LAST TITANIC SURVIVOR DIES

Millvina Dean, the last survivor of 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, passed away today. She was 97 years old.

A DOG'S LIFE

I got this from the fabulous girls over at Disgrasian.

Have a great weekend.

MAN U, KEEPIN' IT CLASSY

You gotta love the Manchester United fans. Mighty Manchester United lost to Barcelona in the finals of the Champions League so some yahoo drove a mini-bus into a crowd celebrating Barcelona's victory and killed four people.

Keepin' it classy.

AMALGAMATED BANK

A new Amalgamated Bank is opening on 86th St, right next to the new Fabco Shoes.

Now cue the trumpets!!

Amalgamated Bank Selects Brooklyn Native

To Manage of its New Branch in Bay Ridge

Brooklyn, New York (May 28, 2009) – Amalgamated Bank’s Rosemarie Gentiliaco has been named Vice President and Manager of the Bank’s newest branch at 426 86th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The branch is scheduled to open in June. Ms. Gentiliaco grew up and still resides in the Borough.

After achieving early success in banking, she returns to her neighborhood roots to run the new branch, which is Amalgamated’s third retail location in Brooklyn. Ms. Gentiliaco will transition from Amalgamated’s headquarters location at 275 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. She joined Amalgamated in February 2008 to manage that branch.

“Ms. Gentiliaco’s familiarity with Brooklyn as well as her banking expertise and hands-on approach to customer service, makes her a solid fit for our Bay Ridge branch,” said Kathleen Romagnano, Amalgamated’s Executive Vice President of Retail Banking.

Prior to joining Amalgamated, Ms. Gentiliaco served as Branch Manager at JPMorgan Chase Bank. She began at Chase in 2006, when it acquired the Bank of New York’s retail locations. She started with the Bank of New York as a Branch Manager in 2004.

Earlier in Ms. Gentiliaco’s career, she was employed by the Dime Savings Bank as an assistant branch manager in downtown Brooklyn. Later, she ran a branch in Williamsburg, and was actively involved in community and economic development projects.

Began her Banking Career While in College

Ms. Gentiliaco’s rise in banking started in 1990, when she worked as a part-time teller with Independence Savings Bank while still in college. After graduating, the bank recruited her for a management training program, which provided an overview of branch operations. She spent the next several years at Independence, where she worked at branches in Brooklyn and Queens.

Her professional associations include membership in the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and the Los Sures Community Development Company Inc. Los Sures is a neighborhood-

based not-for-profit organization, which manages affordable housing programs and fostered economic development that helped transform Williamsburg.

Ms. Gentiliaco graduated from Brooklyn College, and she grew up in Brooklyn’s Gravesend and Bensonhurst neighborhoods. Currently, she lives in Bensonhurst with her family.

About Amalgamated Bank

Established in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Amalgamated Bank continues the progressive traditions of its founders as the only 100 percent union-owned bank in the United States.

Chartered by New York State, Amalgamated Bank is an FDIC insured commercial bank with $4.5 billion in assets. The Bank has 19 branches including 13 in New York City as well as one branch in each of the following locations: Lyndhurst, New Jersey; Washington, D.C., and Pasadena, California. The Bank also has three retail branches in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the Bank’s corporate banking divisions include Commercial Banking, Commercial Real Estate and Community Development. The Bank’s website is www.amalgamatedbank.com.


No word yet on when the bank will be christened by being robbed. Any bets?

NORWEGIAN DAY PARADE

Today marks the 385th anniversary of the Bay Ridge Norwegian Day Parade. The parade is exactly like the Bay Ridge St. Patrick's Day Parade, except kilts are exchanged for Viking hats, making it much more difficult to walk.

The parade steps off at 1:30 p.m. on Fifth Avenue at 89th Street and proceeds north along Fifth Avenue to 67th Street, turning right to pass the reviewing stand on the south side of Leif Ericson Park.

The Bay Ridge Food Co-Op will be marching. They'll be dressed in traditional Norwegian clothes made out of gravlaks and Kjøttkaker.

CAN A WHITE GUY BE AFRICAN-AMERICAN?

Paulo Serodio, a Mozambique native, is suing the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He claims he was harassed and then suspended from med school, after defining himself in class as “white, African, American.”

The question posed on CNN is Can a White Guy be African-American?

And here is an excerpt from my musical China - The Whole Enchilada. Life imitating art is a great thing.

ERIC: I...I don’t know what we’re calling African-Americans.

BRAD: How about African-Americans?

PHILIP: Works for me.

BRAD: Works for me, too.

ERIC: It doesn’t work for me.

BRAD: You a racist?

ERIC: No.

BRAD: I think you are.

ERIC: I’m not-

PHILIP: Then what’s wrong with African-American?

ERIC: It’s presumptuous and jingoistic.

BRAD: Well anyone who’s anyone is using the term African-American.

PHILIP: Yeah, it’s all the rage. African-America is the new black.

ERIC: Okay, then what do you call a black guy from Canada?

PHILIP: Non-existent.

ERIC: No, no. Do you call him African-American or African-Canadian?

BRAD: African-American.

ERIC: But he’s Canadian.

BRAD: That’s not my fault.

ERIC: And you don’t see a problem with that?

BRAD: Nope.

ERIC: How about Egypt? Egypt’s in Africa. Do you call them African-Americans or Egyptians?

BRAD: That depends.

ERIC: On...?

