Sandy Hook Concerts: Kick off the Weekend Early

Remember when summer hit when you were a kid? Suddenly, every day was Friday and you got to stay out late having fun every single night of the week.

Then you grew up, got a job, and summer became something you have to squeeze in on the weekends, with the occasional “sick” day or half day Friday if you’re lucky.

Well, enough already. I’m declaring Wednesday the new Friday, and the beach concerts at Sandy Hook are the perfect way to get a piece of summer way before the weekend. Stick with me and this little primer, and you’ll be feeling like you’re 12 again in no time.

Every single Wednesday evening from now ‘til the end of August, the Sandy Hook Foundation puts on a free outdoor concert at Beach E, just past the Visitor Center. Well-known local bands like Brian Kirk and the Jirks and Quincy Mumford jam out under the setting sun as carefree friends and families chill in beach chairs or bust a move on the dance floor that’s set up right there in the sand.

Concerts start at 6pm, which means you’ll need to ditch work a little early, but not so early that you won’t get credit for coming in. A post-lunch “bellyache” should do the trick, or my personal favorite: cramps. If you’re not a great fibber, go in an hour early, or tell your boss you’ll be working offsite. That’s the reason we all have smart phones now people. It’s just as easy to return emails from a beach blanket as it is from a cubicle.

My kids and I usually get there right at 4 because that’s when they stop charging to get into the park and we’re notorious cheapskates. At that time, most of the daytrippers are shipping out, and the concert crowd has yet to gather, so we get prime real estate, close enough to see both the stage and the shoreline. We swim long enough to for it to feel like a full beach day, then do dinner on the beach as the show starts.

Here at Hook concerts, the crowd takes picnicking seriously. You can bring coolers, and many of the regulars also bring mini folding tables and other elaborate tailgating paraphernalia. Some, like me, even fly flags or windsocks so friends always know where to find us. Adult beverages and mommy-juice are allowed (just no glass containers), and by show time, the beach feels like one big midweek party.

This past gorgeous Wednesday, we saw Tim McLoone & The Shirleys perform rock and Americana to a record crowd of over 8,000 people. The children dug a giant hole at our feet while we grown-ups sipped vodka flavored ice tea and swayed in our seats.

Then, when the band took a break, the kids went back in the ocean and I bought a ticket for the super 50/50. That’s how the Sandy Hook Foundation funds these free concerts, which they’ve been putting on for the last 17 years. Each week a lucky winner pockets anywhere from $2,000 to over seven grand (this week’s 50/50 was for $7,825, another record). So come armed with cash. I’ve yet to win, but I know it’s just a matter of time ...

When the band came back on, we took our weekly jaunt to the dance floor, where we bopped and watched the kids dive into their own makeshift, sandy mosh pit. Last year, at a Quincy Mumford show, Jack won a prize for his crazy dance moves, most notably his attempt at a handstand.  

The concert was over by 8, then we played in the surf some more as the parking lot emptied out. Hanging at the beach as it gets dark doesn’t just feel like summer, it feels like you’re on vacation. Do this once a midweek and that whole grown up job thing won’t suck quite so much.

The French spend all of August on holiday. Why can’t we Americans have Summer Wednesdays?

THE DETAILS:

Sandy Hook Beach Concerts: Every Wednesday at 6 pm through August 24, Beach E, Free after 4 p.m.
Bring:  Coolers and alcohol – Yes           Glass containers – No           Cash for the 50/50 – Definitely!           Garbage bag to take your own trash homeThere:  Snack Bar           Bathrooms           Ample Parking

Sources : Middletown-Nj.Patch.Com

EVENTS: 4th of July events

Here’s a list of 4th of July celebrations going on from Tri-Cities to Hermiston to Prosser

Kennewick: River of Fire Festival takes place at Columbia Park starting at noon.

There will be all sorts of free kids events and other entertainment happening in the park throughout the day.

The fireworks show starts at dusk and will be set off from a barge in the middle of the Columbia River.

Entry into the park is $7 a carload.

There will be vendors on site and no alcohol or personal fireworks will be allowed in the park.

Pasco:

The Grand Old 4th Celebration begins with a Kiwanis pancake breakfast from 7 a.m., to noon at Memorial Park.

The breakfast is by donation.

There will be a 5k/1m Camp Patriot 4th of July Fun Run starting at 8 a.m., from the Pasco Softball Complex on Homerun Road.

Participation fee is $25 for adults and $15 for kids, which includes a T-shirt.

All proceeds go to Camp Patriot, which is a non-profit organization that supports veterans.

Starting at 9:30 a.m., will be a kids street dance at Memorial Park, corner of 14th Avenue and Clark Street.

The street dance is just for the little kids and their kind of music.

The grand parade starts at 10 a.m., at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Sylvester Street and ends at Memorial Park.

The fireworks show starts at 10 p.m., at Gesa Stadium next to TRAC in Pasco.

There is no admission fee.

Prosser:

Prosser’s festivities include a kiddie parade, barbecue, stage show, car show, obstacle course and fireworks show at dusk.

