(Long Island, N.Y.) Long Islanders enjoyed an afternoon at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Hauppauge at their annual luncheon seminar.
Hauppauge Industrial Association of Long Island hosted its annual meeting including the State of Business on Long Island panel address on Wednesday. The focus of the annual meeting of officials and business organizations was the need for expanding growth and to terminate the economic recession in Suffolk County. Hauppauge businesses are in a group effort to collaborate and create jobs in 2011 according to elected officials and business leaders.
President Terri Alessi-Miceli of the Hauppauge Industrial Association spoke about her organization and how it has taken initial steps towards collaboration in 2011, having held a meeting with the Long Island Association and other business groups within the last week to discuss common interests. Their goal is to ensure workers are properly educated to fit business needs, enforcing skills for manufacturing by pairing to host a manufacturing symposium in autumn 2011.
An ongoing project in the works is the Hauppauge industrial park transportation study. This will be funded by a $650 million grant. Many of the issues include a solution for easing traffic, providing mass transportation and reducing the carbon footprint of businesses there. “Most of the office buildings out there are wasting 25 – 40 percent of the energy they use. That means there are huge opportunities here,” revealed Dorian Dale, Town of Babylon’s energy director and chief of sustainability.
In 1978, a blackout affecting the Hauppauge Industrial Park left tenants without power for three days; as a result the Hauppauge Industrial Association was formed. In the three decades since HIA-LI was formed, it has become the recognized voice for businesses on Long Island and a powerful force and economic engine for regional development. Today their members represent tens of thousands of business professionals. The organization is headquartered in and supports the Hauppauge Industrial Park, one of the largest industrial parks in the United States.
The organization provides a forum for business leaders to network, problem solve and obtain advice on critical issues facing many of the businesses in Long Island. Their programs and events promote strategic partnerships, targeted networking, information sharing and business advocacy. HIA-LI is building and growing the organization for continued success in years to come. They have developed a series of initiatives and programs to support future growth of the organizations, local businesses, including Manufacturing, Workforce Development, Healthcare, Clean Technology, and many more.
Hauppauge Industrial Association is also responsible in assisting to promote manufacturing innovation on Long Island and creating opportunities for a skilled workforce.
- Manufacturing represents Long Island’s third largest payroll
- Manufacturing is a driving force behind technological innovation
HIA-LI’s pro-active committees provide the opportunity for all businesses on Long Island to share information, network, and work on projects.
During my interview with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy he revealed “HIA is a lobbying force for the needs of our business community. There is a lot that happens in Albany and Washington that impacts our businesses on a daily basis and if we are not heard we are going to lose. They are magnificent on getting funding for sewers, tax breaks and for other things that help businesses and mostly for preventing government from over regulating our businesses so they can prosper.”
If you or other members of your company would like to “make a difference,” you are invited to join one or more of their active committees. Please call the HIA-LI office at (631) 543-5355 or email committees@hia-li.org for more information.
For more information please visit www.hia-li.org
After a long hard week networking with local Long Island businesses I decided to enjoy a Friday night at the glamorous Duane Park Restaurant and Lounge in Tribeca, New York.
Musician and Trumpet Player Brian Newman invited me to the lounge for cocktails and conversation. He has a steady gig performing every Friday night at Duane Park from 10:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M.
Crooner and musician Brian Newman has been living in New York City but has his roots in Cleveland, Ohio where he studied music and has been playing the trumpet for nineteen years. He has been performing at a variety of Manhattan venues including The Bowery Ballroom, Gold Bar, The Bowery Electric, Duane Park, Corio, A Greenhouse, Birdland, The Cotton Club Tokyo, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Studio at Webster Hall, The Blue Note, Le Poisson Rouge, Corio, The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and many other locations around New York City. Performing a medley of genres with some of the most talented performers in the city, he has been called “brilliant” by Stephen Holden of the New York Times and as a band leader and a sideman. He continues to incorporate his own personal and stylistic touch to every single note and has recently performed with Lady GaGa.
The Poker Face recording artist joked to surprised diners that she’s a “hooker . . . but one that still has to pay taxes” at the Plaza Oak Room Wednesday night, according to new York Post gossip column Page six. GaGa mocked her outfit during an unannounced appearance at a show by her jazz musician friend, Brian Newman.
The show Owner Marisa Ferrarin chatted with me about her inspiration for opening this grand, sultry Tribeca nightspot. After completely refurbishing The Duane Park Restaurant and Lounge, last spring, the former rock-band manager has transformed the nightclub into a 1920s-style Parisian salon on Friday evenings for late-night suppers, live jazz and sexy burlesque shows. The furnishings in the restaurant include antiques and a historical chandelier from a New Orleans Plantation. The best part of the show is complimentary which means that diners can spend enthusiastically more on fine wine and gourmet cuisine. Duane Park restaurant and lounge is a glittering jewel box of a dining room transported to a vintage era when glamorous women wore fabulous ermine stoles over art deco strapless beaded gowns.
