Friday, April 11, 2014

4/11 ALEXIS WALSKO, PARRANO CHEESE, JIM FOX, PATINE CELLARS, LA KINGS, NATIONAL GRILLED CHEESE DAY, DAVE KOZ AND FRIENDS AT SEA

ALEXIS WALSKO FROM PARRANO CHEESE - NATIONAL GRILLED CHEESE DAY IS ON  4/12            

One-of-a-Kind Cheese - Parrano is aged for five months, developing its nutty  Parmigiano-Reggiano flavors while maintaining the firm, smooth texture of a young Gouda. This perfect combination brings you the best of both worlds: a cheese that is full of flavor and versatile enough to cut, grate and melt.

Who will make the world’s tastiest grilled cheese?

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day on April 12, we are in search of the most creative and delicious grilled cheese concoction our cheese lovers can come up with! Use our interactive grilled cheese builder and your recipe could be one of the top finalists. Once finalists are chosen, the public can begin voting for their favorite via Facebook.
Only one can win but everyone will enjoy!

www.parrano.com


Jim Fox - Patine Cellars

As a professional athlete, everything is about wins and losses, and even though this intense competition is extremely rewarding, I realized after retiring from the NHL that wine brought me something that was very different, but just as fulfilling.  A games’ final score can be so “black and white,” and while wine is scored and rated, it is the many various intangible rewards that I have grown to love.  Wine is about the art, the process and the creation, as much as it is about the results.  It brings the day-to-day challenge of striving for the best but also offers the artistic element of working alongside Mother Nature.  Wine’s intrigue is so encompassing that I literally can’t wait for the next chance to create something special with critically acclaimed winemaker Mike Smith -- and taste that next glass of Patiné!

Jim has been with the Los Angeles Kings organization since 1980. After a successful 10 year playing career with the Los Angeles Kings, Jim reached as high as 5th on the Kings all-time points list and currently sits 9th. In 1990, he continued off-ice as the team’s director of community relations and, subsequently, as an Emmy Award-winning TV analyst.

Jim and wife Susie discovered their love of wine enjoying special moments with family and friends. These experiences inspired Jim to become a diligent student of wine, including frequent trips to the world’s top wine regions of Europe and California.

As co-founder of Patiné Cellars, Jim actively manages daily business operations including the direction of sales, marketing and production.

www.patinecellars.com


DAVE KOZ – DAVE KOZ AND FRIENDS AT SEA: CRUISE OF A LIFETIME 

Dave Koz and Friends at Sea
September 5 - 12, 2014 - Royal Caribbean - Radiance of the Seas
Vancouver, BC • Skagway • Tracy Arm Fjord • Juneau • Ketchikan, Alaska

Nine-time GRAMMY nominee Dave Koz remembers the first record he ever purchased Tower of Powers 1974 album, Back To Oakland. It had a powerful impact on him, as his latest album "Summer Horns" shows. Teaming up with three of his most talented and trusted colleagues Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot and Mindi Abair Koz revisited the music that made him want to pick up the saxophone in the first place: classic tracks from Tower of Power and other brassy juggernauts that ruled the airwaves from the late 1960s through the 70s bands like Sly & the Family Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears.

Over the decades, the saxophone has opened numerous doors for Koz. Hes played with such artists as Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Shelby Lynne, Kenny Loggins, U2, Barry Manilow, Michael McDonald, Luther Vandross and Rod Stewart. Hes become a platinum-selling artist with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is also known as a humanitarian, entrepreneur, radio host and instrumental music advocate.

Born and raised in Los Angeles San Fernando Valley, Dave initially just saw the saxophone as a way to help him gain entry into his big brothers band. What began as a ploy became a lifelong obsession. After graduating from UCLA, Koz decided to become a professional musician. Within weeks of that decision, he was recruited as a touring member of Bobby Caldwells band. It was during this time that Koz befriended keyboardist Jeff Lorber, who invited Koz to come play on one of his tours. That stint was followed by a fourteen-month tour with pop singer Richard Marx.

