Thursday, August 30, 2012

New Chef at Napa & Co!

New Chef at Napa & Co!

JFood & Stephanie Webster of CTBITES:
"Napa and Company in Stamford has a new, very talented chef overseeing its award-winning kitchen. Chef Leonardo Marino is slowly modifying the menu to showcase his commitment of using exceptional ingredients to highlight their natural flavors. Three weeks after assuming Napa's Executive Chef position, CTbites sat with Chef Leo for this "Behind the Scenes," review, discussed his passion for food and sampled several of his recently premiered dishes.  
Chef Leo's devotion to cooking started at an early age as he assisted his mother and aunt in the kitchen; they inspired him to pursue a culinary education.  After attending the Culinary Institute of America, his philosophy of accentuating the natural flavors was further influenced in the kitchens of some of America's greatest chefs. While working as the Lead Sous Chef for Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin, Ripert asked him to relocate to Washington DC to take the reins of Chef de Cuisine at Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert. Chef Leo returned to New York in 2009 and joined David Bouley at both Bouley and as the Chef of Bouley Upstairs. In 2010 he joined Jean George Vongerichten, first as the Executive Sous Chef at his flagship restaurant, Jean George, and subsequently as the Executive Sous Chef at The Mark Restaurant by Jean George. After working with all of these legendary chefs, Chef Leo commented, "My mother and my aunt are two of the best chefs," but he quickly added, "...in addition to Eric and Jean George."
 To read the entire article please click on the link below.
  
Special credit to Stephanie Webster for the great photography...as usual!

  For more info: New Chef at Napa & Co!

napa & co
Phone: 203-353-3319
$$$ 75 Broad Street Farm to table California cuisine in an elegant and warm wine bar setting. Rated excellent by The NY Times and listed among the Best Restaurant in America by Zagat.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

In the news....Pop art innovator Charles Fazzino paints in Stamford - Culture Cache - Connecticut News

Pop art innovator Charles Fazzino paints in Stamford - Culture Cache - Connecticut News

Pop art innovator Charles Fazzino spent an afternoon in August painting a signal box on Summer Street in Stamford.
Fazzino, who is known for 3-D renderings of New York and countless other cities, painted the signal box in bright colors and vibrant details in his collage-like depiction of Stamford.
A graduate of the New York School of Visual Arts, Fazzino also has gained fame for his artistic tributes to such popular icons as The New York Yankees, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Alfred Hitchcock and the characters of Walt Disney.
  
The signal box is located outside Riviera Maya at 20 Summer St., Stamford.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Stamford Restaurant Weeks and MasterCard’s ‘Dine and Be Generous’ Campaign Benefitting Stand Up To Cancer


 
MasterCard’s ‘Dine and Be Generous’ Campaign Benefitting Stand Up To Cancer Launches During 2012 MLB® All-Star Game® on Fox | MasterCard Social Media Newsroom


Remember Stamford Restaurant Weeks - ending Sept 3.  Hurry, and make your reservations now.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Stamford High School Marching Band to host regional competition - Sat, Oct 20


Stamford High School Marching Band to host regional competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Knight of music will fill the skies at Stamford High School with the competitive sounds of 12
regional marching bands of the USSBA.
Stamford, CT - August 24, 2012 - On Saturday October 20th, the Stamford High School Black Knights
Marching Band will host an annual competition with 12 regional marching bands of the US Scholastic
Band Association (USSBA). Knight Music! is organized to bring the great talents and performances of
these bands together for all to enjoy.
Knight Music! will take place on the Stamford High School grounds in the historic Boyle Stadium. Bands
are scheduled to perform continuously from 5pm-9pm. Concessions will be set up for attendees to enjoy
an assortment of foods and desserts. Raffles and Airgrams are expected to add to the excitement of
the event. Stamford High School Black Knights Marching Band has planned this event to exceed the
expectations of visitors.
Events such as Knight Music! are used not only to showcase the students talents but also as direct
fundraising for the Stamford High School Marching Band programs. Without the donations and
sponsorship collected by the Stamford High School Band Parents Association, the band programs at
Stamford High would be hard pressed to survive.
The Stamford High School Band Parents Association Inc. (SHSBPAI) is a non-profit corporation
independent of the Stamford school system. Their mission is to provide financial support to the
Stamford High School Band through non-profit fundraising and events. SHSBPAI is a registered 501(c)3
organization.
   
