Winter Gala 2012

In this picture, my brother, John Chatalian, is recommending I cook a simpler meal for the next Winter Gala.  Well, I’m already planning that next gala.  It’s Saturday, December 1, 2012, 6:00 to 11:30 p.m.  Will I cook Armenian, Italian, or Southern/Texas cuisine?  Maybe a combo?

Anyway, it’s time to plan and recruit assistance.  I would like much of the planning and major players identified by summer.  I understand people may be reluctant to commit now, but I’d rather they do, and if necessary, resign later!

This year’s fundraising gala should be easier to implement.  Its theme is Wish Upon a Star-BELIEVE. The band is Cosmic Slim and His Intergalactic Ploughboys.  I chose this band primarily because its members include First Unitarian members and friends, Sten Gustavsen, Rick McCarthy, Phil Nigro, and Bill Fischer.  Besides their energizing eclectic, rockabilly sound, I like how the band members rotate lead vocals.

Nat Needle is again playing the dinner music. We can expect an engaging repertoire.

I foresee Hogwarts Camp participants helping me make decorations.  So what more do I need?

•  Additional members to join Scott Hayman, Seth Popinchalk, and me as a steering committee
•  Chefs besides David Spanagel, Rev. Tom Schade, and me
•  Conversation Leaders for the tables
•  Decorations Committee (most work just before the event)
•  Set-up crew
•  Kitchen crew
•  Clean-up crew
•  Bartender
•  Servers
•  Who knows what else besides perseverance, enthusiasm, and flexibility!

So please consider helping me in any capacity—little or lots.  Contact me at home, 508-798-5508, by email speechlc@yahoo.com, or leave me a note at the church office.  Thanks!

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Share your Travel Experiences

You are invited to submit photos, souveniers, artwork, scrapbook pages, etc. that you have collected in your travels (local, national or international). Submit as much as you want. We have plenty of space!

  

Items submitted must meet the following requirements:

*  Able to be hung on a wall (mat or frame your contribution).

*  Have wire for hanging.

*  Have your name and telephone number on the back side.

*  Please include a description that tells something about the travel experience reflected in your contribution (Where you went, when you went, who you went with, why you went, what happened). Tell the viewer as much as you want! Stories appreciated.

If you would like to participate, please send an email to Ken Mandile (kmandile@swissturn.com) or call 774-239-9728.

Send your descriptions and stories via email. I suggest that you include a small photo of you and/or your family so that viewers will know who you are.

Please bring your exhibit contributions to the Chapel between April 15 and May 6.

Les Sampou in Concert at First Unitarian

WCUW 91.3 FM and the First Unitarian Church of Worcester present Les Sampou in concert in the legendary John Henry’s Hammer Coffeehouse located at the First Unitarian Church

Saturday April 21st 2012

7 PM Door / 7:30 Concert

90 Main Street

Worcester, MA

Opening act TBA

Advance tickets $10 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/235919

 www.wcuw.org

www.lessampou.com

www.firstunitarian.com

Back on the roots scene after a long break, Sampou never wavers from a steady tone of genuineness as she sings sharply observant songs that she writes about disarray and failed communication in relationships. She has the ability to dramatize the sense of hurt at the heart of the characters without floundering in self-pity or weak sentiment.

Guitarists Kevin Barry and Mike Dinallo prove important to the flow of her honky-tonk music." Frank John Hadley,  DOWNBEAT

“'Lonesomeville' evokes a Tom Waits-like world…." Sing Out Magazine

"Powerfully expressive, Les Sampou has been tested in the trenches of life and survived brilliantly. Her new album, "Lonesomeville,'' is a persona lTop Ten favorite of the year. She invests many songs with the emotional honesty of Lucinda Williams, probing love in all of its complexity while belting the heck out of the music. She has a passionate, rockabilly-blues edge that lifts your spirits high, followed by ballads that dig into your soul like few artists can. She also enlists some of Boston's true all-stars to back her -- including Andy Plaisted, Kevin Barry, Michael Dinallo and Jimmy Ryan -- to make this an album you'll want to revisit eagerly and often.''

