The Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee approved a package of 14 proposals last Wednesday that will guide future access, development and uses in the city park that one day will be built below the Palisades Recreation Center. Voting 14-0, with one abstention, the PCCAC adopted a four-page document, with only a few minor modifications, that will now be sent to the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks for future action. But before that happens, the city must first complete the 20-year infill and slope stabilization project in Potrero Canyon (from the Rec Center down to Pacific Coast Highway) and sell city-owned property in order to fund this work. PCCAC Chairman George Wolfberg, after a meeting with city officials in November, estimated that serious new discussions about the park in Potrero are four or five years away. At advisory committee meetings since the group’s formation in 2004, two groups have continuously presented strenuous objections to some, if not most, park proposals. Last Wednesday’s meeting was no different, as Huntington Palisades and neighbors along the canyon’s west rim (Friends and DePauw) spoke out about various concerns. The committee’s number one proposal was a pedestrian bridge that would connect Potrero Canyon to the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot, ensuring a safe crossing for bikers and walkers across PCH. This would also save people having to make a half-mile walk from Potrero up to Temescal Canyon Road to cross at the signal. A speaker from the Huntington Palisades asked that the bridge proposal be reconsidered because she was worried that this would make it easier for homeless people and interlopers from other areas of Los Angeles to make their way up the canyon into her neighborhood. Duncan Thomas, president of the resurrected Potrero Canyon Association, which represents many who live on the west rim, was not in favor of a bridge because he said a large majority of Palisades people opposed it and that it would cost the city too much money. Committee member David Card reminded him that at a Potrero Community Workshop, which was open to the public, the majority voted that they wanted safe access across PCH via a bridge. And fellow member Rob Weber noted that two people had been killed crossing the highway at that location during the past year. Pat Ramsey, representing the Huntington Palisades Property Owners Corporation, reminded the committee that he had presented a letter signed by 700 residents, asking that Frontera Drive into the park be closed (where the tennis courts are located) and that there be no bridge. ‘We need facts,’ he said. ‘The committee hasn’t done an investigation of the facts”specifically, a full environmental impact report and complete traffic study ‘before the PCCAC’s attempt to make any decisions on parking or entrances to the planned park.’ Wolfberg responded, ‘All of these proposals will be subject to CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] and city laws pertaining to the park. We are not funded to do these studies. All we can do is give advice.’ Before the vote, audience member Richard Cohen, vice chair of the Palisades Community Council, said: ‘This document in its entirety pleases no one, but it is a reasonable compromise. You [the committee] are to be commended.’ The document adopted by the committee can be read on-line at www.potrero.info. After the vote, a resident asked Wolfberg, ‘Is the committee’s work complete?’ ‘We will discuss this with the Councilman’s office [Bill Rosendahl] and come up with a timeline,’ Wolfberg said. ‘If there’s not enough work for the other two subcommittees, I don’t see any reason to meet.’ This week, Wolfberg provided an update. ‘I do not anticipate the whole committee meeting the next few months,’ he said ‘but that is subject to City progress on matters that may require our attention. When Rec and Parks starts designing Phase III, input from our Landscape subcommittee (chaired by Carl Mellinger) will be required. When property sales are scheduled, our Land and Finance subcommittee (chaired by Rob Weber) will provide input.’
