Jayme Dawicki CD Release Party coming soon!

Friend of the show, Jayme Dawicki, is about to release her initial solo CD, "Standing on a Bridge."

There is a special CD release party coming up October 8th and she will be selling the CD there and at the Grand Avenue, where she plays piano every Thursday afternoon.

I just finished listening to it my third time and it is really great. Sure, no yodeling or German lyrics, but every voice on the CD, every instrument played is by this very talented person. You'll want to get your CD quick before everyone else in town is telling you about it.

THE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION TO MANAGE SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR MISS AMERICA ORGANIZATION; CMT DONATES $200K

PHILADELPHIA, PA – ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – NASHVILLE, TN – September 26, 2005 – The Philadelphia Foundation has been selected to manage the scholarship fund for the Miss America Organization, it was announced today by Art McMaster, President & CEO of the Miss America Organization and R. Andrew Swinney, President of The Philadelphia Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations. CMT, new television home to the Miss America Pageant, will donate $200,000 to celebrate the launch of this new venture.

“We feel extremely honored to have been selected by the Miss America Organization,” said Swinney. “We are pleased to be a part of this opportunity to assist young women to further their education. Our philosophy is not to merely award grants and scholarships, but to use philanthropic dollars to empower people and organizations to achieve their full potential.”

“The Miss America Organization prides itself on being the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women,” said McMaster. “We are thrilled that The Philadelphia Foundation will now be assisting us in managing the tax deductible donations from supporters who wish to help us continue our mission. We are grateful to CMT for its generous donation to our scholarship fund. Having a network partner who shares our values is truly inspiring.”

“CMT appreciates and embraces the academic opportunities that the Miss America Organization has historically offered to its contestants,” said Paul Villadolid, vice president, original programming, CMT. “We are pleased to be able to contribute to their ongoing efforts.”

“The Miss America Organization has completely changed my life,” said Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs. “It paid my entire way through college and it will pay for over half of my medical school education. I look forward to a day when everyone knows what a positive organization this is, and how it changes people’s lives and helps them to achieve their dreams. I think it’s fantastic that we are working with The Philadelphia Foundation to build our scholarship fund and raise awareness for the program.”

Tax-deductible contributions can be earmarked for Miss America scholarships and sent to The Philadelphia Foundation, 1234 Market Street, Suite 1800, Philadelphia, PA 19107, or online at www.philafound.org.

The Philadelphia Foundation, a $275 million community foundation, is a pool of more than 650 charitable endowments and trusts that have been established since 1918. The Foundation administers these funds, invests them, and awards the distributions as scholarships and grants to over 1,000 nonprofit organizations. Over 80 of these funds provide scholarships to deserving students.

The Miss America Pageant – and the scholarship program itself – is among the most enduring endeavors in modern American history. >From its humble beginnings as a “bathing beauty'” contest in the 1920s, the Miss America Organization today is one of the nation’s leading achievement programs and the world's largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women. Last year, the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance, helping young women all across the country to reach their dreams and goals. For more information, go to www.missamerica.org.

The Miss America Organization and CMT recently announced a multi-year agreement to telecast the prestigious “Miss America Pageant” on CMT beginning January 2006.

Back on tracht: Alpine clothing goes couture

Young people have rediscovered dirndls and Lederhosen. "Tracht is trendy", they say, and turn up in traditional Bavarian costume on every occasion — from the maypole to Munich's Oktoberfest. But while some people — especially outside Bavaria — enjoy it as an opportunity for dressing up (in disguise), others treasure it as traditional costume.

One person's tradition is another's innovation: Germany's young designers are keeping traditional costume fresh and fashionable by constantly adapting it to new trends. What they have all in common is a playful approach.

Sweet and sassy: Sisi Wasabi

Tracht today takes many forms. dpa photo

The designers at Sisi Wasabi have taken composer Gustav Mahler's epigram — "Tradition is to pass on the flame, not worship the ash" — to heart. Designers Carolin Sinemus and Zerlina von dem Bussche came up with the catchy name Sisi Wasabi for their first collection in Berlin in 2005. It is a combination of "Sisi" — the nickname of Empress Elizabeth of Austria — and "wasabi", the tongue-tingling Japanese horseradish sauce.

