Mangione's former partner creates niche of his own
Sax player Chris Vadala isn't heard as often as when he and flugelhornist Chuck Mangione were producing hits, but he's busy in a different way.
Vadala, part of the band that put out "Feels So Good" in 1978 and "Give It All You Got" in 1980, now teaches at the University of Maryland and performs at high school and college clinics.
He will be at the James St. Restaurant, North Side, on Tuesday as part of a visit to Indiana High School in Indiana County.
"You kind of get in a zone," Vadala says about performing with Mangione. "He would constantly try to go do new material, but those hits were part of every concert. And people who bring me into schools often say that's how they know me, so it has done me some good, that's for sure."
At the James St. gig, Vadala will be performing with PAJ 3 , the trio led by Joe Saylor , the pianist son of Nevin Saylor , head of the jazz program at Indiana High School.
The James St. visit and Indiana clinic are indicative of Vadala's current career direction. He is the director of the jazz studies program and professor of saxophone at the University of Maryland, work that leads him to many educational gigs, he says. For instance, he points to workshops he's done at Kiski Area and North Hills area high schools as well as at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
His performance career is still alive though, he says, playing frequently with rhythm sections in towns he's visiting as he's doing here. He also has a solo album, "Out of the Shadows," that has been on the market for about a year.
Vadala has been the university since 1994, following his stint with Mangione from 1977 to 1990.
He grew tired of the sameness of the work, he says.
"When I left, I turned to some other styles of music -- bop, things like that," he says. "It was kind of a jazz awakening."
He did Mangione reunion tours in 1993 and 1995, he says, and still appears with the brass player sometimes. But the schedule of his own career tends to make that difficult to arrange.
Vadala and PAJ 3 will perform from 7 to 11 p.m. Tuesday at the James St. Restaurant on the North Side. Admission is free.
Details: (412) 323-2222.
Concert organized by Guild to be shown on BET
An all-star jazz concert in New York City sponsored by the North Side's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild will be broadcast on the BET cable TV network at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The concert with sax star Paquito D'Rivera , flutist Hubert Laws and the New York Voices was put together by the Guild at January's conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
After Sunday's broadcast, the concert also will be shown on the BET Jazz cable outlet at noon, 8 p.m. and midnight on Tuesday, April 11, 20 and 25.
Johnstown Symphony to present concert
The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will present "The Present and the Future -- Side By Side" -- at 7:30 tonight at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. The concert will feature the Johnstown Youth Symphony as both guest artist and collaborator. Tickets are $24, $20, $14 for senior citizens and $10 for students. Details: 814-535-6738.
Children's author at Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Route 30, east of Greensburg, will welcome children's author Jack Gantos 6:30-8:30 p.m. April 21. The author of "Joey Pigza Swallowed a Key," "Joey Pigza Loses Control," "What Would Joey Do?" and "Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue" will sign copies of his books and meet his fans.
Also at the store, students from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg will read their original poetry at 8 p.m. April 9. Authors Dave Finoli and Bill Ranier will discuss and sign copies of their collection about the Pirates, "Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia," at 5 p.m. April 18.
Celtic band to play at St. Florian church
Red Hand Paddy, a Celtic rock band from Pittsburgh, will perform at St. Florian Catholic Church in United, Mt. Pleasant Township, 7-11 p.m. April 17.
Tickets are $10, $5 for children younger than 12. For more information, contact Colleen Yothers at 724-423-2028.
Cultural events
Cultural events in the city today include:
City Theatre presents "Topdog/Underdog" at 5:30 and 9 p.m. Performances continue through Sunday at City Theatre's Mainstage, 57 S. 13th St., South Side. $30. (412) 431-2489.
Pittsburgh Public Theater presents "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at 2 and 8 p.m. Performances continue through Sunday at the O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $29 to $46. (412) 316-1600.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents Bill Cosby at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall, Sixth Street and Penn Avenue, Downtown. $29 to $49. (412) 392-4900.
John Belushi gets posthumous star on Walk of Fame
John Belushi was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and salutes from his brother, Jim , and "Saturday Night Live" cast members Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd .
"He was just funny," said Jim Belushi, star of "According to Jim," at Thursday's ceremony. "He had a funny face ... and you couldn't take your eyes off him."