Contact:
Rob Musitano
stamfordhighbandpressrelease@gmail.com
Stamford High School Band Parents Association Inc.
P.O. Box 4754
Stamford, CT 06907
http://stamfordhighband.net/media
###

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Monday, August 27, 2012

VHS The Exhibition at Franklin Street Works- September 6 - October 14


VHS The Exhibition at Franklin Street Works

VHS The Exhibition, curated for Franklin Street Works by guest curator Rebecca Cleman, explores the use of the VHS format for artistic experimentation. The exhibition will include works by Robert Beck, Sadie Benning, Dustin Guy Defa, James Fotopoulos, and Trevor Shimizu. Artworks will be accompanied by ephemera from 80's-era home video culture, such as the glitchy computer-generated, anti-corporate corporate spokesman Max Headroom, to give a broad perspective on the cultural shifts created by this technological phenomenon in entertainment, life, and art. The exhibition is on view September 6 - October 14, 2012. Free, public reception, September 13, 5:00 - 8:00 pm. For more information www.franklinstreetworks.org or call 203-595-5211. Images available upon request.


Franklin Street Works
41 Franklin Street
Stamford, CT 06901

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Old Town Hall Museum Exhibition, September 27, 5-7 pm


Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

I wanted to share this invitation to an upcoming painting exhibition at Stamford's Old Town Hall Museum with everyone.

Here at Franklin Street Works, we have the exhibition These Transitional Spaces, curated by artist Seth Kelly and on view through August 26. The show has a killer artist book that accompanies it and one of the artists, Aura Rosenberg recently gave us a nice plug in ArtForum! http://artforum.com/words/id=31330

   

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Charles Fazzino in Stamford Downtown



Charles Fazzino was in town to put some fininshing touches on the signal box special 3D design he created, located at Summer and Main St.  It sits on one of the busiest street corners during the summer months.  Check it out.  More about the Fazzino art process:

The Fazzino Art Process

What does it mean when we say that Charles Fazzino’s pop art is three-dimensional? Everyday, Fazzino faces the challenge of trying to show people and explain what 3D means. His imagery is rich, colorful, and detailed but until you see it in person, you don’t necessarily experience the “WOW” factor produced by his hand-cut, assembled, and embellished 3D technique.
Fazzino’s limited edition artworks are silkscreen printed (see below) multiple times on two different weights of 100% rag museum board. The bottom layer is printed on a 2- or 4- ply board, giving it the stability it needs to support the layers. The top layer(s) is printed on 100% rag museum paper thin enough to cut but sturdy enough to sit on top of the glue used to layer the artwork without bending.
All of the individual pieces that make up the 3D layers of artwork are cut out by hand using an exacto knife. Because of the incredible level of detail captured in the cutting process, people often erroneously assume  that the prints are either die-cut or machine-cut.
The cutting process is carefully planned out and highly artistic, achievable only by the most skilled artisans trained for hours in Fazzino’s methods and techniques. The artistry in each Fazzino work is created as much by the 3D process as by the composition itself.
All of the details are cut out of the top-layer cutout sheets and are matched up with the accompanying imagery on the bottom-layer boards that are signed and numbered.
Charles Fazzino experimented for many years to find a material suitable for layering the artwork. He settled on a special silicone because it gives him the flexibility to alter the depth of the artwork by varying the size of the dollops of glue. A piece of art might only have two or three distinct layers of art, but because of the variation in the height of each dollop, the artwork may appear to have four, five, or more layers. The pieces are also glued slightly off-center to emphasize the 3D effect.
Once glued, each piece of artwork takes twenty-four hours to cure completely.
After the artwork is made 3D, it is hand-embellished using acrylic paint glitter and Swarovski crystals. According to Charles Fazzino, “the use of the glitter came about because I needed something to cover up my cutting mistakes. I started using it and it added some glitz to the work, so i kept using it and now it’s a staple.” Each Swarovski Crystal is applied by hand.

Silkscreen Printing

The majority of Charles Fazzino’s fine art prints are made using a hand-stenciling printmaking process commonly referred to as silkscreen serigraphy, or silkscreen printing. Silkscreening gained popularity in the 1960′s with the explosion of the pop art movement. Revolutionary artist like Andy Warhol and Robert Raushenberg gravitated toward the silkscreening printing technique because it allows for bright, bold, and true colors, all of which were crucial to their particular styles. Charles Fazzino began making silkscreens of his original works in the late 1980′s
Fazzino’s Silkscreen Printing Process
1. The fine art printer traces over the original line drawing on a piece of mylar, and tehn creates a screen to e used for printing. Black ink is pushed throgh this screen on a hand printing press to create the black line of teh drawing on paper.
2. The black line is sent back to Fazzino to indicate color. Depending upon the subject and the artistic feel he’s going for, Fazzino will use anything from colored pencils to acrylic paint to indicate his chosen color scheme.
3. The colored black line returns to the printer where the chromists (color separators) translated each color onto a separate screen.
4. Each screen is placed one-at-a-time onto the press during which time the appropriate color ink is applied and squeezed through the screen onto each piece of paper.
5. The final image begins to appear as one color is laid down on top of another. The printer carefully orders the colors to achieve certain blends, effects, more colors, and subtleties in the final print.
The entire process consists of hundreds of pieces of museum board and paper being drawn through a hand printing press an average of 20 times each. It takes 4-6 months to print an average Charles Fazzino silkscreen edition of artwork.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Plan B Burger Bar - Now open!

