“Centerplate is prepared with senior managers and additional staff to ensure fans enjoy today’s baseball game and can get hotdogs, garlic fries, beer, soft drinks and other foods as they normally would,” said Centerplate spokesman Sam Singer.

Centerplate believes “this labor action by Local 2 is unnecessary, unfortunate and illegal.  The timing of the strike, coming as it does on Memorial Day Weekend, continues a disturbing pattern of disrespect for the military, veterans and servicemen and servicewomen by the UNITE HERE leaders.  Remember this is the same union whose President previously made derogatory remarks against veterans and veteran’s organizations during negotiations,” Singer said.

“Centerplate values our employees. That is why they are already the highest paid staff in the concession business, earning between $15 and $20 an hour, receiving full healthcare and other benefits for their part time work,” he added.

Centerplate has bargained in good faith and offered union members:

• A 4.5 percent ratification bonus for those who worked more than 40 games in 2012
• A 1.7 percent annual wage increase on top of the best compensation package in the industry
• Increased contribution of 9.2 percent to the Unite Here benefit plans
• Employer paid health care for employees and their families

Centerplate this week filed a lawsuit against Local 2 Unite Here for attempting to illegally mandate the signing of a “successor addendum” that would bind any future concessionaire at AT&T Park to the same terms Local 2 negotiates with Centerplate. This action is illegal under the federal labor laws, Centerplate officials said.

The lawsuit says Local 2 President Michael Casey seeks to end Centerplate’s relationship with nonprofit organizations, forcing out such groups as St. Teresa Music and Arts, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Athletes Committed to Academics, Berkeley Youth Alternatives, the United States Navy, and other nonprofits, from working at the stadium to raise money for their charitable works.

“Local 2’s President scoffed at the value of the (nonprofit) program, stating that the U.S. Navy did not need to work a stand at the ballpark to pay for prosthetic limbs for wounded Veterans,” the lawsuit states. “Casey also quipped about the Marines, “‘Why don’t you have them man a boat and they can sell hot dogs on the water,’” according the Centerplate lawsuit against Local 2.

The nonprofits make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year through partnering with Centerplate at baseball games by staffing concession stands and earning commissions based upon sales for their charitable work. Local 2 is now demanding Centerplate pay a penalty of $200 for each volunteer used for charitable work, which would eliminate Centerplate’s ability to partner with nonprofits.

“Local 2 has overstepped the bounds of the law and of humanity,” said spokesman Singer. This past week, Local 2 union leaders walked out on contract negotiations with Centerplate and a Federal Mediator, refusing to accept or to even make an economic counter proposal and thereby denying, for the time being, Centerplate’s employees at AT&T Park the economic benefits that would flow from a new contract.

Centerplate, which manages concessions at 300 ballparks and arenas, said its current contract as well as its new offer keeps AT&T Park employees the highest paid in the concession business.

Local 2 Unite Here publically acknowledged that Centerplate’s employees are already the highest paid workers in the concession industry. In a YouTube video posted on May 12, the union spokesperson is quoted saying, “so what if they’re (the employees) the best paid…that doesn’t mean anything.”

Centerplate said it wanted to make clear that this strike is a dispute between Local 2 Unite Here and Centerplate and not the San Francisco Giants.

“The City of San Bruno finds the PG&E filing with the California Public Utility Commission today deeply disappointing and of great concern.  PG&E continues to downplay its systematic failures and its personal and corporate responsibility for the Sept. 9, 2010 San Bruno explosion and fire.

“Eight people died in our community, scores more were injured and a giant hole was created by PG&E in the heart of our community.  Yet, as we near the third anniversary of this great tragedy, PG&E continues to fail to acknowledge its responsibly for this catastrophe.  The explosion and fire would have never occurred if the company hadn’t diverted monies meant for pipeline safety and had performed safety work that was legally, scientifically, contractually and morally required of them by the California Public Utility Commission, which also bears responsibility for this tragedy for its failure to regulate the utility company.

“We have only made a quick review of the voluminous PG&E filing today and expect to make further comments and filings of our own as part of the penalty phase by the CPUC against PG&E.  We will not let PG&E off the hook for the damage they have done to our community, to their reputation and the deep concern they have created throughout California about pipeline safety,” said Mayor Jim Ruane, City of San Bruno.

Ready!  Serious “competitive” runners at the starting line for the Race for the Cure  in Rome, Italy.

Over 60,000 people raced, ran, jogged, power walked, strolled, sauntered or walked around some of Rome’s more famous ancient sites on Sunday, May 19 as part of the Susan G. Komen Italia Race for the Cure. One of a series of races that take place around Italy to raise money for breast cancer research, the race started near the[F1]  Circo Massimo and passed places like the Coliseum, the Imperial Forum and the Tomb of the Italian Unknown and the Mouth of Truth before ending 5KM ( 3 1/8 miles) later at the western end of the Circo Massimo.

Set! Runners get set as the crowd counts down the last ten seconds before the start.

The fastest time for the 5 km course was fifteen minutes and 17 seconds, which was run by Devis Licciardi. Coming in only 7 seconds later was Francesco Marchetti. He is actually the runner closest to me in the photos illustrating this article. He is the one in red shorts. For most of the crowd there was an almost infectious enthusiasm and joy particularly among those wearing the rose colored t-shirts reserved for survivors of breast cancer.

Go! Runners at the start of the Race for the Cure in Rome, Italy

Acclaimed vocalist and songwriter Rufus Wainwright returns to Davies Symphony Hall Sunday, June 9 at 8 pm, accompanying himself on piano and guitar. Affectionately referred to by Elton John as “the greatest songwriter on the planet” and praised by The New York Times for his “genuine originality,” Grammy nominee Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. The son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle and brother of Martha Wainwright, Wainwright has achieved his success by carving out his own singular sound in the worlds of rock, opera, theater, dance and film.

A frequent performer in Bay Area venues including Davies Symphony Hall throughout his career, Wainwright performed with the SF Symphony in 2010 under conductor Michael Francis, premiering Five Shakespeare Sonnets, his own large scale orchestrations of five of the eleven songs he composed for a theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets with director Robert Wilson. Following several significant and dramatic events in his life—the birth of his daughter, Viva, the death of his mother, and his engagement to partner Jorn Weisbrodt—his seventh studio album, Out of the Game, was released in 2012 with the input of a new collaborator, celebrated producer Mark Ronson. The results are the loosest, most accessible music of Wainwright’s career, retaining his distinctive narrative sense and wry wit while adding classic pop pleasures.

“What I wanted was a warmth and a depth in terms of quality of sound, and a certain clarity that’s still easy on the ears,” Wainwright says. “I’ve done that whole ponderous, pseudo-genius thing, so it was fun to get in there and work really fast and do something that was more about the songs.”

Wainwright’s catalog includes eight albums and two DVDs, and he has appeared on numerous soundtracks and compilations, as well as collaborating with artists like Elton John, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash and Keane. His album All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu was released in 2010 with People Magazine noting, “[Wainwright] brings the album to a beautifully intimate level with just voice, piano and some deeply personal lyrics. Bravo.” Billboard Magazine said Wainwright’s “solo piano accompaniment highlights his extremely adaptable voice…a single piano is all that’s needed to show off his immense vocal talent.” Two live recordings (Milwaukee At Last!!! and Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall) were nominated for Grammy awards and released concurrently with a live DVD, Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!  The disc captured his celebrated Judy Garland tribute performance at the London Palladium in 2007. His album Release the Stars went gold in Canada and the U.K. A career-spanning box set, House of Rufus, was released in 2011. Wainwright received Juno Awards for Best Alternative Album in 1999 and 2002 for Rufus Wainwright and Poses, respectively, and nominations for his albums Want Two (2005) and Release the Stars (2008). He was nominated for the Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2008 for Release the Stars.

Wainwright’s first opera, Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2009, made its London debut at Sadler’s Wells, and its North American debut in Toronto at the Luminato Festival in 2010. Excerpts have been performed with the Oregon Symphony for The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival and at the Royal Opera House in London. The work received a 2011 Dora Award for Outstanding New Musical/Opera and made its U.S. debut in 2012 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House.

In addition to Wainwright’s musical pursuits, he has also made his mark onscreen. He has acted in Academy Award-winning director Deny Arcand’s film, L’Age des Tenebres (2007), the Merchan-Ivory film Heights (2005), and the major blockbuster The Aviator (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese.

Ukranian conductor Kirill Karabits leads the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and soloists Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik and Principal Viola Jonathan Vinocour in performances of Benjamin Britten’s Double Concerto June 6-9 at Davies Symphony Hall. The Orchestra also performs Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D major and Arthur Honegger’s Pacific 231.