Most events happen at City Park starting at noon.

The kiddie parade starts at 1 p.m., in front of the courthouse and ends at the park.

Little Miss Prosser and Little Junior Miss Prosser contestants will strut their stuff on the stage at the park starting at 2 p.m.

The fireworks will be shot from Art Fiker Stadium on Paterson Road. Admission is free to all events.

Boardman:

Boardman’s Thunder 4th of July Celebration starts at 10 a.m., at Marina Park on the Columbia River.

There will be a breakfast, parade, kids games, food and novelty vendors, sporting events, street dance, talent show and fireworks.

The 5k and 10k runs/walks start at 8 a.m., at the park.

The parade starts at 11 a.m., on Main Street.

Kids games start at 1 p.m., and the talent show starts at 3:30 p.m., both at Marina Park.

The fireworks show begins at dusk at the park.

All events are free, except for the runs/walks, which have a $5 registration fee.

Hermiston:

Hermiston’s Independence Day celebration starts at 3 p.m., at Butte Park, on Northwest Seventh Street in Hermiston.

Admission is free.

Festivities include live music, appearances by Big Top the Clown, The Balloon Dude, Adam The Great Magician, and ventriloquist Keith Ramsey, as well as kids games, face painting, food and novelty vendors.

This is the first year Hermiston will add a fireworks show to its celebration.

They will be shot from the top of Hermiston Butte above the park at dusk.

There also will be a pool party at the Family Aquatic Center, 879 W. Elm St.

The aquatic center also is a prime viewing area for the fireworks show.

Swim fees are $6 for ages 16 and younger and $8 for ages 17 and older.

Stanfield:

A fireman’s breakfast, run fun, parade, kids games, fireman’s water fight, pie baking contests, music and more is planned for Stanfield’s Independence Day celebration.

The breakfast starts at 7 a.m. at the town’s community center.

Fun run registration starts at 7:30 a.m. at Bard Park and the run starts at 8:30 a.m.

The parade starts at 10 a.m., followed by various events at Bard Park throughout the afternoon, including a hot dog eating contest, dance exhibitions and Tae Kwon Do demonstrations. Fireworks show starts at dusk.

Admission is free.

Walla Walla:

The annual 4th of July in the Park celebration is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Pioneer Park.

Festivities happening throughout the day include arts and crafts, culinary delights, activities for kids music entertainment.

The fireworks show starts at dusk. Admission to all events is free.

Sources : Tri-CityHerald.com

Heel turn No. 2: Max Talbot to Flyers for 5 years, $9 million

This was Max Talbot after his fight with Daniel Carcillo during Game 6 of the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinal. His shushing of the Philadelphia crowd and Penguins comeback soon after that moment made him an even bigger "superstar" in Pittsburgh than he already was.

Those memories have quickly been erased at the news that Talbot inked a five-year, $9 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers just hours after former Penguins legend Jaromir Jagr joined their hated cross-state rivals.

Talbot had rejected a three-year offer from Penguins GM Ray Shero earlier this week, which effectively ended his tenure in Pittsburgh. After rumors of his negotiating rights being on the market, the Flyers swooped in for a guy who brings versatility as someone who can play the wing or at center and can be a vital member of the penalty kill.

"It wasn't so much about money but finding the right fit for me," said Talbot during an interview on TSN where, like Jagr, he also said his heart was in Pittsburgh.

Talbot was a great presence in the Pittsburgh locker room becoming tight friends with Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby , and will forever be known as the hero in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final for scoring both Penguins goals against the Detroit Red Wings

."I never thought I would play for another team in my life [over] the last couple of years," said Talbot.

He wanted the term, but five years was much too long for Shero's liking and both sides needed to move on with Talbot having to come to terms that his Penguins career was over.

Sources : Sports.Yahoo.Com

Time is running out to claim $250G prize

SOMERVILLE — The odds are stacked against you — 1 in 3.9 million, to be exact — of predicting the five winning numbers (minus the Mega Ball) in the Mega Millions lottery. Someone beat those odds, but has yet the claim the ticket.

On July 27, 2010, a Mega Millions ticket worth $250,000 was purchased at McAleavy’s Newsstand at 10 E. Main St. in Somerville.

The ticket has been unclaimed and, by New Jersey law, the holder of the ticket has until July 27 to claim the prize.

“The holder of this winning ticket should immediately sign the back of the ticket and call lottery headquarters or visit a local Lottery retailer to file their claim before the ticket expires,” New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said in a statement.

There were 15 winning tickets worth the $250,000 prize, including three from New Jersey. The other two in-state winners were Silvia Gailliard of Westampton and Pamela Kopp of Hasbrouck Heights. The tickets matched all the numbers but the Mega Ball.

The winning Mega Millions game numbers drawn on July 27, 2010, were: 2, 7, 10, 16 and 29 and the gold Mega Ball number was 8.

An annual average of $38.2 million has gone unclaimed over the past five years. It reached a peak in 2010 with $42.2 million unclaimed.