The message is clear: these designs are as sweet and sassy as they come. Their designs are playful, amusing, witty and erotic, combining traditional patterns and ornamentation with modern couture. A baby-doll top is decorated with ripped embroidery, a wraparound apron is teamed up with very brief leather shorts, cargo pants — very "now" — have traditional fabric inserts, classic German Lederhosen are worn as hot pants with suspenders, and a tracht jacket is cut as a tight-fitting top with a plunging neckline. They may not appeal to tracht-wearing traditionalists — but Sisi Wasabi's tracht-inspired designs are a hit with young people in Bavaria and beyond.

Lollipop & Alpenrock

If girls can wear the guys' leather knickerbockers or short Lederhosen, why not the other way round? This was the idea that inspired Doreen Anders and Robert Landinger to design and tailor tracht skirts … for men. Nothing too outrageous — just a modest knee-length loincloth or sarong. Since 1999, their Munich-based label anderslandiger has become synonymous with creative skirts for men.

Hearts, frills, furbelows and saints — fantastical, creative and kitsch — these are the words that spring to mind for Lola Paltinger's label Lollipop & Alpenrock. Inspired by the idea "Heidi goes to Hollywood," she supplies her couture dirndls to great acclaim from her studios not only in Munich but also in Bolzano (Italy) and Aspen (USA).

Good for the office

Paltinger's designs contrast starkly with those created by Michaela Keune. Anyone attracted by the peace and prettiness of the countryside raves about Keune's work — a synthesis of past and present. Keune drags the Gothic, rococo and fin de siècle into the 21st century — and even manages to make her designs suitable to wear to the office. She sees the basque as a key piece in every woman's wardrobe, does not include trousers in her collection, and still manages to appeal to liberated women.

Haute Couture meets traditional costume — Loden-Frey

But if you're looking for something solid and respectable, there is only one choice in Munich, and that's Loden-Frey. Steeped in tradition, the company has been dedicated to loden — tough "walked" woolen fabric — since 1842. It started when cloth-maker Johann Georg Frey set up a weaving mill on the Isar river. His son, Johann Baptist Frey, developed the first water-resistant loden. It was made into coats and suits, whose reputation for quality extended as far as the USA. In 1868, the clothing store Loden-Frey was opened at Promenadenplatz in Munich. Today, alongside the international designers, Loden-Frey fills an entire storey with traditional costume from illustrious names — Meindl and Sportalm, the famous Tostmann dirndl, hand-knitted and embroidered jackets from Wolkenstricker, outfits from Heartbreaker, Habsburg, Stajan and Schneiders and Loden-Frey's own label Poldi (Prince Leopold of Bavaria).

Rent-a-Dirndl

For devotees of tracht, the annual Greding market for traditional costume, which takes place on the first weekend in September, is a great opportunity to choose from a wide selection of designs, traditional and modern — and perhaps buy a new outfit for the Oktoberfest. But this may be too expensive for the non-natives living in Bavaria. If so, help is at hand: Ute Klimke and Bettina Richter run a Rent-a-Dirndl service — for ladies only — which offers an inspiring selection of vintage and modern traditional clothing.

But is there any demand? Indeed there is — the annual "Nacht der Tracht" (Night of Tracht) at Munich's Loewenbraeukeller bears witness to the current popularity of traditional costume. Launched in 2002, it helps fans cope with the long wait from one Oktoberfest to the next.

Article by Dr. Ingrid Loschek, Professor of Fashion History and Fashion Theory at Pforzheim, University of Design, is courtesy of the Goethe Institut.

