Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Learn about Precious Preemie Project

Saving Premature Babies with Warmth and Hope 1 Stitch at a Time

Each month, we make hand-knitted hats for preemie babies and send them to Neonatal Intensive Care Units throughout the U.S. The donation of hats is our way of sharing hope and love to make premature babies’ lives and their families' lives better.

Each hat comes with an inspirational note.

Why Preemies?

In a room where everything is too big; the hospital bed, gowns, beds, blankets, and baby bottles. Bite sized hats made specifically for premature babies offer hope and warmth to the families who love and care for them.

Why Hats?

Hats are important pieces of clothing for premature babies. Hats help maintain body temperature by reducing the amount of warmth that escapes from the baby's head.

We make monthly donations to:

Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, CA;
Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA;
The Tiny Miracles Foundation in Darien, Connecticut
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, Valencia, CA
Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, Panorama City, CA
Children's Hospital at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH
Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, OH

Join us.
Knit with us.
Help us provide warmth and hope to premature babies and their families.


***Link to video http://www.MamasHealth.com/preciouspreemie/whypreemies.asp

www.preciouspreemieproject.com

Pasadena Museum of History May events

Pasadena Museum of History
Calendar of Events: May 2013
470 W. Walnut Street, Pasadena , CA 91103; Free Parking.
Information/Reservations: 626.577.1660, ext. 10, or at www.pasadenahistory.org.

------------ PROGRAMS ------------

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, May 3, 4 & 5 – May M.A.D.ness (Member Appreciation Days)
Enjoy reciprocal free admission and 20% store discounts as we celebrate Member Appreciation Days at 14 participating cultural venues in Southern California. Show one valid membership card from the list below to receive this special benefit at all other institutions:
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels – Craft and Folk Art Museum – Heritage Square Museum – Japanese American National Museum – The Library Store at Los Angeles Central Library – MOCA – Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego – Museum of Latin American Art – Pacific Asia Museum – Pasadena Museum of California Art – Pasadena Museum of History – San Diego Museum of Art – Skirball Cultural Center.
Tickets: Free admission with valid museum membership i.d.; contact individual venues for hours and information.

Wednesday, May 8, 10:00 am at San Rafael Library, 1240 Nithsdale Rd., Pasadena 91105 – Sunny Tales from Around the World: Children’s Storytime
On the second Wednesday of every month, PMH presents a storytelling series in collaboration with the Pasadena Public Library, San Rafael branch. In May, the Museum’s beloved storyteller Sunny Stevenson will enthrall her listeners with stories about Flowers. Please join us!
Tickets: Free

Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 pm - Margaret Fuller: A New American Life -- Lecture and book signing with Megan Marshall
Prize-winning biographer and native Pasadenan Megan Marshall will speak on researching and writing Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, her new biography of pioneering feminist, journalist, and radical thinker Margaret Fuller. Born in New England in 1810 and a key figure in the Transcendentalist group along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Fuller moved on to become a front page columnist for Horace Greeley’s New-York Tribune, covering the seamier side of the great metropolis by reporting on its prisons, asylums, and orphan schools. Books will be available for purchase.
Tickets: Museum Members $10; Non-Members $15 (includes reception, lecture & gallery entrance); Reservations are required and available online at margaretfuller.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.

Sunday, May 19, 12:00 Noon to 5:00 pm – MOTA Day
An art/culture/history extravaganza is in store for visitors to Pasadena Museum of History at the 24th MOTA (Museums of the Arroyo) Day on Sunday, May 19. This annual event celebrates the diverse mix of art, architecture and history of the Arroyo Seco area with free admission to five unique history-based museums that preserve and perpetuate early Los Angeles life. PMH is proud to collaborate with Pasadena Society of Artists for an afternoon featuring a juried art exhibition onthe theme "Relationships," displays and sales by more than 40 of our area's finest artists, hands-on art workshops for children, plus mini-tours of Fenyes Mansion and the Finnish Folk Art Museum, and our stunning exhibition of vintage wedding gowns. A special treat -- the Pie 'n Burger truck will be on hand to satisfy your hunger and celebrate the iconic eatery's 50th anniversary!
Tickets: Free admission, parking at the Avery Dennison lot adjacent to PMH, and shuttle buses to other locations. For information on offerings at the other locations, please visitwww.museumsofthearroyo.com.

