Singer and Aspiring Actor Sakis Rouvas Stars in “Duress”

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Singer and Aspiring Actor Sakis Rouvas Stars in “Duress”

Sakis Rouvas, the biggest pop singer in Greece, travels between Athens and Los Angeles with one goal; to see if he can act as well as he can sing. Rouvas took acting lessons and already has an agent in the entertainment capital of the world. He is trying to make the transition from being a singer in Greece to becoming an international actor. In his second acting attempt–his first was in the Greek production “Alter Ego”–he plays a killer in “Duress”. The thriller was shot in LA and premieres in US theaters on September 1st.

The story is about a parent, Richard, who is haunted by nightmares of his wife’s recent suicide and struggling to mend the relationship with his only daughter, who is caught as a witness to the violence of Abner Solvie. He finds himself at the mercy of the charismatic killer and plagued by his involvement in the city’s recent murders. As Abner’s new found protégé, Richard is forced to adopt the mind of his sociopathic mentor in order to protect the one he loves. Richard must decide if he’s willing to kill in order to keep his daughter alive.

Watch the trailer:

[youtube]B0U6K89_Byo[/youtube]

(With information from IMDB)

Rita Wilson on Greek Orthodox Faith

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Rita Wilson on Greek Orthodox Faith

In a video interview with Sally Quinn, producer of “On Faith” at The Washington Post, actress and producer Rita Wilson shares why she loves the Greek Orthodox faith (“I love my church. I find the Greek Orthodox Church a sort of a wonderfully moderate, accepting faith.”), her brief period as a reborn Christian during her teenage years, and what gives her life the most meaning. She explains how her faith shaped projects like Mamma Mia! and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Some highlights from the interview include:

When you were growing up, were you always a believer?
I’ve always been a believer. I always have been.

What do you pray for or about?
I always start my prayers with a prayer of gratitude for all the blessings in my life because without those, you can’t really think about anything else.

What is the divine for you?
I sense the divine in the goodness that I see in people–their acts of kindness, their acts of selflessness; those people inspire me.

Watch the video interview below:

[youtube]rSbC__sAGJA[/youtube]

Hellenic cultural festival “Odyssey” program

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The Hellenic cultural festival, “Odyssey”, organised by the Greek-Orthodox Community of South Australia, will open this year with the revival of the Greek Film Festival, starting on October 1. It will close on October 31, with a symphony orchestra concert.
The following main events have been scheduled:
Oct. 1-5: Greek Film Festival
Oct. 2: Art exhibition
Oct. 11: From Italy to Australia
Oct. 17-18: Theatre performance “Alex & Eva”
Oct. 25: “Odyssey” by Niki Aitken
Oct. 25: Young talent show
Oct. 31: Symphony orchestra concert/Greek food & wine

Greek Virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos Performs at the Hollywood Bowl

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Greek Virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos Performs at the Hollywood Bowl

Leonidas Kavakos, a Greek violinist performs at the Hollywood Bowl on 4th and 6th of August participating at the “Classical Tuesday and Thursday” event. The amazing Greek virtuoso performs Tchaikovsky while Russian violinist Vadim Repin reels off Brahms all under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.

Kavakos has established himself as one of the most sought after young virtuoso violinists and appears regularly with leading orchestras and in recitals throughout the world. He was born in Athens in 1967. He made his concert debut at the Athens Festival in 1984 and his United States debut in 1986. Kavakos has performed with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, and Montreal as well as the Minnesota Orchestra and Washington’s National Symphony in North America. In Europe, he works with the London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Sinfonie-Orchester, the Stockholm Philharmonic, and the Munich Philharmonic. In 1991, Kavakos won the Gramophone Concerto Award for his world premiere release of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in both its final and original 1903/04 version

"Looming the Memory" of Greece in West Village

A. Makris
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"Looming the Memory" of Greece in West Village

From the 22nd to the 29th of August, “Looming the Memory”, an award-winning solo show exploring the challenge of having two homelands comes to New York as part of the New York International Fringe Festival which will take place in West Village.

The show is about a Greek who grows up in Australia, with memories that don’t make sense, and journeys back to Greece to visit his family, and to seek out whether the memories reside there in this village where he spent some time as a child.

Along the way, he learns about the politics of life in a dying Greek village, including encounters with an old woman who can put a curse on him, a young cousin who urges him to leave to the big city as he has, a bitter and jealous uncle who refuses to speak to him, and an old man who remembers better days when the village was full of life.