Rustic Canyon Residents, City Rally to Save Grove
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
The eucalyptus grove at Rustic Canyon Park, still redolent with the pungency of silver-gray leaves after the rain, belies the stresses that have decimated an estimated third of the towering trees and galvanized local residents to address the crisis. Concerned about the disappearing forest, canyon residents will meet with city officials on Monday, January 28 at 7 p.m. in the Gallery Room at Rustic Canyon Recreation Center. The public is invited. Known as the historic eucalyptus grove, the impressive stand of eucalypts and other exotic trees were part of Abbott Kinney’s Forestry Experimental Station eucalyptus project, planted in 1887. The developer/dreamer was convinced that the fast-growing Australian gum tree could do everything from providing wood for framing houses to killing moths. But it couldn’t’eucalyptus beams crack and warp, and the oil smells nice but has no special medicinal properties. Kinney received six acres from the federal government and set up the country’s very first Forestry Experimental Station in the canyon’s center, planting hundreds of eucalyptus species side by side as a test. A few acres of that station remain, in the grove south of Rustic Canyon Park. Over time, residential pressures threatened the grove, so in 1954 the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association, with assistance from the city of Los Angeles, created a preserve for the grove. It was granted official state historic landmark status in 1971. The health of the grove began suffering during the drought in the mid-1970s, when neighbors carried water to the trees in order to try and save those most endangered. From 1980 to 1984, the park system began to mulch the trees with composted litter from other parks, which resulted in an infestation that further weakened the trees. The ensuing years have been characterized by residents calling for a systematic watering system and offering to raise the money for such a system. ‘When the city did install an irrigation line a few years ago, it was shredded by the city’s subsequent weed-clearance program,’ say neighbors Russell Minchinton and Elizabeth Zaillian, who are actively involved in the saving the trees. Now the Grove Committee, a subcommittee of the SMCCA, under the leadership of Beverly Eyre and Rand Plewak, has once again jump-started the campaign to save the grove. In August 2007, Eyre and Plewak contacted City Park Maintenance Manager Patrick Kennedy, who suggested a higher level of maintenance. He recommended continued hand watering by park maintenance staff, repairing the ‘quick couplers’ water line that was broken and selective pruning and removal of dead trees. Patrick expressed a willingness to champion a plan that would provide for the needs of the grove. While suggestions vary as to the health of the soil, the best replacement tree and costs, Rustic Canyon residents all agree that they want a grove in the canyon.
Highlands Fire Leaves Three Families Homeless
More than a dozen fire engines raced up Palisades Drive to the Highlands on Thursday night to put out a fire in a row of townhouses on Michael Lane. The fire started in the garage at 1684 Michael Lane, where the owner had parked his car that was smoking. When the man went inside to call for help, the car caught fire. The garage was filled with stacks of combustibles on the floor and against the walls, leaving only room for the car, and when it caught fire, the stacks rapidly went up into flames, too, according to Fire Station 23 Captain James Varney. Fire Station 23 (located at Sunset Boulevard and Los Liones Drive) responded to an 8:20 p.m. call and had to contend with a ‘hot, messy, dirty fire,’ said Captain Varney. The townhouses share a common attic and the fire spread into the attic and the walls of the adjoining units. ‘The men had to break the roof tiles in order to cut the ceiling to get to the fire,’ Varney said. ‘It was a major emergency because it was difficult to fight.’ The warm, windy weather, coupled with the townhouses’ close proximity to the hillside brush, all added to the possible dire consequences that faced firefighters In addition to Station 23, Stations 69, 19, 59 63, 37 and companies from downtown responded to the alarm. Station 23 was on site until after midnight and several other fire crews were there until 2 and 3 a.m. ‘It was an expensive firefighting operation,’ Varney said. ‘Crews had to chainsaw walls and the ceiling to get to the seat of the fire.’ The three townhouse units had extensive heat, smoke and water damage. Varney estimated that about 50 percent of the damage was water. He warned homeowners, ‘Don’t store combustibles on the floor or near a water heater.’ And, if a car is smoking, don’t pull it into a garage. ‘It would have been one thing to put out a car fire,’ Varney said, ‘but this left three families without a place to stay.’