Barantschik was the violinist for the SFS premiere of Britten’s Double Concerto in 2004 with then-Principal Viola Geraldine Walther and conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier. Concertmaster of the SFS since 2001, he is a frequently featured soloist. He led the Orchestra and was featured along with Catherine Payne and Jonathan Fischer in performances of Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart in January. He is the former concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and an active soloist and chamber musician in the United States and throughout Europe.

Kirill Karabits first performed with the SFS in 2011. He is in his fourth season as Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and this season they tour Germany with percussionist Martin Grubinger. He and the Bournemouth have numerous recordings, including Schchedrin and Khachaturian albums, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In 2012, Karabits conducted the finale of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award at The Sage Gateshead, broadcast nationwide on BBC Television. This season he conducts the Münich Radio Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival and makes his Canadian debut with Ottawa’s NAC Orchestra. Next season, Karabits conducts Der fliegende Holländer at the Wagner Geneva Festival and returns to Den Norske Opera.

Jonathan Vinocour has been Principal Viola of the San Francisco Symphony since 2009, and has been a featured soloist numerous times, most prominently in a 2011 SFS premiere of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel with MTT and the Orchestra. He previously served as Principal Viola of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and guest Principal Viola of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. While principal of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, he performed as soloist with conductors Nicholas McGegan and Hans Graf. Vinocour is also an active solo and chamber performer. He received first prize in the Holland America Music Society Competition, has been a regular participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and has toured extensively with Musicians from Marlboro. Other festival credits include the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center where he was awarded the Henri Kohn Memorial Prize.

Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 saw its SFS premiere in 1939 at War Memorial Opera House under Music Director Pierre Monteux, and was last played by the Orchestra in 2011 under Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt. Vladimir Shavitch conducted the SFS premiere of Honegger’s Pacific 231 in 1927 at the Exposition Auditorium (now the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium). Performed several times on education concert programs, this is the first time the Orchestra will perform Pacific 231 in a regular season concert.

 Local 2 UNITE HERE President Mike Casey: No Need for Military Veterans to Have Prosthetic Limbs

San Francisco– Centerplate, the concessionaire at AT&T Park today filed a dynamic lawsuit against Local 2 Unite Here union for violations of national labor laws and for attempting to block charity groups and nonprofits from raising money at the ballpark.

Centerplate said Local 2 is attempting to illegally force the San Francisco Giants into signing a “successor addendum” that would bind the baseball team, and any future concessionaire at AT&T Park, to the same terms Local 2 negotiates with Centerplate. This action is illegal under the federal labor laws, Centerplate officials said.

Normally, the legal charges as Centerplate made today are filed with the National Labor Relations Board, but Centerplate said immediate action is necessary by the legal system to protect the Giants, Centerplate and nonprofits from Local 2’s illegal activities, which could harm all the parties. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and seeks damages and declaratory relief.

Furthermore, the lawsuit says Local 2 President Michael Casey seeks to end Centerplate’s relationship with nonprofit organizations, forcing out such groups as St. Teresa Music and Arts, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Athletes Committed to Academics, Berkeley Youth Alternatives, the United States Navy, and others nonprofits, from working at the stadium to raise money for their charitable works.

“Local 2’s President scoffed at the value of the (nonprofit) program at one point stating that the U.S. Navy did not need to work a stand at the ballpark to pay for prosthetic limbs for wounded Veterans,” the lawsuit states. “Casey also quipped about the Marines, “Why don’t you have them man a boat and they can sell hot dogs on the water,” according the lawsuit against Local 2.

The nonprofits make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year through partnering with Centerplate at Giants games by staffing concession stands and earning commissions based upon sales for their charitable work. Local 2 is now demanding Centerplate pay a penalty of $200 for each volunteer used for charitable work, which would eliminate Centerplate’s ability to partner with nonprofits.

“Local 2 has overstepped the bounds of the law and of humanity,” said a spokesman for Centerplate.  “They are illegally attempting to force the Giants into a labor dispute between Centerplate and the union and wrongly trying to harm the many nonprofits that rely upon income from their charitable work at AT&T Park. We are going to fight to win this battle for Centerplate, our employees, our customers and the charitable causes which we support.”

This past week, Local 2 union leaders walked out on contract negotiations with Centerplate and a Federal Mediator, refusing to accept or to even make an economic counter proposal and thereby denying, for the time being, Centerplate’s employees at AT&T Park the economic benefits that would flow from a new contract.

Local 2 Unite Here publically acknowledged that Centerplate’s employees are already the highest paid workers in the concession industry. In a YouTube video posted on May 12, the union spokesperson is quoted saying “so what if they’re (the employees) the best paid…that doesn’t mean anything.”

As a seasonal, part-time labor force, Centerplate’s employees currently earn the highest wages in the nation, making an average of approximately $15 to $20 per hour. These part time employees also receive some of the best benefits, with fully paid healthcare individually and for their families. To ensure seamless exceptional service for fans, Centerplate has made an offer than includes:

• A 4.5 percent ratification bonus for those who worked more than 40 games in 2012
• A 1.7 percent annual wage increase on top of the best compensation package in the industry
• Increased contribution of 9.2 percent to the Unite Here benefit plans
• Employer paid health care for employees and their families

Since early this year, Centerplate has been in negotiations over a new contract. The previous one expired in 2010 but was continued from year to year when Unite Here failed to request new negotiations. Even after it sought to make changes to the existing agreement, Local 2 dragged its feet and delayed negotiations for months. Throughout this time, Centerplate has been encouraging Local 2 to move quickly to find a solution.

“Nothing is more important to Centerplate than our employee partners and the customer service experience we provide guests. Local 2’s threats are an attack against our guests and the community groups we partner with at AT&T Park. It is time for Local 2 to come back to the table and focus on a realistic agreement,” spokesman Sam Singer said.

Centerplate said in the unfortunate event of a strike by Local 2 that “protecting the guest experience at AT&T Park is paramount and it will not be disrupted as the company has contingency plans in place in the event of a labor action.”

Adesola Osakalumi Stars as “Fela Kuti”

June 4 – 9, 2013, Paramount Theatre

Following overwhelming success and critical acclaim from coast to coast, the smash Broadway hit and 3-Time Tony Award-Winning musical, Fela! returns to the Bay Area. The recent engagement in San Francisco at The Curran Theatre was celebrated by critics. Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed Fela! the “embodiment of exhilaration” while Karen D’Souza of The Mercury News/Bay Area News Group raved “Fela! sets the mind and the pulse racing” and “prepare to surrender to the beat.” So, due to intense popular demand, producers Jay-Z, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Stephen & Ruth Hendel have announced the musical’s return to the Bay Area on June 4-9, 2013 for an Exclusive Engagement at The Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612.

The national touring production of the hit Award winning Broadway musical features Adesola Osakalumi in the starring role of “Fela Kuti” and International R&B superstar Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child fame will star in the role of “Sandra Isadore,” activist and love interest of Fela Kuti when it returns to the Bay Area.

Other principals featured are Duain Richmond, who also stars as “Fela Kuti” in select performances, Melanie Marshall as “Funmilayo,” Fela Kuti’s mother, Ismael Kouyate as “Ismael” and Gelan Lambert as “J.K. Braimah/Tap Dancer/Egungun”. Also included in the cast are Oneika Phillips, Shakira Marshall, Jill Marie Vallery, Daniel Soto, Kafi Pierre, Ade Chike Torbert, Justin Prescott, Jason Herbert, Maliayka Reid, Talu Green, Shawn Alynda Fisher, Lauren De Veaux, India McGee, Tricia Taitt and Uyoata Udi.

A multi-award winning international singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress, Michelle Williams is best known as a member of the record-breaking R&B and Pop sensation, Destiny’s Child, one of the world’s best-selling female groups of all time. Born and raised in the small Chicago suburb of Rockford, Illinois, Michelle always dreamed of a life on stage.

In between recordings and concert tours, Michelle conquered yet another challenging mountain as an actress. First, she took the reins of Broadway’s Aida in 2003 to critical acclaim and audience raves. Then, in 2006, she took to the television screen for a hotly touted, ground-breaking multi-episode run in the popular UPN sitcom “Half & Half,” where she played the role of Naomi, a record company executive that was HIV-positive. In 2007, Michelle took on her greatest acting challenge when she joined the cast of the Broadway smash, The Color Purple for its national tour. She dazzled in the role of Shug Avery. In 2009, Michelle joined the London West End production of Chicago where she made history as being the first African American woman to play the lead role ofRoxie Hart. She reprised her role in February 2010 on Broadway for a limited engagement. In 2011, Michelle starred in the acclaimed touring stage play What My Husband Doesn’t Know which is now showing on BET.