Signed to Capitol Records by Bruce Lundvall, Koz released his self-titled solo debut album in 1990. This was the first in a body of best-selling work, which includes the gold-certified Lucky Man (1993), Off The Beaten Path (1996), and the holiday-themed albums December Makes Me Feel This Way (1997) and Dave Koz & Friends A Smooth Jazz Christmas (2001). His gold-certified fifth album, The Dance (1999), spawned no less than five Top 5 contemporary jazz hits. Saxophonic (2003) produced another four Top 5 singles and garnered Koz two Grammy nominations spanning two consecutive years.

In 2007, Koz released two chart-topping collections of standards. At The Movies, his lush, romantic celebration of timeless melodies from cinema, spent 12 weeks atop Billboards Top Contemporary Jazz chart. Produced by the legendary Phil Ramone, it was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category. Memories Of A Winters Night, a festive collection of holiday standards, hit No. 1 on Billboards Top Contemporary Jazz chart in December 2007. Dave Koz At The Movies Double Feature CD + DVD followed in early 2008, which featured the At The Movies CD with two never-before-released bonus audio tracks, a new DVD and a track-by-track commentary.

Capitol Records released Dave Koz Greatest Hits, his first-ever retrospective album, in the fall of 2008 and it debuted at No. 1 on both Billboards Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and iTunes Jazz Album chart. The collection included many of Kozs smash singles including Castle of Dreams, Cant Let You Go featuring the late Luther Vandross, Together Again, Honey-Dipped and All I See Is You plus four new brand new songs. Lead single Life In The Fast Lane, which Koz co-wrote with writer/producer Darren Rahn, spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the R&R Monitored Smooth Jazz chart. It was followed by the Top 5 single Bada Bing.

Hello Tomorrow Daves first album for Concord Records debuted at No. 1 on both Billboards Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and iTunes Jazz Album chart and was named the Best Smooth Jazz Album of 2010 by iTunes. The CD was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Hailed as an event record by The New York Times, its lead single, Put The Top Down, spent 18 weeks at No. 1 on the Mediabase Smooth A/C chart the longest stint at No. 1 of any of Kozs chart-topping hits. Ultimate Christmas, featuring 18 perennial holiday classics performed by Koz, bowed in 2011 on Capitol/EMI. Live at the Blue Note Tokyo, Kozs first-ever live CD, was released by Concord Records in 2012 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

Koz and his friends Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot and Mindi Abair turned to producer Paul Brown (Al Jarreau, George Benson, June Tabor, Boney James) to help them realize the vision for Summer Horns (2013, Concord Records). The album also features trumpeter/flugelhornist Rick Braun, trombonist Brian Culbertson, vocalists Michael McDonald, Jeffrey Osborne and Jonathan Butler plus arrangements by Greg Adams (Tower of Power) and Tom Scott. Topping it off is a sax-only rendition of Take Five with Gordon Goodwin offering his arrangement to the quartet and a new original composition, Summer Horns. The album was honored with a GRAMMY nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album and an NAACP Image Awards nomination for Outstanding Jazz Album.

Dave is constantly touring, with annual summer and holiday tours, and Dave Koz & Friends At Sea cruises. He also continues to flex his mass-communications muscles as a radio personality. On the weekends, he hosts the syndicated Dave Koz Radio Show now in its 19th year and airing in approximately 50 markets.

As an entrepreneur, Koz founded Rendezvous Entertainment. As a philanthropist, he has served for 19 years as global ambassador for the Starlight Childrens Foundation. Dave recently partnered with premium Santa Barbara winemaker Terravant, Whole Foods Market and California Pizza Kitchen to introduce four new types of KOZ wines. He is donating all his proceeds from KOZ wines to help Starlight continue its vital mission. Koz completed a four-year term on the Grammy Foundation Artists Committee, has served as National Trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) and is an ongoing member of the Board Of Governors for the Grammy Foundation.

To this day, Koz is transfixed by the sound of summer horns that swept him away nearly 40 years ago and as he continues his efforts as an instrumental music advocate hes living proof that the opportunities are limitless when you shoot for the stars and are armed with your favorite instrument.

davekoz.com
www.davekozcruise.com