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Erie PA News and Events for Wednesday November 29, 2006

Mohammed Abdelhady, who owned Moe’s One Stop convenience stores in Erie, pleaded guilty to operating a check-cashing business without a license. Well, that’s what they got him on. What he was doing was running a fencing operation and laundering money for drug dealers. That’s why the guilty plea. He forfeited $252,000 and could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined up to $500,000.

The real estate property records aren’t available on the Erie County web site. When I called yesterday, the person answering the phone in the Assessment Office said it would be down until Thursday or Friday. Get it fixed. Today. Please. Normally I’d say something facetious and/or sarcastic, such as the circus must be in town because clowns must be working on it, but I need it for work.

Erie City Council held a budget session with the Public Works Department. The department is losing 16 1/2 budgeted positions next year. Cuts are being made through attrition and not being filled.

State Senator Jane Earll joined the Erie Art Museum Board of Directors, staff and Erie Art Museum capital campaign major gift donors Tuesday night in announcing an additional $500,000 in state funding for the Erie Art Museum’s $9 million capital campaign. The planned project consists of a link between the Museum’s Old Customs House Building on State Street and the Museum Annex, which fronts on both State and East 5th Streets. Included will be four major galleries, a number of smaller galleries, a 250-person performance space, a public meeting space at a new unified entrance, and other visitor amenities. “The Erie Art Museum is the largest and most significant visual arts program in the Northwestern PA region. It is the resource for the visual arts. The Art Museum’s programs have far outstripped its physical space. Senator Earll’s commitment takes us closer to our vision of a regional arts center,” said Kirk Steehler, MD, capital campaign chairman and Erie Art Museum Board Member. According to Steehler, $6 million in local funds are being sought, as well as $3 million in capital grants from the State. To date, the Museum has secured $2.7 million in local funds including more than $1 million from the Museum’s Board of Directors and $2 million in capital grants from the State. “The Erie Art Museum has been working on this project for the past two and a half years. Although this campaign is being led by current and long-term Museum supporters, everyone in the community will be asked to support creating a new tourist destination and preserving a vital community resource,” said Mary Beth McMaster, Erie Art Museum Board President. The Erie Art Museum anchors downtown Erie’s cultural and economic revitalization, occupying a group of restored mid-19th century commercial buildings, including an outstanding 1839 Greek Revival bank. It maintains an ambitious program of 15 to 18 changing exhibitions annually, embracing a wide range of subjects, both historical and contemporary and including folk art, contemporary craft, multi-disciplinary installations, community-based work, and public art as well as traditional media.

Gannon University president Antoine M. Garibaldi, PhD, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Garibaldi will serve an initial three-year term and also will sit on the board’s external relations committee.

Team Pennsylvania Foundation announced the Pennsylvania’s 100 Best Places to Work for 2006. Erie area companies on the list include Saint Vincent Health System and Stairways Behavioral Health.

F Valerie ChouinardMercyhurst won the daily double today by climbing into first place in the weekly USA Today/USA Hockey Division I Women’s Hockey Poll. Yesterday, the Lakers reached the pinnacle in the USCHO.com poll, marking the first time in the program’s seven-plus year history that it’s been so recognized.

Forward David Wrigley has been traded from Victoria to Pensacola. Wrigley had a solid collegiate career with the Mercyhurst Lakers.

Gannon University’s Schuster Theatre production of James Joyce’s “The Dead” opens November 30. Set in 1904, the last and best known of the short stories collected in the Dubliners, this intimate musical portrays a homespun Yuletide party with Irish music, dancing, food, drink, and good fellowship. Sparkling songs, many of them traditional-sounding Irish melodies that are performed as entertainment by the partygoers, are all original. Book by Richard Nelson, music by Shaun Davey, lyrics adapted by Davey and by Richard Nelson. Directed by Shawn Clerkin, assistant professor, theatre, and director of the Gannon theatre program. Additional performances will be given Dec 1-3 and Dec 7-9. All shows are at 8 pm, except for Sunday matinees at 3 pm. Schuster Theatre is located at 620 Sassafras St. For more information, call the box office at (814) 871-7494.

