Dec 23, 2007

Firefighters serenade Bloomies shoppers

By Janet Duca Norton / Society Columnist

Children and parents came to Bloomingdale's at Stanford Shopping Center on Dec. 15 and took part in a fun afternoon of storytelling with a special little brown bear. Attendees enjoyed listening to caroling by Palo Alto firefighters as well as watching a cooking demonstration by Tony Spitaleri, president of the Palo Alto Professional Firefighters Union, and a floral demonstration by local floral designer Sara Ebady Rouhani of Palo Alto's Colorburst Flowers.

The festivities all started with the Bloomingdale's Little Brown Bear - a limited edition plush Gund teddy bear - and his cousins, who made their debut six years ago. These bears have been a yearly favorite for shoppers. This year's Little Brown Bear, festively dressed in a black-and-green sweater, headlined a fun children's holiday storytelling event featuring holiday crafts and master storyteller Noel Woods from TheatreWorks.

Not only are the bears fun presents, they are gifts that keep on giving; Bloomingale's donates a percentage of its Little Brown Bear sales to children's museums across the country.

Some of the under five set and their parents enjoying Woods' reading of "Henry Bear's Christmas" included Grace Zdeblick, Noah Sakaitani, Yuki Tsuruta, Parth Mehta and his dad Nitin Mehta, and Nao, Aako and Noah Suzuki.

Foodies Rose and Jimmie Jaber had fun watching Palo Alto Firefighters Union President Spitaleri prepare his "Holiday Chili" and mango salad. The Jabers not only took home souvenir recipes, they had the opportunity to sample both of the president's dishes and tasted and purchased the Palo Alto Firefighters Hot Sauce. Seen applauding the president's culinary expertise were his fellow firefighters Chris Woodard, Matt Goglio, Aaron Aguilar, Hugo Godoy, Richard Sartor, Mark Von Appen and Chief Don Dudak.

In a sense, the firefighters sang for their supper when they harmonized on holiday carols throughout the store. After the performance, smiling children had the chance to hold their bears and pose for photos with the singing firefighters. Some of the appreciative audience members included Daniela and Zachary Nemerovasky, Stephanie Sisnero and Noah Sakaitani, and Jayson and Anjelica Ramos with their father Ben Ramos.


Crowne Plaza hosts Tea Dance

For most, ballroom dancing is associated with images of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performing glamorous routines in films from the 1930s. But now, Peninsulans can experience firsthand the ambience of cocktails and ballroom dancing to live music at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Palo Alto. Starting in September, the hotel began hosting tea dances on the third Sunday of each month.

Decorations and big band sounds set the stage for a fun night of ballroom dancing on Dec. 16. Both amateur and professional dancers from all over the Bay Area turned out to dance to the sounds of Joanie Brant and her Nob Hill Knights.

Brant's manager, Tom Biscardi, described Brant as "the chanteuse" of the Peninsula. She and her band have been performing show tunes up and down the Peninsula for the last 15 years.

In the early days of her career, Brant was the opening act for many big name Las Vegas entertainers, including Dean Martin, Regis Philbin, Jerry Vale, Eddie Fisher, Al Martino, Foster Brooks and Don Cornell.

Brant said the popularity of "Dancing With the Stars" has attracted many new people to the tea dances. Everyone took to the floor when she sang "It Had to Be You" and "You'll Never Know."

Dancers included Annette Court, David DiPietro, Beverly Facciola, Lenore Karp, Bob Linn, and Doris and Barney Toomey.

When the band takes breaks, Brant and Biscardi meet guests and renew friendships. The Woodside duo have many interesting stories. Biscardi shared that he had produced a movie, "Bigfoot Lives," which won "Best Documentary" at the Pocono Mountains Film Festival in Pennsylvania in August. Bicardi has researched Bigfoot for more than 30 years, and will be featured with his team of trekkers on a new network TV reality show titled "Capturing Bigfoot."

Brant is looking forward to New Year's Eve. She and the Knights will be co-headliners at the Crowne Plaza's New Year's Eve Party with Kelvin Boyd's "Drifters Revue" tribute along with Matt Helm, who will be impersonating Dean Martin.

For information call 650-628-0114.

Janet Duca Norton's society column appears every Sunday in the Daily News. Send event information to 324 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301 or e-mail society@paloaltodailynews.com.