BRAD: Whether they’re African-American or not!

ERIC: You’re not -- Okay, my uncle was born in South Africa.

BRAD: Your uncle is African-American?

ERIC: Yes.

BRAD: Wow. Who knew?

ERIC: But he’s white.

BRAD: An albino African-American?

PHILIP: Freaky, man. Is he all scary looking with red eyes like that guy in The DaVinci Code and he had that belt on his leg and he’d pull it and blood would come out of his leg like sploosh, but he was kind of hot and---

ERIC: No, he’s not an albino. He’s white. Caucasian.

BRAD: I thought you said he’s African-American.

ERIC: Yes.

BRAD: So which is it?

ERIC: Which what?

BRAD: Caucasian or Africa-American?

ERIC: Both. My uncle was born in Africa and he now lives in America. Therefore he’s African-American.

PHILIP: Is your sponsor here?

HARD UP?

Unemployed? Trying to find a new job? Not so fast. Being unemployed may not be so bad.

Pfizer says it will provide 70 of its most widely prescribed prescription drugs — including Lipitor and Viagra — free to people who have lost their jobs and health insurance.

It gives new meaning to the phrase "hard up."

BAY RIDGE NIGHT AT THE CYCLONES

I saw a poster for this today and - boom - it shows up on Bay Ridge Journal. Here it is again:

The Brooklyn Cyclones will host a "Bay Ridge Night" and fundraiser for local food pantries at 7 PM on July 8, at Keyspan Park in Coney Island.

The Cyclones, a Class "A" affiliate of the New York Mets, will play the Aberdeen Ironbirds, a Class "A" team affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles.

Regular boxes are $12 and field boxes $15.

For tickets, visit the Cyclones Website

To reserve for groups of 20 or more, call 718-507-TIXX.

A portion of each ticket sold using the promo code "Bay Ridge" will be donated to the collective food pantries of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton.

UNCLE FESTER

I'm very happy that my old friend, Kevin Chamberlin, will be playing Uncle Fester in the upcoming Broadway show, The Addams Family. Kevin and I go back 20 years to when we were both struggling and broke. Thank god one of us has moved on to bigger and better things.

MORE HORN TOOTING

Ok, so I have to toot my horn a little more. My musical, China - The Whole Enchilada, is currently playing in Houston and seems to be doing pretty well.

Caution: Supersensitive sorts need not attend Theater LaB Houston's production of Mark Brown's China - The Whole Enchilada. The show is about as un-PC as it gets. Played by "three white guys" dressed in coolie hats, among other offensive garb, the show covers the history of China at breakneck speed, galloping through dynasties and thousands of years as it pokes fun at ethnic stereotypes and the folks who buy into them.

I found myself grinning, if not outright laughing, through most of the goofy shenanigans.

MEAT LOAF

I know it's Friday but I couldn't resist the Meat Loaf. I saw this documentary the other day and it rocks. And I've finally found someone more neurotic than me.

MANNY SUSPENDED

Oy. Just as the LA Dodgers went into the Major League Baseball modern day record books with the best start at home, Manny Ramirez has to go and spoil the party by getting suspended for 50 games.

Yep. Manny was suspended for failing a drug test. The suspension begins tonight and he'll be available to play again on July 3. Here's Manny's statement:

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.

"I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation."

Ramirez has been having a scorcher of a season. He leads the Dodgers in batting average (.348), on-base percentage (.492) and slugging percentage (.641), and he is tied for the team lead in home runs with six.

So thanks for tainting it, Manny.

DODGERS BASEBALL

I lived in LA for years and suffered through season after season of lousy Dodger baseball. We moved back to NYC two years ago and what happens? Joe Torre goes to LA, the Yankees start charging $10,500 for a family of four, and the Mets aren't far behind.

And now, to top it all off, the Dodgers have started the season with twelve straight wins at home, tying the modern-day record of Ty Cobb's 1911 Cubs.

With that said, I'm sure the Dodgers will lose their next game. I've broken the cardinal rule of mentioning a no-hitter while the game is in progress.


Correction: It was the 1911 Tigers. Not the Cubs. Wrong animal. Sorry.

DOM DELUISE DEAD

Brooklyn born actor Dom DeLuise passed away yesterday. He was 75. RIP.

TO GO COLD CUP TUMBLERS

The Starbucks To Go Cold Tumblers have finally arrived at he Starbucks on 75th and 3rd. I've been waiting for these double insulated babies to make it to the store. Starbucks has been selling the Tumblers for hot drinks but the cold ones. Use them for your cold drinks and get a whopping $0.10 off each drink. Stop the madness. These will come in handy now that warm weather is right around the corner. And they make dandy mother's day gifts.

TOOTING MY OWN HORN

Every now and then I have to toot my own horn. From the New York Times:

"The polished, fast-paced, unabashedly theatrical (in the best sense of the word) production of “Around the World in 80 Days” at the Westport Country Playhouse is an extremely pleasant surprise.

The show is smart enough to make sophisticated adults laugh out loud and shamelessly silly enough to keep children in the audience interested and entertained.

Much credit goes to Mark Brown, the actor-playwright who wrote the adaptation.

Apparently, Mr. Brown likes to play with classic books and international settings. One of his earlier works is “The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge,” set a year after the visits of the three Christmas spirits. And his “China — The Whole Enchilada” was a hit at last year’s Fringe Festival in New York."