Fans from as far away as Belushi's native Chicago were on hand along with his widow, Judy Belushi Pisano, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Tom Arnold .
"We had some of the most hilarious times," Chase said, recounting a moment when the two jokingly posed in underwear, pretending they were models. "John kept me laughing all the time when we were together."
Aykroyd said he and fellow celebrities now have a duty to polish Belushi's star. "He'd wanna say to the rest of us here ... 'next time you come to this spot, stock up on the Brasso,'" Aykroyd said.
Belushi was 33 when he died of a drug overdose in Hollywood in 1982.
Jim Belushi recounted several times when his brother stole the spotlight from him and other comedians. He also referred to Belushi as one of the great comedians of his generation.
"When you drink the water remember the men who dug the well," he said, quoting an old saying. "I'm grateful for the well that John dug and the water we all drink from it."
Belushi was an original "SNL" cast member. He starred in the 1978 comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House" and 1980's "The Blues Brothers," co-starring Aykroyd.
Virgin Group's Branson embarks on reality show
As Donald Trump basks in the popularity of his NBC reality show, "The Apprentice," the Fox network has announced that Virgin Group's Richard Branson will be leading a group of young entrepreneurs on a global journey.
"Branson's Big Adventure," the working title of the show, will air later this year, Fox Broadcasting Co. said Thursday.
The show will feature "a select group of America's best and brightest," who will fly to international destinations and relive some of Branson's personal experiences. Each week, one candidate will be left on the tarmac as the rest of the group jets off to the next adventure.
Mike Darnell , executive vice president of specials and alternative programming for the network, said in a statement, "It's not about business acumen; for Branson, it's about finding that one extraordinary individual who has the right stuff to follow in his footsteps.
"This isn't about selling a glass of lemonade."
Actor says playing Shaggy was like running a marathon
Matthew Lillard compares reprising his role as Shaggy in the new "Scooby-Do" film to running a marathon.
"It was definitely easier because I knew I could handle the process," Lillard told reporters recently, according to AP Radio. "It's like training for a marathon. You run a marathon once, and then going back to run it again, you know what to expect."
Lillard and his castmates teamed up for "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," the sequel to 2002's "Scooby-Doo."
"I watched a lot of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin (films) before working on the project," he said. "We felt like the physical comedy of Shaggy worked real well the first time around, so the second time around we really tried to build some of those feats in even more so."
The 34-year-old actor said playing Shaggy was demanding.
"The endurance level it takes to do that kind of a character, the energy level is so intense, that at the end of it you just kind of fall apart."
Monet work expected to fetch $9M at auction
A large-scale waterlilies oil by Claude Monet from the collection of producer Ray Stark will be auctioned in May.
"Le Bassin aux Nympheas" is one of many Impressionist and modern works in the collection to be auctioned at Sotheby's on May 6, the auction house said. It is expected to fetch $9 million to $12 million.
Other paintings from the collection include works by Georges Braque, Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Fernand Leger.
British author nearly misses lecture because of checkpoint
SEATTLE (AP) -- British author Ian McEwan nearly missed giving a lecture in Seattle after U.S. immigration officers at the Vancouver, British Columbia, airport refused to let him board a flight to the United States.
McEwan, winner of the prestigious Booker Prize, was on his way to a West Coast lecture tour Tuesday morning when he failed to get through the U.S. immigration checkpoint.
After much diplomatic discussion over his visa status, McEwan got approval to board a flight at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday. He arrived in Seattle an hour and 25 minutes before the lecture was to begin.
"It was like a bad dream for a bit there," he said from Portland, Ore., shortly before giving another lecture Thursday. "But far worse things happen to travelers and it ended very well, so I think it will fade into a traveler's tale."
The problem, according to spokesman Jim Michie of U.S. Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection in Bethesda, Md., was that McEwan told inspectors he planned to give lectures for pay but lacked the proper visa for business visitors.
McEwan said people untangling the situation told him the State Department wanted to permit him to enter but the Homeland Security Department did not.
"I'm not really blaming anyone in this. I think the law has been left too vague and too open to local interpretation as I understand it, and I just got unlucky," he said.
Details: www.ianmcewan.com .
