THE SKINNY: The iconic Italian brand, Armani , has developed an exclusive line of ready-to-wear pieces called Armani Collezioni  . The line was launched by designer Giorgio Armani, and features stylish products with loads of contemporary appeal. The luxurious ready to wear garments are made with precious fabrics that are perfect for leisure-wear and work. This collection stands out for its elegance, attention to detail and fine finishes.

For more information, please visit estherwolf.com or call 713-622-1331.

THE SKINNY: FOTINI is passionate about creating garments that have intricate finishes while reflecting her love of corsetry in an assortment of pieces. Using the finest Italian fabrics and French lace, FOTINI brings body-skimming collection of dresses, suiting and evening clothes to the fashion forward consumer.

For more information, please visit estherwolf.com or call 713-622-1331.

THE SKINNY: This Designer Showcase features EDITION by Georges Chakra , Lorena Sarbu, and Marchesa. The ready to wear line EDITION by George Chakra, caters to all occasions for the social savvy. The Lorena Sarbu brand is designed for the contemporary woman with impeccable style; Lorena infuses her glamorous and European-inspired personal style into each of her beautifully timeless creations. Marchesa is known for elegant evening wear that is worn by “A” list celebrities and socialites.

For more information, please visit estherwolf.com or call 713-622-1331.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society to Host Ride April 21-22

WHO & WHAT
The 28th Annual BP MS 150 Bike Ride, the largest event of its kind and the largest fundraising ride for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will take place on April 21-22, 2012. Approximately 13,000 cyclists are expected to take part in the two-day, 180-mile trek from Houston to Austin. The BP MS 150 ride aims to raise $17 million this year to fund cutting-edge research
and support programs and services benefiting 56,000 Texans affected by MS.

Registration is available at www.ms150.org. The 2012 registration fee is $100, and a minimum pledge of $400 is required for participation. Individuals, families and groups are also encouraged to join the movement of creating a world free of MS by volunteering for the more than 3,000 positions in Houston, Austin and along the route. Log on to www.ms150.org to
register as a cyclist or volunteer or to donate online.

WHEN
Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22, 2012

WHERE
The ride will begin in Houston on Saturday, April 21 and finish in downtown Austin near the State Capitol on Sunday, April 22, following an overnight celebration at the Fayette County Fairgrounds in La Grange. Cyclists have
the option to start at one of three starting points:

Tully Stadium Rhodes Stadium Waller Stadium
1050 Dairy Ashford St.

Katy High School Waller High School Houston, TX, 77079 1733 Katy Fort Bend Rd., Katy, TX  20735 Stokes Rd.,
Waller, TX

On day two, riders can choose one of two routes out of La Grange as they make their way to Austin.

WHY
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and
treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and over 2.1 million worldwide.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t.   The Society addresses the challenges of each person affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, collaborating with MS organizations around the world, and providing programs and services designed to help
people with MS and their families move their lives forward. In 2010 alone, through its national office and 50-state network of chapters, the Society devoted $159 million to programs and services that assisted more than one million people. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested $37 million to support 325 new and ongoing research projects around
the world. The National MS Society serves more than 56,000 Texans affected by MS with offices in Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, Midland and San Antonio. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at jointhemovementLoneStar.org.

Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis. Learn about your options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at nationalMSsociety.org or 1-800-344-4867.

Tuesday, March 13

Does living in the 3rd largest city make you feel like you… well – live in a big city? Ready to slow down and smell the orange blossoms – in your own backyard? Join us as we deliver the scoop on Houston’s local foodie “Green Scene”! Plus, you’ll meet some of the top purveyors in the Houston food scene who might just have a tasty morsel or two to share!

Scoop: Love your veggies and locally grown, organic produce? With farm cooperatives, daily farmers markets, and over 20 community gardens throughout the city, we will show you where to fill up your vegetable crisper. Plus, we’ll show you where you can pick your own tomatoes, blueberries, flowers and more.

Scoop: Did you know we have a dairy warehouse filled with artisan cheeses, right in the middle of town? Tastings are open to the public and every Friday and Saturday, pick up the map and learn more!

Scoop: Into microbrews? You have options in Houston. On Sundays you can visit the Craft Beer Garden and chill out to some local tunes. Or, any day of the week but Sunday you can stop by our hometown microbrewery, St. Arnold”s for a tour and a sip!

Scoop: Houston is now one of the top coffee ports in the world! You might get the chance to meet one of the Head roasters in town who delivers to his closer customers on his bicycle.

Scoop: Houston is the home for one of the largest and fastest growing networks of local businesses, organizations, initiatives and individuals all coming together to focus on quality of life issues?  Join us and get more info on how to get involved!