Plan B Burger


If you like burgers, beef, beer and bourbon - you'll have a great time. (And even if you're a vegetarian, we have vegan and vegetarian options. Or if you've never tried bourbon, or aren't sure you like it, give it a shot, we have a lot of nice muddled fruit bourbon drinks during the summer that are really refreshing.)
  
Plan B Burger Bar
Phone:

(203) 964-8353

$$ 230 Tresser Boulevard, Stamford Town Center All-American burger, bourbon and beer.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Thursday, August 2, 2012

World Record attempt --Hands for Life, Aug. 25


Hands for Life Stamford 2012
Saturday, August 25
Chelsea Piers, Stamford, CT
 
  
One day, 10,000 Hearts
CPR World Record at Chelsea Piers, CT
 
Sign up at http://www.handsforlife.org/
 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Weather Update for Jazz concert: Wednesday August 1st- to be held outside

Update: Wednesday August 1st
The Al Jarreau Jazz up July concert will go on tonight at 6:30 PM in Columbus Park as originally scheduled. 

 
Jazz Up July

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Last one….ALIVE @ FIVE CONCLUDES THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 WITH FOREIGNER!


ALIVE @ FIVE CONCLUDES THIS THURSDAY,
AUGUST 2 WITH FOREIGNER!


FOREIGNER TO PERFORM IN COLUMBUS PARK on AUGUST 2, 2012
Alive@Five on the Heineken Light Stage in
partnership with Stamford Town Center, Reckson and BevMax concludes its season with Foreigner
sponsored by NBCUniversal and Skytop Lodge on Thursday, August 2 in Columbus Park in Stamford
Downtown. The Concert begins at 5pm.
    FOREIGNER
Sponsored by NBCUniversal and Skytop Lodge
Foreigner is universally hailed as one of the most popular rock acts in the world, racking up scores of smash hits, multi-platinum albums, and sold out concert tours. Best known for hits including, "Cold as Ice," "Hot Blooded," "Urgent," "Jukebox Hero," "Waiting For A Girl Like You" and the chart topper "I Want to Know What Love Is." Today, over 70 million albums later, Foreigner is an ensemble of talented musicians, each adding their individual credentials to the mix to make the band stronger and more powerful than ever.
www.foreigneronline.com
   
    MATT O'REE
Matt O'Ree, the winner of Guitar Center's King of the Blues Guitar competition in 2006, has been cranking out the blues-rock since he was an early teen. Matt and his band bring the sound of 70's blues rock and roll to a height of their own. www.mattoree.com
   
    FRANK VIELE & THE MANHATTAN PROJECT


Frank Viele is Acoustic Funk, electrified with a shot of Pop, Rock and Soul. Add Rhythm & Blues for a chaser. Frank delivers an authenticity, showcasing a familiarity to the inspirations that came before him. www.FrankVieleMusic.com


Alive @ Five on the Heineken Light Stage in partnership with Stamford Town
Center, Reckson and BevMax is produced by Stamford Downtown and the City of Stamford.
Additional sponsors include The Advocate, Agora Spa, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, Crystal Rock,
Event Management, Inc., First Niagara, Frank Mercede & Sons, Happyhaha Photography, Hilton
Stamford Hotel, Hotel Zero Degrees, NBCUniversal, Sheraton Stamford Hotel, Simply Signs,
Skytop Lodge, Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa, and 95.9 The Fox, Star 99.9, 107.1 The Peak
radio stations and Columbus Park Merchants including: 84 Park, Bar Q, Black Bear Saloon,
Bobby Valentine's Sports Gallery Café, Columbus Park Trattoria, Curley's Diner, Fin II Japanese
Restaurant, Kujaku Japanese Restaurant, Layla's Falafel, The Original Pappa's Pizza, Patrizia's
of Stamford and Tiernan's Bar & Restaurant.


Our Food Court includes: Jenna Marie's Deli, KOSH, Melt Mobile, Remo's Brick Oven
Pizza Company and Volta Gelateria Creperia.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

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