Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Dinner

On Monday, January 30, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association held their 108th Annual Awards Dinner.

I'm a member of the PSWA.

The dinner is a good time for sports fans with sports celebs like Hunter Pence, Charlie Manuel and Claude Giroux among those in attendence.

Last year, I gave Shane Victorino our Humanitarian Award. This year, I held the time keeper's bell while Jacqui Frazier Lyde, daughter of "Smokin" Joe Frazier rang it, giving her father a traditional boxer's salute of a ten count on the bell.  It's always done when a boxer passes away.

Jacqui decided to ramble on about herself, Title 9 and half a dozen other things before getting to the bell ringing...and then rang it too many times. But, the actual ringing once we got to it was poignant.

You can see highlights from the dinner here:

Like Art? Van Gogh to the Philadelphia Museum of Art as Soon as possible!

Folks--

A link to my story on Van Gogh Up Close, the new exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will hopefully be up next week, along with a video and pictures. Weekly Press pushed the story back.

Wine Enthusiasts Fund Student Opportunities at PAFA

This past Saturday, I covered Bacchanal, a wine festival and auction that raises scholarship money for  Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) here in Philly.

There's something about PAFA events and auctions. When I covered the lighting of their Claes Oldenburg sculpture, my wife/photographer bid on a decorative shovel used in the groundbreaking of Lenfest Plaza, where the sculpture is.It's hanging in our guest bedroom. And when the music stopped at the end of Bacchanal, and the wine had been enjoyed, and the story for the Weekly Press had been flushed out, I found myself being handed a double magnum sized bottle of merlot (Columbia Vineyard) that I had to lug back to the car because the wife "just had to go home with something from the auction."

Good thing she didn't just have to go home with one of the bottles of wine or trips to Italy that went for tens of thousands of dollars.

Even better thing she didn't just have to go home with a guy who needed someone to take on a newly acquired trip to Italy.

My story for the Weekly Press focuses on an artist, Sasha Diehl, a PAFA student who receives some of that Bacchanal bucks. That scholarship money allows her to create with some of the best art instructors in the U.S.

To read the Weekly Press story, click here.

You can also learn more about Sasha's love of art, and see some of her work, and get an idea of what Bacchanal is all about by watching the videos below.

Global Abilities Helps Disabled in Developing Countries


Last Saturday, I spent some time with AJ Nanayakkara at the Global Abilities fundraiser at World cafe Live in Philly. He and his wife Kelly started Global Abilities to help those with disabilities in developing countries.

AJ Nanayakkara and his wife Kelly Fisher

AJ has been in a wheelchair for 17 years, the result of a spinal cord injury received when practicing karate flips with his martial arts partner. But AJ says he's fortunate to be living in America with his disability because of the resources available to help him and others live happy, productive lives.

Not the case, says AJ, in countries like Sri Lanka, where AJ lived till he was 10 years old. Sri Lanka is the first focus of Global Abilities.

I interviewed AJ for a piece that ran in the Weekly Press Wednesday. You can read it here.

Want to learn more about Global Abilities? Go to GlobalAbilities.org


Sri Lanka is so tiny it would hide in the frayed fold of a map. You'd mistake it for a cluster of dirt on a globe that squeaks when you spin it.

It's a little island off the southern tip of India and between 1983 (when AJ and his famikly left) and 2009 a brutal, bloody civil war left 70,000 dead and thousands of others with disabilities--the same people  who AJ and Kelly are now trying to help. It has a population of 21.3 million.

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Gets New Plaza & Claes Oldenburg Sculpture

Good to be back on assignment.

It's been a while since I worked on a story.

On Saturday, October 3, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia celebrated their new courtyard, Lenfest Plaza, and their new outdoor sculpture Paint Torch by Claes Oldenburg, which is a 50 foot paint brush standing on its end with its bristles pointing towards the sky.

There was sone slight rain, but it didn't dampen the spirits of the hundreds of art lovers who came to see the new plaza and the new sculpture.



Claes Oldenburg (right)

 
After the lighting there was a dinner at the Academy at which I got to interview Mr. Oldenburg.Each table had a blank canvas and various materials (crayons, markers, paint, feathers) to get the creative juices flowing at each table. The wife and I had blast with our table-mates, 2 PAFA Alum. You can see our masterpiece to the right.



Our Masterpiece

The wife also walked away with a new piece of art, a commemorative shovel from the groundbreaking of Lenfest Plaza designed by artist Jessica Sasha, that was being auctioned off.

Get down to PAFA. See Paint Torch...



and whatever other pieces will be displayed (on a temporary basis) at Lenfest Plaza.

In the meantime, you can read my Weekly Press Story here, or watch the video below.

(Photos by K. R. O'Connor & A.N. O'Connor)





Classic Wooden Boats Displayed at Independence Seaport Museum

This past weekend, I ventured down to the Independence Seaport Museum to see the boats from the Antique & Classic Boat Society.

Their local chapter was exhibiting some of their beautiful old mahogany motorboats at the museum for the first time.

Too bad it was so hot outside. A lot of people missed out on seeing some true pieces of Americana.

I covered the show for the Center City Weekly Press and you can read the story here.

You can also check out the video and see some pictures of the boats and learn about them--and the Antique & Classic Boat Society--from the members themselves.

Met a great guy (hey, you wear hawaiian shirts and surf you're great in my book) named Sean Null who makes wooden kayaks, canoes--and this is what got me--surfboards. He had a few boards on display. I'm a surfer, and had always wanted a wooden board. You can check out Sean's woodworking at WoodWaterCrafts.com. His stuff is for sale.

(Photos and video by K. O'Connor)

Bernard Hopkins Recognized by Philly Mayor Michael Nutter; B-Hop Takes Swipe at McNabb...again

On Wednesday, June 1, under a blazing hot noon-day sun, Philadelphia Mayor, Michael Nutter, recognized Philly's own Bernard "The "Executioner" Hopkins for beating Jean Pascal two weeks ago and bcoming the oldest boxer in history to win a world title.

They held this little ceremony, funnily enough, right next to the Rocky Statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Rocky is a made-up character, a leg-breaker for a bookie who gets a second chance at a boxing career and makes good. People in this town love him.

Hopkins' real life mirrors Rocky's. Hopkins went to jail for robbing people, discovered boxing behind bars and decided to spend his life behind the ropes and made good. People in this town hate him.

The crowd to witness this pat-on-the-back by Nutter was sparse. It should have been packed.

Don't ever believe the hype you hear about Philly lovin' the blue-collar underdog who gets a second chance. They only love it on film...and dare I say, when the neck in the blue collar is white.

Since the Weekly Press came out today, you may or may not see more about this in next week's edition.

I hope someday this town erects a Hopkins statue.


Here's some footage of Nutter and Hopkins from the ceremony.

Also, you'll find below an isolated clip of Hopkins cutting into former Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb to close his remearks today.