Dinner specialties created for the sophisticated palette include a divine menu, executed by New Orleans native and Five Points alum Beau Houck blending classic bistro dishes such as steak with caramelized onions.
After the show I chatted with Burlesque Stars Miss Pandora who gave me a brief history on Burlesque and Miss Harvest Moon who has established herself as a premiere nightlife entertainer.
In 20th century America the word burlesque became associated with a variety show in which striptease is the chief attraction. Although the striptease originated at the Moulin Rouge in 1890s Paris and subsequently became a part of some burlesque across Europe, only in American culture is the term burlesque closely associated with the striptease.
These shows were not considered ‘theatre’ and were regarded as ‘low’ by the vaudevillians, actors and showgirls of neighboring theatre goers.
While the American form of burlesque has its origins in 19th century music hall entertainments and vaudeville, in the early 20th century American burlesque re-emerged as a populist blend of satire, performance art and adult entertainment featuring striptease and broad comedy acts that derived their name from the low comedy aspects of the literary genre known as burlesque. Here the term “burlesque” was used loosely to describe these adult revue shows in which striptease acts would perform often with themes, characters or gimmicks but classic striptease were already forms in themselves and not automatically “burlesque” by default.
In burlesque, performers, usually female, often create elaborate sets with lush, colorful costumes, mood-appropriate music, and dramatic lighting, and may even include novelty acts to enhance the impact of their performance.
The popular burlesque show of the 1870’s through the 1920’s referred to a raucous, somewhat bawdy style of variety theater inspired by Lydia Thompson and her troupe, the British Blondes, who first appeared in the United States in the 1860’s and also by early “leg” shows such as The Black Crook (1866). Its form, humor, and aesthetic traditions were largely derived from the minstrel show. One of the first burlesque troupes was the Rentz-Santley Novelty and Burlesque Company, created in 1870 by Michael B. Leavitt who had earlier feminized the minstrel show with his group Madame Rentz’s Female Minstrels.
The popular burlesque theme of today evolved from the striptease which became the dominant ingredient of burlesque in the 1930’s. In the 1930’s, a social crackdown on burlesque shows led to their gradual downfall. The shows had slowly changed from ensemble ribald variety performances to simple performances focusing mostly on the striptease. The end of burlesque and the birth of striptease were later dramatized in the film The Night They Raided Minsky’s.
Burlesque Star Harvest Moon, also known as “The Sultry Siren of Burlesque”, began her career by founding the legendary dance troupe The Cantankerous Lollies in 1995. Miss Moon’s troupe quickly became San Francisco’s premiere showgirl act, known for their Montmartre-style cabarets, including rousing Can-Cans which would have made Toulouse Lautrec proud.
Throughout the late 90s, The Cantankerous Lollies performed in a diverse number of West Coast venues including many of San Francisco’s top nightclubs such as Bimbo’s, The Fillmore, The Great American Music Hall, as well as The San Francisco Museum of Natural History. In 1997 The Cantankerous Lollies were the first troupe ever to perform at the Miss Exotic World Pageant. Under Harvest’s direction, the Lollies won “Best Dance Troupe” two years in a row. They later earned a star in the Exotic World Museum’s Hall Of Fame.
The Bay Guardian awarded the troupe “Best Can-Can And Burlesque Review” in the 2001 edition of the annual Best Of The Bay, the first year the Bay Guardian had such a category. The Cantankerous Lollies gained front page exposure in the New Orleans’s Times-Picayune arts section during that year’s annual Tease-a-rama Burlesque convention, the first of its kind in the world. Both Harvest Moon herself and The Cantankerous Lollies have been spotlighted in the fully illustrated book BURLESQUE AND THE NEW BUMP AND GRIND–a comprehensive history of Burlesque from the origin right up through today. A life-sized print of “Harvest Moon Y El Famoso Bailar De Abanicos” has been featured in the Diesel Denim gallery in NYC’s SoHo and has been published around the world in various art/design publications. Her provocative image has appeared in GQ , Glamour Magazine, New York Magazine, Animal Magazine , Psychology Today, and Pulphope.
Harvest has also performed with members of Cirque Du Soliel in the 2005 production of “The Love Show”. Harvest Moon performs regularly in New York City and increasingly internationally. Miss Moon’s emerging solo work has been noted for its elegance and classic form. She collaborates vintage Burlesque style with a unique and surprising element borrowed from the circus’ big-top. Her acts are noted for their stunning and original combinations of contortion, classic Burlesque styling’s, and humor. Harvest has opened for James Brown in New York City and performed with the artist Matthew Barney.
Harvest currently performs as part of a trapeze duo called Aerobella. They have toured nationally with Circus Nexus in 2006/07 and performed at the 2007 New York Burlesque Festival. You can find their website at www.aerobellatrapeze.com. You can also find out more information about Burlesque Star Harvest Moon at www.missharvestmoon.com.
The Duane Park Restaurant and Lounge is located at 157 Duane St. between W. Broadway and Hudson St. For reservations please call 212-732-5555 or to find out more information please visit www.duaneparknyc.com.