He also discovers the darkness of his family’s history, revealed by past and present family members and ultimately is forced to confront his concept of what home means and where he actually belongs.

For more information and tickets visit www.loomingthememory.com

The play is written by Thomas Papathanasiou, a Greek-Australian who also performs in it. Thomas completed his training in all aspects of theatre at Curtin University (Theatre Arts/Literature) and WAAPA (Music Theatre), and has since performed in numerous theatre productions as well as TV and short film appearances including the Australasian touring production of Chicago – The Musical. He has also been Head of Drama at a Summer Program in Upstate New York, a guest acting teacher/director at Charles Sturt University, and is a freelance drama tutor, director and choreographer, working recently at the VCA, St Martin’s Youth Arts Centre, Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Black Swan State Theatre Company.

In July 2006, Thomas travelled to Greece on a scholarship to study the rehearsal and production processes of the National Theatre of Greece as they prepared for the summer season at the world heritage listed ancient amphitheatre of Epidaurus.

His self-devised solo show Looming the Memory, which examines identity, memory and displacement, has been performed to successful seasons in the 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival, and Perth, where it has won him Best Actor (2006 WA Guild Equity Awards) and Best Production (2007 Blue Room Theatre Awards) In 2009.

(Photo credit: Mark Coddington)

(With information from http://www.loomingthememory.com)

Expatriate vote “returns” to the forefront

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The government by June 2010 will present for discussion a new proposal on the right of the Greek expatriates to vote from their places of residence and until then a new round of dialogue will take place with the political parties, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos announced.
The interior minister’s statement brings up again the issue of the Greek expatriate vote that “froze” after the relevant draft law was rejected by most of the opposition political parties when it was presented in Parliament last April.
The interior minister in statements he made after the meeting of the Kefallonia and Ithaki expatriates clarified that the new draft law will be within the framework of voting participation and not representation as suggested by PASOK, SYRIZA and SAE. The government proposes the inclusion of three representatives of the Omogenia in each party’s ballot with candidates that do not receive a cross of preference in order to be elected (epikratias). Their placement at the top places of the list, which will ensure their election, is not mandatory.
Main opposition MP Michalis Chrisochoidis, who attended the meeting on Kefallonia, stressed that PASOK supports the voting rights of the Greek expatriates but under preconditions which were not met by the government.
On behalf of SYRIZA, MP Grigoris Psarianos stated that his party is positive toward the voting rights of the expatriates but he requested setting specific electoral districts while suggesting the election of specific number of local candidates.
The interior minister praised the stance adopted by SAE stressing that “the expatriate organization supports the voting of the draft law presented, realizing that it will make the relevant command of the Constitution a reality, regardless of the fact that it had expressed and continues to support a different position from those included in the draft law.”

New PADEE Presidium

A. Makris
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The 7th General Assembly of PADEE that took place from July 29-August 2nd concluded with the election of the new Board of Directors. Parliament President Dimitris Sioufas met with the new Presidium of PADEE and honored the outgoing president of the organization Connecticut State Representative Demetrios Giannaros, who served for eight years. The new PADEE Presidium is made up of President John Pantazopoulos (State of Victoria MP, Australia), 1st Vice-President Leonidas Raptakis (Rhode Island State Senator, USA), 2nd Vice-President Jorgo Chatzimarkakis (MEP, Germany), Nikos Papadopoulos (MP, Sweden), John Cannis (MP, Canada), Olga Kovitidi (MP, Crimea, Ukraine), Thomas Katsiantonis (New Hampshire State Representative, USA), Mike Keokas (Georgia State Representative, USA) and George Souris (New South Wales MP, Australia).
Parliament President Dimitris Sioufas in a meeting he had with the members of the newly elected and the outgoing PADEE Presidiums stressed, among others, that they should have a systematic cooperation with SAE.
On his part, Giannaros thanked the parliament president and underlined that “we struggle for Greece and Cyprus and the Greek ideals. A Greek flame is still burning inside us showing us the way toward what’s best for our culture, Greece, Cyprus and the Greek expatriates.” He also congratulated the new PADEE Presidium members and the new president and wished them success to their efforts.

Bandalism at Church Promotes Greek Festival Even More

A. Makris
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Bandalism at Church Promotes Greek Festival Even More

Next weekend’s Greek festival will go on, despite recent vandalism at Holy Myrrh-bearers Orthodox Church in St. Cloud, MN.

