Never mind the details, but Detroit-raised Anita Baker took a long break from recording and touring in 1994 - at the height of her career - to raise a family. What she did, wrote James M. Manheim and Tom Pendergast, was “[playing] the role of mom, joining the local PTA, and shuttling her kids to school activities. She also nursed her foster parents through the last years of their lives.” Anita returned in 2003 and issued her album “My Everything.”
As Norwich’s Rose Aksterowicz put it, “Anita Baker is one singer who sounds the same in concert as she does on her CDs, which we know can’t be said about too many artists.” Anita, a six-time Grammy Award winner, and one of the most talented performers in the music business, appeared August 7 at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Mixing soul, jazz, and romance, Anita offered “Sweet Love,” “Caught Up in the Rapture,” and “Watch Your Step” from “Rapture,” her smash 1986 album. From her 1994 “Rhythm of Love” album, Anita treated the audience to “I Apologize” and “Body and Soul,” From her 1988 “Giving You the Best That I Got” album, she had the crowd on its feet with “Just Because” and the album’s title track.
Highlights… Anita continually expressed her gratitude to the appreciative audience for her success (She’s a performer of twenty-plus years.) … Early on she said, “Remember, I’m an earthy girl. So if you want to sing with me, then sing. If you want to get up and dance, then dance. If you want to talk to me, then talk.” So, people sang along. People danced. People talked to her and she responded… Her stunning alto voice still intense, sophisticated, and powerful. Anita is rarely stationary. She covers the entire stage and gets quite a workout. Always gives each song a little extra something. Laughs a lot. Clearly, she’s happy to be back performing – and so are we.
Ed Torello: A Tribute
“Old timers in the New Haven area still talk about this. Ed [Torello] was an infielder with the West Haven Sailors, a semi-pro baseball team that played its home games at Donovan Field, West Haven. The year was either 1948 or ‘49. Well, Ed chased a fly ball deep and made a sensational, over the shoulder catch, and promptly collided with the wall, knocking himself out - but he held on to the ball,” said Bob Riccio of Brattleboro, VT, Ed Torello’s nephew.
Ed was a genuinely personable and likable man, Bob said. He made friends with fans and many Major League ballplayers: “He once introduced me to three great New York Yankees, Hank Bauer, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra, before an exhibition game in Hartford. It was a day I’ll never forget. Another friend was Jimmy Piersall, of the Red Sox and Mets, who often dined with Ed and his wife at their home.”
On and off the playing field Ed’s accomplishments were many. In 1936, while playing for the Fafnir Ball Bearing Company, he hit an amazing .544, easily winning the league’s batting title. When his playing days were over, he helped organize youth baseball in his hometown of New Haven. In 1956, as coach of the Babe Ruth All-Stars, Ed’s team represented New England in the Babe Ruth World Series, in Oregon.
There’s more. When Ed was 14, he represented CT in the National Junior Olympics and came home with two Gold Medals. “[At those Olympics] he threw a hardball 351 feet,” Bob said. “Major League scouts were interested, and they watched him during his senior year at Hillhouse High School, in 1930. But the crash of ‘29 interfered. Ed refused their offers. The minors, you see, didn’t pay much. For him family came first. He needed a twelve-month job to help his family, which had lost its finances.”
On June 22, 2008, Ed passed away at 95-years-old. He was married seventy years to Adele Riccio Torello. He also leaves a son, Edward Torello of Branford.
Amanda Kaletsky
Congratulations to Bethany’s Amanda Kaletsky. Along with her excellent band, the young lady with the pristine voice, who writes her own songs and plays keyboard, opened for Coldplay, in Hartford, August 2. A few days later Amanda sang the National Anthem at Shea Stadium before the New York Mets game.
Also, she’ll be performing at The Space in Hamden, August 24. “It’s kid friendly. No alcohol allowed,” said her dad, author Rick Kaletsky, adding that her “website is amandakaletsky.com, and there’s a free song download on the site.”
The reasoning behind our book is that my mom and my dad have a saved marriage,” Erika Chambers said. “Their story is the first one in the book and it’s pretty dramatic.” It tells about Erika’s father, who was having multiple affairs and addicted to pornography. He was a drug addict and an alcoholic. Erika said her mother, who was raised Christian, “didn’t want that stuff going on in her home. So, my father left. My mother did a lot of praying and, you know, my father came back several months later and had given up all that stuff. We believed God worked in special ways with him. That happened when I was about eight or nine years old.”
The book is the faith-based “Can My Marriage Be Saved? True Stories of Saved Marriage.” It’s co-written by Erika and her mother, Mae. In addition to her parents’ story, mother and daughter included 21 others that deal with such marital issues as addictions, financial crises, depression, infidelity, and cultural conflicts.
Ten years ago Mae decided to share her experience with other couples whose marriages were in trouble. When Erika, who majored in Communications and minored in English at Middle Tennessee State University, learned about her mother’s plans, she told her, “Mom, I’m passionate about family too, and I want to help.”