Gidget: Still Making Waves
Palisadian Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, 67, was immortalized in her father’s (Frederick Kohner) 1957 book ‘Gidget, The Little Girl with Big Ideas.’ This semi-autobiographical account of Kohner’s summer on a Malibu beach learning to surf and of experiencing a first love has sold more than three million copies. The book was turned into a popular 1959 movie, which starred Sandra Dee and James Darren and which inspired a television show that starred Sally Field. This simple story became a cultural phenomenon because it brought surfing into the nation’s spotlight while featuring a girl in a predominantly male sport. The 1950s were a time before Title IX and women’s sports, and less than three percent of surfers were women. ‘It wasn’t something that girls did,’ Zuckerman said, who was chosen in a 1999 Surfer magazine 40th Anniversary Collector’s Issue as one of the most influential surfers of all time. She was ranked number seven of the 25 featured and one of only two women selected. On January 9, Kathy spoke at a Palisades AARP meeting about her parents, her life and surfing. ‘I always loved Malibu beach,’ she told the more than 50 people in the audience. Her Czechoslovakian parents were refugees from the Holocaust, and relocated in Brentwood. Even though her father didn’t swim, he took the family to the beach because a doctor relative had told him that it was healthy. ‘I got bored sitting on the sand,’ Kathy said. The 15-year-old wandered over to watch the surfers and her two interests blended, surfers and boys–in particular a boy named Bill Jensen, who became immortalized in the book and film as Gidget’s love interest Moondoggie. In order to be accepted by influential surfers such as Miki Dora, Mickey Mu’oz, Dewey Weber, Tom Morey, Nat Young, Terry “Tubesteak” Tracy and Jensen, Kathy decided to learn to surf. The men were amused by the 5’1′ teenager, and one of the surfers nicknamed her ‘Gidget,’ a combination of girl and midget. In 1956, Kathy went out on a surfboard for the first time. Her diary entry for the day read: ‘I didn’t do too much but go to the beach. I didn’t think I’d have fun but I met Matt [Kivlin] and he took me out on his surfboard. He let me catch the waves by myself and once I fell off and the board went flying in the air. I didn’t get hurt at all. . .I hope Matt will take me surfing again.’ She paid $30 for her first board, which was 8′ feet long and weighed 22 pounds. The teenager confided to her father that she wished she could write a story about the beach. ‘My dad said, ‘Tell me everything and I’ll write it for you.” Kohner was a screenwriter in Hollywood. In 1939, he was nominated for best writing original story in ‘Mad About Music,’ in which a young woman at a boarding school in Switzerland writes herself letters from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father. His credits include numerous stories such as ‘Bride for Sale,’ ‘The Men in Her Life,’ and ‘Three Daring Daughters’ that were made into films starring some of the greatest leading ladies of the day, including Loretta Young, Jeanette MacDonald and Rosalind Russell. His style of writing about spunky women was perfectly suited for ‘Gidget,’ and the book became a national bestseller, reaching seventh on the chart, above Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road.’ Not all reviewers applauded his work. A Nebraska reviewer called it ‘A vulgar little book about a nice little girl who tries to be hard.’ The reviewer ended by saying that he didn’t like the language and suggesting that the young woman be spanked. Whether it was his style or a truthfulness that spoke to young women, Kohner gained a large audience. ‘Hundreds and hundreds of young girls wrote my dad letters,’ Kathy said. He kept them and when he and his wife passed away in 2001, Kathy and her sister inherited the rights to Gidget as well as the letters. In 2001, Zuckerman brought out a new edition of the book, which contains beach photos of her from the 1950s, a foreword and introduction by writer/playwright Deanne Stillman. In the story ‘Surfing Sunset & Vine: Tales of Gidget and Other Short Subjects,’ documentary filmmaker Brian Gillogly became fascinated by Zuckerman. As he got to know her, the story took on several dimensions and he decided to shoot a documentary about her. ‘Surfing exploded after the ‘Gidget’ movie came out,’ he said. ‘Surfer lingo was introduced to the nation’s culture. It was interesting to watch how the icon spread from Kathy and affected the country.’ Gillogly was also fascinated by the degree to which Gidget became a liberating force for women: she was dubbed a proto-feminist because she was participating in a male sport before the feminist scene exploded around the country. ‘We have all these inspirational stories from women on the film and it’s all because of Gidget [Kohner],’ he said. The documentary was only screened once at the Malibu Film Festival in 2006, where it received a standing ovation and rave reviews. Sony Pictures allowed Gillogly to pay a film festival fee for that showing, but in order to receive licensing to continue to screen the one-hour documentary, he must pay a $50,000. ‘For a major network that would be nothing,’ Gillogly said. ‘For us that’s a deal breaker.’ He has had queries from all over the world about showing the documentary, but so far Sony has not budged. The film is being reviewed by the Stanford Fair Use Project, which helps documentaries to legally use copyrighted clips. When the ‘Gidget’ book was reissued in 2001, Zuckerman hit the road to promote it. She was featured in newspapers around the country, including the New York Times, the Boston Herald, and the Chicago Tribune. Magazine stories and television appearances followed. Zuckerman has appeared on the ‘CBS Morning Show’ and Australia’s ‘Today Show,’ as well as on National Public Radio. Zuckerman has told her story to audiences and schools around the country. She recently found out that she will be inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame on January 27. She left Malibu in 1960 to attend Oregon College. In 1965, she met her husband of 45 years, Marvin Zuckerman. The couple have two sons: David, a freelance magazine writer and independent film producer, and Phil, a sociology professor at Pitzer College. The Zuckerman’s have three grandchildren: Ruby, Flora and August. After taking a 40-year break from surfing, Kathy is in the water again. ‘It’s like a bike: once you learn it, you can do it,’ she said. Zuckerman belongs to the Surfers Club in Malibu and hits the waves once a week. She told the audience, ‘It was a good place for me to spend my youth.’ If Kathy’s trim figure and bubbly enthusiasm are any indication of the benefits of surfing, it sounds as if the Pacific Ocean is still a good place to spend time.