The Mercyhurst Green Team Alternative Gift Fair will be held Friday, December 1 and Saturday, December 2 from 11 am-4 pm each day. This will help local non-profit organizations to raise funds by inviting members of the community to give donations on behalf of loved ones and friends as holiday gifts. There will also be local artisans selling handmade gifts for sale.

Downtown Erie will sparkle this holiday season with thousands of holiday lights and live entertainment at this year’s Downtown d’LIGHTS on Friday, December 1 from 6-8 pm. Enjoy horse drawn carriage rides, ice sculptors, live entertainment and the lighting of Perry Square.

Allegheny College’s Civic Symphony and Chamber Strings will perform on Friday, Dec 1 at 7:30 pm. The concert, conducted by Allegheny music instructor
Robert Rudolph, will take place in the Henderson Campus Center lobby on the Allegheny campus. The event is free and open to the public.

For the fifth year, Penn State Behrend offers the perfect antidote to treacley, tinkling holiday hot air: Christmas carols performed with the collective power of over 100 student, amateur, and professional tuba and euphonium players. It’s called TubaChristmas Erie, and it will be held at 2 pm Saturday, Dec 2, in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building. Even better, it is free and open to the public. TubaChristmas debuted at Rockefeller Center’s ice rink in 1974 as a tribute to the late tuba legend William J. Bell, who was born Christmas Day 1902. The event has since grown to the point that it is held in 200-plus cities each year. All area tuba, baritone, and euphonium players are invited to participate in TubaChristmas. Registration begins at 8:30 am that day, and rehearsal at 9:30.

Experience Erie’s premier holiday tradition with an outstanding group of musicians and everyone’s favorite newsworthy entertainer, Amanda Post. Singing along with Amanda this season is the ever popular and talented Brenda Evans, close friend and celebrated song master Bob Martin and of course sister Abby Daggett. Lead by piano virtuoso James Madden, the band includes perennial string masters Brian Hunt and Carl Hultman along with James Abate (drums), Dave Stertevant (violin), Derf Hopsecger (bass), and Chris Dempsey (horns). “One Voice for Christmas with Amanda Post” will be performed Saturday December 2 at 8 pm and Sunday, December 3 at 2 pm at the Warner Theatre. Tickets are on sale now at the Warner Theatre Box Office (814) 452-4857. Cost is $12, $18, VIP seating $25.

Take a “Musical Tour Across Europe” at the Penn State Behrend Concert Band’s annual winter performance. The concert will be held at 8 pm Monday, Dec 4, in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building. It is free and open to the public.

The Goo Goo Dolls will play a concert at the Warner Theatre in Erie Tuesday December 5. Tickets are on sale now.

Charles M Telesco, a professor of astronomy at University of Florida, will host “Worlds in Collision” during an Open House Night in Astronomy program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Telesco’s presentation will be held at 7:30 pm on Thursday, Dec 7, in 101 Otto Behrend Science Building. It is free and open to the public, and, weather permitting, will be followed by astronomical viewing from the college’s Mehalso Observatory.

The 2006 Stairways Behavioral Health Holiday Art Show and Sale will be held Friday December 8 from 3-6 pm at 2810 State Street. Choose from hundreds of one-of-a-kind gifts including artwork, ornaments and NEW for 2006—glass nightlights and handmade jewelry. Admission is Free and open to everyone in the community.

The next production at the Roadhouse Theater is “SantaLand Diaries” and “Season’s Greetings.” Playwright, author, and National Public Radio commentator David Sedaris compose two entertaining, irreverently witty essays which were adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello. The production opens with a post-show reception the evening after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 24 and continues through Saturday, December 23. Admission: Regular seating $12, Riser seating $15, VIP table seating $20. Reservations can be made by phone at (814) 456-5656 or in person at the Roadhouse Theatre for Contemporary Arts 145 West 11th Street. Box Office hours are 2-6 PM Tuesday - Saturday. The theater accepts cash, checks, Visa, MasterCard and Discover.