Tuesday, May 21, 7:30 pm – Cheers! The History of the Wedding Toast
Join Jim Ciccolo, lecturer and devotee of food and wine, as he explores the origins of the wedding toast and its code of etiquette: how to give an award-winning, memorable toast while observing its unwritten rules. Jim will discuss suggested do’s and don’ts, emphasizing some of the pitfalls to avoid when proffering best wishes in an environment that may be punctuated by the presence of family, friends, and business acquaintances. And if that’s not enough, we will also learn the proper technique for the safe opening a bottle of champagne with a saber!
Tickets: Museum Members $10; Non-Members $15 (includes reception, lecture & gallery entrance); Reservations are required and available online at weddingtoast.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006, ext. 1. Limited tickets may be available at the door for an extra $5 charge.

These special programs are presented in addition to the Museum’s ongoing exhibitions and Fenyes Mansion Tours. For complete PMH offerings please visit www.pasadenahistory.org or call 626.577.1660, ext. 10.

Pianist Emily Bear age 11 to release album

 11-year-old musical prodigy Emily Bear, a pianist and composer set to release Concord Records/Qwest Records debut Diversity on May 7, produced by legendary multi-Grammy Award winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones. Bear, who is managed by Quincy Jones Productions, has the ability to seamlessly move from Classical to Jazz and Be-bop, while demonstrating musical prowess comparable to pianists/composers twice her age, has written 13-original songs for the new project, performed with a Jazz Trio. She first broke into the national spotlight at age 6, as a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, performing Mozart, jazz and an original song she composed. She was invited back five more times within the span of two years, performing original music each visit.

Comments Quincy Jones: “I am at once astounded and inspired by the enormous talent that Emily embodies. She is the complete 360-degree package, and there are no limits to the musical heights that she can reach.” 

Jones will join Bear for record release parties in NY (5/15) and LA (5/8), which also includes scheduled press dates.

“Emily is extraordinarily gifted,” says John Burk, Chief Creative Officer, Concord Music Group. “She obviously has incredibly advanced technical skills far beyond her years, but what I find most extraordinary, is her emotional and compositional depth.”

The CD title Diversity represents the diversity of Bear's style, as well as the diversity of the cultures that are her musical influences. The project was recorded at Westlake Studios. Using Bear's own jazz trio handpicked by Jones, she demonstrates both her versatility and an open-hearted melodic soul at the piano, composing, orchestrating and performing a multi-genre repertoire with full command.

Some of her reflective mood compositions include “Blue Note,” “Alika,” “Jessie’s Song” and “Tutti Cuore”; While she gets down with a Latin feeling in the rhythm section with the catchy “Hot Peppers”and self-explanatory “Salsa Americana” “Peralada” conveys a specific Spanish flavor, as inspired by the Catalan city where she first performed this piece at a music festival, and she utilizes her classical technique to a tee in “Reflections.”  “Northern Lights” is the piece for which she won an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award at the tender age of 6, and “Q” refers to the nickname of Bear'slegendary producer, which after a heartfelt slow intro, turns into a jaunty jazz-trio tribute to the ever-youthful spirit of the iconic music figure. 

Bear, who plays all of her music from memory, including 45-page classical concertos, started to show extraordinary musical talent practically from the cradle. As a baby, she would sing back lullabies to her mother in perfect pitch. By 18 months, she was experimenting constantly at the piano. She was composing tangible pieces at age 3. By the time Bear was 4, she was having pieces published and distributed by Hal Leonard.

She made her concert debut at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago at age 5, playing a 40-minute solo program performing classical pieces side-by-side with jazz numbers, and her own compositions. She was invited to perform at the White House at age 6, and opened for the Ramsey Lewis Trio with a 30-minute set of her own. Her orchestral debut came at age 7, playing Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23, K488 and by age 8, she was playing concerts abroad in Italy and China. At age 9, she made her Carnegie Halldebut with a 110-piece orchestra, a 220-voice choir, and R&B soloists performing one of her compositions, “Peace – We Are The Future.” 