Links:

Read about the History of Tracht

Dr. Ingrid Loschek

Goethe Institut Inter Nationes

from The Week in Germany newsletter

Oktoberfest merriment begins in Munich

After two strong blows to the tap, Munich Mayor Christian Ude hailed "O'zapft is!" in the Schottenhammel tent of the Oktoberfest "Wies'n" fairgrounds last weekend as he handed the ceremonial first glass mug of beer to Bavarian governor Edmund Stoiber.

The Hacker-Pschorr tent on opening day. dpa photo

In all, around 700,000 people braved chilly weather to attend the first weekend of the 2005 Oktoberfest — and they drank 450,000 liters of beer from the six official Munich breweries that have official rights to sell the brew at the largest folk festival in the world.

What began in 1810 as a comparatively modest horse race celebrating the marriage of Ludwig von Bayern and Princess Therese von Hildburghausen has over nearly two centuries exploded into a massive celebration of beer and Bavarian culture.

The party begins with a ceremonial procession of the "Munich Child," local dignitaries and celebrities, and scores of groups from the surrounding countryside, each of which wears the "Tracht" traditional costumes unique to their region. They snake their way through the city's historic center before arriving at the Theresenwiese or "Wies'n" fairgrounds southwest of the old city.

As the Oktoberfest kicks off, regular life in Munich seems to stand still as tourists from all around the world flood the festival, a mass of beer tents, carnival rides, vendors and entertainers set on the sprawling fairgrounds.

While retaining its provincial charm, the Oktoberfest has always changed with the times. Recent security concerns have been addressed with new crowd managing concepts while cell phone blockers have been installed near bathrooms to make sure that long lines won't be made longer by people telephoning in the stalls.

The number of visitors has been down in recent years, but analysts project that forecasted good weather and stepped up security will result in close to six million people attending the two-week event.

In related news, a film documenting the sometimes rowdy but always fun carnival atmosphere at the festival has been making headlines in the local press. Titled simply "Oktoberfest," the film by director Johannes Brunner follows a day in the life of an Oktoberfest beer server, a mother and wife who takes on the job to make some extra cash, and her husband, the head of the Oktoberfest band in the Hofbraeu tent.

Visit the official Oktoberfest website to brush up on your Bavarian and learn about the breweries involved in the festival.

Links:

Official Oktoberfest site

from The Week in Germany newsletter

WTKM Oktoberfest

Hello Everyone,

This Sunday evening I will broadcasting on WTKM 104.9 FM from
6 pm until 11 pm. This time of year means only one thing: Oktoberfest!

So from 8 pm until 10 pm, I will be broadcasting 2 hours of German music instead of the normal 1 hour. To ensure that I keep my non-German speaking audience interested also during these 2 hours, I have mixed in some instrumentals and some songs sung half in English and half in German.

I am very excited about this coming Sunday, and I will have a SPECIAL surprise guest for all the listening audience during the Oktoberfest portion of the show.

>From 6 pm until 8 pm, and 10 pm until 11 pm will be normal programming with standard polkas & waltzes.

Bob Ziegenbein

Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow!

To get in on the fun, check out the German vocabulary for talkin' like a pirate, matey at this site:
Talk Like a Pirate Day - German

Have ye a great day, landlubbers!

Newsday.com: Atlantic City marks first year without Miss America: "Atlantic City marks first year without Miss America

September 17, 2005, 2:58 PM EDT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The swimsuit competition is gone. The parade of shoes is no more. Where are the earnest young women in high heels?

If Atlantic City somehow seems quiet this weekend, that's because usually at this time every year the city plays host to the Miss America competition. After 84 years of hosting the contest to find America's sweetheart, in August the nonprofit that organizes the event announced it was pulling out of Atlantic City.

The announcement came after years of falling revenues and dwindling television viewership for the pageant.

The pageant lost its network TV contract last fall and is slated to air on Country Music Television in January, but officials don't know yet where the event will be held.

Traditionally, preliminary competitions took place earlier in the week, then on Friday the contestants would roll down the boardwalk in convertibles and _ in a Miss America tradition _ show off their fancily decorated shoes. Then on Saturday night came the final pageant competition.

