As The World Churns

By Bob Nicolaides

Greek Presidency’s visual identity designed by Beetroot Design Group won a bronze in the category “Brand implementation” of European Design Awards as announced at a ceremony in Cologne.….A Greek sports writer told an Olympic committee member: “The Greek economy couldn’t stand the Olympic Games. I’m not saying the crisis was caused by the Olympic Games, but the Olympic Games has a part of responsibility for the Greek economic crisis.”The Salamis, NJ Cypriot Association along with the Cyprus Society of Greater Phila, commemorated the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus on July 20 1974, with a Service at St. George Church in Hamilton NJ, on Sunday, July 27^th. A luncheon followed at the kC Prime restaurant….…The worldwide Kite-surfing competition for the International Cup taking place at the Greek owned Palm Royale Soma Bay in Egypt’s Red Sea with Greece participating, ended early in June …

 

Stephanopoulos: Achievements

George Stephanopoulos recently garnered one more honor in that he will be from here on the head anchorman ABC News….…. Paraskevi Kolovos along with her coleagues in the scientific group of Harvard achieved the regenaration of a  damaged ceratoid coat through a new method with the help of  vlastic cellules. The team was able to transplant these human cellules on blind mice with tremendous success…..Vasos N. Papagapitos is co-President at Travel Dynamics International…Nick Pappas of Cherry Hill, the chronicler for the Greek Parea, slipped and fell while swimming in his native Patras where he was vacationing breaking  his ankle. I believe that’ll cost him some future swims even if the season is not a washout….My long-lost childhood friend John Lartides who lives in London, Ontario, a schoolmate and part of the theatrical group back in our days in Egypt, tells me that as he passed through many cities in the US he opened restaurants, but the experience he had at a Canadian village was unique. You see he opened a sandwhich shop and no sooner that he was in business, someone opened at the Stephanopoulosnext corner selling the same wares. He  added burgers and hotdogs and so did his competitor. Then he figured he’d have an edgeif he added pizza, which he did. No sooner he did that his competitor also featured pizza. So there was no other choice for him but to move on somewhere else that the competition won’t be that fierce…

 



Grammenos: Participates in concert

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a delightful movie about a group of young adults from the US spending the summer on the island of Santorini….John Kapelos has a role in The Deep End of the Ocean,a social drama about an Italian American family whose middle child disappears in a hotel in Chicago and is found nearly ten years later living in the neighborhood as the son of a Greek man. There is Greek dancing and many twists in this gripping story produced by Steve Nicolaides who’s no relation to me ….

Back in June, the end of the Greek Presidency of the European Union was marked with a concert by Tetraktys String Quartet with Dionysis Grammenos, called the European Young Musician of the Year on the clarinet. The concert was under the auspices of Ambassador Michel Spinellis and the invitation was extended by the president of the Alexander S. Onassis Benefit Foundation Dr. Anthony S. Papadimitriou. The musical evening was held at the Zankel Hall of Carnegie Hall on June 5^th  and was free of charge…



Nicolaides Steve: Movies

Ziavras: In Hatzidakis tribute

“The Last Vespers for Manos Hadjidakis, 20 years later”, a musical tribute on 20th anniversary of the death of the eminent Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis was held, June 13 at the Center of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Artistic Director, vocalist and narrator Yanna Katsageorgi presented a unique evening with five extraordinary artists performing his poetic and unconventional songs as the composer intended them to be performed. Yanna was joined by sopranos Julie Ziavras, Alexandra Skendrou, pianist Panos Chrisovergis and guitarist Spiros Exaras. The concert is a reminder of the legacy left by Manos Hadjidakis, an artist whose whole life was an act of resistance to injustice and repression. His social conscience, civic responsibility, creativity, free spirit and kindness are values that are necessary more than ever at this critical juncture in Greek history. The tribute included some of his most beloved songs from Pornography, Absurd, Captain Michael, Big Pink, Blood Wedding, Street of Dreams, Reflections, Immortality, Ballads of Athena Street and more….