Michelle is currently in the recording studio working on new material for her pop inspirational album due in 2013. She is also spokesperson for TERI (Training Education & Research Institute) a non-profit dedicated to improving the quality of life for children and adults with developmental and learning disabilities and works with the American Heart Association as an ambassador for the American Stroke Association. Most recently she became a spokesperson for NVEEE (National Voices for Equality, Education and Enlightenment), an organization focused on preventing bullying, violence and suicide among young people.

A triumphant and inspirational tale of courage, passion and love, Fela! Is the true story of Kuti, who created a type of music, Afrobeat, and mixed these pounding eclectic rhythms (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies) with rousing lyrics that openly attacked the corrupt and oppressive military dictatorships that ruled Nigeria and much of Africa. Featuring many of Fela Kuti’s most captivating songs and Bill T. Jones’s visionary staging, the global phenomenon that is Fela! reveals Kuti’s controversial life as an artist and political activist, while at the same time celebrating his pioneering music and commitment to the cause of universal human dignity.

Fela! is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones, with a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones. It was conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen Hendel. Fela! received three 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Choreography.

Fela! had its world premiere Off-Broadway in the summer of 2008, and opened on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neil Theater to rapturous reviews a year later where it played 34 previews and 463 regular performances. Numerous celebrities and dignitaries caught the groundbreaking musical, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman, among others. Prior to its closing on Broadway, London’s Royal National Theatre presented the production as part of its season in the fall of 2010, marking the first time ever that the National Theatre had presented a show that was simultaneously running on Broadway. There, too, the show received rave reviews and numerous awards and accolades. The show went on to tour internationally, selling out theaters in Nigeria, Amsterdam, a return stint in London then a successful tour across the United States, culminating in an acclaimed encore four-week engagement on Broadway during the summer of 2012.

Tickets range from $37.50 – $77.50, plus applicable taxes and fees. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, by calling 800-745-3000 and at The Paramount Theatre Box Office (Tues – Fri 11 AM – 5:30 PM and Sat 11 AM – 3 PM). Summer Hours (after May 20) -Wednesday 11 AM-5:30 PM and Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11 AM-3 PM. Call (510) 465-6400 for the Ticket Office and call (510) 893-2300 for Administration.

Dr. Ignazio Marino was elected to the Italian Senate in 2006

Among the candidates running for mayor of Rome on May 26 and 27 is one with an interesting career previous to his political involvement. Ignazio Marino is a medical doctor who specialized in organ transplants. Although he has done over 650 in his career, the transplants for which he is most well known for involve HIV positive individuals. According to his wikipedia entry, confirmed by a brief exchange I had with him during the Race for the Cure Italia on May 19, he was involved in the first baboon to human liver transplants in 1992 and 1993. The first transplant recipient was a 35 year old HIV positive person who was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver as a result of Hepatitis B. Baboons were chosen as donors because they don’t respond to the hepatitis virus. The patient lived for 70 days on a regular hospital ward with nearly normal liver functions before he died.

In 2001 an HIV positive person came to him with a request for a kidney transplant after having been turned down by other transplant centers in Italy. He agreed to consider the request and eventually it was approved. That person is still alive and doing well. Dr. Marino said to me with obvious and justified pride, “He was a boy when he came to me and now he is a young man.”

Dr. Marino received much condemnation for his actions and was ordered not to perform any more transplants by Italy’s National Transplant Centre. Eventually the issue was reviewed and studied for three years before approval for more transplants for HIV positive individuals was given. They are now performed routinely in Italy.

When I told that I admired his courage in doing what was right he just smiled and said, “You have to do what is in your heart.”

I didn’t realize at that moment exactly how key that was to Dr. Marino’s political life as well. When I got home and did another Google search to make sure I was spelling his name correctly, I discovered that, as a candidate for Mayor of Rome, he is proposing civil unions for same sex couples. In a state like California where marriage equality was once a reality and we await the decision on Prop 8 from the United States Supreme Court, civil unions might not seem like such a big deal, but it is. In a country where then Prime Minister Berlusconi says in response to a scandal involving payment to an underage girl for sex says, “Well at least it proves I’m not gay.” It would be a very big deal to have any type of legal recognition for same sex couples, especially in the city of Rome, where there is a strong Vatican influence.

Dr. Marino is running as the nominee of the Partito Democratico, which is the center-left party. I haven’t seen any polls on the race so I don’t know how to assess his chances. If there is no one with over 50% in the first round of voting that takes place May 26 and 27, then a second run-off will take place two weeks later, June 7 and 8th between the two candidates who got the highest vote.

The union unilaterally left negotiations with Centerplate and a federal mediator last Thursday, refusing to make a counter offer to Centerplate’s economic package, which improves upon the industry leading compensation already received by Centerplate’s employees.

Local 2 Unite Here has acknowledged AT&T Park employees are already the highest paid workers in the concession industry. In a YouTube video posted on May 12, the union spokesperson is quoted saying “so what if they’re (the employees) the best paid…that doesn’t mean anything.”

For AT&T Park’s seasonal, part-time labor force, Centerplate’s employees currently earn the highest wages in the nation, making an average of approximately $15 to $20 per hour. These part time employees also receive some of the best benefits, with fully paid healthcare individually and for their families. To ensure seamless exceptional service for fans, Centerplate has made an offer than includes:

• A 4.5 percent ratification bonus for those who worked more than 40 games in 2012

• A 1.7 percent annual wage increase on top of the best compensation package in the industry
• Increased contribution of 9.2 percent to the Unite Here benefit plans
• Employer paid health care for employees and their families

Since early this year, Centerplate has been in negotiations over a new contract. The previous one expired in 2010 but was continued from year to year when Unite Here failed to request new negotiations. Even after it sought to make changes to the existing agreement, Local 2 dragged its feet and delayed negotiations for months. Throughout this time, Centerplate has been encouraging Local 2 to move quickly to find a solution.

“Nothing is more important to Centerplate than our employee partners and the customer service experience we provide guests. It is time for Local 2 to come back to the table and focus on a realistic agreement,” spokesman Sam Singer said.

Centerplate said in the unfortunate event of a strike by Local 2 that “protecting the guest experience at AT&T is paramount and it will not be disrupted as the company has contingency plans in place in the event of a labor action.”

A collaboration with sound effects artist Sudhu Tewari and musician/composer Ben Juodvalkis, Hush combines personal stories, dance, visuals, and innovative ambient sound techniques drawn from Foley filmmaking to explore the various ways in which we are “hushed” by society. Tonight Goode and Tewari will examine the interplay between live and recorded sound effects, external commentary, and song/movement.  This evening offers an inside look into the creation of Hush and a chance to hear directly from Goode, his collaborators and his dancers about how this new work is unfolding.

Hush is co-produced by Z Space and will premiere at Z Space September 26-October 6, 2013.

Thursday-Saturday, May 30-June 1, 2013, 8pm

Jessye Norman Performs The American Songbook July 31

SF Symphony And Warren Haynes Commemorate Jerry Garcia’s Birthday 
With Two Special Symphonic Celebration Concerts Aug. 1-2

Johnny Mathis, Rufus Wainwright, Bernadette Peters, 
Michael Feinstein, The Matrix Film, Disney In Concert With Video, 
Two Concerts Of Video Games Live!, Battleship Potemkin Film, And Classical Concerts Are Highlights Of Summer and The Symphony With San Francisco Symphony

Orchestra performs free concerts at Stern Grove Festival and in Dolores Park and presents annual Fourth of July concert with fireworks at Shoreline Amphitheatre; Orchestra to perform at America’s Cup Pavilion in SF and at Green Music Center, Sonoma State University

The San Francisco Symphony’s annual Summer & the Symphony concerts, announced today, include iconic soprano Jessye Norman singing standards from the American songbook July 31 and two concerts in celebration of Jerry Garcia’s birthday with vocalist and guitarist Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule) and the Orchestra performing Garcia’s music August 1 and 2. The Orchestra also presents and performs in a variety of film and video game music programs. On July 28, the Symphony performs a concert of music from classic Disney films, including Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, with video and original storyboard art. The classic sci-fi film The Matrix is screened while the Orchestra plays live accompaniment July 27, and the SFS plays music from popular video games Halo, Final Fantasy, and others in this new incarnation of Video Games Live™, created especially for the San Francisco Symphony, in two concerts July 25 and 26. The classic Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin will be screened, with Cameron Carpenter playing the Ruffatti organ, on July 28.