In Atlantic City, many said they would miss the pageant and all the events that went with it.

'I seldom watched the pageant,' Norma Durso of Toms River told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill for Saturday's newspapers. 'But I used to come down to Atlantic City for the parade. I loved the festivity of it.'

For many, the loss of the pageant was like losing a piece of America.

'I think it's a shame they gave up a tradition so many looked forward to,' said Chris Kreybig of Manahawkin. 'It's an American tradition.'

The loss of the pageant has also had an effect on some area businesses that used to cater to pageant contestants.

"This is a big blow," said Dave Bowen, the manager of Tony's Baltimore Grill. "Parade night was one of the strongest nights of the year for us."

The pageant's pullout has had some unintended consequences for a less-traditional Atlantic City tradition as well. Usually the day after the pageant, a group of drag queens held a pageant parody and AIDS fund-raiser.

But so far this year, plans to hold the faux pageant minus the real thing have fallen through.

Resort is left with shoes to fill

Source: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050917/NEWS01/509170370/1006

Saturday, September 17, 2005
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post Staff

ATLANTIC CITY
Last year around this time, thousands of spectators lined the boardwalk to watch the traditional parade of Miss America contestants show off their often bizarre footwear.

But this isn't 2004. The parade and the following night's traditional crowning of Miss America 2006 before a national television audience won't be held here. Low television ratings, loss of revenue and loss of network sponsorship combined to end the pageant's 84-year affiliation with the city.

Earlier this year, a deal was signed with Country Music Television to host the pageant in January. The contract would pay Miss America far less than ABC did a year ago.

The loss of revenue meant the pageant would take a financial hit without a substantial increase in local subsidies. As a result, the board of directors voted last month to leave the city.

Norma Durso of Toms River won't miss the pageant, but she will miss the parade.

"I seldom watched the pageant, but I used to come down to Atlantic City for the parade. I loved the festivity of it. How the girls showed off their shoes," Durso said.

Chris Kreybig of Manahawkin used to have a float in the parade to plug a real estate company he ran years ago.

"I think it's a shame they gave up a tradition so many looked forward to," he said as he relaxed outside a Subway shop on The Walk. "It's an American trademark."

For Kim Butler, the general manager of The Walk, it's not so much the decrease in business as the loss of something unique to the city.

"We miss the focal point of having Miss America here," Butler said.

The Walk houses a tribute to Miss America, with placards outlining the history of the pageant. Butler said there are no plans to dismantle the placards with Miss America gone.

Wendy Eller, manager of the Starbucks on The Walk, said she'll miss the spirit the pageant brought to the city. A lot of the contestants' families stayed at the nearby Sheraton Convention Center Hotel and often stopped in for coffee.

"We dressed up as Miss Latte, for example. We'd give free beverages to family members. We put the family pictures up and cheered them on. We miss that," Eller said.

Mike Musaria, manager of Passport: Voyages of Discovery, said the movie ride has experienced a drop in business this week as a result of the lack of Miss America activities.

"Miss America helped us out last year," said Mehdi Hihi, general manager of Bare Feet Shoes on The Walk.

K Afifi, general manager of the Tun Tavern in the Sheraton, said the loss of the pageant has had a slight impact on business.

"We used to have contestants and their entourages come in. But is it slower now? No. We have the outlet mall and conventions that weren't here before," Afifi said.

Yet at Tony's Baltimore Grill, an institution in Atlantic City for almost 60 years, the departure has taken its toll.

"This is a big blow for us," said manager Dave Bowen. "Parade night was one of the strongest nights of the year for us. We had business before and after the pageant itself."

Reach William H. Sokolic at (609) 823-9159 or wsokolic@courierpost online.com

Show held over

Last week's show with the Ladiners interview was so successful and so highly anticipated, we are holding the show over an additional week on the website! Enjoy!

Germans Send Hospital to Mississippi

Jackson, Miss.
The Associated Press

The German government is sending a 15-ton portable hospital by air to Scott County, in central Mississippi.