As a result of writing “Can My Marriage Be Saved?,” Erika learned that, “our fate is not determined by our parents.” Specifically, what she saw happen with the couples they wrote about – and they worked directly with all of them – was the realization “that their lives were determined by their own actions and attitudes.” Afterward, “they went on to make conscious decisions to change their pasts.”
Erika said, if the book has “a mission statement, it’s that if you know someone in a troubled marriage, hand them hope. We see this not just as a book but as a campaign of hope.” Erika added that while she and her mother would like to see “more preventive divorce resources made available,” sometimes divorce is necessary, and “we’re not trying to make a statement against divorce.”
In “Can My Marriage Be Saved?” Erika said the goal she and her mother set was to communicate with people from different walks of life – and that means people of different ages, of different faiths, and of little or no faith. She explained that she came across too many books “overflowing with Christian clichés. That kind of lingo is very exclusive.” It has no place in Erika and Mae’s book: “It’s too easy for someone who needs help to get lost in [such] jargon.”
Twenty months ago Tony Orlando tipped the scales at 300-pounds and had a 50-inch waist. Entered NutriSystem. Now the veteran performer sports a 34-inch waist. He’s minus 105-pounds, too. Tony appeared on August 2-3 at Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theater. He put on an outstanding show which, if you had a chance to see him before, is no surprise.
After opening with several of his huge hits (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” “Candida,” “Knock Three Times”), Tony performed covers of hits by Jerry Butler, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Del Shannon, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Ben E. King, Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin, and Prince.
Highlights: Tony’s version of Ben E. King’s classic “Stand By Me” triggered memories of the superb 1986 film, which was adapted from the equally wonderful Stephen King novella, “The Body.” Tony performed the song, which illustrates how much we need each other, with authenticity and passion. The same for his rendition of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Tony’s excellent seven-piece band included singer and keyboardist Toni Wine - with him for 48-years, and the hugely talented guitarist and keyboardist Kerry Cole. They brought the house to its feet with their cover of Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind” …If you’re wondering about Toni Wine, she wrote and performed such hits as “Sugar, Sugar” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” and “You Really Got a Hold On Me.”
Julius Bussey: Following His Dream
“I’ll be auditioning for ‘American Idol’ in East Rutherford, NJ, on August 19,” said singer-guitarist Julius Bussey, 23. Of course, we wish Julius good music and good luck.
Julius, whose influences are Stevie Wonder, Baby Face, and Michael Jackson, hails from Corpus Christi, TX, and is currently stationed at the Naval Submarine Base New London. “I’m just an average American who didn’t know anybody in the industry, but I decided to follow my dream,” he said. “My music is mainly mid-nineties R&B.” Julius’s main goal is to satisfy his fans: “In Texas we say, ‘Keep it one hundred’ and that’s what I try to do. You know, some of the stuff coming out today is good but we need old school music that makes you want to dance.”
What does Julius find most rewarding about performing? Answer: The fans. “When you do a song you know the fans love, and they’re screaming and yelling, that’s a great feeling,” he said. What’s most difficult? Answer: “I’d say that at first, when you get up there on stage, you don’t know how the people will react. You get those little butterflies. But the show goes on.”
Julius is grateful to his wife for her support. Grateful to his manager, David Mann, for his, too. Without them, Julius knows, he wouldn’t be where he is today. “Julius is a genuinely talented young man,” said David, head of Majestic Management. “I believe he’ll be successful.” (David is always looking for new clients and can be reached at 203.641.4193.)
Time to Evaluate
The CT Sun won’t be home until August 31, when they’ll battle Sue Bird and Seattle. It’s the Olympic break and a good time to evaluate the 2008 team.
Quaker Hill’s Nick Checker said, “I give the team an A minus, and the experience of attending the games an A plus.” According to another Quaker Hill resident, longtime fan Jim LaTourette: “They are basically a new team this year - maybe not as talented as last year’s but definitely more vibrant.”
This from Waterford’s Bill Maynard: “The Sun are performing far better than expected, though they have experienced some growing pains. More rookies than veterans and still in first place. Go, Sandrine!” Uncasville’s Phil Carney, whose favorite players are Sandrine Gruda, Amber Holt, and Ketia Swanier, sees CT as an interesting “mix of young, old, and in-betweens. I don’t think they have what it takes to go all the way, but who knows what they will bring to the table when the season resumes?”
There are times when good players become stale. That’s what happened with last year’s team. So changes were made, and what we now have is an exciting and entertaining team that works well together and provides many positive surprises.
After readers finish “Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars” (Pariyatti Press), its author, Jenny Phillips, hopes “they are thinking in new and creative ways about the problem of mass incarceration.”That’s what happened to the New York City judge who read Jenny’s book and now believes in rehabilitation. “He told me now it’s going to be harder for him to be a judge,” said Jenny, a cultural anthropologist and practicing psychotherapist.