In 2011, Bear had yet another big year when she made her debut at the Hollywood Bowl, performing a medley of her own compositions with singers Gloria Estefan, Patti Austin, Siedah Garrett and Nikki Yanofsky.  That summer, Jones also presented her at the 45th Montreux Jazz Festival and the Festival Castell in Peralada, Spain.

Bear has since been featured on several major news programs, including Good Morning America, ABC World News Report with Diane Sawyer, ABC Nightline, and the Katie Couric Show. Internationally, she has been featured in stories on Swiss, German, Australian, Italian and Chinese television.

“I’m a regular kid who was lucky enough to find something I really love to do at a very young age,”says Bear. “Concord has a lot of musicians I look up to so I’m really excited about the opportunity and look forward to sharing my music.”

Concord Records is a division of Concord Music Group. Concord Music Group’s legendary family of labels includes Concord Records, Concord Jazz, Fantasy, Stax, Milestone, Riverside, Specialty, Telarc, Peak, Heads Up, Prestige and Rounder Records.

For more info on Emily Bear, please visit online press kit:

New True Blood soundtrack to be released May 28

Get Ready To Bite Into True Blood®’s Volume 4 Soundtrack, Available Everywhere May 28th Courtesy of ATO Records

Album Includes Tracks From Eric Burdon with Jenny Lewis, My Morning Jacket, The Flaming Lips, Alabama Shakes, Iggy Pop with Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast and more!

 

 
Stream/Share “Let’s Boot and Rally” by Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino
 
Following on the heels of its three previously Grammy-nominated volumes, the Volume 4 soundtrack of the acclaimed HBO® original series True Blood is making its way to the show’s fang-loving fans on May 28th, just one week after True Blood®: The Complete Fifth Season is released on DVD and Blu-Ray with HBO Select on May 21st.
 
True Blood: Music From The HBO Original Series Volume 4 is once again produced by the show’s music supervisor Gary Calamar, who continues the True Blood soundtrack tradition of uniting legendary rock hall of famers with indie darlings such as Iggy Popwith Bethany Cosentino (digital release only) and Eric Burdon with Jenny Lewis.  Other never before released tracks include noted artists Alabama Shakes, Bosco Delrey, My Morning Jacket, Mobley, Deap Vally and Los Lobos, as well as a rare, out of print song by The Flaming Lips.
 
For the first time ever the soundtrack will also be available on vinyl, to be released mid-June.
 
Calamar carefully selects a musical tone for each episode; the fifth season’s debut “Turn! Turn! Turn!” featured My Morning Jacket’s cover of the classic tune by The Byrds, and after “Let’s Boot and Rally” became an episode title, Iggy and Bethany came on board to duet the punk rock duet song of the same name. Fans should lend an ear to season six as well, for three songs on the Volume 4 soundtrack will also be featured in upcoming episodes.
 
True Blood is centered in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana and follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), who can read minds, and 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy®-winning HBO series Six Feet Under) is creator and executive producer the show, which is based on the best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. The highly anticipated sixth season premiere debuts on June 16th and runs through September.

iTunes
Amazon
HBO True Blood Online Store
 
Track Listing
1.     Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Eric Burdon with Jenny Lewis
2.     Let’s Boot and Rally – Iggy Pop with Bethany Cosentino
3.     What Makes A Good Man? The Heavy
4.     Smokestack Lightnin’ – Howlin’ Wolf
5.     Pocket Change – Alabama Shakes
6.     Authority Song – Bosco Delrey
7.     Turn Turn Turn – My Morning Jacket
8.     Your Face Can Tell The Future – The Flaming Lips
9.     The Sun – The Naked and Famous
10. Undertow – Warpaint
11. I Wanna Be Your Man – Mobley
12. {She’s A) Wanderer – Deap Vally
13. Whatever I Am, You Made Me – Koko Taylor
14. We’ll Meet Again – Los Lobos