James Wrubel Tunes His Piano to Jazz
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By MICHAEL AUSHENKER Staff Writer ‘When you sit a kid down to practice in front of a 5 ft. by 8 ft. window with a view of the Pacific Palisades,’ says local jazz pianist James Wrubel, ‘it’s a little difficult to concentrate.’ Yet despite his youthful restlessness, those childhood classical music lessons have paid off. Today, Wrubel actively performs around the Los Angeles jazz circuit. At a recent Jazz Bakery gig, Wrubel, sharply dressed in black, brings an easy rapport with his audience to the stage. About 50 people, mostly in their 20s and including a cross-section of Santa Monica College’s History of Jazz class, gather on this splendorous Sunday afternoon to take in the James Wrubel Trio’s musical stylings. The baseline in his voice carries Wrubel’s laid back, self-deprecating dry wit to the back rows of the Culver City venue, located in the heart of a converted bread factory. ‘If you’re bored, Levitz [Furniture], across the street, is having a 70 percent off sale,’ quips the young musician. With the magenta ‘Jazz Bakery’ logo projected behind him onto a blue-to-violet gradated screen, Wrubel himself projects maturity beyond his 25 years, the spotlight sharpening his carrot top good looks. Backed by fellow USC jazz messengers Christopher Hackman on upright bass and a plaid-clad Brian Carmody tossing off staccato, Glen Krupa-esque drum boogie riffs, Wrubel gamely leads his trio into a frisky cover of the late Michael Brecker’s ‘Slings and Arrows.’ Mid-gig, a solo Wrubel caroms his way through an unorthodox rendition of the classic ‘Over the Rainbow.’ The James Wrubel Trio, which also plays ‘It Could Happen To You’ and ‘Nature Boy,’ embraces all jazz subgenres–from ragtime to big band to Dixieland and hard bop. Music always came naturally to the lifelong Palisadian. Wrubel, who went to Carl Thorpe School and still resides in the Highlands, grew up as something of a prodigy. ‘My mom knew at [age] two or three because I could hum a tune,’ he says. ‘I was born premature. I was late talking but I could hum. When I was little, I could pick up things off the TV and I could play it on the piano.’ As a five year-old, Wrubel actually corrected a piano teacher who was playing the ‘Jeopardy’ theme (‘He played it in the wrong key’). Theme songs and cartoon soundtracks–the destination of many a jazz player– have no appeal to Wrubel. The thought of applying his gift commercially in this fashion makes this jazz purist shudder. ‘I’m really not interested in scoring films,’ says Wrubel, who has a sister, 28, working in the film industry. ‘It’s a great life if you can get the work.’ Wrubel remembers how his dad, who never acted on his promise despite receiving a full scholarship from Juilliard, once picked up his dormant clarinet, after many years of musical inactivity, and blew ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ for his young son. Wrubel was only 12 when his father, an aerospace engineer, died of cancer in 1993. And yet, he insists his father’s death did not alter or further his musical path. ‘It made me more introspective as a person,’ he says. Attending Crossroads was indeed a crossroads for the classically trained Wrubel, whose interest in jazz blossomed at the Santa Monica-based school. It was while attending Crossroads, Wrubel notes, that ‘my friend brought me the album ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis. Right after my dad passed away, I found out that my dad had a massive jazz collection and I popped it right in.’ Soon, Wrubel began digging the sounds of Bill Evans, Horace Silver, and Dave Brubeck. Cannonball Adderley (whose choreographer niece, Janet Adderley, runs the Adderley School on Palisades Drive) was another one of Wrubel’s jazz heroes. Back at The Bakery show, the James Wrubel Trio chugs along full-throttle. Wrubel kicks off one tune with some deliberately off-key ivory tickling. As the song builds steam toward a runaway train tempo, the rhythm section jumps aboard for the ride, pushing the pace faster and faster before the number runs out of locomotive juice, gliding slowly and smoothly towards its finale. Wrubel attributes his discipline to practicing to his longtime teacher Palisadian Nancy Arnold, who taught him from age six right through high school and continues to show support. ‘One of the things that was striking about James is that when he and his sister came to audition for me, he did not want me to leave. His mother kind of had to drag him out. To this day, I noticed, he cannot walk by a piano without playing it. It was inspirational for me to teach him.’ Wrubel has also studied with Palisades jazzman John Rangel. By the time he reached Dartmouth (class of 2004), Wrubel fell into a pocket of older musicians, many of them jazz guitarists, who became his mentor figures. ‘It was kind of informal–Eddie Palimieri, Wynton Marsalis, Stefon Harris, Cuban/Latin jazz guys Arturo O’Farrill–they would come to perform, conduct master classes, listen to you play and offer critiques.’ The irony is not lost on Wrubel, that in predominantly WASP-y New Hampshire, he got his crash course on international, multiethnic music. These days, Wrubel adds, ‘My focus has shifted to contemporary players. I like harmony, I like big chords. I play everything from salsa, Latin jazz and bossanova.’ Everything except, perhaps, the music that most people his age listen to. He’s just not interested. ‘I could, but it’s not challenging, technically and harmonically.’ Yet for all of his rejection of contemporary groups, the James Wrubel Trio often opens their second set with their twist on the suicidal-somber ‘Exit Music (For a Film),’ a Radiohead track from the closing credits of (appropriately enough) Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo + Juliet.’ So, you see, the Trio isn’t your grandfather’s jazz combo. Currently a pre-med student enrolled at USC, Wrubel remains content to practice his creative outlet on the side. This is not a bad jazz city,’ Wrubel says of L.A.’s small but loyal jazz community. ‘Los Angeles has a good variety of clubs and musicians.’ Along the Jazz Bakery’s wall, mammoth oils of Armstrong, Holiday, and Miller smile out of the darkness. If casual jazz guy James Wrubel doesn’t watch his back, his portrait may one day join them.
Sharing the Joy of Learning
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Palisadian Julie Firstenberg Kamins has just released her first children’s book, ‘Why Am I at the Red Table?’ the newest children’s book dedicated to kids with a desire to learn and to those who have faced challenges in learning and reading. On Saturday, January 26 at noon she will appear at Village Books on Swarthmore to sign books and answer questions. The book follows the story of Madison, a second grader who has just started school and has been assigned to the ‘red table’ reading group. Aware of the labeling, she is quickly discouraged and stops reading. Eventually, Madison learns an important lesson. ‘Education is really about focusing on your own learning, and not really paying attention to or comparing yourself to others, but trying to work on your own personal best,’ Kamins said. ‘The message isn’t that you will definitely move up, but if you don’t try at all, you definitely won’t.’ Kamins, an academic tutor, drew inspiration from her students to write this book about educational challenges. ‘It’s designed for children to give them the experience of someone else who might be feeling similar and to show them, not to worry about anyone else,’ Kamins said. ‘When you get to be our age, no one asks what reading group you were in. We don’t really judge people that way; it’s more about a work ethic that develops in life.’ One of Kamins students was in a situation similar to Madison’s. A lack of confidence discouraged her from reading, so Kamins read her an early rough draft of ‘Why Am I at the Red Table?’ Following her tutoring session that night, she surprised her family by reading aloud at the dinner table. Shortly after she entered a read-a-thon, in which she read 120 books. Kamins attended Westlake (now Harvard-Westlake) School, where she began tutoring during her freshman year. She went on to receive degrees in English and sociology from UC Berkeley, where she continued to tutor. Following her undergraduate studies she received her law degree from Southwestern. Although she had no children while attending law school, the school allowed her to enroll in the single mothers program (classes were offered during the school day so that mothers could be home when their children were finished with school) so that she could continue to tutor. ‘Tutoring has always been a part of me, since I was 14,’ Kamins said. Kamins now tutors seven days a week from her home on Asilomar. Her husband Philip is a local dentist and the couple has two children, Joshua, 6 and Alana, 2. Joshua is credited, along with many other children, as ‘junior editors’ who helped Kamins complete her book. ‘People think the book is just about learning disabilities, but it’s not,’ Kamins said. ‘It’s an overall message about learning.’