By law: “Unclaimed prize money for the prize on a winning ticket or share shall be retained by the director for the person entitled thereto for one year after the drawing in which the prize was won. If no claim is made for said money within such year, the prize money shall be allocated to State institutions and State aid for education in the same manner as lottery revenues are allocated for such purposes under this act.”

McAleavy’s Newsstand has been in business since 1989 and participating in the New Jersey Lottery since the state added Mega Millions in 1999.

“We sell to a lot of neighbors around the area and to businesses that start office pools,” said Jesal Amin, the store’s owner. “When the jackpot goes up, we usually sell to a lot more people.”

The holder of the ticket should contact lottery headquarters at 609-599-5875. A claim form can be printed from the website www.state.nj.us/lottery and mailed to P.O. Box 041, Trenton, NJ 08625-0041, Attn: Claims/Validations.

Sources : MyCentralJersey.Com

No tickets sold with all 6 Mega Millions lottery numbers

LOS ANGELES - There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in Tuesday night's drawing of the multi-state Mega Millions lottery and the estimated jackpot for Friday's drawing will grow to $105 million.

Four tickets -- one each sold in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Michigan -- had five numbers, but didn't have the Mega number.

The one sold in California is worth $701,316 while the other three are each worth $250,000, California Lottery officials announced. California law requires most major payoffs of lottery games to be paid on a pari-mutuel basis.

The numbers drawn Tuesday night were 12, 17, 27, 47, 48 and the Mega number was 33. The estimated jackpot was $88 million.

The drawing was the ninth since the last time a ticket with all six numbers was sold.

The odds of matching all five numbers and the Mega number is 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website.

The Mega Millions game is played in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Sources : ContraCostaTimes.Com

Glenn Beck will keynote tea party convention in Schaumburg

Glenn Beck may go off Fox airwaves on Thursday, but in October he'll join fellow conservative pundits for the second-straight year in the Northwest suburbs.

The inaugural Midwest Tea Party Convention comes to Schaumburg for two days, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. Organizers are billing the event as TeaCon 2011. Andrew Breitbart and Steve Crowder will join Beck. Conservative talk radio station WIND 560-AM is organizing the event.

Beck and Breitbart appeared last year at the RightNation 2010 event held at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates. The United Republican Fund hosts that event, and organizers are prepping for the 2011 edition just a month after the tea party convention.

The lineup for RightNation 2011, to held Nov. 3-5, again at the Sears Centre, could be released on Thursday. That event markets itself as catering to all GOP members and Libertarians, not just the tea party.

Beck's last day as host of his Fox News Channel television show is Thursday. TeaCon organizers stressed their event will give Beck's fans a chance to see and hear him, despite his show being off the air. His Oct. 1 speech should focus on the 2012 presidential election, TeaCon organizers said.

The 42-year-old Breitbart is a frequent television commenter and lightning rod for controversy. He's spoken at other tea party events across the country. Recently, on his website Breitbart posted a photo purported to be from former Democratic New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. Weiner resigned from office earlier this month after he admitted to sending risque photos, like the one Breitbart posted, to women using his cellphone.

Dana Loesch and Guy Benson round out the convention's lineup. There will also be a presidential straw poll and a town-hall meeting. Tickets range from $99 to $225, depending on which events people sign up for. Information is at 560wind.com.

Sources : DailyHerald.Com

Colbert gets a Super PAC; So what are they?

CBS News -  

Comedy Central's fake newsman Stephen Colbert scored a very real victory in Washington today. He was granted permission by the Federal Election Commission to form his own Super PAC.

You may have never heard of Super PACs but they're no joke. And they're going to play a major role in the next election, as CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.

At the staid FEC, whose hearings normally come and go with little notice, Stephen Colbert became the proud founder today of the nation's 114th "Super PAC."

"There are some who say what will you do with that money," Colbert joked to a crowd of fans. "I say give it to me and we'll find out!"

Colbert has been on this quasi-comedic campaign for several months, quipping on his show that "this election, you, the Colbert nation could have a voice, in the form of my voice, shouted through a megaphone of cash."

Super PACs are the byproduct of the 2010 Supreme Court decision commonly known as "Citizens United," which granted corporations, unions and individuals the right to donate unlimited funds to outside groups to campaign for or against candidates.

Within a year, conservative Super PACs had raised $35 million and liberal Super PACs $28 million to spend on the 2010 midterms.

"This is a toe in the water definitely," said Sheila Krumholz, who runs the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. "Corporations saw very little fallout for their election related activities and unlimited spending in 2010. And I think the gloves will be off in 2012."

Just last Friday, a former top aide to Mitt Romney formed three Super PACs called "Jobs for Florida," "Jobs for Iowa," and "Jobs for South Carolina" -- early voting states, all.

(graphic out)

But he'll have to move quickly if he wants to outraise Colbert, who left the hearing in an SUV joking "Is there any more cash? That's it, thank you! Ball it up and throw it to me!"

Sources: CBNEWS.COM