Donaldson and Vipassana
In January 2002, Jenny writes, the W.E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, located in Birmingham, AL, a high level maximum security prison, “became the first state prison on North America to hold a Vipassana course. Twenty inmates, (the Dhamma Brothers), took part in the intensive ten week program. (Dhamma means “teaching of an enlightened person.”)
Vipassana, Jenny writes, “is a simple, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and to lead a happy, useful life. Vipassana means ‘to see things as they really are’ and is a logical process of mental purification through self-observation… It is one of the world’s most ancient meditation techniques… rediscovered 2600 years ago by Gotama the Buddha.”
The Letters and the Documentary
Much of the book was written by the inmates who participated in the Vipassana course. “It is a story told in letters and about their search for inner peace and redemption,” Jenny explained. “My writing wraps around the letters.” Some of the letters are philosophical, others humorous. “All of them are powerful,” said Jenny, who lives in Concord, MA, and works in prisons for 12 years now.
One of Jenny’s favorite is O.B. Benjamin Oryang’s “fly” letter. “It sort of contains all the meaning in the book, because this man was deeply in touch with his physical sensations and emotional responses to a house fly,” she said. Benjamin writes about the evening he and seven other men were meditating in a sweltering room. Suddenly a fly appeared: “… something very cold and heavy landed on my arm. I opened my eyes… the culprit was a regular looking fly. It continued to crawl across my bald head, face, and arms… Immediately after sitting everyone started to complain, at the same time, about the… one fly [that] had terrorized eight-hardened prisoners for a whole hour.”
In 2007’s award-winning documentary, “The Dhamma Brothers,” Benjamin’s letter, Jenny noted, “Is the very last thing in the film. He talks about how [the prisoners]… were struggling with their emotions about this fly. The film is both sad and inspiring, but after he read his letter, everyone left the theater roaring with laughter.”
Final Words
Though Jenny knows that “there are inmates who are beyond being helped by programs,” her book challenges the warehousing-of-inmates mentality. Her major point is: “… locking up all inmates and denying them any means for significant personal transformation is currently creating a huge, separate system of pariahs and outcasts.”
As Pulitzer Prize winning historian Doris Kearns Goodman wrote that Jenny’s book “is an absolutely compelling story of an astonishing treatment program with prison inmates that, against all odds, worked.”
T.D. Carter, author of “Abraham Lincoln and the Forest of Little Pigeon Creek” (AmeriTales Entertainment), a terrific children’s book, makes several things perfectly clear: She loves history and one of her goals is, she said, “To connect today’s children with yesterday’s. I felt there were so many valuable lessons kids could learn if they looked at the childhoods of people like Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, and Jackie Robinson.” T.D., Founder and President of AmeriTales Entertainment, said that her company’s goal “is to be known as the expert on the childhoods of some of America’s greatest leaders.”
Like all good historians who write for children, T.D makes her historical characters believable. She stressed that she wants children to see “History in a different light,” - as fun, exciting and interesting. Young children, she continued, mistakenly “think of Lincoln as some kind of untouchable. But in truth there are a lot of things about him that kids of today can relate to.”
In her book about Lincoln, T.D. continued, “young readers will learn about his desire to read, and what he went through to get books. In the upcoming book about Amelia Earhart, children will learn that she wanted to catch insects and explore caves, which was not considered proper for a little girl at the turn of the century. In fact, some parents would not let their children play with her. Reading about it will help children see how famous people solved their problems and might help them become more confident about themselves.”
Most challenging about writing about Lincoln was, T.D. admitted, “Trying not to throw too much at kids about his childhood at one time.” “Abraham Lincoln and the Forest…” concentrates on nine-year-old Abe’s adventure in an Indiana forest as he sets out to meet Mr. Crawford, who, we read, “had the most famous nose in Indiana,” and who owned “a book about the forest [that young Abe] was itching to read.” T.D’s book tells how the future president overcomes his fear of the forest “critters” and realizes, she writes, “that the forest was the home of the critters. Just as he didn’t want critters in his house, they didn’t want him in theirs. Folks needed to respect the critters’ house when they were in the Forest of Little Pigeon Creek.”
In addition to “Amelia Earhart and the Haunted Winds of Kansas,” scheduled for June release, T.D. has several more projects in the works: books about the early years of Thomas Edison, Jackie Robinson, Sitting Bull, and Christopher Columbus. T.D. stressed these famous individuals are written about “as real life action heroes because they are, after all, people of action. The series format is that of a hero who sets out on a quest to accomplish something. So there’s an adventure involved and the characters go through a series of discoveries about themselves and the world.”
Randy Jennings did the wonderful illustrations for T.D’s book. Visit him at www.ArtFreeLancer.com. T.D’s website is www.info@ameritales.com.
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