--- STEVE MORSE, longtime Boston Globe Correspondent who has also contributed to Billboard and Rolling Stone

LES SAMPOU • Lonesomeville

"Sampou’s passionate vocals are simply stunning, now ballsy and rough-edged, then purry and seductive, while the only problem with her originals songs is trying to decide which is the least sensational—there are only nine of them, but there’s absolutely no filler here...the title track is a veritable monster, but Oil & Water, Lonely Nights & Lonely Days, My My My and As I Sleep are the kind of tracks that flummox DJs when they have to choose just one. Judging by her close to home CD release‘tour,’ Sampou seems to be one of those World Famous In Boston acts we hear so little about, but if you’ve given up on Lucinda Williams.  I strongly suggest you check her out."  John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music,Austin TX

Teen Choir Schedule

Sunday, 3/11; 6-7 pm at the Holden St. UU Church
Friday, 3/16; 6-8 pm at the Holden St. UU Church
Sunday, 3/18; 10 am-noon performance at the Holden St. UU Church
Sunday, 3/25; 9:30-11:30 am performance at First Unitarian
Sunday, 4/01; 6-7 pm at the Holden St. UU Church
Sunday, 4/15; 6-7 pm at the Holden St. UU Church
Sunday, 4/22; 6-7 pm at the Holden St. UU Church
Sunday, 4/29; 9:30-11:30 am performance at First Unitarian
Sunday, 5/6; 10 am-noon performance at the Holden St. UU Church

March 10 Dinner and Concert in Cambridge

Join a Caravan of Cars to Cambridge for Dinner and Concert with Tom and Sue Schade on 3/10 .  If you wanted to sit at Tom’s table during the Winter Gala 2011 and didn’t have a chance—here’s another one—but he’s NOT COOKING. 

CARPOOL--LEAVE First U Worcester at 5:00 p.m.

ARRIVE at Alewife Station MBTA Parking Lot about 6:00-parking fee $7.00/car

ARRIVE Harvard Square around 6:15-ticket-$2:00

EAT DINNER--We are eating at Fire + Ice, a fun family restaurant where you create your own meal grilled by entertaining chefs.

Take a stroll to:

CONCERT at Nameless Coffeehouse, First Parish—Congregant Phil Nigro playing with Lydia Fortune; also Tom Smith, and other musicians

Doors open at 8:00 p.m. Suggested donation--$10. REVERSE ROUTE around 10:00  or 10:30.

Sign up sheet in the Bancroft Room or contact Caring Community Task Force/LLC Committee Member—

Linda Wyatt 508-596-4053 (Cell)

speechlc@yahoo.com

Paul Rishell and Annie Raines March 3rd!

Paul Rishell and Annie Raines perform in the legendary 
John Henry’s Hammer
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
7pm Door / 7:30 Showtime
First Unitarian Church of Worcester  
90 Main Street, Worcester, MA
(Use State Street upper entrance)

Advance tickets via Brown Paper Tickets: $10 / $12 at the door

When 22-year-old harmonica ace Annie Raines first sat in with 42-year-old country blues guitarist Paul Rishell in a Boston bar in 1992, few in the crowd suspected that they were witnessing the beginning of a musical partnership that would span the next fifteen years and counting. As a working team, Paul and Annie have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles on the road in the U.S. and Europe, collaborated on original songs, and released I WANT YOU TO KNOW (Tone-Cool/Artemis 1996), MOVING TO THE COUNTRY (2000), the W.C. Handy Award winner for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year, and GOIN' HOME (2004), which was nominated for two Handy Awards.

Opening are The Hip Swayers
featuring Dave Blodgett and Tonia Ostrow


 

This performance co-sponsored by: WCUW 91.3 FM is Worcester’s community radio station, bringing alternative music to Central New England since 1973 and The First Unitarian Church of Worcester– A Unitarian Universalist Church Gathered in 1785.