FEATURE-Broadway finds show fundraising tougher amid crisis

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Broadway producers are finding it tough to attract investors for new productions as the global financial crisis begins to take a toll on the Great White Way.

And sluggish tickets sales have caused the closure of shows, adding to the sense of gloom on Broadway.

While several shows traditionally close at the start of the year to make way for new productions ahead of the Tony Awards, more than usual are taking their final bow — 12 shows have finished and another four are due to close by Feb. 28.

The economic turmoil “certainly had an impact on my show and on a number of shows that might have made it through this coming summer,” said producer Margo Lion, whose show “Hairspray” closed on Jan. 4 after more than six years on Broadway.

Several shows could not secure the financing needed to open in the coming months — “Godspell,” “Vanities” and “For Colored Girls” — and producers blamed the economy, said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of trade group The Broadway League.

“It’s not uncommon for shows not to get financing if they’re not sure-fire hits in tough economic times,” St. Martin said. “Even in great times, a lot of shows don’t get financed.”

“Hair” was a hit on Broadway and London’s West End in the 1960s, but Andrew Hamingson, executive director of New York’s Public Theater, which will bring “Hair” back to Broadway in March, said lining up investors for the show was difficult.

“At the time we were out looking for investors for the show it was at the same moment … when all those companies (like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch) either disappeared or they were acquired by other companies,” Hamingson said.

Permanent link to this post: FEATURE-Broadway finds show fundraising tougher amid crisis

From warling.net78.net weblog

How To Lose 60 Pounds in 3 Months

In order to lose 60 pounds in 3 months you will need to shock your body into losing a lot of weight fast. Just so you know, to lose 60 pounds in 3 months isn’t the easiest thing in the world and will require you to commit to this process heart and soul. However, with the right will and determination, it can be done.

In order to lose 60 pounds in 3 months, I suggest that you begin by cleansing your body. What this does is get rid of a lot of undigested pounds which have accumulated inside your body and which are weighing it down and damaging your health. Each person carries around some undigested weight. By using a detox diet, you can quickly flush out of your system all those pounds, lose a lot of weight fast and be ready for the next step of the process. This detox phase takes 10 days tops and you will see a great reduction in your weight. I suggest using the Master Cleanse detox diet (I provide a link to a review of this diet at the end of this article so read the whole thing through).

After you finish with the detox diet, you should take a few days to a week off any dieting and eat regularly (but healthy). Then the next phase of your process to lose 60 lbs in 3 months will commence. In this phase you will choose one of 2 courses:

1. Follow a Calorie Shifting diet (namely the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet)
2. Follow a fitness oriented fat loss program (I suggest the Turbulence Training program)

Again, I provide a link to a review of all these 3 programs at the end of the article so you can read more about each of them.

You should follow either of these 2 programs for 2 months. These will provide a slower weight loss rate than the Master Cleanse, but they’re more healthy to use for a long time straight. They should bring you closer to achieving your goal of losing 60 pounds in 3 months.

About 10 days before your 3 months are over, you should go on the Master Cleanse again to give your body the final push it needs to shed the last of those 60 pounds. If you do everything right, you have a good chance to lose 60 pounds in 3 months.
Read full article: How To Lose 60 Pounds in 3 Months

From the gotoread.freehostia.com blogs

Americans Turn to Complementary, Alternative Medicine for Pain Relief

By Faith Lapidus
Washington
02 January 2009

Complementary and alternative medical practices - which include health products and therapies that aren’t generally considered part of conventional medicine - are frequently a part of Americans’ health care regimens. That’s the finding of a new survey released this month by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which is part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Thirty-eight percent of American adults are using some form of complementary and alternative medicine, known as CAM, to help with their health.

NCCAM Director Dr. Josephine Briggs says the new survey provides the most current, comprehensive and reliable source of information on Americans’ use of unconventional remedies such as medicinal herbs, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, massage and chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation.

Most of these patients, Briggs says, hope to alleviate pain.

“The most common reason why people turn to complementary and alternative medicine in our survey results is chronic back pain - far and away, the leading reason to use complementary and alternative medicine,” she says. “Neck pain, joint pain, headache: All these other conditions are also given as common reasons. But chronic back pain is the leading reason, a very common and difficult condition to treat.”

