Eat With The Sopranos... If You Dare

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Fans of the Sopranos will be licking their lips in anticipation at a new charity auction to hit the World Wide Web this week.

Charity Folks – the online charity auction specialists – are hosting an exciting opportunity to benefit the United Service Organization, and are offering bidders the chance to meet and eat with some of the stars from the hit TV show. One lucky winner and three friends will join Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa – otherwise known as Paulie Walnuts and Bobby Balcala – for an intimate dining experience at New York City’s Giardino’s Restaurant and enjoy the ambiance only members of New Jersey’s most beloved crime family can provide.

And if you can’t get to New York to be part of that unique dinner, perhaps you would like to spend an evening dining with Jon Voight in Los Angeles. The USO is also offering a meet and eat experience with the 69-year-old Academy Award winner.

The USO is the only organization chartered by the US Congress to meet the human service needs of American Armed Forces personnel and their families. Their mission is to provide morale, welfare and recreation-type services to men and women in uniform.

Both auctions run until August 5 and have already reached bids of $2,500.

Siegfried And Roy's Magical Return

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:13:01 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Illusionist team Siegfried & Roy’s long awaited return to the stage has finally been scheduled, and will be their first performance since Roy was mauled by a tiger in 2003. The one-night only show, next February at the Keep Memory Alive (KMA) foundation’s “Power of Love” gala, will benefit the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute (LRBI) in Las Vegas.

Under construction since last year, the Institute will aim to provide the most current research and scientific information for the prevention, early detection, treatment, education, and support of memory disorders and neurodegenerative dementia diseases. LRBI plans to “house the world’s most powerful brain doctors”, and predicts that the cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Lou Gehrig’s disease will be discovered there.

High profile galas with big name guests play a major role in KMA’s fund raising, a strategy that has worked well for founder Larry Ruvo, who named LRBI after his father, a victim of Alzheimer’s. The twelfth gala, held in February this year, was attended by such celebrities as Muhammad Ali, Danny DeVito, Lorraine Bracco, Steve Schirripa, David Copperfield, Leeza Gibbons, Siegfried & Roy, and Teri Hatcher, whose lunch date was auctioned for thousands of dollars. Robin Leach played host, with performances by Michael Buble, and celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck, Guy Savoy, and Tom Colicchio.

“[We] are simply overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the institute,” said Ruvo. “There are no words to express our deep gratitude for the generosity shown. It only deepens our resolve to build an institute that… the medical world will recognize as one of the finest of its kind.”

Nearly five years after the accident, despite still undergoing daily physiotherapy, Roy feels ready for the stage again and to support LRBI in a big way. Siegfried didn’t at first, as he told the Las Vegas Review Journal in December: “I was really not ready for it. All the doctors say what [Roy is] doing now is impossible.”

The tiger that dragged Roy by his neck, causing extensive blood loss and damage, was actually attempting to get him to safety after a fall. Unbeknownst to the animal, humans have substantially thinner hides than tigers.

“I’ve always said, ‘I am the magician and Roy is the magic,’” said Siegfried. “And Roy shows me every day the magic – the magic of life.”

The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is expected to be finished next year.

Look To The Stars News: Steve Schirripa

Eat With The Sopranos... If You Dare

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