The Orchestra’s summer season includes three classical concerts conducted by SFS Youth Orchestra alumnus and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Assistant Conductor Teddy Abrams, with music by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and American composers, and two free outdoor classical concerts. Soloists at Davies Symphony Hall include pianists Valentina Lisitsa and Benjamin Grosvenor. The Orchestra also performs an all-Tchaikovsky concert led by Abrams with violinist Nicola Benedetti at the new America’s Cup Pavilion on the San Francisco waterfront July 20. At the Stern Grove Festival, conductor Edwin Outwater leads soprano Measha Brueggergosman and the Orchestra in Ravel and Gershwin in a free concert July 7. The Orchestra also plays its annual free concert in Dolores Park July 21. Outwater leads a performance of Orff’s Carmina burana at Davies Symphony Hall July 30. On the Fourth of July, the Orchestra performs its annual Shoreline Amphitheatre Independence Day concert followed by a fireworks extravaganza. On August 4, in its final concert of the summer, the Orchestra performs a late afternoon concert of film music led by Sarah Hicks in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University.

On August 1 and 2, the Orchestra celebrates the birthday of native son Jerry Garcia with a new symphonic project highlighting the American musical icon’s legacy. This ground-breaking orchestral adventure features Garcia’s storied original compositions as well as classic interpretations of timeless standards that were hallmarks of Garcia’s shows. Renowned vocalist/guitarist Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule) collaborates with the Symphony, lending his soul-soaked, introspective blend of rock, blues, R&B and jazz to Garcia’s masterworks. Sarah Hicks conducts.

Jessye Norman performs a rare recital of American Masters July 31, including compositions by Ellington, Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. Johnny Mathis returns to Davies Symphony Hall July 5 and 6 to perform two concerts with the SFS of his classic hits and fan favorites, with John Scott Lavender and Edwin Outwater leading the Orchestra. Vocalist and pianist Michael Feinstein performs his The Gershwins and Me show with his big band on July 12, Broadway star vocalist Bernadette Peters performs July 23, and Rufus Wainwright performs solo June 9, accompanying himself on piano and guitar.

Tickets are on sale now for Summer & the Symphony concerts through www.sfsymphony.org/summer, SFS Patron Services at (415) 864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall box office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Tickets are priced from $15-125, with tickets for concertgoers 17 and under half-price for selected concerts.

Tickets for the San Francisco Symphony Fourth of July Celebration at Shoreline Amphitheatre go on sale through LiveNation.com on May 3 at 10 am. Tickets for the SF Symphony concert at America’s Cup Pavilion go on sale through LiveNation.com on May 17.  Tickets for the SF Symphony concert at Green Music Center August 4 go on sale May 13 at 8 am at gmc.sonoma.edu, or over the phone with the Sonoma State University Box Office at 866-955-6040.

One Night Only!

Marga Gomez (named “Best Comedian 2012” by The SF Bay Guardian, SF Weekly and the Bay Area Reporter) returns to the intimate Marsh Cabaret in Berkeley with “Marga Gomez: Pride Baby” an adults only night of rip roaring, knee slapping, hilarious rants about gay people, straight people and everyone in between. To celebrate Pride Month Marga’s topics will include lesbian cruises versus Carnival Cruises, growing up as a gay baby, hypothetically dating Jodie Foster, rainbow fever and public nudity on Castro Street.

Marga tours nationally as one of the first openly gay comedians in America. She has appeared on LOGO’s “One Night Stand-Up,” HBO’s “Comic Relief,” Showtime’s “Latino Laugh Festival,” Comedy Central’s “Out There” and the PBS series “In the Life.” Marga is the winner of a GLAAD Media Award . For more Information visit  www.margagomez.com

Acclaimed Slovakian conductor Juraj Valčuha makes his conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in Bartók’s Suite from The Wooden Prince, Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor featuring French cellist Gautier Capuçon May 29-31 and June 2 at Davies Symphony Hall. A June 1 concert also features Capuçon playing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, followed by the Orchestra performing Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World. 

Having led major orchestras throughout Europe and the United States in his relatively young career, Juraj Valčuha is Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Torino. During 2012-13, he debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the Filarmonica della Scala Milan, and returns to the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Maggio Musicale Florence, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris. In 2011-12, he conducted a new production of Puccini’s La bohème at Teatro La Fenice Venezia. With his RAI Orchestra he appeared on tour in the “Abu Dhabi Classics” series with Yo-Yo Ma and Evgeni Bozhanov.

Gautier Capuçon made his SFS debut in 2009 with conductor Semyon Bychkov, performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto. Recent highlights include performances with the Munich Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris with Paavo Järvi, London Proms with the Radio France Philharmonic and Myung-Whun Chung, Dresden Philharmonie, a tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, appearances with the Bordeaux, Monte-Carlo, Lyon and Lille orchestras, Camerata Athens with Sir Neville Marriner, a trio tour through Italy with Katia Labèque and Victoria Mullova, and a tour with the New Zealand Symphony. His recording of the Dvořák and Herbert cello concertos, released in 2009 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi, was named a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Additional recordings include the Haydn Cello Concertos, a disc of 20th-century works for cello and violin with his brother Renaud entitled Face à Face, and Schubert’s Trout Piano Quintet, which was hailed as the Disc of the Month by Classic FM. Since 2007 Capuçon has been an Ambassador for the Zegna & Music project, which was founded in 1997 to promote music and its values.

Bartók’s Suite from his lesser known ballet The Wooden Prince saw its SFS premiere in 2005 under conductor David Zinman. Not as widely performed and harmonically diametric from Bartók’s other ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, The Wooden Prince is a stylistic homage to his earlier influences of Debussy, Strauss and Wagner, and uses a large, fortified orchestra including two saxophones. A fellow Hungarian, friend and colleague of Bartók, Zoltán Kodály wrote Dances of Galánta – named after a town where he spent his childhood – for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society in 1933. The SFS did not perform the work until 1953 under conductor Ferenc Fricsay.

Dvořák’s last solo concerto, the Cello Concerto in B minor saw its SFS premiere in 1923 under conductor Louis Persinger with Walter V. Ferner as soloist. Using a recurring theme resembling American folk music, it was suggested that Dvořák was heavily influenced by the music of Native Americans and that he used this inspiration in the Cello Concerto.

President Ford addresses the crowd at Valley Forge on July 4, 1976.

This photo of President Ford at Valley Forge on July 4, 1976 represents both American history and family history. On the 200^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President Gerald Ford came to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to sign legislation turning what had been preserved by the state of Pennsylvania as a state park, into a national park. It had been hoped at the time that the park might be expanded to include the 2,000 acres that lay south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to preserve those acres from suburban sprawl. That didn’t happen because the Park Service determined that the turnpike presented an insurmountable physical barrier to making the two areas into one park.

 My Grandfather’s farm, where I was born was part of that proposed park extension, as it had been part of a much larger farm during the Revolutionary War. It wasn’t until 1836 that my great, great, great Grandfather, David Wilson, and his wife, Eliza, purchased 100 acres of land that would be become Elda (the first two letters of Eliza and David) Farm where five generations of Wilsons lived, played and grew up. My Grandparents sold the farm in 1959.

I can remember at a very early age walking through a freshly plowed fields looking for arrowheads.  My older brothers found several. After several different developers tried to build projects on the land only to have the local authorities reject their plans, the local township acquired the land for a park, which was opened in 2004.  During the building of the park, which involved leveling land for a variety of athletic fields thousands of revolutionary era objects were found.

Geraldine Ferraro addresses a meeting of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club in Washington, DC during the 1984 campaign.

This photo of Geraldine Ferraro addressing the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club in 1984 is also a mix of personal and historical importance. I had come out to my parents in 1983. This was the first campaign that I participated in as an out gay man and it was one of the first national campaigns that welcomed me as an out gay man. There were gay and lesbian delegates seeking conventions seats in both the Walter Mondale and Jesse Jackson campaigns.

This particular event took place in the Council Chambers of the District of Columbia City Hall when Congresswoman Ferraro arrived she had almost no voice and was suffering from a cold. She explained that ordinarily under the circumstances she would have called and asked for the event to be rescheduled. However she said that she knew if she did that there would be lingering doubts about whether she was really sick or just trying to avoid the group. She said she knew how important it was to the group that she be there and she wanted the group to know if was important enough to her for her to show up even though she wasn’t sure her voice would hold out. She gave a few remarks and spent most of the time answering questions from the group.