As the federal government’s lead agency for scientific research into CAM therapies, the center funds hundreds of projects and trials, supports training for researchers and encourages integration of proven CAM therapies into conventional practice.

Another important part of NCCAM’s mission is to publicize news and information about complementary and alternative medicine, and promote discussions about it between patients and their health care providers.

Briggs notes, “It is very important that people talk to their physicians and other health care providers about their use of complementary and alternative medicine.”

Read full article: Americans Turn to Complementary, Alternative Medicine for Pain Relief

Recipes for Health - Winter Squash Gratin

This gratin is an easy vegetarian main dish to make and resembles a quiche, but without the crust.

This series offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. Produce, seasonal and locally grown when possible, and a well-stocked pantry are the linchpins of a good diet, and accordingly, each week’s recipes will revolve around a particular type of produce or a pantry item. This is food that is vibrant and light, full of nutrients but by no means ascetic, fun to cook and a pleasure to eat.
See previous recipes »

1 1/2 pounds winter squash of your choice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

3 eggs

1/2 cup low-fat milk

2 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1/2 cup)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/4 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Cover a baking sheet with foil and brush lightly with olive oil. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy membranes, brush the cut sides with olive oil and lay cut side down on the foil-covered baking sheet. Bake 40 minutes, or until soft enough to pierce easily with a knife. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then peel and either mash with a fork, puree in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, or finely dice. You should have about 2 cups of pureed or finely diced squash.

2. Turn the oven down to 375ºF and oil a 2-quart gratin or baking dish with olive oil. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a medium heavy skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the parsley and sage, and squash, and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and whisk in the milk. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir in the squash mixture and the Gruyère. Taste and adjust seasonings. Scrape into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.

5. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly browned on the top and sizzling. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6

Read full recipe - Recipes for Health - Winter Squash Gratin

For some, Christmas is more than a tree, gifts: Seasonal fanatics have a holiday obsession

By MAGGIE GALEHOUSE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

A hurricane and a recession could easily spread a serious case of the bah, humbugs this season.

But not for the Christmas fanatics. For these self-taught decorators who transform their homes into holiday havens thick with Santas, ornaments and things that go blink in the night, Christmas always arrives early and stays late.
A tale of two Michaels

For every Christmas addict there is an enabler. And between the months of October and December, this pretty much describes Michael Briden and Mike Lowery.

“I have the inspiration, and he has the installation,” Briden deadpans.

Briden is the collector, favoring glass ornaments by Christopher Radko and Santa figurines by Brian Kidwell and Jim Shore. He decorates each of the holiday trees in the Heights bungalow he and Lowery share — no small job, since there’s at least one tree in every downstairs room.

Lowery does the traditional “dad” jobs: hangs garland around the window frames, puts the toppers on each tree before Briden starts to decorate, picks up ornaments on his way home from hunting and fishing trips.

Every year, the two transform their handsome bungalow with sage green walls into a holiday wonderland where first-time guests are hard-pressed to focus on anything but the dé cor. As Lowery says, “Christmas has definitely exploded in this house.”

It helps that the pair co-own Another Place in Time, a garden center in the Heights that sells some of the decorative items and ornaments Briden collects.

Briden, who is also a loan operations manager at Integrity Bank, admits that he is particular about the quality and presentation of his collections.

He likes his Santas to look friendly, not scary. He enjoys creating new vignettes with his Christmas ornaments; this year, Santa’s Sweet Shop appears in his kitchen window, with a jar of gingerbread men and cookies and glass candies. And each of his Christmas trees has a theme, from the hunting and fishing tree in Lowery’s room, to the Grinch tree in the bathroom, to the slim and showy “Feathered Friends” tree in the family room.

The show-stopper is “The Night Before Christmas” tree, which gathers Santas, reindeers, gifts and all the usual Christmas Eve suspects.

When one goes to so much trouble to create a Christmas atmosphere, it’s a shame not to share it. Briden estimates that he and Lowery host half a dozen social gatherings every December so that friends can see the house.

As thrilled as Briden is with this year’s décor, he is always in the market for something new. Gazing at his animal tree, he ticks off the rarer ornaments that adorn it. A buffalo. A rhinoceros. A skunk. A giraffe. But he can’t help but notice what he’s missing.

“I don’t have a platypus,” Briden says, “and I don’t have any dinosaurs.”