We’ll help you see the treasure trove in your own backyard and become a localvore before you know it!

February 28, 2012

We have special guests joining us this month – about 35 Houston organizations will be joining us to let our members & guests know about what they have coming up. From running to triathlon training, parks to bayou conservation, bikeways to bays, and environmental groups to local charities, groups will have a chance to present to the public. Groups like Urban Harvest are invited to talk about their community garden program, as well as several Houston parks to speak about their plans for tree replanting.

The expo also allows like-minded people to meet and network. Not only will fitness fans be able to find activity-buddies, those people whose interest run to conservation and volunteerism will be able to meet friends with similar interests.

My Fit Foods will be providing the snacks & Sherlock’s has a happy hour.

Don’t forget to stop by the BCO Table to find out what we’ve got coming up in 2012 for both members and guests!

The question, as usual, is: what’s in it for us? If we don’t look out for Number One, who will? Certainly not those lying, cheating, hypocritical candidates who promise hot pie in the sky and deliver cold pizza in a box. Forget them, what about their money? Who receives all those campaign contributions? Why not us?

Let’s set the scene: In 2000, George W. Bush set the gold standard by raising and spending so much money all the other GOP candidates just melted away in surly silence. W. set a high bar, and Obama cleared it in 2008. This year, we don’t know yet how much money is involved because the bookkeeping is dreadfully behind the times. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is not only toothless but late. It’s still figuring if Truman really beat Dewey by over-spending.

And, of course, there is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that said corporations are people and thus endowed with free speech rights – and the right to spend as much as they please. Bill Moyers observed, “I have a friend back in Texas that says he’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.” If speech is free, it’s also terribly expensive. Because of the high court’s ruling, super PACs can raise and spend as much money as they want and (the best part) almost anonymously.

This is truly a redistribution of wealth, as the Koch Brothers spend millions on catering, valets, ad salesmen, the little people. Wrong! In presidential campaigns, about 80 percent of the money goes to TV ads. Unless you own a TV station, you might not get a dime. Some of the money will go to Viacom, which owns CBS and whose chairman, Philippe P. Dauman, received $84.5 million last year. Remember that factoid when you make your next campaign contribution.

But there are still some donations left to fight over. For inspiration we take Iowa, please. The GOP primary a few weeks ago chose 1 percent of the party’s national delegates. Should we really care about a minute sample of skewered demographics? We were told we should, as the candidates with their entourage, the press from all over the world, poured into the corn fields and poured cash into the farmer’s coffers. If Iowa can do it, Texas can do it better.

Two steps: First, we have to move up the Texas primary to, say, a week after the January inauguration. No more shall we be an afterthought. We need to be up for grabs and not just a cash cow for funds to buy TV time in South Carolina. We’ll know we are important when we start seeing TV ads for the candidates, sudden visits to our cities, and rallies on the Capitol steps. A political first: they will be spending Texans’ money in Texas.

On the other hand, neither party really wants to blow cash in Texas. We are expensive. Texas is separated into 20 media markets, the most of any state. Former Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, who was state director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2008, told The New York Times, “It’s like running a national campaign. There are no similarities between Amarillo and Brownsville and Beaumont and Texarkana and El Paso and Austin and Houston and Dallas. These are very separate demographic groups with very diverse interests.”

That done, we take step Number Two: We need to be a consultant. It requires no training and obviously no talent. Look at Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign staff: “There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president of the United States than this one,” said an anonymous senior Perry adviser.  There’s room for fresh blood.

Perry’s principal campaign committee, RickPerry.Org Inc., reported in October that it had raised $17.2 million in the third quarter of 2011, more than every other candidate in that filing period. Some say they spent most of it. Others think there’s still a bundle of Perry cash in an Austin bank. I believe it’s piled up alongside Mitt Romney’s fortune in the Cayman Islands.

We also have those aforementioned super PACs. Perry’s was Make Us Great Again. The organization had intended to spend as much as $55 million to secure the Republican nomination for Perry, but as of Jan. 13, the super PAC had spent just $3.9 million. Where’s the rest of it?

But our governor was a cheapskate compared to Mitt Romney, the richest person ever to run for president. His worth is said to be near $250 million. Hey, when someone refers to his $374,000 income in just speaking fees for one year (seven times the median family income of $49,445) as “not very much,” he’s rich big time. Now Romney is spending millions and millions of his own money. Did you get your share?