Recording released in conjunction with Youth Orchestra’s final concert of the season

Sunday, May 19 at 2:00pm

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) will release its new recording Live at the Berlin Philharmonie, Mahler Symphony No. 1, on SFS Media, the San Francisco Symphony’s in-house label, on May 14 from the San Francisco Symphony Store and the iTunes music store worldwide, and on July 9 on disc from other North American music retailers. The performance was captured live in concert on July 3, 2012 while the Youth Orchestra was on their most recent tour of Europe. The SFSYO Live at the Berlin Philharmonie Mahler Symphony No. 1 recording can be purchased from iTunes and on CD from the San Francisco Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online from sfsymphony.org/store. Proceeds from the sale of the album benefit the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra touring program. The SFSYO performs its final concert of the 2012-13 season on Sunday, May 19 at 2:00pm at Davies Symphony Hall.

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO), led by Wattis Foundation Music Director Donato Cabrera, made its ninth international tour in summer 2012 with concerts in Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg. The six-date tour included performances at Regensburg’s Auditorium Maximum, Munich’s Philharmonie am Gasteig, at Wiesbaden’s Rheingau Festival, Luxembourg’s Festival international d’Echternach, in the Berliner Philharmonie and Europa Hall in Salzburg. Tour repertoire included Bay Area composer John Adams’s Shaker Loops, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major and Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture. Pianist Lars Vogt also joined the SFSYO on tour performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor. The SFSYO won a 2011-12 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of American Music on foreign tours.

The SFSYO, composed of highly gifted young people ranging from age 12 to 21, is a hallmark of the San Francisco Symphony’s commitment to Bay Area youth and music education. The SFSYO tours internationally every three to four years. Touring is a vital part of musical development for musicians. Since the average tenure of a Youth Orchestra musician is three to four years, this allows most young musicians to experience the rigors of touring, ensemble building, and the once-in-a-lifetime experience of making music in some of the world’s most venerable concert halls.  A scholarship fund ensures that no student is left behind due to financial reasons.

The SFSYO toured Europe for the first time in 1986, and won the “City of Vienna” prize at the prestigious International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna. The orchestra made its first tour of Asia in 1989 and returned to Europe in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004. Their previous most recent European tour, in 2008, included performances at some of the Europe’s most prestigious music venues including debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Munich Philharmonie am Gasteig and Prague’s Smetana Hall.

Read the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s full bio here.

Donato Cabrera

Donato Cabrera joined the San Francisco Symphony conducting staff in September 2009. As the Resident Conductor he works closely with SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and as Wattis Foundation Music Director leads the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He conducts the San Francisco Symphony throughout the year, including the annual Día de los Muertos Community Concert, as well as the Concerts for Kids, Adventures in Music, and Music for Families concerts, which annually draw more than 60,000 young people and their families from throughout the Bay Area to Davies Symphony Hall. In March 2012, he conducted the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with Paul Jacobs on organ, in the world premiere of Mason Bates’ Mass Transmission, subsequently conducting it with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City in Carnegie Hall for the American Mavericks Festival. In 2002, Cabrera was a Herbert von Karajan conducting fellow at the Salzburg Festival. He has also served as Assistant Conductor at the Ravinia, Spoleto, and Aspen Music Festivals, and as Resident Conductor at the Music Academy of the West. The 2011-2012 season marked his first year as Music Director of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.  Mr. Cabrera has been recognized as a Luminary by the Friends of Mexico Honorary Committee for his contributions to the Bay Area’s Mexican community.

Support for the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s 2012 European Tour provided by Bernard and Barbro Osher,with additional support from Bettye Ferguson, Jennifer MacCready, the Phyllis C. Wattis Youth Orchestra Fund, and many other generous donors.

All SFS Media recordings are available from the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall and online at sfsymphony.org/store as well as other major retailers. The recordings can also be purchased as downloads from iTunes, Amazon and other digital outlets. SFS Media recordings are distributed by harmonia mundi in North America, Avie Records internationally, and by The Orchard to digital outlets.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced the launch of the Emerging Business Loan Fund which will make $12 million in affordable loans available to support small business, boost the local economy and create jobs.

“Not only do small businesses help keep our world famous neighborhood merchant corridors active and vibrant, they also help boost our local economy,” said Mayor Lee. “The Emerging Business Loan Fund will allow entrepreneurs and small businesses to secure the capital they need to innovate, grow their business and succeed.”

The Emerging Business Loan Fund (EBLF) program expands accessible financing to businesses that cannot access capital from traditional sources and institutions. The EBLF focuses on lending to entrepreneurs in communities and growing industries such as manufacturing, the apparel and the accessory sectors; while creating jobs for low income individuals. Qualifying businesses can apply for financing for a variety of investments including upgrades to equipment such as freezers, refrigerators, display cases, coolers and boilers, administrative costs such as permits and licenses and marketing, staffing,  real estate and space expansion or purchase, and to other physical improvements to the establishment.

The City selected the Bay Area Small Business Finance (BASBF), a non-profit community-based lender committed to delivering flexible affordable financing to businesses, to administer the EBLF loan program. It offers low interest financing, 50,000 – $1,000,000, to businesses. The program leverages federal dollars from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Section 108 program to capitalize the $12,000,000 loan fund. This is part of the Mayor’s Invest in Neighborhoods program, an initiative to create cleaner, safer and more economically vibrant neighborhoods in 25 commercial corridors in San Francisco.

“Bay Area Small Business Finance is a 35-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to providing capital to Bay Area small businesses unable to obtain loans from banks,” said Bay Area Small Business Finance CEO Jacob Singer. “Based on recent demand from San Francisco businesses for this loan product, we know there is significant unmet need for flexible financing. Our partnership with the City will enable us to get more loans funded that otherwise would not be financed.”

The EBLF program builds upon the success of the City-sponsored microloan program, the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF).  This program was launched in July of 2009 with the intention of creating jobs and increasing access to capital for businesses. The Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) in partnership with Working Solutions continue to successfully administer and recapitalize the loan fund. Today, more than $1.3 million in loans have been given to 51 San Francisco small businesses and those owned by minority and women, generating more than 140 jobs. The RLF program provides eligible San Francisco small business owners an opportunity to borrow up to $50,000 with a fixed interest rate that ranges from 4-6 percent and a five year term.

“The Revolving Loan Fund made the process of getting a loan much easier by providing me the capital to open my very own café and employ four people,” said North of Panhandle’s Oasis Café Owner Taddesse Haile. “This café has been a dream and because of this support, I was able to secure a second loan to expand and build out a kitchen so that I can continue to provide Ethiopian fare to the community.”

San Francisco is also celebrating the business community with the 9^th annual Small Business Week (May 13-18, 2013), which honors and recognizes the more than 85,000 small businesses and entrepreneurs for their innovation and contribution to the City. This year’s theme for Small Business Week is “Small Business: Shaping our Communities,” and includes a series of educational and networking events designed to inspire, educate and connect the members of the business community.

For more information about Small Business Week, go to: www.sfsmallbusinessweek.com

Interested business owners and entrepreneurs can get more information about the EBLF and RLP through the OEWD Invest In Neighborhoods initiative, go to: http://www.oewd.org/IIN.aspx

On Friday, the tiger awoke. Chevron (CVX) sought a federal judge’s permission to bring counterclaims against the 455-lawyer firm for alleged fraud and deceit for its conduct in representing the Amazon Defense Front, which obtained a $19 billion environmental judgment against the oil giant in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, in February 2011. Chevron also seeks to charge the firm with “malicious prosecution” for having pursued its three lawsuits in bad faith. Chevron seeks to hold the law firm liable for any damages Chevron suffers from the Front’s allegedly fraud-infested litigation, plus punitive and treble damages.

In a statement, Patton Boggs wrote: “Chevron’s proposed complaint against Patton Boggs is perhaps the starkest example yet of how Chevron will use its limitless resources to intimidate and harass anyone that dares to help the Ecuadorian Plaintiffs in their 20-year battle for justice … Patton Boggs has acted conscientiously, ethically and in good faith at all times since becoming involved in this case in 2010, and will not be intimidated by Chevron’s scare tactics.” (See the full document here.)

Patton Boggs began representing the Front in February 2010. The firm is being paid on a partial contingency fee basis, under an agreement that gives it a 2.4% stake in the Ecuadorian judgment, according to earlier filings by Chevron. Thus, the law firm theoretically stands to make about $450 million if the Ecuadorian judgment can ever be collected. (Chevron has virtually no assets in Ecuador.)

