By Dee Richard
Another busy week has flown by. Thank you, Ian MacFarland, Times Ledger Newspapers managing editor, who straightened out last week’s column mixup.
Events happening in threes seems to still be a valid expectation. This past week we lost three wonderful women: first Elizabeth Taylor, second Geraldine Ferraro and third Gloria Piekarski, who held a number of Republican Queens political positions. God bless all you ladies. Rest in peace and our condolences to all your family members, as you will be missed, but we will include you in our prayers.
Friday night was girls’ night out for best buddies Joann DeMartino, senior vice president of Signature Bank; Myra Baird Herce, co-president of the Flushing Chamber of Commerce; Debbie Markell Kleinert, Community Board 2 district manager; Janet Malone, president of the Northeast Queens Republican Club; and me. We ladies had our dinner in the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel’s Deluge Restaurant, which has a an attractive setting plus great food — a little bit different than the usual run of the mill fare that most restaurants offer. We enjoyed our dinner and catch-up conversations immensely. We have been best friends for about 20 years and we all believe that friends are forever.
I had to leave the girls rather early to go to the New York Hilton to view the dress rehearsal of the Inner Circle 2011 presentation of the best roast of everybody and everything, which was scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m.
The name of this year’s extravaganza was “Meet the Focker-Uppers.” Act I was titled “The Snow Job,” which of course was a double entendre. Act II was titled “The Son also Rises,” referring obviously to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The show is based on parodies of popular songs. My three favorites were “Summertime,” which became “CityTime,” where the livin’ is sleezy. The next one was the “Chock Full of Nuts” jingle to the City Council members. The last one was “Once in Love with Andrew,” taken from “Once in Love with Amy.”
The one liners were so fast and furious and the audience was laughing so loudly that you missed half the jokes. This evening marked the 89th continuous production and performance of the Inner Circle show.
Friday night’s dress rehearsal was free, but you must know someone connected with the production since admission is by a signed complementary ticket only. The Saturday performance was the real deal starring Mayor Michael Bloomberg as Spider-Man. Those tickets cost $750 each — a tad higher than the Friday performance.
Either way, it’s a spectacular show not to be missed. All the performers volunteer their time and each year the proceeds of the Inner Circle show go toward small, deserving charities selected by the members such as Hour Children, Cardinal Hayes High School, Big Apple Greeter, the Salvation Army Manhattan Citadel, the Holy Apostles soup kitchen, the Garment Center Synagogue, the Citizens Union Foundation, the Museum of the City of New York, the Robert Mindlin Journalism Foundation, the Queens College Foundation, the Coalition for the Homeless, Kids in Distressed Situations Inc., the Committee to Protect Journalist, the New York Press Club Foundation and 20 additional charities.
On Sunday afternoon, we attended the Bridge to Life 19th anniversary dinner-dance at Leonard’s of Great Neck. This year’s honorees were the Rev. Peter J. West, associate director of Priest’s for Life and a pro-life activist since 1986, and Duke Sofield, who has been the Knights of Columbus Pro-Life chairman since 1997. Some of the guests were members of Gary and Suzanne Bonelli’s family, members of Sal and Joe Bacarella’s family, Rabbi Morton Pomerance, Phil Plasencia, Judge Joseph and Rosalie Golia and scores of others.
During the luncheon, they handed out an impressive journal which indicated how much community support this wonderful organization enjoys. The Bridge to Life Organization is committed to helping all young women and their children.
That’s it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip. I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.
Don’t forget to check out the Focus on Queens page.
Till next week, Dee.