The hospital, designed by EADS North America Corporation, is on loan from Germany to assist in disaster relief.

The hospital is contained in two 20-foot containers and is being flown in on the German 8300ST Airbus.

It has been flown to the 172nd Airlift Wing, Thompson Field so it can be set up in remote areas to create a more accessible medical center.

An 80-ton crane and some flatbed trailers will be used to remove the hospital from the airplane and the Mississippi Immigration Development Community will be on hand to receive it.

Source: http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/1838037.html

Miss America To Tour Hurricane Region Today, Meeting with Mayors of Gulfport and Biloxi

Monday September 12, 5:00 am ET

Her Mission: To Raise Millions for Re-Development

Deidre Downs, Miss America - 2005 - from Alabama (www.missamerica.org)

BILOXI, Miss., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Deidre Downs, Miss America 2005 will be touring the Gulf Coast region today to personally assess the damage and devastation left behind from Hurricane Katrina. Miss Downs has a personal mission to help re-build the homes and businesses destroyed so that families can return to their communities.

"The Miss America title is representative of our country's core values. As the current title holder I think that I am responsible to use this honor to bring attention to and aid in the relief of our hurricane victims," said Miss Downs.

Miss Downs will be at Central Command meeting with Scott West, Chief Master of Arms at 10 a.m., Monday morning.

There will be a Press conference at the Civil Defense center in Gulfport.

Meeting with Mayor of Long Beach Billy Skellie at 11 am. (tour of area by Mayor), she will also be meeting with displaced merchants on site as well as tour relief shelters and centers.

Miss Downs will then be meeting with the Mayors of Gulfport, and Biloxi.

A coalition of developers led by Destin Florida developer Jerry Wallace has pledged funds to rebuild the Gulf Coast and provide housing and new jobs immediately.

Miss America and Jerry Wallace want to assure the residences of the Gulf Coast that it will be rebuilt.

Media are invited to follow Miss America Monday and Tuesday as she tours the region and she is available for interviews. Please call Karen Ammond for exact times and locations -- 856-869-9403

Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050912/nym115.html?.v=14

Hurricane Katrina: Germany ready to help United States
from This Week in Germany e-mail newsletter

A satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it moved torward Louisiana. dpa photo

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder this week offered his condolences on the behalf of the German people to the hundreds of thousands of people affected by Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“The citizens of the United States should know that Germany is truly and firmly at their side in such a situation and will do everything that is possible to organize assistance,” Schroeder announced Thursday in Berlin.

“Many Germans know and love the City of New Orleans and feel deeply the great worries the people there and in the region have regarding their safety and future,” the Chancellor w wrote in a letter to U.S. President Bush sent earlier this week.

Schroeder has issued a government-wide call to determine what specific help can be offered to the United States.

In a letter to U.S. President Bush, Federal President Horst Koehler also offered his sympathies on behalf of the German people. “My fellow Germans and I were deeply shocked by the news of Hurricane Katrina, which caused such widespread devastation in the southern United States,” he wrote in a letter. “We are profoundly saddened by the suffering and grief of those affected.”

Foreign Minster Joschka Fischer as well, offered his heartfelt condolences to the region. “Our sympathy goes out to all the victims and their families, the injured,” and those who lost all their belongings in this terrible natural disaster, Fischer wrote in a letter to his U.S. counterpart Condoleeza Rice.

In a call made to Rice on Thursday, Fischer assured her of Germany's solidarity with the United States, saying that "the German Government is prepared to do all that is humanly possible to help the victims of the hurricane."

Germany has announced its availability to provide the United States with technical assistance in coping with the massive devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. “If there are requests on the part of the Americans, then we will surely participate,” German Interior Minister Otto Schily said on behalf of the German Government in an interview with Reuters TV.

In general, the United States is well equipped to deal with natural disasters, and the geographic distance across the Atlantic may make it difficult to provide immediate assistance to the affected region along the Gulf Coast.

