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Bryan Adams, the Superstar of rock ballads live in Cyprus May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Music Life Live Gigs.
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Bryan Adams > 29 June 2007 > Tsirion Stadium, Limassol
Tickets cost: Standing ticket CY£25; seated ticket CY£30; VIP ticket CY£50; Opening Hours: 9pm

A Bryan Adams Journey through 20 years of rock ‘n’ roll history as Tsirion Stadium proudly presents Bryan Adams. This year Carlsberg presents the biggest musical extravaganza to hit Cyprus and a magical trip into 20 fabulous years of rock ‘n’ roll history. The legendary Bryan Adams will play a thumping live concert on Friday 29th June, Tsirio Stadium, Limassol. Get ready for what promises to be ‘a night to remember’!

Bryan Adams timeless rock ‘n’ roll music has lasted for over 20 years and is still winning awards and legions of new fans each day. One of the world’s most successful and best-selling music artists ever, his long list of multiple platinum-selling albums includes ‘Reckless’, ‘Into the Fire’, ‘Waking Up The neighbours’, ‘So Far So Good’ and ‘Room Service’ and his latest ‘Anthology’.

Unforgettable legendary singles include thumping rock ‘n’ roll anthems like: ‘Summer of 69’, ‘Run to You’, ‘Its only Love’ (with Tina Turner), ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’ and ‘The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You’.

His ballads have stirred a generation, earning Adams countless number 1 hits worldwide and a wall full of prestigious Grammy Awards. These include ‘Heaven’, ‘Please Forgive Me’, ‘All For Love’ (with Rod Stewart and Sting), ‘Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman’ and of course, ‘Everything I Do (I Do It for You)’, the UK’s longest number 1 hit for 16 weeks!

Don’t miss the biggest and most exciting concert ever to be staged in Cyprus, with Bryan Adams. One night only > 29th June at Tsirio Stadium in Limassol. Event Is Organised By Moonlight Endless Productions.

Related Information
Bryan Adams Official Website > http://www.bryanadams.com
Moonlight Endless Productions Website > http://www.moonlightshow.com
Bryan Adams Live in Cyprus Website > http://www.bryanadamsliveincyprus.com/

For ticket information, group bookings and sponsorship packages details telephone 77 772939 or visit >
www.moonlightshow.com

www.bryanadamsliveincyprus.com

A fan of Bryan? Then view some of his video clips available at YouTube >
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bryan+adams&search=Search

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Everyone gets to be a bit Greek May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Diaspora Festivals.
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Northridge Greek Festival draws thousands for food and more > Saturday was the opening day of the 34th annual Valley Greek Festival.

“I’m Danish by descent and Greek by choice,” said one of the festival visitors. “I don’t understand the Greek songs, but they speak to my heart. It’s the spirit of Zorba the Greek.”

That was said by one of tens of thousands of people spending part of the holiday weekend at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at one of the biggest Greek festivals in the US.

“Once you hear that bouzouki music it really gives you the feeling you are in Greece,” said festival co-chairman Lou Skoby. “There is something about the music that makes you want to dance.”

The festival is free, but the church usually makes more than $100,000 over the festival’s three days, mostly from the sale of food and beverages. The money goes for the church and church school.

Many of the festivalgoers are attracted by the Greek food including souvlaki, moussaka, pastitsio, spanakopita, gyros, dolmathes and calamari. Beverage booths sell everything from strong Greek coffee, soda and Greek beer to wine, brandy, and Ouzo, a potent licorice-flavored liqueur that turns milk-white when poured over ice.

A favorite sweet dish is loukoumathes, Greek doughnuts, covered with honey and cinnamon and prepared fresh during the festival. One booth sells Greek ice cream covered with baklava. Besides baklava, pastries include koulourakia, a Greek cookie made with sweet butter and topped with sesame seeds, and melomakarona made with honey, a bit of orange flavor, a touch of Cognac and sprinkled with walnuts.

The festival also includes vendors selling Greek music, clothes, jewelry, pottery, olive oil, honey, landscape paintings and reproductions of paintings from ancient Greek pottery.

The Olympians group is playing music for dancing throughout the three days, with performances every couple of hours by youth dance groups from the church in traditional Greek costume. Each day Golden Greek Dancers give lessons at 6:30 p.m.

While thousands of the festivalgoers are of Greek heritage, everyone is welcome!

Greek Dionysos Festival celebrates what it is to be Greek May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Diaspora Festivals.
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Mousaka. Pastitsio. Souvlaki. Kids dinner’s ready! YiaYia’s Gyros and chicken or beef souvlaki sticks at next weekend’s 31st annual Dionysos Greek Festival

“YiaYia” is Greek for grandma, and it’s a dish their grandmothers serve to get the boys to eat traditional food at a young age. Souvlaki is just chicken or beef on a stick, much like shish kebab. Although there is plenty of entertainment scheduled past midnight both Friday and Saturday nights, food is the focus.