The holiday decorating gene is strong with Jennifer Emshoff. Growing up in Klein with a mother who’s a part-time interior designer, she learned early that every holiday deserves festive dé cor and special dishes.

So when Emshoff, a senior contract analyst with El Paso Exploration & Production, moved into her Eastwood bungalow in 2001, it was a fait accompli that the holidays would be well-represented.

Her Christmas decorating schedule begins the day after Thanksgiving at her childhood home, when her mom starts pulling out her own Christmas finery. Emshoff is always on hand to assist.

“I give her all day Friday,” she says, “then I come back and start working on my own house. It takes two full days for the inside and then a night to put up the lights on the outside.”

This year presented a new challenge for Emshoff, who recently transformed her bright blue and yellow living space into a richer, ranchy style, with dark leather and rustic touches. This meant a new backdrop for Christmas.

Dominating the living room is a full-size white tree with shiny, multicolored ornaments, many with a Texas theme. On the floor of the dining room, ranch meets Christmas in a pair of ceramic cowboy boots stuffed with holly and red berries. The formal dining table is set for Christmas dinner and a long kitchen counter that usually serves as the bar has become a winter village.

Read full article: For some, Christmas is more than a tree, gifts

Zephyr Announces Business Partners in Germany and South Africa

Following the establishment of its UK branch earlier this year, Zephyr are pleased to confirm international business partner contracts for Germany and South Africa. The new business partners will distribute the Zephyr PASSPORT family of terminal emulation products.

Houston, TX (PRWEB) December 14, 2008 — Following the establishment of its UK branch earlier this year, Zephyr are pleased to confirm international business partner contracts for Germany and South Africa. The new business partners will distribute the Zephyr PASSPORT family of terminal emulation products.

In Germany, Zephyr is represented by UBS Hainer GmbH (www.ubs-hainer.com), who manages and supports PASSPORT products at such customer accounts as Allianz Suisse, Daimler Bank AG and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW).

In South Africa, Zephyr is represented by JMR Software Ltd (www.jmr.co.za), who supports Zephyr products at First National Bank (FNB), Business Connexion (BCX), Cadiz and others.

“We have a wealth of current international customers and many new prospects that we feel will benefit from having fully trained partners in their own countries” said Russell Martin, Zephyr Vice-President Sales and Marketing. “Familiarity with local business practices and the ability to support the Zephyr products and business model is essential”.

“We really want to send a clear message to international organizations that use Attachmate®, MicroFocus® (formerly NetManage®), IBM® and other terminal emulation products: Zephyr can save you substantial sums of money with an easy and transparent change to PASSPORT”, Martin continued.

PASSPORT 2009 is slated for release in January and will have localized language support for the Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese markets.

Zephyr Announces Business Partners in Germany and South Africa

For rent: Is office space the final frontier in financial crisis?

As the recession devastates the banking, brokerage, retail and automobile industries, landlords and commercial real estate brokers in lower Fairfield County ponder when and if the office market will be the next victim.

The region could be vulnerable because financial service companies rent much of the office space in Greenwich and Stamford. Greenwich has been called the nation’s unofficial hedge fund capital.

“We are still in a very good market. However, a lot of our clients are financial services companies,” said Jim Fagan, senior managing director of the Westchester County, N.Y., and Connecticut operations of New York City-based Cushman & Wakefield Inc. commercial real estate. “They include everything from hedge funds to reinsurance companies to investment banks, not to mention advertising agencies and other professional services companies.”

Those former mainstays in the office market will be shrinking, he said.

“As tenants try to lower their fixed costs, they are slimming down their commercial real estate exposure, where it is practical and pragmatic,” Fagan said. “The market is going through an adjustment. While it was white hot in July of 2007. It certainly is less than that now.”

John Hannigan, principal of Choyce Peterson commercial real estate in Stamford, said, “The quantity of tenants looking to grow has decreased precipitously.”

Reported office vacancies are not really bad - yet.

In the third quarter, 17 percent of the 14.5 million square feet of office space in Stamford was available for lease or sublease, up slightly from 16.4 percent at the same time last year, according to an average taken from five real estate firms. Available space are locations that are empty or slated to become vacant soon.

The numbers do not include large, single-occupant buildings such as the main UBS AG investment bank and trading floor in downtown Stamford.

But vacancy reports might not tell the whole story, said Jeff Gage, executive managing director at the Stamford office of Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle commercial real estate. Some companies have space they are not using but will not admit it unless a broker approached them about subleasing, Gage said.