According to the Rev. Nathan Kroll, parish priest, two church windows were smashed July 26. The vandalism spurred the congregation to promote the Greek Festival even more, he said in a news release.

The festival will run between 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 16 at the church, 601 Seventh Ave. S. The event will feature Greek music. dance and traditional Greek food.

(With information from St. Cloud Times)

Greek American Doctor Makes Free Healtcare Reality

A. Makris
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Greek American Doctor Makes Free Healtcare Reality

George Maltezos, a mental health counselor, together with his longtime friend Dr. Charles Martinez, started an all volunteer free healthcare clinic for the uninsured needy in Chicago. Two longtime friends who grew up “without” on the streets of Chicago are making a difference.

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know Charlie,” says George Maltezos.

His father, Louis Dimitri, arrived in Chicago from Agriani near Sparti, in 1912 at age 15.  He calls himself a Greek born in America who did not have the chance to be close to his community.  “The circumstances of my American mother’s religion denied me the opportunity to learn the Greek language, much to my regret,” he says.

Maltezos and Dr. Charles Martinez are both in their seventies, both retired and both working harder than ever. That is, in part, because this inseparable pair never forgot what it was like growing up in households that could not afford healthcare.

After building successful careers in healthcare, neither one wanted to hang it in retirement. Instead, they’ve opened a tiny community clinic in a working class neighborhood in Chicago. They treat patients in need, cajole specialists into donating services and badger the drug companies for low-cost prescriptions.

In their mission statement they write “Recognizing the overwhelming need for additional resources to serve the health care needs of the uninsured in the Chicago area, the OIP Community Clinic has been formed to provide a free out-patient primary medical and specialty care program. In addition to primary medical
care, the clinic services include referrals for dental care and assessment and evaluation for mental health, and alcohol and other drug additions and abuse treatments.”

And it doesn’t cost the folks who come to see them a dime. Thanks to George and Charlie, some four hundred people, who otherwise would likely go without any medical attention, are looked after.

For more information on the Old Irving Park Community Clinic, go to www.oipcc.org

The Letdown: A Quiet Phone

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Boy oh boy, there’s nothing more crushing as an actor than a quiet phone. Not a call, not a message. Nothing. And believe me, I’ve checked. Actually it’s become a favorite pastime of mine.

When I wake up in the morning I take a little stretch and pad my way into the kitchen, heading for the coffee maker. Somewhere between pulling out the coffee bean grinder and the brown sugar though, I imagine I’ve forgotten something. Of course that something just happens to be in the little nook where the answering machine is. I stroll by, pretending not to look directly at the little button that blinks when there’s a message. If it’s red, I dive for the phone like I’m entering the water to save a drowning child, if it’s not I casually waltz back into the kitchen, pretending not to care.

There have been more than a few false alarms this past week. In my zeal to hear from my agent about the horror film I’ve answered more than one phone-call I was later sorry about. Like the one from the telemarketer who kept asking if I lived here? I figured it was pretty obvious that I did considering I’m the one who answered the phone, so I refused to give him the satisfaction and answer his question. He couldn’t continue with his schtick until I confirmed I was indeed the lady of the manor so we went on like that for quite a while – him asking me if I lived here and me refusing to confirm the obvious – until he finally gave up and hung up on me. If only he knew.

It’s always difficult not getting the part, especially when you’ve had a great audition and a great callback. Especially when you’ve tucked your sensibility far, far away and crawled across a carpet pretending to have one arm. Especially when you have, against all societal laws of normal human behavior, pretended to cry into your bloody palm and begged an imaginary monster that’s really an amped-up version of a cricket to spare your life. What can I say? I feel used.

I’ll try to get on with things and forget about it but that will only last until I see the movie. That’s the worst – seeing the actress who got your part. It’s like being cheated on and seeing the other woman for the first time. I don’t usually mind so much if I think the actress has done a great job but if she’s terrible I can’t seem to stop the insult machine; it pours out of me like water from a bucket filled with holes. “Look at her face! Look! She’s totally blinking when she’s supposed to be dead” “She couldn’t fake a death even if her life really did depend on it!” “Fat ankles.”

That, I’m afraid, is all part of the game. Last week I was on cloud nine kicking it with my callback posse and this week I’ll be eating a lot of Oreo’s to manage my pain. At least I still have a little bruise on my upper leg from slamming into a chair at the audition that will continue to remind me that sometimes, love hurts.

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