New this year will be the Agora, or marketplace, featuring a dozen or so Greek vendors selling Greek statues, videos, clothing, olive-oil shampoos and many other products associated with the Greek homeland. The shopping options were added in response to requests from festival audiences.

About 50 Greek families live in Kalamazoo, so to be successful, the organizers needed to tailor the festival to non-Greeks while still celebrating the culture. The entertainment schedule epitomizes this mix. Beginning the entertainment both Friday and Saturday is a Greek show featuring traditional and contemporary music and dancers.

Later, members of the West Michigan School of Middle Eastern Dance will perform. This group specializes in belly dancing. The activity has become popular recently in the United States. Various videos and classes are sprouting up, promoting the art as exercise. After each performance, the school instructors will give a lesson to anyone interested. 

As the night grows long, American cover bands like Montage and Drop 35 will perform. The shift represents the shift in the audience after 9 p.m.

Planned for Saturday afternoon is a number of children’s programs, all free. Admission fees to the festival vary, depending on the time of entry. A large percentage of the proceeds from the weekend will go to the Vine Street Neighborhood Association.

Dionysos Greek Festival > Starts 11 a.m. Thursday, ends 1 a.m. Sunday, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, downtown Kalamazoo. 345-1830. Free before 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday; $2 before 5 p.m. Saturday; $5 from 5 to 7 p.m. all days; $7 after 7 p.m. all days. Free for seniors on Thursday, free for children under 12 when accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Celebrate culture and cuisine at Marin Greek Festival May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Diaspora Festivals.
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The first festival was in 1971, staged on the bare grass of the Marin Civic Center with no facilities other than a few scattered electrical outlets.

Thirty-six years later, the annual celebration of all things Greek, food, dance, music, wine and, of course, Stathis’ honey-soaked pastries, welcomed thousands of fairgoers Saturday and Sunday on the sun-baked grounds of the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Novato.

Dancing is a big part of the church’s annual Memorial Day Weekend festival. The Greek Compania Band played throughout the afternoon for traditionally costumed Minoan dancers and for just plain folks of varying abilities doing Greek line dances.

Inside the church fellowship hall, Giorgos Nikolaou, a ceramic artist from Soquel, sold Greek pottery decorated with designs from his native island of Skyros. He comes to the Marin Festival each year, selling pottery that is traditional in appearance but made for America. It’s microwavable and dishwasher safe.

Beside the church, Greek Orthodox monks from the Monastery of St. John near Redding sold their hand-dipped beeswax candles, incense and religious icons.

The warm weekend air was redolent with the aromas of traditional Greek food, moussaka and spanakopita as well as dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) and a fish roe salad called taramosalata, cooked and served by women of the parish.

The festival, a major fundraiser for the parish, moved to the church grounds in 1993. This year, 5 percent of the proceeds from the event will go to the Novato Youth Center.

The Marin Greek Festival continues from noon to 10 p.m. Sunday at the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church at 1110 Highland Drive in Ignacio. Phone: 883-1998 Admission: Adults, $5; seniors, $4; children 4 to 12, $3; younger than 4, free.

An exhibition of European porcelain May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Arts Exhibitions Cyprus, Arts Museums.
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The history of Meissen porcelain comes to life in an exhibition currently on in Nicosia’s Leventis Museum

Ask anyone around you about the history of cups and saucers and they’re more than likely to stare back at you rather dumbstruck. Most will say “who cares?” Others may find it rather odd that you’ve suddenly developed such an interest in crockery. But in some cultures of the world they’d be very insulted if someone were to underestimate the importance of fine porcelain.

In the highly stylised Japanese tea ceremony, related to Zen Buddhism, each utensil including tea bowl, whisk and tea scoop is ritually placed in front of guests in a precise order and arrangement. After all the guests have drunk their tea, an event that could last for hours, the host will allow them to examine and admire each utensil. Treated with extreme care and reverence, they are often only allowed to touch them only with a special brocaded cloth.

We all know that the ‘proper’ way to drink tea in Britain is not just to use any old mug, but fine bone china, and traditionally, afternoon tea is associated with a great amount of etiquette. Using a good quality teapot and the proper cups is said to completely change the experience of enjoying that good old cuppa. You may not care who invented porcelain but decades ago there were individuals who spent day and night to produce just the right kind of material to provide the perfect dining pleasure.

Porcelain was first made in China and some claim that Tao Yue (c.608-c.676 AD) was the legendary inventor of the material. He used so called white clay (kaolin), found along the Yangzte river where he was born. He then added other types of clay to produce the first white porcelain, which he sold as ‘artificial jade’ in the capital of Chang-an. By the Sung Dynasty (c.960-c.1279 AD), porcelain had reached the height of its artistry.

The European courts had been importing porcelain from China since the early 13th century at exorbitant prices. Because of its high price, it came to be viewed as a great measure of esteem and class. In England, the word ‘china’ became a commonly used synonym for the Franco-Italian term ‘porcelain’. During the 18th century, Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony and King of Poland, sent out orders that investigations were to be conducted to finally discover the secret of porcelain production.