Sublease space, that which is leased but currently unused, is rising in Fairfield County, he said.

“We are going to see vacancy rates going up to 25 percent or higher (countywide),” Gage said. “My guess is that 40 percent of that will be sublease space.”

The big subleases include 112,000 square feet that UBS put on the market at 201 Tresser Blvd. in Stamford at Purdue Pharma’s headquarters. Others in the city are 50,000 square feet from Legg Mason at First Stamford Place and 120,000 square feet at 290 Harbor Drive.

Greenwich has smaller office vacancies, but its 4.8 million square feet of office space depends largely on financial services, hedge funds and private equity firms. About 9.3 percent of the town’s office space was available in the third quarter, which was unchanged from the same time last year.

“Greenwich and Stamford are not immune from the downsizing and reorganization from a new model of doing business,” said John Goodkind, managing principal at the Greenwich office of New York City-based Newmark Knight Frank commercial real estate. “The days of abundance are gone.”

“Large users are unlikely to make decisions on space unless they have to,” he said, referring to lease expirations.

On the positive side, Goodkind said many people who had worked for hedge funds, financial institutions and banks will be looking for office space in which to start their own companies.

“We have already seen significant numbers of new companies looking for smaller spaces,” he said. “That will be the mode for the next 12 to 18 months.”

But Gerald Celente, a trends forecaster known for gloomy predictions, said the downturn in the retail sector will affect office space because fewer customers will exist for service firms such as ad agencies.

“In 2009, the focus will broaden to include a range of calamities that will leave no sector unscathed,” Celente said in a report issued by his Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based Trends Research Institute. “Next in line is retail, which accounts for some 70 percent of consumer spending, 26 percent of which is holiday sales.”

“Add to the (retail) empties the commercial space vacated by defunct financial firms and an array of troubled businesses from restaurants to architectural firms, to high-tech operations, to offset printers, etc.,” the report said. “The inescapable result (that we predicted over a year ago and is only now being discussed in the business media) is a commercial real estate bust that will be costlier, wreak greater havoc and prove more intractable than the residential market decline.”

Local landords, by contrast, are more optimistic.

“We have been here before (in a recession), and we will get through it,” said Jo Ann McGrath, director of leasing for the Merritt 7 Corporate Park in Norwalk. “We just have to stay positive.”

She said the 1.4 million square feet of office space in Merritt 7’s six buildings is 95 percent occupied.

A 51,000 square feet sublease might occur in the complex’s 301 Merritt 7 building. Applied Biosystems is moving out of 301 Merritt 7 in July because it merged with Invitrogen Corp.

Applied Biosystems’s lease expires in 2011, and it has an option to sublet the space, McGrath said.

Margaret Carlson, director of leasing for New York City-based RFR Realty’s seven office buildings in downtown Stamford, said the market is slowing, but not to a crisis stage.

“We are still continuing to sign deals, and we are starting to see concessions for tenants creep in,” Carlson said. “Velocity is slowing down, but we remain optimistic. There are a lot of deals out in the marketplace, and we do not have a lot of sublease space in our portfolio.”

RFR’s Stamford buildings are 90 percent leased, she said.

Another landlord representative, Jeff Newman of W&M Properties, said the recession offers a chance to recruit new tenants. W&M manages First Stamford Place and Metro Center office complexes in Stamford and the MerrittView office building in Norwalk.

“We are well-positioned to ride out a down market,” Newman said. “We always have more than enough cash flow to cover debt service and operating needs.”

Gage of Jones Lang LaSalle predicted rents will drop 20 percent to 30 percent during the recession, which offers local companies a chance to move into better buildings.

In March, Stamford-based Choyce Peterson began telling its clients to pursue renovation subsidies and lower rent from landlords.

The average asking rent for Class A office space in downtown Stamford is $48 per square foot per year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

“We have been out there ahead of this (recession) news and have been meeting with many area companies to help them navigate these tough economic times, with regard to their office space,” said Hannigan of Choyce Peterson.

“The smart landlord are the ones who will lead the market in (lower) pricing,” Gage said. “If you follow the market, you are already too late.”

- Staff Writer Peter Healy can be reached at peter.healy@scni.com or at 964-227
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Source: For rent: Is office space the final frontier in financial crisis?