musical Director James Bassi who produced  WPPAC’s entertaining production of RAGTIME last season, provide an exciting new look at Lerner and Loewe’s timeless masterpiece about King Arthur’s enchanted kingdom, Camelot, where honor and chivalry reign.


 


Camelot is more relevant than ever this election year as we weary of war, yearn for a return to a more-perfect time and re-discover the grandeur of one of history’s greatest love stories – the romance between Lancelot and Guenevere, featuring such classics as If Ever I Would Leave You and How to Handle a Woman.


     


      Camelot is directed by Sidney J. Burgoyne, with Musical Direction by James Bassi, Scenic Design by Michael Hotopp, Costume Design by T. Michael Hall, Lighting Design by Thom Weaver and Sound Design by Wallace Flores.  B.J. Forman is Production Stage Manager.  The show is produced by Jack W. Batman for the White Plains Performing Arts Center.


Robert Cuccioli is Broadway-acclaimed. He earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his work on Broadway in Jekyll & Hyde. He won the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle awards for that performance as well. Cuccioli also appeared in the Broadway production of Les Misérables and has been seen on screen in “Sliders,” “Baywatch,” “Celebrity,” “The Stranger” and “Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target.” He recently starred as Salieri in Amadeus at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and in the Off-Broadway production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.  His other recent theatrical credits include Guys and Dolls, Temporary Help, Lorenzaccio, The Sound of Music and the Actors’ Fund benefit concert of On the Twentieth Century.


Camelot, winner of four 1961 Tony Awards, has Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and Music by Frederick Loewe and is based on “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White.


 


Tickets are $50.00/$42.50. Season subscriptions and gift certificates also available. The subscription season begins with Oliver! (November 20 – December 14, 2008), followed by A Little Night Music (March 5 – 22, 2009) and finishing with Hello, Dolly! (April 30 – May 17, 2009).


 


White Plains Performing Arts Center is located on the third level of City Center at the corner of Main and Mamaroneck in downtown White Plains, NY, just 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan, and there is plenty of convenient parking. For tickets please call 914.328.1600 or buy them online at www.wppac.com.




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Senator Clinton Statement on the Paulson Plan to Bailout Wall Street

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2008. From The Office of New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. September 22, 2008:  Senator Hillary Clinton made the following statement on the administration’s proposal to restore stability to U.S. financial markets.


“When the American people, facing a foreclosure crisis and struggling economy, turned to this administration for help, the answer was no. Now, the administration is turning to the American people for help, to rescue the credit markets and take on hundreds of billions in debt and financial obligations as a consequence of that same foreclosure crisis. The truth is, Main Street came to Washington and got little. Now Washington is coming to Main Street and asking for a lot. The American people deserve to know that this isn’t a blank check. While the need to address the current crisis is clear, I will only support steps that will prevent a widening crisis, tackle the worst kinds of abuse tolerated for too long by the Bush Administration, and address the root problems at work.


 


 




The proposed intervention outlined Thursday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would be a watershed moment for our economy. I believe that such an intervention demands that we fundamentally alter the priorities and policies of our nation under the Bush Administration that allowed this crisis to take place and escalate. Corporations that will benefit must be held accountable not only to large shareholders but also to the American people. And American taxpayers deserve to know that their money will not allow for a continuation of the status quo: short term profit at the expense of long term viability; obscene bonuses and golden parachutes regardless of performance; reckless risk taking that have placed the markets in so much jeopardy; rewards for those who foreclose on middle class families and sell mortgages designed to fail to turn a profit; and outsourcing of good jobs to serve short term stock prices instead of America’s long term economic health.  The prevailing dynamic of corporate America, where the sole priority was the dividend, the inflated bonus and the quarterly earnings report, must give way to a new respect for the long term prosperity of the American worker and the well being of the middle class. 



After eight years of failed policies – and two years of an absentee administration – our only option left may be an unprecedented government intervention into the private markets. The markets must be stabilized to stave off wider turmoil. Nevertheless, the urgency of this crisis does not mean that we should offer a blank check to financial institutions or the privileged few.  Nor can we simply allow the administration to use the taxpayers like a ‘reset button.’ We cannot allow Wall Street to act without oversight by a vigilant SEC and administration – and without regard for the American people, who will now have paid twice: in falling prey to a widening credit crisis, and in paying the bill to hopefully bring it to an end.   


I will be examining the administration’s proposal very closely to ensure that we do not approve a policy that may stabilize the markets in the short term without addressing the root problems facing middle class families or the kinds of reckless gambling that was permitted for far too long by the administration. The Bush Administration may have changed its tune once the crisis facing Main Street hit Wall Street. But we need to be sure that the American taxpayers – asked to shoulder yet more risk and responsibility – have a voice.”


 On Thursday, Senator Clinton outlined her plan to halt the market crisis in a speech on the floor of the Senate, calling for a series of specific proposals, including creating a new version of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) to remove bad mortgage debt from the market and restore confidence, curbing the most damaging and manipulative trading practices, providing immediate relief to homeowners facing foreclosure through modifying troubled mortgages, and reasserting competent federal oversight. Senator Clinton also explained her plan in a letter to more than 15,000 New Yorkers who had expressed concern about housing and the economy.

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