Quite by chance, it was a chemist named Johann Friedrich Böttger in the town of Meissen who discovered the winning formula. Ironically, it was his claim that he knew the secret of transmuting dross into gold that captured Augustus’ attention and so decided to imprison him to hasten research. Instead, in 1709, he discovered the right chemical procedure to produce hard porcelain. This marked the birth of Meissen porcelain, as a factory was immediately set up in 1710.

From that point onwards, this particular hand-painted porcelain became distinguished around the world and associated with the trademark blue crossed swords painted by hand on each piece as a sign of authenticity. In fact, the production procedure has hardly changed since the day the factory was first established, with apprentices having to first study nature in detail and paint flowers and fruit to perfection before they can touch Meissen porcelain with their brushes. Tradition has it that you need 10 year’s practice to master the old designs.

Within the framework of the German European Union presidency and in cooperation with the Goethe Zentrum and Embassy of Germany, you now have the chance to go along to a Meissen porcelain exhibition at the Leventis Museum in Nicosia. The exhibition illustrates the procedure of porcelain production and showcases creations from the 18th to 21st centuries, with about 200 pieces on show.

In the first part, you will be introduced to the process of creating porcelain from clay, then shaping the individual parts of the object piece by piece and finally putting them together to give shape to items such as teapots or bowls with manifold decorations.

As you continue to browse through the exhibit, you’ll be able to set your sights on historic porcelain alongside contemporary creations. One of the most famous of all Meissen designs commonly known as the ‘blue onion’ dates back 250 years, while the common swan design stems from Greek mythology as Zeus, father to the gods and mankind, assumed the form of a swan as a way of getting close to Leda, the lovely spouse of the Spartan king Tyndareos.

Special guided tours and pedagogical programmes are also available within the framework of the current exhibit to give both adults and children the opportunity to learn more about the history of porcelain. You might be surprised at how much there is to find out about the little things we habitually use in everyday life.

Meissen > An exhibition of the first European porcelain. Until July 1. Leventis Museum, 17 Ippokratous Street, Nicosia. 10am-4pm daily except Mondays. Tel: 22 661475.

A renovation project for the old Limassol port May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Architecture Cyprus, Architecture Exhibitions.
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An 8 million Cyprus pound renovation project has been announced for the old Limassol port in an effort to invigorate the area and its surroundings.

The Cyprus Ports Authority said that work would be completed by 2010 to deepen the harbour, as well as build offices, restaurants, shops, a piazza, a pedestrian walkway and an area for the staging of cultural events.

The plan will be officially inaugurated by Communications and Works Minister Harris Thrassou on June 15 after a special concert by popular Greek musician Stefanos Korkolis. There will also be a special photographic exhibition titled ‘The Old Limassol Port: The past, present and the future’. This will be accompanied by a film showing the new design concept.

The Cyprus Ports Authority stated that a thorough environmental study carried out by Strathclyde University in Scotland, in collaboration with civil engineering consultants Coode and Partners.

The old Limassol port, situated near the castle, was built in the 1950s during the British administration. Over the years, it has mainly been used to transport passengers and goods, but when the work is finished, it will also be a better place for fishermen as a wharf is being built for them. The new Limassol port was constructed in 1973 and with it saw the gradual phasing out of commerce at the original port.

The Pharos Trust’s Cyprus-Russian concert May 27, 2007

Posted by grhomeboy in Arts Events Cyprus, Music Life Classical.
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The Pharos Trust, together with London based company Ensemble Productions Ltd have jointly initiated a Cyprus-Russian Gala concert under the patronage of Cyprus’ First Lady, Mrs Fotini Papadopoulou.

The event will not only promote relations between the two countries but also contribute to the Cyprus-based Radiomarathon Foundation, the charity for Children with Special Needs which during its latest drive raised the record amount of £1.8 million.

The evening will acknowledge the significant contribution of resident Russian citizens to Cypriot society and equally the many Cypriot companies who have shown great interest and commitment to investing in Russia.

The Gala evening, at the Presidential Palace on September 7, will bring together an unrivalled list of business and political leaders, media and celebrities as well as personalities from the international arts world, making it a unique networking opportunity. In addition to a marvellous selection of food, the Pharos Trust, renowned for bringing top quality artists to the island, will again offer performances of internationally acclaimed musicians in an exclusive open-air concert in the Presidential Gardens.

The programme will begin with the Moscow Virtuosi under the direction of their founder, violinist Vladimir Spivakov. Following the 80-minute concert, guests will have dinner while being entertained by the Turetsky Choir, Russian folk-rock diva Pelageya and Kyprogeneia till the early hours of the morning.

The Pharos Trust will be also hosting an exhibition of Russian contemporary artists at the Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art prior to the Gala evening as well as a series of lectures.

The tickets are £70 per person and are available from the Pharos Trust at www.thepharostrust.org or by emailing the Ensemble Productions at admin@ensembleproductions.co.uk or by telephoning the Radiomarathon Offices at 22 812254.