Patton Boggs’s team working on the Lago Agrio case has been led by James Tyrrell, Jr., a regional managing partner of the firm’s New York and New Jersey offices and a member of its executive committee.

At the time Patton Boggs got involved in the matter, Chevron’s lawyers had just begun filing a series of U.S. court proceedings, known as Section 1782 actions, to attempt to expose fraud, fabrication of evidence, and other chicanery that Chevron claims the Front engaged in to obtain the Ecuadorian judgment. Patton Boggs’s task was, among other things, to assist the Front in resisting Chevron’s efforts to unearth such evidence.

Notwithstanding the Front’s and Patton Boggs’s efforts, Chevron eventually did obtain much of the evidence it sought, and in February 2011 it filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case in Manhattan against the Front’s leaders, including its top U.S. lawyer and strategist, Steve Donziger. Last July, in a ruling on a partial summary judgment motion in that case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found that the March 2011 Ecuadorian judgment was, in fact, “unquestionably … tainted” by fraud. More recently, in a discovery order in March 2013, he also found that there was “probable cause” to believe that Front representatives “bribed the Ecuadorian judge to obtain the result they wanted and, as part of the deal, wrote the judgment to which the judge put his name.”

(The Front has repeatedly and unsuccessfully sought to remove Judge Kaplan from the case, accusing him of bias in strident and borderline contemptuous terms.)

One of the reasons Judge Kaplan found it likely that the Ecuadorian judgment was ghostwritten by the Front’s lawyers is that it incorporates large passages that appear to have been lifted verbatim from internal Front legal memoranda that were never introduced into the Ecuadorian court record. In the proposed complaint, Chevron alleges that at least one of the lifted passages incorporates Patton Boggs’s own work product.

Thus, it alleges, “Patton Boggs either knew in advance of the ghostwriting of the judgment against Chevron or must have become quickly aware of it once Chevron began to make the evidence known, and yet Patton Boggs continued to further the fraudulent scheme … Despite the uncontradicted evidence to the contrary, Patton Boggs has falsely asserted in the U.S. that this judgment is legitimate and not the product of a corrupt process in which Patton Boggs and/or its co-counsel colluded with the Ecuadorian court or court experts.”

Another focus of Chevron’s proposed complaint is Patton Boggs’s alleged role in “direct[ing] the creation of a declaration” signed by Front lawyer Pablo Fajardo that was filed in a Section 1782 action in Denver federal court in May 2010.

In his March 2013 ruling, Judge Kaplan called the Fajardo declaration “a seriously misleading account of what had happened” and, again, found “probable cause” to believe that “at least some” of the Front’s representatives “had committed mail and/or wire fraud and obstructed justice … by formulating and filing” it. The Front later filed the Fajardo declaration in at least eight other U.S. courts around the nation, including Kaplan’s.

Also in dispute is a strategy Patton Boggs allegedly “orchestrated” of hastily seeking testimony from seven newly hired experts — known internally at Patton Boggs as the “cleansing” experts — and introducing their written testimony into the Ecuadorian court record in late 2010 in an effort to give the Ecuadorian court something to base its opinion upon other than a court-appointed expert’s report that Chevron alleges (and appears to have proven) was secretly ghostwritten by the plaintiffs lawyers.

Chevron alleges that the cleansing experts in fact simply relied on the fraud-tainted report and that Patton Boggs’s lawyers tried to conceal that fact.

Chevron also takes issue with Patton Boggs’s continuing attempts to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment in foreign courts, including, so far, those of Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, “despite overwhelming and un-rebutted evidence that the Ecuadorian judgment itself, and the [court-appointed expert's report] upon which it is based, were fraudulently ghostwritten by the LAPs’ own team.”

Finally, Chevron faults Patton Boggs for having helped the Front secure funding for its allegedly fraud-tainted litigation by allegedly misleading the investment fund Burford Capital, which specializes in litigation finance. Burford has since renounced its interest in the case and has accused both the Front’s leaders and Patton Boggs’s Tyrrell of having made false representations to lure it into the case. (Patton Boggs has responded in the past that it is “fully confident that it has acted appropriately and ethically.”)

Chevron’s proposed complaint is based on documents already in its possession that relate to Patton Boggs’s role in the case, but it is already in the process of trying to obtain many more documents from the firm. In March Judge Kaplan ordered Patton Boggs to begin turning over millions of pages of files in the case, finding that any attorney-client privilege was pierced by the so-called crime-fraud exception. He wrote: “PB participated heavily in certain critical activities that make it likely that it is an important and, in many respects, unique source of evidence of the alleged fraud that is available nowhere else and that at least some of the materials in its possession or control were in furtherance of crimes or frauds regardless of whether PB was aware of them.”

Chevron’s new proposed claims against Patton Boggs are not being leveled in the RICO case itself, which is scheduled to go to trial in October, but rather as a counterclaim in a case Patton Boggs itself brought against Chevron in Newark last year, which was transferred to Manhattan earlier this year.

That case is the third of Patton Boggs’s suits against Chevron, which are the subject of Chevron’s “malicious prosecution” allegation against the firm. The string of Patton Boggs suits began in November 2010, when it sued Chevron seeking a preemptive declaration that Patton Boggs had no conflict of interest in representing the Front — though Chevron had not moved to disqualify it. (The potential conflict related to Patton Boggs’s July 2010 acquisition of the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, a lobbying firm that Chevron says was representing it with respect to its Ecuador litigation between 2008 and 2010.)

Patton Boggs later added Chevron’s main outside counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, as a defendant, and also accused Chevron of “tortious interference with contract” for having allegedly interfered with the Front’s ability to find financing with which to pay Patton Boggs. U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy, Jr., dismissed this and a second, nearly identical Patton Boggs suit against Chevron in April, July, and August of 2011, and an appeals court unanimously affirmed both dismissals in June 2012.

By then, Patton Boggs had filed the third suit against Chevron in Newark. This one had to do with a $21.8 million appeal bond that Judge Kaplan had required Chevron to post when, in March 2011, he granted a preliminary injunction barring the Front from trying to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment outside Ecuador. After the injunction was vacated by an appeals court in January 2012, Chevron asked Judge Kaplan to release the bond — i.e., give Chevron back the money it had posted.

Patton Boggs opposed Chevron’s motion, but instead of simply doing so in a motion before Judge Kaplan on the Front’s behalf, it filed an entirely new lawsuit in Newark on Patton Boggs’s own behalf. Later Patton Boggs added a “malicious prosecution” claim against Chevron for its having identified Patton Boggs as a “co-conspirator” (though not a defendant) in its RICO suit. In December 2012, Newark federal judge Esther Salas transferred the case to Judge Kaplan in Manhattan, criticizing Patton Boggs’s “jurisdictional maneuvering.” (Judge Kaplan released the bond in April 2012, and Patton Boggs has appealed that order.)

In March 2013, Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV in Manhattan recommended dismissal of Patton Boggs’s third suit, and Patton Boggs has appealed to Judge Kaplan. Chevron’s new claims against Patton Boggs for fraud and deceit, filed today, come as counterclaims in that case.

It seems likely that Patton Boggs was already losing money from its representation of the Front — that was an underlying premise for all three of its lawsuits against Chevron — and the counterclaim against it by Chevron cannot help its situation. Patton Boggs did not respond to a request for comment on whether the Front was in arrears on payments owed to it.

Last week another of the Front’s U.S. law firms, Houston’s, Smyser Veselka & Kaplan, asked to withdraw from the RICO case, saying it was owed almost $1.8 million in fees. At the same time, Donziger’s law firm in that case, Keker & Van Nest — which the Front had also been paying, under the terms of its retainer agreement with Donziger — also asked to withdraw, saying it was owed more than $1.4 million in fees.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Patton Boggs laid off 65 lawyers and staff in late February, after a decline in profits. Its annual revenues were down 6.5% in 2012, the article said, while its profits fell 14%.

By Roger Parloff-Fortune, May 13, 2013

 WHEN YOU’RE IN LOVE, THE WHOLE WORLD IS JEWISH had an SRO World Premiere last February in Los Angeles and went on to have 35 consecutive sold-out shows and extended its limited run. Based on several ground-breaking comedy albums, this material has never been seen live until this production. Producers Danny Gold and Billy Riback decided to mount the show for one simple reason: “We were both weaned on classic comedy,” said Riback, “and the albums ‘You Don’t Have To Be Jewish,’ and ‘When You’re In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish,’ were gut-bustingly funny way back then, and because of the timeless nature of the comedy, part character study, part self-effacing lampooning, but always sweet-natured and good-hearted, they remain just as hilarious today.” Directed by Tony® Award-winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), the production brings to life the comedy albums of Bob Booker & George Foster with additional segments written by Jason Alexander, Danny Gold and Billy Riback.