Nevertheless, Schily reiterated Germany’s willingness to help. “We would of course also be prepared to support our American friends through the Technical Disaster Relief Agency.” He assumed, however, that currently there is no need for it as the United States not yet requested help.

The Technical Disaster Relief Agency (Technisches Hilfswerk or THW) provides assistance in disasters in Germany, such as the flooding this summer in Bavaria and the massive flooding in eastern Germany in 2002, as well as abroad as in the region devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Links:

German Leaders Express Sympathy and Offer Condolences for Devastation Caused by Hurricane Katrina

Ambassador Ischinger Sends Messages of Sympathy and Condolence to Mississippi Governor (from Germany Info)

Hurricane Katrina: Germany Ready to Help US (from Germany Info)

Chancellor Schroeder Sends Telegram to US President Bush

Just like her ratings, Miss America's bank balances falling fast
Source: http://www.newsday.com/

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By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer

September 1, 2005, 2:38 PM EDT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The Miss America Organization lost $1.7 million last year, its fiscal fortunes plunging due to less television revenue, according to the annual tax return of the organization that stages the struggling beauty pageant.

The pageant, which cited fiscal troubles last week in announcing plans to move the contest out of Atlantic City, took in $3.2 million from former network sponsor ABC, compared with $5.6 million the year before. Its net assets, meanwhile, dipped to $3.6 million, from $5.7 million the year before, according to the return, which was released Thursday.

"There's really one major difference between this tax return and last year's, and that is the difference in television income," said Art McMaster, CEO of the Miss America Organization. "That just flowed all the way to the bottom line."

The Miss America Organization, which employs less than 20 people but uses a vast network of volunteers and sponsors to stage its pageants, is exempt from federal income taxes as a non-profit, social-welfare organization dedicated to awarding scholarships. But it must file tax returns outlining its revenue and spending.

The filing of the 2004 return Wednesday had been delayed because the organization obtained an extension from the Internal Revenue Service. The postponement came as Miss America officials scrambled following ABC's October decision to drop the annual telecast, leaving Miss America without a network sponsor for the first time in 50 years.

The pageant, which was forced to postpone its 2005 pageant to next January, has since signed with cable outlet Country Music Television. CMT will televise the next crowning although no one knows yet where that will be.

The organization actively entertaining offers for a new venue, and McMaster has said the pageant may take to the road permanently, airing from a new city each year while the organization keeps its home offices in Atlantic City.

The tax return offers evidence of the dire fiscal picture he painted last week when he surprised Atlantic City officials by asking to be released from the final two years of the pageant's five-year contract to stage the Miss America pageant in the city's Boardwalk Hall.

According to the tax return, the Miss America Organization:

_lost more than twice as much in 2004 as in 2003, when it posted a $706,507 deficit.

_spent $964,462 on scholarship aid last year, down from $1.1 million the prior year.

_used $388,548 to help state and local pageant organizations.

_spent $371,793 underwriting the travels of the reigning winner, who criss-crosses the nation promoting the Miss America program and her platform, and her traveling companions. In turn, the MAO took in $66,740 in appearance fees from organizations that paid to have Miss America visit or appear on their behalf.

_paid McMaster $161,000, far less than the salaries of some previous CEOs, who made up to $285,000.

_saw the value of its investment portfolio drop to $4.7 million, from $6.4 million at year's start.

The worsening financial picture and the high cost of staging the event at Boardwalk Hall were blamed last week when McMaster pleaded with Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority officials to be released from the contract, which included a $720,000 annual subsidy from the state.

According to McMaster, the cost of outfitting Boardwalk Hall with the lights, cameras and audio necessary to make the Depression-era landmark TV ready resulted in an annual loss of about $500,000 to the Miss America Organization, which he said made the pageant's continued use of it impossible.

He said at the time that the pageant could save up to $1 million by moving to a new venue in a new city, between reduced telecast production costs and site fees potentially offered by a new location.

"The days of big-money television are over," he told the Authority's board. "Miss America has to put money in our pockets to survive," he said last week.