Then there’s Newt Gingrich, who paid his daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, more than $56,000 working for her father’s campaign the past two years. Ron Paul’s support comes in many different forms. In Nevada, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch is offering a special: two bunnies for the price of one if you support Paul. The Bunny Ranch, as you might suppose, is a brothel (prostitution is legal in Nevada). Dennis Hof, owner, said, “We thought real closely about supporting Gingrich, because he’s a cheater – and we love cheaters.”

All this time Obama is just raking it in, ready to out-spend the GOP nominee. Between now and November a few billion will be blown, and that’s where we come in, on either side. We can consult, hang chads and deliver cold pizza in a box.

Ashby consults at ashby2@comcast.net

Want to meet a great group of people? Are you a new member and ready to get involved? Been an active member forever and just want to say “hi?” Come out and join us! Plenty of parking makes this an easy evening out at this great new venue on Kirby. BCO will have happy hour drink prices from 6:30–7:30 and our own area till 9:00pm.

February 21, 2012

This evening you’re in for a treat as we bring together several top paddlers and instructors from the great State of Texas. Bring your questions – because we’ll have answers. Our panel of experts will include ACA certified instructors, long-time whitewater paddlers, touring paddlers, safety instructors, recreational paddlers – all coming together to answer your questions. Kelly Howard will facilitate.
Ever wanted to explore the many rivers, lakes, and coastal areas that Texas has to offer? There is no better way than in a kayak. Interested in taking a week long camping kayak trip along a beautiful coast? Want to learn about the rivers and lakes to explore just minutes from Downtown Houston? Ever wanted to try running a whitewater river?  Join us for Kayaking 101 and learn everything you need to know about this fantastic way to get outside!

We will review the basics of kayaking, great places to kayak, and all the equipment you need including in-store demonstrations of kayaks and kayaking gear.

Bayou City Outdoors loves to paddle.  From day trips to out of country experiences, surf paddling to kayak polo, you’ll meet a group that loves to get out on the water!

ROCO features dynamic guest conductor, Kazem Abdullah, cello soloist, Richard

Belcher, and the World Premiere of Paul English’s Lumière Lunaire

February 18–19

• Saturday, Feb 18, 2012, 5pm, at The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd.

With ROCOrooters music education/childcare (reservations required)

Tickets are $25, $10 for students with valid student ID

• Sunday, Feb 19, 2012, 5 pm, Concert with Dinner at The Houstonian Hotel, 111 North Post Oak Lane Tickets are $95 and include the concert and a 4-course gourmet dinner. Cocktails and wine will be available for purchase before the concert and at the dinner.

Program

Paul English Lumière Lunaire World Premiere

Joseph Haydn Cello Concerto

Franz Schubert Symphony No. 4 in C Minor “Tragic”

River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) continues its 2011-2012 season, “a fusion of cultures and generations,” by welcoming Kazem Abdullah, who will conduct Schubert Symphony No. 4, Haydn Cello Concerto, performed by soloist, Richard Belcher, the world premiere of Paul English’s Lumière Lunaire, plus a surprise or two.

Maestro Kazem Abdullah has become one of the most watched young American conductors on the scene today and in August of 2012 will become General musik director of the city of Aachen, Germany. His predecessors in this tradition-rich post include Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan and Wolfgang Sawallisch. This season Maestro Abdullah appeared with Michigan Opera Theater, Sinfonieorchester Aachen and the Rochester Philharmonic. He will also appear with the Nuremburg Philharmonic and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Belcher is ROCO’s principal cello. A New Zealand native, Richard has performed as a chamber musician and in solo settings across the USA and internationally. He has been a regular performer for Music in Context, often collaborating with series founder Sergiu Luca, and is cellist and a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet.

ROCO commissioned outstanding jazz pianist and composer, Paul English, to create a new piece especially for this concert. Inspired by a poem written by conductor Jo Ann Falletta, Paul created Lumière Lunaire, a 23-minute symphony that celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the famous Arnold Schoenberg melodrama, Pierrot Lunaire, which means “Moonstruck Clown.” In both the Schoenberg and Paul English compositions, narrator voices deliver the poem in the prechstimme style, which is spoken text with instrumental accompaniment. In this special piece, the narrator voices are the musicians! The result is a lively contemporary piece that will fascinate as it entertains. As a complement to this piece, Space Center Houston will present an exhibition of Lunar art and artifacts at a reception following the Saturday performance.

Contact Terri Golas, 713-665-2700, terri@rocohouston.org

About ROCO

ROCO is a professional chamber orchestra of 40 all-star musicians, distinguished guest conductors and dynamic composers who come together from all over the world to present engaging performances of classical and original compositions. Founded in 2005 by oboist, Alecia Lawyer, ROCO is the most fun you can have with serious music. www.rocohouston.org