Tickets are now on sale for performances at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, located in the heart of San Francisco’s Theatre District at 609 Sutter Street. Tickets range from $45.00 – $66.00 and are currently available on the web at www.cityboxoffice.com, or by phone at (415)392-4400. The show will open in San Francisco on Friday, May 24th at 8:00pm, and will be followed by two performances on Saturday, May 25th — at 2:00pm and 8:00pm. The show will close with a 2:00 pm performance on Sunday, May 26th.

For this tour, producers Danny Gold and Billy Riback are excited to announce 12 more shows throughout the summer. “We wanted to share the laughter with the rest of California,” said Gold. “The audience in Los Angeles loved the show so much, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring it to larger audiences across the state.” Gold and Riback sought out Bob Booker, the creator of “When You’re In Love,” and enlisted the help of director Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) to revitalize the comedy albums that captivated the world in the 1960s. Gold and Riback are excited to be bringing back Alexander and the acclaimed original cast for each summer performance. The ensemble includes Broadway veterans Barry Gordon, Rena Strober and Jay Brian Winnick, and the supremely talented Michael Pasternak, Ellen Ratner and Robert Shampain.

THE BACKSTORY

In 1965, there was an innovative album that was capturing the public’s imagination, and it was called “You Don’t Have To Be Jewish” (Kapp Records), featuring the talented voices of Lou Jacobi, Betty Walker, Jack Gilford, and Frank Gallop. This collection of classic Jewish humor was written and produced by Bob Booker & George Foster, and within weeks of its release it was a Top 10 hit. It also received a Grammy nomination as “Comedy Album of the Year.” The next year a follow-up album was released entitled, “When You’re In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish” (Kapp Records), again featuring Lou Jacobi, Betty Walker, Frank Gallop, and introducing a young actress from New York named Valerie Harper. This album featured the Top 10 hit “The Ballad of Irving,” sung by Frank Gallop.

*Bob Booker and his first partner Earle Doud were the brains behind the largest and fastest selling album in the history of the record industry at the time, THE FIRST FAMILY, the 1962 satire on President Kennedy and his family featuring Vaughn Meader. THE FIRST FAMILY went on to win two Grammys: “Comedy Album” of the year, and “Album of the Year.”—–

For more information, visit the show’s official website at http://www.worldisjewishtheplay.com/

Daniel Cainer’s “Jewish Chronicles”       

(One Performance Only)

WHEN:           Wednesday, May 22 at 8:00 pm.

WHERE:         The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley; 2120 Allston Way near Shattuck

After a sold-out show and standing ovation last year, we can’t wait for the return of master songwriter and performer Daniel Cainer ‘s “Jewish Chronicles.” A collection of stories in song, performed at the piano, Cainer sings of feuding tailors, a cocaine-addicted rabbi, Israel and Palestine, a young Jewish woman who joins a fundamentalist Christian sect in the 1950s and the hilarious adulterous adventures of his own parents. An added bonus this year: material from his new Edinburgh show ‘Schtick & Speil”. You’ll laugh; you’ll cry. What’s not to like?

Cainer performs extensively in the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival and composes music featured on all major UK TV networks. He also writes topical songs which he performs regularly on BBC London. In The Marsh’s ever expanding network, Cainer came to us through his friendship with Louis Pearl, aka The Bubble Man, who has been charming families for 3 1/2 years on our various stages and is premiering a new show for grown ups this summer….

Bubbles For Grown Ups

The Amazing Bubble Man in a Brand New Bubble Show for…Grown-Ups

WHEN:                       June 5-19, 2013, Wednesday at 8:00 pm.

Let’s let the Amazing Bubble Man (aka Louis Pearl) describe his new show himself. “One day in 1980, I took my toy invention out onto Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and started blowing enormous bubbles. I was an instant success, and sold out in 3 hours.

So, I spent the next few months blowing bubbles and making toys. And learning bubble tricks. And bubble-ology. And then a kind of bubble-osophy. A few years later, after creating Tangent Toy Company, I bumped into Wavy Gravy and showed off some bubble tricks. Shortly thereafter I found myself performing  onstage at Wavy’s “Camp Winnarainbow”. I am still finding myself onstage.

Since 1983, I have performed over  4000 shows… all without a net, or a plan. I have been performing “The World’s Funniest Bubble Show” at The Marsh for 3 1/2 years. In all that time, more than half of my audience has been the adult parents and relatives of the kids who come to bubble shows. Countless adults have mentioned that they loved the show as much as their kids. I have been asked many times if I would do an adult bubble show…but just saying “Adult” in a show title sounds as if it is a sex show.

So, “Bubbles for Grownups” premiers at The Marsh…can you come out and play?”

Museum Also Announces $5 Million Challenge Grant from Anonymous Donor to Provide Free Admission for Visitors Ages 18 and Under

With 89 percent of the capital campaign goal raised three years ahead of the opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)’s expanded home, and with 100 percent of the museum’s Board of Trustees supporting the campaign, SFMOMA’s Board has raised the capital campaign goal to $610 million from $555 million, an increase of 11 percent.

The additional funds will enable SFMOMA to pursue three goals: to become a national leader in digital engagement; to pursue an expanded art commissioning program in the museum’s public spaces; and to increase accessibility to the museum, particularly for school-age children. As part of this new campaign goal, the museum also announced a $5 million challenge grant from an anonymous donor, with the aim of creating a $10 million endowed fund that would enable SFMOMA to offer free admission to all visitors ages 18 and under.

“We are deeply encouraged by and thankful for the tremendous support we’ve already received for our vision of a transformed SFMOMA—a forward-facing institution that will further enrich the cultural and educational ecologies of San Francisco and the region,” said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “We view this community enthusiasm as a testament to the fact that SFMOMA is committing to the potential of the city and region. The incredible response to the capital campaign among museum leadership and friends spurred us to increase the campaign goal so we can offer even better art experiences to even more people when we reopen in 2016.”

SFMOMA began its capital campaign in 2009, with the goal of increasing the museum’s space for the presentation and study of art, developing a more robust set of programs and community initiatives, and growing the museum’s endowment. In 2009 the museum also announced that the Fisher family would share its renowned collection of contemporary art with the public through a century-long agreement and presentation of the collection at SFMOMA. In 2010 SFMOMA announced the selection of architecture firm Snøhetta as its design partner and in 2011 released the conceptual design for its new building. The formal groundbreaking for the project will take place on May 29, 2013, and completion is projected in early 2016. In addition to increasing the museum’s space, art and educational programming, and accessibility to the public, SFMOMA’s capital campaign is also ensuring the museum’s future stability by more than tripling the size of its current $100 million endowment to a total of $320 million.

“One of the main goals of the museum leadership and the Board is to work with the community throughout the expansion period to make sure that the new museum is accessible to all,” noted Charles R. Schwab, chairman of the SFMOMA Board of Trustees. “The increase in the capital campaign goal is a reflection of our belief that we can develop even better access and education programs to share our passion for art with the San Francisco and Bay Area community for generations to come. We hope that people from across the community continue to join in our campaign and thus ensure that SFMOMA is open to everyone and remains a leader in collections and exhibitions, an innovator in arts education, and a pioneer in digital interpretation.”

Increasing Accessibility
Central to SFMOMA’s expansion program is growing opportunities for all audiences to visit the museum—and doing so in a manner that is financially sustainable over time. The creation of a $10 million endowed fund to offer free admission to all visitors ages 18 and under—spurred by a $5 million challenge grant from an anonymous donor—will expand the museum’s current policy of providing free admission to visitors ages 12 and under. This initiative will specifically help SFMOMA engage students from underserved public schools throughout the region.

Extending free admission to visitors ages 18 and under is the final component in the museum’s $50 million investment in education and access as part of its expansion. This initiative began in 2012 with a lead gift from Lisa and John Pritzker to enable SFMOMA to triple the volume of school visitors the museum currently serves, from 18,000 to 55,000 annually in 2016.

Other new components of SFMOMA’s commitment to education, young people, and families include:

• As part of an expanded partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, SFMOMA will create a Teacher Institute that will provide professional development and training for more than 2,000 elementary, middle, and high school teachers annually

• The creation of the Deborah and Kenneth Novack Associate Curator of Education position

• Continued commitment to family experiences, including offering four free days of admission annually to families

• New and expanded facilities for educational programming, included the expanded Koret Visitor Education Center and the “white box,” a versatile space in the new building that will open new doors for school-group tours, film screenings, and special events.