Two facets of the choral music program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will be showcased at its annual fall concert on Tuesday, Nov 28. The concert will begin at 8 pm in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building. The College Choir and the Studio Singers both will perform under the direction of Daniel Barnard, lecturer in music. Tickets for the concert are $5 for adults and $3 for students and are available at the door or at the Reed Union Building information desk.

Shangahi Quartet, a versatile ensemble known for its passionate musicality, impressive technique, and multicultural innovation, will perform at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on Friday, Dec 1. Their lunchtime appearance, part of Music at Noon: The Logan Series, will begin at noon in the McGarvey Commons of the Reed Union Building. It is free and open to the public.

The War at the Shore II wresting showcase will be held Friday, Dec 1 at the Tullio Arena. Fort LeBoeuf vs Mount Pleasant and McDowell vs General McLane takes place at 6 pm. Edinboro vs Michigan State and Mercyhurst vs Gannon go at it at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 day of event at the door or only $6 in advance through Ticketmaster.

Join Erie-native artist Don Joint on Sunday, Dec 3 from 1-4 pm for the opening of his show at papermoon restaurant and gallery, 1325 State Street. Joint has created 10 original, framed wood block monoprint paintings for purchase. Each 27 x 36 image boasts unique colors and configurations. Works by David Seitzinger and Evan Everhart will also be on sale at the reception. The Joint show runs until Jan 1, 2007 and all proceeds from sales benefit the Erie Art Museum.

The Chillers, the dance team for the Erie Freeze, will hold a tryout on Saturday, December 9 at the Avalon Hotel, 16 West 10. Registration is from 9:30 am - 10:30 am with tryouts from10:30 am - 1 pm. The dancers will be taught a 30 second hip-hop dance and 1 sideline dance, which they will then perform. Each dancer will need to bring 4 “8 counts” of their own dance of hip-hop style that they will add to end of the dance they learn. Other various dance routines may be included though out the tryout. The dancers will be asked to do a series of high kicks, double-turn and an optional leap. The music for all routines will be provided. Each dancer will be notified by the end of the tryout, whether he or she has made the team or not and will be required to attend a meeting scheduled by the team’s captains. Everyone will need to bring the following: Black dance pants, black sports bra, tennis/dance shoes w/socks, and a valid ID. Each girl should be in full make-up and hair.Audition fee: $10 (cash or money order). For more information or to register, call (814) 454-0200 or email christina@eriefreeze.com .

The annual Dance Studies “Cookies and Milk” holiday concert will take place on Sunday, Dec 10 in the Montgomery Performance Space at Allegheny College. There will be two showings, the first at 2 pm and the second at 4 pm. Cookies, milk and coffee will be served in between the two performances, at 3 pm in the Campus Center lobby. The concert will include a wide variety of dance styles, including a welcome dance from Ghana, jazz, ballroom and contact improvisation pieces. The concert is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. For more information about this year’s “Cookies and Milk” concert or to reserve a seat, call the Dance Studies office at 332-2813.

The Holiday Toy Drive (benefiting SafeNet Erie) and Gift Wrapping Party will be held at the Plymouth Tavern, 1109 State Street, on Wednesday, December 13 at 6 pm. Contact Melissa Newell at melissamnewell(at)gmail.com for information regarding the Toy Drive. Yep! has partnered with United Way Young Leaders for this event. Please join them in providing gifts for local families currently being sheltered.

The movies for the Holiday Film Series at the Big Green Screen Theater are The Lion King (Dec 5), The Incredibles (Dec 12), the excellent 1961 version of 101 Dalmations (Dec 19) and Toy Story (Dec 26).

Dennis Weed

Posted by Dennis at November 29, 2006 7:08 AM

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Posted by: Ron at November 29, 2006 8:05 AM

Posted by: Jenson at November 29, 2006 8:10 AM

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