Chamber Concert to Showcase Bartok
Chamber Music Palisades continues its music series at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29 at St. Matthew’s church, 1031 Bienveneda. The concert will showcase musicians Ida Levin, violin, Michael Grego, clarinet, Susan Greenberg, flute and Delores Stevens, piano and will feature Bartok’s 1938 groundbreaking jazz/classical crossover hit ‘Contrasts’ for violin, clarinet and piano, made famous by Benny Goodman. The program will also include chamber works by Rameau, Prokofiev and Brahms. KUSC’s Alan Chapman will host. Bartok’s pioneering work ‘Contrasts’ for violin, clarinet and piano has captivated the jazz and classical music world since its 1938 debut. Written on commission by Hungarian violinist Josef Szigeti and the ‘King of Swing,’ clarinetist Benny Goodman, it contrasts the colors of the three different instruments, as well as jazz and classical music styles and their moods and tempi. Alhtough Bartok was initially skeptical of writing for a jazz artist, a meeting on the French Riviera with Goodman, who was touring Europe at the time, changed his mind. He completed the work in just over a month, initially creating a piece in two movements to which he subsequently added a middle movement. Performing the work will be Santa Monica native Ida Levin, who made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 10, and has performed around the world and at the White House; Michael Grego, clarinet with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra who frequently performs with LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra; and pianist and Chamber Music Palisades co-founder Delores Stevens. Other works on the program include ‘Pieces de Clavecin’ by French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, featuring Grego on clarinet and Stevens on harpsichord; Sonata for flute and piano by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev featuring Stevens and flutist Susan Greenberg, Chamber Music Palisades co-founder, and a member of LACO since 1975; and Sonata in G Major for violin and piano by German composer Johannes Brahms, performed by Levin and Stevens. Tickets are $25; students with ID are free. For tickets and information call: (310) 459-2070 or visit: www.cmpalisades.org.
Opus Is One “Super-Sized” Book
Palisadian Mark Skelly Introduces the Biggest Volume on Football Ever Made
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Since it was first played in 1967 the Super Bowl has evolved into the largest one-day sporting event in the United States. Every year millions of people across the country gather in front of television sets to see who will be crowned champion of the National Football League. Just as the Super Bowl is the ultimate sports spectacle in America, “XL Super Bowl The Opus” is the ultimate Super Bowl volume–in fact, the biggest book on football ever made. And it will be on display this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Village Books (1049 Swarthmore). The Opus project was spearheaded by Pacific Palisades resident Mark Skelly, who heads the North American market for United Kingdom-based Kraken Sport & Media, and its most recent addition chronicles the first 40 years of the game as never see before. “I feel fortunate to be involved with this venture,” says Skelly, a 12-year resident of Palisades Highlands. “These Opuses are a must for any sports memorabilia collector and the demand for the Super Bowl book has been incredible everywhere I’ve gone.” Measuring 20 inches square and containing 866 pages, “XL Super Bowl The Opus” weighs in at nearly 88 pounds and includes some 1,400 pictures (75 percent of which have never been seen) and 150,000 words delivered by some of America’s finest writers. There are 10,000 classic edition copies of the Opus (at $5,000 apiece) but only 400 of the special MVP edition, which includes a page signed by every living Most Valuable Player of the first 40 Super Bowls, from Bart Starr to Hines Ward. The MVP edition costs $40,000 and 280 have already been sold. The Super Bowl is but one Opus. In fact, the Prince of Dubai recently bought the Opus on the Manchester United soccer team for $1.6 million. Skelly said Kraken Sport & Media learned on Friday it has closed a deal with the NBA. Future collections include “Formula 1” (due out in March), the “Enzo Special Edition and Ferrari Classic” (in September), “Major League Baseball” (summer of 2009) and now the start of the creation and production for the NBA Opus. In development is “The 100 Greatest Fights” (a legendary look into the provocative content and imagery of boxing.) The company is even expanding its collection with the movement into iconic brands and cultures such as The Vatican and Disney. Although he has enjoyed success in the entertainment industry as a literary manager/producer, Skelly’s real passion is sports. He was a pitcher at Loyola Marymount he was later drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies, but an elbow injury prompted him to go back to school. After graduating from Arizona State he joined a start-up company that created, manufactured and marketed Flex-All, the world’s top-selling topical analgesic. By the mid 1990s, Skelly had left sports marketing to pursue opportunities entertainment. He joined feature film writers/producers, Mark Victor and Michael Grais, who wrote and produced movies of international acclaim. The trio formed VGS, a production/management company and Skelly’s clients included an Academy Award winner and an Emmy Award winner. After seven years of success, the partners disbanded the company to start sole proprietorships. “I love the creative process of developing intellectual properties and stories but show business wasn’t feeding my soul,” Skelly admits. “I’m getting the best of all worlds as Kraken is really a publisher of the worlds largest, most expensive and prolific sports-themed books period! I’m having a great time bringing joy to fans of these great sports and the teams and players that make these stories and images memorable and historical.” Skelly’s wife, Dr. Lori Musto, is a family practitioner in the village, and their children, Sienna (10) and Shane (7), attend Corpus Christi School. Skelly isn’t making any promises but he hopes he can coax at least one Super Bowl MVP into coming to Village Books on Sunday. “I’ve arranged to have former USC and NFL quarterback Rodney Peete present ‘The Opus’ on Fox’s ‘Best Damn Sports Show Period’ all week leading up to Super Bowl Sunday,” Skelly says. “We’re also involved with numerous organizations like the “Make a Wish Foundation,” where Opuses will be auctioned off with a portion of the money going to charity.” Anyone interested in purchasing a copy can place an order at Village Books. For information, e-mail Skelly at mark@opus-america.com or visit the Web site: www.krakenopus.com.
Girls Hoops Tripped up by LACES
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Palisades lost two fiercely contested Western League games last week to drop into fourth place in the standings at 11-9 overall and 2-3 in league. Against host University last Wednesday the Dolphins fell 49-40 and on Friday against Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies they were edged by the slimmest of margins, 40-39, at the Pali gym. Dominique Scott leads the Dolphins in scoring with 13.1 points per game, followed by Tuekeha Huntley (11.9) and Mariah Lyons (8.4). Scott also leads in rebounding (12.7 per game) and Lyons leads in assists (3.2) and steals (2.7). Boys Basketball James Paleno’s squad (20-3, 4-1) geared up for Wednesday’s showdown with state power Westchester (result undetermined at press time) by taking care of business with decisive victories over Venice, University and LACES last week. Aaron Hawk-Harris continues to lead the Dolphins in scoring, averaging 15 points per game, followed by Irvin Kintaudi (11.6) and Josh Gilmore (10.8). Harris is also averaging 8.6 rebounds and Taylor Shipley leads the squad with 5.4 assists and 4.7 steals. Girls Soccer Palisades moved two steps closer to the Western League championship with a 6-0 shutout of host Westchester last Wednesday and a 3-0 victory at Fairfax on Friday, improving the Dolphins’ record to 9-3 overall and 7-0 in league. Yasmin Tabatabai, Kelly Mickel and Emma Carter scored against the Lions. Boys Soccer So far this season the Dolphins have had trouble finding the back of the net with consistency. Palisades has scored just 10 goals in its first nine games and will need to increase that number if it hopes to challenge for the Western League championship. The good news for Palisades (2-5-2 overall, 2-3-2 in league) is that the league title is still anyone’s to win with five games to go. The host Dolphins stayed alive in the race with 1-1 ties against Westchester on Wednesday (a game they dedicated to former teammate Dylan Henry who died in a car accident last summer) and co-leader Fairfax on Thursday.
Water Polo Sailors Making a Splash
Several Palisadians are helping to build the Marymount High water polo program. One of them, senior Drake Williams, has been a huge asset to the Sailors’ varsity squad. “Drake is one of the hardest working athletes to come through the program and has helped lead her team by example,” Coach Tianna Johnson said. In past years, Marymount has struggled to stay competitive in the Mission League, but the Sailors entered league play with a 4-0 record. Another Palisadian, freshman Taylor Bartholomew, is making waves as goalie on junior varsity, with 37 blocks so far this season. “Taylor has taken all of the coaches by surprise with how well she has picked up playing goalie,” Johnson said. “She is such a great role model for her teammates and leads by example. Even some of the varsity girls look up to her and admire how much she has learned in just a few months.”