“The city of San Francisco looks forward to welcoming a transformed SFMOMA that will serve as an even greater resource to all who live, work, and visit the San Francisco Bay Area region,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee. “We appreciate the tremendous generosity demonstrated so far, and are particularly excited by the plans for the next phase of the museum’s capital campaign, especially providing free admission to all young people and increasing free access to art for the whole community.”

The museum is currently exploring ways to further broaden accessibility for school-age visitors, such as providing free transportation to the museum from public schools and expanding after-school programming. Building upon a decade of industry leadership in the area of digital teaching resources, SFMOMA will also pioneer digital content strategies and resources with and for teachers.

Expanding Digital Engagement
As part of its commitment to improving the overall visitor experience, SFMOMA is also pursuing new digital initiatives that specifically aim to offer more personalized digital engagement and more interactive possibilities for exploring the museum’s permanent collection. In order to do this, the museum is currently exploring how to maximize the use of real-time location services and on-demand content delivery. SFMOMA is also striving to develop a digital engagement model that will enhance the museum experience while developing new technologies. Throughout the expansion period, SFMOMA will use its off-site programming as an opportunity to prototype various digital strategies for exploring and sharing art.

“Expanding digital engagement is an integral part of the museum’s mission of making the art of our time a vital and meaningful part of public life,” said Chad Coerver, chief content officer at SFMOMA. “Our aim is to provide digital tools and experiences that bring the museum’s collection to life in the eyes of visitors, and to create as many digital methods as possible for exploring the collection.”

Ongoing Art Commissioning Program 
SFMOMA today also announced that, as part of the new capital campaign goal, the museum is seeking to endow an expanded contemporary art commissioning program for the public spaces of the museum, including the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Atrium and the Howard Street Gallery. SFMOMA has commissioned artists such as Sol LeWitt and Bill Fontana to create artworks specifically for public spaces of the museum in the past, and in 2009 began regularly commissioning artworks for the Haas Atrium, starting with Kerry James Marshall, who worked with local painters to create two murals for the museum. Building on the success of these commissions, SFMOMA will expand the commissioning program to additional public spaces in the museum’s new building, providing more opportunities for the whole community to connect with art for free.

Collections Campaign
SFMOMA holds one of the world’s foremost collections of the art of our time, and the leading collection of modern and contemporary art on the West Coast. Concurrent with the capital campaign, the museum is also expanding its permanent collection, which forms the foundation of the museum’s exhibition programming. In February 2009 SFMOMA launched a multiyear campaign to further strengthen the collection, which has more than doubled in size to over 29,000 works since the museum moved to its current home in 1995. In February 2011 the museum announced that it had received 195 promised gifts of art from nine leading Bay Area collectors. These promised gifts encompass major works by artists including Diane Arbus, Joseph Beuys, Robert Gober, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Bruce Nauman, Jackson Pollock, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, and David Smith. And in November of 2012 SFMOMA announced pledged gifts to the campaign of 473 photographs, deepening the museum’s renowned holdings in 20th-century American and Japanese photography. These and other works promised or pledged to the collections campaign will be on view in the expanded museum.

Source: http://www.sfmoma.org/about/press/press_news/releases/962#ixzz2Sny66Ykc
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

One thing was certain, however; she wanted to earn enough money to rent her own place and live better than her parents did. So, after graduating from school, when she saw a poster advertising a special-ed teaching opportunity, she jumped at it, seduced by the $40,000 salary…with benefits…combined with the chance to do some good in the world. She considered herself a super-smart tough girl, a born and bred New Yorker, who could take the best the City had to throw at her. Piece of cake she thought.

The show, a world premiere directed by David Ford, plays on Thursday and Friday at 8:00 pm and Saturday at 5:00 pm from May 23 through July 20, 2013 on The Marsh MainStage, 1062 Valencia Street in San Francisco. For tickets, the public may visit www.themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055.

In the show, Martinez tells the stories of nine kids, first from her point of view, and then from theirs, in a series of inter-connected narratives. Her students were in special ed for a wide range of reasons, from rampant ADD to autism to multiple sclerosis to mild cases of dyslexia—meaning there was little rhyme or reason to the wildly disparate abilities and energies of the class. Her characters speak with urgency, swagger, vulnerability as Martinez struggles through a series of sometimes funny, sometimes scary, often moving interactions with them. Frequently, they gain the upper hand and leave her unable to impose even a semblance of order and discipline. This upsets her sense of her own abilities. Taken aback, she has to move beyond her tough-girl hubris, which clearly isn’t working, and dig for more effective solutions, both pedagogical and personal.

Safiya Martinez is a playwright, performer, poet and educator. She began her career as a dancer, and was a soloist in the Obie-nominated site-specific work entitled “Demeter’s Daughter” in New York City [1997]. She studied Vagonova Ballet technique from Madame Darvash at Broadway Dance Center, and Horton and Graham modern technique at Alvin Ailey School of Dance. Her poetry has been published in Generations Literary Magazine. She has a BA in Anthropology from the New School, has completed the New York City Teaching Fellows Program and received an M.S. in Urban Education from Mercy College in New York. She has also recently received an MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State. Currently she works as an Arts Integration Specialist for Community Works, Inc, an organization engaging youth and adults in arts, education and restorative justice programs aimed at interrupting the far-reaching impact of incarceration and violence. She has conducted acting workshops at the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center.

Martinez developed SO YOU CAN HEAR ME at Tell it on Tuesdays and Monday Night Marsh and has performed it as part of Stanford University’s Live Shorts storytelling program. Her Marsh Rising performance earlier this year was greeted with amazement and stunned emotion. Many of the audience were in tears, not because the show is sad (it’s not—it’s actually more funny than sad) but because of its overall impact—it packs a punch. Stephanie Weisman, Artistic Director, was so thrilled she booked the show that very evening and is proud and excited to present Martinez’s work on The Marsh stage.

Including Disconnected & At-Risk Youth

Today Mayor Edwin M. Lee and the United Way of the Bay Area along with City Departments and private sector employers announced the launch of Summer Jobs+ 2013, challenging employers this summer to create 6,000 jobs and paid internships for San Francisco youth. Mayor Lee’s Summer Jobs+ 2013 will connect San Francisco employers with low-income and disconnected San Francisco youth.

“Last year, San Francisco worked together to answer President Obama’s call to provide meaningful work experience and a paycheck to San Francisco youth,” said Mayor Lee. “We not only answered that call, but exceeded our own aggressive goals of 5,000 jobs than 5,300 young adults in jobs and paid internships for the summer and beyond,” said Mayor Lee. “We are setting an even more ambitious goal for 2013 to create meaningful employment opportunities for our young people so we set them up for success now and in the future. I am again calling upon employers across San Francisco to join us in supporting the future of our young people.”

Last year, President Barack Obama issued a challenge to businesses, non-profits, and government: Work together to provide pathways to employment for low-income and disconnected youth. Last year through San Francisco Summer Jobs+, 5,200 young people participated in new job opportunities—over 1,700 of them worked in the private sector at 86 companies and organizations throughout the city including Starbucks, Advent and Uniqlo. Thirty nine percent (663 jobs) of these private sector summer jobs turned into permanent positions for San Francisco youth.

United Way of the Bay Area is leading San Francisco’s effort in support of Mayor Lee’s Summer Jobs+ Program along with Department of Children Youth and their Families (DCYF), Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

“We’re proud to again be partnering with Mayor Lee and employers throughout San Francisco on Summer Jobs+ 2013,” said United Way Bay Area Chief Executive Officer Anne Wilson. “No Mayor or city in America is doing more to get our young people into good jobs and internships for the summer; a critical steppingstone that will help set them on the path to success.”

Employers that have already committed to hiring Summer Jobs+ participants in 2013 include salesforce.com, Starbucks, Advent, Bank of America, Nektar, Twilio, Jawbone, members of SFMade and many more.

“It hasn’t always been easy for me – I’m independent, fighting to get a good education and make it here in San Francisco, the city of opportunity,” said LaRon Ryan, a 21 year old participant in Summer Jobs+ 2012 who worked at Jawbone, a San Francisco technology company. “Over the years I’ve learned how to advocate for myself and take initiative. You know, that’s how I got my tech internship at Jawbone through the San Francisco Summer Jobs+ program. It pretty much changed my life.”

Employers or youth interested in participating or learning more about San Francisco Summer Jobs+, go to www.matchbridge.org/summer or call 3-1-1 or 2-1-1.